Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Oil Prices Spike Amid Escalating Iran War; Former Bank Executive Testifies About Epstein Allegations; Deadly Legionnaires' Outbreak in New York City; Trump Says Saudis Must Join Abraham Accords for Nuke Deal; Trump Vows to Punish Iran if Houthis Attack Ships; House Judiciary GOP Chair Asks DOJ to Consider Charging Jack Smith; NYT Fights Back in Court Against DOJ Subpoenas; Singer D4vd Could Face Trial Over Killing a 14-Year-Old Girl. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 23, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- Department of Homeland Security said they had reviewed public voter data from four specific states, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, and found tens of thousands, I think more than 200,000 non-citizens on the roll. We're talking about potential non-citizens, because they were looking at public data. Even officials from those states immediately came out and they said, show us your math. We have no idea where that information is coming from.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": There are false positives.

COHEN: Right, because there are many false positives that are found through this DHS system. But also, they reviewed data from several Republican states who had voluntarily handed over their full unredacted voter lists. And what DHS said was that they had found 28,000 non-citizens. They said 28,000 non-citizens.

In reality, once again, we are talking about potential non-citizens. Even the Republican officials in those states say we need to really vet these numbers and they are likely wildly inflated. But just to show you the numbers, the raw data that DHS had provided for North Carolina and Georgia, I think they said about 1,500 potential non- citizens were found in North Carolina and the number was somewhere around 2,600 for Georgia.

What we would be talking about there is about 0.02 percent of North Carolina's electorate and about 0.03 percent of Georgia's electorate. And I talked to election officials in Georgia who had looked at those numbers. Again, they're still vetting them, but they said from what we can tell of this list of 2,600 people, only 20 of them, about 20 of them, have ever cast a ballot in the state.

And we don't even know if those people are non-citizens. 20 people would amount to 0.0003 percent in Georgia. But again, don't get so fixated on the specific number. The point is, officials on both sides of the aisle are looking at these numbers that, again, are messy and likely inflated and they're saying, still, if all of them voted, it would not really prove this crisis of widespread voter fraud or non- citizen voting.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: If the president continues to spread the lie, yeah.

KEILAR: Gabe Cohen, thank you so much for taking us through that. Appreciate it.

And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

A spike in oil prices as the war with Iran threatens to grow into a broader regional conflict. We're tracking the president's latest threats and how Iran is responding. Plus, a former JPMorgan Chase executive in the hot seat as lawmakers question him behind closed doors on his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein. We'll talk to one of the lawmakers who was in that meeting.

SCIUTTO: And public health officials in New York City are scrambling to contain a deadly Legionnaires outbreak that has now claimed five lives. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: Happening now, we're standing by to hear from the president this hour as the war with Iran is triggering some new alarm bells. Just a short time ago, the head of the U.N. posted, quote, "The situation in the Middle East is getting out of control." He urged all leaders, including President Trump, to "step back." He said the fighting must stop.

SCIUTTO: Earlier today, President Trump threatened to punish Iran if its proxy group, the Houthis in Yemen, launch more attacks. Oil prices are now surging after the Houthis claimed to have struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Jerusalem, where a different nuclear deal between the U.S. and Saudis is raising the stakes on all of this.

Nic, I wonder, from where you are in the region, what's the level of concern from officials you're speaking to there that this war is about to enter a new and dangerous phase?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There is a level of concern that that's going to happen, and I think Israel is preparing itself in case that is what comes to pass. It's not what they want to do. They are ready, you know, should Iran bring the war to them. That's what they're saying.

But as far as the Houthis go and the escalation there, President Trump has sort of given them -- not given them a pass on this, far from it, but is not going to respond to this attack. He said, if you do it again, then I'm going to hit Iran that's behind this, and I'm going to hit you.

Now, I think where we go from here depends, in part, what the Saudis do next. And this is where things get complicated. The sources I've been talking to behind the scenes as this whole situation with the Houthis and the Saudis has really heated up in the past few days have indicated that the Saudis would pretty quickly give a military response to the Houthis.

But now throw into that mix today, if you will, the way that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia has probably been thrown off balance because he thought he had a civilian nuclear program agreed with President Trump, and now it seems that the president has put a hurdle in his way, that is normalization with Israel, that he won't do in the current situation, not with this prime minister, not until Israel agrees a pathway to a Palestinian state, a two-state, if you will, here.

[14:05:00]

So what are the Saudis going to do? On the one hand, they've got their U.S. allies saying they'll support them in the war against the Houthis. Do they go to it now? Do they wait and let the Houthis try this again to more shipping? That's the sort of uncertainty that's in play here.

But if the Saudis come into this and the Houthis come in, the Houthis, we can expect to start trying to hit Saudi cities, major Saudi cities, and maybe other countries in the region as well in support of Iran. That's what escalation tonight could look like.

SCIUTTO: Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

Well, a former Trump prosecutor now faces possible prosecution himself. The request is coming from Republican Congressman, Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. He is now urging the Justice Department to consider criminal charges against former Special Counsel, Jack Smith.

Jordan alleges Smith misled Congress about records he obtained during the 2020 election investigation. The DOJ says it has received the referral and will, quote, "investigate all evidence of criminal conduct." President Trump reacted immediately, posting, quote, "Justice at last?"

The dispute centers on phone records collected from members of Congress. Smith testified those records did not include the content of text messages. His attorneys say the referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system.

Joining me now is David Aaronberg, former State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida. David, good to have you.

So two elements to this referral here. The first is on Smith's answers to Congress. Jordan says he misled Congress by saying his team obtained search warrants for toll records -- in other words, who called who, the numbers, et cetera, logs -- but not the content of those communications. Is that omission illegal? Does that justify charges of lying to Congress?

DAVID AARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Does not, Jim. They're trying to twist Jack Smith's words to make it look like he lied. But he did not. What we're seeing here is a political game, not a serious matter for the courts. So during Smith's closed-door deposition before the House committee, he was asked about his subpoena for Republican lawmakers' toll records, as you mentioned. That comes from the telecom companies. That's the log of when calls were made. It's a list of phone numbers.

He was specifically asked that when he sought the toll records, did they include the content of the text messages themselves from members of Congress? He said no. And that's true. In the 13 hours of questioning, Smith was not asked about his subpoena for records from the National Archives, which preserves messages between the White House and everyone else, including members of Congress. That is where Smith got the text messages. And also, it's not a secret what happened here.

Smith's team disclosed the text messages to Trump's lawyers, who suggested at the time that they didn't see anything unlawful or improper.

SCIUTTO: OK. The other piece of this is Congress alleging that by obtaining even toll records involving members of Congress, that that's privileged content under this Speech or Debate Clause that allows members of Congress to debate, et cetera.

Anything illegal there?

AARONBERG: No. So you have the Speech or Debate Clause, and that applies to the legislative branch, which is why Smith targeted the executive branch records through the National Archives. And besides the Speech or Debate Clause, it covers legislative functions. It doesn't cover political advocacy. It doesn't cover campaign strategy, and it certainly doesn't cover insurrection plots. So no, that doesn't hold water.

SCIUTTO: OK. Big picture, we should just note once again, he is the latest on a long list of the president's perceived enemies or people that he doesn't like, right, or think that investigated him and therefore should be punished. From a -- in terms of next steps, Congress has made the referral, now it's up to the Justice Department to decide if they're going to find something criminal here.

Now, the Justice Department has attempted to do so against a whole host of other former officials that the president has targeted, but those cases have most of the time gone nowhere. Do you see a similar path for this?

AARONBERG: Yeah, we saw this with Jim Comey. Remember, they went after Comey originally, not the seashells, that's also bogus, but they went after him for allegedly lying to Congress.

And when you say lying to Congress, it's got to be something that you knowingly did. It can't be, well, I was confused or the question was ambiguous. You can blame the Republican questioners here because their question wasn't precise.

And Jack Smith did not lie. If you want to blame Jack Smith for not proactively offering more information to anticipate what the Senators and members of the House were thinking at the time, then so be it.

[14:10:00]

But it's not a crime. And so this is political retribution. But it's not going anywhere. We saw what happened with Letitia James and James Comey already. This is going to result in more egg on the faces of prosecutors if they decide to file charges.

SCIUTTO: David Aaronberg, thanks for walking us through it.

AARONBERG: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, a legal battle which could have huge ramifications for how journalists are able to cover the White House. So look at the federal hearing taking place as we speak involving the New York Times and the Justice Department.

KEILAR: Plus, a former Chase Bank executive questioned in a closed- door meeting on Capitol Hill as lawmakers seek more answers surrounding sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. We'll talk to one of the Democrats who was inside that meeting.

And a fifth death reported in New York City in an outbreak of Legionnaires disease. We have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:34]

KEILAR: Right now, a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments over whether to uphold subpoenas for reporters at the New York Times. Federal prosecutors are trying to force these journalists to tell them who leaked information about security concerns over President Trump's new Air Force One plane, which was a gift from the government of Qatar.

SCIUTTO: Attorneys for the newspaper are expected to argue that the subpoenas violate the First Amendment and are part of the administration's broader effort to intimidate the press.

CNN's Brian Stelter joins us now. Brian, I mean, this story is very personal for the president because it relates to a jet that was a personal gift to him from Qatar and legitimate questions, it seems, about its security. But the big issue here, right, is precedent about protecting anonymous sources.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, and this matters to many news outlets and ultimately to the public because if anonymous sources inside the government are afraid to communicate with reporters, afraid to tell the public what's going on with their taxpayer dollars, then all of us suffer as a result.

These leaked, kind of leaked probes, these subpoena fights often play out in secret. But the New York Times is trying to make sure this case gets a lot of attention. It's fighting the government's efforts to keep it a secret. And the Times has succeeded in getting some of the initial paperwork out into the public domain.

So we know, for example, that the government has been trying to obtain reporter phone records so the government can find out who these reporters were texting and calling. Some of the phone records for family members have even been targeted in recent days. So we know that because some of these court proceedings have been made public and now, there's this key hearing taking place this afternoon, right now, in New York City where a judge is considering the New York Times motion to remove these subpoenas, to quash them altogether.

Here's why the Times says that's so important. The Times says, quote, "The subpoenas are an end in and of themselves, an instrument to chill criticism of the administration. And they conflict with both the law and fundamental First Amendment principles." Of course, the government says this is part of a national security investigation.

In other words, an intense leak -- intense hunt for whoever leaked to the Times.

KEILAR: Brian, are the reporters or their families saying anything about this?

STELTER: The reporters are not. But one of the spouses was interviewed by NPR and said it feels like you're an enemy of the state when an FBI agent shows up at your door with a subpoena demanding that you testify.

And that is what it's been like for these reporters the past couple of weeks. As I said, the Times is aggressively fighting back. But this is very personal for President Trump. This all started because he was given that gift from Qatar. He desperately wanted to get on that plane and fly it around the world. He was doing so earlier this month.

But then when he was in Turkey, the decision was made for him to fly back on an older version of Air Force One due to security concerns. President Trump claimed he was doing that for other reasons. Remember, he said he was sending the plane to England so that U.S. service members could be given a tour of the aircraft, of the new gift, the new fancy aircraft.

But it was obvious from the get-go that that was a cover story and that the real issue was about security. Sources inside the government leaked the reality check and undermined the president's claims to the New York Times, to CNN, to CBS. And it was those leaks from inside the government contradicting the president that triggered this leak investigation, this leak hunt.

So I think about this as a case that's all about the president's dishonesty. He said one thing. Government sources said another. And now, there's a leak investigation trying to find out who contradicted the commander-in-chief. So it's very personal for the president, but it's also part of a broader effort to threaten and intimidate the press. In this case, it's subpoenas to the New York Times, but it very well could be other news outlets next time.

So this is a case being closely watched by many newsrooms. SCIUTTO: And of course, the president himself used that exact phrase, enemy of the people, in relation to the press a number of years ago. It's out there.

KEILAR: Brian, thank you so much for that.

Still ahead, witnesses revealing gruesome new details in a hearing that could determine whether singer David Burke goes to trial for the murder of a 14-year-old girl. We have an update from the courtroom next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:09]

SCIUTTO: For three days now, a California judge has been weighing the evidence against singer David Burke to see if the murder case against the 21-year-old musician should proceed to trial. Burke is accused of just the awful killing and dismembering of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez after, apparently, she threatened to expose their sexual relationship.

KEILAR: And just a warning here that this story has some really graphic and disturbing details. Investigators found the girl's body parts in a Tesla that was registered to Burke.

CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent, Kyung Lah has been following this hearing all week. Kyung, the focus so far has been on some incredibly graphic details about purchases of chainsaws and an inflatable pool.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. It's been really about the evidence today, trying to connect this evidence to D4vd, the singer.

[14:25:00]

And the focus has been on these chainsaws and an inflatable pool. Remember, this 14-year-old girl was dismembered before she was put into that Tesla. This inflatable pool had cuts, it was cut in several places and it was made clearly by a sharp object according to testimony that the court heard this morning.

Investigators also found, within that Tesla, 11 air fresheners where her dismembered body was found along with preliminary evidence of blood. Now, D4vd is facing that first degree murder charge and it's with special circumstances, and that's because it involves continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and mutilating human remains.

Prosecutors have really tried to underscore this week that they believe this was about a singer trying to protect his money and Celeste's family attorney said that the parents were shocked as they heard these figures said out loud in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PATRICK STEINFELD, ATTORNEY FOR VICTIM'S FAMILY: It was rather stunning the amount of money that he was earning and his earning capacity. He had guarantees of a minimum of $3 million and a maximum guarantee of $6 million with bonuses that increase. And so the numbers just went up and up and up and eventually, he was looking at potential guaranteed payments of $19 million per year for his albums.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: So just some stunning numbers there. Prosecutors have said that D4vd first made contact with Celeste when she was just 11-years-old and a sexual relationship began when she was 13. Prosecutors say that Celeste threatened to expose this relationship and that they allege was the possible motive for murder.

And just something about the length of this preliminary hearing, Brianna, and -- is that the district attorney today told reporters that there are 10 witnesses to call. We have heard absolutely the bulk of them.

SCIUTTO: That poor family. Kyung Lah, thanks so much.

Well, still to come, a former bank executive grilled behind closed doors surrounding serious allegations connected to Jeffrey Epstein. One of the Democrats inside that meeting joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)