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U.S. and Iran have First Major Escalation in Month; Sanders Worried Democrats are Rooting for El-Sayed to Lose; Grand Canyon Evacuee Wieke De Boer is Interviewed about the Flooding; U.S. Faces Challenges in Chinese Drone Investigation; Casinos gear Up for War; FDA Stresses Food Safety Protocols. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 31, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:20]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the U.S. and Iran trading fresh attacks, ending a month of relative military calm as the war is now six months in with no signs that the U.S. and Iran are any closer to reaching a peace deal.

Watch this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That is from state media releasing this video appearing to show Iran firing missiles toward U.S. military targets in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. This was in retaliation to a U.S. strike on Iranian rocket launchers that Central Command says were trying to launch new sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

Joining us right now is CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh.

It's good to see you, Sabrina.

So, we now have this new round of strikes, the first in a month, the first real escalation, if you will, on the military side. The Strait of Hormuz is still also not really open. But this has become what this entire focus and fight is about now. So where are we?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think where we are right now is that you are seeing kinetic action after about a month-long pause. We know that the Trump administration is pivoting more to economic pain rather than military pain. But I think you are going to see from time and again, as long as a full-scale war does not reignite, because I don't think either side wants that, you are going to see these tit-for-tat strikes. The U.S. military, the Navy is going to respond. And it's a defensive strike when they saw that these allegedly -- the IRGC was going to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and then Iran retaliated. But I don't think what you're going to see is either side wanting to return to a full-scale war. BOLDUAN: I want to lean on your experience in working in the Pentagon

as the deputy press secretary. There's this new reporting from "The Washington Post" that military leaders are warning Secretary Hegseth against extending Iran War operations. Here's some of the reporting. "The warnings detailed for Hegseth by the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and the four-star commanders overseeing U.S. operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America appear in the August 14th edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book, these people said." And this is military leaders pushing back over a directive that troops deployed in the Middle East remain through September, but some others remain into 2027. One person familiar with this assessment saying that the overall message was that the Iran operation is now too much for too long.

What do you think of this? What does this mean?

SINGH: Yes. So, what the SDOB does is essentially give the secretary a picture, a placemat of what forces are available, what fighter aircraft, what warships are available to the secretary to be able to surge to different combatant command regions.

In this reporting, what we're seeing is that three combatant commanders for Asia, Europe and Latin America, and the secretary of the Navy non-concurred with the secretary's recommendation to extend forces in the Middle East. And that's because of a few reasons.

One, the service is objecting to it because this impacts their training and readiness for the force, for the Navy. And the combatant commanders for Latin America, for Asia, for Europe have seen their assets being pulled away from the region like a carrier strike group from the Indo-Pacific, a Marine unit, a Patriot battery. And all of that means that they do not have enough assets to protect their area of responsibility, which is what they're in charge of. So, that's why you saw these different leaders not concur.

What I was really surprised by was the Pentagon's statement saying that this happens constantly, that there are constantly non-concurs from combatant commanders or service secretaries. When I was at the Pentagon, we did have that happen. We did have some non-concurs happen. But when you have a service and three combatant commanders in a meeting with the secretary non-concur that is pretty rare.

BOLDUAN: What does it mean, though. How does it impact Secretary Hegseth's decision-making?

SINGH: Well, the secretary could take their non-concurs and decide to say, OK, we're not going to extend our troops for this amount of time. We're going to -- you know, we're going to bring people back within two months, three months. I mean, of course, you saw with the Lincoln being extended multiple times, you know, nearly 200 days without seeing land. Over 200 days without seeing land. So, the secretary could make adjustments to the force posture in the region.

But the reality is, is that this war is demanding so much capability, so much time, so many assets, that, as a result, other combatant commanders and the service, particularly the Navy, is really feeling it when it comes to their readiness and their areas of responsibility that they have to protect.

[08:35:06]

BOLDUAN: Yes.

Sabrina, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for that.

SINGH: Thanks, Kate.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, in the brand-new relaunched "Politico Playbook," Senator Bernie Sanders sort of accuses Democratic insiders of withholding support from Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He said, quote, "I think there are a few who would say, you know what? It's not worth it. Sanders said those Democrats view El-Sayed and other progressives in his mold as a, quote, threat to oligarchy and a threat to American foreign policy and our continued support for the extremist Benjamin Netanyahu government in Israel."

With us now, Will Steakin, co-author of the new "Politico Playbook. Also here with us, "Axios" politics reporter Stef Kight.

Will, great to see you and congratulations on the relaunch. We've been kind of watching the preseason with all the scoops you've been having and appreciate the work that you do.

But talk to me about what Senator Sanders is saying to you this morning because it's notable, he's basically saying that senior Democrats might want El-Sayed to lose.

WILL STEAKIN, CO-AUTHOR, "POLITICO PLAYBOOK": Yes. And thanks for having me. And we also get into this in our podcast we just relaunched also this morning. But, yes, Senator Sanders -- basically this is coming, obviously, following last week where a bunch of Democrats, like from Hakeem Jeffries, to Senator Cory Booker, to folks in Michigan, Democrats in Michigan, where obviously El-Sayed is going to need to coalesce Democrats around him if he's going to win in November, started speaking out against his relationship with Hasan Piker in ways that they hadn't done before, including withholding support. And I put that to Senator Sanders asking, number one, if he thought El-Sayed needed to distance himself further from Hasan Piker. He said -- he declined to say that and basically said, essentially, you know, really it's Democrats that are seemingly hoping that that El-Sayed might lose here.

And I think that speaks to kind of a larger civil war that's happening within the party, right. You spoke about those issues like Israel, Medicare for all, you know. From at least the progressive wing of the party, they view like El-Sayed in the midterms as a much bigger referendum of the future of the party. And I think what you're seeing last week, at least from talking to Senator Sanders and folks in the progressive movement, they saw -- they see kind of this withholding of support, this constant infighting over him as another kind of clear message that the party is not ready to coalesce behind him and because of what that might mean if El-Sayed were to pull off a win in November. BERMAN: And, Stef, you know, it's interesting because so much of El-

Sayed's message in the primary and so much of Bernie Sanders' message overall isn't necessarily directed at Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It's directed at the Democratic Party. Will Sanders keep that up? It's August 31st now. Happy birthday, mom, by the way. It's August 31st. Now, will that continue till November 3rd?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICS REPORTER, "AXIOS": Well, I mean, that has been the tactic of these Democratic socialists, these more progressive candidates. They see themselves as the answer. And they are -- they tend to be very critical of Democrats. They are, of course, critical of Trump as well, but they see themselves as the real future. And they're trying to present to voters a different option than the Democratic establishment. They're trying to provide an answer to what we've seen have been some pretty negative polling when it comes to the Democratic Party. Even Democrats are unhappy with the direction their party has been taking over the past few years. And so many of these progressives feel like they need to distance themselves from the party overall, even as they are running as Democrats, even as they are demanding support from the party in order to win these general election seats.

And I think we're at a very critical moment right now. We've seen this tension between the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the more establishment wing. For years now, we've seen this play out. And we're now reaching this point where the more progressive candidates have won primaries. They have momentum. They're heading into November. But they have to prove that they can win these general elections. They have to prove that they can actually rally around some form of a platform, decide on what their priorities really are without some of the internal conflict we've seen, even among progressives.

And then, you know, if we do see more of these candidates get elected, then we see, you know, then they have an opportunity really to try to reshape the Democratic Party, which is clearly what their goal is.

BERMAN: We have about a minute left, so 30 seconds from you each on this. And CNN was reporting this weekend, I feel like I read it everywhere, how nervous Republicans are about Texas, specifically the money that Ken Paxton isn't spending or doesn't have in that race, while James Talarico is spending a fortune on the airwaves. What are you hearing on that, Stef?

KIGHT: I mean, certainly James Talarico is a fundraising juggernaut. He has a lot of money to spend. And when it comes to Paxton, a lot of Republican officials have been banking on more Trump money coming to the rescue.

BERMAN: Will, what are you hearing?

[08:40:03]

STEAKIN: I mean, this is one of the stories of the midterms, the primary so far is, where is the MAGA inc money going to come in to, you know, to back some of these candidates? They're saying it's coming. And so we'll have to see. But so far, right, the last time we saw it was MAGA opened up their wallets a little bit for the Graham race in South Carolina, which the president ultimately, you know, was victorious. So, but a lot of folks, a lot of Republicans across the country are really hoping to get some -- an infusion of cash from that massive war chest that the president has at his disposal.

BERMAN: Watch this space, as it were.

Stef Kight, thank you very much. Will Steakin, great to see you. And, again, congratulations.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much.

Right now, more than a dozen people are missing after deadly flash flooding rushed through the Grand Canyon. Authorities say a man has been killed in this flooding. His body was found along the Colorado River. The flooding on the canyon floor began Saturday after waves of heavy rain pounded the national park.

This is how one hiker tried to deal with the extreme weather as flood waters threatened her safety and got into her tent using her foot to try and keep her tent stable as the winds battered it.

Wieke De Boer managed to evacuate. That is her foot you're seeing there. She joins us now live.

Give us a sense of what you were experiencing in that moment.

WIEKE DE BOER, EVACUATED FROM GRAND CANYON AFTER FLASH FLOOD: Well, I looked at the south rim. I was outside of my tent and I saw some very dark skies coming. And so, I got into my tent, you know, just to stay dry and for shelter. And it was so crazy. There was so much wind. The frame of the tent was like collapsing onto me. And so, I had to crouch down and, you know, held -- either hold it up with my foot or later I got up and tried to hold it down or hold it up, you know, just with my hands to keep the frame from collapsing. And then about three inches of water collected under my tent and around my tent.

SIDNER: Oh.

DE BOER: Yes.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, it looks harrowing as we're sitting here watching this.

I want to get some sense of kind of what's going on in your head. Do you have any idea just how enormous this was? Because when you look at those flood waters, it's just a rush of like mud coming through the canyon along with those really high winds.

DE BOER: I kept peeking out of my tent to see if the creek, which was right next to my tent, was getting any higher. Just -- the creek had already flashed earlier in the day. I was up on the north rim and I was in another downpour, and the creek had turned a chocolate brown and it rose, but not a crazy amount. And then after this, what felt like an inch of rain in about ten minutes, it looked like the creek was very slowly rising. So, I was a little bit concerned, but it was still -- it's still a good bit below me.

So, I got out of my tent when it calmed down a little bit, and I tried to see if there was anything I could do to get out of the three inches of water I was in or maybe stake it down better. And that's when the rangers came by to told me -- and told me to start evacuating.

SIDNER: And thank goodness you did because this has turned deadly for one person and there are still, you know, a dozen people who are missing.

You -- I'm a -- do you normally hike this area? And if you do, or if you're a hiker just in general and you enjoy doing that, as many of us do, how might this change the way you go about hiking in the future?

DE BOER: I've been down into the Grand Canyon many, many times, but never during monsoon season. I always hike down during the winter months, and, you know, it never rains. It's fine.

But this is the first time I've experienced anything like this. But I live in Arizona, and so we get a lot of monsoon storms and we get a lot of flash flood warnings. I've never actually been in a flash flood, though.

I think I'll -- I think, you know, I was heading up to the north rim that day and there are definitely lessons I've learned. Like, if you see rain all around you and you're in a canyon, you need to be very careful and make very smart decisions.

SIDNER: Yes. You know, the area, which is -- which is helpful. But, yes, what a scary moment there --

DE BOER: Yes.

SIDNER: As we're watching you trying to, like, hold on to your tent, figure out how to get away from the water that is coming into your tent at the same time. It's a lot. And people don't realize sometimes that in a desert area like that, when it rains, it not only pours, but it floods because everything's so dry and it all goes downhill.

DE BOER: Yes.

SIDNER: Wieke De Boer, thank you. We're glad that you're safe.

DE BOER: Thank you.

SIDNER: We're glad that you're back at work this morning. Appreciate you.

[08:45:01]

Kate.

BOLDUAN: We have new CNN reporting this morning inside the hunt for suspected Chinese drone spies. U.S. intelligence is facing a challenging new front, which is chasing down suspected drones believed to be watching U.S. military bases. In one incident, two groups of Chinese nationals were detained after a drone was spotted flying near the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. And U.S. officials believe they were tied to Chinese intelligence.

CNN's Katie Bo Lilis has an inside look at how the United States is fighting back against this now.

Katie Bo, what have you learned?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, buckle up, because I'm going to tell you such a yarn.

So, in the spring of 2025, early days of the Trump administration, officials at an extremely sensitive Army missile testing range in New Mexico called White Sands spotted this quadcopter-style drone flying over the range in such a way that it appeared it was conducting surveillance. Officials tracked it, tried to understand who was operating it and why, and they eventually used electronic warfare tools to force it to land in a parking lot at White Sands.

At the same time, they're watching this group of three Chinese nationals in a rented Mercedes RV that's parked right outside the White Sands gates, who they were able to establish were the operators of the drone. Two of these people, they'd flown into New York, rented the RV, driven across the country to Las Vegas, picked up the third person, then beelined down to White Sands. And according to our sources, FBI officials would later tell the Department of Homeland Security and military officials that these people were believed to be linked to Chinese intelligence.

So, there's two really important challenges that this crazy story highlights. One is that as the number of cheap, small, easy to operate drones has just like exploded in the United States, it's become harder and harder for government officials, not only to police the airspace to keep them out of restricted areas, but also for them to separate out which flights are just like lost hobbyists who think it would be cool to check out a missile range, and which flights are something more nefarious, like a potential espionage operation.

This is especially difficult, Kate, for potential Chinese intelligence operations. Even though U.S. officials say that China spies constantly on the United States, it's incredibly hard for the government to prove any one drone flight has been ordered by the state intelligence body, in part because officials tell us that China often pressures or incentivizes like regular people, civilian cutouts with no formal ties to the government to do what one U.S. official described to us as nuisance surveillance. That makes it really hard for the U.S. to understand not just the scope of the problem, but even harder to know how to stop it.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it -- the detail with which you have -- with -- that you have in this story is really worth a read.

Katie Bo, great reporting, as always. Thanks for bringing it to us.

LILIS: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: So, is it safe to eat the lettuce again? The FDA issues a new update on the cyclospora outbreak that sickened thousands and left at least two people dead.

And two jets fly over a stadium. I mean, barely over the stadium. From the video, it looks like they nearly hit the roof.

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[08:51:57]

SIDNER: This morning, a new fight brewing between Las Vegas casinos and the fast-growing world of prediction markets. CNN has learned casino operators are mobilizing against platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which let users wager on everything from electronics, to economic data, to wars. Multiple sources tell CNN the casino industry sees those sites as a growing threat, and it's preparing for what one insider calls an all-out war.

Let's go to CNN's senior reporter Marshall Cohen.

Those are some fighting words there. What are you learning? What's the plan?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, you bet, Sara, an all-out war. That's what one source said, describing this battle with the casinos and sportsbooks on one side and the prediction markets on the other.

So, why are they fighting? Well, a lot of people don't realize the prediction markets aren't actually regulated like gambling, even though you can bet on just about everything, especially on sports. And because they're regulated by the federal government, there's a lot of state laws that they don't have to follow and a lot of state taxes that they don't have to pay.

And there are billions of dollars on the line there. That's why both sides in this battle have ramped up their lobbying on Capitol Hill, spending millions of dollars on that front. Both sides have also hired teams of expensive attorneys fighting in court in dozens of states across the country. And the casinos were at the forefront of a major victory. Just a few days ago, on Friday, when a federal appeals court ruled that states can go ahead and regulate these companies like gambling. A huge win there. Not the final word, but an important victory.

Sara, I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago talking with casino executives and Nevada state regulators. They think they have the momentum here.

I want to read for you a quote from Derek Stevens. He is the owner of the beautiful casino -- Circa Casino and Resort. They also have sportsbooks across the country online. And he had some very tough words for these prediction markets. Let me read this. Quote, "a couple nerds came up with this idea to avoid paying taxes. Just because they're shrewd doesn't mean they should be exempt from the law. These are thieves. They're pirates. They're marauders." Those were his words.

We reached out to Kalshi, the biggest prediction market in the country. And, obviously, they had some pushback on that.

Take a listen to this from their top attorney, Rick Heaslip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK HEASLIP, Kalshi GENERAL COUNSEL: They've been turning to litigation. They've been turning to threats rather than innovate, they're just trying to go to the courts.

There are enough sports to go around. It is not our position that they need to follow our regulatory structure. They can continue to have their sportsbooks, and we can continue to have sports prediction markets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Sara, the fight continues. The stakes are very high. And one last note here. CNN has a partnership with Kalshi. We use their data to cover major events, but they don't influence our coverage, and we don't trade on prediction markets.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes.

[08:55:00]

And the question is, the courts are going to have to sort out, is the prediction market actually full stop gambling or something different? There is a lot at stake here. A lot of money anyway.

Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for your great reporting. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, officials say they are confident that all the contaminated iceberg lettuce linked to the cyclospora outbreak has been pulled from the U.S. markets, and that it is safe to eat lettuce. But more than 11,000 people have been sickened by cyclospora this summer, two people have died and cases are continuing.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is here with the current outlook on this.

What are we seeing?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, as you noted, illnesses now have topped 11,000 in this outbreak that's specifically tied to this Taylor Farms of Mexico iceberg lettuce. Almost 500 people have been hospitalized. And we've seen two deaths, which is very rare from cyclospora. This was in Michigan, where the epicenter of the outbreak is.

Now the last illness onset, when -- the last time somebody started to get sick was August 15th. But the FDA says that it remains confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific cyclospora outbreak is off the market.

Now, just to put that into some context, the recall was initiated on July 17th. And so you saw the last illness onset was August 15th there. So, the sell by dates for this iceberg lettuce, they went out to August 3rd. And so, they're saying you shouldn't be eating any of that lettuce. If you somehow do have lettuce, iceberg lettuce that expired August 3rd in your fridge, toss it out regardless of whether it could have cyclospora on it probably is a good idea.

But just to show you the sort of trajectory of this outbreak that we saw, Michigan really feeling the brunt of it. You can see that it really peaked in terms of people getting sick in early July. And so that was before that big recall July 17th. But, of course, you are still seeing people out until early August reporting symptoms. And this can take two weeks to set in after you eat the infected food. And then it can take six weeks to trace this back to the and add it to the outbreak. So, that's kind of why you're seeing the cases potentially still going up there, even if people hopefully are not eating this lettuce anymore.

And here you just get a sense of the states that are affected specifically in this iceberg lettuce connected outbreak. So, really, it was Michigan in the Midwest that was hit the hardest. But 20 states now associated with this outbreak.

BERMAN: I mean it's pretty incredible when you see -- when you see that spike there --

TIRRELL: In Michigan, yes.

BERMAN: Yes, that's just an incredible spike that we had in the middle of July.

TIRRELL: Four thousand people and that sort of one week that were sick.

BERMAN: What advice do food safety experts give on this?

TIRRELL: Right. So, what they point out is that it really was iceberg lettuce and it was specifically iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms. The specific shredded lettuces. They say produce remains a really important part of a healthy diet. So, people should not stop eating lettuce and other fruits and veggies if they're worried about this.

But if you are very worried about this, cooking kills these pathogens, including cyclospora, but other pathogens as well. So, you could roast vegetables, you could boil them, you could cook them in all sorts of ways. Not so great for salad, probably, unless you want to grill your romaine.

BERMAN: Yes.

TIRRELL: And, of course, practice safe food handling, proper hygiene. Wash your hands. Make sure you're not handling raw chicken and then doing something else. You know, all the things we know about. They're really important. Keep doing them.

BERMAN: Meg Tirrell, thank you very much for this.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate. Sara.

BOLDUAN: It's me. I'll take it. Thank you, sir.

This morning, at least eight people -- at least eight people are dead, 18 still missing after a ferry capsized off the northern coast of Cyprus. The ferry was carrying nearly 270 people when it went down in the mediterranean. And 241 have been rescued, many by helicopter. CNN has learned that the vessel's captain and seven crew members have now been detained. It's unclear what caused this disaster to unfold, but one survivor tells CNN some people could not find life jackets, and there was difficulty accessing emergency exits.

In South Africa now, an airline is defending an aerial stunt that rattled thousands of fans watching a rugby match in Cape Town. Two planes performing a ceremonial flyby zoomed around the crowd, but it was less than 50 feet above the packed stadium. Questions are being raised over the risk and potential for disaster involving these two planes. But the airline says that it performed the maneuver with the approval of the South African -- with the approval of South African aviation officials -- just look how close they got -- saying this, "the two aircraft were flown by highly experienced crew, with each comprised of three senior captains operating in the roles of commander, copilot and safety/technical officer."

Then there's this. NASA launched a massive telescope that scientists say could answer questions about some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. NASA -- it's called Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is named after NASA's first chief astronomer. It lifted off aboard a SpaceX rocket on Sunday. A NASA officials said that it will be as if Hubble and James Webb kind of peer through a keyhole at the universe, while Nancy Grace Roman will kick the door down. The telescope is equipped with a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble's, and will help astronomers explore dark energy and exoplanets.

[09:00:06]

NASA expects to publish the first images from the telescope toward