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Flock Responds to Criticism Over Misuse of Technology; University of Michigan Changes Grade System; U.S. Sending Carrier to Middle East to Replace USS Abraham Lincoln; GOP Rep. Max Miller Sued by Ex-wife Over Release of Sensitive Photo of Child; Midwest Braces for More Dangerous Storms, Flash Flooding. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 13, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- on board the USS Abraham Lincoln. The aircraft carrier has been deployed for more than 250 days, a record.

Plus, Flock under fire, the surveillance company facing criticism after reports of police officers misusing the technology. Flock is promising more oversight, but critics say it is not enough. And forget straight A's. One college says classes will be pass or fail for thousands of freshmen. We'll explain why Michigan is making the switch. As we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We're following Breaking News right now. A U.S. official tells CNN that the USS George Washington carrier group is currently heading to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln. The news of the swap comes amid growing concerns over living conditions on the Lincoln and its record-long deployment.

The aircraft carrier has been continuously at sea for over 200 days. CNN first reported that a sailor went overboard last month but was quickly rescued. News outlets like the Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times are reporting there have been multiple attempts by Lincoln crew members to go overboard.

Last month, CNN's Pamela Brown gained exclusive access onboard the Lincoln where she had a chance to speak with some of its crew. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT & ANCHOR: How do you keep the morale up when you have to do work like that that feels repetitive day in, day out and you've been at sea for so long?

RANDALL STONE, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Thank you. That's a great question. Actually, I would say morale is pretty low. Not just in the division, like in the ship entirely, you know. Personally, what helps me is I go to the gym, you know. I'm trying to better myself, you know, every day, but it's hard. BRIAN SHOENBORN, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Each deployment, it's kind of like there's different challenges. You know, first deployment is about eight and a half months. We didn't have Wi-Fi at first, right? We hit four ports. Second deployment, we got Wi-Fi but no ports. This one's been kind of the same. Each deployment, like I said, different challenges.

BROWN: It's been the longest deployment in terms of consecutive days, I'm told. So very short port visits, not deploying a full day means all of these days at sea. What has that been like?

SHOENBORN: Yeah, just getting a brief stop in Guam early on in deployment and then this last stop. I had duty the first day, so I didn't get off the first day.

Second day, just had a handful of hours. So it felt like the first port visit, but it's been, I think, an OK deployment for the most part.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective now with retired Brigadier General, Stephen Xenakis. He served as an Army Psychiatrist. General, thank you so much for being with us. What is your reaction to hearing these reports about some folks potentially going overboard or attempting to go overboard on the USS Abraham Lincoln?

BRIG. GEN. STEPHEN XENAKIS (RET.), ARMY PSYCHIATRIST: I take this as an alert. As a Medical Corps officer, we're concerned about the health and the mental health of all our service members. And any time an incident occurs like this, we should explore it as much as we can and get all the information about it and start to evaluate, is this a one- off? Is this an indicator of something that's bigger and more worrisome?

And use that information to now think about what we can do to help with the health and the welfare of our service members and if there's anything we can do for prevention. I mean, that's our responsibility as military health care providers.

SANCHEZ: Taking a step back, talk to us about the challenges and the mental strain that goes into a 250-plus day deployment.

XENAKIS: Well, I'm not a sailor, so I'm an Army officer, was an Army officer, and I can tell you that extended deployments of any kind really add all sorts of strain and stress on those service members who are on the front lines. And particularly if it looks like there's not an endpoint.

So it's so open-ended, they're not sure what's happening. If the conditions are hard in any way and they can be out of control, then, of course, that basic way of their quality of life that is so important just adds to stress. And, you know, everyone's got a breakpoint.

Everyone does and it changes over time. And it's a matter of paying attention to that and knowing that we've got to take care of these individuals who are carrying the burden of the mission. So this, as I understand it, is a very long deployment and there have been all sorts of circumstances that these sailors have had to face.

So it's not surprising, in fact, that there may be some issues that's both about their health and mental health that are showing up.

[14:05:00]

SANCHEZ: I think you would agree that for Americans serving under these conditions that have reached that breaking point, as you called it, the best recourse would be to speak someone like yourself, an expert in mental health. I wonder if you think that is easy to do for these service members in this situation. Is there still a stigma around seeking that kind of help, especially when deployed?

XENAKIS: There may be, but there's lots of ways of working around it, you know. And there may be, you know, as I said, you know, because I'm not a sailor, I'm not sure about what the medical staff is on an aircraft carrier. But I think they could put together organized mental health teams. They could fly these teams out.

They could sit down and either work with the sailors themselves, or in fact, what works well is to work with the leadership and just sensitize the leadership, educate them about that, to understand what they need to look for and as what they may be able to do to help these sailors get through these situations.

So there's several options here that can be exercised. And just knowing them with experience that I'm sure many of the Navy mental health people have, they can configure them and put them together.

SANCHEZ: Before we go, I did want to ask about the strategic perspective. I imagine these conditions may also limit the Pentagon's options when it comes to planning for the war with Iran, despite the fact that we've learned that now there's another carrier group that is headed for the region. It's something that the Pentagon has to account for, isn't it?

XENAKIS: Well, I mean, look, it's basic to everything we do in the military. I mean, I don't care if you're Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. I mean, the operations, the mission effectiveness, always rests on the shoulders of those people who are serving on the front lines. And we have to -- it is fundamental to our effectiveness and the strength of our military to consider how healthy they are so that they can be the most ready and they can do their jobs.

So this is part of planning. And we do that -- we've been doing that for thousands of years. Frankly, people have known that you've got to think about those individuals that are really in the "the fight" and what you need to do to make sure that they can sustain themselves and do what's being asked of them.

SANCHEZ: Right. Brigadier General Stephen Xenakis, thanks so much for joining us.

XENAKIS: Pleasure. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We turn now to a tense exchange between ICE agents and a woman in Virginia, an American, who ended up with an ICE agent pointing a gun in her face. This woman captured the terrifying encounter on her cell phone after ICE agents accused her of trying to run them over with her car. But video from the woman's dashcam appears to tell a very different story.

CNN's Jason Carroll is with us now to walk us through the video. Jason, what does it show?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, first of all, there are two very different accounts here, Brianna, of what happened out there in Virginia. The Department of Homeland Security is calling this woman a "anti-ICE agitator." But Carolina Molina says she's nothing of the sort and says that, that dashcam video shows what really happened out there. This happened on Monday.

Molina was out there when she says what she saw was two men being taken into custody by ICE agents. They were handcuffed and put into an unmarked car. Now, she readily admits, Brianna, that she was upset at that moment and yelled insults at the ICE officers. And then she says she tried to drive her car away. That's when she says ICE officers used their cars to block her in. And then she says one of the men pulled out a gun.

Now, part of that was captured on her dashcam. I want you to take a look at some of that video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLINA MOLINA, HAD A CONFRONTATION WITH ICE: You're a hoe. You're a [expletive] up.

CARROLL (voice-over): So you can see there where she was yelling the expletives there at the ICE officers. This is at the point, Brianna, where she says she was backing up and then trying to drive away.

And then you'll see what happens just a few moments after this.

MOLINA: You're a [expletive] up.

CARROLL (voice-over): There is one of the ICE officers in a vehicle. There's the other.

MOLINA: Are you really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you following us?

MOLINA: No, I'm not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you following us? This is a warning, ma'am.

MOLINA: I'm actually leaving cars. I'm leaving cars. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just so you know, you need to stop following us. All right? This is your warning. Stop following us. Yeah. You recorded us. You almost ran us over.

MOLINA: I didn't almost run you over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You almost ran us over. Stop filming.

MOLINA: You're so full of [expletive].

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop playing. All right?

MOLINA: You are [expletive] up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not funny.

MOLINA: You're not funny.

[14:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will arrest you. Keep it up.

MOLINA: I'm a legal citizen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't care.

MOLINA: Oh my goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to keep you up.

MOLINA: OK. For what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For trying to run us over.

MOLINA: Run you over? When? I've got recording. I've got dashcam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, you can hear her say that I've got dashcam, I've got dashcam, some very tense moments there. Yesterday, during a press briefing, Molina talked a little bit more about how that moment felt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINA: I think my life was in danger at that point. I don't think I processed that in that moment. It wasn't until after I was like, this was a whole Renee Good situation again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Of course, referring to Renee Good, the young mother that was killed by ICE agents earlier this year in Minnesota. Again, Molina saying despite being called an anti-ICE agitator, Brianna, she says her video shows what really happened.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, the pointing of the gun. What is DHS saying about this, Jason?

CARROLL: Well, look, DHS, for their part, released a lengthy statement. I'm going to read part of it to you.

It says, "While ICE was conducting targeted immigration enforcement in Falls Church, Virginia, an anti-ICE agitator began to drive her car in circles around our ICE officers and then attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle against them all in an attempt to help illegal aliens get away. Fearing for their safety, ICE officers conducted a vehicle stop of the driver."

Now, again, from what we saw from the video that we received there, her dashcam video does not appear to show her car driving in circles around those ICE officers. I think what would provide some clarity here is if we had some of that dashcam video or some video from those ICE officers in question.

As you know, ICE is in the middle of a nationwide effort to equip all of their agents with body-worn cameras. The agency is expected to have those done and distributed by the end of this month. So we're trying to find out if some of those ICE officers in question here had body- worn cameras. Still waiting to hear from ICE. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yeah. There'll be big questions about whether they really did fear for their safety, considering they were pointing the gun, but then walking away, turning their backs, or was this really an attempt to intimidate? So many questions here. Jason Carroll, thank you so much.

Still to come, embattled Republican Congressman, Max Miller facing legal headwinds in his bid for re-election as he denies abuse allegations. What we're learning about a new lawsuit filed by his ex- wife. Plus, a new inflation report shows price hikes may have actually slowed down in the last month. So what does that mean for you and your wallet as we inch closer to the holidays? And a controversial scene playing out in one of America's most treasured national parks, the Trump administration's latest immigration move that is drawing anger and heartbreak in Texas. We have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:42]

SANCHEZ: Embattled Republican Congressman, Max Miller, who's facing a series of domestic abuse allegations, is now being sued by his ex- wife. A civil rights lawsuit filed by Emily Moreno in Ohio Federal Court claims that Miller "recklessly published" a nude image of their young daughter when Miller and his attorney accidentally shared a link to a Dropbox folder, which included the sensitive image earlier this month.

CNN's Annie Grayer is following this story for us. So Annie, what's the latest?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So this photo in question was posted by Miller on August 2nd to his X account as he was trying to release a number of documents and images to respond to the allegations from his ex-wife in this account. This photo was posted to his account which has about 60,000 followers and shortly after, it was revealed that a sensitive photo was part of it.

Miller's team took it down and Miller's attorney quickly took responsibility for this photo. They put out in a statement saying, quote, "Unfortunately, I missed the last three pages of a 40-plus page document with sensitive content. It was completely unintentional and a mistake. The moment I discovered the issue on Monday morning, I corrected the file immediately."

And we've reached out to Miller and his team for a comment on this new lawsuit. We haven't heard back from them specifically since the lawsuit's been filed. But Miller has commented on the existence of this photo and what happened with it. He spoke to our colleague, Jake Tapper, earlier this month. Take a listen to that clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAX MILLER, (R-OH): I'm not defending it. It's awful. I don't --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You just defended it. You said it was taken out of context.

MILLER: Well, it -- because it is taken out of context in terms how the articles have been written about it. I didn't do this. My attorney took full responsibility. I believe that it's awful. There was never any intent to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: So Boris, with this lawsuit, Emily Moreno Miller's ex-wife is seeking $150,000 in damages for -- on behalf of their daughter for each time that this photo was downloaded from the internet before it was taken down.

SANCHEZ: Wow, so his ex-wife, of course, is the daughter of Bernie Moreno the Senator from Ohio. What is he saying about it?

GRAYER: So these allegations are very serious and on top of that, you have a deeply personal family matter that's playing out politically because Miller is a member of Congress and his ex-father-in-law is the senior Senator from that state.

[14:20:00]

And Senator Moreno had stayed quiet for a while on these allegations as they had wanted this to be a family matter playing out. But once this really started to spill into public view, Moreno did weigh in and say that he believed that Miller should resign, that he shouldn't be serving in Congress, that he was unfit to serve.

And a number of other Republicans joined Moreno in that call. Of course, Miller has decided to stay in this race. But Moreno also responded specifically about this image that's now at the center of this lawsuit. So we asked him about that earlier this month. And take a listen to how he framed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE MORENO, (R-OH): My personal opinion is that this is a felony and that every single human being that touched that photo and transmitted it electronically should go to jail because it is illegal to do that.

This has been brutal beyond comprehension. And if there's any minimum standard for being an elected official, as I said, he fails to meet that minimum basic standard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: So as you can hear from the Senator there, it's been brutal for him and his family, his daughter and his granddaughter. And now we have this new lawsuit to see how Miller will respond.

SANCHEZ: And the story is obviously not going away because the midterms are still months away. Annie Grayer, thank you so much for that reporting.

Still to come, stranded in fast-moving floodwaters, some catastrophic flooding hitting parts of Indiana after several months' worth of rain fell in just one day. We have your forecast in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:14]

SANCHEZ: Today, a fifth straight day of heavy rain is expected to hit multiple states across the Midwest, raising the risk of more flash flooding. Communities in Indiana are seeing the worst impacts of the storm. A one in a thousand year rainfall event triggering catastrophic flooding in Cambridge City, prompting emergency water rescues and evacuations. Now, some rivers in the state have now hit major flood stage as hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses remain without power.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Derek Van Dam who's been following this for us. So Derek, what are you seeing in the forecast?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Some of the rivers you're talking about will likely crest above their historic crest level, so we could likely see more water rescues just like what unfolded yesterday during Cambridge City or in Cambridge City. I've been in swift water like this. I've been on rescue boats. Having to navigate city streets on a boat, that's really hard to wrap your head around, but that's what's necessary when it comes to this type of flooding.

Here it is, covering millions of Americans, but it stretches not only from Indiana, but to the south and east towards Charleston, West Virginia and to the north and west towards Omaha and into the state of Iowa. So just since Monday, you can see the rainfall estimated totals just north and east of Indianapolis, where that flooding video was located, yeah, that has accumulated just since last night or yesterday I should say, nearly a foot in many locations.

Of course, that's causing many of these river gages to be or at forecast major flood stage. Here's an example. The White River at Anderson, this is in Madison County, Indiana. And that is forecast to break its record crest by about a half a foot. So the water still making its way down the rivers and then on top of that, there's more misery in this forecast. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but we have to face reality.

Another batch of heavy rainfall is headed right towards the same location, central Indiana. So we need to watch out for the potential of more flash flooding. There's even severe weather associated with it. Bloomington getting rocked by thunderstorms right now. Peoria had strong winds just about 15 minutes ago. This is our risk of severe weather for the day today, notice that includes Indianapolis.

And kind of timing things out and showing you how this will back build behind this initial batch of thunderstorms, that means areas will see repeated rounds of rain that had the heavy rainfall from the past several days. So that's going to enhance the potential for flash flooding. So we need to really keep our guard up.

This is where we have our Level 3 of 4 which, by the way, is inclusive of Indianapolis, much of central and southern Indiana and into southwestern portions of Illinois or rather Ohio. Rainfall totals here could exceed a half a foot. We want to be careful of that. We certainly don't want to see more door-to-door rescues like what we experienced during this flash flood emergency yesterday. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Derek Van Dam, a lot to keep an eye on there. Folks at home, you can track the forecast in your area. Just download the CNN weather app. You can do it by scanning this QR code right here.

Thanks so much, Derek. Brianna?

KEILAR: On today's Home Front, Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from the Trump administration about what they're calling "efforts to coordinate to arrest and detain and deport hundreds of veterans and military families." They're reacting to an article published last week by the Associated Press that detailed the Trump administration's detention of dozens of parents and spouses of active- duty service members and removal of long-standing immigration protections for military families.

The AP found more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members who have been detained for immigration violations during the president's second term. At least eight immediate family members of service members reportedly remain in federal immigration custody. The AP says it asked for comment from DHS on each case, including the individual's immigration and criminal history. The agency didn't provide specific information about most cases, but did say at least seven people had been previously removed from the U.S., at least eight had removed --