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Shooting at Seattle Food Festival; Polls on Democrats and Iran; ICE Vetting is Under Review after Maine Shooting; KFF Health News Reporter Amanda Seitz is Interviewed about a Federal Agency Demanding E.R. Records; Suspect in Berlin's Pride Festival Attack is Dead; Growing World of Wearable A.I. Gadgets. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Suspect in the deadly mass shooting at a food festival near the iconic Space Needle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A machine gun just went off. (INAUDIBLE). Oh, my God. Get the heck out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That's just one of the hundreds of people that were running for cover after shots rang out. At least three people are dead and four others injured, including a two-year-old. Police believe two people were actually shooting at one another, and innocent people were caught in the middle of all that. One person they have gotten in custody, but another suspect is still at large this morning.

CNN's Julia Vargas joins us live this morning at the scene in Seattle.

Give us some sense of what you're seeing at the scene, which was closed down all night as investigators tried to do their work. What are you learning and seeing this morning?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, it's an eerie scene. So, one by one people have been allowed into these stalls. This is where that video we saw earlier took place. This is where we saw people running through over here. And also to my left. Slowly, dozens of trucks. I don't know if we can see it here, Rudy, just all of these trucks have come up to take all of this out, Sara. Slowly, one by one, people coming in to take what seems to be a scene frozen in time really, Sara. People clearly just left with whatever they had on them at the time, fleeing, trying to get safety. Right next to us is the Space Needle.

This is an area of Seattle that sees 12 million visitors every year. It is full of tourists, of locals trying to enjoy the summer. And this tragic, tragic scene taking place over the last just 12 hours, not even 12 hours. So, it's an eerie morning here, Sara. I want to play for you just the moment where these two -- an exchange between two first responders as they're realizing what they're going to need for this rescue mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone have a small, a child tourniquet size?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) tourniquet?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For a small child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Small child arm tourniquet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS: Now, the Harborview Medical Center is where a lot of those victims, those five victims, were taken last night. We did learn that that child was stable. But one woman was in surgery and in critical condition as of last night, but not the other patients. We also had one of the people who was wounded with a gunshot pass away overnight, Sara, bringing that death toll over to three people.

Now, what the focus of authorities today is, of course, a motive. Why did this take place at this festival? And also learning more about who this one person they have in custody is. We are expecting to have a preliminary hearing, an initial hearing, where authorities will bring that person to a judge, and then they will have 72 hours to decide on how to charge them. It's unclear if this person is cooperating in finding that other suspect. So, a lot to come still in the next few hours as Seattle is just waking up here, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, it's such a disturbing scene, especially hearing about the two year old and three people dying as they were just trying to have a normal summer fun.

Julia Vargas Jones, thank you to you and your crew out there. Appreciate your reporting this morning.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, the president's approval rating is sagging. The war in Iran is widely unpopular. So, you think that Democrats -- or you might think that Democrats in Congress could see some kind of boost in the polls on this subject. You might think that, but you'd be wrong.

With us this morning, CNN chief data --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey, whatever, man.

BERMAN: I'm tongue tied because actually these numbers surprise me. I was looking at them, and I am surprised that they are like this. So, who do the voters say they trust on Iran?

ENTEN: Johnny B. is not the only one who's surprised. You would be talk -- looking at all the news coverage, you'd be looking at all the polling on President Trump, and you would think that Democrats would be able to take advantage and be dominating Republicans when it comes to who is trusted to handle the Iran War. That, simply put, is not the case at all. I mean these numbers are quite surprising.

Trust Dems or Republicans on Iran? According to CNBC earlier this month, you'd think, OK, that's one poll, the Republicans trusted by two points. But then CBS News comes out yesterday and what do you see? You see the exact same thing. Trump and the Republicans take the cake. They are trusted by two points on Iran.

Now, one poll is one thing, but you put the two of them together and you can see that the American people, simply put, are not buying what Democrats are selling on Iran. They still trust Republicans more. Even if you look at President Trump's approval ratings on the subject, and they're negative two. But yet Republicans and Trump still more trusted than Democrats are on Iran.

BERMAN: Has there been any change over time on this?

ENTEN: No. And this is even more surprising, right? You might think, OK, as the war has gone on and on and on, you might think, hey, the Democrats would be gaining ground in terms of trust that the American people would give them on Iran. If anything, it's the opposite. It's the opposite.

[08:35:02]

Trust Democrats or Republicans more on Iran. In April, according to a "Washington Post"/Ipsos poll, the Democrats are more trusted by two points. Again, close margin, no clear leader. But look where the shift has been. If anything, the shift has been in the Republican direction. Now, the Republicans and Donald Trump are trusted more by two points on Iran. So, again, over the course of the war, if anything, the Republicans have been the ones that have been gaining ground, which I think just goes so opposed to all of the news coverage that we have seen so far and all of, you know, the media, you would think, hey. But, no, the American people are actually trusting the Republicans and Trump, if anything, more now than they were, let's say, halfway through the war.

BERMAN: So how possible is it that part of this is just that Americans don't like Democrats in Congress much at all?

ENTEN: Yes, I think this is a big part of it. The Democratic Party, in the minds of the American public, are weak, weak, weak, to quote the great Tony Blair.

I mean, just look at this. Just look at these net approval ratings of Democrats in Congress. In late February, at the beginning of the war, it was minus 41 points, minus 39, minus 39. And so, you're just looking at these numbers right here, and you go to yourself, no wonder, no wonder what's going on at this point that Democrats, simply put, cannot take the ball and run with it. And actually, in the polls, be trusted more on Iran, because the Democrats in Congress, simply put, are not well liked. In fact, these are the three lowest on record in terms of percentage points for the approval for Democrats in Congress. So, it all puts together a picture. Donald Trump and Republicans may not be like, but Democrats in Congress are really hated.

BERMAN: A lot of this is D on D crime. I mean there are Democrats who are unhappy with their own party, who Democrats hope might vote for them anyway in November.

ENTEN: Correct. You know, it would be much easier if they were, you know, actually liked.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: You're always liked.

BERMAN: Sara.

I mean, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it.

Joining us to talk about this exactly is CNN senior political and global affairs commentator Rahm Emanuel, former ambassador to Japan, former congressman, former White House chief of staff to President Obama.

So, on -- you see what the polling data is now showing. Harry was just laying that out. Why do you think Democrats are doing poorly still?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, look, the Democrats have said in that -- at the end are seen as a -- to sum it up, weak and woke. And I still believe, though, when you look forward to 2026, this is a referendum election. You have an unpopular war, which you had in '06. You have, in this case, a lot of corruption, as you did in '06. You have spiking oil prices and gasoline prices, as you did in '06.

This is, in the end of the day, a referendum on Donald Trump and a referendum on the rubber stamp Republican Congress. And anything that distracts from that is actually going to hinder the effort.

I still believe that Democrats are well positioned as the alternative if you look across the elections in the last year. Massive energy among the Democratic Party. Independents are breaking two to one for Democrats. And low turnout among Republicans. That is what happened in 1994, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2018. There's a law of physics to midterm elections. I still will bet on the Democrats, but we have a party problem. We can't just be about beating Donald Trump. We have to be for fighting for America. And we have yet to make that turn as a party.

BOLDUAN: And this is -- this gets to exactly what you wrote about this week, which I wanted to ask you about last week calling -- you called out Bernie bros in your commentary and Democratic socialists, saying essentially that they're basically ruining midterm chances for Democrats. In part you write, "saddling the Democratic Party with nominees whose widely unpopular positions will protect Republicans from having to pay the price of Donald Trump's corruption and economic incompetence."

EMANUEL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Bernie Sanders, now, Rahm, is responding. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): You have an establishment, like Rahm Emanuel, who are dependent on billionaire campaign contributors and want to maintain the status quo. Then you have a progressive movement, which, by the way, what is getting these guys nervous is we are winning all over this country. Suddenly, Mamdani and New York City. It's in New Jersey. It's in Ohio. It's in Colorado. People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and the Democratic establishment and the Republican establishment. The American people are tired of a rigged economy, a corrupt campaign finance system. They want real change. They don't want Rahm Emanuel and the establishment maintaining the status quo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Rahm, what do you say to that?

EMANUEL: Well, first, look, nothing happening in winning a primary, taking a blue district to cobalt blue flips a red to blue. When we had Nancy Pelosi become speaker in '06, passed the minimum wage. There's a direct line from electoral victory to policy changes. Because we won the House in '06 and added gains -- seats in '08, President Obama had the majorities to both pass universal health care and financial and regulatory reform.

[08:40:03]

So, to me, anything that distracts from flipping red to blue, now, maybe some people think the party is the problem. I happen to think Donald Trump and the rubber stamp Republicans are the problem. And maybe we just have two different objectives, which I think.

Now, to the rigged system, which I 100 percent agree, come to Chicago. See 20,000 kids that got free community college. Come to Chicago and see what universal pre-k for four-year-olds and five-year-olds, both kindergarten and pre-k, are getting -- learning their letters, their numbers and their colors. Come to Chicago, where we raised the minimum wage, and, seven consecutive years, number one city for corporate relocation, progressive growth.

So, to me, the problem is a lot of people in Washington who just basically are hot air versus what real change is. Now, we actually, in Chicago, got a free college, not talked about it, raised the minimum wage, not talk about it, give kids four and five universal pre-k and kindergarten. I believe in winning elections that give you the power to get the policy changes you want.

Now, I happen to think blue to cobalt blue doesn't do anything. Now you've got a bunch of navy women running around who are running for Congress in both New Jersey, down in South Carolina, where I've been campaigning for. So, if you want a color for the Democratic Party, navy blue is the color to go. But red -- but blue to blue doesn't get you a minimum wage increase.

BOLDUAN: But, Rahm, what I'm hearing is you -- you're talking about people in Washington blowing hot air. But what Bernie Sanders is saying is, he's calling you the establishment. So, it's like -- it's like the accusations of who's the establishment.

EMANUEL: Right. Well, look, here, one thing we agree on, the system's rigged. It is rigged against middle class families and another generation of kids getting into the middle class. Now, how do you affect that change?

Now, Bernie, I agree, had -- talked about free college. In Chicago, first city ever to give community college free if you got a B average. Twenty thousand kids have availed themselves of that. We have also given four-year-olds and five-year-olds universal full day kindergarten and pre-k. I believe in those investments so kids have a chance for their full potential. And we raised the minimum wage each year for the last 11 years, affecting thousands and thousands of families.

What I don't believe in is having -- he's been in Congress. Bernie and I worked on re-importation together. He tried for years. I finally got it passed. So, the question is, do you win elections that give you the power to make the policy changes you want? And taking a district that is held by a Democrat and making it another Democrat is no closer for a minimum wage that the American people rely on, no closer to getting universal health care that people rely on, no closer to helping their kids get out of the basement and get a home for their own, no closer to turning health care from a nightmare to actually a peace of mind. That, to me, win the elections, make the changes. Turning a blue district blue just doesn't cut it or, as we like to say in Chicago, that dog won't hunt.

BOLDUAN: Let's see. Definitely not the end of a conversation or debate or divide or, you know, fight within the Democratic Party now.

EMANUEL: Conversation is the key adjective.

BOLDUAN: We will call it a conversation for today.

It's good to see you, Ron. Thank you so much for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much.

This morning, White House Border Czar Tom Homan says the vetting process is now under review for the ICE officer connected to that fatal shooting in Maine after serious allegations surfaced regarding a history of domestic abuse. We've learned the officer in question, David Brouillette, was accused of domestic violence multiple times by two ex-wives. Court documents show one woman said she ended her marriage because he was, quote, "verbally and physically abusive." His second ex-wife filed a complaint for protection.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now.

What are you learning about all this, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, the history of this officer who was connected to the shooting in Maine this month is certainly raising questions about the hiring spree that happened last year to bring on more agents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and what that meant in terms of vetting, because we also know that David Brouillette, the officer in question here, had been hired last year according to accounts from those who knew him.

Now, we also have learned other parts of his history, including, for example, that he suffered lingering cognitive issues from a serious head injury in addition to those abuse allegations from his two ex- wives. Now, according to court records that CNN reviewed, he has denied and disputed those allegations in records. But our colleague, Dana Bash, asked the White House Border Czar Tom Homan yesterday what he made of that and whether he should have passed the vetting at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: If those are facts, he -- I don't think he should have ever cleared vetting. You know, when they hire somebody, they put him through a vetting process and look at all that stuff. So, I know, based on that information, that's part of the ongoing investigation.

[08:45:04]

ICE has about 30,000 employees. They all go through vetting. And this is -- this is kind of a rare instance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So, as you heard there, he's calling this a rare instance. But in talking to sources over the last year, there was concern, both with current and former officials, about the speed at which ICE was moving to bring on that target, 10,000 additional agents, and whether there were cut corners in the process.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security has disputed that, but it is situations like this and like what happened this month that is raising those questions yet again.

Now, Tom Homan says that he expects that those who were involved in these shootings in Texas and Maine are on administrative leave, which is the protocol when there are ongoing investigations, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, there is a lot to discover here and great reporting from you all.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that reporting.

John. BERMAN: All right, this can't be good. A huge fish tank shatters and

floods a store there. What happened to the fish?

And does it come in a men's medium? Can you take it in, in the seat? We're talking about wearable artificial intelligence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:09]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, a new report from KFF Health News finds that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is quietly pressuring hospitals across the country to hand over detailed E.R. records for millions of patients. These records include identifying information like names and addresses. Now, hospital executives are now questioning whether the federal agency has the legal right to do this, given that this is the agency most known for things like recalling, you know, faulty lawn mowers and coffee makers.

With us now is Amanda Seitz, a health policy reporter for KFF Health News.

And just explain this to me. The Consumer Product Safety Commission? I had to read this like four times before I could figure out what was happening here. What is going on?

AMANDA SEITZ, HEALTH POLICY REPORTER, KFF HEALTH NEWS: So, the CPSC has this surveillance system that it uses to identify problems with faulty products that it regulates. But earlier this year, it began approaching hospitals and saying, listen, we're going to do this differently now. We need you to send all of your identifiable information of patients, anyone who enters into an emergency room, to this private contractor that we've struck a deal with for $15.9 million. Send all of that information to this contractor, and it's going to start sorting through all of the emergency room records, and it will decide what to send up to the Consumer Product Safety Commission for potential product recall flags.

BERMAN: So, what has hospitals concerned about this?

SEITZ: Well, a lot of hospitals are simply balking at the idea that this agency has the authority to mandate this mass collection of so much personal health information, and they're actually concerned, too, that if they hand over all of this data, they could potentially be violating federal health privacy laws.

BERMAN: Are they doing it? Are they complying? Or to what extent are they complying?

SEITZ: So, we surveyed -- we know that the Consumer Product Safety Commission hopes to get at least 100 hospitals on board. We surveyed about 50 of them. Some didn't respond at all to our repeated inquiries. We found a few that have signed on to -- some of them are smaller hospitals. A lot of larger hospitals are saying, you know, no, we can't do this. We don't think that this complies with federal health privacy laws. BERMAN: And what is the Consumer Product Safety Commission saying? I

mean, what is the consumer product here exactly that they're defining?

SEITZ: So, they are saying that they're trying to modernize their health system. It is a bit dated. Previously, the Consumer Product Safety Commission essentially had people working in the hospitals. They were manually going through patient records to identify injuries involving products. So, they're saying, listen, it's time to update this system. It's really outdated. This will help the hospitals to go through the records quicker.

But what was interesting is, we found in our reporting that they are seeking really a wide swath of information. And even the injuries that this contractor is going to send to them, it really well -- it goes well beyond their purview, what they regulate. So, in some cases, we found that they are asking this contractor to flag suicide attempts to them, as well as child vaccine injuries. Those are both things that the CPSC does not regulate and has historically said, don't send this information to us, it's too sensitive.

BERMAN: Be interesting to see where this goes, if it ends up in court.

Amanda Seitz, thank you very much for sharing your reporting on this. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, German -- Germany's chancellor is vowing that the country will remain united. This is after a deadly attack at a pride celebration in Berlin. Authorities say the attacker drove a van into a crowd of people on Saturday and then started stabbing people. They're also calling it an attack of Islamist terror. One person was killed, 29 others were injured.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in the park where this whole thing happened. He's joining us once again.

Fred, what are you learning?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kate. You're absolutely right, there still, obviously, are a lot of questions here by the authorities as to how exactly this could happen. From a logistical point of view as to how the attacker managed to get into the park with that vehicle, a white rental van that he drove here on this path that I'm on right now.

And I'm going to show you exactly where I am. This is actually where at least the driving part of that rampage ended. You can see here, this tree was where the van was lodged against. I was out here for the better part of yesterday, and of course the night before when this attack happened. And you can see the tree really didn't budge but all the bark is taken off. And we could see the forensic teams here from the German police working this area for the better part of the day.

And I can tell you, the front of that van was absolutely annihilated.

[08:55:01]

So, the Germans are saying that the van, which was driven by a man named Abdul B., who they say was a known Islamist, was going at a very high pace through the crowd here.

This is, I would say, about maybe 50 or 60 yards away from the actual route of that pride parade that was taking place. But a lot of those parade goers were coming here into the park to either go to the parade or away from it.

And really, the two main questions that the authorities are asking now is, first of all, how the van managed to get onto this park path, because this is not a public road at all. And then whether or not Abdul B., the man who they say was behind all this, was actually alone in that vehicle, or whether or not there might have been others who were still involved. There was another person of interest the authorities had said. That person of interest had now been let go.

Of course we know there was a manhunt going on for the better part of the day yesterday, as they were searching for the suspect, Abdul B. They found him, then they say, in a gardening colony in the west of Berlin. As the police approached them, they say that he approached them with a knife. He was gunned down and killed. So still a lot of questions remain open.

At the same time, as you noted, German politicians coming out and saying that they will remain strong in the face of what happened here.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Fred, thank you so much for bringing us the very latest from there. I really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you, a terrifying moment for one cyclist during the Tour de France over the weekend. American Sepp Kuss was traveling through the course when he lost control of his bike, fell on a barrier. Luckily, boy, that net narrowly stopped him from going right over that cliff. Good -- good grief. Yee (ph). Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar is now among the great cyclists with his record equaling fifth Tour de France title. This is his third straight Tour de France victory. Only four other riders have won the Tour five times. It's a pretty amazing feat.

All right, newly released body camera video showing officers rushing into danger to save horses during a fire at a racetrack. It happened in June. The fire broke out at the Saratoga Casino Harness Racetrack. Officials helped rescue ten horses from a barn. You hear him screaming go, go, go! Adjacent to the one that was burning. But, unfortunately, 17 other horses ended up dying in that fire. More than 300 horses from several different barns were also rescued. Oof!

All right, a huge fish tank burst at an Illinois pet store last week. And, well, you can see the result of that. Good Lord. Two thousand gallons of water flooded through that store. More than 350 fish were inside the tank at the time, and a lot of them didn't make it. The owners believe a seam on top of the tank may have simply failed. And there you have the result. Yikes.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, the tank has one job and didn't seem to do it right.

SIDNER: Literally.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, artificial intelligence you can wear coming from several major tech companies and startups.

CNN business tech editor Lisa Eadicicco is here.

And you tried some of this stuff on. What did you see? What are we talking about here?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yes, exactly. So, there's a couple of different types of devices. There are smart glasses like the ones that Meta makes, which I have right here, that are really meant to kind of take over some of the duties of your smartphone so that you don't have to take your phone out as much. And then there are these other little recording devices, like the Plaud NotePin S and the Amazon Bee Pioneer bracelet that kind of record your surroundings and learn more about you so that you're A.I. assistants can be a little bit more helpful because they're learning more about your day.

So, with something like the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, the idea is that I can like put these on and, if I had a question and I didn't want to take out my phone, I can say something like, hey, Meta, tell me about the green ring on my finger.

Yes.

So now what it's doing is it's taking a picture and analyzing it, and it's going to tell me that this is a clatter ring, which is an Irish ring and Irish culture. So, that's kind of the idea. I use this on vacation to take pictures and to learn about landmarks that I didn't know about. So, it could be useful.

But I do think there are a couple of really big things that are holding these devices back. The biggest one being privacy concerns. There's already a lot of privacy concerns around Meta's glasses in general. I think people just don't really like the idea of having more devices that could be recording, especially, you know, these glasses have an LED light, so they'll tell you when a photo is being taken or when video is being recorded. These devices also have lights that tell you when they're recording, but they're a little bit harder to see and you're not really looking at someone's wrist when you're talking to them or looking at something that's clipped to someone's shirt. So, I think the privacy experts I spoke with about this have really highlighted that as being a key issue here.

And as someone who's been using these devices, I haven't used them as often as I thought I would because of the social awkwardness of asking to record a conversation. People are like, why would you want to do that?

BERMAN: Yes. Hey, how are you? Can I record you?

EADICICCO: Exactly. So, there's a lot of social norms. A lot of privacy issues. But this is really an attempt to kind of, I think, you know, if the smartphone is the computer made for the internet era, what is the computer for the A.I. era?

[09:00:06]

And that's what these companies are trying to figure out now.

BERMAN: All right, Lisa