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65,000 Families Evacuated as Spokane-Area Wildfires Burn Out of Control; Sources Say U.S. Military Asks Troops for Ideas on Punishing Iran; FBI and Police Investigating Attack at Idaho In-N-Out that Left 3 Dead. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 03, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MOTHER: I came back outside and some of my car is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: After that, police were able to track down the car. Within 15 minutes, we're told, and eventually arrested the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands on the window, now! What you're going to do is you're going to get out and you're going to face away from me, you understand me?

Get out of the car, slow. Put your hands behind your back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK baby. It's OK. It's OK, baby. You got him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: When you hear that, officer, you can hear the baby crying there, too. The baby was unharmed, thankfully, physically unharmed, and reunited with her mother. The suspect has now been charged with kidnapping.

And a scary scene in Beaumont, Texas. A giant 20-foot sinkhole opened up and swallowed up a pickup truck. With the driver inside, luckily, he was able to get out and is OK.

Police rushed to the scene and found the truck there with several feet of water and more pouring in. They say a broken water main is what is behind this whole mess that they now will be needing to pick up.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Zero percent contained. Hundreds of homes destroyed. Historic wildfires wreak havoc in the Northwest, forcing tens of thousands of evacuations. And there are concerns on the forecast that it could get worse. The overnight concession. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche puts it

in writing that the so-called weaponization fund is dead. The question this morning, does the president really think it's dead?

And Ariana Grande drops out of a highly anticipated performance, saying she is taking a step back from visibility. The question this morning, what's behind the move?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's get to the breaking news this hour and this morning. Nearly 65,000 families evacuated. Zero percent containment of these wildfires.

Multiple dangerous fires are spreading across the Spokane area in Washington state. So far, officials say that more than 700 homes have been destroyed. And some of the images of the destruction that we're seeing, they're just tragedy.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOWS FIRE BURING)

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BOLDUAN: That is what families are seeing from the water as they were trying to escape. Just moments ago, I spoke with one of the area's fire officials. This is what he said about what they're up against.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRIS MAYNARD, DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF, SPOKANE COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT 8: It's something that hadn't been seen before because of our dry conditions that we've had. But these winds that came through here quick. Firefighters were rushing through there, mainly just trying to save lives while also trying to save homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, Fairchild Air Force Base outside of Spokane has declared a limited evacuation order now for personnel and families. This Air Force base, just like all the homes around it, now threatened by these wildfires as well. The Pacific Northwest is facing its worst fire season in more than 30 years in all.

And with this one, some 15 major fires have burned more than 250,000 acres across Washington state. Let's get to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones. She's on the scene in Spokane this morning.

What are you hearing there today?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, it's not a regular Monday in Spokane. People are waking up to see just the extent of this tragedy. As you mentioned, 65,000 residences evacuated to places like this, to shelters, where they're faced with that uncertainty of whether or not they will even have a home to return to.

And some of them who have been able to go and see their properties completely destroyed, engulfed by the fire, and just spit out as just almost charcoal, they had really interesting insight into whether or not they could even return and build a life in these areas. Again, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIC FRANK, LOST HOME IN WASHINGTON WILDFIRES: I don't think I'm going to rebuild here, because I don't ever want to have to relive a fire coming up this hill again. And I've been in Spokane my entire 64 years, because my little brother died in an accident when he was six. And that's why I stayed close to my family.

I think it's time for me to leave Spokane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00]

VARGAS JONES: It's so heartbreaking, Kay, to hear that kind of thinking coming from these residents. We saw so many people grappling with that very decision as we drove past these neighborhoods with row after row of home destroyed.

Now, officials here from the National Guard is urging people to please be patient. It will take some time to return to their homes. There's a lot of work to be done here.

As you mentioned, the fire is still at zero percent containment. So there is that part of the work being done, but also clearing the roads, clearing debris for people to come back. That can take some time.

Still 10,000 people without any kind of electricity around this area. It will be a difficult path to recovery -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the deputy fire chief that we were talking to is saying weeks these fires are going to burn. They just got to start getting their hands around it. It's good to see you, Julia.

Thank you so much for your reporting -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Kate. Joining me now is Alexandra Duggan, a reporter with the Spokesman Review.

Thank you so much for being here. Look, you're a reporter, but you live there. You work there.

What are you experiencing right now? What are you hearing? What are you seeing?

ALEXANDRA DUGGAN, REPORTER, THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW: Yes, I live on the South Hill, so I live south of where the fire is. But I can still see the clouds of smoke from my home. I was out there yesterday.

I've been out there all day the day before that. I was there when, you know, the fire was small because I had heard it on the scanner, and I knew that we were going into a difficult fire behavior day. And I was out on the road, and I saw firefighters standing on top of homes trying to protect homes, and the fire grew so much that they had to leave.

And when I saw the firefighters leave, I said, I need to leave. And I watched the flames come near me, and I got out of there and watched it spread and watched people leave their homes. And I think by and large, it's just a heartbreaking situation for everybody.

And I know people who have lost their homes. I know friends of friends who have lost their homes. We thought one of my colleagues had lost his home, but I was able to confirm that it was safe.

So there's a lot of stuff going on.

SIDNER: Yes, truly. And you describe all you're seeing. I want to ask you about some of your reporting, because you did some reporting kind of giving a warning, where fire officials were giving a warning that some of the issues that the Trump administration has taken with states that they think are, you know, too far left has actually put the state in danger when it comes to the fire risk.

What did you learn in your reporting?

DUGGAN: Well, mostly that parts of the county were not able to access grant funding to assist in fire mitigation because of certain USDA cuts. And those grants would have helped firefighters more towards Spokane Valley, which is to the east, assist in trimming trees and pruning trees and helping to make sure that more people would be resilient should they face a wildfire. And the last time that I had reported on this, that did not happen because they were not able to access that grant funding because it was cut.

SIDNER: Alexandra Duggan, thank you for talking to us. I know that it's so incredibly stressful when you live and work in a place where you're constantly worried about your friends, your family, your co- workers. As you watch this fire just eat up so much of Spokane.

700 homes burned to the ground and zero percent containment. Be safe out there. Thank you so much for joining us this morning -- John.

BERMAN: The race for control of Congress rocked by domestic abuse allegations. Why? One Republican lawmaker says he will not drop out in a 20-minute video.

And new this morning, an CNN exclusive, the U.S. military crowdsourcing ideas on how to put pressure on Iran.

And that sound Peter Parker is hearing is not just his spider sense tingling. It's from the huge opening weekend for the new Spider-Man movie.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a CNN exclusive. The U.S. military reportedly crowdsourcing ideas for the Iran war, asking for, quote, creative and unconventional ways to put pressure on Iran. Let's get right to CNN's Zach Cohen, who has this reporting.

So, asking for help from whom, exactly, and what kind of help here, Zach?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, John. So, we're just telling me and our colleague, Katie Bo Lillis, that the U.S. military is casting an unusually wide net as it's seeking new ideas for how to ramp up the pressure on Iran. And that includes this effectively crowdsourcing e-mail that was sent by a senior officer at U.S. Central Command to a broad range of military analysts. And it asked, quote for, Creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran. Which is notable in a couple of different ways.

One, I'm told by multiple sources that a request for new ideas like this isn't necessarily a bad idea. Seeking input from a variety of subject matter experts, seeking input from a wide array of analysts who study this stuff pretty regularly is not necessarily a bad call by senior military officers.

[08:15:00]

But at the same time, those same sources say that it does underscore this feeling that President Donald Trump feels stuck by the limited military options he currently has. And we saw this play out as this crowdsourcing e-mail was sent just days before Donald Trump was threatening new strikes on Iran, only to call them off over the weekend. He's now pushing this idea that talks with Iran are going to restart. But that's being disputed by Iran.

And so the U.S. military is continuing to take a real look at its tactics, its strategy so far, and how it can help ramp up the pressure and potentially drive the Iranians back to the negotiating table. We've reported on multiple occasions that U.S. intelligence agencies have said that the kind of military strikes we've seen from the U.S. so far are unlikely to change Iran's behavior. And at the same time, we're seeing that play out in front of our eyes.

The Iranians have shown little willingness to capitulate to President Donald Trump's demands. And so the U.S. military is taking it upon itself to seek input from a wide range of individuals within the U.S. military itself.

BERMAN: Yes, it's always good to ask for new ideas, although it does betray the fact that they think they need some new ideas because it's not working out well. Zach Cohen, thank you very much for sharing that reporting -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, just ahead, an off-duty trooper and a civilian are being hailed as heroes this morning after they returned gunfire to stop the shooter at an in-and-out. The video is insane. New details coming into CNN on this incident.

And overnight, Trump's attorney general, Todd Blanche, put out a memo formally rescinding the controversial anti-weaponization fund. But will it be enough to save his nomination?

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So this morning we're getting some new details and some new video in from the deadly mass shooting at the In-N-Out Burger in Idaho. Police and the FBI, they're still investigating and trying to figure out what drove this man to carry out such a horrible rampage. There is also new 911 audio coming out this morning of people calling in for help as shots rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twin Falls County units, if you're in the area of In-N-Out, have a report of a possible active shooter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy that. We are getting inundated with calls of reports of multiple people down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The attack left at least three people dead, seven others wounded. Investigators say that the 24-year-old gunman died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police also say that the tragedy could have been much worse had it not been for what they are calling the heroic actions of two bystanders who jumped in and returned fire at the gunman, including this man who you see right here.

He's firing back at the shooter here. He's identified himself as a 35- year-old health care worker. He told the Idaho statesman that his response to the attack was just automatic.

Police say the other bystander who jumped in was an off-duty state trooper. Now, one woman who says that she came face to face with the suspect and then she saw what she believed was one of his guns. Listen to what she how she describes it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I didn't have anything to defend myself. So I grabbed the gun and I pulled it back. It was jammed.

So I just felt helpless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem for more on this. Juliette, a lot of information, a lot of video and a lot of detail coming out. But what's your big questions from everything that's done so far? JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's definitely motive at this stage. One of the In-N-Out Burger employees was killed. And so investigators are going to determine whether this site was picked because of a person that the gunman was after.

Or if this was just a general attack, someone wanting to use guns and kill a lot of people. This we don't know yet. There's been, I mean, it's been more than 24 hours.

And there's almost no information about him. No social media footprint. No alliance or allegiances with politics.

I've never -- I was telling your producers, I've never seen sort of a gap in explanation. The family apparently is being quite cooperative. And maybe we will determine whether there wasn't a particular person that this shooter was going after.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And the fact that the sheriff and police chief both talking about the heroic actions of these two bystanders, these two people who were there that day and returned fire and they say slowed the gunman. Why is that so important?

KAYYEM: It really is important. Look, we all grew up with the run, hide, fight, and it's still the predominant way to deal with active shooters. But what we're starting to see is more evidence.

And I've done a lot of writing on this, is that distraction actually becomes a way in which you give potential victims time to run. In this case, just looking at the videos, you had someone who clearly knew how to use guns and then an off-duty policeman, basically not getting the assailant, but just basically distracting him from what he wanted to do. We saw this in the Lunar New Year active shooter case.

We saw it in one of the bar mass shooting cases in a bar. It is difficult to say go rush someone who has a gun. No one in my field is saying that.

But it is part of what is happening in training in terms of employers like In-N-Out and other major employers in terms of office shootings, beginning to understand that there is a potentially way to try to slow this harm. He would have clearly killed more people, but for this distraction.

[08:25:00]

BOLDUAN: Juliette, it is good to see you. Thank you so much for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, just ahead. Devastating fires tear through Washington State, forcing thousands upon thousands of residents to flee the latest on the race trying to contain the blaze, which is zero percent contained at the moment.

Also, President Trump doubling down on his claims that vandals damaged the reflecting pool, despite his own Justice Department saying the complete opposite and dropping charges. Why the DOJ says they are dropping their vandalism case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: New overnight. A compromise in hopes of confirmation. Todd Blanche bending to the pressures of two Republicans, putting it in writing that President Trump's so-called anti-weaponization fund has been ended and is fully dead.

Blanche released a one-page memo stating that he is formally rescinding it. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized the $1.8 billion fund, calling it a slush fund that could have been used to pay January 6th defendants.