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Donald Trump Holding Series Of Meetings, Will Address UNGA; Donald Trump Says Media Ban Is An Assault On "Fake News," Not Free Press; Iran's Sick Facing Severe Medicine Shortages Due To Conflict; Constable in Critical Condition After Shooting Near Synagogue in Ontario; Man Convicted of Attempted Murder of Three Palestinian Students; Venezuelan Delivery Driver Shot, Wounded by ICE Agent; Grand Jury Finds No Evidence of Criminal Wrongdoing in Nolan Wells Death; Merz's Party Loses Ground in State Elections. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 22, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:37]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, speeches at the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly kick off in just a few hours. More on what to expect as world leaders gather in New York.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico join forces to sue the Trump administration for their White House ban, as other networks refuse pool coverage in solidarity.

And renewed fighting in Yemen displaces thousands of civilians as a hunger crisis grips the nation.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. The United Nations General Assembly debates get underway in the coming hours. President Donald Trump will be speaking in the morning, but the gathering is expected to be overshadowed by the U.S. war with Iran and the lingering Russia- Ukraine conflict.

The UNGA is also taking place amid President Trump's ban on CNN and other outlets from the White House. While the world will be able to see Donald Trump's speech thanks to UNTV, the U.S. president's trip to New York will not be receiving the coverage it normally would, and that's because major television networks are standing with CNN by declining to replace its White House pool crew after the Trump administration barred the network from fulfilling its assigned duties on Monday.

President Trump has a packed schedule of meetings in the day ahead, including his address to the U.N. General Assembly. CNN's Alayna Treene has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump arrived in New York on Monday for a series of events around the U.N. General Assembly. He started his visit to New York on Monday with a visit to Gracie Mansion, where he met with the New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Now, despite the two of them being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, I know from my conversations with the president's advisers and allies that he actually gets along with the mayor. Now, that meeting was closed door, but we're still waiting to learn what it could focus on. Aides to the mayor told CNN that it would be really on New York City and different projects that his team is working on, of course, and from what we know as well, the president, of course, is a native New Yorker, cares a lot about the city, so more to learn there.

But later on Monday, the president also met with the French President Emmanuel Macron and other political events at Trump Tower. But the big focus on foreign policy is really going to come into play on Tuesday when Trump addresses the U.N. General Assembly.

Now, his speech is going to touch on a number of different issues, but this is what the U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz had to say to reporters last week about his address. He said that the president will, "Highlight how he has and how his administration have confronted complex problems head-on around the world." He said he will touch on the importance of ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.

Now, the reason him bringing Iran up, part of the reason it's going to be so interesting, is because there's actually going to be Iranian officials at the U.N. General Assembly. We're told there's going to be a slimmed down delegation, including Iran's president. But he's also going to touch on other topics. I'm told, and really wants to tout himself as a leader of peace around the globe.

But what I think is going to be even more interesting is in the meetings that come after. We're told the president has a series of bilateral meetings, one of which is going to be with a series of leaders of Gulf nations, leaders from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait. The list goes on.

And part of the reason that's so interesting is because we know that the president has listened to these leaders in the past, particularly as it relates to military action in the war between the U.S. and Iran. At times, the Saudis, for example, have asked the president to hold off on attacks out of fear of retaliation for their countries, and the president has held off. We also know there's been a lot of new conflict surrounding the Houthis, the Iranian-backed rebels, the Houthis, who have been showing a resurgence in Yemen, something that has also really frustrated and concerned a lot of these leaders in the Gulf.

So, that will be a fascinating meeting. We're also told the president is going to be meeting with the Prime Minister of the U.K., Andy Burum. That's actually the first in-person meeting that the Prime Minister of the U.K. and Trump are going to have or have ever had since. And then also with the Japanese Prime Minister, he's also going to be meeting for the first time with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez. That's going to be fascinating as well. It's the first time they're meeting since the capture of the former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier in the year.

[02:05:09]

And then, of course, we're going to have a focus on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump is set to sit down with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This comes, of course, as we've heard the president in recent days. President Trump calling again for an end to that war.

So, a lot of events to look forward to. There are some things I think I probably left out, but this is going to be a heavy moment for foreign policy. And just one more note on that is, CNN was supposed to be the pool. I was actually supposed to be the pooler, traveling with the president to all these different events. Since CNN was dropped from the pool, there's not going to be a pool presence, a T.V. camera presence, I should say with the president.

So, a lot of what we're going to be learning from these meetings will be from reporters on the ground, but not from actual televised footage of those events. So, stay tuned for more.

Alayna Treene, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are uniting after President Trump banned them from the White House. The media outlets argue the move is unconstitutional, and they're suing the administration to immediately restore access for their journalists. A preliminary hearing for the White House's potential restraining order is scheduled for Wednesday.

President Trump insists the attack is not against the free press, but rather on fake news, which he described as a cancer in America. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports on what likely led to the president's ban.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: He's been lashing out about the coverage. Obviously, that's not surprising. It is something that he has complained about for years, long before he was president. But he's been facing a string of setbacks lately when it comes to the Supreme Court, when it comes to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, gas prices rising, the Iran war still underway, and certainly a big topic here at the United Nations General Assembly this week.

But it was the president being shown a graphic of negative coverage last week by Politico. We're told by his close aide Natalie Harp, someone who's often in the Oval Office, often with him on Air Force One, and is actually joining him and traveling with him on this trip to New York just now, according to the reporters who are still traveling with him.

She showed him a graphic of negative coverage from Politico, and we are told that it so infuriated the president that he decided to loop these outlets together, lump these outlets together, and ban them, as he announced on Friday, from covering him. Which he himself, despite the vice president saying earlier today, this is not a ban on the free press. The president himself called it that last week when he was in the Oval Office taking questions about how exactly he envisioned this working.

Now, what we do know is this has kind of prompted a scramble in and of itself, behind the scenes, because this is for the first time in modern history that the president has not had a major T.V. network traveling with him when he goes somewhere. Often, there is one representative, one team from CBS, CNN, NBC, ABC, or Fox who is always with the president, no matter where he goes, whether that's a war zone or down the street from the White House, or here to New York, but today there is no T.V. camera traveling with President Trump, as the networks are now acting in solidarity after the White House refused to admit CNN and let them carry out their assignment as the T.V. pool today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with President Trump on Monday, speaking with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mamdani revealed what he told the president about the White House media ban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Well, what I said is that I believe in a free press, and I believe in the importance of engaging in questions from all, no matter whether they are based in a compliment or on a critique. And even in our press availability today, you saw that we spoke to representatives from CNN, from MS NOW, from Politico, from Cranes, from the City Reporter, from a wide variety, and that is something that will continue under my administration because I believe it's a critical part of the Fourth Estate being able to do its job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist, joins me now to discuss more. Good to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Hi. So, Ron, in the coming hours, President Trump will address the U.N. General Assembly and is expected to discuss Iran, Ukraine, and Venezuela, among other topics. He'll meet with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Venezuela's Delcy Rodriguez and Gulf leaders. What are your expectations, and what will you be listening out for?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, look, I think the pattern of the president of foreign policy is to claim success, you know, reflexively whether events justify it or not. I mean, the reality is that he is in a conflict in Iran that he has no easy way out of either through escalation or diplomacy. That is causing enormous consternation. I think increasingly, even within his own party, as the midterm election approaches. Just look at the kind of comments we've seen in the last few days from a series of Republicans in Iowa, a state where he won 56 percent of the vote in 2024, urging resolution of the -- of the war and or steps to reduce diesel prices.

[02:10:20]

So, you know, the president's view I think through this second term has been that he can bend nations around the world to his will through expressions of American power, either economic power through tariffs, military power through, you know, various kinds of intervention in the same way that he has bent institutions at home, law firms, universities, hospitals to his demands. But I think he has found that the world is often less amenable to that kind of pressure. And as they say in war, the adversary gets a vote, and he -- it has proven difficult for him to demand to force the kind of compliance abroad that he has achieved in many cases at home.

CHURCH: And President Trump has said that he's open to meeting with Iran's President Pezeshkian, who will be attending the UNGA. But there are currently no plans for the two men to meet. President Trump, of course, threatened to blow up his country over the weekend, but if such a meeting were to happen, how significant would that be, and what could it potentially achieve?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, like the big question here, you know, unless you were someone who believed that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon to launch a preemptive strike on Israel, which would you know invite the destruction of their country, the reason they were developing nuclear weapons was to act as a kind of was to act as a deterrent against military action against them. The president and the -- and the -- you know, the joint military action by Israel and the U.S. has certainly set back the Iranian nuclear program, but they have found another form of deterrence through their control of the Strait. Now, with the Houthis opening a second front and their ability to disrupt the global economy, Iran, I think, feels that it is in a stronger strategic position today than it was before all of this started. Simply because it has found another form of deterrence, whose disruptive impact on industrialized nations around the world is indisputable.

So, I'm not really sure. As I said, I'm not really sure there is a diplomatic solution that would diplomatic negotiation that could produce a solution the president can live with, or that there is a you know such a solution at the end of the road of a military escalation? It's not clear where he goes from here to get Iran to do what he wants them to do.

CHURCH: And Ron, just ahead of the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Monday. Two men from opposite ends of the political spectrum, and the mayor says he made it clear to the president that he disagreed with his media ban on CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. What did you make of that? And of course, the rest of their meeting, and what was in it for both men to meet like this do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, you know, there are people who believe that the entire secret to Donald Trump's, you know, behavior for almost his whole life has been the fact that he was rejected by the Manhattan elite, even when he was a rich guy in New York in the -- in the '70s and '80s.

So, to be in -- you know, in City Hall in Gracie Mansion, as he talked about today with the mayor, you know, he's a guy from Queens. I'm from Queens. You know, it's kind of -- it's still a big stage for him. He doesn't do any favors in these you know repeated meetings with Mamdani to the Republican strategists who are trying to paint him, paint the New York City mayor as kind of the advance guard of a socialist alien force coming to transform America.

But you can see something of kind of the personal -- you know, kind of the personal longings and desires of the president in the way that New York has been spared in many respects, not entirely, but in many respects, the kind of hostility and aggression that he has pursued against major other major Democratic urban centers.

For the mayor, it shows that he is willing to meet and talk with anybody, as he argues, to advance you know the causes the interest in New York City.

But I still there is some blowback from the left for him, kind of, you know, kind of validating Trump and meeting with him and not really pushing back harder I think on the media ban, which certainly is, you know, an ominous indication of Trump's views about not only the media but many of the fundamental guardrails of American democracy.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Well, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney missed events at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, and that's because his flight to New York was one of hundreds affected by an equipment outage. Five major airports in the northeastern U.S. experienced delays and cancellations Monday after an aging circuit and its backup system failed.

[02:15:15]

Artificial intelligence is high on the agenda at the U.N. this week. China is a key player in that industry, but it's unknown if Chinese leader Xi Jinping will appear at the summit. He is due to meet with President Trump in Washington in the coming days. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stressed the importance of the U.S. and China being on the same page about A.I.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We think that just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two A.I. powers in the world very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All right, let's quickly check how U.S. Futures are looking right now. You can see there pretty much little -- very little movement, but the NASDAQ Futures down slightly, but we'll keep an eye on all of that. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 NASDAQ closed higher on Monday, thanks in part to gains in A.I. stocks.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the New York Stock Exchange Monday to ring the opening bell. He is set to attend the U.N. General Assembly with President Trump and take part in talks with world leaders throughout the week.

A new book by Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer is said to be released on Tuesday, entitled Swan Song. The book features explosive claims about the People's Princess, her fraught marriage to now King Charles and the aftermath of her death, including a perceived lack of obvious care for Diana's children Harry and William. Earl Spencer also claims that on a call to his former brother-in-law after learning of Diana's death, then Prince Charles sounded, "Giddily elated like a lottery winner."

Well, Buckingham Palace has issued a rare and forceful denial of Earl Spencer's accounts, saying the king is mindful that, "The pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and color memory."

Well, there's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. The U.N. is sounding the alarm about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Millions of people are going hungry, including very young children, as fighting ramps up. How the World Food Programme is responding. We'll have that for you next after a short break. Stay with us.

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[02:22:08]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. New video appears to show the moment of an airstrike on Yemen's southwestern coast. Video posted on social media shows people gathered at a rest stop off a main road as a projectile hits the ground and causes a large explosion. This took place some 300 kilometers south of the capital Sanaa. It's not clear where the projectile came from or who fired it, but it comes as Iran- backed Houthi rebels carry out a major offensive in their war with the Saudi-backed government.

Well, the Houthi militants' latest campaign to capture territory is creating nothing but misery for Yemeni civilians, according to the United Nations, nearly 700 people have been killed and thousands injured in the latest advance, and more than 120,000 people have been displaced within the country. Many of them separated from their loved ones. One man explains how his family was scattered as they fled the Houthi's arrival, with three of his eight children now trapped in rebel-controlled territory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMEEL SALEM, DISPLACED YEMENI (through translator): Now we are here, and we don't have anything with us. And the strikes, the strikes are fierce above us. We left in the middle of the clashes. You barely managed to escape with your life. You couldn't carry a thing or take anything.

At the moment, I am worried about my children. I want to see them. I want to visit them. No school, nothing. They're deprived in every way. God willing, I'll visit them, but I don't have the means to get to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The U.N. says it's ramping up its response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the World Food Programme says it's hoping to reach hundreds of thousands of people with hot meals and critical food supplies, as more than half of the population face acute food insecurity. Yemen imports 90 percent of its food, according to the agency, and all of that is dangerously impacted by war and soaring energy prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL SKAU, ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: The IDP camps outside the Aden that I visited are already overstretched. Our operations are underfunded. You know, people are not eating enough. There is no healthcare, and these are the places where you now see 10th of thousands of newly arrived people, again with nothing and having had their lives disrupted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. sanctions, rampant inflation, and a collapsing economy are crippling Iran's ability to treat people with chronic illnesses. Severe shortages and daily price increases are forcing many to cut doses or to self-medicate. As President Trump ratchets up his maximum pressure campaign on Tehran, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes earlier this year damaged more than 40 pharmaceutical companies and suppliers. That's according to Iranian officials. CNN's Leila Gharagozlou reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:55:05]

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: What is brave when you are dying. That's what a 55-year-old woman in Iran recently diagnosed with cancer told CNN. She is just one of millions of Iranians impacted by the shortage of medicine in the country.

GHARAGOZLOU (voice-over): Unaffordable medication shortages and under dosing. Some even unable to be treated for late-stage cancer. These are just some of the struggles ordinary Iranians told CNN they're facing.

GHARAGOZLOU: So, how did Iran get here? The dire Strait of the Iranian pharmaceutical industry is a result of a few factors.

GHARAGOZLOU (voice-over): In late March, Israel struck the factory of a major Iranian pharmaceutical company, Tofigh Daru, which is responsible for producing active ingredients found in anti-cancer drugs and anesthetics, claiming the company produced substances used for research and development of chemical weapons.

Iran's former foreign minister Javad Zarif identified the company in an ex post, and in April, U.S.-Israeli strikes hit the Pasteur Institute, a pillar of Iran's public medical system focused on medical research and vaccine development. This, combined with the ongoing blockade and President Trump's sanctions, have decimated the industry.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration in Iran, Mehdi Pirsalehi, addressed the rising prices and difficulties of war earlier this week.

MEHDI PIRSALEHI, HEAD, IRAN FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: With the current economic situation, the shortages of vital medicines is as minimal as possible. But if they were in short supply before this war, then they are still in short supply. However, brand medications are nearly unavailable.

GHARAGOZLOU: Iran's struggling insurance system plays another role in the growing problem. The system is nearly bankrupt due to mismanagement and the lack of oil revenue coming in because of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.

GHARAGOZLOU (voice-over): While sanctions allow for some exemptions, the layered and complicated nature of Trump's maximum pressure sanctions have created its own problems: overcompliance.

Erich Ferrari, founder and managing shareholder of Ferrari and Associates, is a lawyer who focuses on U.S. sanctions and national security law. He says this is one of the biggest issues when looking at the shortage of medication in Iran.

ERICH FERRARI, FOUNDER, FERRARI AND ASSOCIATES: If you don't have banks to process transactions, transactions don't get done. So that's kind of the first level of it. The second level of it is if you don't have distributors that are willing to sell the products, or you don't have manufacturers that are willing to let their products be sold, then it impairs the ability for that type of medicine or that type of item to flow into Iran, and it limits the access to it within Iran.

There's a lot of exemptions and guidance under the law that allows humanitarian relief to flow to Iran. The problem is you have private parties, financial institutions, distributors, manufacturers that have concerns about whether or not, one, they're in full compliance with the law, just from kind of a structural perspective, but also whether the parties that they're dealing with in Iran or the parties that might be involved in processing the transactions in Iran fall within sanctions programs. When you take that and you marry it alongside these massive penalties

that have been imposed upon banks and others for violating Iran sanctions, in particular, you have an environment in which financial institutions and others who are necessary to engage in this activity over comply with the law out of -- out of fear that they might not fall strictly within the letter of the law.

GHARAGOZLOU (voice-over): Iranian officials are continuing to try to import the necessary medication, including the flu vaccine, as they head into winter months, looking to China and India to help alleviate the shortages.

However, both the country's health minister and the head of its FDA have said imports from Europe specifically have been more difficult than ever.

Leila Gharagozlou, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still ahead on this hour of CNN NEWSROOM, disturbing new details about a Venezuelan man shot by an ICE agent in Texas. Why his lawyer fears he may never walk again.

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[02:33:38]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. A Canadian police constable remains in critical but stable condition following Sunday's shooting outside a synagogue in Ontario. The incident has sparked calls for government action and protection against anti-Semitism.

CNN's Paula Newton has more.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many in this community are now starting to come to terms with exactly how serious this incident was. Now, Ontario officials with the Special Investigations Unit say that a suspect in a truck drove up to the synagogue.

He was armed. He got out of his truck with a shotgun and started shooting at a police officer who was in an unmarked vehicle outside the synagogue. The synagogue, in fact, had hired the police officer for security. It is something that they normally do before these Jewish holidays.

A shootout ensued, in fact. The constable is in serious but stable condition. The suspect is now listed in critical condition with life- threatening injuries. Inside the synagogue, the worshippers all crouched down, they told CNN, and they heard continuous banging. And now, the stained glass window in this synagogue is riddled with bullets.

I want you to hear now from a spokesperson with that Special Investigations Unit. [02:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTY DENETTE, SPOKESPERSON, ONTARIO SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: There are dozens of bullet holes in the street behind me. And some homes have been hit, and there are some vehicles with shot-out windows that sort of thing, so it would have been quite the scene indeed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The choice of the target, the synagogue, the exact timing, the beginning of Yom Kippur, and it just seems like a premeditated attack. Would you say that there is evidence suggesting that this was a terrorist attack aimed at the Jewish community?

DENETTE: I mean I'd be speculating, but I mean, I think that common sense would say that probably was the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Thankfully no one inside the synagogue was hurt but it was an absolutely chilling event, not just in the city of Belleville Ontario, but throughout Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney has new legislation that was just passed in the summer. It is anti-hate legislation but it also offers protection to places of worship.

But the prime minister himself noted that acts of anti-Semitism recently in Canada, in his words, have been both specific and severe. Police say the investigation continues and that the officer was wearing a body camera and they hope to learn more in the coming days and weeks.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

CHURCH: A Vermont man is facing life in prison for shooting three Palestinian college students walking near his home back in 2023. A jury convicted 51-year-old Jason Eaton of attempted murder, rejecting an insanity defense claiming he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad.

The attack left two students wounded and the third paralyzed from the waist down. Eaton had pled not guilty but didn't dispute he was the shooter. His sentencing has not been scheduled yet.

We have new information about the Venezuelan delivery driver shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Texas. An attorney representing the 28-year-old man says he was moved from a hospital to a detention facility with a bullet still in his back. CNN's Ed Lavandera has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE LINCOLN-GOLDFINCH, PEREZ FAMILY ATTORNEY: The name is Wilber on the telephone.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dramatic phone call in the middle of a news conference with activists protesting the ICE officer shooting of a Venezuelan food delivery driver Sunday in Austin. Wilber Garces Perez called from the South Texas detention facility where he's being held in immigration custody and took questions from journalists. A legal aid translated his words.

LINCOLN-GOLDFINCH: I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound and I have not received the medical attention that I require.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): This video has sparked a wave of anger across the city of Austin. The images capture an ICE officer shooting and wounding Garces Perez from Venezuela who was working as a DoorDash driver.

The video shows 28-year-old Garces Perez with a gunshot wound in his back. He was then handcuffed after being pulled out of his car. His lawyer says ICE took Garces Perez into custody from the hospital with the bullet still in his body just hours after the shooting.

LINCOLN-GOLDFINCH: He's struggling.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch is an immigration attorney representing Garces Perez's family.

LINCOLN-GOLDFINCH: When he was discharged from the hospital at four o'clock yesterday, he had a bullet lodged in his back and they told him they wouldn't remove the bullet. They sent him to ICE with the bullet in his back without pain medication and he slept overnight in a processing center without a bed.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): She said she spoke with the Venezuelan immigrant by phone Monday morning. She says Garces Perez told her an unmarked black truck rammed his vehicle twice.

A source familiar with the incident tells CNN, ICE officers were conducting targeted immigration enforcement operations Sunday based on license plate checks. The source added agents had a brief exchange with Garces Perez who federal authorities say is in the U.S. illegally and had been ordered to be deported before he fled the scene in his car. The shooting took place shortly afterwards.

Video of the scene shows two apparent bullet holes in the rear passenger window of the Venezuelan man's car and damage to the passenger door. Garces Perez's attorney says he remains in ICE custody and has been interrogated by the agency.

ELIZDAR, WIFE OF GARCES PEREZ: An SUV rode next to him and tried to hit him. He thought it was like an aggressive driver, turns out it was not. He asked the ICE officer if he could please at least pull over so that they could detain him. They said no and they side swiped him basically.

He did a U-turn to try and find a spot to park so that he could go with them, and they basically ran into him and then shot him.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Protests erupted within hours of the Austin shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's lots of people that are hurt.

[02:40:00]

There is pain in their hearts. There is pain whenever they leave their home knowing that they won't come back.

REP. GREGORIO CASAR, (D-TX): We will all be more safe when ICE gets the hell out of Austin, Texas.

LAVANDERA: For the family of Wilber Garces Perez, there is mounting concern about his physical condition. His lawyer tells CNN that members of Joaquin Castro's staff, the Congressman from San Antonio, met with the 28-year-old Venezuelan immigrant earlier today and that he told them that he is in extreme pain and losing movement on the left side of his body.

The lawyer is concerned that he is facing paralysis, and we understand that it's possible he is going to be moved from that detention facility to a hospital.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Austin, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A Mississippi grand jury has found no evidence to support bringing charges in the death of Nolan Wells. The 18-year-old had gone with friends on a boat to Horn Island, a popular destination off the Gulf Coast, to celebrate the 4th of July.

While Wells' friends all made it home, his body was found face down in the water off the island's shoreline two days later. The grand jury agreed with authorities that Wells had drowned and found no criminal or racially motivated wrongdoing.

Civil rights attorney, Ben Crump shared his response with CNN. He said, today, the state of Mississippi is attempting to close the chapter on Nolan Wells' death without getting to the truth. We are releasing the final independent autopsy report in its entirety so everyone can read it for themselves. He also called on the U.S. Justice Department to pick up the case if Mississippi won't continue to investigate.

Dave Aronberg, a former State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, shares with CNN what he thinks about the case.

DAVE ARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: It's an unspeakable tragedy, but tragedy is not necessarily a crime. I'm a former state attorney, and I see a D.A. here who actually did her job in the face of a lot of outside speculation and internet conspiracy theories. She conducted a lengthy investigation.

She gave the family's lawyers and their independent pathologists an opportunity to participate, and then she presented 43 witnesses to a diverse grand jury, and that grand jury unanimously found no basis for criminal charges. So we should always remain open to new evidence, but we can't accuse people of murder based on unanswered questions, speculations, or viral videos. So this, for now, means that the state's investigation is done unless there's new information that Ben Crump and others can provide. I don't think that DOJ is going to pick this up, and if DOJ did, what makes you think they're going to do a more thorough and fairer job than the local prosecutors here?

CHURCH: And we have much more ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," including why state election losses in Germany are putting Chancellor Friedrich Merz's political future in doubt. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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[02:47:46]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is calling this weekend's state election results a, quote, "disaster" after victories by far-left and far-right parties. The results mark a major setback for Merz and his center-right Christian Democratic Union, leaving the chancellor under increasing pressure to resign after less than 17 months on the job.

CNN Senior International Correspondent, Fred Pleitgen reports.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's become almost a sad routine these days for German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz. His opponents cheering after beating Merz's party in a state election.

In this case, the right-wing Alternative for Germany, whose leader tells me flat-out Merz needs to resign.

He is strongly damaged, she says. I believe the CDU cannot continue with Friedrich Merz with a weak chancellor.

PLEITGEN: While Friedrich Merz is trying hard to dispel any notion that he might have to resign, there's no doubt that the German chancellor is on the ropes and currently fighting for his very political survival.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Nobody has asked any questions about personal consequences or launched a debate about personnel, neither last night nor this morning, Merz said after meeting with his party's leadership. But Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union has now lost three state elections in a row, the winners in each case, parties on the political fringes.

After getting beat by a landslide two weeks ago by the right-wing AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, this weekend in the northeastern state Mecklenburg- West Pomerania, the CDU didn't even get enough votes to make it into local parliament. The winners again, the far-right AfD, which calls for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and an end to all military aid for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in the German capital, Berlin, Merz's party lost to the far-left Die Linke, which wants to expropriate large real estate companies and faces allegations of anti-Semitism in its ranks, allegations the party's leadership strongly denies.

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FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We have been witnessing for several months growing radical and openly expressed anti-Semitism that is even welcomed with applause.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Merz has vowed to fight on and continue what he calls his reform agenda but Germany's economy remains sluggish, his popularity ratings are in freefall and even he acknowledges he's become a liability for those in his party fighting for re-election.

MERZ (through translator): I know that national politics played a major role both in the state election two weeks ago in Saxony-Anhalt and in yesterday's election, as did my own role.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): And Merz claims he still believes he can fix his government's issues and bring Germany back on track but the chancellor might be running out of time.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

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CHURCH: A journalist getting ready for a broadcast says he witnessed the deadly shooting of a political candidate in Peru. This video shows Susy Aponte moments before she was shot and killed at a campaign event in Caraz on Saturday. Journalist Victor Castillo said Monday that he was recording when the shooting happened. Aponte was a candidate for regional governor of Ancash.

She also hosted a Sunday digital news program where she addressed alleged acts of corruption in the region. Community members attended Aponte's funeral in Lima on Monday. They mourned her death and demanded justice.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the shooting. Investigators are examining whether the attack was a contract killing. The Associated Press reports Aponte had received threats against her on social media.

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JEANET FUENTES, MOURNER (through translator): We demand the truth no matter who falls. Let's see. Keiko Fujimori said that starting July 28, there would be no more, that she would bring order to Peru. It's been two months of government and we have more deaths daily. So what's happening? Who's governing? The mafia.

This shows us that the mafia is governing this country and we Peruvians are not going to continue tolerating so much crime, so much humiliation, so much poverty.

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CHURCH: Coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," we will head to Brunei's capital for a visit to the world's largest floating village. What the residents want the world to know about their historic settlement. Back in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, scientists say the moon has a relatively new battle scar after a violent run-in with a space rock. They believe a comet or asteroid about the size of a three to six- storey building hit the moon's surface two years ago.

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The impact left a crater 43 meters or 141 feet deep and 222 meters or 728 feet wide. Scientists say it is the largest newly formed crater they have ever found in the solar system.

An historic settlement in Brunei's capital dates back more than six centuries, but it's famous not so much for its age but another unique feature. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout explores what life is like for the thousands of people living on the water.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Kampong Ayer, the world's largest water village. Built entirely on stilts, the settlement in Brunei's capital dates back more than 600 years. Today, thousands of people call it home.

HAJI ABU ZAR, HOMESTAY CO-FOUNDER, TERATAK SETIAWAN: Welcome to Kampong Ayer.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Haji Abu Zar's family grew up on the water.

ABU ZAR: If you fall, just swim.

(LAUGH)

LU STOUT (voice-over): Getting around here is a little different. They use boats for transport, boardwalks for paths, and even schools and the local fire station are on stilts.

ABU ZAR: You have to watch your step.

(LAUGH)

ABU ZAR: Come on, keep up.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Life in this floating labyrinth moves at a slower pace. Each of the 42 villages that make up this area is known for their own handicraft. ABU ZAR: We have one of the villages known to be silversmiths. Some of them are known to be boatmakers. Some of them are traditional textile weavers.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Like here in the village of Bokia (ph), where ancient skills are passed down. While many residents have moved inland over the years, Kampong Ayer remains a symbol of national pride.

Downriver, Abu runs a homestay dedicated to preserving this region with the help of his mother, who was born in the water village.

HAJAH FATIMAH, HOMESTAY CO-FOUNDER, TERATAK SETIAWAN: I'm very proud to be one of the people who stay in Kampong Ayer because the relationship are very close. I want my children, my grandchildren, my niece and nephew still remember Kampong Ayer.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Through food and homely touches, they're keeping local traditions alive for the next generation.

ABU ZAR: One of the reasons why we wanted to start was to kind of share our culture and heritage. When guests come over, they see the remnants of history and they see families who are still here, and the culture and heritage that are still lived on until today.

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CHURCH: Beautiful. Thanks so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz is next, after a short break. Stay with us.

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