Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

U.S. Air Force Flight Turns Around After Space Activity Warning; Democratic Socialists Celebrate Win in Florida Senate Primary; White House Rails Against Ossoff After Comments About Trump Aide; Promising Results From mRNA Vaccine, Immunotherapy for Melanoma; Trump Halts Talks With Iran, Signaling a New Approach in War; Gas and Oil Prices Rise as Strait of Hormuz Traffic Stays Low. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 19, 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": Moderna says that early results show its mRNA vaccine used in combination with a cancer drug are stopping melanoma, keeping it from returning and from spreading to other parts of the body. What this could mean for the future of fighting all cancers.

And what we know about the space activity that forced a U.S. Air Force plane to turn right around. We're following these major developing and many more all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Another day of primaries, more battles for power in the Democratic Party, just hours after a Democratic Socialist pulled off another stunning upset. Progressive Florida State Representative, Angie Nixon winning the Senate primary over retired Army Lieutenant, Colonel Alex Vindman despite his enormous fundraising advantage.

Last hour, I spoke with Florida Congresswoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who also won her primary and asked her about the growing left-wing surge within her party. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, (D-FL): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Randi Kaye is live from Fort Lauderdale and joins us now. So Randi, what were the key takeaways from Tuesday's primaries?

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a pretty interesting night here in the state of Florida, Boris. Of course, you have Byron Donalds, the Republican representative, in a very crowded field in that Republican primary for governor. He took a victory lap there.

He will face Democrat David Jolly now in November. Jolly was a Republican until 2018. Now Trump had endorsed Donalds, so that paid off. But some of the picks that Trump had chosen did not did not have a successful night, including Republican Representative Cory Mills. Now he is facing an ethics investigation, a house ethics investigation and a Justice Department investigation. He lost his seat to a former news anchor, Ryan Elijah.

And here in District 20 though, as you mentioned, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Congresswoman did pull off a victory. As you know, there was the redrawing of the congressional maps that was done here in the state of Florida, trying to give Republicans a boost and more victories that included her district. She had always run in District 25. She ran in District 20, a historically black district. She was the only white primary candidate, but she did pull off a win and here's what she told me just last night at her victory party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump rigged Florida's map. They took our map, blew it into smithereens. They tried to blow up Broward's political power and stop us from being able to be unified and having people who represent us, who will stand up for Broward County's values. And the voters of District 20 said they wanted to make sure that someone who had their back, who's delivered for Broward County, that I was able to be in a position to continue to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And Boris, she also told me that voters clearly rejected the politics of division. She does promise to make an investment in her new congressional District 20. She said that she will make sure that there are body cameras on all police officers as well as more affordable housing. And I know you mentioned the defeat of Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, but it is worth mentioning again, it was so stunning the victory by Angie Nixon here.

As you know, he was that key witness in Donald Trump's first impeachment inquiry. He had raised about $16 million, compared to her, she had about $1 million. She still was able to pull off that upset, about a 12-point victory and she will now face Republican Ashley Moody in November. Moody is expected to be the winner in that one, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Randi Kaye, live for us in Fort Lauderdale. Thank you so much for the update.

Another Democrat getting a lot of attention on the campaign trail is Georgia Senator, Jon Ossoff. His quip at a campaign rally taunting President Trump about close aide, Natalie Harp, ruffled some feathers at the White House.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Certainly did. Sensing an opening, Ossoff seems to be doubling down as he also leans into his critiques of the president, offering this latest characterization of the commander-in-chief. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF, (D-GA): The draft-dodging crook president --

(CROWD CHEERING)

OSSOFF: -- who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win. I've got two little girls at home and I do not want Eva and Lila to grow up in a world defined by the values of Donald J. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining us now Deputy Campaign Manager for Ossoff's 2017 campaign, Democratic Strategist, Jonae Wartel, who now runs a voter contact firm working with the Senate Democratic Committee to canvas Georgia.

[14:05:00]

And another person who also worked with Ossoff in several state legislative priorities, former Macon, Georgia Mayor Pro Tempore, Seth Clark. It's good to have both of you with us.

I was struck by something that David Axelrod posted on social media today.

He writes, "No one has been more consistently eloquent or incisive in exposing Donald Trump than Ossoff." However, he goes on to say, the words Natalie from last weekend's speech seemed, in Axel's words, gratuitous and unnecessary, saying they juiced the virality of it, I'm sure. Probably thrilled some in the base who figured it was just giving Trump a taste of his own nasty medicine, but they distracted and detracted from the power of the message.

Jonae, does he have a point here? I mean, Jon Ossoff has gone after President Trump regularly.

JONAE WARTEL, DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER, JON OSSOFF FOR CONGRESS IN 2017: He has gone after President Trump regularly, and he's had some very clear and warranted attacks. This administration's handling of the war, their failure to address the affordability crisis is plaguing Americans.

Now, look, the Natalie line was, I think, something that the Ossoff campaign is looking at and saying, did this really blunt the message that he delivered during that speech? And I think the answer here is no. He's had some very sharp critiques, which I think the majority of Americans are really aligned with on those key issues.

The White House's response, I think, was a little short-sighted of them. They've not addressed any of the other attacks that he made during that speech. They've since focused on this one piece of the speech, which I think really goes to show where their priorities are. They should be addressing what Americans are concerned about. SANCHEZ: The president and his team went after Senator Ossoff, describing him as a Pee-wee Herman lookalike, I believe. So the White House got personal right back at the Senator. Seth, I wonder what you make of that comment about Natalie Harp, especially if the message that we're hearing from Democrats like Ossoff is one about affordability and about kitchen table issues.

Do you think it lands with voters that are concerned about the prices that they're paying for everyday items?

SETH CLARK, FORMER MACON, GEORGIA MAYOR PRO TEMPORE: When I listened to that speech that Senator Ossoff gave, I, of course, heard the quip about Natalie Harp. I actually didn't know who Natalie Harp was last week like I'm sure many of non-partisan elected officials in Georgia and just sort of general folks down here are. But what I heard was him addressing what this administration has done that affects the voters that he represents and the folks that are essentially going to go back to the polls in November and make a decision based on where their lives are right now.

And if bringing the national spotlight on to the prices that they're paying at the pump, the prices that they're paying for groceries, the war in Iran, if bringing the national spotlight on that does anything, it invigorates not just Democrats in Georgia. I think that's a misnomer. Republicans are hurting. Independents are hurting. And what they're hearing from this administration is an incoherent gaslighting about things that they see in their everyday life.

And what they're hearing from their Senator is someone that's been present and knows their struggles every day. And I think that's what that's what we heard. And I think we saw the national spotlight. And now we get to, you know, a lot of folks around the country get to get to know the man that's that served our state so well.

HILL: You know, it's interesting. There are, I think, two Republican Georgia mayors who have crossed party lines here to endorse Ossoff. And they cite specifically his work in their communities. You have Jesse Watters on Fox last night who said he's great with voters, apparently, when someone emails, when someone calls, he gets right back to them. That goes a long way because the word gets out.

So there's that connection, right? Then there's this loud anti-Trump, Trump is corrupt. How do the two play? How do they work in tandem, right, when this anti-Trump message, especially in a state like Georgia?

CLARK: The Republican mayors that have endorsed Senator Ossoff, really, I was not surprised by that. I served my community for six years. I was elected the same year that Senator Ossoff was elected. And it was a running joke with my Republican colleagues, Senator Ossoff is back in town. I heard -- I grew up in a rural part of the state and I've heard anecdotally that farmers can get in touch with him and not some junior staffer, that he's responsive.

There's a six-year foundation of understanding this man's dedication to public service, not to Democrats or to Republicans. And I think that goes a long way. And it's part of a tradition that we've seen, a bipartisan tradition in our United States Senators. In the late Senator Johnny Isakson and Senator Sam Nunn, Senator Ossoff served in that vein.

And so I think when you see the anti-Trump piece coming into that, the foundation that he's built is why this is so successful, but also these constituents that he's helped, they trust this message and they understand that these things that are affecting their lives are being done by this administration because they trust Senator Ossoff in explaining that and trust him to make things a little bit better.

[14:10:00]

SANCHEZ: The contest in November, Jonae, is going to be difficult for Ossoff because Georgia is a swing state. But watching some of the media strategy behind these videos, as David Axelrod put it, these eloquent speeches highlighted with stylized videos dropping on weekends, where on Monday we wind up talking about them. It's Wednesday, we're still talking about them because the White House has to respond to him. Do you find it hard to believe that he has no interest in a 2028 presidential run?

(LAUGH)

WARTEL: Well, listen, I've worked for Senator Ossoff when he was running for Congress in his first bid, and then as the Senate runoff director, I helped him and Senator Warnock get elected in that very hard-fought battle. And I think what you see here is that this is a candidate, this is a Senator who can build a coalition of support.

When you talked about these Republican mayors who are coming alongside him to support him, I think what you see is someone who really has their finger on the pulse of the American people and on the people of Georgia. Now, his social media and communications team are doing a masterful job really capturing those moments, but I think he's really emerging as a voice that's really reflecting this growing anti-Trump sentiment, this growing frustration that Americans, especially Georgians, have with this do-nothing administration that's focused on vanity projects instead of focused on making the cost of living affordable.

SANCHEZ: She didn't say no.

HILL: I was just going to say --

(LAUGH)

HILL: But you didn't say no, exactly. So you think there is a -- so you're saying there's a chance.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

WARTEL: I think that if he -- whatever he chooses to do after winning re-election, I think it's anybody's guess, but I think he is a fantastic public servant.

HILL: All right, Jonae, Seth, appreciate it. Thank you both.

Still ahead here, a new mRNA vaccine that could help patients with melanoma when combined with immunotherapy. We're going to talk with an oncologist about just how promising these results are from this late- stage cancer trial.

Plus, a heartbroken mother warning the loss of her daughter accuses Meta of profiting off of her teen's mental health struggles. The landmark trial underway right now that could hold the social media giant accountable.

SANCHEZ: And a U.S. Air Force flight to Antarctica forced to turn back after receiving a warning about space activity. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:55]

HILL: It could be a milestone in the fight against cancer. Moderna and Merck revealing positive late-stage trial results for a personalized mRNA vaccine targeting melanoma. That's the deadliest form of skin cancer. So the data shows this combination shot not only helped to cut the risk of the cancer coming back, but also helped to prevent the disease from spreading in high-risk patients after surgery. Joining me now, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, former White House Health Policy Adviser under President Obama.

He's also the author of The New York Times bestseller, "Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life." So when we look at this, so much excitement, right, over this announcement today. Moderna CEO actually told my colleague, Meg Tirrell, today is, in his words, as big a day for humanity as November 16, 2020. That's when Moderna's COVID vaccine first showed that it worked.

How do you see it?

DR. EZEKIEL EMANUEL, ONCOLOGIST: I think he's probably right. Obviously, it's a little early to tell. We'd like to see the actual data of the trial. But it does seem pretty remarkable, certainly in the early phase trials, that you have a 50 percent decline at five years of recurrence or death in these very deadly cancers. These are advanced melanomas that have gone into the skin to local lymph nodes or even distant metastases and hitherto they've been pretty incurable and recurrent pretty fast.

So I think it's a pretty big deal and the shoot-up of the stock suggests that people think this is just the early phases of a treatment and I think they're probably right.

HILL: You mentioned you'd like for the company -- they didn't provide a ton of specific details coming medical conference, but for folks who aren't familiar, maybe didn't see Meg with us last hour, so the treatment itself combines Merck's Keytruda with basically sort of a made-to-order mRNA vaccine from Moderna. This is all based on an analysis, right, of the mutations in each patient's tumors. Does that mean, or I should say, where do you see potential applications then beyond skin cancer?

EMANUEL: Oh, this vaccine is personalized. So you take someone's melanoma, you then make antibodies, you make the cells, T-cells responsive to those new markers that don't exist in normal cells. You combine it with an immunotherapy, Keytruda, and patients on the Keytruda for a year and gets about nine three-week doses of the vaccine and they seem to control the tumor very well.

It's personalized, it's targeted at the tumor, the side effects were not terribly serious compared to certainly standard chemotherapy, and you've got, you know, limitations in -- or recurrence doesn't happen as much and death doesn't happen as much. That is a big home run and it's a randomized trial, so you're very sure control is. This isn't by luck, this is by because the vaccine made a huge difference.

[14:20:00]

Now, it's going to be expensive because it's personalized and then could go to lung cancer, they're testing with bladder cancer, they're testing that the same platform kidney cancer and it's going to be this or some other versions are going to be done in a lot of cancers. And the fact that it's a solid is really important.

HILL: It's you know, as I mentioned, it gives so many people hope. I mean, I think it's hard to find a person in this country who has not been personally touched by cancer, whether they dealt with it themselves or someone very close to them who they love. So the idea that this could potentially be adapted for things as you mentioned, like lung cancer, like bladder cancer. Certainly, I'm sure it gets the wheels turning for folks.

There was a lot of post-COVID backlash against mRNA vaccines, right? And those seem to be amplified. They've been amplified in recent years. It's continuing in some circles. We were talking earlier about the --

EMANUEL: Well, we should --

HILL: Yeah, go ahead.

EMANUEL: Sorry to interrupt you. But we should remember exactly one year ago, RFK Jr. canceled $500 million --

HILL: That's where I was going.

(LAUGH)

EMANUEL: -- worth of mRNA research that the government was funding because he's hostile to mRNA and he's hostile to Moderna and he's hostile to the whole area of research. And yet we see this big breakthrough, you know, if you're interested in the health of the country, you invest in the basic science and the basic science of mRNA is really, really positive and suggest that we should be doing more, not canceling research projects. HILL: So he, you know, at that point, he suggested in that announcement that the technology was ineffective, that it was unsafe, that it was unethical. What could it change, right, to still have that funding?

EMANUEL: He wasn't a doctor. I think he once said he wasn't a doctor and you shouldn't trust him on medical judgments. So I think that's the correct answer.

HILL: Despite all of this, we should point out the FDA last week approved the first mRNA flu vaccine, also developed by Moderna. So what other signs are you watching for in this moment, especially as we just had President Trump, right, announcing his pick, Dr. Heidi Overton, for the new FDA Chief?

EMANUEL: I would hope that she would be asked and held accountable for bringing science back into the evaluation, the evaluations done by the FDA. So we don't get FDA stack committees with conflicts of interest approving things like peptides and we get serious evaluation of rigorous research to know that the drugs and vaccines that we give to the American public are both safe and effective.

And what this trial shows, among other things, is that mRNA vaccines are both safe and very effective, even not just against viruses, but against cancer. And we should be pushing forward on that and not approving things that have no science, no evidence of benefit, and no evidence of safety.

HILL: Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, really appreciate your time this afternoon. Thank you.

EMANUEL: Thank you.

HILL: Still to come here, the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz. No end apparently in sight. President Trump though says the situation with Iran is "so good." Republican Congressman, member of the Armed Services Committee, Carlos Gimenez is with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:05]

HILL: Today, President Trump says he might return to negotiating with Iran at some point because the current situation is so good, claiming the U.S. is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. This development coming as sources say the president is launching a new strategy by backing away from talks.

Sources telling CNN, Trump's message to his political allies is that he has a new goal here, shift away from crushing military strikes to strangling Iran economically instead. As talks remain at an impasse, world energy prices continue to climb. Today, oil prices back near their highest point in almost a month. A barrel of Brent crude topping $92 at one point.

Joining us this hour, Florida Republican Congressman, Carlos Gimenez, who serves in the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees. Congressman, nice to see you again.

When it comes to Iran, after the president said there was a back channel open with the IRGC, he did a 180 the next day, said there are no talks happening. Today, as we heard him say earlier, he called the situation so good. We know Americans are struggling here.

Your constituents are struggling under this economic pain from the war. Should they be prepared for this to last well into the fall, perhaps even into the midterms?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ, (R-FL) ARMED SERVICES AND HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEES: I think that there's no negotiations, et cetera, that I believe that it could. And so, look, I don't trust the Iranians anyway. Every time that they said they were negotiating, I always came on your show and said, I don't think it's going to get anywhere because you can't trust them. I mean, we've seen it for the last 47 years.

And so I believe that the strategy he is using right now is the correct one, strangle them economically through the blockade, and then, little by little, take control of the Straits of Hormuz, defeat their capability to project power into the Straits and effectively control the Straits.

And when you do that, then the oil will start to flow through the Straits, outside of Iranian oil, because that's going to be blockaded. And then you'll have your oil prices come down somewhat, and energy prices will come back also -- come down also. How long that's going to take, I don't know.

The other additional thing that I would do is that if we see through intelligence that they're regaining some production capability of missiles, drones, et cetera, I would --