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GOP Kicks Off First-Ever Midterm Convention in Dallas; Surge in Construction at Suspected Iranian Nuclear Site; U.S. Hits 5 Iranian Tankers, Sinks One as Tensions Escalate; Jurors in Lindsay Clancy Trial Speak Out About Deliberations. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 09, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Shelton is now going to face Francis Tiafoe in an all-American semifinal on Friday. One of them guaranteed to play on Sunday and try to be the first American man to win a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open in 2003. Now, Tiafoe was in a world of trouble in his quarterfinal match against fellow American Alex Michelsen. Down two sets, Michelsen was serving for the match, but Tiafoe, he battled back to win the third set. He would go -- it would go to a fifth set tiebreak, and Tiafoe was able to complete the comeback to make his third semifinals in New York.

And after the match, Tiafoe -- watch what he does. He embraces Michelsen, and the 22-year-old just breaks down in his arms. Michelsen said afterwards he was trying to keep it together but didn't do a good job of that. And to Tiafoe, great guy for consoling him in that moment.

All right, and finally, the NFL season, it kicks off tonight. Seattle Seahawks going to host the Patriots in the Super Bowl rematch -- 8:20 Eastern. The Super Bowl champs, 17-4 all time in this opening game. We got football tonight. We got the 49ers and Rams tomorrow in Australia, Kate.

And, you know, I'm usually pessimistic about my team going into the season. Not this year. I've got my Texans beating the Dallas Cowboys on Valentine's Day in the Super Bowl. How about that?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just take that, people. Andy Scholtz is laying it out there this morning. I'm loving all the sports.

The Patriots. Thoughts, J.B.? Oh, man, we've got to go to the next hour. Come on.

We've got nothing but time. I love you, Andy Scholes. Thank you so much.

No time, no time. A new hour, CNN NEWS CENTRAL, starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: My only hope is that no one watches. A doozy of a quote in Politico on the Republican midterm convention tonight. And that was attributed to someone close to the White House.

Do the risks here outweigh the rewards?

Breaking overnight -- gas prices surge 7 cents a gallon. The biggest increase since May. Oil hit $100 a barrel for the first time in over a month.

And it doesn't get much more stark than this. A warning from a former employee at a major AI company that AI could kill all humans. So there's that.

Sara, on the late shift. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's kick it off this hour with Republicans kicking off a two-day show of force. In Dallas today, holding their first ever convention for a midterm. And President Trump is the headliner, the focus, and the unquestioned star of the whole thing.

Even though some Republicans very much are wishing that he was not at this moment. On social media, he posted that it is totally sold out and everybody wants to be there. It does not appear everybody.

It depends on, I guess, your definition. Axios is reporting that more than 100 Republican lawmakers are expected to not attend. That comes after a summer of, well, John was just laying out the headlines.

It's tough headlines for the president, including high prices when it comes to gas and groceries and more. And the fact that his trade wars and his actual war with Iran are contributing to it. Then there's also his approval rating among Republicans. It is down to 78 percent in the most recent CNN poll. That is actually a new low.

Plus, the convention is up against, well, we were just also talking about it, another kickoff. The new NFL season begins this evening. And here's how Politico put it, adding it all together. Citing a person close to the White House.

"My only hope is that no one watches the convention. Since it's competing versus NFL opening games," the person said. "Hopefully nobody notices the embarrassing show."

CNN's Steve Contorno is live this morning at the convention site in Dallas. Lay the groundwork for us. What's going to happen?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, there is certainly a lot of angst and anxiety heading into the next two days for all the reasons that you just laid out. But there's also just a palpable angst and anxiety perpetrated throughout the GOP right now. And it is because the president is remarkably unpopular at this point going into a midterm election.

Take a look at how he fares against his recent predecessors in September of a midterm year. You see, he is at 35 percent, well below other presidents at this time in the calendar. And so that is the baggage that Republicans are taking into these next two days and what they will be trying to reverse. And, of course, as you mentioned, some Republicans have chosen to just stay away, including some who are in battleground races and in tight contests. Now, Trump claims that those are the people that he is trying to highlight most at this event.

[08:05:00]

In that Truth Social post last night, he said quote, "Everyone wants to be there, but we're really asking only those candidates in tight races to speak." Now, let's talk about the next two days, because we will see quite a few speakers. And that's basically what the next two days will be.

It will be Trump speaking, his vice president, several members of his cabinet, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. You're going to have Dr. Oz, RFK Jr., and a whole host of other allies and lawmakers as they try to make the case to the American public that as much as the country has struggled over the last 18 months since Trump returned to office, that it would be far worse if Democrats were in control of Congress. And obviously that is a difficult challenge given all the headwinds that the party is facing.

But Republicans believe that as unpopular as the president may be, Democrats are also not necessarily popular with the American public, and that there is an opportunity to convince Republicans and voters who have come out in support for Trump in all of his elections in 2016, in 2020, in 2024, but who stayed home in the midterm elections, that the stakes are too high for them to sit home this time, and they need to show up and match the Democratic enthusiasm, and that will be their task tonight.

BOLDUAN: Steve Contorno, on site for us. Thank you so much, Steve -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, Scott MacFarlane, chief Washington correspondent for the MeidasTouch Network. Scott, great to see you. Welcome to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

I just finished reading your Substack this morning. You were talking about sort of the risks for Republicans about reading the room properly. What do you mean there?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: Here's what jumps out at me, John. The campaign operatives I talk with on the Democratic side are calling this a Trumpapalooza. The Republican National Committee is calling this a Trumpapalooza.

So what's going on there? Palooza means an extravagant party. Who's in the mood for an extravagant party on the middle hours of a Wednesday right after Labor Day?

And Democrats think extravagance is exactly what Republicans don't want to be showing at a time of cost crises, a war in Iran on the eve of the 25th year of 9-11 being marked, and as oil topples $100 a barrel. Is extravagance really the thing you want to display at this moment in time, at this point of the calendar? It's no surprise a lot of people are staying away from this thing.

BERMAN: Yes, extravagance, I get what you're saying there. But the Republicans who do support this say, look, what other choice do we have? It's not like we can hide President Trump here.

This is a Trump election. He is the central force in the country, if not the party here. What choice do we have?

So what's the argument against that?

MACFARLANE: It's a hiding in plain sight, right, John? I mean, they're going to do this up against the Patriots playing tonight. They're going to do this up against back-to-school night for so many parents across the country.

They're going to do this against the busiest days of the year, the post-Labor Day work week. It's going to be hidden on television. They're somewhat banking, I'm told, on the clip economy somehow, moving this through the political bloodstream, people using snippets of it, putting it on social media, trying to get it viral during commercial breaks of the game.

That's a strategy, but it does feel like hiding in plain sight.

BERMAN: I do appreciate you bringing up the Patriots. Sucking up will get you everywhere, so thank you for that. I want to read a quote to you from the creators of South Park.

South Park, which has a way sometimes of tapping into the vein of the public psyche here. South Park announces changing its name to South America for the year. This is based on the president changing all the names around the country.

So South Park will be called South America, they say, this year. And they say it's "Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google. We are changing the name of South Park to South America.

And then they said, "We especially want to thank our parent company, Paramount -- a Skydance Capitulation." I'm just reading the full quote so people can see it all there, Scott. But again, if South Park is making fun of this, the convention is starting.

You know, what does it tell you about how this rebranding is playing?

MACFARLANE: That it's not resonating with certain groups of people that Republicans need to resonate with, the undecided independent voters. I was in Pennsylvania, John, at the Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh. I asked Governor Josh Shapiro if people in Pennsylvania care that as a Great Lakes state, Trump is renaming the Great Lakes.

Shapiro says, no, don't care about that. Doesn't hear about that. Voters, constituents are talking about prices and data centers.

They're unequivocal about that. This renaming of things is a misplaced priority in a state where there are four Republican-held U.S. House seats. Democrats think they can flip all at once. BERMAN: Yes, it's one of these issues. If you're talking about that, you're not talking about things critics say that people want to hear about. Scott MacFarland, great to see you this morning.

Thank you very much for coming on -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Gas and oil prices surging after new strikes in Iran overnight. At least five oil tankers hit. We've got the very latest.

[08:10:00]

Plus, gas and oil prices surging after new strikes in Iran overnight. At least five oil tankers hit. We've got the very latest.

Plus, a new CNN investigation. He called women, his words, apologies everyone, fat bitches, and made sexually explicit insults towards a woman and her children. A Texas Republican candidate in a key house race now facing a lot of questions this morning.

And a guy on a motorcycle runs from police, then immediately has to turn around after his passenger falls off the back of the bike.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:00]

BERMAN: All right, breaking just a few minutes ago, we got where the gas prices surged 7 cents overnight. That's the biggest one day jump since May.

Oil prices overnight top $100 a barrel. That's their highest level since July. You can see Brent crude still hovering over $100 a barrel.

Overnight, the U.S. military says it struck five Iranian tankers, sinking one. This after they say Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. Navy warship.

Also this morning, CNN has learned that analysts are seeing what they describe as a surge in construction at a suspected Iranian nuclear site. That's Pickaxe Mountain. Let's get right to seeing as Brian Todd, who's got reporting on all of this, this morning.

Good morning, Brian.

TODD: Good morning, John. Right, a significant escalation all the way around this morning. New reporting we're getting from our colleagues, Zachary Cohen, and here at home, in addition to information we're getting from U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. military has really ramped up its campaign of strikes against Iranian tankers. On Tuesday, the U.S. military struck five Iranian tankers, sinking one of them. This came after Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. Navy warship. Now, in a video posted on X by CENTCOM, one of the Iranian tankers called the M/T Riesco can be seen on fire and gradually sinking in the Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM says U.S. forces instructed the crews of all the vessels they

hit to abandon ship prior to the strikes. We also have other video of the other Iranian tankers being hit on Tuesday. CENTCOM says four of those tankers were struck in the Gulf of Oman. One was struck near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

You have a video of some of those hits right there. Iranian state media says the crews of at least two Iranian vessels hit were taken ashore in lifeboats. Now, these U.S. strikes were in response to two Iranian attempts to attack a U.S. Navy ship over the past two days. That U.S. vessel evaded the Iranian missiles.

CENTCOM says no American personnel were harmed, and the U.S. ship continued to patrol in the region. Now, following these U.S. strikes yesterday, Iran retaliated, launching a missile barrage toward Jordan, which is a U.S. ally. And Iran says it targeted U.S. military assets in Jordan.

But the Jordanian army says its air defenses destroyed 18 of 20 Iranian ballistic missiles, and the other two fell in unpopulated areas. But Iran is continuing to threaten more retaliation, saying it's going to target oil tankers near Bahrain and Kuwait.

But this is all, as we've mentioned, part of a continuing escalation. U.S. forces hit three Iranian tankers over the weekend after Iran attempted to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided missile destroyer. So, John, tensions really ramping up there.

BERMAN: And, Brian, what's the new reporting on Pickaxe Mountain, which is a suspected Iranian nuclear site?

TODD: Right, John. You know, new reporting from our colleagues Davis Winkie, Zachary Cohn, and Thomas Bordeaux. As John mentioned, this suspected Iranian nuclear site called Pickaxe Mountain, it's about 140 miles south of Tehran.

It's seen a flurry of construction work this year -- and excuse me, analysis by the think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The analysis, which was shared with CNN, says the site quote, "... has shifted from active excavation toward probably internal construction."

It has seen more road activity this year than ever before. And it has seen the reinforcement of portal accesses. But that same analysis also says that despite this construction, the site is not yet capable of enrichment work.

Intelligence agencies view Pickaxe Mountain as a possible location for Iran to protect future efforts with its nuclear program. President Trump, in recent days, said the U.S. may strike Pickaxe Mountain very soon. But, John, it is unclear if the U.S. has sufficient munitions to actually hit what it may need to hit to take out some key facilities there, because that facility is buried under a lot of granite -- John.

BERMAN: All right, needless to say, that is worth watching closely over the coming days. Brian Todd, thank you very much for reporting on this.

All right, this morning, for the first time, we're now hearing from some of the jurors who deliberated for hours in the Lindsay Clancy trial about what they say led to the mistrial.

And wonder if your dog likes thin mints? The Girl Scouts, opening up to a whole new market.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: There's some breaking news coming in moments ago. Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, he's speaking out once again in an interview and responding to what there has been is new commentary and explanation coming from jurors on the case, giving their view of what happened behind closed doors. Those jurors told reporters that one holdout juror, they say admitted that he had reasonable doubt about guilt but still prevented the panel from reaching a unanimous verdict.

Let me play what Kevin Reddington, Lindsay Clancy's attorney, now says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: It would be a motion to dismiss based on what's called double jeopardy grounds because there's no, the term is manifest necessity. You have to have a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial for obvious reasons. The invested time that the jurors put into it, the court, the staff, the defendant, the prosecution, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The jury foreperson, another juror, has spoken out in interviews, expressed their frustration trying to work with, as they put it, work with that holdout juror.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLIE FARINA, JUROR, LINDSAY CLANCY TRIAL: We read to him on numerous occasions the definition of reasonable doubt from Judge Sullivan's instruction.

[08:25:00]

He actually said one day in the end, why don't we have the judge come in and read it again? And we were like, no. We have it in front of us.

RONI CARLSON, FOREPERSON, LINDSAY CLANCY JURY: He admitted he had reasonable doubt and I started filling out the forms. I was so excited. I actually -- there were three forms I had to fill out, and I started filling them out.

I wrote my signature on each one and then he said, but I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Joining me now, CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson, for more on this. Let's start with what we're now hearing from Lindsay Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, speaking out now and saying that he's going to file a motion with the judge later this month to try to bar another trial from happening because people know in concept what double jeopardy means, but he's talking about it based on that there was no manifest necessity to declare a mistrial based on what's coming out of the jury room. What does this mean?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: All right, Kate, good morning to you. Let's unpack this. Manifest necessity number one.

What is that? It's a compelling reason as to why the judge would declare a mistrial. In this case, you can clearly argue that there was one.

You had a jury that was deliberating for a period of seven days. That's a long time. Over 40 hours, a long time.

Having the jury back, right? And, of course, the jurors sending out a note about this juror who would not engage, not participate. I think the defense attorney is doing his job.

He doesn't want a retrial. He wants this case dismissed. He'll make the motion to dismiss.

The issue is whether or not the motion will be compelling enough to get it dismissed. I don't think so. And the basis for that, Kate, is that, you know, look, these things are hard.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JACKSON: When you have a trial, there are two professors in the courtroom, both of which sound compelling. Now, we know -- because the jurors have spoken -- that they were siding with the defense. Their view, the jurors', that is, is that this was a woman who no one said anything bad about.

She loved her children. She loved her family. Why would she do this?

It shows that she snapped. One juror, though, Kate, was unconvinced. And in our system, that's enough.

It's not that, hey, you know what? We're 11. You got to vote with us.

It's not that, you know what? You're on the wrong side out. You need to vote with us.

Do you have a view of the world that's different from mine? And if so, and that view is reasonable, and you follow the law, then you know what? It's a hung jury like this was.

And so he should file the motion. We'll see what, you know, comes out of that. But the jury system is sacrosanct.

They determine the facts. And ultimately, I think the judge did the right thing in saying, I can't substitute my judgment for this juror's independent judgment.

BOLDUAN: And that's what Judge Sullivan did in court. He made that case. Like, basically, I hear you, but I can't say the weight of 11 is more than the weight of 1.

That's what that came down to. What do you, if you're the defense attorney here, and you hear, though, what's coming out of the jury room about the deliberations, about the conversation, I heard one saying she had entered deliberations thinking guilty, then being persuaded that it was not guilty by reason of insanity. Others being persuaded of that as well.

And then you have this one. Hold on. What does that insight offer?

I don't know necessarily about this case or just about the jury system.

JACKSON: So, you know, look, our system requires unanimous jurors. 12 jurors have to get on the same page. That's very difficult.

It was the case that there were two states, Louisiana, Oregon, they had 10 to 2. And that was deemed to be fine until 2020 when SCOTUS, Supreme Court of the United States, says, no, it's not. You need 12.

And so what I think the defense attorney will do is he will attack the notion that this juror followed the law and instructions. And that's a difficult thing to do. I could be following the law, Kate, seeing the same thing you see.

And in my view, I am, you know, the reasonable doubt we always talk about, OK? Reasonable doubt doesn't mean beyond all doubt. Doesn't mean to a mathematical certainty.

Doesn't mean it's definite. It means, are you so, for example, do you have a doubt and is it reasonable and it's sensible? Or in the alternative, are you so firmly convinced?

We could see the same evidence and come out on different ways.

BOLDUAN: Reasonable is a vague term.

JACKSON: It's a vague term.

BOLDUAN: Intentionally.

JACKSON: Exactly right. And so what's going to happen in this particular instance is you could say, well, the juror had a doubt. Was that doubt reasonable?

And in this juror's mind, there may have been, you know, some issues that he had, but clearly, he believed that there was criminal culpability here, unlike the other 11 who felt she was not responsible because she could not appreciate what she was doing. And that's our process. It's frustrating.

We want finality. These jurors wanted finality. They wanted this case to be done and heard and, you know, render final verdict.

It was not to be.

BOLDUAN: And now the question with all of this still remains of what does happen next.

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