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U.S. Expected to Unveil Iran Sanctions; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is Interviewed about Trade with Canada; Crews battle Wildfire Near Reno; Trial Resumes in Clancy Murder; Manhunt in Massachusetts for Wife of Slain Police Officer. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 24, 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]

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: That he lost out on. It was a great time sitting down with him.

Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we had him on here and he was simply hilarious.

You can watch this and other episodes of "Coming Up" on the CNN app.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is economic d-day for Iran. That is what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is threatening, and the world is now standing by to find out what exactly that means. Who's this going to hit and how hard?

And, thousands of people are being told to get out as a wildfire rages near Reno, burning closer to homes, closer to businesses. A fire that is zero percent contained.

And there's also an urgent manhunt underway for a woman police call armed and dangerous after her police officer husband is found dead in their home.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the U.S. is warning Iran to brace for more pain, but this time the weapons isn't missiles it's money. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expected to hold a news conference today and give new details after he wrote this op-ed for "The Financial Times," saying, "now we are entering the end game. At dawn begins an economic D-Day, the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary." It is part of a U.S. strategy shift nearly six months into the war, temporarily pausing strikes in favor of economic pressure to get Iran back to the negotiating table. And just moments ago, President Trump posted this, just four words,

quote, "Iran is completely collapsing."

CNN's Alayna Treene is live this morning at the White House.

Is there any sense of the details yet? Just hearing from the president on his comments. Iran probably see things certainly a different way. But these new economic sanctions, any details that you're hearing from the White House?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's clear that what they want to do with this new kind of forward looking strategy on Iran, which is really, as you mentioned, shifting the war to an economic one versus a military one, is really about trying to isolate Iran from the rest of the world, specifically when it comes to trying to choke their economy.

And a lot of what we've been hearing, I've been hearing this in my conversations, but you're seeing this in some of the public comments from the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the president as well, is this idea that anyone who was partnering with Iran or propping them up financially is going to face economic pain as well, likely in the form of secondary sanctions.

And you heard Bessent kind of describe some of this in his op-ed. In addition to the part you read, Sara, he also said that "total financial isolation can obviate the need for American force while enlarging the sphere of freedom for our allies." He went on to say, "the world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone."

Now, I can tell you, Sara, in the conversations I've been having with Trump administration officials in recent weeks, you know, we know that the president had told his envoys to stop all negotiations with the Iranians as they prepared to make this new strategy shift toward an economic war. The goal here is to try and see total Iranian collapse of their economy. That is how they believe they will weaken them to the point of a real substantial negotiation to try and end this war or permanently something, of course, that the president and his team is unable to do so far.

There are questions, though, about who could get caught up in some of the retaliation you'll see from the U.S. if other countries are still buying Iranian oil or somehow propping them up with the biggest one, of course, being China. They are the biggest buyers of Iranian oil. And of course, we know the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is set to come here to meet with Trump next month. So, something to watch very carefully in the treasury secretary's remarks today, Sara.

SIDNER: From that war to an economic battle with an ally and neighbor, Canada. All of the trade talks fell apart, and now the United States is going for those 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion worth of goods. What are you learning from the White House on this as Canada responds? TREENE: Yes, look, this is another tariff war. But this time, as you

mentioned, it's not with a adversary. It is with one of the United States' closest trading partners and they're northern neighbor. We heard from the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, over the weekend saying that Canada is going to retaliate dollar for dollar with tariffs back on the U.S. The U.S. then coming back again, saying they'll retaliate even further. So, this could really escalate quickly in what we see.

But I will say, we did hear from the U.S. trade representative, Sara, just this morning. He was speaking here at the White House on CNBC, kind of downplaying this and trying to argue that the tariffs that they've imposed on Canadian goods is such a small part of what Americans see in overall trade with Canada.

[09:05:08]

Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: I think the market knows that, at the end of the day, this is five percent of imports from Canada. It's 0.06 percent of our, you know, overall consumption in this economy. So, there's no possible way it can really affect U.S. well-being, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Look, so he's trying to argue this won't have a big impact on the economy and the health of the U.S. economy. However, there are a lot of small businesses who rely on the specific goods that are being targeted with these new tariffs. So, questions about that. All to say, unclear how this tariff war will end. We have heard Greer and the Canadians argue there is no current plans to have further negotiations on a trade deal. So, for now, they're moving ahead with these new economic measures.

Sara.

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, thank you for your reporting there for us from the White House.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois.

We just heard Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade rep, say that this trade war with Canada, he said, quote, "there's no possible way it affects U.S. well-being." Is he right?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): No. It's -- look, these tariffs that America is going to put on Canadian products are just taxes. They're taxes on Americans. And it's, of course, going to continue to fuel kind of inflationary pressures, which are already brought on by this disastrous Iranian war with $4 gas and, you know, high interest rates now hurting consumers. The other thing is that Illinois is a huge exporting state to Canada. So, the counter-tariffs, the retaliatory tariffs that the Canadians are going to put on American products are going to hit Illinois twice as hard. And so, I totally disagree with Mr. Greer. This is going to hurt Americans. It's going to hurt Illinoisans in a big way.

BERMAN: Yes, again, that quote, "no possible way it affects U.S. well- being."

On a separate front, the United States and the Treasury secretary declaring this economic D-Day on Iran. And the president just posted this on his social media account. He said, "Iran is completely collapsing." He does have that on social media. You can take my word for it. What have you seen the impact of Iran so far with these economic sanctions?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, look, I think this economic D-Day, the question is, is it going to be D-Day on American consumers once again? Because, remember, the Iranians have tremendous leverage, economic leverage over our energy supplies. And so, if Bessent is going to actually promulgate additional sanctions, secondary sanctions, the Iranians are going to retaliate. And that could be further constricting the supply of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, which they effectively control.

Not only that, but we haven't removed the leverage that the Iranians have over us right now, which is, you know, they know -- we have not weaned ourselves off fossil fuels. We haven't even attempted to do so under the Trump administration. And as the Trump administration cancels hundreds of renewable energy projects, we are continuing to signal to the markets our continued reliance on Iranian -- basically allowing Iranian oil to flow, as well as oil to flow through the Strait of Hormuz. And that continues to put upward pressure on the price of oil.

BERMAN: My philosophy teachers, all of them, are about to get very mad at me here, but Scott Bessent, in his op-ed, talking about this economic D-Day and the justifications for it, quoted the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, in Pascal's Wager. He said, "Pascal's eponymous wager now applies to Iran's lifelines. Nations that, in courting reprieve from Tehran, continue to replenish the very regime from which they seek protection and now exceed the limits of America's tolerance." So, Pascal's wager. Pascal basically said, you know, if you're not sure if there is a god, you should act as if there is one kind of just in case. It seems to be better to say there is one just in case so you don't incur his wrath.

Is Scott Bessent saying America is god here? Help me understand the use of Pascal's wager in this scenario.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I wasn't very good at philosophy, so I'm not -- I'm not really qualified to make a pronouncement on that, except that I think that any hubris or overconfidence that Scott Bessent is displaying in his pronouncements reflects the general Trump administration's hubris and arrogance, which has led us into this disastrous situation.

We are scoring an own goal right now constantly with this illegal war. It's hurting my constituents.

[09:10:00]

And that's why it's so unpopular. The only way that we're going to get through this is ending these hostilities and putting a check on the Trump administration, which, by the way, is going to be an issue on the ballot in November as well.

BERMAN: Over the weekend, "The New York Times" reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who presumably would be speaker of the House if the Democrats retake control, has held a meeting, at least one, with Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, where they talked about a number of issues, potentially working with the White House, Democrats working with the White House going forward.

What does the fact of this meeting tell you that people close to Donald Trump are meeting with the person who could be the speaker of the House?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think it signals that they know he's going to be the speaker. And they know that he's going to be somebody that they can't, you know, kind of continue to roll over. They're going to have to accord respect. And if they want any item on their legislative agenda to move forward, they're going to have to work with him, and Democrats in the House, especially in the majority.

They're also going to have to contend with tremendous oversight and investigations that are about to happen, including probably with Mr. Kushner himself. And so, you know, I think that this is just a fact of life they're have -- they're going to have to contend with given the state of affairs in this country and the elections coming up.

BERMAN: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, right now, tens of thousands of people are being urged to evacuate as firefighters are facing a real challenge in their battle in Nevada. A wildfire just has exploded in size, now eating up about 15,000 acres northeast of Reno. It's already forced two medical centers in the area to relocate patients for safety. And as of this morning, the fire is zero percent contained.

CNN's Josh Campbell is on the ground in Reno with much more.

Josh, what are you learning here?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, you know, we're at one of the many evacuation centers that have been established. And over my shoulder, you can see a ubiquitous group of people that we often see whenever there's disaster, and that is the Red Cross. These angels come here to these communities to try to help people who have had to evacuate. And again, we're talking about 90,000 people that have been urged to evacuate. About 42,000 of those people are in this mandatory warning zone. So, again, this is something that is largely disruptive to tens of thousands of people here.

Now, yesterday here near where we are in Reno, we saw this erratic fire activity really start to pick up. This fire rapidly moving downhill to these residential areas. As you mentioned, this Hawk Fire now at least covering 15,000 acres and at zero percent containment.

Now, this is a continuation of this destructive fire season that we've seen across the southwest, tens of thousands of acres burned. Some of these fires have caused evacuations of entire towns.

Now, the fire crews, both from the local, state and federal level, are currently attacking this fire on the ground, as well as from the air. We're hearing that aerial assets are coming in from around the area, including from neighboring California. And Californians offering their assistance to their neighbors here in Nevada. The governor of Nevada has declared a state of emergency for Washoe County, which includes parts of Reno, where we are, as well as parts of Lake Tahoe.

Now, as people are wondering what is going to happen next, fire officials are urging them to heed those warnings.

Take a listen here to one of the local fire officials who just spoke to our colleague, Sara Sidner, providing advice for local residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RICHARD EDWARDS, TRUCKEE MEADOWS FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT: Fire conditions change rapidly, especially in this area with the evening winds that we get predominantly anytime after mid-afternoon into the early evening. And so, we really encourage those that are under a get set evacuation that 45,000 number, to have their stuff ready, have their go bags ready, have their medications, their pets, their important documents, some clothes, toiletries, whatever they need, packed up and ready to go in a moment's notice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: And again, there is such a -- there's such a human toll here. Again, we talk about the tens of thousands of people disrupted. And I'll speak quietly because there are people around us right now who have evacuated. One thing that I've noticed is children that are coming. Obviously, people having to leave their location for these shelters and for, you know, the fellow animal lovers out there. We've seen so many people here with pets clinging to them in this -- there's a dog -- couple dogs over here right now, in this unfamiliar area that they are, you know, having to leave their homes in order to try to flee here for safety. This is really heartbreaking, but fire crews say they're doing everything that they possibly can, Kate, to save property and to save lives.

[09:15:00]

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Josh, thank you so much for being there for us this morning.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, a major search underway for this woman after police officers say that they found her husband dead in their home. They believe that she is armed and dangerous.

Plus, a crisis in Gary, Indiana. Thousands of people without power for nearly two weeks after powerful storms hit. Why some residents feel they're simply being overlooked, living without electricity.

And a plane forced to land in the ocean. What we're learning about how this happened and the pilot aboard this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:14]

SIDNER: More than 10,000 people are still without power this morning in Gary, Indiana, nearly two weeks after intense storms left hundreds of thousands of people there in the dark. Gary is a majority black city, with some residents voicing frustration that they're simply being ignored here. But the Northern Indiana Public Service Company says minority and low income residents are not being overlooked and crews are working nonstop to try and restore power. Full restoration may happen tomorrow.

All right, happening now, court is resuming in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who strangled her three children. Today, prosecutors are expected to call more rebuttal witnesses. The defense rested its case Friday after focusing on Clancy's mental state, including testimony from a forensic psychiatrist who said she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Now, prosecutors are pushing back on that claim, arguing Clancy could control her behavior.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is joining me now.

This has been a long trial, there have been a lot of people, and it's been very, very emotional, as you might imagine.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Extremely. Yes, in some cases like they have to end court early because it's been so emotional.

SIDNER: Yes. Yes.

GINGRAS: Yes. I mean, look, we're at the finish line, right? This -- closing arguments we do expect later this week at some point. And then, of course, the case is going to go to the jury. Right now, as you said perfectly, Sara, they are having rebuttal witnesses. The state has a chance to kind of go against what the defense has put out in its case. And it was a strong case. And so, when we ended the day on Friday, there was cross-examination of one of those rebuttal witnesses. There are two more expected to take the stand. Of course, everything can change. But I do want you to hear sound from both of these guys, a rebuttal witness, but also the person who testified for the defense before they rested its case, right before that rebuttal witness. And then I'll talk more on the other end.

SIDNER: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did the fact that she hadn't had any significant medication changes during that time period, does that also inform your opinion about that?

DR. AVRAM MACK, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, as that -- that aligns with what I was saying before about how -- while depressed, her mental state was relatively stable.

PHILLIP RESNICK, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: She had what is known as a delusion of influence. That is, not only did she hear a command, but she felt that her body was taken over by an external force where she was in a dream state and did not have control of her own body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: OK, so these are two different opinions at the heart of the case. Was she in a state of postpartum psychosis when these killings happened? That's what the defense argues. And that's what you just heard the voice of, Phillip Resnick.

Now, a quick briefing on Phillip Resnick. He is like the gold standard of forensic psychologist or psychiatrist rather. He has, you know, done cases not only for the Unabomber, but also Andrea Yates. Sorry, I'm trying to remember all the names.

SIDNER: Yes, there are many.

GINGRAS: But there are so many cases. Forty pages of his resume, they actually submitted into evidence, basically telling jurors, hey, listen, you got to listen to this guy. So, there's a lot of parallels between what they were trying to draw out of the Andrea Yates case and this case.

So, now you're going to see the prosecution try to chip away at that because he was a very strong witness for the defense saying exactly what the defense is arguing again that she was in a state of postpartum psychosis. So, that's how I think we're going to see the day today is really the prosecution trying to get back to the fact that maybe she wasn't in that state when these killings happened. And the defense, of course, going after these witnesses as well.

SIDNER: It sort of all hinges kind of on this issue because she's admitted that, yes, she killed her children. The question was, was she aware that she was doing wrong at the time?

GINGRAS: Right. SIDNER: A lot of things have to happen here, and the case still going. But you said, they're expecting closing arguments at the end of the week possibly?

GINGRAS: Oh, I think before then. Yes.

SIDNER: Before then? OK.

GINGRAS: Yes. I think that it will probably go to the jury by the end of the week.

SIDNER: OK.

GINGRAS: Or midweek.

SIDNER: All right, Brynn.

GINGRAS: So, we'll see.

SIDNER: Thank you.

GINGRAS: All right.

SIDNER: Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it.

All right, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right now an urgent manhunt is underway in Massachusetts. Police searching for Karen Solomon, now considered armed and dangerous, in connection -- wanted in connection with the death of her husband, who's a police officer for more than three decades. Now, investigators have been somewhat tight lipped on exactly how Kurt Solomon was killed, only saying that it was with a sharp object inside the couple's home early last week. And they've been searching for his wife since.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has much more on this.

I mean the search continues today. What have you learned?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, we're seven days in. And I think it's important that you mentioned that investigators have been tight lipped because we haven't actually gotten a whole lot of new information since this happened on Tuesday last week.

BOLDUAN: Right.

PAZMINO: What you're seeing there is police officers on foot in the area scouring for evidence and searching for Karen Solomon.

[09:25:02]

Now, over the weekend, they closed down public beaches, recreational areas in the surrounding vicinity of the home and they released that video that you're seeing there. That is believed to be the last images of Karen Solomon. They captured this video by a doorbell camera and released it last week saying that this is who they're looking for.

Now, this video is believed to have been captured early on Tuesday morning, just shortly after Karen Solomon herself is believed to have placed a 911 call, calling officers to the home where her husband was found dead.

Now, Karen Solomon was well known in this community. We're talking about Worcester, Massachusetts, where she was the head of a nonprofit which focused on mental health for first responders. She was married to a police officer. She did work on this front. She authored books about it. So, she is certainly well known in the area, in the law enforcement community. But now police officers say that they are looking for her in relation to her husband, who was found dead inside his home.

Take a listen to the police chief in Worcester talking about this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF PAUL SAUCIER, WORCESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT: We will not stop until we find her, either way, here or somewhere else. And we want to bring closure to the Solomon family. Kurt was a hell of a guy. He was an awesome police officer and an awesome person, and he's going to be truly missed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Solomon is 58 years old. Police say that she is considered armed and dangerous. They're asking the community to call them if they have seen her, if they might know anything about her whereabouts.

Kurt Solomon was a 31-year veteran of the force. He's a father of two children. And he will be laid to rest on Tuesday.

In the meantime, this investigation is still ongoing and investigators not saying much in the meantime.

BOLDUAN: What a mystery right now.

PAZMINO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Gloria, for that.

John.

BERMAN: All right, a real-life teenage superman to the rescue as wildfires there threaten homes.

And we are just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Market futures kind of flat right now. This after what "The Wall Street Journal" calls the dumbest trade war being revisited. This is the exchange of threats and tariffs between the United States and Canada. The U.S. trade rep just claimed there is no possible way this will affect U.S. well-being. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)