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Judge Orders Recess After Lindsay Clancy Breaks Down in Court; Ex-Southern Poverty Law Center CFO Arrested on Fraud Charges; DOJ Brings Charges in Alleged Marriage Fraud Scheme; Rescue Teams in Colombia Working Relentlessly to Find Any Remaining Survivors; Trump Says Karoline Leavitt Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary; Homeland Security Ramping Up Hunt for Election Fraud. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 12, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to take a break. All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the court has not come back into session. It is still on a break, but this is part of the prosecution's case in chief. They previously had another, a doctor from the medical examiner's office, talk about Callan, eight months old Callan, his brains and his eyes and what happened to him when he was strangled.

This is difficult testimony, but it's part of the elements the prosecution must prove in their murder case. Now, before that, it was all about the medication and the counseling that Lindsey Clancy had. Letitia Dukes took the stand.

She is a counselor, two master's degrees. And she met with her beginning in December, and she actually had four visits. Three of them were telehealth.

One was in person. And she said that when Lindsay Clancy came in, that she talked about anxiety, talked about depression, but she actually got her to smile a little bit and even laugh at one point. She did refer her to, though, and she did say that she thought it was appropriate for partial in-house treatment and outpatient treatment.

And she got her into a facility in Rhode Island that specialized in exactly what Lindsey Clancy may be going through. On cross- examination, the defense asked her if she knew what happened at that visit at that very specialized hospital in Rhode Island. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were trying to get her into this program, which would be pretty good for a woman that had postpartum problems, right?

LETICIA DUKES: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you made your referral, you opened the door for her, and she got in there to at least be interviewed, right?

DUKES: Correct.

And they didn't take her, right?

DUKES: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know why?

DUKES: I'm not aware as to why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be surprised if I told you that they indicated that they could not help her out because their diagnosis or secondary diagnosis was that she was over-medicated?

DUKES: Repeat the question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would it surprise you to know that they indicated that they couldn't treat her as a woman with postpartum psychosis or postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety or any of that because their opinion was that she was suffering from an over-medication?

DUKES: It would surprise me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: So cross-examination by the defense, showing something, telling the jury something they'd never heard before, but we are still in the prosecution's case in chief.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Jean Casarez, thank you so much for the update. We'll continue watching the developments as they come in court.

Still ahead, a former executive at the Southern Poverty Law Center is arrested for her alleged role in secret payments involving informants.

We'll be right back.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A former employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center has been arrested in California on charges that she oversaw secret payments to informants inside white supremacist groups. According to the indictment, she used donor money for this, and prosecutors say she also shared a bank account with one of those informants.

SANCHEZ: CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is here. Evan, what more can you tell us about the charges and the woman who's been accused? EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is part of a broader case that's been brought against the Southern Poverty Law Center. Back in April, the Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted for allegedly funneling money to these hate groups as part of essentially putting people who were informants inside these hate groups. And the Justice Department now says that even though a lot of that was done with the help of the FBI, with the knowledge of the FBI, that there was some fraud involved.

And this case that was filed today against, or unsealed today against Heidi Beirich, who was a former executive of the SPLC, alleges that she violated wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering. So a lot of this money was brought in from donors and was paid to informants who were inside, working in these white supremacist groups and providing information to the SPLC. Again, the SPLC and Beirich's attorney both denied that she broke the law in doing any of these things.

She left the SPLC about six years ago.

KEILAR: So talk to us about another case. DOJ today charged 11 people with fraud over what's being called sham marriages, most of them between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens.

PEREZ: Over a thousand sham marriages, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York. This case was unsealed today as well. The charges are against 11 people who, according to prosecutors, were essentially recruiting people to help set up these sham marriages.

They were charging people $100,000 to get these marriages. And so this is part of a broader problem that has been going on for many, many years. People who should not be in this country are allowed to apply for green cards and so on, and eventually get citizenship, according to the Justice Department, by essentially paying people who pose as somebody who is involved with them, U.S. citizens. And so it's been a long-running fraud problem, and the Justice Department says that they're cracking down on this. So one of the questions is, you know, what happens to these people?

[15:40:00]

I think we have a clip of the Attorney General discussing the importance of bringing these cases, and I'll come back and talk a little bit about what happens to the people who were involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history. This scheme was not a quick fly-by-night operation, but rather a years-long, multimillion- dollar cottage industry. Some of the charged defendants acted as facilitators, who orchestrated the marriage fraud scheme, pairing foreign nationals seeking immigration status with United States citizens willing to participate and engage in a sham marriage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, you know, the Justice Department has been cracking down on things like this, including people who are doing birth tourism, people who come to the United States specifically to give birth so that they can claim birthright citizenship. Those are the things the Justice Department is going after. We asked -- one of the reporters asked a question today about whether these thousands or so sham marriages, whether those people are now going to be prosecuted.

The Justice Department said -- the Attorney General said that that is a possibility, depending on some of the specifics of this case. This is something that I think we're going to see ongoing for some time.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thanks so much for the reporting.

We want to pivot now to Colombia, where search and rescue operations are in their third day following a devastating earthquake. The mayor of Cali, one of the hardest hit cities in the country, says the next day will be critical to find any remaining survivors.

The mayor says that rescue crews and volunteers have saved at least 75 people so far. The death toll across the country, though, is rising once again today. Officials say the disaster killed at least 233, injuring thousands more.

KEILAR: There's still many others who are missing at this hour. Communities are coming together. They're holding out hope of finding those who may still be trapped.

CNN's David Culver is on the ground with the latest on rescue efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The rescue efforts across this region are relentless, and you almost forget what day it is because it seems like this that are happening over and over at all hours. However, those who are involved in these rescues, they certainly know the timeline, and they know that it's been well over now 48 hours since this earthquake. And that, for them, is crucial in trying to figure out if there are survivors.

We've been told what we're looking at here was an apartment building that was about four stories high. You can see the rooftop pool, the blue tiles over there, now about a story and a half up in the air. So it has totally pancaked down, collapsing into the basement of this apartment complex.

And I want to take you a little bit closer because the gentleman here in the blue shirt, who I'm about to walk past, this is Harold. I've been talking to him throughout the morning and into the day. And he's here from Fort Lauderdale.

And his dad's apartment is the second floor. And you can see what he pointed out is his dad's mattress. And that's right there. Again, that was the second floor. So it gives you a sense of now that's already pushed down into the basement. We'll back up here and let them continue on. But it does underscore just how powerful this collapse was.

And yet Harold is back. You can see him there. He's looking onward and was part of the efforts to try to lift some of the heavy slabs of concrete.

We're in Cali, Colombia. This is the third largest city. A little more than 2, 2.2 million people call this place home, about the size of Houston, Texas. And now the mobilization that we're seeing here is because there are real hopes and efforts to try to still save lives, people who they believe that they've heard from in the past hour or so. And so that is why you have, again, mostly volunteers, but also now increasingly more officials who have been able to make their way here, people like Harold who are family members who live in the states, who have flown in to try to help. And they've been handing us out these masks to try to avoid taking in any of what they believe could be pretty potent air.

But right now, it's again a moment of silence. They're about to quiet everybody, so they're going to be quiet as they are once again hoping to hear any sounds from within.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to David Culver for that report. The White House is using another tool in its often-questioned fight against voter fraud. The Department of Homeland Security. We'll explain how after a quick break.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. President Trump has announced that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving.

KEILAR: Trump announcing the news on True Social just moments ago. CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House. Alayna, tell us what you're learning.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've first heard this news. It was broken by the president himself. I want to read you a little bit of what he wrote on social media.

He said, "Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month." He said that it was so that she could spend more time with her family and also argued that Karoline will be moving forward one of his top advisers. I will say we also heard from Karoline Leavitt herself posting on X a very lengthy statement thanking the president and the team here at the White House for everything.

She added that the reason that she's leaving, she's a little bit more detailed than the president. [15:50:00]

In his post, she said that the truth was that since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I would note she just gave birth to a baby girl in May. She said I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom to my two young children and what they deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House. She went on to say that the president asked me to continue serving as a top adviser to him on the outside and I will always remain a vocal advocate for MAGA and the Republican Party.

Look, this is going to be a very tough role for the president to fill. Karoline, as he said, is one of his closest advisers. Unlike some press secretaries we know of the president's predecessors, she is in almost every meeting with him, in the Oval Office constantly with him.

She is someone that is part of a very small group of people inside the West Wing who typically knows what is going on. And she's also someone, of course, who worked with him on his campaign. She also worked for him during his first term.

So a big departure here from the White House from one of the president's closest advisers. But as he said, she's going to stay on advising him on the outside.

KEILAR: Yes, she has been obviously a fixture. Hard to imagine her not being there. Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

We do have some new CNN reporting today. The White House has been aggressively pursuing its crusade against voter fraud, and it's found a critical weapon in that fight, the Department of Homeland Security.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's a major change for a department that's role in elections was previously just helping with security. CNN's Gabe Cohen joins us now with the new reporting. Gabe.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, guys, for years Trump and his allies have claimed that there is widespread voter fraud and non- citizen voting in this country. What we're seeing here is the Department of Homeland Security making, uncovering and prosecuting those crimes, a top priority. Now, there are multiple aspects to this.

A big one is these criminal investigations that we have seen ramp up using Homeland Security agents that typically focus on crimes like human trafficking and drug smuggling now tasked with investigating voter records for thousands, if not tens of thousands of people that the department has flagged as possible non-citizens. Of course, it is a federal crime for non-citizens to vote or to make false statements in order to register to vote. Evidence of that can be used to not just prosecute people but even deport them.

And those are the types of cases, that's the type of evidence that these agents are now looking for. And we've obtained these e-mails that show agents in recent months in various exchanges oppressing local elections officials for voter records, sending them lists of names. It appears that they believe to be non-citizens who may have registered or voted.

And what those e-mails show is that in some cases, these agents have been hitting roadblocks, in some cases, misidentifying people or even finding out that very few of the people on those lists that they're sending have actually voted. Now, to be clear, those e-mails, it's really just a snapshot of this much bigger investigative initiative. And DHS has insisted that they have found voter fraud.

They sent us a statement saying, "We have repeatedly demonstrated that illegal aliens can and do vote in our elections." And they point to these select few cases that they have publicized related to voter fraud and also that massive error, you might remember, that was revealed by New Jersey's governor last month, an error at their DMV that had automatically registered more than 6,000 non-citizens, nearly 400 of whom actually cast a ballot.

But as all this is happening, guys, there's a lot of concern from election integrity advocates and some election officials who think, one, DHS is chasing these cases largely to push a political narrative, but also they point to another piece of the department's work here, which are these claims that we've seen in recent weeks that the department says they have found hundreds of thousands of non-citizens who are registered to vote, largely by looking at the public voter rolls of just four states. And we have heard officials on both sides of the aisle that say, at the very least, they think those numbers are inflated, maybe dramatically.

DHS hasn't exactly shown its math. There are a lot more questions when it comes to those claims, but the context here is critical, and that is all of this is happening less than 90 days out from the midterms. As the administration, the president continued to push for these abrupt and significant election reforms that they want in place by November.

And in some cases, they're using this evidence, or this work at DHS as evidence, that these reforms are desperately needed. And there are a lot of questions about, you know, what does this evidence actually show?

SANCHEZ: Yes, we'll see if they actually publish that purported evidence so that the data can be scrutinized. Gabe Cohen, thanks so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, who wants to be a billionaire? Your chance, coming tonight. The details, minutes away.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Stunning news from the sports world. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner are buying one of the country's most iconic sports teams. The L.A. Lakers.

SANCHEZ: A person --

KEILAR: Oh, sorry.

SANCHEZ: That was my fault.

KEILAR: Go ahead.

SANCHEZ: Sorry. I couldn't read there. A person familiar with the matter.

KEILAR: We've covered a whole eclipse today, folks.

SANCHEZ: It does weird things to animals. It does weird things to anchors and co-anchors.

KEILAR: That's right.

SANCHEZ: A person familiar with the matter has told CNN they are doing it for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion.

KEILAR: That's a lot of money.

And tonight's Powerball jackpot has hit $1 billion. It is the first billion-dollar Powerball prize since a player in Arkansas took home $1.8 billion on Christmas Eve last year. That is a lot of money. And the eighth largest in the lottery's history.

[16:00:00]

So keep your expectations low here, though, because your odds of winning are 1 in 292,201,338. But you're saying there's a chance.

SANCHEZ: You can't win if you don't play.

KEILAR: That's right. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

SANCHEZ: Thanks for joining us.

END