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More Than a Dozen University Targeted By Active Shooter Hoaxes; Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Many Trump Tariffs; Lawmakers Still Searching for Answers After Deadly Texas Floods; Powerful Earthquake Batters Eastern Afghanistan, 800 Plus Dead; Cheaper Travel Leads to Record Weekend. Aired 8:30-9 am ET

Aired September 01, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:54]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right this morning the FBI is investigating a new wave of actor shooter hoaxes at college campuses across the country over the past ten days. More than a dozen colleges and universities have been targeted by the false reports. Now, law enforcement has to investigate every single one as a credible threat.

With us now is the former Chief of Homeland Security in Washington D.C. Donell Harvin. He's now a faculty member at Georgetown University's Emergency and Disaster Management Program.

Thanks so much for being with us. First, you know, why do you think this is happening and to what extent is there a follow-on effect?

DONELL HARVIN, HOMELAND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, we've seen these hoaxes and it's called swatting attacks. That's when these individuals will call 911 from a number that actually looks like the number that they're responding to. And call in a series of hoaxes. We saw this with lawmakers and politicians last year. And now it's moving to colleges and schools. And I think because it's a credible threat, right?

And so if they can provide 911 with something that looks like it's going to be real, they're going to respond in force. And that's what you're seeing.

BERMAN: And how do -- I said, law enforcement really has to respond to every single one as if it's a credible threat. I mean, what do you do if you are in law enforcement and you know that there are these -- there is this string of hoaxes out there?

HARVIN: Yeah. This is really hard, John. I was a first responder for many years. And sometimes when we would go to a location, we would ask the dispatcher to do what we call a callback.

You know, because it didn't sound right. In this case, when the dispatcher calls back, if these actors are sophisticated enough, they can do what's called spoofing in the cyber world, which means that the caller I.D. that they're using calls directly back to the school.

Now, if no one picks up, they're going to say, you know, no one's picking up. And these individuals have to take this seriously, especially when we see the shooting that we saw last week.

BERMAN: Well, that's the thing, right? Last week, there were a series of these college hoaxes and we were very much focused on them. And then there were reports that awful morning about what was happening in Minneapolis.

[08:35:00]

And it did raise questions. One did wonder for the first few minutes that they heard the calls coming in. Oh, you know, is this real? It does create that moment of pause for law enforcement, right?

HARVIN: John, it was so weird because I was on this show at 8:50 in the morning, the day of the shooting, talking about the spoofing and swatting attack. That we're talking about now as that school shootings unfolding. And so in this world, no one can take these things lightly.

Schools have to really look at their emergency plans, get their children and their staff ready for the potential for an active shooter, whether it's a drill or a fake or not. And law enforcement has to rush to these things full bore. And that's really the danger here.

You know, law enforcement, firefighters, police officers, they could crash as they're going to one of these scenes and hurt themselves or other people.

BERMAN: You know this -- I may be paying closer attention to this because I have college age kids and I know students at some of the colleges that have been pinpointed here. But it does seem that there is this new way focused specifically this season on colleges and universities. Do you have any sense of why that might be? If there's any reason to think this is one person doing this?

HARVIN: It's so hard to know. And often these investigations say they land overseas. This could be non-state actors. Sometimes they're just individuals who are sophisticated enough and just want to sow dissent. And so I know the intelligence community is working with the law enforcement community to track these things down. But sometimes it's very difficult.

And the problem is you talk about your school age kids, John. There is this vicarious emotional trauma that students get, regardless of whether this is real or not, especially when they see this happening all across the country and it's actually happening in real life at schools and churches. So, it's tough.

BERMAN: Yeah, I mean, students, I know students have had to leave orientation, ending up going back with their parents for a night because they just didn't know if it was safe to be on the campus. They had just showed up to showed up to for their freshman year. It's not good. All right. Donell Harvin, appreciate you being with us. Thank you very

much.

Bianna?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: It's really alarming. The last thing students need to worry about.

All right. New this morning, President Trump's efforts to reshape the nation's trade policy have taken a hit after a federal appeals court ruled that most of his sweeping global tariffs are unlawful.

However, the ruling will not take effect until at least October 14th. Now, that gives the Trump administration time to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

CNN's Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten joins me now on how Americans are feeling about tariffs. And it's interesting you and I were talking about this. I never viewed tariffs as popular with Americans, but at least for Trump's base and supporters at one point, they were really giving him the benefit of the doubt here. What changed?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah, they really were, Bianna. And I will note it was not just the base. It was the overall American public and they have turned against tariffs the same way college football pundits have turned against Arch Manning after his performance in Columbus on Saturday.

Look at this new tariffs on imported goods. You go back to November of 2024. Look, the popular position was favor. They favored new tariffs on imported goods. Fifty two percent. Forty eight percent opposed. You go to this side. Look at that. The opposition up like a rocket.

We're talking about 60% opposing new tariffs compared to just 40% in favor. So, it was majority favor back when Trump was reelected in November of 2024. Now, it's a clear three in five Americans oppose it. The Americans have gotten a taste of the tariffs and they spit it right out.

GOLODRYGA: So, is the taste paying more? I mean, because that's how economists have always described this as actually a tax on consumers.

ENTEN: Yes, exactly. Why is the opposition up like a rocket? Well, it all comes down to money out of the pocketbook, right? Impact of tariffs on prices. Look at this in the short term. Seventy seven percent of Americans now agree they increase. They raise prices in the short term.

Look at this itty-bitty number at the bottom. That's one, two, three, four. When you can count it on your own hand, you know it's a small percentage. Just four percent of Americans believe that in the short- term tariffs decrease prices long-term.

Look, this has long been the Donald Trump argument, right? That even if they're short-term pain in the long-term will pay off. Uh-uh. Not according to Americans. Impact of tariffs on prices even over the long term. Look at that.

Fifty percent say increase, just 25%, just half the level, say decrease. And while 25% in this particular case is better than four percent, 25% is way less than 50% of Americans who say that. In fact, prices will increase over the long term because of tariffs.

GOLODRYGA: Can you do me a favor and go find who the four percent are?

ENTEN: I will go ahead. I will do some on the street reporting.

GOLODRYGA: I'm stunned that there's even four percent of American.

ENTEN: I'm sure I can go out to Times Square and see what I can find out there.

GOLODRYGA: OK, but in all seriousness, from the tariff policy to the trade policy, how is it impacting Trump's overall approval?

ENTEN: Right. OK, if this was happening in a bubble, right, and it was OK, I don't like tariffs, but it isn't impacting my overall view of Trump, I think Trump would be like, eh, forget about it, doesn't matter. But this is why the political implications are so important, because "Fox News" literally asks, what's the top reason that Trump's doing a bad job? What ranks as number one? The economy and tariffs ranks as number one. The number one reason why those who disapprove of Trump think he's doing a bad job.

[08:40:12]

It comes right back to tariffs. The bottom line is this. When prices go up, presidential approval ratings go down. And that's exactly what we are seeing in the polling, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Perhaps this was the deflection that Ron Brownstein was talking about in a segment in the last hour about the increase in these ICE raids, because they're deflecting from something the president is not happy about. This would be it.

ENTEN: That's often something that Donald Trump will do is if he sees something he doesn't like, he's going to go in the other direction and try and bring the American mindset with him.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Harry Enten, good to be with you.

ENTEN: Nice to be with you.

GOLODRYGA: John?

BERMAN: All right. With us now is Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas.

Congressman, I got to ask you, you're in Austin, I think, this morning. I don't know if you heard Harry Enten just there take this unprovoked swipe at quarterback Arch Manning. I just want to give you a chance to respond to that this morning, since you had to listen to it. REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): Well, absolutely, I was appalled. I'm very much a longhorn and hook of horns. So, we're going to have a better week ahead. It was a tough game, well played by Ohio State. And I think Texas will get better and better and come back and it will be a good season for us. An issue of the day, John.

BERMAN: After what Harry said, I had to give you equal time. I think there are there are rules for me to do that there.

Listen, Congressman, you also heard Harry there talking about tariffs and the slipping popularity of the tariffs and concerns about the economy. What are you hearing from your constituents around Austin?

DOGGETT: Well, those that remember President Trump told us in January that he was going to bring prices drastically down. And whether it's a cup of coffee or a new car or any number of things in between at the grocery store, prices keep going up as a direct result of President Trump imposing a new tax by himself called a tariff. And we were are now paying significantly more than we were at the beginning of the year in Trump tariff taxes.

I think as manufacturers or as importers deplete their inventory, we will have more and more of an impact. Don't know the impact on the holidays, but the prices will be higher everywhere.

John, I see all of this just like the other issues you've been discussing this morning and reporting on, whether it's the invasion of American cities with the military, the tariff tax, the decision by the president to repeal or terminate funding that a Republican Congress had approved.

All of these things are just part of a pattern of President Trump wanting unrestrained one-man rule, which we call tyranny or dictatorship. And that's the path that we're on. And the Republican Congress is sitting there idly, willing to approve anything that he does or at least to be quiet about it if they're unwilling to give it a direct approval.

BERMAN: You just brought up rescissions, repealing funding that Congress has approved. There are some members of your party who think this is grounds to shut down the government by the end of the month. Where do you stand on that?

DOGGETT: Well, it's a very tough decision. I think if the government shut down, it will clearly be the result of the Trump administration. And I voted previously against the continuing resolution. We face the question of whether we are in what is the least worst alternative. Are we in a worse situation if Trump is there with no government funding approved or in trying to reach some kind of agreement where we know we are dealing with a totally untrustworthy individual in the form of Trump.

The fact that a Republican Congress approves money for international peacekeeping, for democracy promotion, for economic development so that we don't let the Chinese rule the underdeveloped world. All of these are things that Trump just said, I'll terminate it and you can't do anything about it. We could do something about it this week or next, but Republicans are unlikely to let us even have a debate or vote on this because they are so intent, so fearful, I guess, really, of Trump imposing a mean tweet against one of them that they won't take action if it differs from Trump in the slightest.

BERMAN: He does --

DOGGETT: The only exception has been the Jeffrey Epstein sex tapes, and we'll see whether Republicans are willing to get to the bottom of that or not.

BERMAN: Discharge fishing could ripen. You could have a vote on that soon. This month, it does sound like you have some concerns, as do many Democrats, that actually shutting down the government might give the president even more power to take unilateral action.

But I do want to ask you about another subject quickly, because I know it's something you care deeply about. Obviously, the floods in Texas, which killed so many people, including children. You are still asking questions of the federal government, and you seem to be having a hard time getting answers. What are you asking? What are they telling you?

[08:45:02]

DOGGETT: Well, John, that's so true. I was there for the prayer service for one of these little second graders to lose 27 people from mostly little girls from one camp and 116 and all is something that is so painful. I was asking before this tragedy happened for the NOAA and the National Weather Service to tell us about the impact of Trump's slash and burn, Elon Musk coming in, eliminating people no matter how good they were, not with a matter of efficiency, but wanting to build up a federal body count.

I've simply been asking since this tragedy, this catastrophe, give us the data on what actually happened that night. We know that critical positions were not filled that night. Some question as to whether camps and people in the area, other than one person in Kerr County, who apparently was asleep, got the notice in the middle of the night to rescue and prevent this from ever happening.

The National Weather Service for two months, though its director told me it would be easy to produce the call logs, the chat logs, the radar logs, so we can find out what actually happened that night. They stonewalled me and they failed to produce it.

I think there were mistakes, errors, gross negligence at the local level, a failure by the state of Texas, but we need to understand what went wrong at the federal level in order to prevent this from happening again. And of course, this unresponsiveness, this is characteristic of this administration that doesn't believe in transparency, because when you have one-man, authoritarian rule, you don't have to have any accountability with a Republican Congress that is so compliant.

BERMAN: Congressman Lloyd Doggett from Texas, we do appreciate your time today. Headed back to Washington, I know, this week.

Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Breaking overnight, at least 800 people are dead and more than 2,000 are injured after a massive earthquake struck the country of Afghanistan. A 6.0 magnitude quake tore through a mountainous area in the country's east. Entire villages are believed to be wiped out. And this morning, rescue crews are struggling to reach victims and survivors who might be trapped in rubble in remote areas.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins me now for more on this. And Nic, sadly, I would imagine that death toll is likely to rise. What more are we learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, it is expected to rise. We know that the hospitals nearby where some of the victims are being taken to are struggling because they don't have enough medical equipment. They can't get to all the villages that they need to get to because landslides have taken out the roads.

One international NGO, International Rescue Committee, said the entire villages had been wiped out. And they say part of this is due to the quake. Part of it is also due to the fact there's been extreme rains in the area.

There's been a lot of flooding, which has weakened roads, weakened buildings. And when we think of buildings in these remote, rural, mountainous communities, they're not solid brick-and-mortar constructions. They are often rocks held together with mud, with flimsy wooden frames in some cases.

So, these -- these are homes that were easily damaged in this quake. But there are a couple of other reasons that the death toll and injury toll is so high. One of those reasons is because the quake struck in the overnight hours when most people would have been in their homes sleeping.

So, the immediate rescue and recovery efforts were hampered by darkness, so many people being trapped underneath the mud, underneath the rubble. And the other thing that's contributed to the high death toll here is the fact that this quake's 6.0 magnitude was relatively shallow, about five miles deep. It's in the east of Afghanistan.

There are a couple of nearby sort of population centers, Jalalabad and Asadabad. But even getting injured casualties to those main locations where there are hospitals, most of the video we're seeing is of helicopters arriving again because of the remoteness, because of the damaged roads, because of the difficulty getting out to those communities.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, maybe a while before we get a full assessment. Quite tragic indeed. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

Well, frightening moments caught on camera at an amusement park in Pennsylvania as a child is pulled to safety after climbing on a monorail track. Tell you how he managed to get up there. Plus, an investigation is underway right now after a deadly midair

collision between two small planes in Colorado.

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[08:54:05]

BERMAN: New report in the New York Times. The family of Robert Mueller reveals he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease four years ago. A congressional committee has since canceled plans to have the 81-year- old former FBI director testify this week about the FBI's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

One person is dead, several others injured after a car crashed through a Washington grocery store. It happened just outside Seattle. Police say the car crashed right through the front doors. Witnesses say the driver of the car was an elderly woman. The crash is still under investigation.

A terrifying moment at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania. A child seen walking on the park's monorail track nearly 100 feet in the air. A crowd below shouting and trying to guide the boy to safety. That one man climbed onto a concession stand roof and lifted the child down. You can see that happening right there. He said after that his dad instincts kicked in. The child was unharmed and reunited with his family. Hersheypark does say the monorail was closed at the time.

[08:55:06]

This morning, new dispatch audio from the deadly mid-air collision near Fort Morgan Municipal Airport in northeast Colorado. Two small planes hit each other while trying to land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fort Morgan Fire Department at the airport for a plane crash. Unknown injuries at this time. Do you have a report of smoke and flames? All units responding to the airport have reported to be two planes that crashed. One party is still trapped inside. Two miles north of the airport for possibly two aircraft collision in the air. Currently see black smoke. Aren't seeing active flames at this time, unknown injuries. Do believe there's one person trapped in one of the planes. North of the Fort Morgan Airport. Approximately two miles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Two people in a Cessna made it out with minor injuries. One person in the second plane died. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.

Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: As we wrap up the summer, millions of Americans are traveling this Labor Day and what is expected to be the busiest holiday travel weekend on record. Airports across the country will be packed today as millions head home from their Labor Day getaways. The TSA says nearly 17 million travelers passed through security checkpoints this holiday weekend.

Joining me now is the Managing Editor at The Points Guy, Clint Henderson. Clint, good to see you. So, we stayed local, it appears, at least for today --

CLINT HENDERSON: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: -- avoiding airport. 17.4 million travelers, according to TSA. Is that a new record?

HENDERSON: Yeah, another new record. If the numbers hold up as predicted, which they look like they're going to, every summer I say, oh, it can't get any more crowded than it already is, and every summer we break new records. So, that's despite a slight drop in travel demand and drops in prices. So, we're still seeing a lot of demand out there. Airlines are cutting prices a little bit to try to juice that demand.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and it's working. More travelers are passing through airports. How are the airports themselves holding up?

HENDERSON: So, it's actually been a remarkably good weekend, unless you're flying American Airlines in and out of Dallas.

GOLODRYGA: OK.

HENDERSON: It's been really bad. There were thunderstorms, and DFW, sometimes in the industry we call it, doesn't function wet because if there's thunderstorms, things shut down. It's cascading delays. The planes are out of position, pilots, flight attendants. So, it's been a bit of a mess.

Today's looking better, so fingers crossed the rest of the day will go OK for Dallas in particular.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, weather delays can be a nightmare.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

GOLODRYGA: So, our travelers, it sounds like they are finally catching a break in terms of lower fares.

HENDERSON: Yeah, I've called this the summer of savings. We saw prices in an analysis with a company called Points Path. We did an analysis. Prices for Labor Day weekend down 7% to 8%, depending on where you're going. The only issue is looking ahead to the holidays right now. That data also shows that prices are expected to be higher for Thanksgiving, for Christmas.

So, set your flight alerts now. I do think prices will drop dramatically between now and October, which is the ideal window to book holiday flights.

GOLODRYGA: And the price hikes that you're expecting are because of what? What are airlines anticipating? HENDERSON: So, airlines have been playing catch-up, and they've finally started making cuts to capacity. So, they're reducing the number of flights because there's been less demand. So, less flights, less seats means higher prices in general.

Now, will that hold? I don't think so. I think you still have some time to get the deal for home for the holidays. So, don't give up hope yet, but start tracking prices now.

GOLODRYGA: And some of the top destinations this weekend?

HENDERSON: Oh, my gosh. Las Vegas.

GOLODRYGA: OK.

HENDERSON: Seattle.

GOLODRYGA: Why? I saw Seattle. I mean, Seattle's a beautiful city, but why Seattle?

HENDERSON: Amazing, because Seattle was such a bargain coming out of the pandemic. Now, it's really expensive to go there, really popular. I was just there. Cruise ships. It's all about cruise ships. It's all about people going to Alaska and leaving from Seattle on these Alaska cruises, which have been doing gangbusters. It's wild.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah. We haven't gone to Alaska yet, but I keep hearing how beautiful it is.

HENDERSON: It is.

GOLODRYGA: We need to book our trip soon. In terms of when to book, you said perhaps prices will continue to go lower when we're looking for the holiday season and the weeks ahead.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

GOLODRYGA: So, don't do it as soon as you come back after Labor Day, right?

HENDERSON: Correct. So, what you do is set a Google flight alert now, monitor those prices. The ideal window is usually October, so one to two months ahead of time. But if you see a deal, jump on it. And remember, you have to book by Halloween. If you don't book by Halloween, prices will skyrocket from then on. So, the earlier the better, but you can wait until late September, October.

GOLODRYGA: OK. So, you have some time.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

GOLODRYGA: Where is the best? What are the best sites to go to in terms of finding?

HENDERSON: Oh, absolute favorite. People ask me if I work for Google because I recommend them so much. No. Google Flights, you can set price alerts. Google Flights has this feature called Explore. You put in your home airport. You have an interactive map that opens up. You can find the cheapest places in your own state or around the world. So, Google Flights Explore is my hidden trick for everybody.

GOLODRYGA: And looking at consumer behavior specifically, we're in a weird period where the economy is still growing, but concerns are that we will see a slowdown. There have been a drop in hiring over the summer, concerns about the tariffs impacts. What are you seeing?

[09:00:02]

HENDERSON: We're seeing dramatic drops in international incoming visitors to the United States. That's particularly affecting cities like Las Vegas. So, a lot less Canadians coming to the United States right now. That's something we're watching very carefully.

Right now Americans are still traveling like crazy, but we have seen reduced demands. The airlines are -- are not predicting as good a year as they were at the beginning of the year. So, that's something we're watching very carefully.

GOLODRYGA: OK. Clint Henderson, nice to meet you in person. Thanks so much.

HENDERSON: Good to see you.

GOLODRYGA: All right. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.