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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Deadline Passes - No Trade deal Between U.S. And Canada; Trump Stumps For Darline Graham Ahead Of S. California Runoff; Iran Pushes Back On Trump's Economic D-Day Threat; Google Pays $10M For Spirit Airlines data To Train Its AI; Defense Team Calls Forensic Psychiatrist As Expert Witness; Aired 12-1a ET

Aired August 22, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you all for watching. "The Story Is" with Elex Michaelson is next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And we begin this hour with breaking news. "The Story Is" tariffs and trade and a deadline just passed this minute for a trade deal between the U.S. and Canada. Bottom line, no deal between two of the world's largest trading partners. Canadian Prime Minister said that he suspended the talks in Washington, which went down to the wire to 12:01 A.M., which is this time right now on the East Coast, which that means that 50 percent tariffs on some $20 billion worth of Canadian goods is now going into effect.

Mr. Carney, the Prime Minister, said in a statement late Friday that Canada will match the U.S. tariffs, "Dollar for dollar." He added, "Progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians. Last minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal."

President Trump spent Friday evening, meanwhile, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, stumping for Darline Graham, sister of the late senator Lindsay Graham. In a runoff primary election on Tuesday, the state's Republicans will decide whether he -- she will be the GOP senate candidate in the ballot in November.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: With your vote for Darline on Tuesday, we are going to send a message straight to the Democrat party headquarters in Washington. We're going to tell them that we will never abolish I.C.E. We will never surrender our constitution. And we will never allow our country to even think about being a communist or even a socialist country. We're not going to let it happen. Darline Graham has devoted her entire life to the people of the state just like her brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Friday's event was a rare campaign trail appearance for the President who has a lot on the line since some of his endorsed candidates recently lost their primaries. Plus, some state Republicans have concerns after Graham's shaky performance on foreign policy at a previous debate, but Graham is leaning in on her position as a political outsider.

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DARLINE GRAHAM, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: I am many things a problem solver, a mother, a leader, but I am not a career politician. I will take the South Carolina conservative values I learned in the back of that liquor store and beer joint with me to Washington. South Carolina needs a fighter. I will fight like hell against the democrat socialists trying to destroy this country.

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MICHAELSON: Joining me now live for our political panel, Joe Walsh she is a former U.S. Republican House Member and host of the Social Contract with Joe Walsh podcast, and Van Jones is a CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama administration official.

Gentlemen, welcome to the story as for the first time both of you. Some people overuse the phrase all-star panel, but we've got the goods on a Friday night. I think this guy, look to have the big dogs here on "The Story Is." So, Van, let's start with you. Your thoughts on President Trump there for Darline Graham and the way they're messaging this.

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, first, I just want to say, how the hell are we in a trade war with Canada? Like, I mean, for god's sake. And -- but when they say dollar for dollar, don't forget most of the countries of the world just backed down to Trump. The reason the economy didn't get massively worse everywhere, there weren't retaliatory strikes. Canada's fighting back. Terrible, awful, bad. And then he goes to South Carolina to stick up for somebody who's got zero experience in government, zero experience in anything except being related to somebody who's experienced in government, and who obviously, doesn't really know that much about the issues he's running on.

But Trump doesn't care. He just wants to be in front of those big crowds, getting all that love and adoration. Meanwhile, we're in a trade war with Canada. How the hell are we in a trade war with Canada?

MICHAELSON: Well and Joe, Darline Graham said, I'm not a career politician. Guilty as charged. She also seemed to go after her own brother's record on illegal immigration. People may remember that Lindsay Graham tried to negotiate a bipartisan deal years ago. He was part of the so called Gang of Eight. Apparently, Darline Graham was not a fan of that gang. Listen.

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DARLINE GRAHAM, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: I loved my brother, Lindsay, and I miss him so much every day. But on illegal immigration, I'm tougher than he was.

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It's simple. If you are here illegally, you've got to go.

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MICHAELSON: What do you make of that as a strategy?

JOE WALSH, FORMER U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: Well, that's all she's got, and that's where the Republican party is today. That's their biggest issue. Keep everybody out. Keep brown and black people out. She's got to play that because she had such a lousy debate earlier this week. Look this is a test to Trump. It's Trump's party. And I know a lot of people talked about how some of his endorsed candidates went down this past week. If she wins next week, it will be purely because Trump has carried her. It's still Trump's party. Even though it's shrinking, he's still the boss.

MICHAELSON: Well and he talked about the fact that sometimes some of these elections don't work out for him when his name is not on the ballot. Kind of trying to pre-spin the midterms a bit. Here's how he framed it.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And the problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot, but when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote for Senators, Congressmen, and other Republicans. And that these people, they're running, they're great. But if Trump isn't actually on the ballot, so what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote. It's so important.

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MICHAELSON: I mean, to Joe's point, I mean, he's literally tied himself. Pretend I'm on the ballot.

JONES: Exactly. Well, listen. I mean, he's not wrong. We had that problem with Obama as well. When Obama was on the ballot, we did well. Those midterms, we just got crushed. And so, this type of thing does happen. I do want to say though, this sort of a scorched earth approach to newcomers in this country, I think it's going to hurt the Republicans more than it helps. I know a lot of people here in Los Angeles who got sick of the cartels, got sick of all the bad stuff, voted for Trump thinking he was going to go get the "bad hombres."

And then here in Los Angeles, you saw nannies getting thrown to the ground in parks. You saw roofers getting thrown to the ground in the parking lots of retailers. This has pushed the Latin vote, the brown vote away from Trump. Trump had historic gains with the Latin vote, but he's been so brutal, so heavy handed, so horrible, and now all his little trampling's are being the same way. This is going to cost him more than a gains by -- MICHAELSON: Well, it could be a sugar high. And we saw that speaking of California here in the 90s. Yes. We had something called Proposition 187, which was -- which passed here in California with a lot of white folks voting for it. And then it got a lot of Latinos involved in politics, and they have not won a statewide election since and completely changed California politics, and we're still in that a generation later.

Let's talk about the Democratic side, though, because South Carolina is going to be the first state for the democratic party. Pete Buttigieg is heading there this weekend. Pete Buttigieg Trump and Pete faced the South Carolina test was the headline in POLITICO. Pete Buttigieg famously in a poll recently got zero percent with black voters. Zero. Like, one person. That doesn't work to win South Carolina. How do you see the challenge for him, and why is that for Pete?

JONES: It's hard to know. I mean, first of all, why are we talking about South Carolina in the first place? It's because the DNC has decided it wants to go in a different direction. We've had Iowa go first forever and ever. And by the way, that gave you Barack Obama. Who had, considered no shot until he destroyed the Iowa caucus and then just went on to the presidency from there. Pete Buttigieg won Iowa in 2020, but it took them two weeks to count the vote. And so by that point, that they had moved on to Biden. So, in some ways, now he's got a much harder path in South Carolina. I don't know why he doesn't resonate with black voters. Some people say it's because he's gay. I don't think that's right. We've got a lot more acceptance in our community and love in our community for gay folks now than we have in the past. But he's not breaking through.

I think the reason that we put I'm guessing now. I think the DNC put South Carolina first not to cause problems for Pete. I think they're trying to have a firewall against the socialist movement in our party. And -- I -- the DSA, the Democratic Socialist of America. I think you got some people at the top of the DNC that say, hold on a second. If you look at the numbers, black voters are not excited about these socialist candidates. You dig into the numbers, it's a lot of disappointed college graduates not actually working class black folks. So I think that they may be trying to stop the socialists, right off the box, but it could hurt Pete Buttigieg.

MICHAELSON: And it could hurt, in terms of South Carolina's relevance. Even though they're first, what they've done in the past was they got to be the decider.

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Now they're going to be the narrower, right? And it's hard to imagine that if AOC gets in the race, a Democratic socialist, that there isn't a lane for her, right? I mean, if there's two or three spots that come out of South Carolina, she probably gets one of them.

WALSH: She gets one of them, and I'm forgetting what comes after South Carolina. Maybe even Nevada, right? To Vance's point, it's reaching back to these traditional loyal Democratic groups and working class voters, which is why South Carolina and Nevada make so much sense.

MICHAELSON: And Nevada is very powerful with unions as well.

WALSH: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: The South Carolina play, though. We've already seen Gavin Newsom there a few times with James Clyburn hugging him very closely. Hugging him. He couldn't be any closer. But this could does this advantage though Kamala Harris if she ends up getting into the race when black voters are so, I mean, how do you see both Newsome and Harrison and their potential presidential ambitions?

JONES: Well, look, I mean, they're both formidable in this party. Kamala's challenge is that we tend to be a one and done party for our nominees. Trump's got three in a row. He might get 12 in a row if they let him. But in our party, we're -- we tend to be one and done. Everybody loved Al Gore. He got one shot. And after that, he moved on to climate. Everybody loves John Kerry. He got one shot. Everybody loves Hillary Clinton. She got one shot. So the idea that Kamala gets two shots is it would go -- we -- you got to go back to Adlai Stevenson --

MICHAELSON: Right, Adlai Stevenson in the 50s. But before TV, really.

JONES: Exactly. Yeah. So that's I think that makes it harder for her. But look, I think the black belt's a little surly. I don't know that they just automatically lines up for a Kamala or lines up for Warnock or lines up for Cory Booker. I think black folks are looking around, and some black don't forget, black voters pick Biden. So black --

MICHAELSON: And who else is running in that race Kamala Harris --

JONES: Exactly so.

MICHAELSON: -- and Cory Booker.

JONES: Cory Booker. So look, black voters, I mean, you might see black voters go for an off. You might see out of Georgia or you just can't tell where the black vote's going to go.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Well, we're excited that both of you are sticking around for the show. So we'll be back with more of you guys in our next hour. We'll talk more about tariffs and talk about AI, a subject I'm sort of obsessed with these days. So thank you both for being here.

In South Carolina, President Trump also briefly spoke about the war with Iran. Remember that's still going on. He said that as soon as the war is over, oil prices will fall. The President also said he views the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now. Iran pushing back on President Trump's threat of a "Economic D-Day." U.S. president had earlier threatened the most crushing economic operation against Iran in a social media post seen here. In response, the Iranian Foreign Ministry says new sanctions would pave the way for a return to full scale classic colonialism. The Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Oman's Ambassador to the U.S. on Thursday following President Trump's threat to bomb the country over its negotiations with Iran. Joining us now is CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas. He's also Director of the Counterterrorism Program at the Atlantic Council. Alex, welcome back to "The Story Is."

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: Your sources say you expect this economic D-Day to come on Monday. What does that actually look like? What does that mean?

PLITSAS: So we're expecting as the announcement of a package of what are called secondary sanctions. So primary sanctions against Iran itself have already been in place, but now secondary sanctions would be against other countries who engage in sort of economic trade with Iran that would extend them what the administration is calling an economic lifeline. Because the administration has moved on from military strikes at this point, I think they've realized Iran is able to absorb a lot of this and the regime hangs on. But can they really deal with a significant economic blow? And the only way to know is if they can completely choke it off from an economic perspective. And so there's an idea that this additional set of sanctions measures really going to put the financial squeeze on Iran.

MICHAELSON: And you say that that China is wrapped up in this as well. What does this mean for the U.S. China relationship?

PLITSAS: Well, China has stated in the past that they've rejected, unilaterally U.S. secondary sanctions. They get a lot of oil and gas, coming from Iran. And so it becomes a question whether or not they're going to comply. And historically, this has been a problem. The Obama administration, to a certain extent, eventually decided to move forward with the JCPOA, which was the original Iran deal as much as they thought they could get from it, because they really couldn't hold the international community accountable any longer. They wouldn't sign on to these measures or sanctions anymore, and particularly China in that case.

So it's possible once again that we could see the Chinese push back against this, and that could push the U.S. and China further down the road, potentially into a trade war, kind of going back and forth that could cause China to withhold things like critical minerals. It's unclear at this point, but the administration intends to push forward, because I think they want to see if they can force the Iranians back to the table to some sort of agreement back under that deal, that 14 point plan that was initially agreed to that needs to be worked out without having to resort to large scale military operations again.

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MICHAELSON: Obviously, the U.S. has tried to hurt Iran economically already, through the blockade and other things that they have done through this. Is there any evidence that it's actually working, that the Iranian government showing any signs of cracks, or is the government just kind of been able to fight through all this? PLITSAS: Well, I think the way you characterize this, correct, and that becomes a question of, what is the intention of these sanctions when they go into place or economic measures that have been taken. In this case, through the implementation of military force, what are we talking about? We've got a blockade of Iran right now where it's not able to ship things in and out. Its primary income being oil and gas. And it's also suffered significantly from the blows that that were struck, as a result of military strikes and then the sanctions that were in place before the war started.

Collectively, that is absolutely having an impact on the Iranian economy, inflation's through the roof, and there are reports coming in and out. But that's not meant to just cause economic problems and have that hurt the Iranian people. It's meant to force policy change on the Iranian government side, and so far, they haven't really moved. We have seen them lash out a little bit more. They continue to strike ships over last week or so in the Strait of Hormuz, and that seems to be sort of ratcheting up the pressure.

As this pressure continues to build on Iran as a result of these economic measures and if this continues over time, there are fears from some that I've spoken to that Iran could retaliate by striking oil and gas infrastructure in the region to push back on the U.S. rather than sort of capitulate. But so far, the Iranian government hasn't shown any signs that it's willing to give in. We did see two statements though that were publicly made. So we saw one from Ghalibaf, the speaker who's been the primary negotiator, and then also from President Pezeshkian, who really was a reluctant president. He's, focused on domestic affairs. He doesn't really touch international, and the security apparatus will make the final decision on international matters.

But both of them basically said, hey, we can't let the Iranian people suffer if it comes to food shortages. We're in a position sort of a winning. But do they speak for the security apparatus? That's unclear at this point. And where's the pain threshold? So I think there'll be some important input into the decision about what to do, but that really still resides with the IRGC and with the security leaders.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. It's kind of unclear who speaks for who and kind of unclear who's running the country, when we have not heard from the Supreme Leader actually out loud, through this whole process. Alex Plitsas, thanks so much, for staying up late for us and giving us such great information.

Ukrainian officials say a Russian double tap strike has killed at least 15 people, wounded at least a 130 others. Video shows a drone hitting a shopping center in Central Ukraine erupting into flames. Smoke from an apparent earlier strike is already visible rising in the ground in this video we're showing you now. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says a second wave of drones targeted emergency crews half an hour after the first strike. So they got the crews out there to try to help people and then they tried to kill them. He's now vowing to respond to that attack.

Well, recently we've been told to stay away from lettuce and jalapenos to avoid getting violently ill. Now there's a new food to watch. What you need to know about this latest outbreak, that's next. Plus, Google is buying purchasing data from Spirit Airlines to feed its AI models. What that means for you when we come back.

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MICHAELSON: U.S. health officials are warning about a food poisoning outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts in 15 states. The sprouts are produced by a Minnesota grower called Everything Sprouts and are also sold under the Calco brand restaurants and grocery stores. On Friday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is aware of 55 cases including four people who had been hospitalized. Outbreaks are usually defined by one type of germ, but this one has sickened people with salmonella and various strains of E. coli. The CDC says cases have been reported in Florida and states in the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest.

The tech giant and search engine Google is buying all the data of defunct Spirit Airlines to feed into its AI models. This includes internal information such as emails and spreadsheets as well as data from public flight bookings. CNN's Michael Yoshida explains what's going on here.

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MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Google is set to pay $10 million for decades of Spirit Airlines corporate and employee data, information it wants to help train AI systems. A court filing says the data has been stripped of anything allowing individuals to be identified.

ARJUN BHATNAGAR, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, CLOAKED: We're finally seeing very publicly the depths that companies are going to, to win and fight in this AI arms race.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): Arjun Bhatnagar, CEO of Privacy Company Cloaked, says the deal highlights a longstanding practice. Companies and data brokers collecting and selling information.

BHATNAGAR: I'm looking at companies like Google. What they are doing is they're saying, how can they look at your personal information when you're interacting in the company and training AI models, AI datasets, AI agents to see how they can operate in a way that's similar to the employee that existed.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): And as AI gets smarter, the data is becoming more valuable.

NICOLE OZER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION: AI has really also supercharged the ability for information that was collected at one time to now be able to be used for a lot of other purposes. [00:25:00]

YOSHIDA (voice-over): The Google and Spirit deal doesn't include customer information, but it does highlight how far companies are willing to go to get massive amounts of useful data. But Nagar says if that concerns you, there are simple ways to limit what companies collect. Use different emails for shopping, travel, and more sensitive accounts. Regularly check what data apps are collecting and sharing, and skip sharing your phone number or use a virtual one.

BHATNAGAR: As individual, it's time to start changing your information pattern, how you share. You don't hit allow for everything you do.

YOSHIDA (voice-over): I'm Michael Yoshida reporting.

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MICHAELSON: Three U.S. states that get water from the Colorado River will face big cuts as two key reservoirs have fallen to record low levels. A new two-year operating plan was published by the Department of the Interior on Friday. It would affect Arizona, California, and Nevada. The cuts would translate into about a 27 percent cut to Arizona, 10 percent cut to California, and a 16 percent reduction in water flowing to Nevada. This is according to the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.

The Colorado River is a lifeline for the Southwest providing water to around 40 million people and irrigating more than 5 million acres of farmland. One thing that could be a positive on that front though, if we do have this super El Nino, it could mean a lot of water, which could cut into that drought.

Lindsay Clancy's defense team rests its case as prosecutors call rebuttal witnesses ahead. The conflicting opinions about Clancy's mental state. We'll be joined by a longtime Crime Reporter who is covering every single second of this trial. She joins us with unique insights next.

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MICHAELSON: Welcome back to "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories. 50 percent U.S. tariffs on some $20 billion worth of Canadian goods now in effect after a Saturday morning deadline passes and Canada suspends trade talks with the U.S. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement late Friday that Canada will match the U.S. tariffs, "Dollar for dollar."

Supreme Court is allowing construction of President Trump's controversial White House ballroom to continue at least for now. The Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, blocking a lower court ruling that would have halted the work. Roberts' order does not address the legality of the ballroom project itself and give the Supreme Court more time to consider the Trump administration's appeal.

TikTok and its parent company have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit over children's privacy. The justice department sued TikTok and ByteDance back in 2024. The DOJ allowed TikTok kids to create accounts and illegally collected their personal data. Friday's settlement is one of the largest ever in a children's privacy case.

This case is getting so much attention around the world. Lindsay Clancy's defense team rested its case on Friday after calling 10 witnesses. Prosecutors accused Clancy of killing her three children, but her attorney says she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. CNN's Brynn Gingras has more on these sharply different assessments of Clancy's mental state at the time of the killings.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So before the defense arrested, maybe their most important witness took the stand. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist. Now he basically has made an entire career testifying in high profile murder cases. We're talking about the Unabomber. We're talking about Casey Anthony, Andrea Yates. Of course, that name probably draws the most similarity to the Lindsay Clancy case. In fact, the defense submitted his resume 40 pages long to the jury almost to say to them, listen, you need to listen to the testimony of this witness. Because he essentially testified that Lindsay was going through a psychotic break during the time that she killed her children back in January 2023, and that is the crux of the defense's case. I want you to hear what he testified to jurors, what he said.

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VOICE OF DR. PHILLIP RESNICK, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: She had what is known as a delusion of influence. That is not only did she hear a command, but she felt that her body was taken over by an external force where she were in a green state and did not have control of her own body. It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings.

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GINGRAS: And when it was the prosecution's turn to cross examine Resnick, essentially they continue to try to poke holes into the defense's case, of course, but basically questioning why if, Lindsay was hearing voices or she was receiving these commands, how come there was no documents that of that in any of her medical records? How come she didn't tell anybody that? Any doctors, therapists, any of the medical professionals that she got help from, how come they never wrote that down? So that is a continuing theme that we have heard, from the prosecution's case, and certainly that was something that they tried to bring out of this witness as well.

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OK. Here's where we stand on this trial. The prosecution ended Friday with a rebuttal witness. Defense was cross examining by the time the day was over, but we're expecting the prosecution to call at least two more rebuttal witnesses, before this entire trial wraps up. And then, of course, we have closing arguments, and then the jury should get the case. So we do expect all of that to happen at the start of next week, and the jury might have this case in their hands as early as Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday. Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

MICHAELSON: Thanks to Brynn. Let's bring in Lisa Backus. She is a reporter with Hearst Connecticut Media's ctinsider.com. You've been covering this trial gavel to gavel. Welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time.

Hi. Nice to be here.

MICHAELSON: So the big story of this day is these competing narratives about her state of mind and sort of this battle between two different psychiatrists with different perspectives. Let's listen to both.

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VOICE OF DR. PHILLIP RESNICK, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favor by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering. Her mind was very distorted like that.

JENNIFER SPRAGUE, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY, PLYMOUTH COUNTY: What she told her doctors in December is that she had no homicidal ideation. She only reported suicidal ideation. Correct?

RESNICK: Yes, and as noted that's very common because people fear their children will be taken away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: So what kind of impact did all that have? Obviously that was one psychiatrist. What kind of impact did the psychiatrist testimony have?

LISA BACKUS, REPORTER, HEARST CONNECTICUT MEDIA: Well, I think initially, he was very powerful. And according to the Internet, people were talking about how -- what he said, what he had to say. He's a very credible witness just simply because he has been involved in so many high profile cases. So I think initially, for him it looked like it went pretty well. But then of course you have the other side. Somebody had dubbed this battle of the experts today, so and that's true. So not only did the assistant district attorney start to poke holes but then they put on a rebuttal witness as well who sort of had a different take on the entire thing.

So how this is going to play with the jury? I'm not sure. I do know they were taking notes, though.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, broadly, do you have a sense of, of where the jury is or how this case is going right now for Lindsay Clancy?

BACKUS: It's so hard to say. I think the fact that a 100 people, more than a 100 people showed up in support at the courthouse the other day. I think that's a sign that, even internationally, there's a lot of support for her. You never know what a jury's going to do. That's number one. I think Kevin Reddington said today outside the courthouse when the proceedings were done that the jury has been very attentive and very focused and they have managed to keep all 18 jurors which is I think a good sign and it's a sign that they are taking it very seriously.

So beyond that, you never know. You never know what a jury is going to do. In fact, he had said, which I thought this was an interesting comment. Somebody asked him the same question basically. He said, no, I'm afraid to look at them. So and I can't blame him at this point. There's a lot riding on that.

MICHAELSON: And in this case --

BACKUS: So I think, yeah, it's an anybody's game.

MICHAELSON: And you saw all those people out there that were just showing video of. I mean, the social media traffic for this has just been extraordinary. And this is just sort of a yes or no question. In your entire career covering so many different cases over the years, have you ever seen a case or covered a case that has gotten this much attention?

BACKUS: Oh no, absolutely. This is by far 10,000 times what I've covered. And I have covered some big cases in Connecticut and nationally, Alex Jones. Yeah. And, yeah, this surpasses anything I've covered.

MICHAELSON: Well, the whole world is watching, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the days ahead. An opportunity to check out your coverage every day. Lisa Backus, thank you so much for being with us.

BACKUS: Thank you. Ctinsider.com. They can check it out there. Thank you so much.

MICHAELSON: There we go. Always been promoting. I love it a shameless plug.

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BACKUS: That's right.

MICHAELSON: All right. Coming up. Amid the din of the immigration debate in Europe, a fundamental truth is often overlooked.

Migrant labor is essential to the continent's food production ahead. CNN takes a look into reality of the African migrant workers feeding Europe.

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AMOATENG FOSTER, GHANIAN MIGRANT WORKER: But when you're outside, you will think that, oh, Europe is Europe. No, no, no, no, there's no reason here because you suffer before you can get a cent.

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MICHAELSON: Democratic Congressman Greg Casar of Texas is calling on federal immigration authorities to release a five-year-old boy detained with his father this week. A family spokesperson says that boy and his father were on their way to a soccer match when they were detained during a traffic stop in Austin on Sunday. Video posted on social media shows the boy apparently crying and holding the hand of his handcuffed father as they're escorted to an unmarked vehicle. The father and son are both undocumented. Department of Homeland Security says they will remain together in federal custody pending removal.

Democratic Congressman Madeleine Dean visited the immigration facility where they're reportedly being held, and she described the conditions there.

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MADELEINE DEAN, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: I believe he and his father have been taken to Dilley, Texas, where I have been and I have seen the abuses there. The abuses of children, the abuses of parents, families, the abuses of health care, the ignoring. Literally, when we were there with Joaquin Castro, Sara Jacobs, and others, when we were there several months ago. We saw a little child whose mouth was so badly infected. We were with Katherine Clark. So badly infected, it was green to look at. It is a place of terrible abuse. Another little Liam. This is not what America stands for.

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MICHAELSON: I.C.E. has pushed back on that narrative saying that they are not abusing anybody. Meanwhile, immigration is an increasingly divisive issue across Europe even though many of the countries debating those policies rely heavily on migrant labor. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh traveled to Southern Spain to meet some of the African migrants who helped to feed that continent.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos and utter human despair at Spain's stores, scenes that fast became fuel for the far right and growing anti-immigration voices on both sides of the Atlantic. But behind these images lies a more complex reality as we found on our journey to try to understand Europe's immigration debate and what drives so many to risk everything to get here.

KARADSHEH: We are in the middle of a sea of plastic so vast, it's visible from space. Greenhouses everywhere you look. This is Almeria in Southern Spain. It is often described as Europe's vegetable garden because of this concentration of greenhouses. It produces millions of tons of fresh fruit and vegetables every year, enough to feed half a billion people.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): In the shadow of one of Europe's agricultural heartlands exists a darker side rarely seen. Slums like this one that have been around for years, home to part of the massive African workforce helping feed this continent. In a scene of squalor in modern day Europe, we find migrants from North and West Africa. In his previous life, Amoateng Foster was a math teacher in Ghana. Two years ago, he left it all behind, saying he paid smugglers about $2,300 for a perilous journey through Libya and across the Mediterranean, eventually making it to Spain.

AMOATENG FOSTER, GHANIAN MIGRANT WORKER: And I'm not going to recommend anybody to do so. Very dangerous.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): He shows us around this rundown shack he shares with another worker.

FOSTER: So this is my place.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Amoateng's story is that of so many parents enduring these subhuman conditions, all for the future of his kids, he says, to save enough to put them through college.

KARADSHEH: A lot of people are saying we don't want any migrants to close the borders. I mean, how does it make you feel?

FOSTER: It become a little bit worried. Everything that they are doing here is farming, and the workers that they are using is all of us who are immigrants. These white people, they can't do it. The government has saw the need that we are helping them. They're also helping us. It's a mutual benefit.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The Spanish economy relies on migrant workers so heavily that the government announced an amnesty in April, offering legal status to hundreds of thousands already in the country. Amoateng hopes being here legally would bring him rights and respect.

FOSTER: If you are outside the fence, you may think that it's rosary here. It's not rosary here. Look at the environment that we live in. But when you're outside, you may think that, oh, Europe is Europe. No, no, no, no. There's no roses here because you suffer before you can get a scent. Do you know how much they are giving us -- how much they give us here to work in this farm? For one hour, they give you 5 euros. This hot environment like this, you kneel down like this, work continuously just like that, and they give you 5 euros.

[00:50:00]

KARADSHEH (voice-over): We get a glimpse into that grueling reality Amoateng described inside one of the countless greenhouses. These men spend hours delicately planting tomatoes. Their hard labor will soon fill the shelves of European supermarkets. In the sweltering summer heat, temperatures must remain constant in here.

KARADSHEH: We've been here for a few minutes, and this heat is intense. I'm sweating, and I can't begin to imagine what it's like for these guys working in these conditions, in this heat. Apparently, it hit 44 degrees or a 111 Fahrenheit earlier today, and they have to do this for hours and hours. The owner of this greenhouse told us he only hires documented workers and pays the legal minimum wage.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): But across Almeria, you find so many who are undocumented, vulnerable to exploitation, some of it happening in plain sight. At roundabouts and street corners, they wait to be picked up for off the book jobs that pay well below the minimum wage. Off camera, business owners told us they pay what they can afford to still make a profit. The arrival of foreign labor helped revive a region that was once in decline. All around here, you find thriving migrant communities that have left their mark on this place, and the far right has seized on that.

In suburbs like La Canyada that overwhelmingly voted for the populist radical right party vox in the last election, we find pensioners echoing the rhetoric of these parties. If they can work and have papers, great. The rest is an invasion, they tell us. They are people who don't want to integrate. It's a narrative that's been gaining traction across Europe. Fears of demographic change and migrants being blamed for the rise in the cost of living. Scattered graffiti hints at brewing tensions. This one reads, no Muslims, no NGOs. Perhaps a message for the groups on the frontline of this crisis, like the Mercedarian Sisters of Charity. The calls for help to this Catholic NGO helping migrants get back on their feet seem non-stop during our visit. Sister Francisca turned 80 this month, but there's no rest for this woman on a mission.

SISTER FRANCISCA, MERCEDARIAN SISTERS OF CHARITY (translated): So they come saying we're hungry. We want a sandwich.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): At the food distribution center, the hungry queue for donations from local supermarkets. Emel tells us she hasn't eaten today. Sometimes she doesn't have money to buy water and bread. She had to leave her six and four-year-old children in Morocco, she tells us, and came here on a contract to pick strawberries. After a dispute with her employer, she found herself on the street begging for any work. It was poverty that brought me here, she says. If I had something back home, I wouldn't have come.

Sister Francisca remembers a time when there were no migrants here, then the greenhouses came. The road to a better life has led so many to this miserable place. It is in this land of plastic and shattered dreams where Europe's paradox is laid bare. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Almeria, Spain.

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MICHAELSON: Wow. It's powerful reporting there. When we come back, prince Harry and his family surprised many by announcing an upcoming move back to the U.K. New reports suggest what could have fueled their decision. Could we see Meghan back on the big screen?

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MICHAELSON: Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex could be planning a return to acting. A person familiar with ongoing discussion says that Prince Harry's wife could join the Netflix show, the gentleman. It's all theoretical for now. The show created by Guy Ritchie has not even been confirmed for third season by Netflix. This is quite a thing for them to try to get third season though, if you're negotiating that.

It is produced in the United Kingdom where she's headed. Add in the speculation, the fact that Prince Harry and Meghan just announced they are planning to move back to Britain with their two young kids. Meghan stopped acting about nine years ago when she became even more famous as the duchess, but it would be quite something to see her come back.

Philanthropist Nancy Kissinger who was the wife of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died. She was 92-years-old. The couple met in the 1960s when she worked for New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Longtime family friend Michael Bloomberg posted this on X. "Nancy Kissinger was a powerhouse of ideas and insights that she put to work throughout her life in government and philanthropy and as Henry's most valued and trusted advisor. She was the ultimate diplomat as wise as she was discreet. I know how completely Henry admired and loved her. Diana and I were fortunate to call her a dear friend and to see their extraordinary partnership in action over the decades. We will miss her greatly."