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Three Dead, Several Injured After Shooting At Seattle Food Festival; U.S. Signals Pause In Iran Strikes Amid Concerns Over Weapons Stockpile; Open Statements Begin In Triple-Murder Trial Of Lindsay Clancy. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:08]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Just in to CNN this morning, terrifying new video of the moment the deadly mass shooting began at a Seattle food festival. It appears you can hear the gunshots in the background before people start running. Take a listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm like 2,000 subscribers away. That is literally one viral video and 200K. I'll get that plaque that says 100K.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A shooting, a shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting? Oh (bleep). Over here. Get down! Get down! Get down! Get down! Yeah, just get down. Oh, it's right there. Oh (bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: At least three people have been pronounced dead and four others injured, including a 2-year-old after the mass shooting a block from the iconic Space Needle. Police believe two people were shooting at each other. They now say one person is in custody, another still at large this morning.

Joining me now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. Thank you so much for being here.

Let's talk about the video that we just saw and, of course, there are going to be many others. How important are those to gather for authorities as they -- as they, first of all, go and try to find the person who is missing accused in the shooting, and for later court documents?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, Sara, they're incredibly important and so I'm sure authorities would appreciate the contribution of any videos that folks have. And it's for -- as you mentioned, the first priority is trying to find that second shooter. They seem to be fairly confident at this point that they had two shooters and it's likely because they've already collected two weapons.

They have one person in custody and the second they're still looking for. So if that first person who is in custody is cooperating, which we have no information about that yet, they may have a lead to that person's identity. But in any case, those videos could be very helpful in identifying and determining who that person is, which could lead to his or her arrest.

It's a really intense situation. You can see the intensity and the terror on people's faces in those videos. It really brings back other similar events like the 2024 -- February 2024 shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl party after winning the Super Bowl that year in which we had six people shooting at each other in a similar unregulated crowd.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about what we're hearing from witnesses and a little bit of the dispatch audio that we've heard. One of the witnesses said it sounded like an automatic weapon.

I'm just curious if it's still easy for someone to switch a gun from semiautomatic to automatic. If that issue still exists.

MCCABE: It absolutely still exists. Mechanically, it's not a particularly hard modification to make depending on the weapon. And, of course, information about how to do those things is readily available on the internet.

The other issue is the purchase -- the availabity of the parts that you have to change out. Historically, that was kind of the hard part but now with the advent of 3D printing and other methods it's easier for people to make those parts or make kits to do those -- and sell the kits so you can do the conversion yourself.

It is absolutely against the law. It's against federal firearms laws in this country to do that kind of change to a weapon but it does happen and police seize those weapons many, many times around the country every year. And they, of course, increase the lethality of these shootings in -- you know, exorbitantly, right?

And this, according to the Gun Violence Archive, is the 271st mass shooting this year, so that's shooting in which four people or more are shot. That's as -- you know, that's more mass shootings than days in the year so far so obviously, this is a really serious issue.

SIDNER: It is. It still remains a really serious issue.

How do you better secure something like a food festival? I mean, can you? Because these are all what people know as self-targets. This sounds like, according to police, it was shooting between two people and all those people there getting caught in the middle.

But is there anything more that can be done to try to secure something like this?

MCCABE: It's really tough Sara because, as you mentioned, these are the softest of soft targets, right? Places where you have massive gatherings of people. The Seattle Bite Festival gets over 300,000 people -- visitors a year over the course of only three days.

[07:35:00]

So huge public gatherings in open spaces where tickets are not required. So without tickets there's no entrance and exit points or entrance points where you can search people for weapons or dangerous devices. It's very hard to secure them.

People going to these events -- super fun. It's like the height of the summer. But really, you've got to think about the risk and plan. You know, plan reunification sites with your party or your family -- whoever you're going with. Have cellphones on you. You've really got to keep your wits about you in those big crowds.

SIDNER: Yeah. It's just awful that we even have to think about securing something like a food festival, Andrew McCabe, and the depressing statistics about how many shootings have already been this year.

Thank you so much for going through all that with us -- appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Developing this morning, a new warning for the Democratic establishment from a progressive candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, who is in this heated Senate primary in Michigan.

Just a few minutes ago on the Politico Playbook, they reported that during a Zoom meeting with donors that he said if he wins, he will have new power within the party and really, the country.

Politico quotes him as saying, "You put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different."

With us now is the Washington bureau chief of The Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Tia Mitchell. Tia, good to see you this morning.

And what you're hearing from El-Sayed there is really a sense -- and he says this in the interview. He says, look, the Democrats are spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat me. If I win, I may be coming for them. And this may have 2028 implications.

You know, how worried should they be?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. I mean, it's interesting in those remarks he compared himself to David and Goliath. And, of course, he's David, who wants to take down the giant that is the millions of dollars that are being spent in hopes that he does not win.

I think he's right. If he wins he, first of all, comes to the Senate where you're one of 100 that automatically makes each senator have a huge platform. But because he'll be a progressive in the Senate -- someone who kind of was able to defeat the establishment -- yes, I think a lot of what he's saying is right. People will be paying attention to him and his movement, and it could convince people that the progressive movement can make inroads in the Democratic Party.

So yes, those in the Democratic Party who don't want to see progressives be successful, who don't want to see their party's messaging shift to the left -- yes, if El-Sayed wins they should and will be concerned about that.

BERMAN: Yeah. The imagery there -- the head of the ogre on the spike there is just interesting to hear him talking like that. If he wins the primary next week he'll want the party behind him, presumably heading into the actual Election Day in November. And then if he wins that he will be part of that party. So we'll watch how that develops.

Speaking of party leadership, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was on with Dana, and they were talking about many of the demands from some of the people on the left of the party -- the Democratic Party. For instance, abolishing ICE. Having votes on that.

Listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: I think one of the things that some of those who are winning their primaries and will likely be in office want to know is if you are going to agree to hold votes on abolishing ICE, opening borders, and things of that nature. Will you?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, I've spoken to several of the incoming members of Congress across the ideological spectrum. Not a single person has raised those issues other than obviously, what they've seen from House Democrats in pushing back against an out of control ICE because we believe that immigration enforcement in this country clearly should be fair, just, and humane and that's not what's taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So there notably wasn't a yes, I will hold a vote on abolishing ICE if I'm speaker, and there wasn't a no, I will not hold a vote on abolishing ICE if I'm a speaker there.

Why no answer?

MITCHELL: So I think it's very multilayered in his answer. Number one, no leader wants to tie himself or herself into -- you know, put himself in a box when he doesn't know what they might do symbolically. There could be, you know, votes in the future on ICE even if it's not specifically defunding ICE. But -- or dismantling ICE. They could vote as they have to limit funding for ICE.

But I think another thing he said is really interesting and important. It's that, you know, in general, the Democratic base -- they do want immigration reform. They do think President Trump has not handled immigration well and has maybe gone too far and been too rigid. But they don't necessarily want open borders. They don't necessarily want ICE enforcement to completely go away.

[07:40:00]

So Democrats are going to have to find where the medium point is for their policy moving forward.

BERMAN: Yeah. If -- if -- and it still is an if -- if they manage to take back control of the House in November.

Tia Mitchell, good to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at global oil prices. They have been falling throughout the morning, and sharply, as the U.S. and Iran appear to have hit pause on fighting for now. A top U.S. official says that President Trump is giving talks with Iran "some space" now after nearly two straight weeks of nightly bombing.

There is also new reporting that suggests that the president is facing growing warnings from within about escalating this further. Fresh concern raised by some of his closest advisers -- concern from both the vice president, J.D. Vance, and the Joint Chiefs -- the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Dan Caine. According to a source familiar, Gen. Caine even specifically raised worry about depleting the U.S. munitions stockpiles further if the fighting continues.

Also overnight, Iranian officials ramped up their threats towards Ukraine. This is after Ukraine, this weekend, launched an attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.

Let's talk about where things stand then now with CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk. He's also the author of the new book coming out "Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages." It's good to see you. Thanks for being here.

So let's talk about they're in a pause moment. That seems to be I think the only clear thing when it comes to the status of this war because two weeks of U.S. bombings on Iran have seemed to fail to break the deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz still. And now you have reporting that there's this concern that was raised this week about further depleting munition stockpiles if the president escalates this further.

How do they navigate a path forward now, Brett? What do you see here?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, AUTHOR, "BRINK: INSIDE THE RACE TO FREE THE OCTOBER 7TH HOSTAGES," FORMER MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Kate, it's tough. You know, we're five months -- tomorrow will be the five-month mark of when this conflict started.

And I had a saying when I used to work in the White House for various presidents from Gen. Eisenhower when he was president. He used to say before we talk about decisive military action, lay out all the facts, cold and hard. And it appears from the reporting from CNN and elsewhere that this meeting late last week did that and said here are all the factors as we consider next steps, and that's good. That's exactly the type of information the president should be getting. It's probably the type of meeting that should have been had before this started.

But where are we now? I would call this, Kate, a tactical pause. I think -- we had 13 nights of strikes. There are backchannels open through Oman and others to try to get the strait back to where it was before those strikes started two weeks ago. And that, I'm told, they're making some progress. So a tactical pause. Let's see where we are. See if diplomacy can get somewhere.

But otherwise, we're still kind of stuck because the key variable remains the Strait of Hormuz. And if Iran is not going to -- is going to maintain that the Strait of Hormuz is its sovereign territory and it controls what goes through the strait, I don't see Washington accepting that nor do the Gulf States accept that. And therefore, you're kind of stuck.

So it's a big week, Kate. We've got visits coming up in Washington. Netanyahu is here. Zelenskyy is here. We'll see the diplomacy go. But right now, tactical pause.

BOLDUAN: Well, let's talk about the new Zelenskyy factor if you will. Ukraine, this week, in attacking this Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. This is a route for much of Iran's trade with Russia. Iran responding with warnings -- the new one coming overnight from an Iranian regional governor is "Ukraine, too, may soon come to understand that Iran does not let actions go unanswered."

What does this do?

MCGURK: Kate, this is classic -- you know, first of all, let's, like, step way back. Iran has been supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine directly. They provide Shahed drones. They provide technology. Russia now has a factory producing these Iranian Shahed drones, which allows Iran to prosecute its war. This has been going on for years.

And Zelenskyy, about three days ago, said that the Ukrainians struck a ship in the Capsian Sea carrying military material between Russia and Iran. Iran is now claiming that this is basically an act of war and Iran is now threatening to attack Ukraine.

So this is how these two storylines are coming together. But the cooperation between Russia and Iran has been going on for some time.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MCGURK: But this will be a topic in the Oval Office when Zelenskyy meets with President Trump. A totally different dynamic than that infamous meeting about 18 months ago. Now Ukraine arguably has the upper hand. There's a sanctions bill pending still in the Senate.

And Zelenskyy is coming with some cards and he is -- he's saying he's going to lay out for the president his information on what Russia is doing to actually support Iran and its conflict against us. So this is how these two strands come together.

The cooperation between Russia, Iran, and China is a larger backdrop to everything -- BOLDUAN: Yeah.

[07:45:00]

MCGURK: -- we're talking about day-by-day here, Kate. And that'll be a very important meeting in the Oval Office this week.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I mean, you calling these two storylines and two strands coming together, it's like how much closer do these two wars come to each other is a kind of a terrifying prospect --

MCGURK: That's right.

BOLDUAN: -- right now.

Brett, it's great to see you. Thank you so much -- Sara.

MCGURK: Thanks, Kate.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

This morning opening statements begin the triple murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. The Massachusetts woman is accused of strangling her three young children to death in 2023. They were just five, three, and eight months old.

The former labor and delivery nurse has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her lawyers argue she was suffering from severe postpartum mental illness and should not be criminally responsible. Prosecutors say she planned the killings and knew exactly what she was doing.

CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson is here.

Look, opening statements are going to begin today. But I do want to ask you about this defense because they're using postpartum mental illness as her defense that -- what does she have to prove if that is her defense? What does she have to impart to the jury because she has to prove nothing? What does she have to impart to the jury for this defense to hold?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yeah. So Sara, what a tragedy. This is real tough stuff when you talk about a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and an 8-month-old.

And quite frankly, it appears that she has a case. Now when I say that -- and you're absolutely right, the burden always stays with the prosecution. It's their job to prove what they're trying to prove, which is the deliberate premediated murder or in the alternative that you acted intentionally, and the act was such extreme and cruel and inhumane as this was.

However, when it comes to insanity -- and as you know, and we have these legal discussions, they evaluate -- they, the legal system -- your mental state, right? What was your mental state like? Could you form a mental state? What were you thinking at the time you engaged in any act? And for her part, the defense is saying she lacked the capacity to do

so. She did not appreciate the wrongfulness or rightfulness of her actions. Why? You're going to hear a lot of testimony in this case -- medical testimony -- and that medical testimony is going to go to establish what she was undergoing.

You're going to see medical records, right? All of the different treatments. And not only that, but the cocktail of medications. There were about 13 different medications she was taking that brought on these hallucinations.

So she, for her part, and the defense are going to argue with regard to the mental state she did not appreciate right from wrong. From the prosecution's perspective they're going to say she most certainly did. And that's why we believe, prosecutors will say, collecting all the evidence, that this was deliberate, it was planned, and she, of course, from their perspective, was sane at the time these actions took place.

SIDNER: I'm curious about there is another lawsuit in all this. There is a civil lawsuit that she has brought, I think, against her doctors. Will that play a role in this in any way?

JACKSON: So it could. And just to be clear, a civil court is a civil court is a civil court. And what I mean by that is that it's a separate entity, different standards of proof. Here we know it's beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil case it's more likely than not. And so it's separated.

However, that said, the parties are the same. You're going to hear testimony from her psychiatrist. And the defense is going to say hey, you know what? How did you not diagnose this, and did you examine her appropriately? Did you evaluate her appropriately? And what's the deal with this cocktail of medication, right? You should have known better and you should have known it led to this.

And so I think that will come in. And if there are any inconsistencies between what they say and any civil litigation or anything they said there, it's going to be used to impeach -- contradict what they say on the stand. So, yeah.

SIDNER: I mean, this case is just incredibly -- as you mentioned, it's gut-wrenching. There are three children -- young children -- who are dead. Their mother now on trial.

Joey Jackson, we'll be watching this. Thank you for your analysis, as usual.

And you can watch live coverage of the trial starting this morning on CNN All Access streaming on cnn.com -- John.

BERMAN: All right. A man is now suing ChatGPT, claiming AI advice led to a near fatal health crisis.

And then scaffolding all the way up a high-rise just peels off and plummets to the ground. What happened to the people below. (COMMERCIAL)

[05:53:50]

BERMAN: So there is something truly extraordinary happening in baseball and I'm worried people are missing it because it's not happening in New York or Los Angeles but rather, Milwaukee. Jacob Misiorowski is really, really good.

Let's get to CNN's Coy Wire. I mean, record-setting good, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: And just fascinating to watch because you never see someone throw this hard. Jacob Misiorowski is out there and had these batters swinging like they're trying to hit invisible mosquitoes. Facing the Rockies, he struck out the first seven batters he faced. That's a Brewers franchise record.

He uncorked 30 fastballs over 103 miles per hour. No other pitcher in the statcast era had thrown more than 14 that fast in a game. He fired 66 fastballs in total, John -- all of them over 100.

And the Rockies were hitless through four innings until the fifth when Cole Carrigg decided to end the no-hitter and shutout all in one swing with a home run.

But the Brewers cruise 11-2 and Miz racks up 12 strikeouts in five innings. His ninth double-digit strikeout start this season, most in MLB.

[07:55:00]

In Chicago it was bobblehead day for White Sox star Munetaka Mukrakami, so he had mom and dad fly over from Japan to be there and throw out the ceremonial first pitch. It doesn't get much cuter than that.

And what does Munetaka do? In the very first inning against the Astros he gave his parents a souvenir they will not forget -- a go-ahead home run, the 21st of the season. And then, John, in the eighth, he did it again. A home run for mom, a home run for dad. These were his first homers since returning from the injured list 2 1/2 weeks ago, powering the White Sox to a 12-3 win.

Now, golf gave us a pair of feel-good stories on the LPGA Tour. Jenny Shin finally climbed back to the winner's circle ending a 10-year drought with a two-shot win at the Women's Scottish Open. She moved to the states from South Korea as a kid and qualified for the U.S. Women's Open at 13, one of the youngest players to do so at the time. And her persistence paid off making hundreds of starts after her first tour win in2016, finally breaking through again at age 33.

And on the PGA Tour, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun announced his arrival in a big way, taking down the world number one Scottie Scheffler to win the 3M Open. He finished at a tournament record 25 under, 66, becoming the youngest player ever to win a PGA Tour event with the world's top-ranked golfer finishing runner-up. Jackson Koivun just left college, turning pro about a month ago after

a stellar career at Auburn where he won a record six tournaments in a single season. This was just his third-ever PGA Tour start and what a way to make your coming out party, beating the world number one by multiple strokes. When the world number one -- he finished at, like, 22 under.

So, I mean, and incredibly thing for -- to see him in just his third- ever start.

BERMAN: Yeah, 25 under, of course, sounds maybe not hard enough for some of these guys.

Coy Wire, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I don't know much about golf but that means, yeah, they're pretty good.

BERMAN: Not so bad.

BOLDUAN: They're good. You almost looked like you didn't believe it at first.

BERMAN: I was like whoa.

BOLDUAN: Is this happening?

We're also watching this right now. New video showing the moment powerful winds just ripped huge pieces of scaffolding from a skyscraper in Hong Kong. This happened after a typhoon targeted China this weekend. One -- no one was injured in this -- when this happened, thankfully.

But more than 700,000 people have been forced to evacuate as the typhoon hit early Sunday morning. It is the strongest typhoon to hit China this year.

Separate from the breaking news that we are following out of Seattle -- the shooting Sunday night -- there is also new reporting about a stunt that was pulled -- that was pulled on Friday in Seattle as well at this epic iconic Space Needle. Two men suddenly climbed over a safety barrier on the observation deck and then jump off the ledge and parachute down more than 600 feet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB JARRELL (PH), EYEWITNESS: The two guys burst out, right, and they sprint up to the window. And I'm talking like 10 seconds. Sprint all the way up to the top, climb over, run, and do a backflip off. And, I mean, it was -- it was so crazy because everybody was scared at first when they ran out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I can understand that. Police say that the men bought tickets and entered the attraction like any other visitor. Investigators are still trying to find them and say that they could face criminal trespassing charges -- whoo -- Sara.

SIDNER: People will look for any way to get some excitement, Kate. I don't see us doing anything like that ever -- not even anytime soon.

All right. New this morning, ChatGPT is getting hit with a new lawsuit. A Florida pastor claims the platform nearly killed him as he tried to look for medical advice. In the lawsuit the man claims OpenAI's chatbot discouraged him from seeking medical treatment and provided dangerous medical recommendations before he suffered a pulmonary embolism. The lawsuit further claims the platform's safety guardrails around medical advice simply weren't strong enough.

CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy joins me now. What happened in this case because a pulmonary embolism can be fatal very quickly?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Really dangerous, yeah. Fifty-five- year-old Scott Winter -- he's a Florida pastor -- he started using ChatGPT in June of 2024 like many people do sort of as a search engine. He started asking it about health conditions that he had started to develop, ultimately sharing x-rays and lab results. And over the following months ChatGPT gave him increasingly specific medical advice, including supplement and medication recommendations, clinical advice, lifestyle changes.

And as he approached this medical emergency, even in the days leading up to it, ChatGPT downplayed his concerns about his symptoms, in one case telling him that the symptoms he was experiencing were not something dangerous. The chatbot also used religious language, playing on the fact that he's a pastor, telling Scott that the situation was under God's watch.

In another instance it explained to him why it believed he could recover from an episode without medication. Again, this is leading up to this -- doctors discovering he had multiple blood clots in his lungs.

At one point ChatGPT told him that his brain must learn "I can feel dizzy and still be safe."

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