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Dolly Parton Dies at 80 After a Brief Battle with Cancer; Darline Graham Wins South Carolina GOP Runoff after Trump's Push; Canada Hits Back with 50 Percent Tariffs on Hundreds of U.S. Products; DOJ Considers Charging ICE Officer in Minneapolis Shooting; Bill Gates Publishes Memo Warning that We Underestimated AI. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 26, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER:

DUFFY: That is what is on the line.

BOLDUAN: This could be a landmark is appropriate here because it could bring about fundamental required change in this massive company with such far reach with their platforms.

DUFFY: Exactly. In a way that we haven't necessarily seen with the two earlier cases that Meta lost. There have been some changes. There are some financial penalties, but this could really change the game.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's good. Important perspective. It's good to see you, Clare. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, we are live from Nashville, remembering Dolly Parton, some of the big stars, remembering the absolute biggest.

Then breaking overnight, President Trump to the rescue. His visit pushes Darline Graham over the finish line in a primary for Senate in South Carolina. And now he wants other races all around the country to be all about him.

And Bill Gates raises a huge red flag over AI, his growing fears that he shared with Anderson Cooper.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan in New York. Sara Sidner is in Nashville. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from Nashville, outside the Ryman, the most well-known version of the grand old Opry. This town and the world has lost a legend, the singing sensation, a songwriting phenom, an ambassador of kindness and a woman of wit and wisdom. Tributes are pouring in for Dolly Parton, the country music icon.

She moved here the day after she left high school at 18 years old and had died here at 80 after a brief battle with cancer. From superstars like Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Barbra Streisand to presidents such as Donald Trump and Barack Obama. So many are sending condolences and celebrating her life.

The Empire State Building in New York, well, they lit that up and they made it all pink, starting at 9 to 5, 9:25 a nod, of course, to the hit movie Dolly starred in 9 to 5. And Sevier County, Tennessee, where Parton grew up as one of 12, has declared a day of mourning.

But her theme park, Dollywood, says it's going to be open today in her spirit, as they put it. Parton's family says a small private service will be held. And they're asking fans to pay tribute to her on social media or on her website.

CNN's Jason Carroll is joining us now from Dolly's hometown of Sevierville. What do you learn in there? What's happening in that town where so many are mourning her loss?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this is the place, Sara, where it all began. This is where Dolly grew up. And in fact, right around the corner, she performed when she was just 10 years old.

And this is the place where folks are coming to pay tribute to her. You can see some of the cards and the flowers that have been left from some of the people out here. This one comes from Hawaii.

It says, Aloha. Many of the messages reading, Sara, we will always love you. And of course, in reference to one of her songs. And, you know, when you talk to folks out here in Sevierville, they'll tell you, you know, you hang out in these parts long enough.

You're going to run into someone who knows something or has a story about Dolly. And we ran into one of those people here late last night. His name is David Ware.

He's the city manager in Pigeon Forge. It's the neighboring town, still here in the county. And he talks about what Dolly meant to him.

And this really speaks to what Dolly meant to so many people. You know, it wasn't just about her music and her songwriting. It was about her philanthropic efforts.

And one of those efforts was the buddy program. And this was a program where she was trying to do something about the dropout rates in her community. And so what she did was she had to pick a buddy program.

So she isolated people in the seventh and eighth grade. She said, if you two stick together and make it through high school, I'm going to give you each five hundred dollars. Well, David Wear was one of those people.

He ended up becoming a city manager and he ended up becoming a mayor. Take a listen to what he had to say about Dolly Parton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID WEAR, PIGEON FORGE CITY MANAGER: Back in the day, I guess it was probably in '88, her foundation put out, I wouldn't call it a contest. It was a reward for you graduate high -- you get a buddy, you pick your buddy and you and your buddy make it through high school.

She gives you $500 each. And that was back in '88. So I picked my buddy.

The whole school system in Superior County did. So we go and we get our picture made and smile. I just saw the picture popped up in a memory somewhere and people were sharing those things tonight.

And that memory of being able to interact with her on that level and see her charitable contribution to this area. So I was one of those kids that got $500 for graduating high school.

CARROLL: Can you tell me what it was like working with her?

[08:05:00]

WEAR: She was -- so everybody knows Dolly on stage. Everybody knows Dolly in the interviews. She's so wonderful.

She's so charismatic, witty, gritty, resourceful, funny. She's larger than life. And on stage, she's larger than life.

But if you get to talk to her like this, you have an opportunity to sit down and talk to her, which we've seen those. She's the most real person you'll probably meet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (on camera): I mean, Sara, I can't tell you. There are so many stories like that from some of the people here when they talk about Dolly Parton, when they think about Dolly Parton. Again, it's not just about her music.

It's about how she gave back to this community, a community that she never forgot -- Sara.

SIDNER: Witty, gritty, resourceful, and funny. What a great way to remember Miss Dolly Parton. We will all miss her so much.

Jason Carroll, thank you so much. That was excellent -- John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight. Darline Graham defeated Congressman Ralph Norman to win the Republican nomination for Senate in South Carolina in a special primary runoff. The president's endorsement really did appear to make the difference there.

He visited just the other night. With us now, Marc Short, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Mark, great to see you.

I want to push this forward if I can, because clearly the president's presence in South Carolina helped Darline Graham. Maybe it made all the difference there. And now President Trump apparently wants to inject himself in other races.

Maybe all of them heading into the midterms. The Atlantic reports this morning that the president ordered a series of television advertisements about his own record that will serve as a backdrop to the hundreds of individual House and Senate contests. Trump wanted what one person described to us as environmental lift ads.

Commercials that would focus on nationalizing the midterms broadly around his victories. Although the president's approval rating is in the low 30s, mid 30s there, how good of an idea is it to nationalize the midterm elections?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: Well, John, I think that the president obviously did flex his muscles in South Carolina last night, and it's impressive the way he's been willing to engage in Republican primaries, unlike other presidents. I think the reality is that a midterm cycle is going to be about the party in power. And that's especially true when one party controls the White House, the House, and the Senate.

And so in many ways, this is going to be a referendum on Donald Trump regardless. And so I think there's some actual wisdom in leaning into it and saying, well, here's our record, here's what we've actually accomplished. And so it's true that the president's numbers are in the mid 30s, and that can be certainly an albatross for a lot of Republicans running a midterm cycle.

But I think Democrats are going to make this about Trump's record anyhow, so why not go ahead and lean into it and say, here's what we've actually accomplished.

BERMAN: Yes, there's almost no way for Republicans around the country to create distance with the president, which is sometimes what you see in a midterm election, right?

SHORT: Yes. Well, I mean, look, in recent history, we've seen these giant swings. In 2010, Democrats had massive control, big margins in the House, the Senate, and Obama in the presidency.

It was a big year for Republicans. It was a national referendum on Obama's first two years. In Donald Trump's first term in 2018, it was a big cycle for Democrats.

Frankly, Democrats, I think, would have done better, except Republicans gained a seat in the Senate because of largely the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. But nonetheless, it was a referendum on the first two years of Trump. Same thing with Biden.

And so I think that's the dynamic we live in today, is that you've had these much bigger swings where one party controls power. It's less divided than it used to be as far as balance of power. And so, yes, it's going to be a referendum on him.

BERMAN: I want to talk to you about one of your favorite subjects, which is tariffs. Canada has announced the retaliatory tariffs it will put in place to the United States. They say by September 8th, it'll include a number of items, including, by the way, seafood, which will affect the state of Maine, which I learned this morning, I didn't know this, that they export a lot of their seafood.

Like a huge percentage goes to Canada. Susan Collins in a tough race there. She's not happy about this trade battle.

She says, "Imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake. I really want us to go back to the very friendly, economically beneficial relationship that we have with our Canadian neighbors." There's a reporting overnight that Canada is actually targeting their new tariffs on U.S. states that have tough midterms for Republicans here.

How do these tariffs complicate the environment for Republicans, Marc?

SHORT: Well, John, I think this one's a real head-scratcher. I think it's not just Maine, as you said. It's also Michigan is a battleground state.

Alaska's a battleground state this cycle. And so having a trade war with Canada right now, I think, is really much a head-scratcher. Let's keep in mind that the president in his first term negotiated a whole new trade deal with Mexico and Canada that was confirmed by the Senate.

[08:10:00]

And so, you know, as we've discussed before, it really is the legislative branch that should be deciding tariffs and tax policy. But I think it's a signal to other trading partners that, hey, any deal you make today, we might want to renegotiate in the very near future, which I think is damaging.

I think it's also a reality that as the president gears up for a summit again with President Xi, I think China is our biggest challenge and nemesis. And what we've seen so far is one concession after another on trade deals, on chips to China, on TikTok. And yet we're going to have a trade war with Canada, one of our largest trading partners right now, when the number one issue for voters is affordability.

And I think what's also interesting is you've seen, we know there's a real vulnerability on the oil and fertilizer we import from Canada. And so they've been excluded from this. And so it's almost like a concession that we know what's most important, but we're going to have this sort of political theater play out for the American people.

And still September 8th is a couple of weeks away. I think you're going to continue to see a lot more negotiation on this, John. But still you're left wondering, what are we trying to accomplish here and how is this actually going to lower prices for Americans?

BERMAN: We'll mark you down as undecided on the trade war right now. Marc Short, great to see you. Thank you very much.

SHORT: John, thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: We are following some major breaking news right now and really just starting to wrap our minds around what we're looking at. And this video that's come in from the Nepal-China border, a massive wall of just mud, water, everything, just engulfing an entire town in Nepal. The only word so far is that hundreds are missing.

A lot more detail needs to come out. We are just getting this in, and we'll have much more as we get the details in for you.

And President Trump is now facing unusually strong backlash right now from his own party over his latest bid to lower beef prices. Why Republicans are publicly calling him out here in a way that they have not before.

And a new warning from Bill Gates about AI, laying out in a 5,000 word essay why he is so scared of what is to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, there is breaking news this morning. We're just getting some new information as this huge flash flood swept through villages in Nepal. Police say at least 17 people have been killed, but there are fears this toll will rise much, much higher.

Officials say at least 400 travelers are now missing. You're going to get a sense of why there is so much concern. We have this new video just in.

There's no sound, but what it shows is horrifying. A huge wall of mud and water crashing onto a town.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO OF MUD SLIDE CRASHING INTO A TOWN)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Oh, that is just devastating. Look, we need more information there. It's hard to imagine how anyone could survive something like that. Nepal's foreign minister said an earthquake triggered a large landslide.

The rocks went into a river that sent a torrent of water downstream, which is what you're just looking at here in these stunning pictures. And it just keeps coming and coming and coming. We just don't know how many people were there.

We don't know if rescue crews are on the scene yet. We're trying to get this new information, but the pictures are a serious cause for concern. Much more on that ahead -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. We're also watching this right now. The Justice Department could decide today whether to bring federal charges against an ICE officer accused of shooting a Venezuelan migrant in Minneapolis. Now, ICE agent Christian Castro was arrested in Texas back in May, but now there's a fight over extraditing him back to Minnesota where the governor of Texas is refusing to hand Castro over to the state.

CNN's Whitney Wild is joining us now. Whitney, what's the latest that you're learning here?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this story has had so many iterations and so many threads. But what we know now is that the federal investigation into his actions is escalating. Federal officials here in Minnesota are considering federal charges against that ICE agent, Christian Castro.

And that would mark a significant moment, Kate, because what we have seen so far is that the administration has been reluctant to bring charges against Department of Homeland Security officers and agents for conduct that happened on the job. And that is exactly what happened here. So let me bring you back to January when this case started.

According to the Hennepin County attorney here, this basically started as a case of mistaken identity. Castro and other agents were following a car they believed was driven by one man. It was driven by a different man.

That man jumped out of the car. He ran to a home, to his cousin's home. His cousin had come out of the home.

There was this very brief, a little bit of a scuffle that was caught on video. The ICE agent slipped on the ice and then the two men ran inside. And that, according to video, is when Christian Castro opened fire, striking one of those men in the leg.

In the immediate aftermath of that, DHS had said that this was basically an attempted murder on their agent. They brought charges. But then in the weeks that followed, the case unraveled.

And what DHS found was that Castro and another agent's description of what happened was not truthful and they were placed on administrative leave.

[08:20:00]

Then later, as you point out, he faced charges in Hennepin County, facing second-degree assault charges, a misdemeanor for making a false statement. He was arrested in May in Texas and has been in custody ever since.

The federal case here, again, would mark a significant moment. And so what we know is that federal prosecutors here in Minnesota have been having discussions with Maine Justice, with the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. And a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice describes these conversations as typical whenever there's a question about a civil rights charge. Saying to CNN this: "In any case where the conduct at issue may implicate a civil rights charge, U.S. attorney's offices are required by DOJ policy to consult and work with Civil Rights Division because that is the division that has the subject matter experts in this area." And so that is something we're watching very closely.

The timeline here is tight, Kate, because according to the extradition timeline in Texas, there's an expiration date. And that expiration date is Thursday.

So there is a lot of concern here that Christian Castro could be released. Attorneys here for the state and locals are concerned that he may run to Mexico, where he has ties. So there are a lot of challenges here.

The timeline here is shrinking rapidly. But the bottom line here, Kate, is as the state fights for him to come back to Minnesota, federal officials are very seriously considering federal charges. Back to you.

BOLDUAN: Wow. A lot going on here. Thank you so much for laying it out, Whitney. Appreciate it. Much more to come clearly from this.

Also ahead for us, a new warning from Bill Gates about AI. Why he says addressing the risks that this tech poses should be the world's top priority and why he is so scared and speaking out on this now.

And police arrest a man near the U.S. Supreme Court driving with a guillotine in the back of his pickup truck. What we are learning about this now.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: A new warning from Bill Gates about AI. In an essay published overnight, the Microsoft co-founder says many people are underestimating its power. He writes, quote, "In terms of equity, AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented or the worst source of injustice. The challenge is monumental. Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history."

Now, he spoke about his concerns with Anderson Cooper, telling him that we need to minimize technology's harm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, you said that there's no plan to ease the entry into the AI era and that we underestimate the impact of AI. In what way?

BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER OF MICROSOFT: Over the last year, these AIs have gotten dramatically more powerful, even faster than I expected. And they're now capable of causing cyber attack risk, bioterrorism risk, psychosocial risk. And I have to say I'm kind of shocked that the exact criteria that we review these models with and the actions we take to minimize the harms are really completely missing.

And the broad dialogue we get all of society talking about the trade- offs here, that's just not taking place. And so, you know, we've got to minimize these harms through careful review and criteria. And we have to accelerate the good stuff or else I know we could have a complete backlash that AI would suffer from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: You can watch Anderson's full interview with Bill Gates tonight on AC360 at 8 o'clock Eastern time.

We're just minutes away from brand new data on the state of the economy. As for the markets right now, flat ahead of the opening bell.

And then singer, songwriter, actress, icon, and also unparalleled executive, Dolly Parton, one of the sharpest businesspeople ever with rhinestones or without.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, MUSICIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST: I look like a woman, but I think like a man. And in this world of business, that has helped me a lot because by the time they think that I don't know what's going on, I done got the money and gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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