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Two More Rescued from Tunnel after Devastating Floods in Nepal; Mistrial Declared in Lindsay Clancy Case as Jury Deadlocks; Russia Pummels Kyiv for Eight Straight Days; Clancy Case Sparks Wave of Social Media Conspiracy Theories; U.S. Federal Judge Puts Trump's Mail-In Voting Mandate on Hold; German Far-Right AfD Party Seeks First Win in State Election; Disruptive Passenger Zip-Tie and Duct-Taped during Flight. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired September 05, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's begin with breaking news out of Nepal.

We're getting word of yet more rescues. This is 10 whole days after that devastating flooding. Our Gage Goulding is monitoring those developments for us from Seoul. And he joins us now live.

Gage, I know you have been working the phones. I know you have been working your sources. Tell us what you are learning about these rescue efforts right now.

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we have not one but two more people rescued alive, 10 days after the onset of that catastrophic flooding. The flooding happening on August 26th. I want to get straight to the imagery. We're going to start with another power worker rescued from a tunnel.

This is a Chinese national. We're told this is all, according to the Nepali army, rescued from the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower tunnel. He was roughly 225 meters or 738 feet in the tunnel whenever he was rescued, again, 10 days after the onset of this flooding.

He looked to be in relatively good shape but his health is currently being assessed while rescue and search operations continue there.

But another incredible rescue of a worker that was trapped in amongst about 900 or so of around a dozen plants. But again, this is a separate plant. So yesterday we were talking a lot about, you know, there was focus on Trishuli-3A.

But let's not forget they are working to access all of these different plants and, today, the rescue crews at Upper Trishuli-1 were successful in rescuing this man.

A lot of questions still to come out here, including are there others? Does he know where others are?

But this is another incredible piece of news coming out of there. But now this new video, what you're looking at here, this is according to Nepal's armed police force. Excuse me, I'm just looking at my notes here because this information coming in, a 60-year-old woman trapped inside of a badly damaged house.

And she was pulled out alive. You can see she's being carried away. It looks like there are a few, what I'm going to call professional rescue crews there. But it looks like primarily locals helping carry this woman away.

This happened around 1:35 pm local time, again, according to Nepal's armed police force, this information just pouring in to the CNN NEWSROOM. Not one but two people rescued 10 days, more than a week after this flood rushed down.

Now this rescue here with this woman occurring downstream of where those tunnels are. So this is an area where people are living a residential area. This is where there could be many of the around 5,000 people that are missing could be from those residential areas.

And again, this gives hope to those families, to those people that are wondering, could my loved one be alive in a damaged or destroyed house?

This again, showing that that can happen and also showing that rescue crews in Nepal -- and I want to mention that the gentleman that was rescued from the tunnel was a joint effort by the Nepali army but also rescue crews from where I'm reporting from here in South Korea.

We know that there were several South Korean nationals that were working on hydropower tunnels in the South Korean government, dispatching separate rescue crews to aid in this, as many nations responded, including the United States and the U.N. and so many other organizations.

But this right here, incredible news on a Saturday that not one but two people have been rescued.

So where does this put us?

Let's kind of recap here after what happened yesterday on Friday and where we're at today. Yesterday there were two workers rescued from the Trishuli-AAA hydropower plant.

And you might be wondering why is that important?

I just want to really designate where these people are being rescued from. So there were two people from the 3A hydropower station. And then today, one person rescued from the Trishuli-1 plant.

And then you have this, another miracle, a 60-year-old woman rescued Saturday afternoon from a home in a village, downstream from where these tunnels are. [05:05:00]

So again, this is really miraculous that, 10 days after, we're seeing people being rescued. And this comes after days and days and days of nonstop, around-the-clock work, where rescue crews have been working.

And I mean, really, the only thing we saw was an increase in the death toll. But now we're finally seeing, bearing the fruit, if you will, of the very hard work. I mean, tumultuous, moving mountains of earth that Mother Nature put in front of these tunnels and in front of these villages.

So a lot of work led up to this moment and a lot of work to be done. Again, some of the things we're looking for is any information that this rescued Chinese national from the hydropower tunnel can give to rescue crews, to maybe paint a picture or explain, hey, there might be more people here or there.

Or any little tidbit of information is going to be very valuable. But Salma, incredibly, incredibly good news coming out of Nepal today as we see two more people rescued, bringing that total to four over the last 24 hours.

ABDELAZIZ: Extraordinary news and definitely keep that hope alive, of course, Gage Goulding. In those images that we were looking at, of that man pulled out of the tunnel, you can see a medic providing him with some with some medical attention. It looks like he's taking his blood pressure. That woman being pulled out of her home.

I mean, what an astounding bit of positive news in such a devastating crisis. Thank you so much.

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ABDELAZIZ: We have more breaking news for you coming in now to CNN. This is coming from Iranian media. It reports that there have been several explosions near Kharg Island. This is in the Persian Gulf. It is a hub for most of Iran's oil exports.

Now a semiofficial news agency says an Iranian oil tanker was struck by a missile and Fars news agency says that the sound of explosions was heard from the Persian Gulf area but there was no signs of smoke or fire observed.

Now there has no been -- has been no comment as of yet from the Iranian military, the Revolutionary Guard or from the U.S. military. The U.S. has carried out airstrikes against Iranian military installations in the Gulf. This took place late on Tuesday.

And shipping sources say that at least a dozen of Iran's tankers sit off amid the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.

I want to go now to the stunning end of a trial that captured the attention and caused heated debate across the United States. A mistrial has been declared in the Lindsay Clancy case. Prosecutors have not yet said whether they plan to retry Clancy, who faced three counts of first degree murder in the deaths of her three young children.

That most severe charge requires trial by jury in Massachusetts. But jurors told the judge on Friday they could not reach a unanimous verdict after nearly seven days of deliberations.

Clancy's lawyers, of course, do not deny that she killed her three children but they argue she shouldn't be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and very extreme mental illness. CNN's Jean Casarez is in Plymouth, Massachusetts, covering the trial and has this report for us.

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JUDGE WILLIAM SULLIVAN, PLYMOUTH COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: At this point I'm going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I'm going to declare a mistrial.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lindsay Clancy's triple murder trial coming to a dramatic ending on Friday, a mistrial.

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: This is not a time for gloating, bragging, expressing victory. It's a very sad case.

CASAREZ: But not before a few last-ditch efforts by the defense, including filing an emergency appeal to the Massachusetts highest court. But that appeal was denied after six and half days of deliberation and several notes to the judge from the jurors saying they were unable to come to a unanimous verdict.

The last note from the jury read simply, quote, it is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to.

Earlier in the day when the court reconvened, the defense asked the judge to question the lone holdout juror.

REDDINGTON: It clearly and unequivocally indicates that they are basically 11-1 and this person will not apply reasonable doubt to the evidence to return a not guilty verdict.

CASAREZ: The judge denied the request. The defense then pushed for a forceful reminder to jurors to follow the law, drawing visible exasperation from the judge.

SULLIVAN: What do you want me to do?

Get a brass band?

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CASAREZ: Later on outside court, in an unusual moment, the defense spoke out about that one juror who was a holdout.

REDDINGTON: They know that they were robbed by one man, for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful and listened to this evidence. And you could see how defeated they were sitting there.

CASAREZ: Clancy is accused of strangling her young children, five- year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan in January of 2023.

She does not deny that she killed her three children but pleaded not guilty. The 36-year-old's defense team argued she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

REDDINGTON: She loved her children. They were her life. This young lady is not guilty of the killing of her children because she was suffering from a disease and defect.

CASAREZ: The prosecution acknowledged Clancy had a mental disease or defect but claimed the former labor and delivery nurse deliberately killed her children with premeditation and extreme cruelty and that she was not in a state of psychosis at the time of the murders.

TIMOTHY CRUZ, PLYMOUT COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This case is not about a healthcare system or about how women are treated in it. Those are all important issues. This case, however, was about Lindsay Clancy and what she did on January 24th, 2023 and the cruel and calculated killing of three innocents.

CASAREZ: The focus now turns to what happens next, prosecutors saying they will decide whether to retry the case against Clancy at a future court hearing.

CRUZ: I do know that one of the questions that are out here right now regarding retrials, I will let you know that there'll be no decisions made today regarding that. I'm going to be meeting with our team and we will address this case further at the appropriate time in the context of an official court proceeding.

CASAREZ: There is a status hearing set in this case for September 29th in the courthouse right behind me. The defense is going to have a motion for consideration and we may learn from the prosecution if they actually are going to try this case again -- in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for CNN, I'm Jean Casarez.

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ABDELAZIZ: I want to bring in now Joseph Tully. He is a criminal defense attorney coming to us from Redding, California, to get more context on this case.

Thank you, first of all for joining us. I just want to step back and look at the bigger picture here, because this was a mistrial, not an acquittal, of course.

Where does that leave us legally when it comes to the standing of this case?

And can prosecutors simply retry this when it feels like there's probably no one in the country that hasn't heard of this case? JOSEPH TULLY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. Well, thank you for having me on.

So the effect of a mistrial, there's a lot of confusion. It's essentially the best way to look at it is to think of it as pretend the trial didn't happen. It, they put on a trial but there was no result. Therefore nothing happened.

The case is still pending. The charges are still charged. There still needs to be some kind of resolution here. And, what will happen is the prosecution can elect to retry.

However it hung, the case hung, 11 to 1 in favor of the defense according to reports. So the prosecution has a decision.

Do we go forward on a case and lose spectacularly?

Or do we offer a plea agreement and try to get them to bite?

And with an 11 to 1 decision, then the defense has a lot of leverage and doesn't have a lot of incentive to accept any plea agreement.

Or do they dismiss the case?

So those are the three options: retry, offer a plea bargain or dismiss.

ABDELAZIZ: And let's talk about that split 11 to 1 in favor of the defense, if that is indeed accurate. There was a debate over whether the judge should have removed or done something about that lone holdout.

Why was the judge's decision right in this case?

As an attorney, explain that to us.

TULLY: Sure. So you don't ever want to get into a situation where judges are interfering too much with the jury process. That needs to be a very distinct separation between a judge and the outcome from a jury.

So if there's a split, you know, a 10-2 or 11-1, you can't just say, hey, judge, this person is being difficult or these two people are being difficult. Get rid of them. And then we'll get a unanimous verdict.

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You can't fix a jury's decision like that. You have to respect the process. They were all chosen. They were all sworn in. They all heard the evidence. So judges are right to not interfere in that process here.

The defense attorney did have something to argue. It was 11 to 1. There was one lone person. And from what the notes inferred (sic) that the jury was sending to the judge, one juror, according to defense argument, was refusing to apply the law and was instead voting based on an agenda.

And therefore the defense felt that they had a good argument for the judge to remove the juror, since he wasn't following the law, according to the defense. But the judge rightly said, listen, I'm not going to get involved in that. Judges can't second guess jurors.

ABDELAZIZ: That's really great because you've given us the mindset, the thinking of the judge and what his role was, of course, in this trial.

I'd like you to put me in the shoes of the jurors now, because this case turned on criminal responsibility, not whether Clancy killed her children, right.

So what did the jurors have to decide under Massachusetts is insanity defense law here?

Tell me the decision that they had to make and what the laws are that he had -- that they had to assess in this case?

TULLY: Sure. So outside of all the other issues surrounding this case, it boils down to a pretty simple legal question.

Was Lindsay Clancy criminally responsible for the deaths of her three children?

And, a lot of people, if you want to colloquially call that not guilty by reason of insanity. Now this is law, so I have to use double negatives and it's going to be kind of clunky.

But once in a trial, it's called an affirmative defense. So she's not saying I didn't do it. She says I did it but here's my excuse. That's an affirmative defense.

And once there's a sufficient amount of evidence in a jury trial, then the burden, because the government always has a burden in a -- in a criminal case to prove their case, the burden shifts to the government.

And they have to say, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there's no reasonable way possible that she didn't know what she did was wrong or there's no reasonable way possible that, even though if she knew it was wrong, that she couldn't have stopped herself if she wanted to.

And so the that's what the jury had to decide.

Was she criminally responsible?

Is there a reasonable doubt whether or not she knew what she was doing was wrong?

Was there a reasonable doubt whether or not she could have controlled herself if she wanted to?

That's what they decided. And they decided there was a doubt. I have a doubt. I'm not sure if she knew what she was doing was wrong. What was her motive?

She didn't gain money, you know. She killed her three children and attempted to kill herself. So, that's basically where the jury was deciding. You know, I have a doubt. I think that she maybe couldn't control herself. I have a doubt. I think that she didn't know what she was doing was wrong.

ABDELAZIZ: Joseph Tully in Redding, California, on a heartwrenching case that has captured the attention of a nation, thank you so much for talking us through the context of this and what could come next.

TULLY: Thank you. Take care.

ABDELAZIZ: Hawaii is now under a state of emergency. This is as it braces for Hurricane Lowell, which has rapidly strengthened back into a category five storm. It is the third storm in just as many weeks to threaten Hawaii as El Nino supercharges the Pacific hurricane season.

With Lowell approaching, officials in Hawaii say the state is preparing for the worst.

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GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): We're hopeful it will miss us but, if it does, what Iniki did in 1992 or even does anything close, of course, we could see tragic consequence. So that's why we're taking this so seriously.

Even four days out, there's still a 150 miles average error. So we are still within a possibility that it could make a jog to the east. So that's what we want people to prepare for. Keep this in mind, that there could be a hurricane approaching.

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ABDELAZIZ: This video from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows a hurricane hunter flight monitoring Hurricane Lowell. Now the crew gathered critical data to help forecasters better track the storm.

We have so much more news here on CNN. Coming up, Ukraine takes more pounding from Russia, just as U.S. envoys reportedly want to talk peace.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. Right now, we are waiting to see U.S. negotiators in Moscow. They are preparing to jumpstart peace talks in Ukraine. And we've just gotten this video in to CNN. Now it shows a motorcade

waiting for them at an airport. Now a U.S. official told us earlier that a negotiating team led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner is expected in Moscow before it heads to Kyiv.

But as these mediators are seeking peace, Russia strikes on Ukraine are not letting up. Ukraine is reporting a new barrage of more than 160 drones in missiles. This is just in the last few hours. The targets were spread all across the country, as you can see there. At least four people were reportedly killed and six others wounded.

We have now with us Stefano Pozzebon. He joins us live from Rome with the latest developments.

So we're waiting again for Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to arrive.

But how is this mediation effort going to be any different than past attempts by the Trump administration to end the conflict?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Salma, well, the main difference here is that the two Trump's envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, will actually travel to Kyiv, as well as Moscow.

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And we understand that they will travel into Kyiv as early as tomorrow, on Sunday. Now this is a first, because, while Witkoff in particular has been to Russia and met with president Vladimir Putin several times, he has never actually been to Kyiv and met with Zelenskyy in the country.

And that, of course, it's important because, well, if you go to Kyiv, you can probably see by yourself the damage inflicted by the Russian forces with these continuous barrage of ballistic missiles and drone strikes hitting the Ukrainian capital and other regions in the country.

We're waiting to hear from Moscow when the two will actually land. You can see the images of the motorcade that is being prepared at the airport to welcome in here. And Russian media a few minutes ago reported that a U.S. Special Forces plane had actually entered the Russian airspace.

This is, of course, creates the expectation for where the pair will meet with president Vladimir Putin and try to somehow bring an end to this stalemate with Putin and Zelenskyy. Neither of them are being able to come up with a solution to how to at least bring a temporary truce.

Donald Trump, when he was a presidential candidate back in 2024, you probably remember, Salma, he boasted that he was going to be able to solve this conflict in the snap of a finger, within 24 hours, he had said two years ago.

Well, of course, that hasn't happened. And yesterday he was asked about this failure of his and he blamed it on personality problems. Take a listen.

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TRUMP: We have an idea for peace. Look, I said late wars. Most of them were supposed to be, in my opinion, more difficult than Russia- Ukraine. There is a personality problem in Russia-Ukraine. You have president Zelenskyy and President Putin. They truly hate each other.

Do you know what hate is?

They have serious hate.

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POZZEBON: Well, now we know, of course, that there is far more than just personality problems at the root of this conflict.

For a start, both Russia and Ukraine insist on their maximalist demands, with Russia demanding to annex large swathes (sic) of Ukrainian territory and, of course, Ukraine instead saying loud and clear that the territorial integrity of the republic should be preferred -- preserved -- sorry, Salma -- if a truce is to be imposed, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Stefano Pozzebon there on peace efforts. He pointed out the difference for us this time, that Steve Witkoff is going to visit Ukraine.

Thank you so much for your reporting.

Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has captivated the attention of social media, fueling a wave of social media sleuths and conspiracy theories alike. We're going to take you inside the online frenzy.

And the president with a new threat, tying central bank policy to trade as he ramps up the pressure on the Fed to cut rates.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): An update on breaking news from Nepal. We're getting word that two more people have been rescued. This is 10 days after that devastating flooding there. Nepali officials say one of them is a Chinese national who was trapped inside a flooded tunnel. His condition is now being evaluated. The other is a 60-year-old woman who was trapped on the upper floor of

a four-story building.

And Hawaii is under a state of emergency as it braces for Hurricane Lowell. The storm has strengthened into a category five hurricane, with winds up to 160 miles per hour. It is expected to turn north over the weekend but forecasters warn its path could still change.

A Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the triple murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict after deliberating for more than seven days. Clancy's lawyers admitted she killed her children but argued she was not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry that case. In addition to generating headlines, the Lindsay Clancy trial has ignited a social media frenzy that is rife with speculation, conspiracy theories, online sleuths. CNN's Tom Foreman has all of it for us.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to put it all together. And when you do, the questions become very simple. Is Lindsay physically capable of doing what they're accusing her of?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): True crime fans like crime queen, court watchers and amateur sleuths like VSED 19 are flooding social media.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lindsay Clancy did not strangle her kids and we may now have proof of it.

FOREMAN (voice-over): With a torrent of commentary on the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. The former nurse who was admitted to strangling her three children even as her lawyer says she is not criminally responsible because she was experiencing severe postpartum psychosis.

A top theory she did not kill her children at all. Her then husband, Patrick, did.

Among those who have made that argument, a T.V. actress and reality star who later deleted this post.

LISA RINNA, ACTRESS: That isn't what a woman would do, they don't strangle.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Testimony and video showed Patrick was not even in the house when the children were killed and his wife tried to kill herself. His attorney issued a statement saying, in part, the facts are indisputable. Patrick Clancy has suffered an unspeakable and unimaginable loss, compounded by patently false, defamatory and injurious public statements.

DAVE ARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: There is evidence that she was taking these severe drugs and she had the psychosis and she had insomnia and she was crying out for help.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Some internet detectives have latched on to the idea of prosecutors or medical professionals hiding information about Lindsay's care and mental issues. "The New Yorker's" Erin Obey has an idea about what's driving that.

EREN ORBEY, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": The fact that Lindsay was roundly revered as not just a great mother but an authority on infants, a well-regarded labor and delivery nurse made her a kind of potent symbol for advocacy.

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FOREMAN (voice-over): And on it goes, ideas about outsiders sending secret signals to jurors, theories about inherent sexism against the accused woman's defense, an uproar over the whole notion that Lindsay Clancy just couldn't help herself -- Tom Foreman, CNN.

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ABDELAZIZ: Now to the president's push to restrict mail-in voting. A federal judge has blocked new U.S. Postal Service rules aimed at carrying out the president's recent executive order.

The preliminary injunction keeps the rules on hold while the Trump administration appeals. The rules would require state and local officials to meet certain conditions before mailing ballots, including uploading lists of mail-in voters to a new Postal Service portal.

Now it's a little too late for North Carolina to do all that. That state has already begun mailing ballots to voters for the midterm elections. The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the new rules to take effect.

Officials in Missouri are calling on the Supreme Court to reinstate a congressional map that features an extra seat for the Republican Party. And it comes a day after the state's top court blocked the map for the November midterm elections.

The jurists ruled that officials were wrong to dismiss a petition calling for a referendum on the issue. The new map was enacted last year and was used in Missouri's primary just last month.

Some GOP-led states have undergone a redistricting at President Trump's behest. Some Democrat-led states answered by redrawing their own maps in hopes of gaining extra seats.

President Trump has threatened to block trade with some of America's key partners unless the Federal Reserve cuts U.S. rates. His threat came after the nation reported red-hot jobs growth in August, which could push the central bank to raise interest rates in its bid to battle inflation.

Trump says the U.S. should have the lowest rates in the world and in a post on Truth Social, he repeated his longstanding calls for the Fed to cut rates. But he added he could block trade with countries with which the U.S. has a deficit. This would include the likes of China, Mexico, Vietnam as well as the E.U.

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TRUMP: We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries. We lose, with the European Union, $200 billion a year. If I didn't trade with them, we'd lose nothing. Just one swipe of the pen. We lose with Mexico $195 billion a year. If I don't trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have.

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ABDELAZIZ: We have more coming up on CNN NEWSROOM. A far-right candidate could make history in Sunday's state election in Germany in what has become a major test of the country's political center. Please stay with us.

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ABDELAZIZ: Today marks the Alternative for Germany party's final campaign rally. This is one day before voters head to the polls.

Now the far-right party, known as the AfD, is leading in those polls and a strong showing could reshape the political landscape in the eastern German state. An AfD victory could also make history, potentially putting the party in a position to lead a state government for the first time in postwar Germany. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on that campaign trail.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Despite the captivating grin, some believe this might be Germany's most dangerous man. Ulrich Siegmund, candidate for the right-wing Alternative for Germany or AfD, could soon become the first far-right state governor in Germany since World War II.

"The other parties have lost voters' trust," Siegmund tells me at a campaign rally. "For decades, they did exactly the opposite of what they promised."

I caught up with Ulrich Siegmund on the sidelines of an AfD event in Dessau in the east German state of Saxony-Anhalt, ahead of this weekend's election that Berlin's political establishment is watching with trepidation.

The AfD is miles ahead of all other parties in pre-election polls. The top issue by far, folks here tell me, immigration. I asked Irina (ph) whether there's a bandwidth of issues or if immigration tops everything.

"I think right now with the children, for me and the children, yes, it's immigration," she says.

The AfD openly calls for a mass deportation of undocumented foreigners and foreigners who committed crimes, a policy AfD chairwoman Alice Weidel controversially calls remigration, cheered on at a 2025 campaign event by the self-declared AfD supporter Elon Musk.

The federal government in Berlin ultimately decides immigration policy but many Germans fear electing a far-right state governor could seriously damage the whole country's reputation.

"I can't imagine international investors turning up for groundbreaking ceremonies with an AfD state governor," German chancellor Friedrich Merz recently says.

At his rally, Siegmund tries to brush off those concerns.

"There are many countries where people are seeking positive change with conservative parties that put national interests first and don't believe they have to save the world," he says.

Here in the former Communist East, Siegmund portrays himself as the common man's man, often riding an old East German scooter or displaying Communist-era Trabant cars at events.

But while his appeal is local, he makes no secret that the AfD's foreign policy agenda aims to change both Germany and Europe, weakening the E.U. in its current form, seeking a return to close ties with Russia while stopping all support for Ukraine.

"We hope that starting from Saxony-Anhalt, we can usher in the beginning of the end of this crazy policy for all of Germany."

Only about 2.1 million people live in all of Saxony-Anhalt, one of the least populous states in Germany, but one that's drawing global attention ahead of Sunday's vote -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Dessau, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: For more on this very critical vote, we are joined by Max Hofmann. He is Deutsche Welle's Berlin bureau chief.

Thank you so much for being on with us this Sunday (sic) morning. I want to start by getting an understanding of just how significant this is, because an outright win would, of course, mark the first time that a far-right party has held a state level power in the country since the postwar era.

[05:45:08]

What does that mean?

What does that signify for supporters of AfD and why is it seen as problematic by critics of the party?

Give me the bigger picture here. MAX HOFMANN, NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS, DEUTSCHE WELLE: Right. We

already heard in that report by Fred Pleitgen, AfD, Alternative for Germany, is a far-right party.

What's really important to remember here and is extremely significant is that authorities in this case, the state's intelligence agency -- because Germany has a federal intelligence agency.

But each of the different states also have their own intelligence agencies -- classified the far-right AfD as being confirmed right-wing extremists in Saxony-Anhalt. So in that state, where those elections will take place on Sunday.

And, as we heard before, you know, never since the Second World War, in the Federal Republic of Germany, which used to be only West Germany and after reunification in 1990, was all of Germany, has an extremist party held power in Germany. So that is the significance of this.

So why is it classified as being confirmed right-wing extremists?

First of all, we have to remember that is the assessment of the intelligence agency. This is being challenged in court but so far has not been overturned.

But it's not the same thing to have a court decide on something or to have an intelligence agency assess something, although they put in years of work, all the data they use has to be rock solid to potentially stand up in court.

If some of the branches of Germany's system decide, for example, to try to ban the AfD, something that's also being discussed in Germany all the time.

So what is the problem with the AfD from the perspective of the intelligence agency?

It is that, according to that intelligence agency, the AfD is going in an unconstitutional direction or might pursue unconstitutional goals. All of this obviously extremely complicated because Germany was also built -- the constitution was built to prevent extremist parties from gaining power.

It all boils down to this. An ethnic, nationalist view of things of humanity, meaning that some humans are better than others, that's at least the finding of those at the intelligence agency, that the AfD may might be pursuing this worldview, to put it that way.

And also some of the things that AfD representatives have been saying about migrants, especially migrants with a Muslim background, is considered to be unconstitutional, paired with some of the goals of the AfD that are being considered, to be anti-democratic. So that's the whole thing to give you the big picture.

Again, we need to remember that these things are being discussed and challenged also on a political and a legal level.

ABDELAZIZ: Right. But this is a this is a state-level government, right?

So they are going to have power over areas like education, policing and culture. And they will, of course, sit in the Bundestag.

But when it comes to that key issue, as you saw in Fred's package, immigration, will they actually have any influence over these more massive issues that you are discussing, where there are some major concerns?

HOFMANN: Well, first of all, I just want to make sure everybody knows that we're not there yet. Right?

The election needs to be held. The polls do suggest that they are going to have a landslide victory but we just don't know how much of a landslide victory it's going to be, because these polls have been pretty unreliable in the past as well.

But you're right, of course. On the level of the state government, you cannot influence directly at least all the different topics that are important for AfD voters; for example, migration. But you can do it indirectly. And you can also set a tone, right. You can make it very uncomfortable for migrants in that country.

And we've seen in other countries before that, when right-wing, far- right parties come into power, that sets a whole different tone. It makes people who may be, you know, were behind the scenes and didn't come out kind of with their perspective on migration, to be bolder.

So it will change all of the country, most likely, kind of the culture of the country, how people approach migration, how they see themselves also as a country that is open to the world or not.

Germany, obviously, traditionally West Germany, at least also in the past, very open to the world, depends on trading with the world. That would change the tone here.

[05:50:00]

Then another aspect that you mentioned, Salma, is that they will be in the Bundesrat, which is the second chamber of Germany's parliamentary system, kind of comparable to the U.S. Senate, because it's the representation of the different states of the different regions on the federal level. They would be in a hopeless minority there.

But you know, they would have influence on certain things. Let me give you another example. When it comes to the media system, the public media system that is on state level, they could change that completely in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. And that would have repercussions also, for all of Germany. They could also --

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ABDELAZIZ: -- I'm so sorry to interrupt you. But we are running out of time to discuss this. But thank you so much. I know you're going to continue to follow those elections. It is very important, as you said, to note, just the role that they would have, even if it's on the level of state power.

But this is an election that is ongoing. I know you'll be monitoring those results for us.

We have more news for you straight ahead. Please stay with us.

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[05:55:00]

ABDELAZIZ: This passenger is not going anywhere after fellow travelers on an American Airlines flight used zip ties and a whole lot of duct tape to restrain him from allegedly being belligerent.

Officials say the flight was traveling from Texas to New Jersey on Thursday but it made an emergency landing in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was arrested. Passengers say it all started when a man in first class used profanity, racist and homophobic slurs and then hit two passengers.

He allegedly bit a man before other passengers duct taped him quite effectively there to his seat, forcing him to cool his jets.

The return of Venus and Serena Williams to the U.S. Open has ended in heartbreak. The sisters blew a 5-0 lead in a match tiebreaker, losing to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint in three sets.

The Williams sisters hadn't played at the U.S. Open since 2022, a grand slam tournament that they won twice; 44-year old Serena returned to tennis this year, while 46-year old Venus continues to compete. The sisters are now 27-8 at the U.S. Open across 10 appearances.

Cathy Engelbert says she'll retire from the Women's National Basketball Association at the end of the year. Engelbert has served for seven years as the league's first commissioner.

Some players have criticized her tenure over labor negotiations and culture war battles but she presided over the NBA's most significant growth period in its 30-year history. She helped raise $75 million as a capital investment, infusing the league with cash and spurring its business transformation.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. "CNN THIS MORNING" is coming up right after a quick break.