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Psychologist Testifies in Lindsay Clancy Trial; Cancer Fighting Breakthrough?; Midterm Matchups; Interview With Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 19, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Midterm matchups taking shape after a big primary night. So what message are voters sending at the polls? We're going to break that down for you.

Plus, could it be a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer? The latest details of a first-of-its-kind vaccine for melanoma.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, dramatic bodycam video you have to see revealing the moment police captured a babysitter with the two kids she's accused of kidnapping. And prosecutors say this isn't the first time she's taken off with a child she was supposed to be watching.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

HILL: We are really starting to get a sense of how some of these key races in November's midterm elections will be shaping up. In Florida, in the battle to replace Governor Ron DeSantis there, Republican primary voters choosing the Trump-backed Congressman Byron Donalds, who is set to take on a former Republican representative turned Democrat, David Jolly.

Meantime, Democratic Socialists notching another victory last night, this time also in Florida, and in the race for Senate. State Representative Angie Nixon scoring that stunning upset over retired Army Lieutenant colonel Alex Vindman, despite a huge fund-raising disadvantage for Nixon.

She's now set to face off against GOP senator Ashley Moody in November. It was not, though, a clean sweep for progressives in Florida, nor was it a sweep for candidates endorsed by President Trump. House incumbents Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz both managed to fend off their progressive rivals.

And Republican Congressman Cory Mills, who is facing a series of allegations, including domestic violence, lost his race to former news anchor Ryan Elijah. Mills has denied any wrongdoing. Today, President Trump attempting to walk back his public support for

Mills, now saying that he had actually urged him to drop out of the race.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joining me now.

So, Harry, in terms of some of these results in the GOP primary specifically, what does this mean in terms of President Trump's power over the party, or I guess I should say the power of his endorsement?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA ANALYST: You know, I would note this is kind of like me when I was very young and my Buffalo Bills lost yet another Super Bowl to the Dallas Cowboys, claiming, actually, I was rooting for Dallas the entire time after the result.

Very easy to take back the endorsement afterwards. But, look, a lot of President Trump's endorsees, they win primaries, but this year a lot more have been losing than normal. What are we talking about here? Well, why don't we just take a look here?

OK, Trump endorsees who lost primaries. This is a statewide office or Congress. If you combine 2018, 2020, and 2024, those, of course, being years where Trump was in office or running, 10 of them lost, 10 of them lost. This year alone, 10 of them have lost. So three of these years, three of these cycles combined 10, and then, this cycle, 10 as well.

So, yes, Trump's endorsees win more than they lose, but a lot more of them have been losing than normal, and a lot of them lost in Florida last night, and a lot of them have been losing the past couple of weeks. So maybe Trump's grip on that Republican Party, while still strong, maybe loosening just a little bit, Erica Hill.

HILL: Perhaps.

Let's talk a little bit for a moment, if we could, about Congressman Cory Mills in Florida there. Lost the race, of course, we just said, and, as you were just talking about, President Trump claiming the day after he had told him to drop out.

When it comes to Cory Mills, though, how much does this say in terms of what voters are saying about candidates who are embroiled in scandals?

ENTEN: Yes, I think a lot in the Trump era we say, oh, nothing matters. You can run regardless of any allegations against you, regardless of any scandals.

But you know what? What happened last night in Florida to me is part of a larger equation. Scandals still do in fact matter. And we can see this right here. OK, House members reelected in 2022 and 2024, this being 2026. So we will add this to the equation as we recalculate these going along.

All members -- 85 percent of all members get reelected to the House, right? But those who are involved in a scandal, it's only 57 percent. So, last night, what we saw in Florida with Cory Mills, to me, again is part of a larger equation.

When you are associated with scandal, your chances of getting reelected do in fact go down. So scandals do matter. The way that people view you, your character, they absolutely still do matter in politics these days. Despite some people saying, hey, nothing matters, it turns out some things still do matter, Erica.

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HILL: All right, you matter, Harry Enten. I will tell you that.

ENTEN: Thank you.

HILL: Let's talk Democrats. Let's talk Democrats for a moment.

ENTEN: That's so nice.

HILL: And I mean it. It's heartfelt.

When we look at Democrats, Harry, after last night, is there a shift at all in support there or the base, what would constitute the base right now?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. And I will note that next time you're in New York, we're going to -- we're going to have a wonderful cream soda together or the diet soda of your choice. I, of course, take the diet cream soda, or you can have full sugar, whatever you want, whatever.

HILL: OK.

ENTEN: But any -- there you go.

In terms of what we're seeing in terms of the Democratic base and Democratic Socialism, right, take a look here. DSA, DSA-endorsed congressional candidates, currently, there's only two of them in Congress. But now, after last night, look at this, have won a 2026 primary, have to bring out both of my hands. It's now up to eight. Eight actually won a primary in 2026 so far, four times as many as currently in Congress.

And I will note seven of them, seven of them are favored to actually win election in the fall. I will note that Angie Nixon is in fact the one out of the eight who is not favored. She is a heavy underdog to Ashley Moody, who, of course, won that Republican nomination last night.

So the DSA is becoming a bigger part of the Democratic Party. But you know what? The Democratic Party is still filled with a lot of people who are not DSA members. And you can see this right here. Take a look here. DSA or DSA-endorsed congressional candidates won the primary. I mentioned those eight, but lost the primary, look at this, 17-plus.

So we're talking about the DSA or the DSA-endorsed candidates batting a roughly about .300 here, which is pretty good for baseball. But when it comes to politics, I think you want to be slugging much higher than that, just like we hit this segment right out of the ballpark, Erica. HILL: Out of the park, Harry. Thank you, my friend -- Boris.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: I want to zero in on newly drawn Florida District 20, where Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as we just outlined, is the projected winner, a seat long held by African-Americans. But with the state's newly drawn congressional map, black representation was diminished.

Joining us now is Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

Some of your opponents accused you of district-shopping, a message that clearly didn't resonate with voters, given the fact that you won the primary. I do wonder, what is your message to constituents in the new district that may be concerned that your victory has decreased black representation in Congress?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Well, Boris, thanks for having me. And it's good to be talking to someone who knows South Florida, since you are a son of South Florida.

This was an election that I was so proud to win last night. My heart is so full. I'm so thankful to the voters who came out and overwhelmingly cast their vote for me.

This is a district that, across the board, whether I was on the doors or on the phones or at the polls, that people told me that they wanted a representative who would go to bat for them, who would fight for them like they knew I have, who would stand up and fight to bring costs down in gas and groceries and health care and housing, who had a proven record of delivering resources.

I'm a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. And, across the district last night, Boris, I won a majority in precincts in every demographic, including the top 10 precincts with the highest percentage of black voters. I won a majority of the vote. Excuse me. I won a plurality of the votes. I got the most votes in the majority of black precincts.

And that's because they know me and I know them. I have represented Broward County for my entire adult life, and they made a decision. Yes, representation matters. I argued that, but experience matters as well. And I fight every day to make sure that I can help improve people's lived experience.

And I am so, so thankful that voters voted to send me to Congress, back to Congress to represent them.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I want to ask you...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Or at least to be their nominee, and then hopefully...

SANCHEZ: Right. Right. You are the favorite to win in November, nevertheless.

And I want to ask you about the future of the Democratic Party and how some of your Democratic colleagues also running in November might fare. I actually thought it was interesting what one of your neighbors said, fellow Congressman Jared Moskowitz, as he fended off a challenge from a proud Democratic Socialist, as that candidate described themselves.

Here's what he told Dana Bash about his win:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): You got to remember, 25 percent of this district is Jewish, 20 percent of this district is Hispanic. People have escaped socialism.

And when they hear folks from the DSA go on television and talk about how they want to abolish the Senate, which don't give Trump any ideas, and they want to get rid of prisons, and they -- no borders, most Americans hear that stuff and they say, what is going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SANCHEZ: At the same time, the DSA candidate Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Florida. How are you squaring that?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, the way I square it is, first of all, elections and the results last night clearly show elections are won in neighborhoods, in congregations, in grocery stores, at polling places, not on Twitter, not on social media.

And when I crisscrossed my congressional district, what voters talked to me about is, they wanted me to go back to Washington to fight Trump's corruption, to fight his stuffing his own pockets and enriching his family and himself. They wanted to end these costly wars, get rid of his illegal tariffs, and have members of Congress in the House and Senate that fight to make their life more affordable.

Housing, groceries, gas, utilities, health care, those are the things that matter to the voters in Congressional District 20. That's what I'm going to fight for. And you know what else they want? They want to make sure that we don't give Republicans in Florida a victory on rigging our maps.

And we're going to win the majority, and I'm going to fight in the fall not just to win the general election in my own district, but to help the candidates that -- the incumbent members, Jared Moskowitz, Darren Soto, Kathy Castor, and District 22, which goes all the way across, cynically, to the Gulf Coast, to make sure that we hold on to those districts and we can elect Hakeem Jeffries as the speaker of the House and make sure we have a Democratic majority that is going to fight Trump's corruption, stop him from dismantling our democracy, and deliver legislation and law that reduces people's everyday costs. SANCHEZ: As you know, Congresswoman, one of the most divisive issues

in Democratic primaries across the nation has been U.S. support for Israel.

Congressman Moskowitz describes his district as pro-Israel. State Rep. Nixon told "Morning Joe" today that she does not support sending any money or weapons to Israel at this moment. She says that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal who needs to answer for his crimes.

Are you supportive of her candidacy?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, I have not had a chance to talk to Representative Nixon about the issues, and including those surrounding the Middle East. She's a state legislator. Quite frankly, most state legislators don't spend a whole lot of time on foreign policy, so we have pretty significant disagreements on a number of different issues.

But her victory last night was impressive, and I look forward to having an opportunity to talk with her. But we have to keep the focus. Really, nobody talked to me on the doors or the phones, Boris, about Israel. In my district, in the district that I hope to be elected to represent in November, they care about having representatives that go to Washington to make their life more affordable.

That's what I'm going to be stay focused on like a laser every single day.

SANCHEZ: To that point, there are some issues that folks in certain communities are sensitive to. And last week, the national DSA commemorated a century of Fidel Castro, calling him an organizer, a fighter, a symbol of anti-imperialist struggle and self-determination for the Global South.

They also accused the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, of waging a genocidal war against the Cuban people. Would you advise Nixon or any Democrat running in Florida to distance themselves from those comments?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Look, I will tell you that my long record is one of being anti-Castro, fighting the Castro regime, fighting to make sure that the Cuban people can truly be free. And that is how so many people across Florida feel.

I reject the DSA. I reject the fringe left socialism that they are promoting. And, frankly, people across South Florida, voters across South Florida repeatedly reject that. You can see that in the election results here in congressional districts and in state legislative districts across the state.

We have to make sure that in our region that it's understood that we have so many people who have fled countries where they were brutalized by authoritarian regimes like the Castro regime, the Maduro regime, the gangs in Haiti. Foreign policy is often domestic policy here in South Florida.

And we have to make sure that we're electing candidates that are going to stand up for our constituents who are originally from other countries and fled that kind of terror and not embrace it. That's definitely sending the wrong message, will not be very helpful to us in the November election.

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SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, we will leave the conversation there. Congratulations on your victory last night. Thanks for joining us.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come: It could be a landmark moment in cancer treatment. What we know about the new vaccine technology shown to prevent melanoma and how soon it could get approval.

Plus, a key moment in the Lindsay Clancy trial. A forensic psychologist who examined the Massachusetts mom testifies Clancy was experiencing psychosis when she killed her three kids.

And, later: Hear the debate answer from the sister of late Senator Lindsey Graham that caused a crowd to boo in South Carolina.

Stay with us. We will be right back.

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HILL: Big health news to share with you, what could be a groundbreaking moment in the fight against cancer.

A combination of an mRNA vaccine and a well-known cancer drug have been shown to help prevent melanoma from spreading and even risk the reduce the risk of it coming back in a study of high-risk patients. Health experts say this is a really important step forward when it comes to cancer vaccines.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is following the developments for us.

I mean, the headline alone gives people so much hope, but, Meg, put this in perspective for us. What does this really mean?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica, I mean, it could really signal a potential new way of treating cancer, not just melanoma, where these results are, but this is also being tested in lung cancer, bladder cancer, and kidney cancer.

And so what they showed today is that this is a late-stage clinical trial of more than 1,000 patients who were given this new personalized cancer vaccine based on the same mRNA technology that was behind the COVID-19 vaccines. So they combined that with Merck's Keytruda, which itself had already revolutionized treatment of melanoma. And what they found is that, in that trial, as you noted, it met the

study's goals of preventing the cancer from recurring after patients had had surgery to remove it, and also preventing it from spreading to distant parts of the body.

Now, Moderna tells me that they plan to file for approval within months, so this could potentially really be coming to market potentially soon if we see these results really bear out. They didn't present the full results today. They're going to do that at an upcoming medical conference.

But, of course, melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and, at least as of about 10 years ago, the latest data we have from the American Cancer Society, people who were diagnosed with stage four melanoma or melanoma that had spread to distant parts of the body had only about a 35 percent five-year survival rate.

And that has been improving with Keytruda, but the hope, of course, here is that maybe this could help that improve further.

HILL: So, as you mentioned Keytruda -- so this is the combination of Keytruda and this mRNA vaccine. So, how does it work differently than just Keytruda?

TIRRELL: Right.

So, Keytruda is an off-the-shelf therapy which works the same way for everybody, which is to essentially reveal cancer better so that the immune system can fight it. What's different about this approach from Moderna and Merck together is that this is a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine that's used as treatment.

So each patient's tumor is sampled. Then a personalized vaccine that's individualized to that person's specific tumor, is created just for them. That's delivered to them, and it stimulates the immune system to better recognize their cancer and better fight it. And that, on top of the Keytruda, appears to be showing these even more improved results.

HILL: It's pretty wild to think about the ability to do that and to have this personalized treatment. When we talk about mRNA, though, mRNA vaccines, isn't this funding that was recently cut by Secretary Kennedy?

TIRRELL: That's right.

So, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have cut some funding where it comes to mRNA technology, but specifically the funding that they have focused on and the research they have focused on is around respiratory virus vaccines. So they cut 22 projects worth about $500 million back in August of last year.

And that was really focused more on respiratory infections like COVID and flu. They also ended a Moderna contract to develop a potential vaccine against a potential strain of bird flu that could cause a pandemic. RFK Jr. said at the time that they want to shift their funds to different forms of vaccines. Of course, this really showing a potential promise in other areas like

cancer.

HILL: Yes, absolutely.

Meg, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead here: a psychologist who examined Lindsay Clancy testifying about the Massachusetts mother describing a male voice ordering her to kill her three children.

Plus, we will show you the moment a deck collapses as U.S. Marshals attempt to serve a search warrant and how that played out.

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SANCHEZ: Lindsay Clancy's psychologist returned to the stand today after telling jurors about Clancy's description of a male voice ordering her to kill her children and take her own life.

He testified that he believes Clancy was experiencing psychosis when she strangled her three kids.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here with more on today's testimony.

Jean, this could be a key moment for the defense.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

We are in the defense case. This is really, I think, their primary witness, Dr. Paul Zeizel. And he testified that he had met with Lindsay Clancy up to 60 times, and it took him 37 hours of intensive talk with her to determine about the criminal responsibility aspect.

And, of course, she's saying that she is not criminally responsible for the -- for the crimes that she committed. Now, he also said that she had undiagnosed bipolar, and that went into a psychosis, and then he focused on how maybe there were no outward symptoms of that.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, ATTORNEY FOR LINDSAY CLANCY: Did voices or the intrusive thoughts, to your interview and your understanding, abate or stop at that point on January 24?

DR. PAUL ZEIZEL, CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: No.

REDDINGTON: Did they continue?

ZEIZEL: Yes.

REDDINGTON: And did she communicate by text with her husband about getting dinner and getting something from CVS?

ZEIZEL: Yes.

REDDINGTON: And what was it? Was it Pedia-Lax?

ZEIZEL: Pedia-Lax or Flexilax. It's a stool softener for her child.

REDDINGTON: And that's something that was prescribed by the doctor, right?

ZEIZEL: Yes.

REDDINGTON: Does that make sense that, if somebody is in a state where they're having these symptoms, that they're able to remember that the doctor wanted the child to have Pedia-Lax, and she tells her husband to get Pedia-Lax?

ZEIZEL: Yes, it does not interfere with that type of everyday living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)