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Jury Selection Begins in Tupac Murder Trail; Clancy's Psychiatrist to Return to the Stand; Israel Rejects Trump's Gaza Plan; Obama Calls El-Sayed After Primary. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 10, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:34:37]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUPAC (Rapping): You know, it's funny, when it rains it pours. They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say what he said 30 years ago, got money for war, can't feed the poor. That's still relevant. That's still active, relevant, current statement today, you know, and he has a lot of wisdom in his music.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:35:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It's been nearly 30 years since the murder of one of the most influential artists in history. And we're still asking, who killed Tupac. Today jury selection begins in the trial against the only person ever charged in his death, Duane Davis, who goes by the name Keffe D. He's not accused of pulling the trigger, but rather orchestrating the whole thing. Now, he was arrested back in 2023. Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996. And Davis is one of the only people still alive who was at the scene of the crime. The other person being Suge Knight. And he's serving a 28-year prison sentence in another case.

So, today, that moment in history returns to the spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: So what they got you for, man?

DUANE "KEFFE D" DAVIS: Biggest case in Las Vegas history.

OFFICER: Oh, yes.

DAVIS: Yes.

OFFICER: Like, recent?

DAVIS: September 7, 1996. I ain't worried about it. I ain't did (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, joining me now, former federal prosecutor Alyse Adamson.

Welcome back.

OK, it's been a long time coming because Keffe D has been running his mouth the entire time. I mean, just to be honest, he's been very candid about what has happened. I want to play an example from when he was talking about this publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the shots came from the back. Big Dre, Orlando, who shot Tupac?

DAVIS: Going to keep it for the code of the streets. It just came from the backseat, bro.

Hanging out of the window like he was at a parade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tupac?

DAVIS: Yes, he was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what happens next?

DAVIS: And we just came. And (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I ain't going to go into details like that. You know what I'm saying? But, you know, you got it in the book.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: He wrote a book and then he said a ghostwriter wrote the book. And so, he distanced himself from comments there. Is all of this just going to come up in the trial? Like, can they build a timeline based on everything he said publicly?

ALYSE ADAMSON, HOST, "AT-LYSE YOU HEARD IT HERE" PODCAST: Oh, Audie, absolutely. This entire trial is brought compliments of the defendant himself, Mr. Davis, because had he not run his mouth, as you just said, and wrote a book and gone on all of these podcasts, the government wouldn't have enough evidence in this case. This entire case, the linchpin of this case, is the defendant's own confession, which was what makes this so interesting, because the prosecution essentially has to prove to the jury that Mr. Davis can be believed, that everything he said can be corroborated, because they really don't have anything else at this point.

CORNISH: One of the things they talked about was him speaking to investigators in, quote, "a proffer," you'll probably explain what that is, back in 2008. And in the interview he said Tupac had assaulted his nephew. And so that Davis says he got his nephew a gun, who then went on to shoot Tupac. And so, he basically is talking about a motive and talking about the gunman. And then you mentioned a witness, Suge Knight, but he's behind bars.

Can they get Suge on the stand?

ADAMSON: Well, they want to get Suge on the stand. He's on the prosecution's witness list. But he's already indicated that he's going to refuse to testify. So, we're going to have to see what happens there.

The proffer you mentioned. Let's talk about that. So, a proffer session, usually it's kind of an off the record conversation you have with authorities. And what authorities promise in exchange for information is that they're not going to prosecute you for anything you say in that room.

But here's the important part, Audie, that Mr. Davis did not understand. That meant they couldn't prosecute him for things he said in that room during that session. People don't typically leave a proffer session and then write a tell-all book. And so, he opened the door, that is something we say in trial, to all of this by then writing the book.

CORNISH: Yes.

ADAMSON: And actually, now they fought in court some of what he said in the proffer section might come out in the trial. So, it's seeing the light of day and --

CORNISH: So, the minute he started to talk more, everything he said in that room became like, well, wait a second, we got to double check, and now you can say it out loud.

ADAMSON: That's right.

CORNISH: All right, I want to move away from that because I think people are going to be watching that case really, really closely and talk about another one that is making headlines that I'm watching closely, and that is the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. So, this is the Massachusetts mom accused of killing her three children. And today jurors will continue to hear from the psychiatrist who saw Clancy the day before the killings.

Now, Clancy defense argues that she was overmedicated, that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her children, and that her medical team failed in its duty of care. So, last week, three psychiatrists who saw Clancy in the months leading up to the murders explained why they did not diagnose her postpartum psychosis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JENNIFER TUFTS, PSYCHIATRIST: I assess what their -- what their mood is like, what they're saying that they're feeling and how they appear visually. I assess what their thoughts are like.

[06:40:02]

So, are their, are their thoughts disorganized where it's really hard to understand, they're jumping around and you can't follow their line of thought? I assess what the thought content is. If it's particularly about anything very bizarre or very paranoid, that would be potentially indicative of psychosis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And did you note any signs or symptoms of psychosis with Miss Clancy that day?

TUFTS: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so this isn't just saying insanity plea or something like that. This is very specific, this idea of postpartum psychosis. So, talk about the role of the psychiatrist coming to the stand. What is each side trying to reveal about what they did in the months leading up to her actions?

ADAMSON: Right. So, the postpartum psychosis is a form of insanity because this is the defense, that she did not appreciate her actions when she committed these murders. So, the prosecution is calling all these psychiatrists who actually treated Miss Clancy to demonstrate that she was in control, that she had this organized thinking, that she could appreciate her actions at the time.

Now, the defense right now is trying to cross-examine these witnesses and bring out that -- perhaps her medical providers failed to detect her deteriorating mental state. They're still in the prosecution's case in chief. The defense is also expected to put on some of their own experts. So, it's going to be a battle of the experts.

CORNISH: Yes. And her husband had said that the day of the deaths, of the killings, was one of her best days in terms of her mental health. So, what you're saying is, you've got these psychiatrists up there and everyone is saying, did you not diagnose because you failed somehow, or did you not diagnose because actually nothing was wrong with her?

ADAMSON: That's exactly right. It's not that nothing was wrong with her. She did have diagnosed mental illness. But this is very specific. It's, was the mental illness so severe that she lacked criminal responsibility for her actions. And it's actually the prosecution's burden to prove that she had the substantial capacity to appreciate her actions. So, it's a very nuanced argument.

CORNISH: It is.

ADAMSON: And that's why we have all of these experts testifying.

CORNISH: OK, Alyse, I hope we can follow this case again with you. Thank you so much.

ADAMSON: Thank you, Audie.

CORNISH: All right, next on CNN THIS MORNING, a simmering Republican ideological civil war over this question, how much should a burrito cost?

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: It was just really an honor to get to share a conversation, to hear his advice on the campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Obama calls Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed, but would he actually hit the road with him?

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[06:46:41]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're committed to ensuring Gaza is demilitarized, properly governed, and beautifully rebuilt. It's going to be a great plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Trump's peace plan for Gaza hitting a snag. Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Israel rejects the 15-point plan. I heard that there were those who said, you didn't say it. But we did say it. And here I am saying it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding the full disarmament of Hamas before his troops withdraw from The Strip. It's a risky move in an already fractured relationship, breaking with Trump at a time where support for Israel is already dwindling in the U.S.

I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem.

And, Jeremy, let's just start. Netanyahu is facing re-election this October. Why do you think he spoke so forcefully on this now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you just look at what happened in basically the ten days between when President Trump announced this as a historic, kind of monumental step towards establishing peace and security for the region, and when the Israeli prime minister said he rejected this plan outright, what you saw in between was pretty widespread rejection of this disarmament plan by various corners of the Israeli political spectrum, but in particular the right wing members of Netanyahu's own government, including the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who both said very clearly that they wanted to bring this up for a vote, that they wanted this plan to be rejected out of hand. And then you have the Israeli prime minister, at a meeting of his government yesterday, saying those very same words, saying Israel rejects the 15-point document that is this roadmap that was agreed to between the board of peace and Hamas that would lay out a pathway for Hamas to ultimately be disarmed as long as Israel also takes certain steps, including stopping its strikes in the Gaza Strip, moving its troops back to the yellow line, as agreed to back in October, and then eventually having a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Now, Hamas has responded to this. Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau saying that "we expect the mediators and the American guarantor to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal, political and electoral reasons."

But it is important to note that it is not completely black and white. And that's because we've learned of already, and we've seen some changes already in Gaza in terms of Israeli strikes that have significantly decreased. An Israeli source had told us that now targeted killings need to be approved at the highest levels of Israel's military in order to move forward. And a Board of Peace official is echoing some of that, saying that while politics are certainly accentuating things right now in Israel, that we are, quote, "seeing cooperation" behind the scenes. That from a Board of Peace officials suggesting that while Israel is publicly rejecting this, they are at least cooperating with certain aspects behind the scenes.

Audie.

CORNISH: OK, that's Jeremy Diamond from Jerusalem. Thank you so much.

I want to turn to some domestic politics here. Former President Barack Obama getting off the sidelines, maybe, in Michigan. Obama called Abdul El-Sayed after his victory late last week in the primaries. Obama encouraged him to unite the party after a bitter primary. But will the former president actually hit the campaign trail for him?

[06:50:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: This is a guy who I watched come up. I never saw myself in politics until I saw him give that 2004 speech on the DNC floor. It's the first time I ever saw myself reflected in politics at all. So, it was just really an honor to get to share a conversation, to hear his advice on the campaign. And I'm looking forward to moving forward here in this campaign with that advice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, group chat is back.

I want to show this headline from "Vox," "Don't call this man the 'next Obama'," which I think is very tempting I think if Democrats want something more than a Rogan of the left, they probably would just like an Obama of the present. What's your sense of what do you see in this phone call? Is it just about, hey, make sure to reconcile, or is it, hey, you have my backing?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't know exactly, but what I will say is that Obama is playing a very key role in trying to unite the party in advance of these elections. And I think it's a more active role than he has played in previous cycles. And that is because the stakes are high. And there is, frankly, at this point, no leader of the Democratic Party that has the same kind of stature and weight that Obama has.

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And so that phone call is really an important one.

That said, Abdul El-Sayed has said not very nice things in the past about former President Obama, has tried to distance himself from some of the policies that Obama had during -- in the Middle East, et cetera, et cetera. So, it's not cozy.

CORNISH: Yes. Though the nice things -- the nice things are the things we've heard from, I think, Democrat critics for a long time. He said, "as with many of the outcomes of Obama's presidency, inspiring intentions unfulfilled or reversed." I think that's a pretty actually kind of common sentiment you hear on the left.

Can we talk briefly about Mike Rogers? He is talking about the fact that Abdul El-Sayed has a lot of work to do with those voters who voted for Stevens, who are in more rural parts of the state. Here's an example of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: And to the vast majority of people across Michigan who do not want to throw their support behind a campaign filled with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence, and the views that are out of touch with your values, well, you have a home with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, he's not Ken Paxton, but he has his work cut out for him. Can you talk about why? What is it that -- why this is still close, despite what he's saying and despite an electorate that maybe right now isn't fully aligned with what Abdul El-Sayed has proved his election is?

TIANA LOWE DOESCHER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Yes, it's not just rural voters he's appealing to. He's appealing to the black voters that overwhelmingly went for Haley Stevens. My husband's from Michigan, and he told me beforehand, he said, this will be the Dearborn versus the Detroit election. And that is largely what the primary looked like, right?

CORNISH: Yes. DOESCHER: Haley Stevens cleaned up with black voters, with non- college-educated voters. And Michigan, I think, has the fourth lowest population of college graduates. And that's why Republicans see a pickup here, you know? And that's why, you know, it might be a bit of an own goal that it's Ken Paxton that they're going to have to dump a lot of money behind because that money could go very far in Michigan.

CORNISH: Like he was also openly begging, I think, on Sunday.

DOESCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: He was saying, look, we're going to need more money here, Washington.

DOESCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: So, it's not subtle.

DOESCHER: Everyone knew that making Texas, choosing Ken Paxton especially since it's James Talarico, means that that's going to be a bit of a money suck.

Mike Rogers might be uniquely positioned to do as well as any Republican can. Remember, he very narrowly lost to Elissa Slotkin --

CORNISH: Right.

DOESCHER: Who ran straight down the middle. She tried to --

CORNISH: Yes.

DOESCHER: She tried to make herself look as moderate as possible.

CORNISH: But he wasn't able to win on a Trump year, right?

DOESCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: He wasn't able to take advantage of coattails.

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "USA TODAY": Yes. Say that. So now you have El-Sayed trying to make this the contrast election, saying that Mike Rogers is going to be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump, trying to put Trump on the ballot. And frustrations, potentially, with President Trump as something to, you know, as a talking point in this election.

But I did want to say on the Obama point, you asked about what it might signal in this. We saw a similar pattern with Mamdani in New York where first there was a phone call where he offered behind the scenes to be a sounding board for him.

CORNISH: Right.

CHAMBERS: Just a -- just a get to know you sort of call. And then several months later, over some time, then we saw him make that visit to New York City to appear with him. So, we don't know what Obama, president -- former President Obama might do in the end, right, but that could be --

CORNISH: You're saying we've got a precedent? Yes.

CHAMBERS: But, yes --

CORNISH: I mean --

CHAMBERS: That's the way that he is (INAUDIBLE) space.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think they want to see -- he wants to see how this goes. What else might come out before he gets on the tour.

CORNISH: Yes. I like her analogy. Mamdani had only won 51 percent of the vote in New York. He needed someone to come in and be like, hey, there's some more work to do.

DOESCHER: But also it's a little (INAUDIBLE) --

CORNISH: Hold on one second. All of this is about, to me, the economy. Everyone is trying to come up with a message to say to voters, we can figure out how to make your lives better economically, however they're doing that. And that's because Trump's handling of the economy right now is massively underwater. Seventy percent disapprove in our last CNN poll.

[06:55:00]

And so now there is a fight about this. And the proxy battle is over burritos. Apparently, burritos are the reasons why people can't afford stuff.

This started with this post from Turning Point USA spokesman. He says, hey, a burrito costing $20 is partially Biden's fault. And also, "basic things cost too much." Then a fellow conservative congressman, Dan Crenshaw, says, look, this debate is dumb. People should "get a job" and "eat Ramen."

So, voters are clear, affordability is on the ballot in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the Republicans are acting concerned. They're all a bunch of Susan Collins, I'm concerned. Too little, too late. The burrito is $20 and you ain't doing nothing about it. We're going to do something about it in November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group chat is back.

I know for us in Washington we end up being, like, but Medicare for all, and also this policy and that policy. And I feel like that guy kind of summed it up with the burrito is $20 and it shouldn't be. And the White House isn't like, and this is what we've done to make this cheaper since Biden was in office. They're like, its Biden's fault still. It just hasn't worked itself out. DOESCHER: I mean, the White House has missed -- they've missed the

point that real wages under Biden's presidency, throughout the full four years, fell about four percent. Under Trump, real average weekly earnings per the BLS have risen about, I think it's 1.2 percent.

CORNISH: But Crenshaw isn't say that.

DOESCHER: So --

CORNISH: Crenshaw could say that, but instead he says, "stop whining, get a job, eat ramen like the rest of us did in college, on a budget with four roommates." And then he says, "the market doesn't care what you think something 'should' cost. Only communists care because they set prices. Are you a communist? Or are you an adult male capable of handling his own ish (ph)?

DOESCHER: It's tough love. It's tough love because we all know burritos do not --

CORNISH: Do voters like tough love?

DOESCHER: No, they don't.

CORNISH: OK.

DOESCHER: I mean that's why even the majority of Republicans think that we shouldn't reform Social Security, even though anyone that's looked at the data knows it's going bust in, what, three, four years anyway?

CORNISH: Yes. Voters don't love tough love.

DOESCHER: No, they don't love tough love. The fact is, a burrito is not $20. Having a personal chef cook a burrito and then a personal courier deliver it to your house is $20. And that's a very different thing.

CORNISH: By courier do you mean Uber or DoorDash?

DOESCHER: Yes. Yes. That -- like, that is a very novel concept, right?

CORNISH: Yes.

DOESCHER: Growing up --

CORNISH: But just to be clear for a generation of young people coming out of the pandemic, if you tell them your DoorDash is a personal courier and personal chef, instead of, I'm getting a burrito and I'm clarnaing (ph) my DoorDash, they don't hear you. You know, they don't think of themselves as like having a butler. They think of themselves as getting a burrito.

DOESCHER: I still think, though, that this is missing the forest for the trees because it's true that affordability --

CORNISH: Oh, yes, we know that. DOESCHER: No, no, it's true that affordability is the number one voter concern. It's why Donald Trump is president. There's no other reason. It's not about trans athletes. It was affordability. But the affordability crisis under Trump is now disproportionately really about housing. It isn't really about consumer prices, right? We've seen it in the polling.

CORNISH: Which he also didn't want to promote. Yes.

DOESCHER: So, this is why it was probably a political mistake for Trump not to staple himself onto the housing bill --

CORNISH: Yes.

DOESCHER: Because it was a lot of his ideas. And it was Tim Scott that really authored it.

CORNISH: Let me let you have a word here.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes. No, I agree with her.

CORNISH: Oh, OK.

Francesca.

CHAMBERS: I mean, no, this is -- this is the divide that's taking place in the Republican Party, which is how to talk about affordability issues. This $20 burrito, a story that --

CORNISH: When you've been not given anything to talk about just yet.

CHAMBERS: Started when Turning Point USA, you know, a MAGA-aligned group, was talking about the affordability. And that's where this all came from and spiraled from there.

And on the housing issue, that was what Republicans on Capitol Hill were saying, which is, we're were serving up a bipartisan win. Put your name on the bill.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And he just couldn't do it.

CHAMBERS: But the president didn't want to do that because he wanted to focus on the SAVE America Act, which he, you know, thought --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Which people don't care about, right? And --

CHAMBERS: Thinks is the way to win the election, ,and this isn't going to happen before --

CORNISH: Well, someone cares about it.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Is it -- in the same way.

CHAMBERS: The SAVE America is not going to happen. The Senate's gone. The House is gone. That's not going to happen at this point. And so, over the next six weeks, you know, the White House and Republicans are going to have to really hone their message on the economy and on the issues that voters care about as they try, you know, to keep the House and the Senate.

CORNISH: Yes. Well, they don't --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And -- but more importantly --

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: President Trump should not step on that message. He's been -- seemed to be incapable of delivering it with any consistency. He keeps on going off message, talking about the ballroom and other things that interest him, like the -- like relitigating the 2020 election. So, he should just allow Republicans to actually go out and focus on that message.

CORNISH: If he thinks that he is the message, like he's the selling point, would he do that?

DOESCHER: I mean, making America prosperous again and increasing real wages and -- that is a -- that is a win for him. And the White House needs to own it, right? For all the talk about the bottom's going to fall out of the labor market, it's going to happen, it's going to happen, we have zero evidence of that, right? The unemployment rate is a full point lower than the half century average. Jobs are good. The stock market is doing incredibly.

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's not --

DOESCHER: Wage -- real wage growth is still higher.

CORNISH: So, the key is, if you have stocks, great. If you need to DoorDash your burrito, less so.

You guys, thank you so much for being here.

[07:00:01]

I want to thank you for waking up with us. We've got ahead -- a lot of headlines coming up this week, including the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz in the latest round of demands from Iran. We're going to be talking about that. We've got a number of primaries that are happening around the country as well. So, we won't just be talking about Michigan forever. There's more conversation ahead when it comes to electoral politics.

I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.