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Florida, Alaska, Wyoming Pick Nominees for Midterm Elections; Democratic Socialist Nixon Upsets Vindman in Florida Senate Primary; Ossoff Doubles Down on Trump Insults as Feud Intensifies; Interview with Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL): Democratic Socialist Wave Put to the Test in Primary Elections; Testimony Resumes inn Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial; Day 3 of Testimony in Tupac Shakur Murder Trial. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 19, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Are in, and we have seen some surprises overnight. At least one big upset with a major win for the progressive left and more Trump-backed candidates discovering his endorsement doesn't always necessarily mean victory.

Plus, there are new details about Natalie Harp, one of the president's closest aides whose name has now been thrust into the spotlight and been invoked by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff again and again. What her brother is now saying about her dedication to her boss.

And after a day that brought a graphic autopsy -- brought graphic autopsy photos and fiery testimony from a self-described hostile witness. The Tupac Shakur murder trial resumes in just hours. What to expect now.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the primary results are in with a major upset in Florida. Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon beat out retired Army Colonel Alex Vindman. This fact that makes it even more noteworthy, Vindman outraised Nixon with about 16 million in his coffers to her nearly 1 million.

As for Republicans, questions about whether President Trump's endorsement is losing some of its power. While his choice for Florida governor won, a number of candidates he backed lost overnight, including Congressman Corey Mills, who is under a House ethics probe.

And then there's Alaska, where Democrat Mary Peltola and incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan will advance to the general election, but there is a bit of a wrinkle here. A second candidate also named Dan Sullivan. was on the ballot and he could still advance to November.

CNN Steven Contorno live with all the details this morning in Orlando in the thick of the Florida primaries and the aftermath there. What are you learning? STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, Florida showed last night that the Democratic Party is a big tent and getting bigger. On the one hand, you had former US Representative David Jolly, a former Republican who is nominated by the Democratic Party to be their candidate for governor. And then you have state Representative Angie Nixon, a self-described Democratic Socialist who is nominated by the party to be the candidate to represent them in the U.S. Senate race.

And now These two individuals are going to be competing -- are going to be running together on the same ticket, and that's going to create some challenges for both of them, where they will both have to answer to their supporters and to the media about what the other person has said and what stances they have taken that they do and do not agree with. Already we have seen David Jolly have to confront this Democratic Socialist label from Angie Nixon. Listen to what he said when asked about running with her yet last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a state, Florida, that can elect you as governor, but also elect progressive Angie Nixon for the U.S. Senate at the same time?

DAVID JOLLY, (D) FLORIDA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Well, we're going to find out. We're going to find out. Look, I reject the DSA. I reject socialism. I'm a capitalist, and I think capitalism provides the greatest amount of economic mobility. I have been with Angie on the trail, and I'll tell you this, she's a fighter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, there are a lot of other challenges for the Democrats in this state. There are 1.6 million more registered Republicans than Democrats. Republicans have a significant fundraising edge. In fact, Angie Nixon is walking into the general election with less than $300,000 in her campaign coffers.

But they do have a shared message on what Republican rule in this state, which has dominated here for several decades, has meant to the voters of this state. They have said that Republicans are to blame for the housing crunch that has hit Florida so hard, for the affordability crisis that has hit Florida harder than almost any other state, and for an insurance -- property insurance crisis that continues to hurt homeowners here. And that is a shared message from both David Jolly and Angie Nixon that they are hoping can win the middle in a state that used to be purple but has trended to red in recent years -- Sara.

SIDNER: Very much so. Steve Contorno, thank you so much for your reporting this morning there from Florida -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a new chapter this morning in the growing war of words between Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff and the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): I don't think anything illustrates the times more aptly, then that the draft dodging, crook president.

(CHEERING)

[09:05:00]

OSSOFF: -- who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win. Tried to imprison this man who embodies American heroism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Senator Ossoff was talking about Mark Kelly, a Democratic senator from Arizona who was right there with him.

Now, this sort of back and forth between the senator and the president began most recently with Senator Ossoff's comments about Natalie Harp, a close aide to the president, and set off a wave of Natalie Harp coverage.

Let's get to CNN's Betsy Klein for the latest edition of that. Betsy, what are you learning?

BETSY KLEIN: Well, John, there is a story reported by our colleague Kristen Holmes that I think really encapsulates the dynamic here. That is that back in 2023 when the president was getting ready to go to court, Natalie Harp learned that there was not room in the motorcade for her. There was a shouting match in the lobby, Harp insisting that Trump wanted her by his side as he went to court.

She ultimately jumped into the back of a waiting SUV and that is all according to two sources as well as a photo obtained by CNN. But her ascendence into Trump's inner circle really underscores how President Trump has disrupted traditional power structures within the Republican Party and how that has created a vacuum of talent. Filling that vacuum is people that come from nontraditional political backgrounds and mostly what we have seen is people who have loyalty to President Trump and his movement in common.

And what could be more loyal than Natalie Harp's origin story? She came on President Trump's radar back in 2019 as a bone cancer survivor who credited President Trump's right to try policies with saving her life. Since then, she has emerged as one of his most trusted aides and informational gatekeepers, and she is a constant. She is intensely dedicated and that has rubbed some senior advisers the wrong way.

There have been at times efforts to keep her out of the president's inner circle, but in the president's view, she is a committed staffer. Our colleague Erin Burnett spoke with her brother other about that dynamic listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON HARP, NATALIE HARP'S BROTHER: Basically, I'd say since she was like 16, she's had an obsession with -- gosh, how do I explain this? She's written letters to other presidents. Let me put it that way. And so like your dream came true finally. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now the other question is what exactly Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia was trying to accomplish here. Natalie Harp until this week was not exactly a household name and this has prompted some criticism from people in the president's orbit about what they view as sexist remarks as well as what he may have been insinuating with that reference. But we have seen Ossoff really take this fight to the president and emerge as what some may view as an effective messenger for the Democrats heading into those midterm elections -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Betsy Klein for us at the White House this morning. Thanks for sharing the new reporting, Betsy -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois. It's good to see you, Congressman. Senator Jon Ossoff pushing this, making it a thing. Do you think it should be a thing?

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): Look, I think what we need to focus on is what people are talking about at their kitchen tables. The prices of everything are going up. Kids going back to school is costing the average family more than $170 to just pay for school supplies. Price of gasoline is high.

Getting to work is more expensive, housing. We had a housing roundtable yesterday. in my district are talking about how difficult it is for young families to buy a house. Its average age is now 40.

That's what we need to focus on is making an economy that works for all Americans and making the country safer for everybody.

BOLDUAN: What I gather from that is Congressman Brad Schneider will not be making this part of his campaign stops going forward. When you talk about affordability and housing, this gets to the message that we are hearing on the campaign trail, especially in some of the primaries overnight. We saw another big win for Democratic Socialists called a massive Senate upset in Florida.

State Rep Angie Nixon beat the much better funded retired Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman. You've spoken out kind of about and against the momentum within the Democratic Party of Democratic Socialists that we've been seeing. You're the chair of the center left New Democrat Coalition. Are you worried about her win at the fact she won this primary?

SCHNEIDER: I'll tell you what I'm focused on is six new Dems won their races in Florida yesterday. Three incumbents, Darren Soto, Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. While Darren was unopposed, the other two won running away.

[09:10:00]

We had three candidates we endorsed who won their primaries. We've endorsed more than 35, I think it's 37 candidates across the country. So the new Dems are surging. We have 114 members, a majority of the caucus currently. I expect

we'll be well over 120, and we'll add more members to our caucus than DSA will have endorsed at this point. But that doesn't change the fact that the message DSA is reporting or supporting and trying to present to the American people, is one that some of it is fine, but some of it is very concerning.

I don't want to destroy American capitalism. I want to build and fix American capitalism that created the richest country in the history of the world. We need to make sure that we continue to promote that prosperity and ensure that prosperity reaches all Americans.

But the rising tide lifts all ships as President Kennedy talked about a long time ago. That's what we should be focused on. That's what the new Dems are focused on, making sure everyone has a chance not just to make ends meet, but to actually get ahead, provide for their families, secure their future, and be part of a country that's leading the world.

BOLDUAN: Well, this gets right to my next question. Overnight, President Trump announced a pause on this big new round of tariffs against Canada. Illinois is the largest exporting state in the Midwest.

The state's largest export market is Canada. What are these new tariffs if they do go into effect if they don't have a deal? What does it mean? What's the impact been of this kind of trade fight with Canada already?

SCHNEIDER: Sure, look, President Trump's tariff policy on again, off again, arbitrary, capricious, malicious. It has hurt families in Illinois and across the country. The average family in Illinois has paid more than $2,200 more since President Trump was elected because of tariffs.

It's cost the Illinois economy more than $5 billion in GDP. It's not making us stronger. It's hurting our economy and it's hurting American families.

What we need is a trade policy that promotes American jobs, American businesses. helps American workers provide for their families. It's something that should be thoughtful and strategic. The president's use of these 338 tariffs, which have never been used, 338 as part of the Smoot-Hawley Act from 1930, never in history been used.

In fact, I have legislation that would repeal this piece of the Smoot Hawley Act because it allows the president to arbitrarily impose 50 percent tariffs just because he gets his nose bent out of shape. And with the president who gets his nose bent out of shape on a daily or even hourly basis, we need to restore Congress's authority over foreign trade and tariff policy.

BOLDUAN: Also, you and I often talk a lot about foreign affairs, of course, and U.S. foreign policy. You are, to state the obvious, not involved in the Republican Senate race out of South Carolina, but Senator Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, is in this special primary runoff now for his Senate seat. In a debate last night with Ralph Norman, she was asked about Taiwan, asked about the South China Sea and if those were major national security concerns of the United States. Here's her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security -- I'm not that informed on national security, so -- but I do support the military. I'm not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise. But I do support the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Look, she did come into politics because of the tragic loss of her brother without, you know, wanting to get into politics before that. But what's your reaction to that from the debate stage?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I think she was right when she said she's not a polished politician. She's someone Donald Trump picked, and I think it's a reflection of what the president tends to pick. If people who don't know a lot about the issues that they need to. Don't really care to know a lot about those issues.

Just want to stand behind and support whatever policy the president is putting forth. We're seeing this. Look what's happening in our military, what's happening in the Persian Gulf, what's happening with Abraham Lincoln, a ship that's been deployed approaching the longest deployment since Vietnam and undersupplied. The morale of the crew is severely diminished.

And we owe our military better. If she wants to support our military, she should be working with all of us who are very concerned about the conditions that under which our men and women in uniform are having to work and the failed strategy or lack of strategy that this administration is put for forth, not just in the Persian Gulf, but in places around the world.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Brad Schneider, thanks for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

[09:15:00]

We're standing by for testimony to resume in the trial of the mother accused of killing her three children. What Lindsay Clancy's former mother-in-law is saying when she took the stand.

And consider me a hostile witness, words to the court by a witness in the Tupac Shakur murder trial, his stunningly candid and combative testimony. Plus, what to expect today on the stand.

And brand new video just in, a deck collapsing with more than a half dozen U.S. marshals on it. How this all went down and what happened to those officers. That story ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This hour, the trial of the woman accused of killing her three young children. It's about to get back underway in Massachusetts.

[09:20:00]

Lindsay Clancy's former mother-in-law took the stand yesterday and she described Lindsay as a great mother. who loved her children very much, she said from the stand.

And she also said, she said Lindsay was suffering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CLANCY, FORMER MOTHER-IN-LAW TO LINDSAY CLANCY: She was begging for help. She reached out to me in November and told me that she felt unwell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she describe an symptoms for you?

CLANCY: She did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did she say?

CLANCY: She felt mostly she had insomnia. She was losing her appetite. She was very anxious and say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN Brynn Gingras was tracking this one. I mean, every time I hear something, its -- there's so -- it is so hard to hear all of it. Knowing that three babies are dead from this. What has happened and what's about to happen?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So were starting to see the crux of the defenses case at this point. On the stand before the day was adjourned yesterday, we were hearing from Paul Zeizel. Now, this is a person who admittedly is very good friends with the defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy, but he was the person -- he's a psychiatrist.

He was a person who has met the most with her dozens of times, actually, and was the first person to meet with her going to the hospital room when she was still in a hospital bed. Describing that for jurors, how she was handcuffed to the bed. Remember, she's paralyzed.

There were police officers outside of her hospital room. And he was the one who was actually able to have conversations with her first and actually gave her his cell phone when she wanted to call her husband. That was the first call she wanted to make. Several days after this incident happened.

And I want you to hear a moment of that, because this is a crux of the defenses case that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, that she was hearing voices that told her to do what she did. So take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PAUL ZEIZEL, CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: She was unable to express a lot of emotion, but she expressed love for him. And she had said that she heard a male voice ordering her, telling her that she didn't have any choice. But she had to kill her children and then kill herself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Now, so this was a conversation he overheard telling of Lindsay with her husband. He made her put this call on speaker phone. So that's why he can testify to what he heard her say. This is the first time jurors are hearing that this is what Lindsay Clancy told her husband, that she was ordered to do this.

So this is going to be a key witness. And we have not heard the cross- examination yet from the prosecution. That's where it picks up today.

And that's going to be tense. The prosecution has been very tense exchanges with the defense people -- the people, the defense have put on the stand. So we'll see where it goes today.

BOLDUAN: It seems like it could be a really important day and how this goes. What the jury does hear in this cross-examination now. Brynn, thank you so much.

GINGRAS: All right.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much. Soon, more witnesses set to take the set to take the stand in the murder trial of the man accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur. Duane, Keeffe D, Davis has pleaded not guilty, but we saw some combative and sometimes contrite testimony from a former Death Row Records associate who ran security for Suge Knight's club in Vegas, where Tupac was to perform the night, he was killed. Witness James McDonald, once known as Mob James, made it clear he did not want to be in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MCCONALD, FORMER HEAD OF SECURITY AT CLUB 662: I'm not answering nothing. I don't know what he talking about. You ask me something I don't want to talk about.

You're going to have a problem. Treat me as a hostile witness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining me now, Areva Martin, attorney and legal affairs commentator. And CNN's Josh Campbell. Josh, to you first. You were outside court as all of this is going down, give us a sense of if he was the most memorable witness of day two. JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly the most memorable, the

most colorful, the most peculiar witness. I think that a lot of us have seen in the past. And just to kind of walk you through his actual testimony and how this would actually land with the jury.

He didn't actually have firsthand knowledge of what occurred at the shooting itself. And that's something important to understand because when the jurors actually get to their deliberations, they think back on all the witnesses, and they think back on all their note taking. They're going to want to know, well, what happened at that point in time.

So while he's obviously memorable and some of the things that he said in court were quite unusual, what he really did was provide a situation -- a sense of the culture at the time between these competing factions and in the aftermath. One thing ill say that is notable is that the defense was questioning him and many of his outbursts, if you want to call them that, or the hostility that he was expressing was towards Duane Davis own attorney, which was quite unusual.

[09:25:00]

He even told him that, look, I'm not trying to send this guy to jail. You are with your questioning. Again, very unusual.

And the last thing I'll note is that the judge gave this witness a lot of latitude here. I mean, Areva, you know this. And Sara, you know this from covering so many trials.

If you have a witness saying, look, I'm not going to answer your questions. You asked me something I don't want you to ask me. We're going to have a problem in here.

We all know judges who would have shut that down immediately. But I think because he didn't have that firsthand knowledge, that's why he was he was given a little latitude. But it certainly helped the jurors understand the competition between these factions at the time.

SIDNER: Yes, the infighting and the and the cross gang fighting as well. You mentioned something and I'll go ahead and play it. Highlight this moment when you see this testimony where he addresses what he hopes happens to the defendant, even though he says he doesn't like him. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCDONALD: I got to raise the word, but you asked me a question. I don't and what I explained to them. I don't want to send him to prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

MCDONALD: Even though we don't like each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: I'm curious, Areva, as you're watching this, did this testimony help further the prosecution's case or did it potentially hurt their case?

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Sara, the issue here is the prosecution uses witness to try to establish the retaliation that is a big part of their case. As you know, this case for the prosecution is basically their efforts to prove that there had been an altercation at the MGM Hotel after the Mike Tyson fight and that this shooting of Tupac Shakur was retaliation for the fight that had happened earlier in the day. And this witness could attest to the fact that he was there.

There was security. There was a fight that was happening and that these two factions were warring at the time. Clearly, as Josh said, a very difficult witness made it very clear to the defense attorney that he believed that the defendant was talking too much, that this was against the code of ethics that these gang members or former gang members have.

So I think he did the prosecution some good in terms of his testimony. But he also helped the defense because he said, look, I'm not going to give you any names. So he could put he did not give the testimony that Duane Davis was at the scene when the shooting actually occurred, which is what the defense is arguing all along.

This is one big fictional story. And that Duane Davis actually had nothing to do with this murder.

SIDNER: Right. And Duane Davis himself, the only person so far that we have heard say that he was a part of this was Duane Davis himself in past interviews with police and his book and some of the things that he said publicly on podcasts and in documentaries.

Josh, I am curious about the scene there, what you're seeing around all of this, because this has been 30 years in the making and so much culturally has been said about what happened here with all kinds of conspiracies and accusations about rival gangs and the East Coast, West Coast battle.

CAMPBELL: That's right. I mean, one thing that was interesting on opening day, it was a bit of a madhouse there where you had a lot of people there outside the court, people that were fans of Tupac Shakur. And, you know, you had some people who were there just trying to understand, well, what is happening here?

And in fact, is, you know, you know we set up outside the courthouses, the media and any time you see dozens of reporters, people will naturally ask, well, what's happening here? And it was really interesting to see for me to answer those questions and tell them, well, this is the Tupac murder trial. Some people were wide eyed.

Like what? What? They arrested someone for Tupac's murder 30 years ago. And some people were following along very closely. Of course, the big question for the jury, we you know, they expect jurors to be unbiased. But what, you know, what are their thoughts?

What's their history? What are their views on these? That will be interesting.

The last thing I'll note is that one thing that we saw in court yesterday that was impactful were autopsy photos that were shown to the jurors. And I think that's important because up to now, we talk kind of theoretically someone shot Tupac. Tupac died.

You have to imagine how impactful that would be on the jury actually seeing that themselves.

SIDNER: Now, we know that members of the family were in the court, too. I think it left during some of that testimony. Josh Campbell, Areva Martin, it is good to have you both talking us through this. Full coverage of the trial starts today at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

You can scan the QR code on the screen there or you can watch it on CNN.com/TupacTrial or on the app -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Open AI rolling out more new security safeguards after its AI models broke out and hacked another company last month. Remember that? Remember that?

So what these new safety features now mean?

And we have a winner of who can yell timber the best and mightiest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Timber.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)