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U.S.-Iran Talks to Resume Following U.S.'s Cancellation of Planned Strikes to Iran; Washington Struggles with Major Wildfires; Spiderman's Latest Installment Sends Shockwaves to the U.S. and Global Box Office. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 03, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:32]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And thank you so much for starting your week with us. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York, and this is "CNN Newsroom."

President Trump says the talks between the U.S. and Iran are expected to resume today after the U.S. called off strikes. Can they finally make a deal after five months of this conflict?

And firefighters battling three major wildfires burning in eastern Washington State. We'll speak to a local official for the latest on efforts to contain the blaze.

And Cuba in the dark. The country is now facing yet another nationwide blackout as its energy grid collapses.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: President Trump says that the U.S. and Iran will resume negotiations today after he called off a planned attack on Iran over the weekend. Here's what he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, now what we're doing is we're talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon and we'll see if it's true. I'd love to do that, save a lot of lives, save a lot of unnecessary power, to be honest with you.

Take many years to ever build it back. If it could, I don't think it would be even buildable back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And during those remarks, the President also claimed that there's a deal on the Strait of Hormuz and that there will also be a deal on the denuclearization of Iran, as he put it. Tehran, for its part, not backing down on its claim to supervise that critical waterway. State media, they're reporting that Iran's foreign minister held several high level phone calls with senior Saudi and Pakistani officials on Sunday.

So what's next? Let's go live to Nada Bashir, who's live in London now. Nada, so President Trump says that those talks are on again. But are we hearing anything new from Tehran?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We are, of course, hearing from Iran with regards to a response to those comments made by the U.S. President to reporters above board Air Force One, again, denying that they had requested from the Trump administration for those strikes to be called off.

Important to note, of course, that we have heard time and time again now of from the U.S. President and the Trump administration's officials of possible large scale attacks that have not necessarily materialized, perhaps a threat to the Iranian regime to try to push forward negotiations in some form.

We have heard from the Iranian regime speaking to state media, carrying a statement that they've described Trump as running out of steam, saying that they did not call for those planned strikes to be withheld. But of course, we have also seen some diplomacy going on in the background between Iranian officials and also regional officials, as well as key U.S. allies.

As you mentioned, the Trump administration has continued to have talks with counterparts in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian regime also maintaining communications with both Saudi and Pakistani officials, key mediators in this regional diplomatic effort.

And as you've mentioned, we've heard from the U.S. President saying that talks will resume today on Monday. It's unclear in what form, with which mediators and what capacity those talks will resume if indeed they do resume. But we know, of course, that there has been mounting pressure from those regional allies, Saudi, not least among them, calling on the Trump administration, according to sources familiar with the matter and according to Saudi state media, for a de- escalation to the war.

They've also raised concerns, according to state media, around those planned attacks on Iran. And of course, for the Gulf nations as well, which have really they've bared the brunt of this continued escalation, seeing direct attacks and threats from Iran, particularly around U.S. military assets within the Gulf region.

There is mounting pressure now from these allies on the United States to try to come towards some sort of de-escalation to this conflict, to focus on mediation efforts. Iran's own foreign minister has also been holding high-level talks, as I mentioned, with Saudi and Pakistani officials, but also still maintaining that warning to the United States that any targeting of Iran will trigger a large-scale response from the Iranian regime and its military forces.

[03:05:00]

And that, of course, has raised concern amongst Gulf officials. But it really does remain to be seen how we see this moving forward today, whether we do see those talks pushing forward today and in what form. And of course, we've also been hearing and learning of reports, according to sources, of a sort of crowdsourcing email sent by a senior official within the U.S. Central Command, essentially calling for new, creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran, that's according to a source familiar with this message that was reportedly sent to military officials.

This has been, of course, deemed quite unusual for an official within the U.S. Central Command, according to another source familiar with these ongoing messages. Perhaps a signal of the state of the U.S. military and, of course, the options on the table for the U.S. military at this current point in time.

And, of course, that was alluded to by the U.S. President as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One. They're suggesting that this would, of course, be a significant step up in attacks in terms of the U.S. response.

SANDOVAL: Yes, we'll get into a little more into those options on the table in just a few minutes for now. But Nada Bashir, thank you so much for all that reporting.

Meanwhile, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche says that he is formally rescinding President Trump's so-called anti-weaponization fund. The controversial program aimed to offer taxpayer money to people claiming that they were unjustly targeted by the federal government, including January 6th rioters at the U.S. Capitol.

The decision to revoke it could remove a major hurdle in President Trump's push to have the Senate permanently approve Blanche as the nation's attorney general. But the President, continuing to defend the program, here's what he said about it on Sunday before Blanche's announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

TRUMP: This would be a reimbursement for the pain that they suffered. A lot of people like it.

If they don't approve Todd, I put it back on the table. A lot of people like it. A lot of big supporters of Trump like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have each threatened to withhold their critical votes for Blanche's confirmation until there's a written assurance that the fund would not be resurrected. Cornyn's spokesperson confirmed that a deal, in fact, has been reached with the Justice Department to issue a formal termination order. The Senate Judiciary Committee is now scheduled to meet on Tuesday for a potential vote on Blanche's nomination. Well, happening in the coming hours, favorable weather conditions, they could help firefighters strengthen containment lines as Washington State battles what is now its worst fire season in decades. An estimated 700 homes are among the many structures that have been destroyed since a series of wildfires broke out over the weekend in Spokane County. They have burned now more than 7000 acres and there is no containment at the time, at the moment.

Officials say that one of the fires, known as Autumn Lane, is now the highest priority blaze in the country. At least 60,000 residents have been evacuated so far. Firefighters are getting support from more than a dozen states and from departments as far as Australia.

No serious injuries or deaths have been reported and residents have described leaving their home with whatever they could carry and little else, while some are waiting for a chance to return home, others have returned to complete destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIC FRANK, SPOKANE RESIDENT: I don't think I'm going to rebuild here because I don't ever want to have to relive a fire coming up this hill again and I've been in Spokane my entire 64 years because my little brother died in an accident when he was six and that's why I stayed close to my family. I think it's time for me to leave Spokane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Joining me live now from Spokane is Washington State Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove for an update. Commissioner, thank you so much for joining us again.

DAVE UPTHEGROVE, COMMISSIONER ON PUBLIC LANDS, WASHINGTON STATE: My pleasure.

SANDOVAL: I'm curious if you could just get our viewers around the world up to speed on the situation on the ground right now. Are the fires in eastern Washington still zero percent contained?

UPTHEGROVE: Yes, and I'm on the ground here in Spokane, Washington, which is our state's second largest city after Seattle, and wildfires are raging across Washington State and much of the Pacific Northwest. Here in Spokane, as you noted, the devastation is heartbreaking.

More than 700 homes destroyed, nearly 65,000 families have been forced to evacuate, and behind every one of the dramatic images we're seeing is a firefighter who's been working for days, an emergency manager who's making impossible decisions, families leaving behind everything they own to try to keep themselves safe.

[03:10:01]

And so the wildfire is reminding us how powerful nature can be, but it also reminds us how resilient people can be when communities come together, prepare, trust one another, work together, and that's exactly what we're doing. SANDOVAL: Yes, no, without a doubt, this is one of the most resilient

parts of the country, especially since they've seen wildfires in the past, perhaps not at this scale. There is that resilience, but at the same time, as you just heard right now from resident Aric Frank, that there is a sense of resignation, and this gentleman, for example, is deciding just not to rebuild. I mean, can you also just speak to that toll on people's livelihoods, on their homes, with many people not even sure if they have a home to return to?

UPTHEGROVE: Yes, we're holding in our hearts all of the people who've lost their homes, the people who are displaced and recognize how challenging this is. And this is an extraordinary wildfire season in the United States and in the state of Washington. This is not normal.

Fortunately, we came into this fire season well prepared. We pre- positioned equipment, we built an exceptionally well-trained wildfire force, established mutual aid agreements with neighboring states, federal partners, and fortunately, that is paying off.

Right now, we have about 5000 people responding to 15 major wildfires in Washington State, covering a quarter million acres. We've brought in firefighters and equipment from across the country, and we've activated our state's National Guard with a couple hundred members working alongside us.

So that's why, despite the scale of these fires and despite understanding the devastation, I remain hopeful. We have an enormous job ahead of us, but thousands of people are working together with one shared mission, and that is protecting the lives and helping these communities rebuild.

SANDOVAL: And with conditions persistently dry, Commissioner, there is still a fear, I assume, that those flames will still spread to more residential areas, and if so, where?

UPTHEGROVE: Absolutely. We can't predict exact paths of the fire because it depends upon wind and weather conditions, but the threat of wildfires in this state is nowhere near over. We're doing everything we can to get the fires put out with as many resources as we can activate, but we are encouraging people to, when they receive an evacuation notice, heed that notice.

You know, these wildfires move deceptively fast, they change direction quickly, and they're deadly. We've seen a loss of life earlier this summer on a couple fires of folks who were in the path of the fires, and we're also reminding people, don't be the spark that starts the next fire.

We had three major fires start this morning, so as we battle the current fires, we are encouraging people to be safe on the landscape as well. Everyone has a role to play during challenging conditions like this.

SANDOVAL: As firefighting efforts continue, I know so does the investigation into the cause. Is there an update on that front, Commissioner? UPTHEGROVE: There is not. The cause of the fire is under

investigation, and it likely will be for some time as the attention is on currently protecting lives and property.

SANDOVAL: And as of the last update, no injuries nor deaths. Of course, we hope that there's been no change on that front.

UPTHEGROVE: Yes, we're very fortunate that all of our first responders as well as the residents of the area thus far have reported no injuries or deaths. The scale of this fire, however, presents serious risk, and we won't know the final outcome of the impact on the community for many days still.

SANDOVAL: Yes, all the best to you, Commissioner Dave, up the grove, as well as the firefighters there at the front lines of this disaster. Thank you for your time and for the update.

UPTHEGROVE: Thank you.

We're also following a separate firefighting effort, this one in Europe. That's where Greek investigators are looking into what caused two helicopters to collide on Sunday. They were aiding firefighting efforts.

The country's fire service reporting that the two crew members aboard that one of the choppers did not survive the accident. Greece is one of the latest countries to experience summer wildfires due to record- breaking heat waves, and you see some of the video coming there from the scene.

Let's go to journalist Elinda Labropoulou, who's joined me from Parga, Greece, with more. It's so good to have you there, Elinda.

What is usually a picturesque coastal retreat yet is now coping with some of these fires. So I'm wondering if you could just bring us up to speed on the situation right now.

ELINDA LABROPOLOU, JOURNALIST: Well, the large fires in Athens continue to burn for a fourth day. It's greater Athens, 40 kilometers out of Athens.

Yesterday, we witnessed this tragic incident and a very rare incident, too, of the two helicopters colliding while trying to put out the flames. This was largely due to the extreme conditions at the time. We've had gale-strong winds in the area for three days now.

[03:15:07]

It meant that the aircraft could not fly, it meant that the forces were not enough in order to put out the flames, and we ended up with this tragic incident that we witnessed. The Greek Prime Minister has sent his condolences. People are standing by to see how operations in the area are going to continue today.

What we've seen in Greece is a new chapter, basically, in the fires that we have been witnessing in Europe this summer. Until about a week ago, Greece was not part of the mega fires that we had seen in Spain. So we were sort of looking from a distance and hoping for the best.

As it happens, the fires, the weather changed. Things moved on, and now we have fires burning in many parts of the country.

What you see behind me is a typical example of a tourist resort. We're in Parga. There is not a fire here, but there are so many fires in so many parts of Greece, and this is largely because of the vegetation.

Here we have pine forests, we have pine trees right behind me. You see that the trees go all the way down to the coast. So this is something that, along with climate change, needs a rethink.

What do we plant? What do we do in order to prepare for fires differently?

This is part of the debate that's ongoing. But of course, along with all that, now there are more pressing needs, like putting out the fires, and also continue with some of the mass evacuations that we have been witnessing in some of the tourist resorts as well in the Greek islands.

We have understood that today the winds are subsiding a little bit, although temperatures are rising. So everybody is hoping for the best, Polo.

SANDOVAL: It is our hope, certainly, that the winds changing will mean an added advantage for some of those fire crews that have already experienced some losses. As you point out, Elinda Labropoulou, thank you and your team so much for covering this for us.

And for the fourth time in recent weeks, the island of Cuba has been plunged into darkness. Just ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," what's behind the collapse of the national power grid?

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[03:20:00]

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SANDOVAL: Myanmar's military-ruled government releasing new images of detained Nobel laureates and former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They say that she met with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross. And this appears to be her first public meeting in years, and follows speculation about her health during her imprisonment.

But CNN cannot independently verify the images. But CNN has reached out to the ICRC for comment. Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained while serving a 27-year sentence for a slew of charges from the military junta that overthrew her government in 2021.

Cuba's national power grid collapsed late on Sunday. The state-owned utility made the announcement on social media. The post did not include any further details about the outage. Cuba's power system experienced three nationwide blackouts already

since in July. And it has struggled to secure fuel for power generation after imports from Venezuela and Mexico were shut down by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ukrainian officials say that Russia dropped eight guided bombs on the city of Zaporizhzhia within an hour and a half on Sunday. The attack killed at least one person, wounded dozens, and destroyed several residential buildings.

As Russia continues its deadly attacks on Ukraine and Kyiv strikes deep inside Russia, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News that the U.S. will try to revive peace talks in the coming weeks. But he says there are still significant obstacles to overcome.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

And Russian officials say that Ukrainian drones struck several targets inside the country, including more Wildberries warehouses. The latest reported strikes came just hours ago. Wildberries is the country's largest online marketplace, and it's been the target of Ukrainian strikes in the past few weeks.

CNN's Clare Sebastian with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are losing our business in front of our eyes, says this woman.

Another, through tears, says she's lost 12,000 items of children's clothing. I hope I have enough strength and courage to get through this, she says.

Over the past two weeks, Ukraine's deep strike campaign, usually focused on oil refineries or military facilities, has taken a sharp turn into e-commerce, hitting multiple warehouses belonging to one company, Wildberries, Russia's equivalent of Amazon, with around a 50 percent share of the country's online retail market.

ALEXANDER KOLYANDR, EUROPE DIRECTOR, EURASIA CENTER: It provided thousands upon thousands of individual sellers with income, and it created the whole universe of online retail.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): A universe that Ukraine says now also includes sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.

We found drones and drone parts, helmets and bulletproof vests all available. One reviewer of this vest writing, I sent it to my son in a special military operation, Russia's official euphemism for the war. He's very pleased.

Before the attacks, Wildberries founder, Tatiana Kim, was Russia's richest woman, worth over $8 billion. A self-made entrepreneur, now well-connected in Kremlin circles, and deeply intertwined with the banking sector. One of Russia's biggest banks, VTB, recently took a stake in Wildberries financial arm, and through its mounting debt burden.

[03:25:02]

A fact Ukraine is fully aware of, says the co-owner of one of Ukraine's leading long range weapons producers.

DENYS SHTILIERMAN, CO-OWNER, FIRER POINT (through translator): If we take it down, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of a huge number of banks, including at least VTB.

KOLYANDR: Wildberries is too big to fail, and the state will definitely support Wildberries in this or that form.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): It's still burning after three days, says the seller who drove to survey the damage at a Wildberries warehouse just outside Moscow. She says she lost around $100,000 worth of goods.

Lives at risk, livelihoods up in smoke. A Russian success story, the latest casualty of Putin's war.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And more coverage and analysis of our top story just ahead. Oil markets reacting as the U.S., Iran are expected to resume negotiations to end the war. But how close are they to actually striking a deal?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York and these are today's top stories.

The island nation of Cuba was plunged into darkness on Sunday after its power grid collapsed again. Three nationwide blackouts happened last month. Cuba struggled to secure fuel for power generation after imports from Venezuela and Mexico were shut down by the United States.

Firefighters in Spokane, Washington, will see some of their most favorable weather conditions in days on Monday. And this as a state battles its worst fire season in more than 30 years.

[03:30:06]

Three wildfires in that county have burned more than 7000 acres with zero containment so far, at least 60,000 people were evacuated and an estimated 700 homes have been destroyed.

Well, in the coming hours, E.U. foreign ministers will join an emergency meeting to address Spain's recent migrant crisis. Most of the 60,000 people who crossed the border from Morocco to Spain's North African territory of Greta have returned. But far-right leaders in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, they are soaking public fear and anger, calling the deadly rush a quote, invasion. And futures markets are reacting to President Trump's decision to call

off strikes on Iran and resume negotiations to end the war. I want to show you where some of those numbers stand at this hour. Brent crude, the international benchmark and U.S. crude oil prices, you see they've been pretty much falling since Sunday when that news came aboard Air Force One.

And at this hour, U.S. futures, they are also up ahead of the opening bell. Of course, all of this amid renewed hopes of a possible diplomatic breakthrough just over five months since the start of this conflict.

Well Paul Salem is a non-resident senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Middle East program. He joins me from Northern Lebanon. Paul, thank you so much for joining us.

PAUL SALEM, NON-RESIDENT SENIOR ASSOCIATE, MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: So remind us what the immediate objectives are both for the U.S. and for Iran as we expect negotiations to resume, according to President Trump.

SALEM: Well, the U.S. and President Trump, I would say, is pretty urgently seeking a diplomatic deal because he does want to end this war, extricate himself from it for obvious economic and domestic political reasons.

His conditions have been consistent and clear. They include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz without preconditions, more or less as it was before this war, and to have a deal on Iran's nuclear issue that would clearly prevent it from having a nuclear weapon.

On the Iranian side, they are not as excited to get to a deal because their perception of a deal with President Trump is nothing firm. They've had talks with the Trump administration before, they've been attacked in the middle of these -- of such talks twice or three times before. They don't really believe a deal with the U.S. or a deal with the Trump administration is a lasting thing.

So they are trying to secure by military means the gains that they want to achieve. One of the important ones is to have control over the Strait of Hormuz after this war ends, and they do not want to give major concessions on their nuclear program. They're willing to drag out talks on the program, but they don't seem to be intent on getting to such a deal.

I'll just add in closing for this segment that whereas on the U.S. side there is one decision maker, Donald Trump, on the Iranian side there are various factions, and that is making it even harder for the Iranians to come to any agreement with the Trump administration.

SANDOVAL: And I'm so glad you mentioned that too, Paul, is you have, sort of, the PhDs that are participating in these negotiations. They then take that to Tehran and potentially just feeling more uncertainty because of the disagreement potentially domestically in Iran. As you know, President Trump also said over the weekend that the parameters of a deal are in place.

I'm wondering if you could help me perhaps interpret that. Could it potentially include some of the concessions that you just referenced a little while ago?

SALEM: I mean, the parameters of a deal were laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed a couple of months ago, but they were just parameters in that they set out sort of guidelines in general, but there were competing interpretations as to what that means. On the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, the Memorandum of Understanding said that the Strait would reopen, but it also said that Iran would play a key role in ensuring that that Strait is open.

The U.S. interpreted that to mean that the Strait would reopen, period, without any clear preconditions which were absent from the MOU. And the Iranians interpreted that to mean they control the Strait and they will open it on their terms.

[03:35:00]

On the nuclear issue, the MOU, the parameters were we will talk about a resolution to the nuclear issue and Iran commits not to having a nuclear weapon. Now, that has been the case for many years, if not many decades. Iran has always said that it does not want a nuclear weapon and has always been open to talking about it.

So the parameters are there, but getting to the finish line with these two leaderships and administrations with different political agendas and with different understandings of what a deal means and how valuable it is, is proving very difficult. I think we are in a long- lasting and bruising stalemate that will hurt the countries of the Gulf, impact the global economy, hurt the U.S. and hurt Iran. Not a major escalation, but also unlikely to have a major resolution.

And I'll say finally that the pain that's being inflicted on one side, on the global economy of the U.S., and on the other side, on Iran, in a way you could say pain is in the eye of the beholder. The Iranian regime is built for pain.

It can take a lot of pain, it doesn't seem to care how much its population suffers, whereas in an electoral democracy like the U.S., that is hard to avoid. The pain of the people, the costs that are being paid, will come home to exact the political press.

SANDOVAL: Paul Salem, grateful for all your analysis. Thank you so much for your time.

SALEM: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: And we'll be back with more in a moment.

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[03:40:00]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. Here are your business headlines. The U.S. Treasury has bought Japanese yen to boost the currency after

it fell to a 40-year low against the dollar in what President Trump is calling a gesture of friendship. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that the currency exchange was coordinated with Japan, but did not say how much of the currency was purchased.

Peru temporarily suspending operations of a sightseeing airline, Aerodiana, as it investigates a deadly plane crash over the weekend. Eleven European tourists and two crew members were killed on Saturday. This after a crew reported mechanical problems near the Nazca Line's archaeological site. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

Flight attendants for Canada's second largest airline went on strike on Sunday, causing hundreds of flights to be grounded. The union, representing more than 4000 flight attendants for WestJet, is asking for its members to be paid for the entirety of their workday, not just the time they spend in the air. No word yet from either side about the impasse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOLLAND, AS SPIDERMAN/PETER PARKER: I promised you that I would keep you safe. Please, you just have to trust me. Come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And it was a good weekend to be Spider-Man. The web-crawling superhero's latest film, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," it brought in about $355 million in the U.S., and that's according to the media research company, Rentrac. Globally, though, the film brought in about $927 million, making it the second biggest opening weekend ever.

For our international viewers, World Sport is next. And for those of you watching in North America, I'll be right back with you with more of your headlines here on "CNN Newsroom."

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[03:45:00]

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SANDOVAL: And thank you so much for staying with us.

A massive fire erupted at a vacant warehouse in Portland, Oregon. Now fire responders were on scene around 4 p.m. on Sunday as smoke and flames were basically shooting out of all sides of the building.

Portland Fire and Rescue say that firefighters did not enter the vacant warehouse because of fears that it could collapse. So a plan was put into place for fire crews to only battle the flames from the building's exterior so they could keep those flames from spreading. No injuries reported there.

Well three people were killed and seven others injured after a man opened fire at an In-N-Out fast food restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho. The location had only been open for a week when the shooting happened on Saturday.

A 24-year-old gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. It was an off-duty state trooper as well as a civilian at the scene who returned gunfire. Police authorities commending their actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MATTHEW HICKS, TWIN FALLS, IDAHO POLICE: We want to take a moment and commend the actions of the off-duty officer and the citizen and their heroic action to stop this incident. We believe their actions helped drive the suspect away from the scene, preventing further casualties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Authorities there have not released the identities of those killed or injured, saying that not all of their families have been notified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: What is happening? What's happening? People are running from In-N-Out. Call the police.

UNKNOWN: What's happening?

UNKNOWN: What happened?

UNKNOWN: What's happening?

UNKNOWN: Shoot, shoot.

UNKNOWN: Shoot, go, just go. Somebody got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That's one of the witness videos from the scene and authorities want to see more. The FBI asking people to submit any videos or photos or even audio that captured that shooting as they continue with this investigation.

The U.S. Justice Department says that the rush to complete President Trump's renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was likely the cause of its, quote, hasty and botched work. But despite that, President Trump vehemently disagrees.

You see, the $14 million project had originally started as just a cleaning, but it soon ballooned into other cosmetic changes. Those, as well as an expedited timeline to have it ready for Independence Day celebrations, added to the chaos. The DOJ citing bad weather, testing failures, and also shipping setbacks as other contributing factors.

The biggest issues, though, that soon became the rapid development of this green algae, as well as tears in the pool's lining. President Trump repeatedly insisted that it was vandals who were to blame, but the Justice Department has dropped the case against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who was accused of vandalism.

Now let's talk politics.

All eyes are on Michigan as the state gets ready to hold its Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday. It's going to be a key race that could help determine whether the Democrats can take control of the Senate later this year. But it's also another critical test for the party itself, pitting a rising progressive candidate against a more moderate member of Congress.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports from Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And we are in the final hours of campaigning here for the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. This is a marquee Senate primary contest and here is why.

Democrats must hold on to this Senate seat in Michigan to fill the seat of retiring Senator Gary Peters, and they must flip for Republican seats as well if they want to have the chance to claim the Senate majority. But all eyes are on this primary because it is a very hard-fought contest between Congresswoman Haley Stevens and progressive insurgent Abdul El-Sayed.

[03:50:08]

We've been following the candidates around to events like this all day long. Haley Stevens will be here in Oakland County, which, as you know well, is a critical area for Democratic votes as well as Republican votes later in the year. But this has been an impetuously fierce contest between Stevens and El-Sayed into the final hours.

I mean Stevens is being propelled by the Democratic establishment. She has the endorsement of, of course, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, but also here in Michigan of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and many other elected officials as well.

And El-Sayed has been traveling around Detroit campaigning with a few other members of Congress like Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts and some others. He is making the case that it is time for change.

Now, this has really been a referendum, as we've seen throughout the year. Progressive wins in New York and other deep blue areas are being tested anew here in Michigan, a critical battleground. And the question is, which one of these candidates is the strongest, most electable candidate to take on Mike Rogers, a former member of Congress here in Michigan in November?

And the question of electability has been a central one. There's no doubt about it. We caught up with El-Sayed earlier today, and he said voters know electability, they will decide that. He said that pundits and analysts should not be making claims of

electability. There's no doubt that he has some energy and momentum on his side, but the Democratic establishment is on the side of Haley Stevens.

That's why this test here in Michigan is going to be such a central one on Tuesday in this primary, testing whether this insurgency we've seen, this deep blue progressive insurgency, can play in a statewide contest here in Michigan.

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SANDOVAL: A U.S. federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring back a man who was deported to his home country of Honduras. CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest on how this case could potentially affect how the government deports migrants.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a case that has the potential of setting precedent when it comes to deportations and involves the rights of immigrants and due process as defined by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia has ruled the U.S. Justice Department must facilitate the return of Honduran men who was deported to his native country in April because the Department of Homeland Security may have violated his due process rights by allegedly not allowing him access to an attorney and coercing him to sign papers for voluntary departure. He did not understand.

In her ruling issued in June, Judge Beryl Howell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said that "Plaintiff Jose Eliezer Martinez-Andino, who is an immigrant from Honduras with no criminal history but with a three-year-old U.S. citizen daughter dependent on the authorization he held to work legally in the United States, was removed from this country in a manner that boggles the mind."

According to court documents, Martinez-Andino, who worked as a mechanic in North Carolina and is now 21 years old, was detained in Montana in March and placed in ICE custody even though he had special immigrant juvenile status that allowed him to live and work in the United States. In the documents, Martinez also alleges that he was coerced to sign two forms agreeing to voluntary departure.

He was also deprived of his access to his retained counsel for 10 days and flown to Honduras by the U.S. government on April 10, 2026, barely three weeks after his civil arrest. In an interview in Tela, Honduras, where he awaits his return to the U.S., Martinez-Andino told CNN en Espanol he was denied his rights multiple times.

JOSE MARTINEZ-ANDINO, DEPORTED BY U.S. (translated): They told me that if I didn't sign the deportation papers, I could be in jail for six to eight months.

REPORTER (translated): Did they gave you any justification or anything on deporting you?

MARTINEZ-ANDINO (translated): No, nothing. I mean, (they told me) 'you don't have the right to see a judge or a lawyer. You're going out.' That's what they told me.

ROMO: In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security told CNN that Jose Martinez-Andino originally entered the country legally through Mexico in 2020, but acknowledged that his removal proceedings were later dismissed by an immigration judge without prejudice in 2023. The statement also says that Martinez-Andino was issued a voluntary departure and departed the country on April 10.

He received full due process. Any claims that he was not allowed access to an attorney are false. But it seems like Judge Howell thinks Martinez deserves the chance to litigate his claims in a federal court and directed the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to continue in a prompt and expeditious manner efforts to facilitate his return to this country.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

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[03:55:01]

SANDOVAL: An abandoned piece of a SpaceX rocket known as the Upper Stage is expected to crash into the moon on Wednesday. The spacecraft that had launched a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago.

Experts predicting the space junk will hit the moon at seven times the speed of sound near the Einstein crater. It will carve out a crater and then send up a plume of dust and rubble that observers on Earth get to see.

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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: The fact that it is going to hit the moon and kick up this dust cloud and astronomers can actually watch that happen gets them very excited because they can determine exactly what that how those dust clouds act and how they work. And if you go back to 2009, there was a spacecraft that NASA deliberately crashed into the south pole of the moon called L-Cross.

And it was that crash and that plume that allowed them to determine that there was actually ice water on the moon. So a lot of science can come out of this, but it is important. It's important that these things happen on purpose, right?

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SANDOVAL: What a show it's going to be.

The inaugural season of the new Women's Pro Baseball League started on Saturday.

The New York Heights took on the Los Angeles Queens. It was the Queens who won 10-8. The WPBL is based on the first professional women's league that ran from 1943 to 1954.

It was also featured in the movie "A League of Their Own" that taught us all that there's no crying in baseball. Here you see Maybelline Blair, 99 years old and is pitching much better than I possibly could.

She played in that league years ago. She also threw out the first pitch at Saturday's game.

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MAYBELLINE BLAIR, FORMER PRO BASEBALL PLAYER: I want everybody to realize that we finally get an opportunity and show the world that we can play baseball and we don't have to be pushed into softball like the good old boys wanted us to be. It's great to see her back on the pitching mound.

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SANDOVAL: Thank you so much for watching, I'm Polo Sandoval. I'll join you again in a few moments with more of your headlines.

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