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Conditions Hampering Search and Relief Efforts in Nepal-China Disaster Zone; One Dead, Around 15 Missing in Grand Canyon Flash Flood; Jury Resumes Deliberations in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial Today. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 31, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A man accused of posing as a San Francisco 49ers player is facing federal fraud charges now. Prosecutors say 35- year-old Dejon Love targeted at least 26 women in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California and convinced them he was either an NFL player or a wealthy investor. The DOJ says he gained their trust, then convinced some of the women to give him money for what turned out to be fake investments, allegedly stealing more than a million dollars.

Authorities say another man helped pose as Love's financial advisor. Both men have been arrested, and both are facing charges at this hour.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are following the breaking news. There's the death toll from the Nepal-China floods jumping. More than 900 people now dead and over 4,700 people missing.

Our colleague Anderson Cooper is live in Nepal this hour for us. We're going to bring you the very latest that he has seen from there.

Also, deadly flash flooding here in the United States of the Grand Canyon. Shelters washed away, and some 15 people are still missing this morning.

And was it worth the risk? Wild video showing two jets flying over a stadium literally just a few hundred feet from hitting the roof.

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

SIDNER: Breaking this morning, the number of missing in Nepal and China after the catastrophic flooding is soaring now. The combined death toll has surpassed 900, but now more than 4,700 people, a staggering number, are now unaccounted for. In Nepal alone, the number of missing nearly doubled overnight.

The highest priority right now, according to officials, are the hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside the country's hydropower tunnels. Rescue crews have been battling brutal terrain, narrow gorges, swamp-like ground that heavy equipment can't really get into, hard for it to cross. Families of the missing are now being asked to submit DNA to help identify bodies.

Nepal police say nearly 600 foreign nationals are among the missing. CNN's Anderson Cooper is now on the ground in Nepal. He just returned from one of the hardest hit, most devastated areas.

He joins us now live. Give me a sense, Anderson. You get there.

What did you see as you sort of traversed what is a huge area of devastation?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you know, you were talking about those tunnels and some of the rescues we have seen. There were some 14 hydropower plants all along the river that have been wiped out, that have been swamped by the raging waters six days ago here in Nepal. We gained access to the upper Trishuli tunnel number three today.

They estimate there may be more than 40 to 50 people trapped still in that tunnel. It is, you know, you talked about the difficult terrain. It is incredibly difficult.

You know, you were talking about steep gorges, very uneven terrain, very difficult to access. Just walking on the, you know, we think of it as this flood that occurred six days ago of water. It's really like liquid cement.

And just walking on it, you sink into it. And it kind of sucks you in. It's very hard to even kind of pull your feet out at times.

And you pick it up. It's really like liquid cement. There's rocks in it.

There's boulders. There's all manner of debris. I want to show you, we talked to a colonel from the Nepal Army who is one of several forces from Nepal who are trying to rescue these workers at this particular tunnel.

But there are tunnels all along this river where there are rescue operations going on. Here's what the colonel told me today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The multi-forces here from APF, Nepal Police, Nepali Army and Special Force and even the sleeper dogs here. So, you can see here, this is a cable tunnel. So, 170 meters inside, there's a powerhouse.

So, I think there are about 45 to 50 people inside the powerhouse.

COOPER: That many? 45 to 50?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, because they are the working team inside the powerhouse.

COOPER: And they were here when the flood came.

[08:05:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the flood hit this area, they were inside, right? So, we are trying now to excavate all this along the way. And you can see the guys, they are drilling there.

COOPER: So, you're going now to carve a trench here for any water that's inside to get back out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and even a bigger trench to get those floods outside.

COOPER: Do you have any sign that they are alive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, earlier we tried a vertical drilling there so that there might be some presence of oxygen so that we can send some oxygen there. I hope they are alive.

COOPER: But you haven't had signs of life?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have nothing yet. So, we are trying our best to get in through.

COOPER: So, this was completely submerged? This tunnel was completely?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, you can see this. It's about 10 to 15 meters. All the debris is just on top of the tunnel.

So, you can see the road was there and it's all. It was all the splashes, you know, it came down rolling through the downstream, you know. So, it just buried all the whole damn thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (on camera): I should correct myself. That's the upper Trishuli River. I've been up for like 24 hours. So I don't even know what I said, but it's the upper Trishuli.

It's remarkable, though, what they are doing. I mean, they have not had any signs of life from that group, but they are still trying to hold on to hope and trying to hold on to optimism that there are air pockets in there and that if they have access to water, they could still be alive. And we hear that from a number of Army personnel I have talked to, both Nepal Army and also there's Indian Army tunnel experts who are helping as well. I talked to some of those today as well.

And, you know, you talked about the death toll rising and the number of missing rising as well. That's not completely unexpected. You know, there have been a number of just incidental reports from people saying they didn't report somebody missing because they didn't want to think this person was gone. And they were hoping -- they were optimistic that they might find this person.

And as the days have gone by, and we're now on day six, they file missing person reports that they list this person as missing. And also as more excavation is done, there's no telling what this sludge that has buried so many towns and so many towns along the river, what it holds. And that will be revealed in the coming days and weeks.

SIDNER: Anderson, it strikes me that you talked about getting to the place and what they're dealing with in trying to save people. We saw this incredible rescue of a little girl who was pulled out five days after. But you're talking about the actual ground you're walking on is like cement but liquefied.

So you're sinking into it. I'm just curious, how did you get to where you were? And how difficult was it just to go and be a journalist there, a reporter trying to get this information?

Meantime, you've got all of these people who are trying to rescue people in the worst kind of conditions.

COOPER: The conditions are extremely difficult. You know, he military really is -- this is day six. So there have been a lot of evacuations from a lot of these devastated towns and communities along that river that overflowed so much six days ago. And a lot of those towns have really been emptied. You see a few people here and there.

A lot of those people have been moved out. The military is really focusing on these tunnels, hoping that there are, you know, hundreds of people maybe still inside these multiple tunnels. But the search for the missing here in Kathmandu, which is where I am now, it continues.

I've been following an American woman who is here, who has flown here, hoping to find word of her mom and her dad, who were on a religious pilgrimage and were crossing over into Tibet the morning of the explosion of water at that site. And I'll have her story tonight on my program. But there are so many people here who are just going from hospitals to morgues day after day, trying to do the best they can.

And they can't get access to the sites where they would like to be. And it's very frustrating for a lot of people. It is just so many people have just disappeared.

Everybody, it seems, everybody you talk to knows somebody, a loved one, a friend, a friend of a friend. This is something which has, I mean, it's devastated this country.

SIDNER: It's apocalyptic, the view that we're getting. And now you're getting a really close-up view of all of it.

[08:10:00]

We'll look forward to your report tonight on that daughter looking for her parents.

Thank you so much for your reporting and staying up all night to get the job done. We do appreciate you and your crew -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also, rescue efforts underway here in the United States after devastating flooding hits the Grand Canyon. More than a dozen people they're still missing. One person is now confirmed dead.

We're going to take you live there next.

And we're also standing by for a possible verdict in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. The jury returns next hour to resume deliberations, and we're watching that very closely.

Plus, here's a quote for you. It will be as if Hubble and James Webb kind of peer through a keyhole at the universe while Nancy Grace Roman will kick down the door. That's from a NASA official about their new launch of its newest telescope.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Arizona, a flash flood. An urgent search and rescue operation at the Grand Canyon. I can tell you where it is.

Park officials, by the way, say at least one person is dead. Fifteen others might be missing. It happened as the Colorado River really swelled beyond its banks.

One of the hard-hit areas here, the Phantom Ranch. You can see these low-lying areas right here, right by this riverbank. So any kind of rise in the water level layer could simply swamp those structures.

And some of the pictures we've been getting of the images of the swollen river simply devastating here. You can see a structure being swept down here. And the thick debris inside this river as it was overflowing.

The destructive debris sweeping down the river. Again, there is a search this morning for at least 15 people in the threat not over. A flood wash remains, and there could be even more rain.

Let's get to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who is live this morning on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Ed, what are you seeing there this morning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John. We're waiting for the sun to come up to get a better sense of how those search and rescue operations are undergoing. But as you mentioned, 15 people believed to still be missing.

These were floodwaters that ravaged portions of very popular hiking areas and camping areas over the weekend with some intensity. Some people described this 4-foot giant dark wall of mud and debris and boulders just barreling down through the river. Another couple describing how one of the bridges that they ran across to escape from their campground areas was just washed away minutes after they had crossed through that area as well.

Many of the people who have been evacuated have been pulled out by helicopter because these are incredibly difficult areas to access. So all of that work we expect to continue today as well. But there has been one confirmed fatality, a 46-year-old man.

The Grand Canyon National Park has not given any more information beyond that. But there's also a large area deep inside that canyon to have to scour and to look for victims. These floodwaters were barreling through very popular canyons where there are day hikers, where there are people who are camping out doing some more intense, longer hikes as well.

So that kind of activity ongoing this weekend. The rain started on Saturday just actually about an hour ago. We had another incredibly intense round of rainfall and lightning throughout the area.

That weather could continue to complicate things here as we move into the day here and watching these search-and-rescue operations continue -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Ed Lavandera, it's good to have you there. The light comes up shortly, and I imagine these search-and-rescue operations will pick up then again. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, we're standing by as deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial resume today. Jurors have asked to see some evidence as they decide the fate of the former Massachusetts nurse who tried to take her own life after she killed her three children.

And how casinos are in a big fight to try and stop the booming multibillion-dollar prediction market industry. What that looks like, ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, we are on verdict watch as jury deliberations are set to resume in about an hour in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial. The jurors, nine women and three men, failed to reach a verdict after a full day of deliberations Friday. The jury did, however, send their first question to the judge, asking to see prescription pill bottles and the knife Clancy used in her suicide attempt.

Jurors are deciding whether or not she is criminally responsible for the deaths of her three young children because of her mental state at the time. Her defense says she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis.

Joining me now, trial attorney Kelly Hyman. Thank you so much for being here, Kelly. The jury asked to see some of the evidence put on in the case. They wanted to look at the bloody knife that she used in her suicide attempt, and they wanted to see the bags of empty prescription pill bottles found at the family home.

What does this request tell you?

KELLY HYMAN, TRIAL ATTORNEY: That this goes to the heart of the case. The prosecution brought the case, and they had the burden. And according to the prosecution, that the defendant planned this killing, that it was premeditated, that she knew right from wrong at the time of the killing.

From the defense standpoint, that she was a darn good mother that was suffering from this postpartum psychosis at the time that she killed her children. And then she tried to commit suicide by a knife and then gone out a window and hurt herself where she's now paralyzed. So when we look at the evidence, what exactly they're looking at, they're looking at the prescription medicine.

According to the defense, that she was overmedicated, that she was taking all these different medicines. So the jurors could be looking at the medicine, see exactly what she was taking, what the dosage was, how much she was taking. As to the knife, the defendants assert that this was at the moment that she killed her -- tried to kill herself.

And so maybe looking at the knife, seeing the size of it, how big it is, really to get an idea of what exactly was her state of mind at the time that she killed her three children.

SIDNER: Yes, it's a good point because there's been discussion in court about whether she was taking those pills regularly, how many she was taking. And so I guess the jury really trying to look at that and see it for themselves in the evidence. I do want to ask you about timing.

[08:25:00]

The jury has deliberated, I think, three hours the first day and then a full day on Friday, they deliberate it. Typically, does the length of time a jury deliberate favor the defense or the prosecution? What is the thinking there?

HYMAN: There's all different schools of thoughts on this, but one school of thought is if the jury comes back quickly, then it's most likely a guilty verdict. Now, we have to remember there are all of them have to agree, all 12 of them to the charges. And there's a lot of charges in this case.

There's five charges. So we have first degree murder, second degree murder. We have manslaughter.

We have not guilty. And we also have not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility. So they have to consider all the elements of this as well.

So this could go on for many, many days and we'll have to see how that plays out.

SIDNER: Kelly Hyman, thank you for breaking that down for us, the jury expected in court shortly here. We do appreciate your time, John.

BERMAN: The U.S. and Iran trade strikes overnight in the first major escalation in more than a month. How markets are reacting as tensions there reignite.

And then happening now, the U.S. in search for more than a dozen missing hikers after the deadly flash floods in the Grand Canyon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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