Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Massive Dust Storm Sweeps Across Arizona; Trump Suggests DOJ Could Investigate Chris Christie Over Bridgegate; Coast Guard Seizes 76,000+ Pounds Of Cocaine & Marijuana; Teens Rush Into Burning Utah Home To Save Trapped Dogs; SC Bystanders Rescue Ride-Share Driver After Car Plunges In Creek; Satirical Media Publication The Onion Revives Print Edition. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 26, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:55]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, take a look at this right here, a jaw-dropping sight that looks like something out of a Doomsday movie. This giant wall of dust swallowing Phoenix and its surrounding areas and plunging the area into near-zero visibility.

Now, this time-lapse video on your screen right here shows just how dark things got as the dust moved in, look at that, darkening the sky and making it look like the sun was setting.

Meanwhile, at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, the storm's 70-mile-per-hour wind gust shredded a connector bridge and caused major delays. At one point, airport officials issued a ground stop on all flights.

Now, here's, look at this right here, here's how things looked for drivers on the road, the dust nearly blinding everything in front of them. I couldn't drive in that.

Drivers told to stop and pull over when faced with a dust storm like this. It's called a haboob, and that's exactly what this woman did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in the middle of a haboob.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can see (INAUDIBLE) the dust.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And can't --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- see anything. We're in the middle of the haboob. We're in our car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's flaring up. We can -- we can see a little bit in front of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there's a car behind us, but we're kind of --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No (INAUDIBLE) --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I can see the house on the corner here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Yes, Doomsday movie, horror movie.

Meanwhile, look at this right here. This footage shows the severe thunderstorms that then followed the dust. I mean, a wild weather day in Arizona, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us now.

Allison, I know you said that, you know, folks in Arizona and the desert, they're used to stuff like this, but still, I mean, this is wild to see.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): It is, absolutely. And it doesn't make it any easier to drive in something like that, just because you may have experienced one or two before in your lifetime. They're also incredibly fast moving.

Take a look at the time-lapse video behind me. This again, there you can see the haboob as it enters into the Phoenix area, very, very quickly coming in. The skies get dark.

And then here, yes, now you can actually see the raindrops on the camera as well, because that's what happens. That's what these are. These are essentially the outflow ahead of the thunderstorm.

So let's kind of break that down. So you understand where this concept comes from.

So here you have your general thunderstorm. OK. And out ahead of it, you're going to get what's called outflow, those very strong winds out ahead of it. What that's doing is all of that is picking up all of the dust near the surface in the ground. It's churning it all up. And yes, they can get thousands of feet high into the air. It's pushing all of that dust out ahead. And then the thunderstorm itself wraps around from behind.

So let's break it down from what happened yesterday. OK. So, this is a look at about 8:30 yesterday. Here's Phoenix on the map. This is the thunderstorm in question.

Now at 8:30, the temperature was 101 degrees, winds roughly between 20 to 25 miles per hour. Now you fast forward about 15 minutes, that temperature has dropped down to 91 degrees and winds getting up in that 60 mile per hour range. Then you go a few minutes later, the temperatures dropped down to 79, a few minutes later down to 76, but the winds are 70 miles an hour.

So you saw a temperature drop of 35 degrees in 30 minutes. And those winds just skyrocketing up incredibly fast. And that's what picks all of that dust up and really just spreads it into the area.

Now we do have more showers and thunderstorms in the forecast for today. So you could in turn, end up getting some additional images looking just like this as we finish out the rest of the day.

FREEMAN: Yes. I'll just put this on the list of weather incidents. I definitely do not want to experience personally or firsthand.

Allison, appreciate you. Thank you.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I (ph) on that list.

All right. Alex Jones is right wing conspiracy driven Infowar is about to be up for sale again, paving the way for The Onion. Yes, that one, The Onion to revive its bid and enough drugs to kill the entire population of Florida seized by federal agents. One of the biggest busts ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:39:09]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning. President Trump is not ruling out the possibility of a criminal investigation into his ally-turned- critic, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you plan to investigate Chris Christie?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Look, Chris is a slob. Everybody knows it. I know Chris better than anybody in the room. I always felt he was guilty.

But what he did is he took the George Washington Bridge, which is very serious. He closed down the George Washington Bridge.

If they want to look at it, they can. You can ask Pam. I think we have other things to do. But I always thought he got away with murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Not for nothing. You know who didn't actually always think Chris Christie got away with murder? Donald Trump.

So, the President was referring there to the 2013 scandal (INAUDIBLE) Bridgegate. Two former officials linked to Christie's office were found guilty of conspiracy and fraud for their part in it all. But the Supreme Court threw out those convictions in 2020. And Trump actually congratulated Christie at the time.

[09:40:07]

He wrote, quote, congratulations to former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie and all others involved on a complete and total exoneration on the Obama DOJ Scam referred to as Bridgegate.

With us now is Attorney George Conway. George, good to see you here.

So there's floating this idea of an investigation into Chris Christie. There is the actual federal investigation into former National Security Advisor John Bolton, the search of his home, which you witnessed firsthand down the street from your home in Bethesda.

What do you see as going on here?

GEORGE CONWAY, ATTORNEY: Oh, it's funny. I witnessed that search, and then I was also stuck on the bridge one of the days that they closed it down.

It's just absurd. I mean, it is absolutely silly. That case, you know, the Bridgegate case was never, never criminal. Everybody knew it wasn't criminal. The Supreme Court found it wasn't criminal.

But Donald Trump raises this now, long after I'm sure the statute of limitations is run, because that's what Donald Trump is about. He's all about vengeance. He's not about the public. He's not about doing the right thing by America. He's about, oh, can I win a Nobel Peace Prize? Oh, can I defeat my enemies? Because he's obsessed with defeating his enemies, defeating, criticizing, and ultimately now, because he has the power to do it, prosecuting people who disagree with him.

And this is not America. This is not healthy. This is, and I hate, you know, people don't want to reach this conclusion. This is authoritarianism. We have never seen anything like this in America. Everybody else in the entire world, I traveled to Europe twice this year, and people were watching out there because they understand history.

And they're seeing in America things that happened. I was in Spain. They're seeing what happened with Franco. In Europe, they're seeing what happened with Hitler. This is how it's done. And it may seem alarmist to Americans who enjoy their, you know, who enjoy our lives here, a beautiful country with so many things to do and so many ways to entertain ourselves.

And it's time for Americans to wake up. This is serious. Donald Trump, people may laugh at him because he appears to be such a clown, he's profoundly dangerous because he has the power of prosecution. And every time he says something like this, Americans should take note.

BERMAN: I want to note that yesterday, President Trump says he hadn't been briefed on the investigation and the search of John Bolton's home. That's what he said.

But I want to play for you the way that Vice President JD Vance talked about the investigation and search of John Bolton's home just the other day.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: If we bring a case, of course, we haven't done that yet. The Department of Justice has not done that yet. We are investigating Ambassador Bolton. But if they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determined that he has broken the law.

We're going to be careful about that. We're going to be deliberate about that because we don't think that we should throw people, even if they disagree with us politically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, a lot of people heard that, George, and thought the most notable word they kept on using was we. Why does that word matter here?

CONWAY: We, we, we, we, we, we matters because this means that they view what they're doing at the Department of Justice in terms of who they prosecute, who they select to prosecute as something that is White House policy. They are part and parcel of prosecutions. This is not the way America has conducted prosecutions really ever has conducted the -- the cause of justice has to be independent of politics.

And it's not here. It's not. And we're seeing that left and right. We've seen the President threatening -- threatening people who dissented from him in the first administration who expressed views like the fellow who had headed the cyber unit, I forget the name of it.

BERMAN: Chris Krebs.

CONWAY: Who said that the election wasn't rigged. He's now -- Chris Krebs. That's right. And President Trump, the administration has threatened to investigate him for what for doing his job.

This is absolutely abusive and appalling. And for those people out there who support the President and say, well, I just don't like those people either. And they want to get the President.

Well, the President actually launched a coup and stole classified documents. But let's leave that aside for those people like you could be next. We could all be next.

This is about not about any individual. It's about our rights as Americans. And it is about our right to have a justice system that is without that where choices about prosecuting are made without fear or favor.

BERMAN: I got about 25 seconds left, George. I want to know your take the President firing or attempting to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook overnight. Do you think he has the legal authority to do that?

[09:45:07] CONWAY: No, he does not have the legal authority to do that. And it is a trumped up, as far as I can see, it is a trumped up, I should (INAUDIBLE). I don't mean that as a pun, a charge. And it's going to be dangerous to the financial markets if the financial markets perceive that Donald Trump of all people is in charge. The most erratic man on the planet is in charge of monetary policy.

BERMAN: President says it's over mortgage, alleged mortgage fraud that he has caused. We will see what the courts say about that.

George Conway, thank you so much for coming on this morning. Appreciate it.

Danny?

FREEMAN: Coming up next, a doorbell camera catches teens rushing to rescue dogs from a burning home.

Plus, a rideshare vehicle took a wrong turn into a creek, but a good Samaritan dove in to help. That next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:23]

FREEMAN: The U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 76,000 pounds worth of drugs at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, 61,000 pounds of cocaine and 14,000 pounds of pot were taken. Officials say that amount of cocaine alone would be enough to quote, fatally overdose the entire population of Florida.

Now this is the largest quantity of drugs offloaded in Coast Guard history, all valued at $473 million.

And this now, two teens in Utah are being recognized as heroes. You see, they jumped a fence and ran toward a neighbor's house that was on fire as propane tanks exploded nearby.

Well, they spotted two dogs trapped inside.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got the dog.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So neighbors say their quick action kept the fire from spreading and saved lives.

And to this now a frightening moment on South Carolina's Isle of Palms, a rideshare car went into a creek after leaving a marina parking lot on Saturday. Well, two bystanders, they jumped in and pulled the driver out just before the car sank. He'll be OK.

Officials say the heavy rain made it hard to see where the road ended and the water began.

John?

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, JD Vance asks National Guard member if he can touch gun. Yes, that's a real headline, not on CNN.com. It's featured today on The Onion, along with God admits heaven was way cooler in the '70s and nutritionist Warren Taco Bell, $3 steak burrito, a $3 steak burrito.

With us now is Chief Executive of The Onion, Ben Collins. Ben, great to see you.

How did you decide what to lead with today?

BEN COLLINS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE ONION: Look, there are a lot of things going on in the world, but the steak burrito is almost certainly the most important thing that could be happening or talking about. And it's frankly appalling. You guys didn't leave with it at eight o'clock (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We did not have our senior $3 steak burrito correspondent assigned correctly this morning, Ben.

In this political environment that we are in, we did see that JD Vance, you know, ask National Guard member check, you know, touch gun headline.

How much do you feel like you have to focus on the biggest stories of the day? The biggest scandals?

COLLINS: Yes, I think like what the best part about The Onion is that we haven't changed this whole time. Every day, 15 writers going to a writer's room Chicago and they walk in with 160 headlines and leave with like one or two, maybe.

We don't use AI. We don't do any of that stuff. We just focus on what's -- what we know is important as like human beings.

So, then we come up with stuff like this. Like for example, our last issue has, Trump rights, Netanyahu strongly worded check, RFK Jr. fires, piss czar. Sorry. I don't know if I can say that on CNN. That's the kind of thing that we end up with all the time. Obviously sometimes we talk about the burrito though.

FREEMAN: Yes. Yes. The important news there still has to get through.

Ben, I'm curious cause -- cause you were a regular newsman over another network for -- for a long time. Has it been difficult for you transitioning into, satire, even though the headlines these days in regular news outlets seem crazier than ever?

COLLINS: Look, I -- I leave it to the experts. I'm -- I'm no comedy writer. I'm just a local news. Oh, such as you guys, you guys, we would be bad in more of those rooms. I think we both know that.

So I let the process of The Onion kind of do what it's supposed to do. However, I think there is a moment right now where people are looking towards The Onion, in a way that they need some sort of catharsis or, you know, a salve for what's going on in the world.

We try to do this in a way that if you see White House evacuated after trans alarm goes off, it's probably closer huge reality than a lot of stuff that you'll see on an op-ed page throughout the country. We try to provide that relief right now. And it's working.

We have over 50,000 subscribers, 50 -- 55,000 subscribers, in over, 50 countries and all 50 States, that we ship to every month.

BERMAN: So I was noticing you actually held up a paper copy. What -- what's -- what -- what -- what was that?

COLLINS: Yes.

FREEMAN: Your hand.

BERMAN: What is that paper edition of a news thing?

COLLINS: Yes, look, I know it's against the law to try to, make something with your hands again, like this, but we are -- we are doing this, and it's working. People really seem to like this thing.

Look, the world is covered in like AI slop and gruel, and we're just like trudging through the internet, which has become horrible to find information. if you get something in the mail, that's actually good and nice and like worked on by human beings. People really do appreciate it.

[09:55:07]

So, thankfully we've been able to capitalize on that as a concept. We are now the 13th biggest newspaper in the United States, which says a lot about everything, but we are happy to take up the mantle.

FREEMAN: Yes, and just quickly, Ben, we only have a few seconds left, but it's nice that the legacy is still living on, because there was a couple of days ago on X where people were sharing their favorite Onion headlines, and I don't know, it's nice that you've kept that going.

COLLINS: Yes, look, man, I really wanted to save this thing. A year and a half ago, this thing was in private equity hell. It was aggressively for sale, and when we took over, we kept everybody. Instead of, you know, making a robot do everything and giving everyone an AI girlfriend, we gave everybody a raise, and it's been working out instead.

So it's a nice use case for the news media, including your bosses. Everyone give those two people on the screen right now a raise, and the news will get better. This is how it goes.

BERMAN: Wow. I mean, if you're saying it, hopefully it will come true. FREEMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Ben Collins, listen, thank you for being with us. We're big fans. We appreciate it. We do know also you continue your effort to buy Infowars, owned by Alex Jones. We continue to watch that, I think, avidly with bated breath.

Thank you all so much, everyone, for joining us.

Danny Freeman, thank you for being here. Superstar.

FREEMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: I keep on looking at the monitor. I'm like, who's that younger, better-looking version of me over there?

FREEMAN: Oh no, no.

BERMAN: All right. "THE SITUATION ROOM" will go next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)