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Mother, Baby Die After Boat Overturns Near Statue Of Liberty; Another Critical Primary Day In Several Key States; Spain To Establish Border Controls On Travelers From Italy; Israel Rejects Trump's Gaza Peace Plan; Trump's Top General Looking For A U.S. Offramp From Iran Conflict; Trump: Supply Of Some Munitions "A Little Bit Tighter"; "MyPillow Guy" Running For Minnesota Governor; Nanny Detained By ICE Agents At Philadelphia Airport. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 09, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This Tuesday count on CNN for complete coverage of the primary and special election voting in all of the important races that will factor in the fight for the balance of power on Capitol Hill.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. We begin this hour with breaking news. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating after a boat capsized in New York Harbor, killing a mother and her baby. Authorities said divers pulled 27-year-old Sara Sanchez and her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia, from the water. Both were pronounced dead at a local hospital. And now New York police tell CNN the captain of the boat has been arrested and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is near New York Harbor.

Gloria, tell us more.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, this all unfolded right here in the harbor behind me late last night, shortly after 10:20. That's when the first calls reporting that there was a capsized vessel in the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty and people in the water first came in.

Now, as you said, sadly, as a result of this incident, a young mother and her 5-month-old infant killed as a result of this, and the man who was captain of that boat has been taken into custody. He was arrested early this morning and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment.

Now here's what we know about what unfolded here late last night. As I said, the calls came in shortly after 10:20 in the evening. And the NYPD Harbor Unit, the fire department, the Coast Guard, a marine unit, air units, all responded. This was unfolding late at night in an area of the river that's quite removed from the shore near the Statue of Liberty. That means they were far from shore in the dark, in very difficult conditions, both for these victims and the first responders.

And Fred, I've also just confirmed from a law enforcement official briefed on this investigation that the father of the infant who was killed during this incident was also aboard the vessel. He is among the people who survived this incident.

Now, the first vessel to arrive on the scene was actually another commercial boat that was in the area. Good Samaritans that saw what was going on went to it and were actually able to pull several people from the water. But sadly it was NYPD divers who were able to find the mother and the 5-month-old from the -- in the water. They were removed to an area hospital and they were later pronounced dead.

As you said, the U.S. Coast Guard conducting an investigation. I want you to take a listen to a bystander who saw all the commotion here last night as first responders were rushing to the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELINE MONTERO, LIVES IN THE AREA: So I saw three helicopters, two active boats on the water and just a lot of NYU ambulances, cops, firefighters, trucks. So there was a lot of traffic going on. And then I saw that there were boats here, and then people were just speaking that there was a mother and a child that needed to be rescued from the water, and that they were found.

By the time I was already here, seeing the boats just flying out, coming in back and forth. And that's when the rescue happened with the mother and the child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Fred, this investigation is still in preliminary stages, but I can tell you that part of what the U.S. Coast Guard is looking into is determining whether or not this vessel was being operated legally, whether or not the safety standards and requirements to operate this kind of boat were being met. And there's a serious question about the number of people that were aboard this vessel, whether they had life jackets on.

You know, there was a very similar incident here in the New York Harbor back in 2022, eerily similar actually. Also a young child killed in a capsizing incident. And that was the result of a vessel that was being operated for commercial purposes, but it was doing so without the proper Coast Guard training and licensing. So that is certainly going to be one of the things that the Coast Guard is going to try and figure out, and trying to determine what resulted in the capsizing that threw all those people into the water and sadly killed this young mother and child -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All so incredibly sad. All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

All right. This Tuesday is set to be another crucial election day as voters in several key states head to the polls for primaries and special elections.

[16:05:06]

South Carolina's special election primary will provide another test of Trump's grip on the Republican Party. The president has endorsed Darline Graham to replace her late brother, Lindsey Graham. She is facing a crowded field of 10 candidates, making it unlikely that she or any other candidate will clinch the majority needed to avoid a runoff.

In battleground Wisconsin, one of the most closely divided states in the nation, Democrats face another matchup of progressives taking on establishment candidates. Democratic socialist frontrunner Francesca Hong is the latest far-left candidate to face off with moderates in a fight for the future of the Democratic Party.

Joining me now to discuss these races and more is Andrew Pantozzi, a reporter for Axios. I'm also joined by Shelby Talcott, the White House correspondent for Semafor.

Great to see you both.

All right. So, Shelby, let's start with you. You know, this Senate race in South Carolina, President Trump is throwing his support behind Darline Graham to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham. What's at stake for the president and his political power as he tries to carry her to victory?

SHELBY TALCOTT, SEMAFOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, it's clear that this is another Trump ally. You've heard Darline Graham talk about how she will be somebody who backs the president, and she has a lot of the same stances as him. And he, of course, has endorsed her, and the president over the past few weeks, if you've noticed, has gone on Truth Social every once in a while and pointed out how his endorsement numbers are.

And so he keeps an eye on sort of his win-loss ratio. And with such a tight majority in Congress already, every person who is considered a Trump ally who can get through is going to help the president. And so this is a big deal since he has endorsed Darline Graham. Now, the concern that some Republican voters have is they don't really know Darline Graham, besides being her related to Lindsey Graham.

And so they're not quite sure what she stands for. She hasn't had a chance to get out and talk to voters as much as some of her competitors. And so those are some of the concerns that might stop her from being successful, despite having the president's endorsement.

WHITFIELD: And, Andrew, last week, progressives squeaked out a close win in Michigan with Abdul El-Sayed winning the Democratic Senate primary in that state. And now, you know, to Wisconsin with that race. What does it mean for the Democratic Party with Democratic socialists Francesca Hong trying to win the nomination in the governor's race?

ANDREW PANTAZI, REPORTER, AXIOS: I think what we're seeing is a real expansion for the left, where they're trying to make the argument that they're not excluded to places like New York City, but that they can expand across the country, that they can go to swing states like Michigan in a federal race like the Senate, and also, for Assemblywoman Hong, this would be the first time that they get nominated for a governor's race, which would be really significant for them to be able to make the argument that not only are they focused on the federal issues, but they're focused on more local regional issues like the data center opposition that she's really spearheaded there.

WHITFIELD: Abdul El-Sayed's win, it sparked a lot of talk about divisions within the party and debate about the future of the party. Here's what he had to say on "STATE OF THE UNION" today. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE NOMINEE: It was a hotly contested primary and we aired our differences. But in the end, the voters in the Democratic Party in the state of Michigan voted, and they picked a future where we get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for All. But the differences that we hashed out are so much smaller than the similarities that we share.

And so you're seeing folks come together and say, listen, despite the fact that we hashed out our differences in that long, hard fought primary, this is the opportunity right now to unite around what needs to be done. And that's holding the Trump administration accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Andrew, that Michigan race, you know, ended up being much closer than polls had indicated. Do you see that El-Sayed will in any way alter his approach of campaigning leading up to the general election?

PANTAZI: I think we've seen a remarkable coalescing immediately after the primary by the establishment wing so far. That's included the president, Minority Leader Schumer, Representative Stevens trying to do outreach and say that they're moving past the primary and trying to get behind El-Sayed. Whether that reassures the supporters that Stevens had and is enough to motivate them to vote in November and to vote for Abdul El-Sayed remains to be seen.

And it also remains to be seen how differently he campaigns in a general election. I do think the same things that are motivating some of these left-wing primary wins are also some of the same things that are motivating people to have such abysmal numbers for Republicans, the focus on affordability, the focus on the unpopularity of the war with Iran.

[16:10:10]

So whether he's able to continue focusing on what might win him votes and also be able to reach out across to the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and the pro-Israel wing of the Democratic Party, with any olive branches, still kind of remains to be seen, as well as whether any outreach he does would be accepted. WHITFIELD: El-Sayed's primary win, you know, it is indeed setting up a

race that will be critical for control of the Senate. Republicans have already launched attack ads on El-Sayed using his full name as though that, you know, is of a detriment. I mean, but it is a familiar kind of scare tactic that we've seen. Here is Senator Tim Scott discussing those controversial ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I saw your early attack ads against him. You're using his full name in these attack ads, which has gotten some attention. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. He goes by Abdul El-Sayed. Are you trying to say hint, hint to voters, he's Muslim?

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): Not at all. What we're saying -- what we're only saying to voters is a simple thing. He says he's the most -- he says he's the most dangerous candidate you can find. He's right. We should trust his words, not ours.

RAJU: But do you -- why not just use his name Abdul El-Sayed, which he goes by?

SCOTT: Well, listen, I go by Timothy Eugene. And so I get called that all the time. Here's what I know for that question. It's about what he stands for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Did people know that? I never knew it was Timothy Eugene. But anyway, Shelby, I mean, we've heard the president, you know, attacking El-Sayed repeatedly since he won the Michigan primary. There will likely be more of this. So what should be expected in the campaigning road ahead?

TALCOTT: Well, I think it's obvious they're going to continue using his full name. I also haven't heard Senator Scott be referred to as that, but maybe he has been. Who knows? But I think the big thing when I talk to Republicans inside the White House, outside of the White House, is they genuinely -- what Tim Scott said about the belief that this benefits Republicans. That's genuinely how they think, right, is the more progressive candidates get elected in these next few weeks and months the better chances Republicans feel like they have because they have a bigger target base to argue that some of these candidates have more progressive viewpoints that moderate voters in general elections are not going to like.

And so for them, I think you can expect them to focus on a lot of those progressive viewpoints. And I think you're also going to see Republicans point out some of the disagreements within the Democratic Party over some of those particular policy stances, as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. All very fascinating. Shelby Talcott, Andrew Pantazi, thank you so much.

All right. Still to come, MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell, has Trump's endorsement in Lindell's pursuit to become Minnesota governor. There are big questions on what Lindell would do if he's not happy with the election results. And up next, the new diplomatic spat between Italy and Spain following the migrant crisis in Ceuta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:17:58]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Spain is now imposing new border controls on travelers arriving from Italy by air and sea. That followed a similar move by Rome, which impacted visitors coming from Spain. It's all a response to the migrant crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more from Rome.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The border dispute between Madrid and Rome is dragging in its second week after last Friday, the Spanish government announced the imposition of temporary controls on travelers arriving from Italy. This is a retaliation for a similar measure that the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ordered earlier this month, when more than 70,000 undocumented migrants entered the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

It's a suspension of the Schengen agreement, which allows for the free movement of people and goods within the territory of the European Union, and has been in place since the 1990s. However, it's not clear how these new measures will be implemented. For example, travelers arriving in Madrid on Saturday said that they didn't have their passports checked.

LUIGINA CUCCI, ITALIAN VISITOR FROM ROME (through translator): Everything that has happened strikes me as utter nonsense. In Italy, we are basically, well, we just keep going, hoping it will end. These kinds of interventions without any real justification seem to us like nothing more than a way to divert attention, avoid taking a stand and dodge actual action.

POZZEBON: Italy has said it will maintain its own suspension of the Schengen rules, at least until the end of this week, and the two leaders, Meloni of Italy and Pedro Sanchez of Spain, are both refusing to blink first.

Millions of people travel between the two countries every year, especially now in the heat of the summer. The longer this crisis will drag on, the more visible the fractures at the heart of the European Union will be, especially when it comes to migration. For decades, successive Italian governments have complained that other E.U. members were not sharing the burden of the impact of migration with so many undocumented migrants arriving on its shore. And instead, it's now Spain calling a foul.

[16:20:12]

Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Rome. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Stefano, thank you so much.

Still to come, is the war with Iran draining America's most critical weapons stockpiles? We have expert analysis and what it could mean for U.S. military readiness around the world if supplies run low.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New today, the U.S. backed peace plan for Gaza has hit a major hurdle.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more from Tel Aviv on this significant development.

[16:25:03]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: President Trump called it historic and now the Israeli prime minister is rejecting it out of hand. What I'm talking about is the U.S. backed plan for disarming Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And the Israeli prime minister just announced at a meeting of his government that Israel is rejecting out of hand the 15-point roadmap that the U.S. just announced a little over a week ago.

The Israeli prime minister saying that Israel will not carry out any withdrawal from the Gaza Strip until Hamas is completely disarmed of its light and heavy weaponry, as opposed to the kind of phased withdrawal that would happen under this 15-point plan. The prime minister also said that Israeli forces will continue to have the ability to thwart any attacks inside of Gaza. He said that he is currently speaking with the U.S. administration about these various disagreements.

But this statement from the Israeli prime minister marks a remarkable public split between the prime minister and President Trump. Now, in these same remarks, Prime Minister Netanyahu was careful to praise President Trump as one of the best allies that Israel has had, particularly as it relates to Iran. But under pressure from right-wing members of his government, it seems the Israeli prime minister has come out and forcefully rejected this U.S. backed plan, U.S. negotiated plan to disarm Hamas.

Now, we don't know how President Trump is going to react to this news. We have seen him publicly criticize the Israeli prime minister in the past when Netanyahu has angered him. We do have a response, though, from Hamas, which said that it reaffirmed its commitment to this newly negotiated 15-point plan, and Hamas called on the Board of Peace and the mediators and the United States to ensure that Israel complies with this newly negotiated agreement.

Now, it is important to note that over the course of the last week, we have seen a significant decrease in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. And privately, an Israeli source has told us that targeted killings, for example, in Gaza, must now be approved by the Israel's top general. The Israeli military chief of staff. So there have been some changes on the ground. But what the Israeli prime minister is conveying here is that there certainly will not be any withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza right now, and certainly not before Israel's elections, which are slated to take place in late October and which seem to be driving quite a bit of the prime minister's calculus at the moment.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Jeremy.

President Trump's top general is looking for an offramp from the Iran conflict. That's according to sources. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, told top advisers that the military options left on the table for the U.S. could backfire.

Let's talk about this now with retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley.

General, great to see you. So what is the best option in your view for a possible U.S. offramp right now?

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Certainly, you're asking me.

WHITFIELD: Of course.

MACCARLEY: For the grand strategy for resolving what has become apparently, at least right now, almost an intractable conflict. And as I see it, and I put this in numerical order, the order is of no particular significance, but it begins with what we're doing right now. And that is negotiation. But when you address negotiation as is happening, both sides, Iran and the United States, have to be willing to give up something or a lot significantly.

And that's been the challenge, especially this morning or within the last 24 hours, when the Iranians came back and said, yes, you have to confirm our sovereignty of the Persian Gulf. We ourselves will control ingress and egress. There might, in fact, be significant reparations that have to be paid by the United States. So that's option number one. Option number two, as you call an offramp, is we don't offramp. And we continue this sort of tit-for-tat. We fire, Iran fires.

And hopefully over the course of time, and I don't know how much time, is it another six months, that one side, Iran, would be significantly degraded and its demands would be themselves reduced or attrited. And then the third one, which is the most dangerous option, and that is that the United States steps up its activities in the Persian Gulf and considers not only a further degradation or attack on the missile systems, ballistic missile systems, air defense systems, and other things, but as well, perhaps a land operation, and that we can go into if you have some time. WHITFIELD: Well, I wonder, on a follow up on that, is of those

scenarios, I mean, the U.S. would be weighing what is most advantageous of those scenarios. What would you see as the most advantageous for the U.S.?

[16:30:01]

MACCARLEY: As somebody who has seen war, but has seen the consequences of war, what would be most advantageous is a deliberate and conclusive negotiation that at least resolves the most important points. Point number one is access, unfettered access into the, through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. And number two, some movement forward, a definite movement forward on the nuclear issue. That's what I would like.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let me also bring into the conversation here, military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Thank you for being with us, Colonel. So, you know, with all of this, there are also questions being raised about whether the U.S. is running low on some defensive munitions. Have a listen to what President Trump said about that Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have certain types of munitions that are very powerful, that we have unlimited, virtual unlimited supply. We have others where it's a little bit tighter and we're getting them in on a daily basis. We always want more. We have to have more. We have other things maybe come up, maybe come up and maybe don't come up. Hopefully nothing else does come up, but we're in very good shape. We have literally massive amounts of ammunition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So we are also learning today that the Pentagon is asking military contractors to ramp up weapons production. Colonel, A, can you do that? And then B, is that a reflection of just how, you know, badly, I guess, diminished defensive stockpiles are?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Fredricka, good to be with you and with the general as well. It's one of the things that you have to look at is the fact that the munitions stockpiles have really been kind of the stepchild of the budget process for many, many decades at the Department of Defense. And that is a significant aspect that really goes back, you know, for several -- through several administrations. And of course, one of the big weapons that we talk about is the Patriot missile system.

That particular system is experiencing one of the shortfalls that we're really concerned about. So according to most of the reports and most of the analysis, we're looking at about a 50 percent or so shortfall compared to the stockpile that existed before the Iran war started. Now, when you go to a weapons system like the THAAD system, that system has about an 80 percent shortfall.

And so for those types of weapons, which are defensive weapons, we are generally looking at major shortfalls. And those weapons are important to protect our assets, not only in the Persian Gulf, but in other places as well, like Europe and Asia. But when it comes to weapons such as air-to-surface weapons, like the JASM systems and some of the other systems, we actually are in pretty good shape.

So it's a mixed bag. And in some ways, what the President was talking about was basically accurate. There are, at least in this particular, you know, clip that you played, but one of the key things to watch out for is the weapons systems that have become shortfalls, it takes a long time to replenish them. And in some cases, we're looking at, you know, about a three or so year period, in some cases a bit longer. So that's where the real danger lies.

WHITFIELD: So a long time to replenish, up to two years for them when you ask contractors to hurry it up. Can they?

LEIGHTON: Well, it depends. I think when you're looking at the defense industrial base, we've got several contractors that are maybe not as agile or as nimble as we would like them to be. The other thing we have to keep in mind is that these weapons systems are, in many cases, difficult to produce. And they are very sophisticated weapons systems. So it does take a longer time, let's say, to put a Patriot together than it does to put one of the air-to- surface weapons together. So that's really what we're dealing with.

In some cases, the defense industrial base or the defense contractors can do the job. In other cases, they can't. And on the other side, Fredricka, what you also have to look at is the fact that we may need different types of weapons in order to achieve the job that we want to achieve. We want cheaper weapons that can go after drones as opposed to the more expensive weapons. And that may be part of the balance that we seek in this particular case.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, gentlemen. We'll leave it there for now. Colonel Leighton and General MacCarley, appreciate it.

[16:34:34]

Coming up, Mike Lindell looks to ride that MyPillow fame to the Minnesota governor's mansion. A look at his chances in the primary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: MyPillow founder and President Trump loyalist Mike Lindell says he is resigning as CEO of his company to focus on running for Minnesota governor with the critical primary just days away. Lindell said last week, I'm quoting now, "I am putting Minnesota above myself, my title, and my business interest so I can give this campaign and the people of our state my full-time energy and attention."

Lindell, who pushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and then faced legal trouble for it, has the backing of President Trump, but not the Minnesota Republican Party. Our Donie O'Sullivan recently caught up with Lindell, and here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) [16:40:05]

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: It's like we're going in to meet Willy Wonka.

O'SULLIVAN: Good to see you.

MIKE LINDELL, MYPILLOW FOUNDER: I'll tell you what Steve Bannon just called you.

O'SULLIVAN: Why did he call me this time?

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): I've come to Minnesota to meet MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell, at his pillow factory.

LINDELL: So, this is our outlet store.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Today, Lindell is perhaps better known as a prolific election conspiracy theorist.

O'SULLIVAN: I'm dreaming of free and fair election.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Now, the MyPillow man is running for governor of Minnesota.

LINDELL: Now, there it is, huh? People can be coming up, picking up on governor signs, yes.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): I first met Mike Lindell five years ago at his so-called cyber symposium, an event he organized where he said he would prove that the 2020 election was stolen by China.

O'SULLIVAN: If you're correct, if you have that evidence --

LINDELL: No, just forget about the evidence. If I'm right that China took our country, right now, do you care? Would that bother you? Would that bother you?

O'SULLIVAN: But you have to show the proof first, right?

LINDELL: No, would --

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): The proof never materialized but Lindell is still fixated on election conspiracy theories and is a firm fixture in the MAGA Media universe.

STEVE BANNON, MEDIA EXECUTIVE, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Mike Lindell, you're from the factory floor today.

LINDELL: We're now in our big factory sale but in a little bit, CNN's coming here. We're getting set up. Your old pal, Donie is coming in from Ireland.

BANNON: Donie the dirtbag.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Staff from his streaming channel, LindellTV are now even part of the White House press corps.

CARA CASTRONUOVA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, LINDELLTV: Will you guys also consider releasing the president's fitness plan? He actually looks healthier than ever before.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can confirm the President is in very good shape.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Lindell's loyalty to Trump has paid off. The President endorsed him for governor ahead of the Minnesota Republican primary. But before Trump's endorsement, the Minnesota GOP had already backed a candidate for governor and it was not Mike Lindell.

O'SULLIVAN: Obviously, it complicates things when the leader of your party nationally is endorsing a different candidate than the one the state party has chosen here, puts you in an awkward spot.

ALEX PLECHASH, MINNESOTA GOP CHAIRMAN: Yes, it did but that's OK. That's politics. We're always in awkward spots. Our endorsed candidate is Kendall Qualls, a very high-quality individual with a great background.

O'SULLIVAN: But Mike Lindell seems to be leading in the polls right now.

PLECHASH: Depends on which poll you look at and so on. But Mike Lindell is certainly a player, certainly after he got the endorsement from President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good, sir.

LINDELL: Hi, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mike, it's such a pleasure. I'm such a huge fan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm praying for you.

LINDELL: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three.

LINDELL: You never got a picture from CNN, did you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we didn't.

LINDELL: That's five years later, Donie.

O'SULLIVAN: For people who might say, you know what, Mike seems like a good guy, but I'm worried that if he becomes governor, he's just going to be worried about all this election stuff.

LINDELL: Right, and that's a good question you got, Donie. Well, you've gotten better after five years. What is going on?

O'SULLIVAN: Thank you. LINDELL: This is the honest-to-God truth. No matter if I would win, someone else would win, I always question anything done with the electronic voting machine.

O'SULLIVAN: If you don't win, are you going to say, this was rigged, this was stolen?

LINDELL: No, this is what I'm trying to tell you. But you know, see, I still see you don't listen even after five years.

O'SULLIVAN: No, I'm listening, but I think that's the question.

LINDELL: Listen to what I'm saying, what I'm saying is this, we have -- not just in Minnesota, we have now the technology and we've gotten the word out.

O'SULLIVAN: But election officials all over the country say, but we have audits, we verify votes.

LINDELL: No, no, they don't, and this is where you're wrong.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Even after the voting technology company, Smartmatic, won a defamation case against Lindell, he's still convinced of the conspiracy theories about the company and about voting machines in general.

LINDELL: Donald Trump was winning the election by a landslide, and then of course, all these deviations pop up. My teams were down there when they tested the Dominion machine.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Some of Lindell's supporters share his concerns about elections.

O'SULLIVAN: Why would Mike Lindell make a good governor of Minnesota?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he would take care of the machine, get rid of it, go to election integrity, gold standard, paper ballot, hand count.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): If Americans have learned anything from the politics of the past decade, it's to not rule anyone out.

O'SULLIVAN: Ten years ago, people laughed at and said, Trump could never be president. Now, in Minnesota, you got a millionaire that people laugh at, say he's absurd, that this guy could never be governor.

LINDELL: Only $14.88, I can't believe I'm even saying that.

O'SULLIVAN: Can you understand the appeal of Mike Lindell?

PLECHASH: Oh, certainly I can. I mean, I said the comparison with Trump is a very good one. And here he is president for the second time. So, anything is possible in politics.

O'SULLIVAN: So, if Mike Lindell wins the primary, you'll get behind Mike Lindell?

PLECHASH: Of course, we will. That's what the party does.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): It's easy to forget that before he was an election conspiracy theorist, here in Minnesota, Mike Lindell was known as a success story.

[16:45:00]

O'SULLIVAN: Do you have a MyPillow?

PLECHASH: I actually do.

O'SULLIVAN: Yes? You sleep in a MyPillow?

PLECHASH: More than one.

O'SULLIVAN: You like them?

PLECHASH: Yes, they're very good.

O'SULLIVAN: Do you think you can beat Senator Klobuchar?

LINDELL: Absolutely.

O'SULLIVAN: Really?

LINDELL: Absolutely. I'm the only one that can beat her.

O'SULLIVAN: Will you debate her?

LINDELL: Minnesota wants to be -- of course, you know me, bring it on, Amy. Are you kidding? I'd love to debate her every day.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, she was heading to the World Cup when ICE arrested her at the airport. How a Philadelphia nanny's case is shining a light on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:14]

WHITFIELD: An Argentine woman working as a nanny was on her way to attend a World Cup match last month when her boyfriend says she was arrested by ICE in Philadelphia. Her detention comes as federal agents are ramping up immigration operations at airports across the country. But the woman's partner tells CNN that she has no criminal background. And all of this still comes as a surprise. CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo is here again with more details on this. I mean, this puts them in a very difficult situation, doesn't it?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very difficult situation. And he was telling me that they were planning on a future together and insisted multiple times during the interview that she is not a criminal. But Pennsylvania nanny Iliana Noeli Lick was detained early on Saturday morning in July as she was about to take a flight from Philadelphia to Kansas City, Missouri to watch a World Cup game between Argentina, her native country, and Switzerland. This is according to her boyfriend, Steven Melchiorre, who told CNN he dropped her off at the airport. Later at home, Melchiorre says he realized he had missed a phone call from her. And as he heard her choke back tears, he realized she was in trouble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILIANA NOELI LICK, ARRESTED BY ICE: Hey, Steven, I'm Iliana. I'm still at the airport. So I'm in detention. Please call me. I need to call an attorney. Please answer my phone. I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: According to immigration authorities, Iliana Lick arrived in the United States in 2023 and overstayed her visa. But her boyfriend says she extended her travel visa before it expired and then applied for asylum and was granted work authorization. Melchiorre says she had been working as a nanny in Philadelphia for two families who lived near the home they shared. Since she had no criminal background, neither of them thought Lick would be targeted for detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MELCHIORRE, ILIANA'S BOYFRIEND: No, in fact, she's been complying with immigration every step of the way. In fact, about six weeks ago, she went on there and paid a mandatory $100 fee to keep her application current.

ROMO: What do you make of this case, Steven? What comes to mind when you think about the way this happened and where she is right now?

MELCHIORRE: It is, as far as I know, this is an immigration civil type of case. And the fact to see her being treated in a criminal way, being detained in a prison is tough for her. And that's frustrating and hard to see. And I feel really bad for her that she's been in there for 28 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security described Iliana Lick as an illegal alien from Argentina who was detained during a targeted arrest operation at Philadelphia International Airport on July 11th. The statement goes on to say that Iliana Lick entered the United States on March 17th, 2023 and overstayed her visa. Lick will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of her immigration proceedings. To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do not confer legal status in the United States.

According to Melchiorre, Lick has been moved four times in the 29 days she has been in detention. And is currently being held at a detention center in New Mexico. Melchiorre told me he believes there's a good possibility his girlfriend will be granted bond. But that doesn't mean she will be allowed to stay in the country and has no idea what will happen to their dreams of having a future together.

But again, it was -- they were aware about their case and the chances, but never expected her to be targeted because of what I said at the beginning, no criminal background.

WHITFIELD: So this now is the beginning of what could be a long process? Is that what they're anticipating?

ROMO: Yes. In a good case scenario, she still faces deportation. So that future together that he was talking about is very much up in the air.

WHITFIELD: OK. Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

ROMO: Thank you.

[16:54:12]

WHITFIELD: All right, ahead at the top of the hour, details on the charges over a boat accident, a deadly boat accident near the Statue of Liberty claiming the life of a mother and her baby daughter late last night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Almost 60 years after American astronauts first set foot on the moon, the race to return is accelerating. But this time, NASA is counting on two billionaires to help get the job done. A new CNN flashdoc explores the high stakes competition shaping the future of space exploration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An eclipse is something that has engendered curiosity in personkind throughout history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing the sky go dark, the crickets chirping in the middle the day, it creates a spectacular phenomenon here on the Earth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The solar eclipse happening in August 2026 is going to have a path of totality that people will, you know, travel across the world to be able to catch a glimpse of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact is that the moon has a very romantic and seductive quality when it comes to our lore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's the moon that we get to now go to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going back to the freaking moon.

[16:59:59] SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The space race heating up once again. China launching its latest mission to the moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Chinese will land their taikonauts on the moon. Question is, do we return first?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Eclipsing Power airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, thank you so much for joining me this weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN Newsroom continues with Omar Jimenez right now.