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Inflation Slows in July; Crowley Wins in Wisconsin Primary; Arkansas State Trooper Punches Woman During Arrest; Murder Trial Resumes for Lindsay Clancy. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 12, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BOB KRUMENAKER, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK: Riparian forest, and it probably could recover if this is all they do.

But they're already clearing land in other parts of the park. We think they're going to be building a border wall man camp. There's virtually no water in this park. So, any wells that they drill will permanently reduce the groundwater. And there are other endangered species that depend on groundwater levels.

The biggest threat is this risk that they are going to drive bulldozers and explosives across a 1,700 foot mountain that's above the river for no purpose at all. And that will be irreparable if they destroy that mountain.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bob Krumenaker, thank you for shining a light on this. We get to see some very beautiful pictures there and raise questions about if it will remain beautiful for generations to come. Thank you for your time this morning.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, a key economic number revealed the cost of living in the U.S. is going down for the second month in a row. So, why don't most Americans feel like they're getting some relief from high prices?

Also this morning, the polls were deceptive and upset in Wisconsin. We're expecting to hear soon from the projected winner of that state's very tight Democratic primary for governor.

And growing anger after this video showing a state trooper punching an 18-year-old woman during an arrest.

Kate is out today. I'm Sara Sidner in Atlanta, with John Berman in New York. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, brand-new economic data just in. The breaking news, the annual inflation rate slowed for the second month in a row, 3.4 percent in July. So, the slowing is good. Not so good, it's still pretty elevated inflation right now.

CNN senior reporter Matt Egan with the details we're seeing here.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, John, I think you nailed it, right, the cost of living did improve in July. And yet, yes, it does remain way too high. And, yes, these price hikes continue to swallow up any sort of wage increases that workers are seeing. So, 3.4 percent, as you mentioned, that's the new inflation rate on an annual basis. A touch better than 3.5 percent, the month before this. It was exactly as expected.

The monthly rate coming in at just 0.1 percent. That's a pretty benign figure. Also, as expected, you can see the trend for monthly inflation in the last two years, all the way on the right side of the screen, those last two bars, right? In June there was this major decline in prices, the biggest since Covid. And now, in July, just a small increase.

And yet, after back-to-back months of pretty subdued monthly inflation, when you look at the inflation rate on an annual basis, it's still way too high. That's what this chart shows you, right, 3.4 percent. Some context, John, that is above the 3 percent in early 2025, when President Trump started his second term. In fact, it's also higher than it was at this point last summer. So, there really hasn't been much progress when it comes to inflation.

And when we look at some of the drivers here for the month of July, on a monthly basis, gas prices, they did go down almost three percent. So, that was a major factor here. Of course, we now know that gas prices have gone back up because the Strait of Hormuz, despite what the president says, is not reopened.

Now, grocery prices were only up very slightly, so that is encouraging. However, also another impact from the war is airfare, right, 2.2 percent. We know jet fuel has gotten dramatically more expensive because of the war. And we know airlines have not been shy about passing those costs along to consumers.

Now look at motor oil. That's an interesting one. Five and a half percent between June and July. And, you know, I had been reporting earlier this year about concerns about the supply chain and the Strait of Hormuz being closed and how that could cause a shortage or not enough supplies of motor oil. So, you wonder if that is part of the factor for there.

And then look at lettuce.

BERMAN: Yes.

EGAN: Lettuce, a 16 percent plunge. The biggest on record, John. That does seem to reflect the fact that people are not buying as much lettuce because of all these concerns about contaminated lettuce.

BERMAN: I'm so glad you included that there because sometimes you do learn a little something new nuggets in these reports. Clearly, the cyclospora outbreak is concerning people there and just they're off lettuce.

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: So, the prices are dropping. Supply and demand.

EGAN: Absolutely.

Just the last thing here is what are people actually experiencing, right? So, the good news is that wages, this orange line here, they are still going up. Wages are still going up. However, the problem is that prices, prices are going up even faster. That's the blue line. So, that means if you adjust your paycheck for inflation, your paycheck is actually getting smaller. And I think that this is the whole ballgame. This is why people feel so frustrated about this economy because they're working hard, they're getting paid more, but they can't keep up with the prices.

BERMAN: And this is the stock market, which we just put up at the end there, when we're going to talk about, the lines on that right there.

[09:05:04]

But when there is space between wages and inflation, that is where there is concern because, as you said, they just can't keep up. And you see the markets up a little bit, up a little bit this morning.

EGAN: Up a little bit because I think that the market is thinking that the Fed may not feel as much pressure to raise interest rates. So, the market is pleased with this.

BERMAN: All right, Matt Egan, thank you very much.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, gentlemen.

Breaking this morning, overnight, the wild governor's race in Wisconsin was finally called. We are expecting to hear soon from David Crowley, the projected winner of that state's very tight Democratic primary. And we've just learned that Democratic socialist Francesca Hong has called to concede to Crowley. Crowley is the moderate candidate in this race. And the results are raising some questions about whether the progressive movement, after a string of victories this summer, is starting to hit a wall as we get closer to November.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live in Madison, Wisconsin.

Wow, what are the major takeaways there? This was a tight one, and it went long.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, good morning.

It certainly was tight. And I'm told that that concession call came in the overnight hours shortly after the race was projected for David Crowley. And Francesca Hong, the Democratic socialist state lawmaker here who really captured the imagination of so many progressives had long said she believed the Democratic Party should unify, and she said she would campaign with her rival. I'm told a unity breakfast is scheduled for this morning here in Madison, and there is some unifying to do, there's no doubt about it.

But the reality is, this victory for David Crowley is such an extraordinary one. If you think back over the events of the last month, it was one month ago, on July 8th, when he got out of the race. He thought he did not have a path to victory. Ten days later, he got back into the race after a couple other leading candidates got out of the race. So, this has been a wild race.

But if you look at the outcome, and if you look at all the way down, all the candidates, some of those candidates who were effectively not running, had abandoned their campaign, were still on the ballot. They got tens of thousands of votes. So, that also played a role here.

So, as to the question of whether the progressive movement has hit a wall, she was asking Wisconsin voters to do something that no statewide candidate has done. A Democratic socialist. A proud Democratic socialist. She had to walk back some of her previous comments, like defunding the police. She said she no longer believed in that. It was kind of a string of one thing after another.

So, it's important, I think, that we look at each one of these states on its own. It's not just one progressive nationwide movement. And her candidacy was also not endorsed and supported by Bernie Sanders. He said he met her once a few years ago, but he was going to keep his eye on it. So, that kind of gave you a sense of, there were some questions about whether she was ready for a fall campaign.

But, Sara, there is no doubt about it. I mean there's a strain inside the Democratic Party, this really call for change, it's still very much alive. But here in Wisconsin at least, here in the Midwest, the establishment had a very important victory last evening. And now, of course, David Crowley, as you said, he'll be speaking in the next hour.

But we caught up with him on the eve of the election. And listen to what he said here about the progressive movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CROWLEY (D), WISCONSIN GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Just being able to put out different types of rhetoric doesn't mean you're a progressive. What makes you a progressive is actually making progress for those that you represent and looking to represent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And he also pushed back on the idea that he was a member of the establishment. He said, look, I'm established. I'm the Milwaukee County executive here, which, of course, is a major position, one that former Republican Governor Scott Walker had before he became governor. But he clearly was campaigning (AUDIO GAP) on his result. So, he'll be heading against Tom Tiffany, the Republican congressman, for November.

Sara.

SIDNER: It is fascinating to watch all of this, Jeff Zeleny. And we're not done yet with all these primaries. Do appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN's senior political commentator, Adam Kinzinger, and Yemisi Egbewole, a former chief of staff to the Biden White House press office.

Yemisi, I want to start with you here because you are the actual Democrat in this conversation.

You said to me the other night that Francesca Hong was a fundamentally unserious candidate in Wisconsin, and that is when it looked like she would win. Now that she has lost, what does it tell you about what maybe Democratic voters have learned heading into November?

YEMISI EGBEWOLE, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO BIDEN WHITE HOUSE PRESS OFFICE: I think it tells us that moderates and independent voters want someone more towards the middle. And I also think that my assessment of her is something that people on the progressive side felt as well. I mean, look, when you look at Michigan, they had a slate of progressive stars that came out for Abdul, especially in those last key moments. And we know that he won within one percent. It was necessary for him to be boosted.

But in Wisconsin, it felt like Francesca Hong was an island unto herself.

[09:10:02]

I think it was pretty well known between voters and also those in the progressive establishment that this was not somebody that they wanted to get behind.

BERMAN: Adam Kinzinger, you were a congressman from Illinois, but you lived for a time in Wisconsin. Quite a number of years. What does this say? Again, there is -- are, obviously, been some progressive victories. Some victories on the far left of the Democratic Party. But what does this tell you maybe about the limits?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there are limits. I mean, I -- look, here's the interesting thing. I've kind of posited that I feel like the Democrats are a little where we were in 2015, and they have a decision to make. In 2015, the establishment kind of had some wins, which, you know, I would call myself a member of that. And then all of a sudden Trump comes along and, you know, we lose to the far right, and the party becomes that. I feel like the Democrats are making that decision now.

The interesting thing out of all of this, and I see it out of Wisconsin, is, I'll be interested in seeing -- it seems like the college educated tend to maybe vote for Hong a little more. And it was like blue collar African American that voted for Crowley. So, I wonder if there's a bit of a -- not a split in the Democratic Party, but a difference, a preference. And I think that played right could give the Democrats an opportunity to win the blue collar back from the Republicans.

BERMAN: Yemisi, talk to me a little bit about that. I wonder if we can put the map of Wisconsin up here because county by county, if you look at all the cities in Wisconsin, Francesco Hong basically won every city. Every county where there was a city in Wisconsin, she won, except for Milwaukee, which is the hometown of David Crowley. And she did really well there. He barely beat her there. So, we're talking about the cities, higher education.

You know, what can Democrats learn about maybe reaching those more rural, working class voters outside those highly educated areas? And is David Crowley maybe teaching people how to do that?

EGBEWOLE: Yes, it seems to be the new mission of the Democratic Party to turn their attention back to working class, rural voters. And time and time again people that are progressive on the far left say that that is their bread and butter, that they are work -- that their platform is working to represent that demographic. But we see that working class voters and black voters are still unconvinced.

I think you really have to get back to local politics. And that's what David Crowley did very, very well in this -- in this primary race. He focused on economic needs of people within Wisconsin.

Look, Wisconsin has had a huge hit, especially in the agricultural sector from the Trump administration tariffs. We're looking for new avenues to increase business. And I think the focus on the day to day lives, cost of living, affordability, is the way to go here if you want to connect with black voters and if you want to get high turnout when it comes to working class voters as well.

BERMAN: So, one other race I want to focus on with the two of you this morning is in Connecticut. This was for a House race in Connecticut, where longtime incumbent John Larson, who had been in the House since 1999, was defeated in the Democratic primary by Luke Bronin, who had been the mayor of Hartford. I mean not a nobody at all. Well known in this district. But I think he's like the seventh Democratic incumbent to lose in the primaries. Ten incumbents total have lost in the primaries. So, this is not a usual thing in a mid-cycle election. You don't see incumbents falling like this.

So, Congressman, what does it tell you?

KINZINGER: Very rarely. It's happening now, though. It tells me one -- a couple things. First off, and I think this is part of the issue with where you're seeing the progressive base of the party rise. It's not that, you know, the Democrats want to go super far left. It's, they want a fighter and they feel like the people that have been there for a long time are just kind of getting by.

If you are a Congress man or woman that has been in Congress longer than 20 years, you're in trouble. And you could be. You don't get to live the rest of your life out as a Congress person nowadays. You have to have the energy to fight. And Larson, remember, he had an incident on the floor where he kind of froze up. People look at that and they're like, look, you don't have a right to this seat. It's our seat. I think that's what you're seeing is people just wanting people to step up and fight for them.

BERMAN: Yemisi, believe it or not, there are still primaries still to come in Massachusetts, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with some Democratic incumbents facing primary challengers. How nervous should they be this morning?

EGBEWOLE: Yes, I mean, I'm thinking about Ed Markey. I'm thinking about Seth Moulton. And we talk about age and people who have served for a very long time. Ed Markey's coming up against that as well. And he's pretty far left and a progressive. And I think the geriatocracy (ph) argument doesn't matter center or left. People are looking for fresh, bold and sometimes younger ideas as well.

BERMAN: Adam Kinzinger, Yemisi Egbewole, great to see both of you. Thanks so much for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Up ahead, demands for answers after disturbing dash camera video shows a state trooper punching an 18-year-old woman and slamming her to the ground during an arrest.

And testimony resuming soon in the trial of the mother accused of strangling her three young children. What we heard yesterday from a psychiatric nurse practitioner who treated Clancy.

Plus, Marine veteran Robert Gilman is back on U.S. soil after being freed from Russian detention.

[09:15:00]

What we've learned about his condition after his family feared he was near death.

Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, there are growing calls for answers after dash camera video captured an Arkansas state trooper slamming an 18-year- old woman to the ground and then punching her in the face. Alisa Hackett was first pulled over for speeding and driving with her hazard lights on. According to the incident report, the trooper says that he moved to arrest her for having a bottle of liquor in her front passenger seat after another trooper said he had given her a verbal warning for alcohol possession during a separate traffic stop.

A warning, some may find this part of the video disturbing.

Things appear to escalate. [09:20:00]

Although you don't hear people yelling, you just see the escalation happen, when Hackett questions why she's being arrested and the trooper says that she ignored his commands.

Well, she's now filing a federal civil rights complaint accusing him -- you see the situation here -- where he slams her to the ground. It doesn't end there. You will see in just a second where he punches her in the face.

CNN's Ryan Young has been following this and asking questions about what happened here.

What are you learning this morning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, when you watch that video and you look at it, you're trying to figure out why it escalated so much, right?

SIDNER: Yes.

YOUNG: Like as we've watched the video a couple of times ourselves today, you see her turn her body just to a certain direction and start trying to walk, but you don't see her physically trying to push back.

Remember, she's about five foot one inch. The troopers, obviously, bigger than she is. He does a lat drop, and that's obviously a throw to the ground there. She's shocked by that throw. And then he follows up with a punch. And not to hold anyone back from seeing this. Just know that some of the video that you see might be disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she's got an attitude, take her (EXPLETIVE DELETED) to jail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. All right. We'll do that.

Yes, let me get your left hand real quick.

ALISA HACKETT: Sir, what did I do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me your left hand real quick.

HACKETT: No, what did I do? I didn't even do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do -- do not resist. Do not resist.

HACKETT: I need to call mama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Nope. Stop!

(CROSS TALK)

HACKETT: Sir, what am I doing? Oh, no! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop! Turn around.

HACKETT: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn around! Turn around! Turn around!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, you can see that closed fist there. Almost didn't get the compliance that he wanted out of her at that point. If anything, it looks like it shocked her into being more defensive. And, of course, she's calling for her mother. You hear her screaming over and over.

Look, this has been shared all over social media right now. People are trying to figure out exactly what happened.

Ben Crump has now been retained in this case. He's asking for there to be an investigation into this trooper. We know the trooper has not been suspended, but they are going to do an investigation into this case.

But once again, you look at her size, you look at the struggle that she did put up, just a little bit, but almost when you see him do the takedown, you're not sure why that follow up blow needed to be applied there.

At one point he did pull his taser. He decided not to use it. She was taken into custody. And at this point you can understand why they're in shock by this. But there's a lot of people wondering whether or not this amount of force needed to be used on someone of her size.

SIDNER: Was necessary.

YOUNG: And in that moment.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean looking at the video, we were not there, but we can certainly see what's happening. And then you hear the screaming and the confusion, and there's always going to be a talk about training and how these officers are trained, because I think there are two officers there, right?

YOUNG: Well, you hear the back and forth.

SIDNER: Yes.

YOUNG: And I think a second officer arrives. But what's interesting about this, and we've watched a lot of these videos before, sometimes you can hear the escalation happen before it happens.

SIDNER: Yes. Absolutely. Yes.

YOUNG: In this case, was she complying all the way? At certain points you could argue whether or not there was a discussion there.

SIDNER: Right, one way or the other. Yes.

YOUNG: But it wasn't something where you heard raised voices and you felt that fear of violence at that point.

SIDNER: Yes.

YOUNG: But, obviously, you saw how this ended and that closed fist really did some damage in terms of just to her psyche, because you can hear her scream in her shock.

SIDNER: You can hear her scream. Yes, it's hard to watch, especially listening to her screams there.

YOUNG: Unbelievable (ph).

SIDNER: There will be much more on this, I'm sure, as you watch and get more information on this particular case. It's good to see you, Ryan Young. Appreciate you.

YOUNG: Good to see you as well.

SIDNER: All right, John.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy back underway in Massachusetts. The defense is focusing on the mental health treatment and medications that Clancy received in the months leading up to the killings of her three children.

Want to get to CNN's Jean Casarez, who has been covering this trial, all the twists and turns.

What are you expecting today?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, today, we have seen a line of providers, the actual medical professionals that treated Lindsay Clancy, that prescribed medication for her. And we'll see if they continue with that because what we are seeing, practitioner after practitioner, is that Lindsay Clancy did not want to stay on the medications. Every time she went on a medication, she stopped it on her own because she said, I'm getting worse. The symptoms are getting worse. It's a side effect of the medication. I cannot use it.

Rebecca Jollotta took the stand yesterday. She was a psychiatric nurse practitioner at a behavioral health center that really specialized in postpartum. And she testified that she started seeing her on November 29th. So, this is about two months before Lindsay Clancy killed her children. At that time, she found that she was goal (ph) oriented. She said she couldn't sleep. She was anxious. She was restless. She found that she had moderate depression at that point. And she prescribed Remeron, which she thought was something that would be good for her. A very low level. Lindsay Clancy had taken it for just a couple of days and she said, no, I'm getting terrible side effects from this. I can't take this.

Listen to what Nurse Practitioner Jollotta, right there, engaged in conversation with Lindsay at the time.

[09:25:02]

Listen to the testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCA JOLLOTTA, PSYCHIATRIC NURSE PRACTITIONER: I explained to her that it takes time to work. That it has only been four days. So, I did encourage her to give it some more time. I also made additional recommendations as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And so, what were the recommendations for?

JOLLOTTA: I had known that Lindsay (ph) had tried like five milligrams of Ambien. So, I had suggested maybe we could try ten. Maybe we could try Ambien controlled release formulation because what -- because she was having these wake-ups in the middle of the night. The controlled release kind of like, the outer layer gives you 60 percent of the dose, helps you sleep. Then throughout the night, the inner layer gives you 40 percent of the dose, keeps you asleep. I said that might be a good option while we're waiting for the Remeron to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: The defense brought out on cross-examination that during this time, the final two months when she was seen Nurse Jollotta, when she was seeing her actual psychiatrist, Jennifer Tufts, that she also went to a Rhode Island hospital that specialized in women with postpartum issues. They refused to accept her, according to the defense in cross- examination, because she had been on too many medications. And the defense also said that Lindsay Clancy would stay up night 60, 70, 80 times a night, she would be searching medications of what could make her better.

BERMAN: All these new details.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much for this. And you can all follow Jean's coverage of the trial live on CNN All Access and on the CNN app.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Coming up, President Trump speaking out for the first time about that elaborate cloak and dagger plan that included him hiding in a catering truck to switch planes to protect him from a threat by Iran. What we are learning this morning.

And the Chicago White Sox celebrates their most famous fan with a massive giveaway of pope hats at last night's game. Wait till you see who threw out the first pitch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)