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New York City Bans AI in Classrooms Through 8th Grade; Trump Pledges to Hit Campaign Trail for GOP Ahead of Midterms; Deadlocked Jury Returns to Court in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial; 2 Killed, 3 Police Officers Injured in Minneapolis Mass Shooting; USS Abraham Lincoln Docks in Thailand After 9 Months at Sea. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 03, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

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MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK: But that it is necessary. We do not see it that way. I have yet to see a study showing that AI is beneficial for students in elementary and middle school, with the exception, of course, of research sponsored by the very corporations that stand to profit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: And of course, this is a very big move from the New York City School District. But this is something that school districts across the country are considering as parents have been asking tough questions about the value of technology and of artificial intelligence in the classroom. Just last night, we heard that Los Angeles Unified School District has also banned generative AI in the classroom for students this upcoming school year.

And here in New York, they will be reconsidering this policy at the end of the year, looking at the impact that it had on students and considering how to go forward.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: So that young student age, so critical, at least to study, as we're going to see here in New York. Clare Duffy, appreciate the reporting, as always. A new Hour, CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, at least one Republican pushing back on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And now a GOP senator is calling for Trump to replace him. Is Hegseth becoming a liability for the Trump administration?

All right, we're less than an hour from finding out when and what the judge will do in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. The jury set to return after telling the judge twice in two days, they can't come to a decision and they're deadlocked.

Now to South Carolina, where an inmate found a way to use a number two pencil to escape jail, leading to a change in safety measures at that jail. And new charges are out against him.

John and Kate out today. I'm Sara Seider with Omar Jimenez. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JIMENEZ: All right, folks, this morning, midterms, two months out here. President Trump, though, has decided just what vulnerable Republicans need on the campaign trail. His strategy, more Trump.

At a dinner in the White House Rose Garden, the president told a group of GOP lawmakers battling for re-election that he will campaign in nearly three dozen battleground races.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to take the final 30 days, maybe a little bit more than that, because it's all about 35 races. I'm going to go to every one of those 35 places and we're going to see if we can get everyone elected. I think we'll get all those people elected, but I'm going to have to work.

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JIMENEZ: Now, the president's political operation also ramping up, launching its first ads of the midterms really focused on him and his impact. But the big question, of course, is could his presence on the trail actually backfire because he's facing record low approval? Voters are also on edge over the Iran war and rising prices, particularly at the gas station.

Now, Trump's political operation is also launching, as we talked about, those first ads, but some in the GOP are pressing his super PAC to do more, much more, by opening up its $400 million war chest in the final stretch. CNN's Alayna Treene has been tracking all of this for us and is live at the White House. So just bring us into the president's midterm strategy a little bit here, especially as we close in on the dates.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the strategy really is to try and boost the president, you know, help with those falling poll numbers that he's seeing. His popularity is very low, but still what they believe, the president's political operation, I should say, is that the key to winning in the midterms, to helping boost vulnerable Republicans both in the House and in the Senate, is to act like the president's name is on the ballot. That is a message that Trump has delivered himself, telling voters, and specifically those in his base, to pretend that his name is on the ballot.

And the reason for that, Omar, when I've discussed this with the different sources who are working on his political operation, they say, look, unlike in 2024, a crucial part to winning the president's second term in office was to turn out either first-time voters or some more moderate and independent voters. That's not the strategy this time. They recognize that those voters are very much unlikely to vote in the midterm elections.

Instead, they're trying to get the president's core supporters, the people who are the fiercest part of his MAGA base, out to the polls in November. They essentially see this as a turnout push, and that's why you're going to see the president really fanning not only the airwaves with some more of these ads, but all of these different districts, particularly the battleground states that he views as being very tough. Listen to what else he said to Republicans last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For four months, there'll be no pleasure. I'm not going to go out and play golf. I'm not going to do anything.

All I'm going to do is work, work, work, and fight, fight, fight, and win, win, win.

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[08:05:00]

TREENE: Now, it's so interesting, Omar, and you've mentioned this, but obviously the ongoing war with Iran, something that has stretched far beyond what this administration had laid out for a timeline. But then also the gas prices, the economy, inflation, all of that contributing to the president's dragging down his poll numbers.

And this is one of those weird times where you actually see the strategy from this administration, from a White House, and a strategy from Democrats almost being the same. Democrats want Trump out there as well. They want to make this election about President Donald Trump.

Republicans in the president's political operation are trying to do that, too, which is really interesting. One thing I want to add, too, is what's at stake for the president? Part of the reason that he cares so much, you know, there's been questions from some Republicans.

We haven't seen you out there a lot. MAGA, Inc., his political PAC, as you mentioned, which is $400 million, not spending a lot. Does the president even care to boost these Republicans in the midterms?

But he does. He does care. And part of that is, one, of course, he is obsessed with his legacy, and he knows that in his final two years of office he needs Congress to help him pass his agenda.

The other thing that is a big concern of people here at the White House and throughout the administration is the potential that, if Democrats were able to take control of the House or the Senate or both, you could see a lot of oversight investigations. And the president very much does not want that dragging him down in his final two years in office as well -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: And as we've talked about, any primary endorsement success takes on a new test as we head to the general election. Alayna Treene, appreciate it, as always -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Omar. Next hour, jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial will be back in court as a case now appears at risk of a potential mistrial. The jury has spent nearly 30 hours considering Clancy's fate without being able to come to a unanimous agreement.

The Massachusetts woman is accused of murder after strangling her three young children. Prosecutors have long argued that she acted intentionally, while the defense said she shouldn't be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is outside court for us this morning. What did you hear in court yesterday? What are you expecting to happen this morning?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, in about an hour, we should see the jury go back into the courtroom to continue now their sixth day of deliberations. And the biggest question on everyone's mind out here is what can we expect from the jury today? Will they send another note to the judge saying they're still unable to come to a unanimous decision?

Will they come to a verdict? That's the biggest question at this moment. Now, yesterday, around 2 p.m., is when the jury sent the judge that second note saying that they're still unable to get to a unanimous verdict. The judge then brought the jury into the courtroom that afternoon and read the Tuey-Rodriguez instructions, also known as a dynamite charge, which gives the jury final instructions to try to come to that unanimous decision and come to that verdict. Now, this is something that we had been expecting as a potential outcome when it comes to these deliberations and these jurors being deadlocked. Hear what Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, had to say on his thoughts specifically on the jury.

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KEVIN REDDINGTON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Very proud of the jury. It's a tribute to the system. They're amazing.

They're working very, very hard. Whatever happens with the case they're -- nobody can say that they haven't given it their all. I wouldn't be surprised if they came back with a verdict, if they said that they wanted to continue or they want to stop that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGUEZ: The idea with the Tuey-Rodriguez instructions is to try to break any impasse, try to avoid a mistrial. Now, the instructions also ask jurors to consider the reasonableness of their own opinions and others to continue deliberating toward a verdict. It also goes on to say, quote, you should consider that it is desirable that this case be decided.

Now, the jury deliberated for another few hours yesterday afternoon after those instructions, and they left around 4 p.m. But again, Sara, if they're not able to come to a decision, the judge will typically declare a mistrial, and then that opens up the door to a potential trial down the road with a completely new jury.

SIDNER: Ivan Rodriguez, thank you for your reporting there as we wait. In just the next 50 minutes or so, this case will go back into court. We'll see what happens -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: We'll see.

Well, breaking this morning, the world is remembering feminist icon Gloria Steinem. The women's rights trailblazer has died at 92. We're going to take a look back at her life and legacy just ahead.

And developing overnight, two people are dead and several others injured, including police officers after a shooting in Minneapolis. We'll tell you what we're learning about the moments leading up to the chaos.

And then finally, a group of hikers say they used AI to plan their trip. Then they ended up stranded and needing to be rescued. We're going to have more details on all of this just ahead.

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SIDNER: Breaking overnight. Stunning surveillance video capturing the moment gunfire erupted inside a Minneapolis high-rise apartment complex. Two people have been killed. And many others are injured. Including three officers.

Take a listen.

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(GUN FIRE)

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SIDNER: That's a Nicollette Diner capturing that with their surveillance camera. You see people running. You hear people screaming.

[08:15:00]

You can certainly hear those gunshots just over and over again. Now arriving officers faced a barrage of gunfire but had difficulty making out the scene because of haze that limited their vision at times. Right now it's still unclear what that was, but at least four police officers reported adverse effects after being exposed.

Two other officers were shot and a third officer injured as they rushed people out of that apartment to safety. And we know this morning the shooter is dead.

Joining us now is former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo. Thank you so much for being here.

What are you learning about what happened here and just the intensely dangerous situation that was posed to everyone, including officers, trying to calm this down, trying to make sure that the shooter stopped? MEDARIA ARRADONDO, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF: Yes, good morning, Sara. Thank you for having me. What I certainly know is and is that yesterday afternoon around 4:30 central time in Minneapolis, a 911 call came in of a shooting and that someone was shot.

And literally as that caller is on the air with 911, the dispatch can hear repetitive shots as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson said yesterday, their officers arrived literally, Sara, within two minutes to this apartment complex on the northern or on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. You know, it's 90 degrees yesterday. It's a highly traveled area.

That apartment complex has lots of residents, elders, children. Those officers made their way to the reports of the gunfire, according to police on the ninth floor. As you just indicated, Sara, once they arrived on that floor to encounter and engage the gunman, there was this sort of haze.

We don't know as of this morning what that exactly was. I do know that the FBI Director Kash Patel has offered the assistance of the ATF. They also arrived.

We don't know if this was an incendiary device. If it was some sort of situation where it was intentionally set by the alleged gunman. But that was what those officers dynamically had to had to deal with in order to stop the -- to try to stop the threat.

And then, of course, we know that sadly and tragically, one victim was killed inside the complex. Another who was wounded was transported just blocks away to Hennepin County Medical Center, HCMC. And sadly, they passed away.

Three officers, as you mentioned, were wounded. One officer took two rounds, according to Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson, to the stomach. He was in surgery yesterday. We are all hoping for a full recovery.

Another officer, a Minneapolis officer, was wounded in the leg, supposed to be non-life threatening injury for that. And a third officer was also wounded and treated. But there was also, again, other individuals who were wounded, we're praying for their speedy recovery.

But this was a very dynamic scene. And there could have been a lot more loss of life. But as Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson said, nothing short of heroic in terms of the response of his officers yesterday, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and the mayor saying, look, lives were saved because of these officers' actions. I do want to ask you what the next steps are in a scene that is this big and that has just so many people, so many officers injured and so many other people injured. What are the steps that investigators will be taking now?

ARRADONDO: Well, as you noted, Sara, the alleged gunman, is deceased. So there's not that sort of criminal sort of focus at this time. However, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is taking over the lead.

They have the lead of these scenes. And that's the traditional path that they will investigate these scenes. They will obviously have numerous witnesses, residents in the building.

They will be going over officers' body-worn cameras. They will be dissecting those 911 calls. You can imagine how many of those cell phone, you showed a cell phone video before, they'll look at all of the digital evidence there.

And Sara, they're really going to try to construct the motive, why this occurred. We do have some preliminary information that the alleged gunman, 35-year-old Twin Cities man, did have some criminal complaints with the local law enforcement, at least 30 or so. None that never rose to the level of firearms assault.

But they're going to look at all of that. There was apparently some issue of eviction processes that this alleged gunman was dealing with the apartment management staff. But they're going to have to just sort of go through all of this here to figure out the motive.

SIDNER: Yes, there's a lot to go through. And we had heard of someone having an eviction issue there at that particular place. We just weren't sure if there was a connection there.

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You're saying there may well be. Chief Arradondo, thank you so much for coming on early this morning. I know it's early there.

We appreciate your time.

All right, ahead. Rusted metal and chipped paint. A naval warship finally making it to land after nearly nine months at sea. And it's condition-causing concern this morning.

Plus, an inmate caught on camera escaping his jail cell. How was he able to do it? Well, there was a number two pencil involved.

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JIMENEZ: After more than nine months at sea, the sailors and Marines from the USS Abraham Lincoln are finally on dry land. The carrier set sail from California for the Middle East just after Thanksgiving last year. Since then, it's served one of the most grueling deployments on record, and there were many problems on board.

But I just want to show you some of the rusting on the sides of the ships. You can see it along the bottom here as well, and then also on another part of the ship. You see it very much visible.

Just again, emblematic of just some of what we saw on the ship, especially being at sea for so many months. But our Ivan Watson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just look at the rust coating an American aircraft carrier as it arrived at a port in Thailand this week. The USS Abraham Lincoln wrapping up what has been one of the longest deployments in U.S. Navy history. Some 286 days at sea, much of that spent involved in combat operations in the Middle East, supporting the ongoing U.S. war against Iran.

And if you take a look at the ship back in January and today, you could just see this rust along the hull of this 1,100-foot-long warship from bow to stern. Now, some Navy experts say that this is not actually that much of a surprise that Navy ships will start collecting rust in these areas after just two months of operations in the ocean.

It's going to be a lot of work for crew members to clean this up. This is going to be now, this port visit to Thailand, the first time that thousands of sailors and Marines are getting to set foot on dry land really since winter. And one of the officers on board had this to say about that.

CAPTAIN DANIEL J. KEELER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN COMMANDER: We're very, very happy to be here in Pattaya Beach. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for welcoming us. It is a well-deserved break for all of the crew, and we really look forward to our time here to get a little rest.

WATSON: And perhaps in the cases of a lucky few, there were relatives waiting on shore to greet their loved ones.

SHAKEIRA FAIRFAX, MOTHER OF CREW MEMBER JADA D. FAIRFAX: I just can't wait to see her smile. I can't wait to hear mom. I know that's the first thing she's going to say.

WATSON: The Abraham Lincoln's long deployment became a political issue in Washington, with some U.S. lawmakers criticizing what were reports of plunging morale among the crew, of supply shortages, interruptions of postal service, and of one crew member who reportedly went overboard in what the Navy considered to be a mental health episode. The Pentagon and President Trump have dismissed that criticism, President Trump actually saying that the Abraham Lincoln's deployment was, quote, not nearly long enough.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right, coming up, an urgent rush to move billions of dollars in gold out of the United States. We're going to tell you where it's going and why.

Plus, we are standing by this morning for jurors to head back to court in the Lindsay Clancy trial. We're really looking to see if they can break their deadlock after days of deliberations. Stick around.

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