Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Tiger Woods Appears In Court To Change Plea In DUI Case; Iran Retaliates After U.S. Strikes, Defying Trump's Warning; Markey Prevails Against Challenger Touting Generational Change. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 02, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:19]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's get you to Florida right now. Things are getting underway as you see. And in session, Tiger Woods in court in a hearing for what's described as a change of plea hearing in his DUI case. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible). Sir, did you have enough time to speak with your attorney? And are you satisfied in all respects with his advice and counsel?

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you have enough time to go to this forum? And is this indeed your signature on the last page of the document?

WOODS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do both lawyers stipulate to a factual basis for the entry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Your Honor. And I mean, the state needs to determine orally, amend the DUI charge to a local, once and for all, and separate defense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Agreed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And does the defense also find a factual basis for plea probes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For plea probes, yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the court will find, based on stipulation of the parties, as well as prior review of the file, strive to find and to please the plaintiff fully, intelligently, knowingly, and voluntarily, with a valid factual basis. I will follow the agreement reached by your law in the state. The agreement calls for, as to count one, state amends the charge to local one with reckless driving in second offense, adjudication of guilt, $1,000 fine, five-year driver's license suspension, all court costs, $18.44 to the state attorneys for the FedEx charge. Count two, which is refusal to submit to a lawful test, adjudication of guilt, $500 fine. The FedEx entry will be the careless driving citation, so you are adjudication of guilt, $500 fine.

Defendant, can you repeat to the careless driving citation so you are adjudicated. Pay the minimum fine on that, the judge closes a five- year driver's license suspension to run concurrently count one. So, matter of fact, there are two five-year driver's license suspensions that were run at the same time, one of the reckless driving charge and one of the careless driving citation.

The defendant agrees up front to no hardship exemptions during the five-year driver's license suspension. Sir, as to the cost, you can pay this today or any time within the next four months regardless of pay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) Your Honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very good. Sir, I want you to understand that five years of driving is for the safety of the public. There are no exceptions. If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail.

Sir, I can tell you, you have 30 days to appeal. If you wish to appeal, and cannot afford an attorney, one can be appointed for you. In any case, you must appeal within 30 days. You will not be fined.

WOODS: I understand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:35:45]

BOLDUAN: All right. So what we are watching right now is Tiger Woods in court. Looks like he's being processed, going through process. And what we heard here was that a plea agreement has been reached in what he has been facing charges over -- after being arrested for driving under the influence back in March, and there was a rollover crash that he was involved in.

It was his own car. It was near his home. He had been -- he had pleaded not guilty to this point from what had happened. Now he seems changed his plea, reached a plea deal, and from what I could hear, there was some monetary fines, and also it seemed the judge went into some more detailed description of a five-year driver's license suspension as part of this agreement.

Let me bring in attorney and former litigator Lisa Bonner for more on this. Admittedly, audio from that courtroom was a little hard to hear, but what do you think of this? They've reached a plea deal for Tiger Woods in what has now, you know, been another saga that he has been going through when it comes to his driving. LISA BONNER, ATTORNEY: Good morning, Kate. Another saga it is with respect to Tiger and his reckless driving. There's no surprise here that this was negotiated a plea deal from his not guilty plea. In some instances, especially when you have the instances here of impairment and you don't have where he blew a zero blood alcohol, he refused a urine sample, we don't really have a lot of evidence so -- you know, that would be a slam dunk per se that would lead to a guilty verdict. So sometimes it's just easier and better for all parties to, you know, come to a plea deal. This is what happened in his 2017 case.

So we are looking again at the reckless driving case. So that is probably why that we think we heard the judge say, you know, five years suspended license. Because again, this is not his first reckless driving offense. So we're back here where we were in 2017.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And so what -- if this is the extent of the deal that we saw some kind of guilty plea for reckless driving is what I think we heard. I'm waiting for more information to come in because I was having a hard time hearing all of it. Paying a fine. I think I heard $1,000. Maybe there was more on top of that. And a five year suspension of his license. Is that in your experience, is that extreme? Is that standard? Is that lenient? What do you think of it?

BONNER: I think that that, you know, actually tracks. I mean, you know, it's hard for us to really know because we did not hear the audio. But this is his second offense. And so obviously, when you have a reckless driving under the influence are driving while impaired. You do want to keep a driver like Tiger who has repeated offenses off the road. So that would not be unusual.

And again, I don't think that not that we that -- not that you alluded to this. But I would not state that Tiger would have gotten any kind of special treatment. I mean, this is a really a public interest case. So I do believe that this is fair and reasonable under the circumstances.

Again, he decided to take a plea deal as opposed to gambling and, you know, trying to come up with it. See what the jury would return a guilty verdict. So I think this is better for Tiger. And knowing that he will walk away with a fine and, you know, a suspended license and just call it a day and hope that he learns the lessons and takes the time, like he said, to focus on his health and get better. And, you know, stay away from behind the wheel. That's for sure.

BOLDUAN: That's for sure. This is video from earlier when he was arriving. And in the live pictures, we actually saw our Randi Kaye, who's been following this. Our correspondent was in court. She'll be coming out. She'll have more information because she will be able to hear it more clearly. What is in it traditionally when it comes to something like this? Given the extensive history that Tiger Woods has had very publicly covered of reckless driving incidents, that he that is in it, that is makes it best for Tiger Woods to take this plea deal. Do you think it is to avoid a public, you know, a public trial, if you will? Is it because this is a better deal than he would be getting? What do you think is in it for him?

[08:40:27]

BONNER: Right. Reading the tea leaves and placing myself in the mind of a celebrity, especially someone like Tiger, who has repeated offenses, who has been this is not his first time that he's been involved in a rollover crash, for instance. And, you know, just really thinking that, again, he does not want to take his chances with the jury. We do not know what they would return. And then you look at discovery, which, you know, could be really publicly embarrassing for him, if you will, because at that point you're looking into his medical records and what, you know, type of prescription drugs he's on, how often he takes them.

And you and you really start to dig up his prior offenses in this case. So I think in this instance, it really did make sense for Tiger to take a plea deal. Again, I don't think that he would have agreed to this if it was not going to be beneficial for him. And from what we heard, $1,000 fine and a five-year restriction on driving, that's a drop in the bucket when you have a driver at your disposal. And, you know, not to count anybody's money, but $1,000 is, you know, very reasonable for Tiger. So I think this is a win for him.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I would think Tiger Woods can cover a fine of that size. I'm just looking as we're getting e-mail coming in, Lisa, getting some more detail coming in that he did plead guilty to a lesser charge after driving under the influence arrest because he had pleaded originally not guilty to DUI and another charge. He was actually going to be due back in court next week. And that's when you have this change of plea hearing. And so now we have what seems to be resolution in this regard. Lisa, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you for working through that with us.

We're going to follow this now. Breaking overnight, Iran retaliating, attacking Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait after the U.S. carried out new strikes on Iran Tuesday. CENTCOM says that the United States targeted air defense sites, radar systems and Iran's mine laying capabilities. President Trump had warned that if Iran retaliates again, they could, "totally be -- totally wiped out."

Now, Iran claims that the shrapnel from one of those U.S. strikes actually hit a wedding and killed a toddler and at least three other people at this wedding ceremony and reception. CNN has been unable to independently verify that and has reached out to CENTCOM for comment on it. But joining me right now on kind of the state of what where this lands then with the war with Iran, the CNN senior military analyst, retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis. It's good to see you again.

CENTCOM says the U.S. strikes, they were a response to the Iranian strikes against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which continues on and on. Another round of strikes, and still, the Strait is still not really open. Admiral, where are we now?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: We are stalemated with both sides kind of going back and forth. Iran attacking commercial shipping that keeps insurance rates high. It keeps the flow of oil low. It therefore keeps oil prices high, which Iran, I think correctly judges, puts pressure on the Trump administration.

Over here on Team Trump, quite logically, Admiral Brad Cooper and the U.S. Central Command are going after the Iranian capabilities to close the Strait, going after drones, going after short-range ballistic missiles, going after mine-laying capabilities. So both sides are using kinetic force, Kate, to try and put pressure on the other side. But so far, it's not creating any change in the current stalemate and lack of negotiations.

BOLDUAN: I mean, take me 30,000 foot view of just how far this has come in six months away from talking. I mean, there is literally no conversation pretty much anymore about making -- about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

STAVRIDIS: Yes. Yes, that's been parked off to the side in a distant parking lot, thinking that perhaps we'll one day get there. All focus now, Kate, as you well know, is on getting the Strait of Hormuz fully reopened, meaning 100, 130 ships a day passing through there. That's when you'll see oil prices start to come down. That's the center of gravity right now.

[08:45:06]

So in order to get Iran back to the table, to frankly get us back to where we were before the war started, the Trump administration is putting a blockade on Iranian ports, kind of crippling that Iranian economy. Maybe that'll get Iran back. I'd say that's months away at best right now.

BOLDUAN: I also get your just perspective because there is another vacancy in army leadership now that we've obviously been covering. The army secretary, Dan Driscoll, resigning. And in light of this, there's new CNN reporting from multiple sources, Admiral, that are raising alarm about the focus and priorities of the defense secretary, saying that he's focused more on culture wars and pushing his image of the American warfighter than adapting to the realities of the modern battlefield. And senior U.S. military officials, according to the CNN reporting, have privately acknowledged they have felt that they've come under what could be described as political pressure under Hegseth and voiced concern about his efforts to push out so many uniformed and civilian leaders. What does this inside turmoil like this do to the U.S. fighting force?

STAVRIDIS: It's a massive distraction at the very top of the chain of command, Kate. And think about the army as though we're a corporation like Walmart. It's got 1.2 million people in it, a budget of $200 billion. And over the last four or five months, it's lost the entire C-suite, the secretary of the army, the chief of staff of the army, the vice number two chief of staff of the army, the head of training and innovation and the head of all U.S. army warfighters in Europe.

That's a huge sudden gap at the top of the corporation. Now, the individual foot soldiers sort of hear that as distant thunder. But at the top, where the chain of command runs from the president to the secretary of defense and down to those combatant commanders, this creates a great deal of turmoil. And it's a department of the army that feels like it's drifting right now.

BOLDUAN: It has not been described to me in that way. It's extremely helpful in trying to understand what this means from the outside looking in. Admiral, it's always good to see you. Thank you so much. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Kate. This morning, three incumbent Democrats in Massachusetts, all in their 70s and 80s, have defeated primary challenges from much younger candidates. Now, here is a look at the vote board for longtime Senator Ed Markey. He defended Congressman Seth Moulton by nearly 30 points. Massachusetts Representative Stephen Lynch and Richard Neal also survived primary challenges. Their victories coming after calls for generational change within the Democratic Party.

Joining us now is White House correspondent for Semaphore, Shelby Talcott. Also with us, the co-author of Politico's playbook, Adam Wren. It is good to have you two big minds on the show this morning. Shelby, to you first. You hear all this talk that voters want younger candidates. We hear that over and over again. They want them to be able to tackle today's issues. And yet, look what happened in Massachusetts, where you have an establishment candidate, for example, who's been in Congress for 50 years, an Ed Markey.

And his challenger was 47 years old. They have very similar ideas about how they want to see the country go forward. But it was Markey that came out a huge winner in this. Is there anything that Democrats should be reading into this at all?

SHELBY TALCOTT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, SEMAFOR: Well, I think, first of all, one of the things this means is that it's not a cut and dry across the board. And we're seeing that broadly within the Democratic Party. You're seeing progressives get elected in some areas. You're seeing more moderates get elected for some areas. So there's still this conversation that's happening within the Democratic Party, particularly with the voters, about what exactly they're looking for.

And one thing that was really interesting was Markey, it is a win for the progressive base. But at the same time, it's not a win for those who are looking for generational change. And so despite his age, he was able to vote to run on this argument that he is going to be the general change. Another candidate in Massachusetts was able to run successfully off of a Biden and Harris endorsement, which was really notable to me, too.

And so I think it just means that there's still conversations to be had about what exactly it is that voters are looking for. And the answer might be that it really depends on the area in which you're running.

[08:49:57]

SIDNER: That is probably the best answer, because that is what we've been seeing play out across different states. Adam, I got to ask you about this, where election officials in several states are telling the Trump administration they simply cannot comply in time with new mail- in voting rules. And this is happening after a USPS whistleblower says that the new mail ballot verification system could be a huge problem and could end up causing mass voter disenfranchisement.

How much do you think that Trump's sort of meddling with mail-in voting, which he uses himself, is going to play on voters' minds when it comes to the midterms, which are just, you know, a couple of months away?

ADAM WREN, PLAYBOOK CO-AUTHOR, POLITICO: Yes, Sara, as we've documented in our newly relaunched playbook newsletter this week, this is a significant issue going into the midterms. If you pull back the camera, we've seen President Trump and his political allies spend, you know, much of the last two years looking to move the election in their direction on the margins, whether that's redistricting in states throughout the country or whether it's this particular mail-in voting issue.

And so they are doing everything they can to sort of, you know, work the rules, work the refs, and move this into more friendlier territory. And, you know, this is going to be an issue that Democrats in battleground states like Elissa Slotkin in Michigan are going to be talking a lot about. And they're already doing tabletop exercises of what happens if, you know, the chain of custody on ballots is broken on Election Day. And look, we're just roughly about 22 days out from early voting in a state like Michigan. And so all this is going to come into play and make a significant difference.

SIDNER: In the state of Washington, that's how they vote. Everybody votes by mail. It is a huge, huge issue for voters. Shelby, to you, let's turn to some of your reporting at the White House. You were reporting that Trump's inner circle is shrinking. What are you learning about how this White House is operating right now? Who's in in his ear?

TALCOTT: So one of the most interesting things about this administration is that the President has always had a very small sort of inner circle, people with walk-in privileges of the Oval Office, people who the President truly trusts. And that circle is shrinking, right? White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has departed. James Braid has departed. James Blair has departed. And some of them are still working on the outside. And that was sort of the counterargument that I heard from some administration officials, that the president is still going to be able to pick up the phone and call these people.

But at the same time, it's really interesting because another administration described a feeling of sort of a consolidation of power among the existing players. And essentially, that just means that there are less people who have the President's true trust in this administration. And that comes, of course, just months before the midterms as we are dealing with this trade war with Canada, as we're dealing with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. So I think it really is important to understand the dynamics of the West Wing two years into the president's last term in office.

SIDNER: Shelby Talcott, Adam Wren, it's really good to have both of you. Thank you so much. I do appreciate it. Kate? Kate, we'll be here in just a second. Thank you.

[08:53:24]

BOLDUAN: A former congressman swarmed by federal agents inside an airport terminal. What they were looking for, how this played out. And going to college, more expensive than ever. It has people wondering, is it still worth it? We have new data just in on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: On our radar for you, a police officer in Pennsylvania charged now with voluntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of a college student. It happened a couple of weeks ago. A 22-year-old student showed up to the wrong house late at night. He was there waiting for friends. Someone called 911, believing the student was trying to break in. When 58-year-old officer Sean Farrell got to the scene, he pulled out his gun and commanded the student to put his hands up. Now, there's some body camera footage showing the victim complying. But he was shot anyway. Investigators say the officers had many more things he could have done, including less than lethal options that he could have resorted to. Now he is charged with manslaughter.

New video now showing a semi-truck crashing into an overpass barrier in Cincinnati. Good grief. And dangling over the interstate there. Terrifying. The driver failed to navigate a turn, sending the truck slamming into that barrier. The Ohio Department of Transportation said two people were injured, but they are expected to be OK at this hour.

All right. New video shows the moment federal agents confront former Congressman Eric Swalwell at a San Francisco International Airport. You see him there. I think he's in the suit. All right. It was obtained by our affiliate. He is wearing that sort of black hoodie and zip-up. It happened two weeks ago. Swalwell appears to hand over his phone. And then you see agent restricted area. The FBI also reportedly seized his laptop. This all happened the day before agents searched his D.C. home. Sources telling our affiliate that the criminal investigation is related to a broader allegation of sexual assault against Swalwell. More details on that ahead.

A new hour of CNN News Central starts right now.

All right, this just happened. Tiger Woods is back in court just moments ago. The golf legend reaching a plea deal in his Florida DUI case will take you inside court.

And moments from now, the jury and the Lindsay Clancy trial returning for day five of deliberations after telling the judge they were deadlocked. Could the mother accused of killing her children be headed for a mistrial?

[08:59:59] Plus, a twist on a trend. Democratic voters say they're hungry for younger candidates. So explain this. An 80-year-old incumbent just won his primary by running --