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General Election Season Unofficially Kicks Off; Attorney Responds to Clancy Conspiracy Theories; Trump Hosts First Responders Event; Polls on Trump Approval Rating. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 08, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And he says, "and that A.I. has made cheating so effortless, enticing and available that many students no longer believe it's wrong."

And what Grant is making the case in here is that what's lacking isn't their understanding of what they're doing, it's the moral integrity in today's society of what it does kind of at its most core. What do you think of that?

RACHAEL ZELENY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND WRITING PROGRAM DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE: I have tried to tackle that exact issue by doing things like having students look at a human generated cover letter and an A.I. generated cover letter and asking them if they can tell which is which. And they very quickly can, just as I can. And then we talk about that that's a respect issue in terms of, would you want to be reading that letter know that -- knowing that it had been generated by a robot instead of a person? And how would you even feel as the person receiving that letter?

BOLDUAN: Yes, it is --

ZELENY: But it also is really about creating assignments students I actually want to do.

BOLDUAN: Go ahead. Go.

ZELENY: I'm sorry. It's really -- this conversation is about creating assignments students actually want to do. And so, an example of that would be many writing instructors ask students to do something called a rhetorical analysis, which would be analyzing an article to see how an author is making an argument. A.I. is really good at that. It can do that all day long. So, what we've been doing in our program instead is students have to physically visit a library. They have to walk around, do sketches, interview the librarian, take photographs, and they're making an assessment of what has the library done in order to make the space welcoming to its patrons. At the very end, they're allowed to use a bot that I've made in order to generate a new space that would be more cohesive with what the library has been trying to do in terms of its messaging. But then A.I. is used at the end. It is not used to replace critical thinking. It's a better assignment, and it's still rhetorical analysis. BOLDUAN: It's new -- enter yet another new era of education that

you're -- were, you're doing in real time.

It's good to meet you. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The race is on. Exactly eight weeks to midterm Election Day, with the House and Senate up for grabs. What to expect in this final sprint.

And breaking news. A plea or a pardon? Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney revealing he's open to talking to prosecutors. Is a plea deal in the works? But at the same time, he's making an odd request for a pardon from President Trump for the mother who killed her three children, knowing the president has no power to do so in a state case.

And a hit maker responsible for some of the most binge-worthy shows in Netflix history. Best-selling author and producer Harlan Coben joins us live. The major twists and turns. His latest thriller? His own life story.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let the sprint to the midterms begin. The day after Labor Day unofficially marking the end of summer and the beginning of the general election season. And the stakes are so high, with control of Congress sitting on a razor's edge.

Republicans, they're holding their first ever midterm convention. It starts tomorrow in Dallas. President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, they are headlining. But some of the party have other plans. "Politico" surveys, quote, "more than 70 GOP candidates and members and revealed that most either do not plan to attend or are still weighing whether to go." That could have something to do with the president's low approval rating.

And Democrats are going on offense. By and large, they believe their best chances to pick up Senate seats are in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio. Tougher territory in Alaska, Iowa and Texas.

But some are reaching even further into deep red Kansas, a state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century.

With us now, Meg Kinnard, a reporter for "The Associated Press," and Leigh Ann Caldwell, the chief Washington correspondent for "Puck."

And, Leigh Ann, I just want to start with you. And I want to start with Kansas. A little bit of an odd story. But our Patrick Svitek had a great piece out this morning that notes that Roger Marshall, the Republican incumbent, is launching an attack ad on his Democratic opponent, Pastor Adam Hamilton. You know, in September, its notable if a Republican incumbent in Kansas feels like he needs to go on the attack two months before the election, no?

Leigh Ann.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK": John, I'm not sure if that question was for me. I didn't hear who you said. But I'll take it.

Yes, absolutely. There have been Republicans who have been expressing concern to me about Kansas for several months. They are not only worried about the strength of the Democratic nominee, but also -- or -- but also the weakness of Roger Marshall.

[09:05:02]

He is -- has not run a really aggressive campaign so far. They were worried about his fundraising. And they're worried, absolutely, about a political environment. You know, this is not necessarily a race yet that Democrats are prepared to put money behind, like the National Democratic Party. But everyone is watching this race extremely closely. With Roger Marshall going in with this ad, it -- the -- his polling numbers could get better. And that's what Republicans are expecting. But the fact that Kansas is perhaps on the table is a big warning sign for Republicans. Remember, Kansas has a Democratic governor, so it's not completely out of the question for the state to elect a Democrat statewide.

BERMAN: Yes, and it's not suggesting necessarily the Democrat's going to win there, just that it's notable that the Republican is getting a little bit jittery.

And, Meg, the flip side of all this is in New Hampshire, which I like to say is inexplicably holding its primary today. I said it's the launch of the general election season. There are still some states voting in primaries, inexplicably. New Hampshire is one of them. But the two leading candidates for the open Senate seat there are the Democrat, Chris Pappas, a congressman, and John Sununu, former senator and son of a former governor, brother of a former governor. This race is a seat that Democrats, I don't want to say take for granted, but when they've been counting the Senate seats in the last few months, they put the New Hampshire seat in the Democratic column. But this looks like it could be a race now, Meg.

MEG KINNARD, REPORTER, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": I think you're absolutely right. And I will agree with you that the calendar of primaries just seems to drag on interminably, as somebody who's been covering just about all of them.

But, you're right, this is something that Democrats have seen as, OK, this is ours. And in the very slim margin of what it will take for Democrats to take over the Senate, it's kind of one that's been a little bit forgotten when we talk about this.

But in this heated Republican primary that's happening today, there are some big names at stake here, with Sununu being one of them. And, obviously, Scott Brown, who's, you know, we remember him from a different state, probably representing the Senate years ago. But that's a big contest. And so, for a lot of voters who are going to the polls today, yes, OK, maybe they've considered this seat as in Democratic hands for some time, but it's not necessarily something that I think they can count on 100 percent. And particularly with Democrats having to work so hard to overcome that margin and try to take back the Senate this fall, I think that we're going to see a very heated contest, regardless of who comes out of these primaries.

BERMAN: Leigh Ann, how complicated is this midterm convention for Republicans in swing states, or is it just the type of thing, they'll go, they'll get the money, they'll move on?

CALDWELL: Yes. Well, each member is having to make their own decision. But the theory of this entire Republican -- or this entire election season for Republicans has been, you might as well run with the president. The president is able to turn out a certain sect of voters that might not necessarily turn out when, you know, Trump's not on the ballot, which he's not. And he motivates a certain type of voter that Republicans need in order to win.

So, regardless of how unpopular the president is, most Republicans, many Republicans anyway, have decided that there's too much risk of trying to separate themselves too much from this president.

With that said, there are some specific members who have decided that being in Dallas, away from their campaigns two months before the election, next to the president is probably not the best idea. There's also another factor of why some Republican -- House Republicans, especially, aren't going. They're being charged a minimum of $25,000 to -- for two tickets to this convention. The most expensive package is $100,000. They might not want to use their campaign cash to go to this convention that might not get them very many more votes, John.

BERMAN: Hope that comes with free snacks.

Meg, very quickly, you know who's more likely to clip the speeches from convention, Democratic candidates or Republican candidates?

KINNARD: I think we're going to see quite a bit of both depending on what comes out of it. But I think there will be a lot of material regardless, with President Trump speaking both times, J.D. Vance one night and plenty of other officials in between. So, we will see this recirculated a lot for sure.

BERMAN: Meg Kinnard going with option c, all of the above.

Meg Kinnard, Leigh Ann Caldwell, great to see both of you. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

Breaking this morning, Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney now says he's open to talk with prosecutors and about how the case is going to proceed, leaving the possibility of a plea deal. He is also clarifying, and at times backtracking, his comments after a judge declared a mistrial for the Massachusetts mother charged with killing her three children. [09:10:07]

In a new interview on ABC, Kevin Reddington touched on the holdout juror, saying he would defend the juror's right to stand by his opinion. Reddington added that he was upset because the juror acknowledged reasonable doubt but did not apply the rule of law. The judge, though, disagreed with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: The bottom line is that this couple, they were a family. And they had the children, Cora, Dawson, Callan. And as a family, they were very, very, very happy. That summer of '22 they were very happy. It was the top of the world for them and the children. And then she had the postpartum depression that struck at the end of September into October.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So, that is him there talking about the case and what he believed should have happened with the case because of postpartum depression.

Joining us now is CNN's Jean Casarez, as well as CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. All of them here with us to discuss this.

Let's talk about what we heard from her defense attorney, Mr. Reddington, about what he's going to do next and the ideas that he kind of put out there.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting because a couple days ago he was saying, I'm ready for a retrial next week. Next week. I'm ready to go.

SIDNER: Yes.

CASAREZ: Today, the question was, the district attorney has a big decision to make. They can retry this case, or they can entertain and offer you a plea deal. Would you be willing to talk with the district attorney of Plymouth County, Tim Cruz? I want you to listen to the answer of the defense attorney, Reddington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: Is a very hard-charging prosecutor. A conservative gentlemen. I hope, however, after sitting through this trial and seeing the evidence that was presented from the government, as well as from the defense, that he would revisit that issue and hopefully would be able to work something out that would be acceptable to both sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Hopefully, we will be able to work something out acceptable to both sides.

SIDNER: That's a plea agreement. I mean, that's what a plea agreement literally is.

Joey, in saying that, I mean, ultimately a plea agreement means a conviction?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes. Sara, what a plea agreement means is that you're admitting responsibility. And in admitting responsibility, that would mean there'd be something called an allocution. What is that? Means you go into the courtroom and you say, are you pleading guilty because you are guilty, right? And then the judge will ask specifically, what are you guilty of?

Now, it would depend upon what the plea deal is, right? We're not there yet. Just the indication that it would be entertained. But let's look and remember, this was 11 to one, we believe, split on the side of the defendant, believing that there was some insanity here. What that means to me is there would be a lot of leverage going into these plea discussions because, at the end of the day, a jury heard the evidence and the facts and did believe that there was an insanity component. She did not appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct.

SIDNER: Eleven of the jurors believe that.

JACKSON: Yes.

SIDNER: And one did not. Which is why we're in this hung jury situation.

Jean, I do want to ask you about something that just came into us, which is, her ex-husband, the father of the three children killed, Patrick Clancy, their attorney released a statement. And it says in part this, that this -- there has been a campaign online that has really gone after him. And he says, "this campaign, now fueled by insatiable media coverage, remains at a fever pitch and has resulted in real life threats to his reputation, livelihood and his life. Patrick has no choice but to address the situation with the clear goal of stopping injurious behavior, creating accountability for lies that are self-serving to the perpetrators, and being able to return his attention to what matters: preserving the memory of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, and supporting other women facing perinatal mental health challenges."

He is being lambasted by just some people. He was not the person on trial. His attorney is saying his life is being threatened because people are accusing him in this murder.

CASAREZ: Where this came from, I don't think anybody knows. But it started gaining steam on social media, kept going throughout the trial. We did something on it because when you look at the evidence, you look at the timeline, there's no credence at all that he was involved in this, at all, according to the evidence presented in court.

But once conspiracy theorists hooked on to that, his life was in danger. And this is the first time that we have seen a response to this magnitude.

SIDNER: Yes.

CASAREZ: And they have contacted police, they say.

SIDNER: Joey, we heard from the defense attorney on the issue of the juror, the one juror that we spoke about that was the holdout in this case.

[09:15:01]

He changed, didn't he, because he was going after him, calling him a liar, which the judge said, absolutely not, I do not believe that, and sent them back to deliberate before they were hung. And he basically said, I hope you can sleep at night, when he came out. So, he was really attacking him. How did he change in this interview?

JACKSON: So, there's a fine line between, number one, protecting the integrity of the process, that requires all jurors to be unanimous, and defending your client. And in that moment in court, he was defending his client. And his indication in court was that that juror was not deliberating in good faith.

In the interview, you heard him say, hey, he would defend that juror. However, he had an issue with reasonable doubt. The end of the day, when we go into jury trials, OK, the jury itself is told one thing that's very significant, can you follow the law? It doesn't matter, Sara, that you might, you know, believe the law should be x and Jean believes it's y and I believe it's z. Not the issue.

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: Can you follow the law? And if the law on reasonable doubt is that you do have or don't have that firm conviction, you should follow it. And Reddington, the attorney, was attacking him on that ground, not believing he was following the law, not the process that requires jurors to be unanimous on the law.

CASAREZ: And to go along with what Joey says. Until that juror, if and when he comes out to speak --

SIDNER: Right. We don't know what he was saying inside of the -- in that jury.

CASAREZ: Absolutely. We only know what the foreperson's note said, which is not what he may have been thinking, or saying.

SIDNER: Yes. There is a lot to dig into, and we will see how this case proceeds. I'm so glad you're both here to talk us through it. Thank you to you, Jean. Thank you to you, Joey. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new video from the Amazon cargo plane crash that killed five people. The moment a crew member jumped from the burning plane.

Oil prices nearing $100 a barrel for the first time in months. And he is responsible for some of the most watched Netflix shows ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is David Burrows. I'm currently serving a life sentence for killing my little boy. The thing is, I didn't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to show you something. I think Matthew's alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:25]

BOLDUAN: Very soon President Trump will be hosting an event with first responders ahead of Friday's 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. At the entrance to the event today, images honoring first responders who died that day. A 21-foot steel beam recovered from the south tower of the World Trade Center has been brought to the White House for this event.

CNN's Betsy Klein is there. She's joining us now.

Betsy, what do you -- what's happening there so far? What's expected today?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Kate, President Trump will join here soon with first responders from the fire department of New York and D.C. fire, along with representatives from the Tunnel to Towers Foundation ahead of the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

And behind me, a very powerful reminder. This 21-foot steel beam, 19 -- or 13,900 pounds, has been traveling the country this summer, starting in lower Manhattan back in May, making its way to key sites, including the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, along with Emma Booker Elementary School. That is the school where President Bush, on that day, was reading to second graders, along with Mount Rushmore. Now, here, outside of the White House.

President Trump is expected to speak, along with Frank Siller. He is the chairman of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, as well as the brother of fallen New York Firefighter Stephen Siller.

President Trump himself is a native New Yorker, but he, this year, is forgoing that trip to Ground Zero as the nation prepares to mark that solemn anniversary. Instead, he will be going to the Pentagon. And that is, because, according to our sources, the president wanted to deliver remarks there, but politicians have been prohibited from delivering remarks at Ground Zero during that solemn ceremony since 2012. Instead, President Trump will go to the Pentagon, where he is expected to give a speech. Now, Vice President J.D. Vance will attend in his stead. But as time

goes on, there are so many Americans who are either too young to remember September 11th or were born after it happened. So, this piece of metal behind me from the south tower is a very important reminder, and also part of a broader educational effort to make sure that we honor the service and sacrifice of those who were lost on that day, and that we never forget, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Betsy, thank you so much. Looks like people are gathering for the event and that will be getting underway shortly. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: I can't believe it's been 25 years since that day.

All right, coming up, today, millions of Epstein files hit the road. The mobile Epstein library that's traveling across the U.S., where it's going and why.

And in Russia, a catastrophic avalanche. Nearly a dozen people have been killed. What we're learning about the search for climbers that are still missing in this.

Those stories and more, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:37]

BERMAN: So, we've been marking this momentous day. It is the day after Labor Day. The official or kind of unofficial start to the general election campaign season. So, why is this man not smiling? Well, the answer, right here, inflation.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

Inflation, prices, the economy, so key to getting him elected in 2024. Where does he stand now?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, I'm just like rearing to go, going out, because these numbers are historically awful and they've been historically awful for a long period of time. You just don't ever see numbers like this. I mean, Trump's net approval rating on inflation. You look at the average across the last few months. In May, it was 52 points underwater. June, 48 points underwater. July, 50 points underwater. August, an average of Reuters/Ipsos polls, 50 points underwater. I mean, it's lower than the Titanic, for goodness sake.

And this was on an issue in which voters trusted him more than Kamala Harris back in the fall of 2024, according to ABC News/Ipsos polling, by seven points. We are talking about a nearly 60-point switcheroo away from the president of the United States. He is way, way down there. And there is no sign of that changing whatsoever. These numbers are just flat out consistent as could be. [09:29:59]

BERMAN: How bad has it been for him the last few months?

ENTEN: How bad has it been for him? You know, I said historically awful. And the reason I say historically awful is just count up the individual polls.