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GOP Kicks Off Midterm Convention in Dallas; Former Governor Tim Pawlenty is Interviewed about the Midterms; Gas Pries Surge Seven Cents; Blood Tests for Colorectal Cancer. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 09, 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: Well, Girl Scout cookie season is here, and here to help, even for the family dog. This year, Girl Scouts are adding two new treats to the 2027 lineup. One is called Sparkables, and it is the first cookie designed for people with food allergies. An oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips and sprinkles -- because it makes everything better, just ask my kids -- gluten free, nut free and vegan. And then there's Patch Pals for your favorite four legged cookie monster. This one, soft blueberry muffin flavored dog treat. Yummers. Both launch in January.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: My only hope is that no one watches what someone close to the White House told "Politico" about the first ever Republican midterm convention tonight. The new fears among party insiders that it could all backfire.

And how is this to open the convention? Breaking this morning, the biggest one-day spike in gas prices since May.

Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney says he will file a motion to dismiss the case after several jurors spoke out saying a holdout juror acknowledged reasonable doubt.

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

BOLDUAN: All right, destination, Dallas. Republicans flocking to Texas right now for a two-day show of force, kicking off their first ever convention for a midterm election. President Trump isn't on the ballot, but he is very much the star of this show. And he wants to be. Even if it seems that some Republicans wish that he would sit this one out. "Axios" is reporting that more than 100 Republican lawmakers are expected to not attend this convention.

It comes also amid the mounting pressure on the president. The headwinds that we've talked about for months facing the Republican Party, high gas and grocery prices, Trump's trade wars and his war with Iran all playing a role.

His approval rating among Republicans also part of this story, now 78 percent in the most recent CNN poll. That is actually a new low.

Plus, the convention is -- isn't the only thing kicking off tonight. So is the NFL season. Which brings us to what John was getting at, "Politico" putting out a statement citing a person close to the White House saying this, "my only hope is that no one watches" the convention, "since it's competing versus NFL opening games. Hopefully nobody notices the embarrassing show."

CNN's Kevin Liptak, live at the White House this morning. Steve Contorno is at the convention site in Dallas.

Kevin, let me begin with you.

What are the -- what are you hearing from the White House about how this is going to go?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and that sentiment about wanting not -- people not to watch, I don't think is shared by President Trump. You know, he is probably more concerned that people will not watch, that they'll be watching the Patriots and Seahawks game.

But clearly, in his own mind and in his advisor's mind, just getting him in front of voters, putting him at the center of these midterm elections is actually the best strategy. They think that putting the president's name on the ballot, figuratively, is the best way to get low propensity voters, particularly his base of supporters, out to the polls.

Now, that is not a sentiment that is shared by many Republicans. That's why a number of them are skipping this altogether. But what the White House says is that this is, in fact, going to be the kickoff of quite an intensive campaign season for the president. You know, we haven't really seen him out much on the campaign trail until now, but they say that going forward he will be out nearly every day for the month of October trying to get Republicans across the finish line.

Now, that's a promise that we've heard before. Remember, at the beginning of the year, the White House said that the president would be out every week talking about his accomplishments. And that didn't really happen until a few months ago. But they say that this time the president has a list of 35 races where he thinks he will be of assistance and that he will be out nearly every day talking to voters to get them, those Republicans, across the finish line.

Now, whether those 35 Republicans actually want him in their districts and actually want him making this campaign a referendum on his first two years in office is a different question. But at least when you listen to his advisers, they say that this is the way to boost enthusiasm, to boost turnout among the Republican base. And so, that's part of what you'll see over the next two days. The president speaking on both nights of this convention. They wouldn't be holding this convention at all unless the president had conceived of it, gotten his fellow Republicans in line behind him.

You'll also see a number of cabinet officials, including the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.

[09:05:01]

And I think very notably, the attorney general, Todd Blanche. Ordinarily, that's a position that stays outside the realm of politics, but he will be there on the stage in Dallas as well. All talking up the president and talking up Republicans ahead of these very critical midterms.

BOLDUAN: Kevin, thank you.

Steve, what is the latest from the ground there? What are the plan -- what are they planning for?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, you can certainly sense that the -- one of the major focal points of the next two days is who is here and who is not here among those Republicans in key battleground races. And I had a chance to talk to Republican Party Chairman Joe Gruters about this and what his message would be to those Republicans. And he said, look, I would encourage them to embrace the president because, you know, Democrats are going to make you run against Trump no matter what. They're going to tie you to Trump no matter what. And he is actually incredibly popular with our base. And if you try to run away with him -- from him, you may pick up some marginal support in the middle, but you're going to lose support from Republicans who have loved the president ever since he arrived on the scene in 2016.

And he said, as far as the president speaking tonight, which he is expected, as well as tomorrow, he said that they want their best spokesperson up in front of Republican voters, in front of America as much as possible.

Listen to what he said, quote, "when you're in the bottom of the ninth inning and runners are on base and you're down, you want your best possible batter up. And for us, that's the president of the United States."

Now, there will be a whole other host of speakers, including members of Trump's cabinet, several -- RFK Jr., Dr. Oz, some of his closest advisors, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance, who will speak tomorrow night.

Tonight is the president's night. He will give his address to the country and the party and whoever is watching while they're trying to run up against this NFL schedule. And he has a tall order. His approval ratings are lower than other presidents at this point in the midterm calendar. Take a look at where the president is compared to his predecessors. Thirty-five percent approval rating. That's well below where other presidents have been. Though, I will point out, it's pretty close to where he was in 2018, when we were expecting a blue wave. Now, Democrats did take back the House, but Republicans made gains in the Senate.

So, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next 55 days here. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And the next 48 hours.

It's good to see you. Thank you so much, Kevin -- Steve and Kevin at the White House.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota.

Governor, great to see you.

You are not running for anything unless you want to make an announcement right now, which we always welcome. But my question to you is, hypothetically, were you running for governor or senator right now in Minnesota, would you go to this convention in Dallas tonight and why?

TIM PAWLENTY (R), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: John, I think a week from now, whether a candidate does or doesn't go to this convention, nobody will care or remember. The point of this convention is, as you've been reporting, are two things. One is to continue to amplify the fact that the base needs to turn out to vote, and to message to them that this is an important election and that there's a lot at stake. And number two, doing it at the same time, where you try to appeal to those persuadable voters who haven't yet made up their mind, or independent voters, or low propensity voters. And there are some issues you can do both on. And that's what they should be focusing on at this convention and beyond, in my view.

BERMAN: Even though you're not running, you still dodged my question. Would you go if you were running for office right now in a swingy state?

PAWLENTY: I don't -- yes, I -- yes, I don't think it matters. I think you could go or not go. Again, week from now, nobody's going to care. And so, it's not a big deal. It's not going to change an election. And if you go and don't say anything stupid, it's not going to hurt you. Nobody's confused that most of these members of Congress have some support for the president. And so, the idea that you go, that you're somehow further tainted is a false premise.

BERMAN: OK. Say anything stupid. What is it that you think the president, because it's really going to be all about him, almost no matter what else happens, and you have to assume it will be all about him, what is it you think he should avoid talking about?

PAWLENTY: Well, what he should avoid is anything unrelated to the top issues that are of concern for voters, and that primarily is the economy and the war at the moment. And give -- let me give you an example. The convention's in Texas. It's in Dallas. And so, you can look at the energy costs in Texas. Electricity costs in Texas are about 20 percent lower than the national average. And there are reasons for that. People understand supply and demand. So, if I was down there, the president, I would recommend or advise him, talk about how you're going to bring more supply into these markets, whether it's food or gas or energy, to bring prices down and talk about permitting reform that's pending before Congress on a bipartisan basis.

[09:10:04]

Talk about an energy policy that's going to do all of the above, including stopping slow walking, renewable energy initiatives, and more.

And so, those are the kinds of things I think people would say, even if you can't bring the numbers down by November, they at least want to see that you have a plan and that you're trying. And that's one example of what he could talk about to help in that regard.

BERMAN: Yes. The flip side of that is he's showing up there. Gas prices up seven percent -- seven cents, I should say, a gallon overnight, which is the biggest one day jump since May. You know, do you think this president -- or how do you think this president handles the, you know, I feel your pain type of messaging here?

PAWLENTY: Start with talking about it and not talking about other stuff, number one. Number two, have a plan. Number three, show some empathy and understanding that you under -- that you feel that people, and you understand that people are very concerned about these prices. And inflation has crept up a little again, but it's on a base where it ran up big time over the last four or five years.

And so, when you buy a pound of hamburger, when you buy milk, when you pay your electricity bills, people are mad. They're upset and they're concerned. And I think have a message. Stay on message. Have a plan and deliver on the plan. And again, even if you can't get the numbers down by November, you can at least show you're focused on it and working on it.

BERMAN: You're more of a hockey guy than a football guy, but how tough is it going to be going against the first NFL game of the season tonight?

PAWLENTY: It's going to be a real competition. And let's also face it, that what happens at the convention and what -- who covers it live is part of it. But people take clips, as you know, and it gets socialized in a way that's at least as important as who watches it tonight. And so, part of this is content production for other channels.

BERMAN: We'll see how that goes.

Governor Tim Pawlenty, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much for coming on.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, oil prices topping $100 a barrel. Gas prices surging seven cents a gallon. The biggest single day hike in months. And new clues in the fight against colorectal cancer. The deadliest

form of cancer for people under the age of 50. How a simple blood test could save more lives.

And supermodel and trailblazer Twiggy telling all in a new documentary. And she joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:53]

BOLDUAN: Some of the breaking news this morning, gas prices on the rise. The national average for a gallon of regular now $4.22. That's up seven cents overnight. Oil prices are also up to its -- their highest levels in more than a month after new strikes on Iran.

CNN's Matt Egan has much more on this.

What are you seeing?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, look, pain at the pump, it is intensifying. A seven cent increase overnight for gas prices. That's the biggest one day increase since May 1st. The new national average for gas, $4.22 a gallon. That's the highest level since early June.

Now, when you look at the trend here, before the war, you can see that gas prices, it was not a problem, right? It was just below $3 a gallon. Then you had a massive spike when the war started. Gas went above $4.50 a gallon. And then it did start to cool off. And now, again, moving in the wrong direction.

Now, what's notable here, Kate, is, when you look back in history, gas prices, they've never been this high at this time of year. Not even back in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

And what's unusual about this is normally after Labor Day you see gas prices go down, right, because summer driving season's over, there's less demand, but that's not happening right now.

And look, gas prices get's all the headlines. But let's also talk about diesel, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: Diesel is the MVP of the fuels, right? It's powering the tractors and trucks and boats and trains that make the economy go. Look at this, diesel before the war, well below $4 a gallon. Now just six cents away from $6 a gallon. This isn't just the highest price for diesel at this time of the year. This is the highest price all time for diesel. And it means that a lot of those businesses, they're going to be passing along those costs to all of us as consumers because it just got more expensive to do all of those activities.

So, why is this happening? Well, one, it's, of course, oil prices, right? They do remain elevated. Brent, the global benchmark, you look at this, just above $100 a barrel. First time since late July. WTI, the U.S. benchmark, just a few dollars away from the century level as well.

But it's not just the fact that oil is expensive. It's that there's this shortage around the world of refineries, right? There's not enough refining capacity to process all of that oil and turn it into fuel because of the Iran War, because of the Russia/Ukraine war, because of export restrictions.

But, look, consumers are paying the price here. Brown University has this Iran War energy cost tracker. And it finds that consumers are paying $101 billion more just on gasoline and diesel, just since the war with Iran started.

So, look, Kate, I mean, affordability, it's the number one frustration with this economy heading into the midterms. And whether it's gasoline, diesel or grocery prices, it does look like the cost of living could get worse before it gets better.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, they say $775 per household more because of all of this.

All right, it's good to see you.

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Matt.

Coming up for us, jurors from the Lindsay Clancy trial, they are speaking out now. What they're saying about deliberations behind closed doors and what all led to that mistrial.

[09:20:00]

And Apple rolling out a new era. Their new CEO set to unveil a foldable iPhone. What we're learning about the big launch this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, brand new research points to hidden clues that might help predict the occurrence of colorectal cancer, which is now the deadliest type of cancer for people under 50.

Let's get right to CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard, who's got the latest on this really interesting new research.

Jacqueline.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, John.

[09:25:00]

What researchers did, they took a look at, OK, what labs are typically done when you go in for a routine physical at your doctor's office. Like your cholesterol gets checked, triglycerides. And the researchers looked at those labs and examined, are any of these associated with colorectal cancer risk? They were shocked, John, when they found that two liver enzymes, known as AST and ALT, did show associations with risk. They specifically found in adults younger than 45, those who had AST levels below a measurement of 14 units per liter, those were associated with a 65 percent higher likelihood of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer before age 45. And then the adults who had ALT levels below 14 were associated with a 68 percent higher likelihood.

The reason why this is shocking, when you have AST and ALT levels checked, higher levels are typically more concerning because higher levels can flag if you have an unhealthy liver or other issues going on. So, seeing that lower levels were associated with these risks really got a lot of attention, John.

Now, this does not mean if you're a young adult who has low AST or ALT you should rush to get an early colonoscopy, or you should freak out about your risk. Again, having low levels is typically seen as a good sign. But researchers say that this association can point to an area where scientists can dig deeper and look at what else might be going on behind these low levels that may be hidden drivers of colorectal cancer risk. And that's where the science really seems to be heading right now, John.

BERMAN: Look, any progress here, obviously, would be welcome and so important here.

HOWARD: Yes.

BERMAN: And what does this mean, if anything? And what are the recommendations for screening right now, colonoscopies?

HOWARD: Right. This does not change the current guidelines which recommend to start screening at age 45. So, if you're at average risk, get your colonoscopy starting at age 45. If you're at a higher risk because you have a personal history, family history, or you're showing symptoms, you'll probably be recommended to screen earlier. Symptoms to look for, blood in your stool, rectal bleeding, if you have any change in bowel habits that persists over days, if you have unintended weight loss, these are things to look for.

And again, John, a lot of people sometimes overlook these symptoms. They skip screening. So, following the recommendations to screen at age 45 is still very important, while this other research and science is advancing.

BERMAN: Super important.

Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for sharing all this new reporting.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, some more breaking news coming in this morning. Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney kind of jumping on the new comments of jurors speaking out, saying now that he will be filing a motion to dismiss the case altogether. This all comes after members of the jury had said that the holdout juror had acknowledged reasonable doubt but refused to be persuaded to join the jury on a unanimous verdict.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: It will 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: Reddington also said that he is open to a plea deal, but that his client should not be punished with jail time.

CNN's Jean Casarez back with us in studio with more on this.

What do you make of it?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So interesting what he just said as far as manifest --

BOLDUAN: Necessity.

CASAREZ: Necessity, that is the rule in Massachusetts of declaring a mistrial. So, he will argue that because, you know, he came out and told the public that after court that there was going to be an inquiry of this one juror and that it would be in open court. That did not happen, right, and the mistrial was declared.

But talking about that one juror, jurors have spoken out. Not the lone holdout, but others have. And it's fascinating because what they said was that it was so difficult for him to get off the fact that the children were so viciously killed by their mother.

Now, this is NBC Boston, our affiliate, WBZ. We want you to listen to a little bit of the jurors and their mindset in how they believed that there should be an acquittal here.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONI CARLSON, FOREPERSON, LINDSAY CLANCY JURY: We weren't trying to figure out if she murdered the children. She did. And she's admitting that. We're trying to figure out, did she know right from wrong at that time. And with everybody saying she loved her children so much. And everything proved she loved her children.

[09:30:00]

From her journals, to her mother-in-law, everything proved that she loved her children. So, she had to have snapped.