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CNN This Morning
Storms Kill One And Displace Hundreds Of Inmates In Nebraska; White House Not Ruling Out Zelenskyy Being In Alaska For Trump-Putin Summit; Zelenskyy Stresses Immediate Ceasefire In Nightly Address; Putin's Plan For Peace Involves Territorial Swap; Trump Suggests Territory Swap To End Russia's War On Ukraine; Gunman In CDC Shooting Identified, Staffers Reeling From Attack; Tens Of Thousands Gather To Protest In Tel Aviv; One Of Two Pennsylvania Troopers Shot In Ambush Released From The Hospital; Six People Injured, Including Five-Year- Old, In Baltimore Shooting; O'Rourke: Texans Will Not "Bend The Knee" To Trump, GOP; This Week: California Trial Against Trump Over National Guard Deployment. Court Ends Criminal Contempt Case Against Trump Officials; Next System Likely To Become Tropical Storm By Midweek; Voters In Battleground AZ See Impacts Of "Big Beautiful Bill"; Trump Adds Paved Patio To White House Rose Garden; "Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway" Airs Tonight At 9PM ET. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired August 10, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:45]
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Sunday and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is August 10th. I'm Isabel Rosales in for Victor Blackwell.
Here's what's happening this morning. Severe storms ripped through the center of the country Saturday, damaging homes, flooding streets, and leaving one person dead. And it's not over. We're still seeing storms firing up this morning. Allison Chinchar is standing by with your forecast.
There are new details in that highly anticipated summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It turns out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may be invited to Alaska as well. We'll have more on that.
Plus, Arizona's Sixth Congressional District will help decide the balance of power in next year's midterms. And they have some pretty strong feelings about the so-called big, beautiful bill. The latest in our all over the map series that's coming up.
And one of the world's most iconic gardens is getting a facelift. The changes coming to the White House Rose Garden and the reaction it's garnering.
We begin this morning with breaking news. A round of strong storms killed one person and critically injured another at a state park in Nebraska Saturday. Rescue crews were called to the Two Rivers State Park, where they found this car crushed under a large tree. One woman was declared dead at the scene, and firefighters spent 90 minutes to free an injured man, also trapped inside that car. The intense storms also damaged two prison housing units in Nebraska State Penitentiary, displacing nearly 400 prisoners. State authorities say all staff and prisoners are safe and accounted for.
The storm carried winds up to 80 miles per hour, that's according to the National Weather Service. And despite the heavy damage to the community, neighbors didn't hesitate to begin cleanup efforts and lend a hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last year, we had part of this tree come down on the house in one of those storms. And so, I thought it was going to be this tree, if anything. And then when we looked outside and it was that one, I was pretty shocked so -- and our other vehicle got -- it's underneath there somewhere. We've always all helped each other, especially on this block, all the storms that we've had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: And parts of Wisconsin also saw some flash flooding from the storms, forcing the Wisconsin State Fair to actually close early. More storms, unfortunately, on the way. Allison, what are you watching for this morning?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. A lot of those storms are still ongoing, especially in Wisconsin. They still have flash flood warnings in effect, especially in the southern part of the state. So, let's get right to it. We'll take a look at where the biggest flooding concern is.
Everywhere you see green on the map has the potential for flooding, they're under a flood watch. But these little like darkish red colored boxes that you see here, those are flash flood warnings. What that means is there is ongoing active flooding, especially the area across portions of southern Wisconsin. Some of those spots have already picked up three to five inches of rain. And now we're adding even more rain on top of it.
You can see this band of storms now starting to slide over Lake Michigan, but you also have areas of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska that are also getting some very intense storms. Not just heavy rain, but also some gusty winds and a lot of lightning.
You also have some rain, much lighter down to the southeast, but the concern here is the flooding, because these areas have just had a tremendous amount of rain over the last week or so. So, you've got two separate areas here that we're looking at the potential for flooding, but the higher risk is certainly going to be here across portions of the Midwest. And really, because not only did they get three to five inches of rain already in the last 24 hours, but now we're going to be adding additional rain on top of it.
So, you've got this large cluster of showers and thunderstorms that are going to roll through this morning and continue through the afternoon as they shift to the east. But then later on this evening, you're going to get that next round that really begins to fire up in eastern Colorado. And then it will continue to make its way east over the next couple of days, adding even more rain on top of it.
So, while you have the flooding threat in a lot of these areas for today, for some of the port -- some portions of the Midwest, especially states like Kansas, Nebraska into Iowa and Illinois, you're actually going to continue to see even additional rainfall as we head back into Monday. So, this is going to be a multi-day event, especially in terms of the heavy rainfall.
ROSALES: Not out of the woods. And with the ground already saturated, certainly something to be taken seriously. Allison, thank you.
Well, all new this morning, sources tell CNN the White House isn't ruling out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy being in Alaska as President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet next week.
[06:05:07]
But one U.S. official stressed that anything involving Zelenskyy would likely happen after the Trump-Putin meeting. European leaders met with Vice President J.D. Vance, Saturday, to support Trump's diplomatic efforts, but stressed that there must be a ceasefire first and Ukraine must actively be involved in any peace talks. That is something Zelenskyy himself echoed in his nightly address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): What is needed is not a pause in the killings, but real, lasting peace. Not a ceasefire sometime in the future, months from now, but immediately. President Trump told me this, and I fully support it.
The president of the United States has the leverage and the determination. Ukraine has supported all of President Trump's proposals since February. All parties supported the ceasefire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: Well, that leaves the question, what kind of a deal is actually likely to unfold here? The plan Putin has put forward is very different from those of his European counterparts. He wants a territory swap, which the U.S. hasn't ruled out either. And Russia and Ukraine residents are torn on how these talks will play out. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIIL, RUSSIAN ENGINEER (through translator): For sure, these talks will help. This will be the meeting of two big, powerful figures, our president and Trump. But if these talks do not help, nothing will help.
SVITLANA, UKRAINIAN RESIDENT (through translator): I believe that if Trump wanted to end the war, he has every opportunity to do so. You can't play games with Putin. Look at Europe, they said, let's appease him, and he sees that he can do whatever he wants. He gets away with everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: And joining me now from Kyiv is CNN's Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, certainly things are unfolding here very quickly. How is that meeting in Alaska shaping up?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, it's interesting to see the pace at which Alaska is changing in its context. You might almost describe something as high profile and important as this, as developing something of a chaotic, organic feel around it.
Normally, a meeting like this would be very carefully staged, prepared, set in stone. Instead, though, we seem to have two divergent opinions about what it may end up being, which is the Russians looking at this through some of their experts in state media as a U.S.-Russia summit in which Ukraine will be on the menu, but not the sole goal, potentially.
The White House suggesting, presumably after some pressure from their European allies, that Zelenskyy might attend Alaska, but probably not the bilateral between Trump and Putin. Putin has been resistant to a trilateral meeting, saying it requires lots of technical preparation before he's able to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
And then separately, European leaders, their staff meeting near London recently over the last day or so with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance trying to express their opinions alongside Ukrainian officials about what kind of deal they think is viable. Remember, European security riding on this as much as Ukraine's future as well.
Two key things from their statements, we've always known that Europe and the United States, frankly, months ago, have demanded an immediate, unconditional ceasefire. That was one of the outcomes of meetings in the Gulf between Ukrainians, Russians -- sorry. Ukrainians and Americans. Trump made that less of a key talking point for him.
It's now obviously the first thing that Ukraine wants to see, that Europeans want to see before talks might evolve about the territory, how you might freeze the front lines. And an important part from a joint statement from all these European leaders together, is that they believe the current line of contact should be the starting point for negotiations.
Now, that doesn't suggest that a territorial swap is impossible, but it pushes more towards the idea of not asking Ukraine to cede territory as the initial gambit for all of this process. That's something Zelenskyy said is not possible for him to do.
The Russians have suggested, it seems, through U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, that they would like in exchange for a ceasefire, just to get for nothing, basically, the remainder of the Donetsk and Luhansk region exchanging not much back in return. Trump talked about territorial swapping. Was that his gloss on it and misunderstanding an early permutation of the plan? A lot is moving here. That's often the spirit of negotiations. But it's also true to say that what we've initially seen as a significant win for the Kremlin, a bilateral meeting in the United States, a formal invitation with all the international rehabilitation that brings for Vladimir Putin is morphing slightly. Now, the Europeans are putting pressure. A lot is going to happen in the week ahead, and hard to see right now exactly what we'll see on Friday.
[06:10:00]
ROSALES: Yes, and we'll have to see if Ukraine has a seat at the table, too. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.
Well, authorities have identified the suspected gunman in Friday's -- Friday's shooting that unfolded at the CDC headquarters and Emory University right here in Atlanta. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, Georgia, as the shooter. The investigation into what led to the shooting, that's still ongoing.
CNN is also learning about how CDC employees are dealing with the aftermath. Sources tell CNN that in a hastily arranged Zoom call, CDC staff tearfully told leadership they felt like, quote, "sitting ducks." CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest on the investigation.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has revealed the identity of the suspected shooter as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White from Kennesaw, Georgia. Atlanta police say there was one single shooter involved who died during the incident.
Law enforcement sources say the shooter carried two backpacks filled with ammunition and also had in his possession multiple guns, including two handguns, one rifle and one shotgun. He was wearing what a law enforcement official on the scene described as a surgical mask.
According to Atlanta police, the Friday shooting started just before 5:00 in the afternoon in this very busy part of the city near where Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control are located. CNN has obtained images of the impacts of some of the bullets that struck CDC facilities. Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said officers responding to the shooting heard gunfire coming from the CVS pharmacy at this location and moved quickly to neutralize the threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF DARIN SCHIERBAUM, ATLANTA POLICE: We later found the shooter on the second floor of the CVS. He had been struck by gunfire. We do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self- inflicted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Responding officers also found a critically injured DeKalb County police officer, who was immediately taken to nearby Emory University Hospital, where he died of his injuries, according to the DeKalb County release. The officer was identified as 33-year-old David Rose, who had joined the department last September. This is what DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson had to say about his death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORRAINE COCHRAN-JOHNSON, DEKALB COUNTY CEO: This evening there is a wife without a husband, there are three children, one unborn, without a father. There is a mother and a father, as well as siblings who also share in this traumatic loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Regarding the investigation, one of the most shocking details we have learned since the shooting here at the CDC campus is that the alleged shooter's father called law enforcement before the shooting to report he believed his son was suicidal. It's not immediately clear how much time had elapsed between the call and the shooting.
Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
ROSALES: Well, in this morning's headlines, tens of thousands of Israelis protested against the war in Gaza yesterday. The protests are part of a growing backlash to a plan approved by the Israeli security cabinet to take control of Gaza City. This was one of the largest rallies here in months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under heavy criticism internationally for that takeover plan.
Now, one of two Pennsylvania troopers seriously injured in an ambush is out of the hospital. Pennsylvania state trooper William Jenkins was greeted with cheers as he walked out of the hospital yesterday. Pennsylvania state police say Jenkins was shot once in each arm. Fellow trooper Joseph Perechinsky was shot in the chest and torso on Thursday. He remains in the hospital.
The two were responding to a call of shots fired when they were hit. A suspect was killed during the incident.
Police in Baltimore are investigating a shooting where six people were injured. Police say some residents were sitting outside on the porch when someone who may have been in a car opened fire. Authorities say the victims include one man who was critically injured and a five- year-old little girl. She was shot in the hand, but thankfully is expected to be OK.
Former congressman Beto O'Rourke says Texans will not bend the knee to President Trump as Texas Republicans push ahead with their efforts to redraw state lines. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETO O'ROURKE (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: And so, this guy thinks, Donald Trump, that he's absolutely unstoppable. He really believes that he's the king, that these knee benders tell him that he is.
And so, he comes to our state to grab even more power in the form of these five congressional districts, including Marc Veasey's right here. He thinks -- he thinks that we are going to take it right here. But he doesn't understand, in Texas, our knees do not bend. [06:15:04]
That doesn't work here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: Texas lawmakers have been engaged in a public standoff after Democrats left the state to deny the state House a quorum in a bid to block Republican redistricting efforts. The state attorney general has asked the state Supreme Court to remove the 13 Democrats who have so far refused to return. He has also asked other states to enforce civil arrest warrants for those Democrats. The Texas House is set to reconvene tomorrow.
Be sure to tune in to "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY." Manu Raju welcomes California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to discuss California's own efforts to redraw their congressional district maps. That's in response to Texas' plan. That's at 8 a.m. eastern right here on CNN.
Well, this week, a political tug of war will play out in a courtroom. Why California is suing over one of the president's most controversial power moves.
Plus, a federal judge says Trump officials may have broken the law, violating court orders on deportation flights. We have that ruling made on criminal contempt proceedings.
And ahead of next year's midterms, we are taking you straight to the battleground district in Arizona. We talked to voters about how the big, beautiful bill has affected them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:21:10]
ROSALES: Welcome back. Can the president do that? That's the question being asked pretty often in Trump's second term. And this week, a judge will try to find an answer to that question after one of the president's most controversial power moves yet.
California is suing the administration over the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles earlier this summer. State and local leadership said they didn't want that, nor did they need the military's help. But they were ordered in anyway. This trial, which starts Monday, will focus on whether the Posse Comitatus Act was violated. And in simple terms, you don't need to know Latin for this, that law restricts the military from law enforcement actions on domestic soil.
Stanford law professor Fred Smith Jr. joins me on CNN THIS MORNING. Thank you so much for your time and your expertise. And let's just look ahead, Fred, with Newsom v. Trump, that starts tomorrow. Critics say that Trump, by sending the National Guard troops to L.A. without the governor's request, the first such move in 60 years, he was testing legal limits and public tolerance for military presence in U.S. streets. How rare is a trial like this? FRED SMITH JR., LAW PROFESSOR, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Oh, it's extraordinarily rare. I'm not aware of any case like it, but some of that is because we haven't had presidents in the past seem to kind of test the outer bounds of what the military can do.
It is the case that 60 years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas, that the National Guard was used for a very specific purpose, to allow the individuals who were just trying to integrate a school to be able to enter and enforce a federal law. Here, the argument is that what is happening is far greater in geographic scope and in substance.
ROSALES: Why should the everyday American care about a case like this, that at first glance seems to be California v. Washington?
SMITH JR.: Yes. Well, so this particular law was passed 150 years ago. But it's fair to say that over time, through other laws and through regulations, it's kind of become a cultural force. It's sort of something that we've come to depend on as a guard against authoritarianism.
And that's true in part because of the sheer size of the United States' military and its power. But it's also because of the symbol, right? So, this happens to be in L.A., but it could be Kalamazoo. It could be Mobile. And the idea is that this is what keeps the military from going into parks, directing traffic, et cetera., across the United States.
ROSALES: What are the dangers when those lines start to blur?
SMITH JR.: Well, the danger, right, is that you have a centralized force, namely the president of the United States, one person, who is able to control domestic affairs. So, it could be controlling traffic, but one could imagine just on a -- once you -- anytime you have the ability to arrest and apprehend people that, in and of itself, is a significant power. When that power is in the hands of one person and the most powerful military in the world, then the risk of authoritarianism grows.
ROSALES: Do you have a sense of which side has a stronger argument, at least based on what you're seeing in the court documents?
SMITH JR.: Sure. So, it seems that on one argument, the federal government may have the better argument, which is whether or not it was OK for the president to federalize the National Guard in the first place. So even though Governor Newsom did not himself approve this, the idea is that there's a figure called the adjunct general who has enough of a relationship with the governor that that's part of -- that's partially why that argument failed.
But there's a separate question that even if it was OK to federalize the National Guard, are they being used in ways that are essentially carrying out the law? And on that, you know, of course, much depends on the facts that come out during the trial in the next few days.
[06:25:03] But on that fact, the California government may have the better argument. They're arguing that the way that this is happening -- sometimes it's 100 miles outside of L.A., right? So, if this was about what happened last month during a specific ICE raid this -- that's hard to justify.
They're arguing that blockades are being used, right? That the military is setting aside entire areas and preventing people from entering and directing traffic, et cetera. And the more that they're able to kind of spell that out and make that case, the stronger their argument will be.
ROSALES: President Donald Trump has long shown interest in using the U.S. military on domestic soil, and he has recently expanded this rhetoric. He named himself chair of the L.A. Olympics task force and floated this idea of using the military to protect the 2028 games. He has also suggested National Guard deployments in D.C. despite falling crime rates.
If this ruling is in Trump's favor and his administration's favor, what are the implications here for California and beyond? And on the flip side, what happens if the state wins?
SMITH JR.: All right. So, even though in this particular instance, he was allowed and likely was within legal bounds by federalizing the National Guard, that doesn't mean that he always will be, right? So, there's a few circumstances in which that's allowed. It's allowed in context of invasions, in context of rebellions or risk of rebellion, and when the federal government can make the case that they're unable to carry out the law.
In this particular instance, in a very specific situation, there's an argument that protesters were throwing things at ICE officers, et cetera., creating a circumstance in which it was -- they were unable to carry out the law. Now, whether or not those are the facts, right, that's -- that's for someone else to determine. But that's the argument that the federal government was making. But that doesn't mean that the National Guard can be militarized for, say, allowing the Olympics to take place. That would be -- that's an entirely different --
ROSALES: Scope.
SMITH JR.: Scope, yes.
ROSALES: All right. Professor Fred Smith Jr., thank you so much for your time. And all eyes will be on this Newsom v. Trump --
SMITH JR.: Absolutely.
ROSALES: -- hearing tomorrow. Thank you so much.
SMITH JR.: Thank you.
ROSALES: Well, next, a judge claims the Trump administration may have broken the law related to deportation flights. What the appeals court ruled on criminal contempt proceedings, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:32:06]
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: A federal appeals court has ended criminal contempt proceedings against Trump officials.
CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more on that and how the White House is pushing back against the courts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This presidency of Donald Trump and the Trump administration, they are picking a fight over and over again with many federal judges across the country. And guess what? It's going pretty badly for the judiciary or for at least some federal judges that are trying to hold Justice Department attorneys, Trump administration officials accountable.
Here's an example. Recently, there was a situation where Judge James Boasberg, he's the chief judge of the federal court in D.C., he took issue with representations the Justice Department and the Trump administration were making in court in a very high stakes and fast moving immigration situation. He found reason that he believed that he was being misled intentionally by the administration. He wanted to hold people in criminal contempt or at least look at that.
But other courts, the appeals court above him, it put everything on hold so that Boasberg didn't have any power to move forward. And then just on Friday, the appeals court said, no, there's not going to be a criminal contempt proceeding here. That was a two to one vote in the federal appeals court in D.C.
One judge on that court, a Trump appointee himself, wrote that they were going to put an end to the standoff now because it would diffuse the tension between the judiciary and the Trump administration.
I've been speaking, though, to several former federal judges as well as sitting federal judges on the bench now. And they're telling me things like the Trump administration, they believe, are trying to intimidate, threaten, and just run over the courts in ways that they have never seen. That was one retired federal judge. Another former judge told me at the end of the day the courts just don't have that many options to hold the Trump administration accountable if they don't follow court orders.
This is a situation where I then asked, are we in a constitutional crisis? And the judges said that's not the case yet because the Supreme Court is signing off on many of the things that the Trump administration wants to do at this point in time and not letting a standoff happen between the judiciary and the executive branch.
Though, Steve Vladeck, a CNN legal analyst, he is also a constitutional law expert and a Supreme Court expert. I talked to him about a constitutional crisis, and he said that right now the problem is that too many people are waiting for a crossing the Rubicon moment when what we've seen to date is the Trump administration finding lots of other ways to try to sneak into Rome. Things are bubbling up. There are many other situations still out there in court.
There's another case just on Friday that we heard about where a Trump- appointed judge in Rhode Island wanted the Trump administration to explain themselves about why they haven't paid out millions of dollars for housing programs in that state, in Rhode Island, related to low- income senior citizen housing.
[06:35:13]
The judge is giving the Trump administration an opportunity, but again, this is just another example of how slow these things move if the courts believe that the Trump administration isn't following court orders, and at the end of the day, there might just not be much there for judges to do.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSALES: Katelyn Polantz, thank you.
Well, the National Hurricane Center is keeping a close eye on a system just off the coast of Africa. They say it could be the next named storm.
Let's go to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Could this be our Erin?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): It could be. Yes, it's looking more and more likely.
Now, we kind of have to give it a few more days because it's not really in favorable conditions right now, but it's expected to be as we head a little bit later into the upcoming week.
So the storm in question that we are talking about is this little blob right through here, just came off the coast of Africa, but it's what it's going to do in the coming days. Basically, when it enters this red-shaded area here, this is when we really have to start paying attention. It's going to enter a much more favorable environment for development into an actual tropical system.
But the real question becomes, OK, so if it does, where does it go from there? Does it impact some of the Caribbean islands? Does it head towards the U.S.? Those are going to be the big questions. But the thing is, historically speaking, it's forming exactly where we would expect it to be. This is typically where you would have storms that would form, especially the stronger ones as they continue through the month of August.
Now, one thing to note is it is going to be going through incredibly warm waters. All the orange area you see here indicates that these temperatures are actually above average. And notice, it's pretty much the whole map. There's very little blue out there on the map, meaning the conditions are very favorable not only in the atmosphere, but also in the ocean itself. And that is going to be fuel for this type of system to really strengthen over the next couple of days.
When we take a look at the American model, you really have to go till about Friday or Saturday of the upcoming week before you really start to see this thing take shape. Again, this is about as far out as we can really reliably show you here of what the storm is going to do. The question is, does it continue on that due westward track, or does it start to curve back up towards the Atlantic? This is going to be one of the key things we will have to keep a close eye on, especially over the next week.
ROSALES: And you mentioned how many days out? More than seven and 10?
CHINCHAR (on-camera): Yes, yes. You really, I mean, up to seven, we can -- we have a really good handle on it. After that, you start getting 10, 14 days out. There's a lot of factors that can really deviate that forecast. Yes.
ROSALES: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you.
This morning in our All Over the Map series, we're taking you to the battleground state of Arizona. Ahead of next year's midterms, we want to know how voters feel about President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.
We'll hear from them next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:42:37]
ROSALES: Arizona's 6th congressional district is one of the key battlegrounds for next year's midterm elections. Those races will decide whether Republicans get to keep the House.
In this latest edition of our series, All Over the Map, John King speaks to voters in Tucson, Arizona, who are seeing the impacts of President Trump's mega bill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A scorching summer in the Arizona desert. A risky time to open a new restaurant.
Add in higher beef prices and an unpredictable economy.
RAY FLORES, ARIZONA VOTER: Confident, hopeful. I believe a lot in this brand. I believe a lot that what we do is different.
KING (voice-over): Charro Steak North is just about ready. The bar is stocked. Supplies delivered. The team is hired. And for that, Ray Flores gives President Trump some credit. Specifically, the new law lowering taxes on tips and overtime.
FLORES: We had a really robust hiring fair. Lots of applicants. Way more than we've had in previous hiring fairs. A lot of quality applicants. A little higher quality.
I do believe that those messages of some kind of tax relief created some of this.
KING: This is Arizona's 6th congressional district. One of the battlegrounds that will determine whether Republicans keep their House majority after next year's midterm elections.
It is a district that covers a ton of ground. This is the edge of Tucson. But the district stretches 110 miles that way. That's east to the New Mexico state line. And 60 miles, my right, is south. That's the U.S.-Mexico border, 60 miles that way.
The district is a battleground because it is evenly divided politically. And because of that, it offers a great test of the big midterm questions.
KING (voice-over): Republican Juan Ciscomani is the incumbent. Charro Steak North is in his district. And Flores, an independent, has supported Ciscomani in the past.
KING: How they sell that bill, whether that bill actually improves the economy because of the tax cuts or the no taxes on tips or overtime, that's a big deal for his political fate.
FLORES: Yes.
KING: What do you think at this moment? Got a ways to go, but what do you think now?
FLORES: I mean, I think, unfortunately, for them or for us to give a good answer right now, we're in the middle of the offseason. I think it's probably a question that needs to be asked, you know, a year from today.
KING: Here's another big test. Twenty five percent of the residents here in Arizona-6 are Hispanic, and Republicans are hoping in next year's midterms to continue their recent important gains among Latino voters.
It makes a big difference. Take a look.
KING (voice-over): Here in Arizona, for example, Donald Trump won 37 percent of the Latino vote in 2020. He lost here and statewide.
[06:45:05]
KING: But in 2024, Trump's share jumped to 44 percent. He not only carried this district, he won statewide in Arizona on his way back to the White House.
KING (voice-over): Fifteen months still to the midterms, but we will get a clue about Latino sentiment next month. There's a special election in the neighboring 7th congressional district. It is overwhelmingly Democratic, but also 60 percent Hispanic.
CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ, ARIZONA VOTER: So welcome back to Sun, Arizona.
KING (voice-over): This food bank serves both the 6th and 7th congressional districts and is already dealing with some Trump changes.
RODRIGUEZ: I believe you're from Mexico right now.
KING: Right. You are correct.
RODRIGUEZ: That's going to change pretty soon with the tariffs and all that. So, we're going to be definitely seeing less produce come in.
KING (voice-over): But the biggest test is down the road. The Trump agenda bill makes big changes to Medicaid and food assistance programs critical to the working families who come here for help.
Claudio Rodriguez wrote Congressman Ciscomani on behalf of the food bank, urged him to vote no, but he voted yes.
KING: So when you say, you know, sir, with all due respect, we think that's going to hurt people. What does he say?
RODRIGUEZ: He believes that it won't, that he's attacking the fraud, the abuse, the scam. But I don't know when we come here every day on the line, we don't really see any of that. And if it is, if it is one or two people that do, do that, why punish the rest? Why punish the seniors? Why punish the kids? The veterans. We have a lot of veterans that come through here.
KING (voice-over): The food bank served 171,000 people last year and projects that number will jump significantly as the Trump changes kick in. But the timing there is noteworthy. The politically popular tax break on tips and overtime takes effect immediately.
But the biggest and politically risky changes to Medicaid and food assistance don't take effect until 2027, after the next election.
RODRIGUEZ: I know some things are going to roll out after the midterms, which is a very nice place, you know, for some folks to wait until after that.
KING (voice-over): That timeline, just one of the Trump agenda flashpoints in a place far away from Washington, yet critical to the Republican grip on power there.
John King, CNN, Tucson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSALES: The White House Rose Garden has hosted some of the most glamorous parties for decades. Now it's getting a much needed makeover.
We'll tell you about the plans, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:51:57]
ROSALES: For over a century, the White House Rose Garden has been a stage for everything from presidential pardons to parties. Once a colonial style garden in the early 1900s, the garden is now getting a makeover, and this time with a paved patio.
CNN's Tom Foreman walks us through the history of the garden plus its new look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it a new War of the Roses, with the makeover of one of the world's most iconic gardens prompting a critic on X to say, Team Trump's paving job has made the Rose Garden look like a patio at Panera, while the President insists it's a big improvement over the grassy expanse that rain routinely turned into a squishy mess.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: It would take three, four, five days for it to dry out, and we couldn't use it for really the intended purpose.
So, yes, we've gotten great reviews on the Rose Garden.
FOREMAN (voice-over): For more than a century, the legendary spot has hosted history. John Kennedy welcomed astronauts here after they returned to Earth.
JOHN KENNEDY, FMR PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Let me tell you that you've given the United States a great day and a great loss.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Richard Nixon launched his daughter into marriage in the garden. George H.W. Bush welcomed royalty from afar. Bill Clinton, as a young visitor, met President Kennedy there, then apologized for some of his actions during his presidency near the same spot.
BILL CLINTON, FMR PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I am profoundly sorry.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Pronouncements, parties, and pardons have all had moments in the garden.
TRUMP: I hereby grant you a full pardon.
FOREMAN (voice-over): But change has come, too, from Edith Roosevelt's colonial garden in the early 1900s to Jackie Kennedy's update in the early 1960s, which established the modern look of the Rose Garden, to Melania Trump's try just a few years ago.
By comparison, that was a minor remake, but it still triggered outraged opposition and left the First Lady feeling bruised by the backlash, asking people to accept the very act of planting a garden involves hard work and hope in the possibility of a bright future.
FOREMAN: It all comes down to a fairly simple equation. President Trump is once again trying to put his indelible stamp on Washington, D.C., and there are some people who do not find it to their taste.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSALES: Well, tonight we take you to the streets of Ecuador, once a popular tourist destination, but it's now at the center of a violent drug war.
CNN's David Culver will premiere "ECUADOR: THE NARCO SUPERHIGHWAY." As part of his extraordinary reporting, David embedded with the Ecuadorian military to see how they're combating this drug war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): International smuggling routes like these are being used to transport drugs all the way to the United States, exploiting the vastness of the Pacific.
[06:55:01]
Ecuador's Navy is chasing a moving target.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER (voice-over): We're with them on a scheduled training run and the skills being taught here are the same ones they'll need on real missions, hunting down traffickers and cutting off their mid-ocean refueling points.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: An all-new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER, ECUADOR: THE NARCO SUPERHIGHWAY." That airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here only on CNN.
Well, there's much more ahead on the next hour of "CNN This Morning Weekend Edition," including a preview of this week's meeting between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
