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Washington Arson Arrest; Man Arrested at Trump Club; Max Miller Vows to Stay in Race; Democratic Progressives Score Big Wins. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired August 05, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Rising power. Progressives score more victories in Democratic primaries, exposing a possible divide in the party just 90 days before the midterms.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: And pressure mounts on Max Miller. The congressman defies calls to quit over allegations of domestic abuse and defends himself in an interview with CNN.

And then another A.I. model goes rogue, using fake identities to fool real people.

We're going to get into it, as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: A shakeup in Michigan and a wake-up call for Democrats. CNN projecting progressive Abdul El-Sayed the winner of Michigan Senate primary, but it wasn't an overwhelming victory over his moderate opponent. We're talking 15,000 votes.

So the big question, can he win 90 days from now? El-Sayed is looking forward in his victory speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Sometimes, intrafamily squabbles are the biggest ones. But we all know that, when we walk out the house, we stand united.

And we're going to build a movement that reaches out to everybody. I know not everybody's going to agree with me on everything. That's not how this works. But I do know that they agree with me on the need to beat Mike Rogers and the need to hold Donald Trump accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He will now face Republican Mike Rogers, who minutes ago said in a statement: "For more than 25 years, one party has controlled Michigan's two Senate seats. Now the same failed politicians are asking us to send Abdul El-Sayed to Washington. Abdul isn't just another liberal. He's an extremist."

CNN's Harry Enten is with us now.

So, Harry, another key Senate seat boiling down to a progressive and President Trump's pick. What can you share?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA ANALYST: Yes, those were some pretty strong words from Mike Rogers.

And I will tell you, I think this is going to be a marquee Senate race, one of the few opportunities that Republicans have across the Senate map to flip a Democratic-held seat. Look, the bottom line is this as we look ahead to the general election.

There are a few things we should note. First of all, how many polls are out there which I actually trust which could tell us where this race stands? Well, I will draw it for you up here. It's zero. Zero polls are out between Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed that I could trust.

More than that, during the primary, the polls had Abdul El-Sayed head, the final ones, by 10-plus points. Well, I'm not the greatest mathematician in the world, but I can tell you 10-plus points is significantly larger than the one point win that Abdul El-Sayed got.

More than that, I have to tell you that as I look at the data across the map, we see a very fractured Democratic Party, right? You could see it here. In your navy blue, you have got Haley Stevens. In your Columbia blue, you have got Abdul El-Sayed. And what you see here is you see that Haley Stevens did particularly well in this corridor.

And what's in this corridor? Well, there are a lot of working-class voters and a lot of African-American voters. Abdul El-Sayed did very poorly amongst these groups in the primary. It's going to be very interesting to see whether or not he can bring them into the tent come the general election, bring those swing voters with him, because where Abdul El-Sayed did well, to be honest with you, were really just college towns.

That's where he really ran up the score. This is Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor's in this county, and Ann Arbor, of course, is the University of Michigan. We zone out a little bit. Another place he did particularly well was Lansing. Again, we're talking 20-plus point margins.

You can't just win college towns if you're going to win in a general election. So the question is, can Abdul El-Sayed bring the party together? The other thing I will note is, Donald Trump's net approval rating in the state, somewhere, I will say it is south of minus-10 points.

That's what Abdul El-Sayed has to do, circle around, bring those folks say, we hate Trump, and, of course, Mike Rogers is going to try and divide that Democratic Party.

KEILAR: Yes, he's trying to do that in his speech, but it was certainly a bruising primary, so he has his work cut out for him then.

ENTEN: Yes.

KEILAR: Harry, tell us about this candidate backed by President Trump who actually lost to a candidate who had already dropped out.

[13:05:00]

ENTEN: Yes, OK. This to me is a bonkers story as we look at the primary. You see there's a lot of red. When we see this kind of orange yellow, you know something weird happened.

And this is what happened. OK, Amir Hassan, he was the candidate that was backed by President Trump. You could see it here on the screen. He lost by 17 points to a guy by the name of Thomas Smith, who had dropped out of the race, endorsed somebody else, raised no money. I think he raised like hundreds of dollars, literally three figures.

And yet he was able to beat Amir Hassan, the Trump-backed candidate. And I will note this is a Democratic-held district. It is a swing district. But now that you got a guy who has not basically a dollar to his name in terms of fund-raising, I think that this is a seat that may have potentially in a good year big competitive for Republicans, but it's likely to be a bad year.

And given you got literally a no-namer, I'm not quite sure it will work out for him.

KEILAR: Yes, Michigan is telling us that no dollar -- each dollar is not created equal.

ENTEN: No. No.

KEILAR: But that, that is wild right there.

Harry Enten, thank you so much.

Republicans now have to sort out who their nominee will be in North Carolina's 11th district, as Congressman Chuck Edwards is ending his reelection bid. The House Ethics Committee finding what it calls substantial evidence that Edwards repeatedly made unwanted advances toward two young female staffers.

Committee members also taking the rare step of recommending the full house vote to censure Edwards. In a statement, the 65-year-old, who is currently in his second term, said that: "After much prayer and reflection, I have decided to withdraw from my reelection campaign. I will complete my current term."

The committee says it found no evidence that Edwards engaged in sexual activity with staffers, but that he repeatedly gave them lavish gifts, sent personal notes expressing his affection, and invited them to intimate dinners. Edwards denies that his behavior was intended as a sexual or romantic advance -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, meanwhile, Republican Congressman Max Miller says he's not going anywhere as pressure grows to drop his reelection bid.

Miller says he will stay in the race for Ohio's 7th District, despite abuse allegations by his ex-wife and two other women. The House Ethics Committee announced on Tuesday that it is reviewing allegations that he may have engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use.

Now, Miller's former father-in-law Republican Senator Bernie Moreno is among the growing voices calling on him to end his campaign. But in a new interview with Politico, House Speaker Mike Johnson struck a more cautious tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): This applies equally to Republicans and Democrats. We don't take disciplinary action against members for allegations. He's vehemently denying this. It's in his own words a nasty divorce proceeding, and it's gotten ugly and it's gotten public.

But he's saying the same things privately to members that he is publicly, that he denies all this and he thinks it's a hit job on him.

QUESTION: Will you tell him to drop out?

JOHNSON: No, I will tell Max what I tell everyone. These are serious allegations. I'm the father of two daughters who work in Capitol Hill. I mean, the allegations are serious. I think Max is taking them seriously. I think our colleagues are.

But, again, we have to allow this process to play out. It's just begun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is on Capitol Hill for us.

So, Sunlen, what more is Miller saying about all this?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, that interview yesterday with Jake Tapper made it very clear that he is defiant here and really struck that defiant tone, saying that he will not step aside, emphasizing that he has no intention of dropping out of his reelection race.

It was just a remarkable exchange with Jake yesterday in that exclusive interview, where Jake questioned him about the mounting allegations from three women of domestic use, yearslong allegations, and Miller himself denied the accusations and continued to push back strongly.

Here's more of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Are all three of these women who don't know each other, are all three of them lying? REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): Yes, it's very easy, and I can tell you why.

Every single time -- and people have asked me, what are you going to do? Are you going to drop out of this race? Are you going to resign? Are you going to get out before the deadline? And my answer to you, Jake, is no.

And I can tell you why. In 2016, when President Donald J. Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world that hit him day after day after day, and people in the media, very much like yourself and others, said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States, but guess what?

He stayed in and he was resilient. And what the American people can see is that they can see that somebody is fighting who is resilient, and that is a quality that the American people cherish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And on Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee did indeed launch an investigation into these allegations.

And interesting in that interview that Miller himself really invoked Speaker Johnson's name as a sign of support, saying he believes he's standing by him, but certainly interesting to read in there what Speaker Johnson said in that interview with Politico, where he said he believes that Miller is taking these allegations seriously, but stops short of calling, of course, for him to step aside or resign and said he wants the process to play out up here on Capitol Hill.

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But Omar, of course, these Ethics Committee investigations takes months and months on hand, and certainly pressure is mounting up here on the Hill -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, we will see what develops from here.

Sunlen Serfaty on Capitol Hill for us, appreciate the reporting.

Still to come for us: An armed man is arrested at President Trump's golf club ahead of his visit there. We're going to bring you some new details about the suspect.

Plus, another security incident involving an A.I. model gone rogue. We're going to break down how it was able to break containment and who is impacted in the breach.

And then, later: Rising temperatures, along with dry conditions, are threatening to make the wildfires burning out West even worse.

We're going to have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:15:03] JIMENEZ: We are now learning that a man found with ammo at President Trump's California golf club was also carrying a public telephone number for the White House. Now, federal prosecutors also say the man's truck parked in the club lot had a loaded 9-millimeter as well.

So now the Secret Service is trying to figure out whether 38-year-old Jeanine John Taele posed a threat to the president, according to a source. Now, Taele is scheduled in court this afternoon. He's also facing state weapons charges. He was arrested at the Trump National Club two days before the president's visit there.

And the Justice Department says Taele was seen on the property wearing an earpiece while taking pictures and videos of federal agents doing security preps. Now, investigators say his truck also contained a badge reading security protection agent, and they found more weapons, ammunition, as well as body armor at his home.

So I want to talk about this case with Donell Harvin, the former head of homeland security and intelligence for Washington, D.C. He's also a member of the faculty at Georgetown University Emergency and Disaster Management.

I just want to start with, look, we laid out a lot of those details that we understand from investigators at this point. How will Secret Service determine whether the man actually posed a threat to President Trump?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: Yes, Omar.

So, right now, they're, I'm sure, executing warrants, any storage units or any locations that's affiliated with this individual. They're interviewing family members, friends. They're also looking at his social media footprint, which is common, and looking to see if there's any history of violence or threats against the president or other members of the Cabinet.

And so this will be an extensive interview and interrogation process, as well as an investigative process, that they will -- they may very well up the charges, the federal charges, if they come up with information that's derogatory that shows that this individual had mal intent towards the president in terms of trying to assassinate him.

JIMENEZ: And it's one thing in terms of what was found on his body, as we understand from investigators, or at the scene. But I wonder what you make of investigators saying they recovered from the man's home an illegally modified rifle, body armor, high-capacity magazines, and notebooks containing -- quote -- "concerning statements."

Does that add anything to the picture of what they might may have found on scene?

HARVIN: For me, it does. It's clearly not a smoking gun, pun not intended.

But it shows that this individual has weapons. They're being a little cagey and not giving out information about the writings, and that's appropriate in this -- at this point in the investigation. You don't want to tip off any accomplices or anybody else who may be watching us talk about this right now on television.

They know a lot more than they're releasing, and that's appropriate because they may have to run down other individuals if this individual is not lacking as a lone actor. Now, historically, we have seen these attempts or these foiled plots as lone actors, but they can't take anything for granted.

I do want to mention, Omar, in this heightened environment, if this was a credible threat, and if Donald Trump was targeted, this would be an unprecedented fourth attempt on one standing leader's life, if you go back to Butler, you go back to the Mar-a-Lago attempt, and if you include the White House Correspondents' Dinner attempt that's still being litigated in court.

We have never seen anything like this before. And so investigators are doing their due diligence to make sure that they have all the facts and they're able to present it in court when the day comes.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and investigators, as you mentioned, still working through this case in particular.

But you mentioned the previous Mar-a-Lago one. Remember, Ryan Routh was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted assassination of the president there on the edge of Trump's West Palm Beach golf course in Florida. And you look at the setting here also proximate to a golf course.

Just from a security standpoint, how difficult is it to actually secure something like this, where, if you play golf, there are many, many different ways to get onto a course?

HARVIN: Conventionally speaking, it's super difficult, but when you're the president of the United States and you have the best protective detail in the world, it's more complex for them, but it's very doable.

I will tell you that this individual was interdicted or stopped because of something that we do know that attacks or assailants do, which is preoperational or pre-attack surveillance. They will go and case out a location days before.

And that's what we teach law enforcement and security is, the best time to catch these individuals, when you see someone doing something suspicious. So he was there days before, taking video allegedly, filming allegedly, and that's the time that you can see individuals who are not acting appropriately.

There's some behavioral analysis that goes into there. And so, from my standpoint, everything happened as it should have. The president wasn't even wheels down when this happened. And so it's just another tool in the toolkit, what we call countersurveillance, that happens before the president touches ground, especially in an open air environment like a golf club. [13:20:13]

JIMENEZ: Donell Harvin, really appreciate the insight as we follow this developing story. Thanks for being here.

All right, up next for us, we have new details on the convicted felon arrested for starting one of the wildfires burning around Washington state. We will bring you those details coming up.

Plus, a pilot is accused of flying under the influence and trying to smuggle more drugs in as well. We will tell you what investigators found in his bags when he was taken into custody.

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KEILAR: Tomorrow, a convicted felon is set to be arraigned on a first-degree arson charge in Washington state.

Aaron Farinacci is accused of intentionally starting the Old Trails wildfire in Spokane County, one of three fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate the area. One witness says he saw Farinacci acting suspiciously on Saturday just minutes before the fire began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CHILD, WITNESS: At first, I really didn't think anything of it. He was just kind of standing there. He wasn't really doing much. He kind of turned and looked at us as we drove by, and that was pretty much it.

So, continued up to the house, was here probably 10, 15 minutes max, and then my daughter was sitting on the porch out there, and she says: "There's a fire."

So I ran out and looked and saw a column of smoke rising exactly where that individual was standing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Two other fires are also burning there in the Spokane area, several others in Washington state, and rising temperatures and dry conditions could make them worse.

CNN's Allison Chinchar has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Firefighters have been trying to take advantage of the improved weather conditions for much of this week, knowing that, as we go through the next few days, we are going to start to see those winds increasing again, making it more difficult for these areas to deal with the fire conditions. Now, we have already started to see those temperatures increasing out

into the West. That includes the area where the fires are located, all thanks to this high pressure and the heat dome that's there. Now, the one good news is that heat dome has been keeping those winds a little bit lower, but, in turn, it's been making the temperatures go back up.

Now, the average for Spokane this time of year is about 87 degrees. You're looking at every single one of the next four days, so through the first half of the weekend, to see those high temperatures into the 90s, so several degrees above average.

That's making those conditions very hot, and it's also very dry there. Again, you look at some of these humidities around a lot of the areas here, you're looking at teens, anyway from 10, 15, maybe at most 20 percent. So you have dry conditions and you also have the hot temperatures.

Now, the winds have been low and are expected to stay low for the next couple of days. But once we get to Friday, you're really going to start to see them jumping back up to around 20, 25, maybe even as high as 30 miles per hour as we head back into the weekend.

That's really going to be the turning point for a lot of these fire crews, because they really need to try to get a much better handle on these fires, get those containment numbers up before these winds start to increase as we head into the weekend.

So, again, notice today they're not that bad. They have been relatively low, but once we tick into Thursday, especially late Thursday and into Friday, you're going to start to see an increase. The smoke is also going to be a big concern, because, as the wind picks up, it's going to take all of that smoke and blow it into some of the surrounding towns, so certainly something to have to keep a close eye on in the coming days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: All right, our thanks to Allison Chinchar for that.

And still ahead: a big blow to the Democratic establishment, CNN projecting that progressive Abdul El-Sayed will win Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, so what this is going to mean for both parties as the midterms rapidly approach.

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