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Ossoff Sparks Feud with Jab at Trump's Inner Circle; Lindsay Clancy, Hayden Panettiere & Maternal Mental Health. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 18, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: That's a big explosion. Officials believe lightning sparked the massive explosion in Oklahoma. The man who filmed it says it shook the whole entire Walmart.

The tank held a liquid fuel used in the production of gasoline.

No one was hurt. And officials say there's no threat to the public.

That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brian Abel. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, we're talking about a Georgia senator going there, sparking fury from the White House. Did Jon Ossoff cross the line or just hit a nerve?

Plus, primary voters head to the polls today in Florida. Can scandal- plagued Congressman Cory Mills ride a Trump endorsement to victory?

And then, Pete Hegseth talks politics in the all-important primary state of Iowa. Could he be thinking of running for the White House in 2028?

And the struggles of Lindsay Clancy and Hayden Panettiere put maternal mental health in the spotlight. Has it been ignored for too long?

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HAYDEN PANETTIERE, ACTRESS: So, I felt unfixable. I felt like there was no way -- way out of it.

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CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we are going to start here with the name calling and some personal attacks. That's not unusual, obviously, in this era, but this bit from Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff on Sunday seemed to land differently at the White House. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): And while the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war; while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks.

See, he doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, so you hear that part? "Travel with Natalie." That refers to Trump's close personal aide, Natalie Harp. She was part of a small group that snuck out of Air Force One and onto that smaller jet in Turkey, while cabinet secretaries Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent stayed on board.

Now, White House staff are taking aim at Ossoff, calling him, quote, "cringe-worthy feminine theater kid cosplaying as Barack Obama" and, quote, "the biggest cuck loser in politics." Here's how Trump responded.

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KRISTIN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday, Jon Ossoff said you'd rather travel with your aide, Natalie Harp, and build the ballroom than do your job as president. What is your response?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Who said that?

HOLMES: Jon Ossoff.

TRUMP: You mean Pee Wee Herman? Pee Wee Herman lookalike? No, I would much rather do other things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Today in the group chat, we've got Mike Leon, host of the "Can We Please Talk?" podcast; Kristin Davison, Republican strategist and former adviser to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin; and Jerusalem Demsas, founder and editor of "The Argument." Thank you, guys, all for being here.

So, first, so people know who were talking about, I'm going to put up some information about Miss Harp, who is the president's aide. She's somebody who also does the dictation for the social media posts. Apparently follows him with a printer, which is pretty cool. I'll take that help, actually. I like a printer.

MIKE LEON, HOST, "CAN WE PLEASE TALK?" PODCAST: I was going to say, on your desk.

CORNISH: And she is known, actually, because she received some, she says, life-saving cancer treatment that she believes Trump policies led to the enablement of. Can you talk about how and why she's come to the attention of the

press, to the point where Ossoff could make a dig?

LEON: Well, first off, the digs are terrible. We've got to come up with some better nicknames for Donald Trump, always having these good nicknames at the -- at the fingertips here.

CORNISH: He's workshopping.

LEON: Those are some more -- yes, well, that's some bad workshopping.

But I came to find Natalie. If you remember, back in '24, when there was a documentary following around Trump and the convention speech of Kamala Harris, Trump was dictating to someone. If you go back to that video, it's Natalie Harp that's sitting next to him that's dictating all the social media posts -- all the social media posts, excuse me.

So, it's interesting that all of a sudden -- I didn't know who she was. I don't think none of us -- we talked about this off-air. None of us know --

CORNISH: Yes.

LEON: -- actually her directly.

CORNISH: Right.

LEON: Now, all of a sudden, she's thrust into this. Is that fair to do that? Probably not.

But there is something underneath it all, which is what Ossoff is talking about, which is that the president's not working for Georgia residents. And I think that's more at the root of it, versus him bringing it up.

CORNISH: Yes. But did he distract by bringing that up?

So, one of the reasons people know her at all, even in Washington, "The New York Times," for a time, was doing some reporting about how devoted she was.

And the question was whether or not she was somehow preventing the flow of information or news or only giving him good news.

[06:05:02]

And it made me -- this whole back-and-forth made me think of the -- when -- when they go low, we go -- what is it supposed to be?

LEON: High. High.

CORNISH: I don't even remember anymore.

JERUSALEM DEMSAS, FOUNDER AND EDITOR, "THE ARGUMENT": High.

CORNISH: I heard someone else, during one of the campaigns this season say, when they go low, we go to the basement.

And tell me from "The Argument's" point of view, this is the new era. Did --

DEMSAS: It's the basement.

CORNISH: This is the basement.

LEON: Close to it.

CORNISH: And did Ossoff need to do something like this when -- when I look at the polls, he's pretty far ahead in that Georgia Senate race.

DEMSAS: You know, I think that one thing that's not being talked about a lot is that his bringing up Natalie is still a part of the overall message that Ossoff has been pushing.

What he's trying to talk about is that Donald Trump is not focusing on the needs of Georgians. He's corrupt. I mean, corruption is the big word for Ossoff, over and over again.

And so, the idea that people are now Googling like, who is Natalie? The impact of that is not just, oh, is Trump potentially having an affair? It's, oh, he's not working for you. He's in the pocket of someone else. He's in his own interest.

CORNISH: I see.

DEMSAS: He's not working for working people.

CORNISH: It's like a loaded sentence. Like, now you're Googling "plane." You're Googling "renovations to the plane." You're Googling her name.

LEON: Right.

CORNISH: It's something designed to -- to bring up a new round of conversation.

DEMSAS: He's been remarkably on message. So, I think it was -- at first, I was like, this is kind of weird. And then I Googled it. And I was, like, this is what would lead me down to.

CORNISH: Well, someone actually did get to ask him directly, what are you doing with this? And here's what he had to say to MS NOW on Monday.

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OSSOFF: Well, I've heard this particular aide referred to as his security blanket, and I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House.

They're not telling him what he needs to hear. They're telling him what he wants to hear. We're dealing with a president who has utterly and undeniably failed

at his most core and central obligation as commander in chief. They lied us into war.

And by the way, no one cares about their hurt feelings in the West Wing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN DAVISON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: So, I think Senator Ossoff here, he's -- he's running a clipping campaign. So, he's very obsessed with likes on Twitter and TikTok and every other social media thing.

I think he overstepped here. I mean, can you imagine if a Republican senator went out and -- and made the innuendo that a female aide of a Democrat was having an affair? I mean, minds would be exploding.

So, I think it's unfair. I think it's a little disgusting. It's a little bit hypocritical on his part. I think he overstepped, which is -- you know, it happens in the age of social media.

But he's not running a campaign for Georgia. He's setting up the case for 2028 for himself. And so, everything he does is how can he get --

CORNISH: Although he claims he's not even thinking about 2028 fantasy football, much less --

DAVISON: Sure.

CORNISH: Oh, look at that: smirks all around from the pundit classes.

DEMSAS: I'll just say this, too. I mean like, you know, it doesn't -- no -- no -- two wrongs don't make a right or whatever. But I do think it's kind of weird to hear from this White House that they're concerned about how people are talking about women and how people are talking about female aides, when we see what's come out of this White House, out of that campaign over and over again about women.

And again, this isn't about putting tit-for-tat in who's right and who's better, but it's just to say that I think the American people are pretty inoculated to the sort of moralizing comments about, How dare you bring this woman in?

I mean, you just heard Ossoff say this, like, no one cares about hurt feelings in the West Wing, because people care about cost of living. They care about one thing.

CORNISH: One other thing. There is an actual Senate race going on in Georgia. The president's MAGA PAC has $400 million for a man who's allegedly in his last term.

Do you think they're going to put any money in that race? I mean, like I said, Ossoff right now polling ahead. Does Collins need help?

LEON: He does need help right now. But again, that race will shrink. As you know, it's only about 13 percentage points now. CORNISH: Look at this money. My man's 42 million versus 2.2.

LEON: It's a little bit off.

DAVISON: The race will help close that, too. You have a Republican candidate for governor who's going to spend -- who's already spent $100 million, who's going to spend $100 million. And so, that will help even it out and close the gap.

Look, there is a lot of money on the Republican side. We saw reports out this week that the president is going to deploy it to help Republican candidates.

Every Republican campaign out there, from Collins to North Carolina to Michigan, to everywhere. You have to prove yourself. Every campaign right now has to prove of being worthy of the president supporting it.

CORNISH: Although it's been a mixed bag on the report card in the aftermath. But we're going to talk about that more today.

I want to check in on one more thing: the Tupac murder trial. The man accused of orchestrating the rapper's murder is facing a jury.

And then, we're going to go back to the Nancy Guthrie mystery. What authorities are saying about the human remains found near her home.

And later, a bipartisan target. The growing revolt from both the right and the left against A.I.-powered flock cameras.

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CORNISH: OK, it's almost 15 minutes past the hour. I'm going to tell you about five things making the news this morning.

There's going to be witness testimony continuing today in the trial against Duane "Keefe D." Davis. Remember, he's accused of planning the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur 30 years ago. And yesterday, we heard opening statements.

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BINU PALAL, CHIEF DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, CLARK COUNTY: Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But what he did do was plan the retaliation for the beating of his nephew.

MICHAEL SANFT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What the state has just told you, what they believe to be the evidence in this case. But really, at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself if what they're saying is really truth or fiction.

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CORNISH: And if you want to watch more, tune in for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Tupac murder trial. It's happening every day, anchored by Laura Coates on CNN and on the CNN app.

Also, turning to Luigi Mangione's state murder trial, which has been postponed. This is the state trial. It was set to begin in three weeks.

His lawyers are trying to get that case thrown out on the grounds of double jeopardy, because he's pleaded guilty to federal charges just last week, admitting to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The next hearing for that case is now set for December, about a week before Mangione's federal sentencing.

And a possible break, and the search for Nancy Guthrie appears to be at its end. Human remains were discovered about 15 miles from Guthrie's Arizona home.

Now, investigators say there's no indication that they're actually connected to her case.

Guthrie has been missing since February.

And in Congress, the House Ethics Committee announces it's investigating Congressman Jimmy Gomez over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The probe includes a review of allegations involving a staffer, which is against House ethics rules. Gomez denies violating House rules or the law.

And we are learning new details about the death of actress Hayden Panettiere. Officials say they responded to a 911 call on Sunday about cardiac arrest in the South Carolina home she was staying in.

Crews then tried to resuscitate her. She was ultimately pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the 911 call came in.

As of now, no foul play is suspected, and the official cause of her death is still pending. Panettiere would have turned 37 on Friday.

And after the break, we're going to talk about how Panettiere was open about her experience with postpartum depression. And now, after her death, her openness about her struggle is resonating.

Plus, it is primary day for voters in Florida and another test of Trump's influence. Can embattled Congressman Cory Mills score a win?

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CORNISH: So, Hayden Panettiere and Lindsay Clancy. They are not the same story. However, out in the group chats you guys are talking about them because of this question of gaps in maternal mental health and whether it needs to be addressed.

One mom influencer was writing on Instagram, quote, "Lindsay Clancy was ignored and gaslit, and it led to an absolute tragedy. Hayden Panettiere spoke publicly about her postpartum depression in 2015 and was then dropped by Neutrogena. We need to stop punishing women for suffering and needing help."

Then we saw another post that said this: "I'm thinking about the woman who is six weeks postpartum and hasn't told anyone about the thoughts that scare her."

Now, this week in the courtroom, Lindsay Clancy's defense team was trying to bring in her family to testify about her mental state in the months before the killing of her three children.

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PAULA MUSGROVE, LINDSAY CLANCY'S MOM: She would mention that her -- this wasn't her mind. She would say to me, I've never. This isn't me. I've never been like this before. And I would agree, because she wasn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Clancy lawyers don't dispute that she strangled her children, but they say she had postpartum psychosis.

In the meantime, Panettiere, postpartum depression for her manifested in a different way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PANETTIERE: There's a lot of stigma around postpartum, and there's a lot of misunderstanding. And it's on a -- there's -- it's on a spectrum. It's on a scale.

And -- and fortunately, you know, I -- I never felt any hostility or negativity towards my child, you know, thankfully. but I wasn't connecting with her the way that I knew I should be.

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CORNISH: So, I'm bringing in Dr. Noelle Santorelli, a clinical psychologist who focuses on maternal health.

Can you talk to me about what you're seeing online? Are people drawing similarities or trying to pick out themes in this story under this umbrella of maternal health?

DR. NOELLE SANTORELLI, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. I think that there -- you know, I think that the space is divided, unfortunately. I think that some women are sort of looking directly at the tragic loss of the children, of course.

But I think another group of women are saying, That's me. I see myself in both Hayden and in Lindsay Clancy in terms of begging, wanting, needing, postpartum care and support and not being able to receive it.

CORNISH: Can you talk about the difference? She -- she -- Panettiere spoke about this. This was just in a podcast a few months ago. The spectrum.

Can you talk about the ends of that spectrum? Because postpartum psychosis is a very specific diagnosis. And I think one, even when you go to your doctor after giving birth, you've got to say that by name, right? If you think there's a problem.

SANTORELLI: Absolutely, absolutely. So, absolutely. These -- these disorders run on a spectrum.

So, we see everything from postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety. We've also got baby blues, which is not really in a -- at a clinical level. That's something that's much more common that women might experience.

We've got postpartum OCD, which a lot of women experience, and then we have postpartum psychosis, which is much more rare. It's about 1 to 2 women in every 1,000 might experience postpartum psychosis.

Now, that sounds like it's -- it's very, very little: one to two people out of 1,000 women. But if you think about the number of women in America that are having babies every year, that number looks a lot bigger.

CORNISH: Can you talk about Panettiere and how she spoke about it? She had a lot of other issues, right? Addiction issues. She talked about abuse in Hollywood.

[06:25:07]

But she is also known for talking about postpartum. And I think at one point, actually allowed custody, primary custody of her child to go to her father. So, her child wasn't with her, because she had these concerns about getting well.

Are people really able to hide this kind of depression?

SANTORELLI: You know, absolutely they can. And especially what we can see in women that are traditionally or typically high functioning. So, for example, Lindsay Clancy, she was a labor and delivery nurse. She was highly intelligent, and she was high-functioning.

And so, to come -- you can use compensatory mechanisms to sort of cover up what you're experiencing. A lot of women, because of the stigma around mental health in general, but especially when you're in charge of taking care of your children or a newborn baby, women get really afraid to be separated from their -- their children, right? There's a fear that, if they report what they're really experiencing, their children might be taken away.

CORNISH: Somebody is up nursing, somebody is watching this, and they are feeling something familiar. What's your message to them? What should they be thinking about in terms of asking for help?

SANTORELLI: Absolutely be honest, be open, particularly with your family members, assuming they're safe people in your life. Not trying to mask for them, but saying things like, I'm having intrusive thoughts, for example.

But saying more about what those thoughts are. I think there was some error in the way that the symptoms were caught in the Clancy case, for example, because intrusive thoughts can mean so many different things. It can mean, I have -- I'm having worry thoughts; I'm having racing thoughts. It could mean other things.

So, telling your family members and asking your loved ones. So, if you have a woman who is postpartum, and she says something like, I'm having intrusive thoughts, or I'm having scary thoughts, ask more questions and be an advocate for them and with them.

Say it out loud and get the help you need. Thank you for this message, Dr. Noelle Santorelli. Please check her out online.

And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about this battle over flock cameras, somehow creating political enemies on both sides of the aisle.

And then, we're going to talk about why Iowa, why now? Pete Hegseth, he's visiting. And that's, of course, fueling political speculation.

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