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Zelenskyy Vows Response After Russian Strike on Shopping Mall; Trump Stumps for Sen. Darline Graham Ahead of Tuesday GOP Runoff; Manhunt Underway for Wife of Slain Police Officer. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 22, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

DR. BURRIS "DUKE" DUNCAN, PEDIATRICIAN: He's just a very resourceful guy. Kiko knows everybody in Nogales. We're a village and everyone is kind of contributing to make things happen.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: I had the opportunity to be one of the first patients they treated. I was born with a condition involving the absence of my lower limbs and somewhat abnormal hands. There are other people who refuse to give up and that motivates you to keep pushing forward.

FRANCISCO "KIKO" TRUJILLO, CNN HERO: We hire folks with the same disability that the devices they're going to be building. The person that makes prosthesis, he wears a prosthesis. Once we receive people that have lost the limb, they're devastated, they're depressed.

When they talk to a guy that makes the prosthesis and he lost his leg, they'll listen. Close to 3,500 people with disabilities have benefited from our program. We're located right next to the border.

We have been able to involve all sectors of the society on both sides and work towards helping people overcome the barriers that they face. We are changing the lives of not just the patient, but the entire family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN HOST: For the full story about Kiko and his work, go to cnn.com/heroes.

Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

[18:01:30]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Isabel Rosales in Atlanta.

New tonight, Ukraine is vowing to respond to a deadly Russian double tap strike on a shopping center that killed at least 16 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strike "cowardly" where 130 people were wounded, at least 29 are in serious condition.

Ukraine and Russia trading new strikes overnight as the front lines remain largely static, locked in a stalemate, both sides have escalated their air campaigns.

CNN's Sebastian Shukla has more now on the impact of these latest Russian attacks.

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: The trading of aerial attacks between Russia and Ukraine continues with pace, but is also showing the early times of escalating far out of control. The attack on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the home of the Ukrainian president, has left 16 people dead, 130 injured, including 23 children.

This attack is what is known as a double tap, a callous tactic launched clearly on a civilian target. The way they work is that after the initial attack and casualties, emergency services flood the area and then a second projectile is fired on those first responders treating the wounded.

In this instance, video from inside the mall shows the initial attack and then later another drone slamming into its already burning target. President Zelenskyy said that second drone hit around 30 minutes after the first, and vowed a furious response.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is an absolute atrocity committed by the Russians. They're nothing but beasts. We will definitely respond. It is crucial that we have everything we need to protect lives.

It is important that the world does not remain silent about all of this. This Russian War must come to an end, and the world must help us achieve that.

SHUKLA: The head of the regional administration also said earlier that the emergency services are back on site, and has questioned why the mall was open during the air raid.

Overnight, we also saw once again both sides trading attacks against each other, Russia attacking Kyiv and the southern port city of Odesa and Ukraine attacking an oil refinery and a new target in Samara, appearing to be the e-commerce facility called OSN, similar to Wildberries, which is often referred to as Russia's Amazon.

Although these attacks have become the new norm, there are signs that the scope from both sides appears to be widening, with targets expanding from purely military or industrial infrastructure installations. Russia is also seriously exploiting Ukraine's lack of air defense systems, particularly with the use of ballistic missiles and Ukraine's shortage of patriot interceptors.

The widening of the scope is a serious escalation in a war that is showing few signs of ending. With all tracks of diplomacy appearing to be at an impasse, the U.S. led negotiations have stalled, touted visits to Moscow and Kyiv by Witkoff and Jared Kushner appear to have failed to materialize. And, of course, the man at the center of all of this, President Putin, is showing very little desire to back down from his maximalist requests, let alone reach an agreement.

Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:05:10]

ROSALES: Sebastian Shukla, thank you.

We are joined now by CNN senior military analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis. He is also the Vice Chair of The Carlyle Group, an international investment firm.

Admiral, thank you so much for joining CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's start with Ukraine here, who has a critical short of U.S. made patriot air defense interceptors. How does this hamper Ukraine's ability to defend against the type of attacks that we saw overnight?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: Significantly, Isabel and point to the rising level of casualties. A couple of points that are salient here, first, a part of the reason Ukraine is having great difficulty getting those air defense weapons is because many of them have been apportioned to the Middle East.

These two conflicts are connected in that sense that the United States has been providing these Patriot missiles and additional air defense understandably and correctly, to our allies in the Middle East who are under attack from Iran.

This takes the spotlight away from this war in Ukraine and you see the results of Russian atrocities. I cannot overemphasize, as a former NATO commander and someone who spent his life in the military, what Putin is doing is straight up war crimes going after civilian populations. And in particular, this double tap. That's the kind of thing terrorists like al-Qaeda do and Russia is in that neighborhood at this point.

ROSALES: Is it more significant to you, or does this change your thinking -- with Russia doing this sort of strike a double tap? What does that tell you?

STAVRIDIS: I think it says that Putin is increasingly under pressure to get results. He is lost a million young Russian men either killed or grievously wounded or left the country to avoid the draft. His economy is grinding slowly, less and less productive for average Russians and the Ukrainians are getting better and better as Sebastian just reported in their strikes.

And by the way, the Ukrainians are conducting legal warfare going after Russian industrial targets while the Russians go after civilian targets. So Putin is under pressure. He is going to continue to do everything he can to push at Ukrainian morale. I don't think he is going to succeed any more than the Nazi Germans were able to push Britain out of World War II.

Civilian populations have a way of being very resilient in campaigns like this. So my money remains on the Ukrainians. ROSALES: I want to turn now to Iran, where CNN has new reporting tonight about the latest tactics to get oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, an important endeavor. This includes going dark so it can't be seen by tracking services and then going with a U.S. Military escort across the Strait.

The aim here is to avoid Iranian drone attacks.

Admiral, you have a deep knowledge of how tricky and dangerous it is going across the Strait. What can you tell us about that? About how difficult it is going there, especially in light of these wartimes? And what do you think about this tactic of going dark?

STAVRIDIS: First and foremost, yes, I've been through the Strait of Hormuz as a Navy officer. Dozens and dozens and dozens of times, both during peace time and under Iranian fire back in the 1980s. So I know this channel well, and it is very difficult navigationally even without Iranian drones and missiles and small boats coming at you.

So the tactic being employed at the moment, as you call it, correctly, going dark, is the civilian tankers turn off their reporting mechanism and they then follow a route very close to the southern part of the channel.

This is close to the coast of Oman, and by all reports, U.S. Navy ships are helping marshal them into convoys, protecting them and moving them along. That's increasing slowly, but increasing the number of ships getting through.

[18:10:00]

And then final thought, Isabel. In addition to ramping up the tracking of these merchant convoys and getting more of them out, the U.S. Navy is putting a blockade on Iran's long coastline.

So bottom line, if we can put economic pressure on Iran by blockading their coastline and we can get slowly more tankers to come through the Strait of Hormuz, that puts big pressure on the Iranians, and I think we will get them back to the table and we can get to a settlement.

ROSALES: Yes, it has been a roller coaster ride back and forth with this, with high stakes.

Before we let you go, I do want to get your perspective on a CNN exclusive. Three sources telling my colleagues, Haley Britzky and Pam Brown, that the U.S. Navy is working to rename an aircraft carrier under construction that would be named USS Doris Miller, honoring a Black sailor who helped defend U.S. Forces during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Have you read up on that? What are your thoughts on this?

STAVRIDIS: If the reporting is correct, and certainly the administration is not discussing it publicly, if the reporting is correct, the young man you're showing there, an enormous hero, well- known throughout the navy, someone who you see him looking at that Navy cross. He is wearing the nation's second highest decoration. It should have been a Medal of Honor. It may be upgraded to a Medal of Honor.

And for all those reasons, naming an aircraft carrier after a sailor, an enlisted sailor, a hero like this made a lot of sense to me and it was announced by the Trump administration during the first administration. So I am hoping this reporting is not accurate and that we continue to have an aircraft carrier coming down the ways named for Petty Officer Doris Miller, truly a heroic figure and not changing the name at this stage of the game makes no sense to me.

ROSALES: Yes. Doris Miller, thank you for that clarification. Certainly a war hero, as you mentioned.

Admiral James Stavridis, thank you so much for your time and discussing these important issues.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Isabel.

ROSALES: Thank you.

Well, still to come, President Trump throwing his full support behind Darline Graham for her late brother's Senate seat this November, despite Republicans questioning her lack of experience, especially when it comes to national security.

Plus, two of the biggest reservoirs in the U.S. plunged to record lows. The water crisis, threatening multiple states and why experts say this should alarm all Americans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I went to her and I said, you've got to run, Darline. And with your support, Darline will defend common sense in our nation's capital. With Darline's help in the Senate, we are going to continue to build on the most successful 19 months of any administration in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And that was President Trump last night, stumping for late Senator Lindsey Graham' sister, Darline Graham, ahead of Tuesday's runoff Republican primary election in South Carolina.

Darline Graham is running to fill her brother's Senate seat. She is currently serving in the role after being appointed following his death last month.

CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist, Ron Brownstein joins me now.

Ron, thank you for your time.

Let's talk about all of the time that President Trump is spending in South Carolina. Is that the appropriate use of his time in the way that the GOP sees it? Is this the appropriate state to be spending all that energy and time? And do you think his support in this race will make a difference?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. It will make a difference, but whether it makes enough of a difference is a separate question.

You know, it has always seemed to me that President Trump has been more focused on maintaining and demonstrating and consolidating his control over the Republican Party, rather than necessarily focusing on the Republican Party's interest in the midterm election.

And, you know, he has been very powerful. I mean, he has beaten two incumbent Republican senators this year. I don't think any President has done that in a single year within their own party. But he has had some cracks, toward the end here of the primary season. I mean, he had two candidates who did not prevail in Florida, his governor candidate in Wyoming didn't prevail. So this is going to be another test.

I mean, he is asking the Republican voters in South Carolina to accept a lot. Darline Graham seems like a very, you know, a fine person, but as she has made clear, she doesn't have the expertise that you usually expect in a U.S. Senator. So he is really banking on his relationship with them and of course, her family name to carry her over the line.

ROSALES: Yes, and South Carolina is solidly Republican.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

ROSALES: How do you see how Trump's influence there might differ from his impact on races in purple states like Michigan come November?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, yes. I mean, that is really -- look, in modern midterm politics, without question, the single most important factor is the approval rating of the incumbent president and Donald Trump's first term in 2018 and 2020, according to all of the exit polls that were done, Susan Collins in Maine in 2020 was the only Republican who won Senate candidate -- or incumbent who won in a State where more voters disapproved than approved of Trump's job performance.

And that is obviously a real challenge for Republicans this year, because Trump's approval is significantly lower than it was in 2018, or for that matter, that Biden's was in 2022, Obama in 2010, Clinton in 1994 or Bush in 2006, all midterms that went very badly against the president's party. And Trump is somewhere between eight and 10 or maybe 12 points below where they were in approval.

So to me, the core question in the 2026 election has really revealed itself already. And that is, can Republican candidates win significantly more voters who disapprove of trump than they did during his first term? That really is the pivot, I think, of this election, unless you think that somehow his approval is going to radically improve between now and November.

ROSALES: Yes, and I was reading your column about how even the pickup truck crowd is losing favor when it comes to Trump or he is losing their favor, a crowd that might have been unimaginable years ago.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes!

ROSALES: Gas prices --

BROWNSTEIN: Hundred dollar gas -- you know, basically it costs you hundred dollars plus to fill up a pickup at this point, maybe 150 if you're using premium or diesel and you know, that is a big burden on people, you know, 85 percent basically of pickup truck drivers are white, 85 percent are men. Three quarters are married. I mean, we are talking about core Republican constituencies.

And in fact, you know, by about four to one, they identify more as Republicans than Democrats and it is really indicative of a lot of Republican constituencies who basically align with the party, especially on cultural issues, but are having a very hard time in his second term.

Look at farmers, look at the rural economy that are being hit both by the high fuel costs and by tariffs. So, you know, the question of whether allegiance to Trump is going to be sufficient to bring out some of these core constituencies of the Trump coalition that are facing -- you know, are not getting what they expected out of the second term. That is going to be, again, a real challenge for Republicans in November.

It is why places like Iowa and Ohio are much more on the map, both in governor and Senate races, than they've really been at any time since 2012.

ROSALES: Yes, and even if these voting blocs decide to stay home and save themselves, the time and the gas, that's still a problem for the GOP.

Ron Brownstein, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

ROSALES: Thanks.

Well, coming up, a manhunt underway in Massachusetts as police mourn one of their own details on the search for the wife of an off-duty police officer who was found dead inside his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF PAUL SAUCLER, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS POLICE: We will not stop until we find her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:27:30]

ROSALES: A police manhunt is intensifying in Massachusetts for a woman that they believe is connected to the death of her police officer husband. Worcester Police have issued an arrest warrant for Karen Solomon. This is her picture. They are describing her as armed and dangerous after her husband, Kurt Solomon, was found dead in the home that they shared.

Karen is the co-founder of a group that helps police officers and their families deal with mental health issues.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is following the story. She joins us now.

Gloria, we obtained this new 911 audio. What are the noteworthy parts of this?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Isabel, the audio is noteworthy because it confirms that officers identified the person who made the first 911 call as Karen Solomon.

But first, let me tell you about the search that's been going on for the past four days, because police in the area have released several resources to help in this search. Marine and air units, K-9 units, officers have been patrolling on foot, scouring the area looking for evidence and looking for Karen Solomon, the woman who now appears to be at the very center of this mystery.

Here is what we know about her. She is known in the community as an advocate for mental health for first responders. In fact, she has written books about the subject, and she led a non-for-profit focused on that work. But she is now facing an arrest warrant after her husband, Worcester Police officer, Kurt Solomon, was found dead inside his home on Tuesday.

We also have these images captured by a doorbell camera and released by police showing Karen Solomon walking in shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops early on Tuesday morning. Now, police say that this is just minutes after a call was placed from the home where Kurt Solomon was found dead and I am going to play some audio of the dispatcher's responding to that home and trying to get in contact with the person who placed the call.

As I said, they identify that caller as Solomon. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DISPATCH: Is the caller, a male or female?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a female. Her voicemail on her phone says it's Karen Solomon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is visible blood inside the building, inside the bathroom, in the back.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Isabel, police have declined to discuss the details of that call so far, but in the meantime, Solomon has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. [18:30:10 ]

She is 58 years old and as you said, she is considered armed and dangerous. A local police asking the community to report anything they might have seen. Certainly, if they know anything about Solomon's potential whereabouts and they are saying that they are working on every part of this investigation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAUCLER: We will not stop until we find her either way, here or somewhere else. And we want to bring closure to the Solomon family.

Kurt was a hell of a guy. He was an awesome police officer and an awesome person. And he is going to be truly missed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Officer Solomon was also a 31-year veteran of the police force. He was also an Army veteran and a father of two. Police did confirm during that police briefing that he had suffered a fatal injury with a sharp object. They have not released any other details about what they believe happened at the scene as this investigation continues to unfold -- Isabel.

ROSALES: Serious situation, armed and dangerous. I am sure that's leaving the community there feeling tense, to say the least.

Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

Well, still to come, why some money experts are questioning the Treasury Department's move to intervene in the bond market. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: It was a wild week in the $31 trillion U.S. bond market. Traders were spooked when bond interest rates hit some of their highest levels in about two decades earlier in the week.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then led a highly unusual buyback, seen as a move to bring those rates down, but the bond market ignored that. By the end of the week, rates had shook off the buy back and pushed higher again.

Here is what President Trump said when asked about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Did you direct Secretary Bessent to intervene in the bond market? Was that your idea?

TRUMP: No, not at all, no. He is a very capable man. He wanted to do it. He is very good at it. He is a good touch, very good natural touch for the bonds and interest and he did that. Yes!

REPORTER: The yields have come back up since then. Have you talked to him about another type of intervention. Is that something he will do?

TRUMP: We have many types of intervention. That's one. The ultimate intervention is our military and if we have to use that, we will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: President Trump did not explain what he meant by that last comment.

A sharp selloff in the bond market, raising alarm bells not just for the economy, but it also has big implications for what you and I pay on many things. CNN senior business reporter, David Goldman explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: The bond market is in the news this week, and I think that it is important that we understand why it affects you.

So the government does all kinds of things that we want it to do. It pays for Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. But now, the government decides that it wants to go to war. Well, that's very expensive. And to fund that, it is going to have to borrow.

Now, we already know that the war has raised gas prices, but now these interest rates that, you know, maybe were around four percent, well, taking on more risk, investors say, you know what, we want those to be higher, maybe around five percent.

So then the government needs to pay for all of this. But so do you. Because when Treasuries go higher, then so do the consumer loans that are pegged to those treasuries like mortgages, credit cards and auto loans -- all of those get more expensive. It is not the only way that it affects you, though, because the government says, well, if we need to pay more money to finance that debt than we have to make some tough decisions.

And we saw this week that we now have $40 trillion in debt. And to finance that debt, just to pay for that, it is going to cost $1.2 trillion this year alone. That is 19 percent of the federal budget.

That is basically saying a fifth of all the money that the government spends just goes to finance the debt that it is using to borrow, to do all of that spending. And so what do we do about this? Well, the government has a few options. It can say, we will raise taxes.

Well, no one really likes to raise taxes. No one likes their taxes raised. Politicians have basically abandoned that strategy in the past few years. So the other option is that you start to cut social services. You say, you know what, Social Security, maybe that is going to be reduced in some way, or Medicare or Medicaid.

And we have seen some of these social services start to fray a little bit. Not all of the options that we had before continue to be options going forward. So these are painful options and this, I think, explains how the debt market and the bond market affects you at home. So what's getting done about it? Well the Treasury is trying to intervene by buying back some of these bonds to lower those rates.

The problem is, it is just a drop in the bucket with a market this size, it is going to take a lot of action to get those yields lower. Right now, it is a painful, painful thing to get done and it is causing a lot of pain for people at home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:40:23]

ROSALES: Yes, the bond market impacts all of us. David Goldman, thank you for breaking down the numbers. Well coming up, residents in Arizona, Nevada and California facing strict water cuts as two of the country's biggest reservoirs hit record low levels.

We will talk to an expert about this growing water crisis. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:45:22]

ROSALES: A new federal plan orders major water cuts for three states that rely on the Colorado River. Arizona will see the biggest reduction at about 27 percent, while California will face a 10 percent cut and Nevada will see about a 16 percent decrease. The Colorado River is a lifeline for seven southwestern states, providing water to around 40 million people, irrigating more than five million acres of farmland and supplying hydroelectric power across the region.

But years of drought, climate change, high temperatures and heavy demand have taken a major toll on the system, and experts warn the crisis could get worse as two of the rivers key reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, fall to record lows.

Joining us now is Sarah Porter, director of the Cal Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.

Sarah, thank you so much for joining the show, CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's start with federal officials who say that these cuts are needed to protect the water system. How is this going to impact people on a daily basis? What does this look like on the ground?

SARAH PORTER, DIRECTOR OF THE CAL CENTER FOR WATER POLICY AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, the impacts will be different depending on who we are talking about. The impacts in Arizona, which is going to experience the biggest cuts will fall to the cities, tribes and industries from Phoenix to Tucson that get their water from the Central Arizona Project Canal, which is a big 300-mile long canal that moves Colorado River Water to the middle part of the state. The cities generally, for the most part, have backup plans. They have had years and years to make sure that they have water supplies to serve, instead of Colorado River water. The impacts will be different again depending on the user, but for the most part, at least for a few years, the Central Arizona Project users in Arizona will fall back on backup supplies.

ROSALES: Yes and the rivers key reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, they have fallen to record lows. We are actually -- we have some CNN video showing Lake Powell's decline from 2015, and now look at that, 2022, that's incredible.

This is an issue we have been seeing for years. Why is something just now being done about this?

PORTER: Actually, the seven states that share Colorado River water and the federal government in Mexico, which also has Colorado River water rights, have been working on this since the beginning of this century. They've implemented measures over the years, but it hasn't been enough.

You know, the reservoir levels have persistently declined in spite of huge conservation efforts. In fact, the three lower basin states -- Arizona, California and Nevada, have reached historic low levels of consumption in the last few years because of these conservation measures. But they are not enough to turn the system around, and you know, there is a real risk of getting to the point where there isn't an ability to deliver stored water from these reservoirs. And that's you know, water that, as you said, so many people and so much agriculture relies on.

You know, the only thing that people have the power to do is to leave water in the system and that's very, very hard. You know, that translates into often into economic impacts and for tribes' cultural impacts; for cities, potentially quality of life impacts, certainly higher water rates. So this is very difficult.

ROSALES: Yes, and as you mentioned, Arizona is facing that largest -- the largest reduction out of all the states.

You are in Arizona. What concerns are you hearing from people there? From the tribes? What worries you the most?

PORTER: People are really concerned. And you know, what worries me is that people don't understand all the work that has gone into being prepared for this shortage and then the other thing that worries me is that it is so important that we pull together as a region to make sure of our water security going into the future.

So we will achieve that through a combination of actions. There may be some agriculture that could be voluntarily retired. Agriculture is the biggest water user in the Colorado Basin. It uses about three-fourths of the water that people use.

[18:50:10] But, you know, cities can implement additional conservation measures and they are going to have to make massive investments in alternative water supplies to stay water secure and that's a difficult thing to accomplish.

ROSALES: Yes, it is difficult to hear that our fellow Americans will be experiencing this. And the Colorado River, by the way, has been harmed by decades of overuse and drought.

If these trends continue, what do you expect the water system to look like five or 10 years from now?

And if you could -- we have limited time here. Say it quickly.

PORTER: Yes. I just want to point out that this is a supply problem, not a demand problem. There hasn't been an increase in demand that's resulted in these declining reservoir levels. This is a change in how much snow the Upper Rockies are getting.

What we have to do is adjust as a region to using a lot less Colorado River water. You know, maybe as much as 30 percent less Colorado River water. That is the only way to keep this system functioning.

ROSALES: Sara Porter, I am sure we will be speaking more about this in the future, unfortunately. But thank you so much for your expertise.

PORTER: Thank you.

ROSALES: Well, right now, millions across the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley are facing potential flood threats as the Southwest deals with more potentially record breaking heat.

CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar has the latest.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More than 50 million people have the potential for severe thunderstorms as this very powerful cold front continues to push down to the South. We've already had some active showers and thunderstorms this morning, that continues throughout the remainder of the evening hours tonight.

You can see by about 10:00 P.M. tonight, you've got that line starting to spread into Virginia, Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Maryland and Delaware. But you also have some storms back down here across the southern tier of the U.S. -- Mississippi, Arkansas into Louisiana, and some storms that could end up bringing some pretty large hail over in Eastern Colorado.

All of those sections of storms are going to continue through the overnight hours and even into early Sunday. So do keep that in mind that they are expected to continue, unlike some that typically in the summertime would fall apart during the overnight hours. That's not going to be the case for many of these.

Sunday afternoon, we also start to see more of them fire back up again across areas of the Northeast. So it is going to be two days in a row for some of these areas. You also have the potential for flooding right here along the Atlantic Coast, especially for portions of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, because they have had multiple days' worth of rain. So now adding even more rain is really just going to compound it, since the ground is already saturated.

Across the southern tier of the U.S. The big concern here is the heat. You've got a lot of heat alerts out for places like Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, but also into the Desert Southwest.

And for some of these areas, it is a prolonged heat wave. Take a look at Dallas, for example. The average this time of year is 95. Even when we get a slight dip of a cool down next Thursday, it is still going to be about five degrees above where they normally would be this time of year.

ROSALES: Hot, hot, hot! Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Well, still to come, take two for the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle potentially going back to acting. But are the rumors true? Details next. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:19]

ROSALES: Welcome back.

A move back to the U.K. isn't the only news for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

This week, Meghan is in talks to possibly join the third season of Guy Ritchie's "The Gentlemen." That is, according to a person familiar with the ongoing discussions.

The show is filmed in the United Kingdom and her return to acting would come after putting her career on hold back in 2018 after her engagement to Prince Harry.

CNN entertainment reporter, Elizabeth Wagmeister has all the details.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Big news here in Hollywood and also across the pond. Just days after CNN reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be moving their family back to the U.K. out of California, it appears that Meghan Markle could also be making her big return to acting.

A source familiar with current discussions tells me that Meghan Markle is in talks to join the third season of Guy Ritchie's Netflix series, "The Gentlemen."

Now, no deal is in place and Deadline, which is the Hollywood trade that first reported the news that Meghan had gotten an offer to join the show, they report that "The conversations are hypothetical at this point." They also noted that no specific role has been identified for Markle so far, so it is possible that this doesn't happen. But if it does, it would make a lot of sense because the ex-Royal couple, they of course have a relationship with Netflix. Netflix is where they did their big docuseries about their own relationship and it is also where Meghan Markle has hosted two seasons of her own lifestyle series.

Now, this would be the first major role since before Meghan joined the royal family, and since her and Prince Harry have left the Royal family. That role, of course, was in the series "Suits." Now, Netflix declined to comment on my reporting and I have reached out to multiple representatives for Meghan Markle and her production company.

Back to you, Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you.

Well, that wasn't the only Royal surprise this week from a Belgian car salesman to a Prince after he took a DNA test, a 26-year-old was legally recognized as the son of Prince Laurent, the brother of Belgium's King Philippe. He posted this photo of him and his biological dad on Father's Day.

The new Prince now has -- listen to this -- equal inheritance rights with his half siblings to Laurent's private estate, but he will not receive a royal allowance or be expected to take on any official duties and he is not in line for the Belgian throne. That sounds like a Hallmark movie. That's incredible.

Well, another hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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