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Stevens And El-Sayed Prep For Michigan Democratic Senate Primary; Senators Release Stopgap Funding Bill To Avoid Fall Shutdown; Myanmar's Junta Releases Latest Photo Of Aung San Suu Kyi; Body Of Famed Nepali Climber Found After Pakistan Avalanche; Ukrainian Strikes On Wildberries Warehouses. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 03, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:30:21]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And all eyes are on Michigan as the state get to hold its Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday.

It's 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.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: 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 Senate seat in Michigan to fill the seat of retiring Senator Gary Peters. And they must flip four 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. 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 a 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.

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 or 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: Thanks to Jeff Zeleny. 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.

President Trump vehemently disagrees. You may remember that the $14 million project originally started as just a cleaning of that memorial, but it soon ballooned into other cosmetic changes, those as well as an expedited timeline in order for it to be ready for Independence Day celebrations added to the chaos.

And the DOJ cites bad weather, testing failures and shipping setbacks as other contributing factors. But the biggest issue soon became the rapid development of this green algae as well as tears in the pool's lining. But President Trump continues to insist that vandals are to blame.

All right, let's bring in Ron Brownstein. He is a CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist. Ron, so it was great to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening. Good to be with you.

SANDOVAL: Ron, there's a development that folks may have missed. On Friday, the Department of justice sharply contradicted President Trump in a filing. D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro basically dropped vandalism charges against a former Olympian accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. She blamed shoddy construction.

And then President Trump, as expected, responding, saying that he not only disagreed with his appointed U.S. attorney, but also doubled down on the claims that he's made earlier this summer. Let's remind our viewers what those claims have been.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

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TRUMP: We caught some people vandalizing our beautiful reflecting pool. Somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good. They tried to destroy it. They cut it up with a box knife. These people went in and cut it up and they got caught. We'll see what happens with them.

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SANDOVAL: So should Pirro have any reason to worry now that her findings don't align with the president's unfounded claim?

[04:35:00]

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the bigger point is that we all have reason to worry if they're willing to prosecute, you know, a former Olympian just to prevent embarrassment for the president and to advance his narrative about what was happening there. You know, the collapse of this case is probably not the end of this story, both because it is such a symbol, I think, of how the implementation of justice has been twisted into an extension of his -- of the president's kind of whims and personal likes and dislikes in a way that really should be ominous, I think, to all Americans.

I mean, this is not a precedent that you really want. You know, you and I have talked about this before. The business leaders who are being silent on this. Do they really want the, you know, indictments to be based on whether you are seen as a friend or foe of the president or are contradicting the president's narrative?

And I would suspect, Polo, that you're going to see wrongful prosecution claims by people who have been -- who are targeted on this, potential efforts to disbar Pirro. I think, I don't know if that can proceed. I'm not a lawyer, whether that proceeds while she's in office or after.

But this can become a very powerful symbol of what has been a broader trend toward the more overt politicization of the justice department and the U.S. attorney system than we really have seen before.

SANDOVAL: Right. Ron, before my time runs out with you, just help us look ahead to Tuesday's primary in Michigan. How would you summarize in a few sentences?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I'm just back. I mean, look, to use a World War II analogy, this is the battle of the bulge. We've had the left and center in an extraordinary series of confrontations this year, more than I can remember in Democratic primaries of any year covering politics since the early 1980s. The same thing on the Republican side, by the way, with Trump knocking off several Republican senators.

But everything I think has built up to this. I mean, both left and center have treated this as kind of the showdown, to use the World War II analogy, the battle of the bulge between them, enormous efforts on both sides. Abdul El-Sayed is a clear favorite over Haley Stevens, who was the establishment choice on Tuesday. But he is a much dicier proposition to win the general election.

Not that he can't when Trump has been weakened this much in a swing state like Michigan. But it's much more complicated. And however much momentum the left gets from a likely victory by him on Tuesday will dissipate if he can't hold this must win seat for Democrats in November.

SANDOVAL: Ron Brownstein, as always, thank you so much for your perspective.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: A U.S. Senate panel released a bill that would prevent a government shutdown this fall. The stopgap measure was touted by lawmakers as a bipartisan achievement. If passed by the full Congress, it would give lawmakers more time to figure out the budget. Lawmakers have until September 30th to avoid a government shutdown.

And all this comes as U.S. President Donald Trump wants his elections overhaul legislation to be passed through the budget process.

The United States has bought Japanese yen in an effort to boost the currency after it fell to a nearly 40-year low against the dollar. President Trump is calling the purchase a gesture of friendship. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that currency exchange was coordinated with Japan, but did not say how much of the currency was purchased.

But Reuters photograph of the -- to do note taken over Bessant shoulder at a recent cabinet meeting suggests that the purchase could rang 5 to $10 billion.

Myanmar's military ruled government has released some of the new images that show Nobel laureates and former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They say that the pictures taken during what appears to be her first meeting in years. CNN international correspondent Ivan Watson reports.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The military government in Myanmar has released an image of Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned and elected former leader of the country, in what the military says is a meeting with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

CNN has reached out to the ICRC for independent confirmation of this meeting. It is important because this is effectively proof of life. The son of Aung San Suu Kyi, Kim Aris has mounted a public pressure campaign demanding some proof that his mother is basically alive since she has been held by the military authorities now for more than five years since the military carried out a coup in 2021 and through the elected leadership including Aung San Suu Kyi in prison and set the country on the pathway for a devastating civil war.

[04:40:10]

Aung San Suu Kyi has not really been seen in public for quite some time, and there have been calls and questions about her welfare since she is 81. And again, she has spent years in detention in Myanmar. And now why the timing of this and also the release of several other photos that are purportedly taken in June showing Suu Kyi apparently celebrating her birthday in what looks like a house?

Well, there has been a flurry of diplomacy lately. The military regime in Myanmar has not had full membership to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations basically since the coup. And there are believed to be meetings scheduled between the government in Thailand and the top general in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, in the coming days. So this may be an effort to try to curry favor with other Southeast Asian governments and to perhaps open a door towards engagement with them.

This as the civil war in Myanmar continues to rage with estimates of more than 100,000 people killed, millions of people displaced and large parts of the country that are out of the government's control. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

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SANDOVAL: Still come here on Newsroom why Russia's homegrown version of Amazon is facing attacks from Ukrainian drones.

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SANDOVAL: The body of world renowned mountain climber Nirmal Purja has been located in Pakistan. Purja died in an avalanche in the Karakoram Range in Pakistan's northeast.

[04:45:02]

The Nepalese mountaineer had set records by quickly scaling 14 of the world's tallest peaks. Purja was one of the 10 climbers who went missing last Thursday following an avalanche on Broad Peak. The Alpine Club of Pakistan says so far searchers have found Purja's body and seven others. They have not yet been brought back to base camp. Two other people from the expedition remain missing.

Well, Russia and Ukraine are trading new strikes. 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 more, and destroyed several of these residential buildings.

This is video that was posted on Russian social media showing an apparent drone strike on another Wildberries warehouse. This one took place in the region neighboring Moscow. Wildberries is Russia's largest online marketplace, and it's been the target of Ukrainian strikes in the past several weeks.

For more now on that, we go to CNN's Clare Sebastian, who joins me live from London. Good morning, Clare. CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Polo. This is a new strategy that we've seen from Ukraine as it continues the intensified deep strike campaign that has so far targeted things like oil refineries, shipping, military facilities, things like that.

Over the past two weeks, they have hit, according to our latest count, or targeted 15 separate locations belonging to Wildberries, which is Russia's biggest e commerce company. As of the attack this morning, the company has acknowledged it. It says that a fire broke out and people were evacuated. Preliminarily, they're saying there were no casualties.

But as you dig deeper into this company, it's clear that the impact of these strikes could go far beyond even them.

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SEBASTIAN (voice-over): We're 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 the special military operation, Russia's official euphemism for the war. He's very pleased.

Before the attacks, Wildberries founder Tatyana 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, a fact Ukraine is fully aware of, says the co-owner of one of Ukraine's leading long range weapons producers.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wildberries is too big to fail and the state will definitely support Wildberries in this or that forum.

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.

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SEBASTIAN: So look at this point now in the fifth year of this war, I think it's fair to say that Russians are used to paying the price in the form of higher taxes, higher prices. They used to increasingly visible inconveniences, frankly to their everyday lives.

We've seen Internet outages, we've seen fuel shortages just this year, but I think this has still been shocking. People's livelihoods literally evaporating with the burning of these warehouses and there's no sense that this strategy is stopping in terms of what the state will do.

[04:50:05]

Well, the Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim said last week that she is waiting for a package of measures from the government for sellers. So I think more evidence perhaps that this is a company and its vast ecosystem of sellers that is too big to fail for the Russian economy.

And I think yet more evidence, of course, that this strategy is ramping up the cost of this war for Russia. Polo.

SANDOVAL: It was such an interesting look. Clare Sebastian, thank you so much for bringing us that reporting.

Cuba's national power grid collapsed late on Sunday. The state owned utility made the announcement on X. The Post did not include any further details about this latest outage. As you know, Cuba's power system experienced three nationwide blackouts in July and it has struggled to secure fuel after imports from Venezuela and Mexico were shut down by U.S. President Donald Trump.

More of your headlines in a moment. We'll be right back.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. This abandoned piece of a SpaceX rocket known as the upper stage, is expected to crash into the moon on Wednesday. The spacecraft had launched a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago.

Experts are predicting that the space junk will hit the moon at seven times the speed of sound near the Einstein crater.

[04:55:06]

It will then carve out a new crater and send out a plume of dust and rubble that observers back on Earth hope to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 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, very excited because they can determine exactly 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 LCROSS. 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: A small village in Bosnia and Herzegovina turned the community into ancient Rome this weekend for its Roman Days Festival. The villagers did reenactments of gladiator battles inside a makeshift coliseum. There were also ancient crafts and costumes on display. Organizers say that the festival is a way to honor the region's archaeological heritage.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promised you that I would keep you safe. Please, you just have to trust me. Come on.

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SANDOVAL: "Spider-Man" climbs to the top again. Brand new day. Bringing in an estimated $355 million in the United States, according to media research company Rentrac. Globally, though the film had the second biggest opening weekend ever, it's extending a cinematic hot streak for the year.

Massive films like "The Odyssey" shattered expectations just a couple weeks ago. Experts believe that the summer blockbusters could make for a $4 billion movie season and maybe even $10 billion overall box office this year. Especially if it's as hot as it's been this summer. No better place than a nice, cold, dark movie theater.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. Our coverage continues with CNN Headline Express.

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