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CNN This Morning
U.S. Slaps 50 Percent Tariffs On Some Canadian Goods As Talks Fail; U.S. Judge Strikes Down Policy Suspending Immigrant Visa; Trump Campaigning for Darline Graham After Debate Gaffe; Navy Reportedly Weighs Naming Aircraft Carrier For Trump Instead Of Black Pearl Harbor Hero; Iran To Allow Iraqi Tankers Through Strait Of Hormuz. Iran State Media: Iran to Allow Iraqi Oil Tankers to Travel Through the Strait of Hormuz; Duane 'Keffe D" Davis Addresses Court as Week One of Testimony Ends; Indy Race Cars Storm D.C. Streets for America's 250th Anniversary. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired August 22, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:00:33]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN This Morning. Here's what's new. The U.S.-Canadian trade war is back on after talks to reach a deal fell apart overnight at the last minute. We've got the tough talk coming from both countries this morning as tariffs go back into effect.
President Trump is trying to pull Senator Darline Graham across the finish line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Darline is somebody I've known for a long time. I asked her to do this. I said, Darline, you got to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: His pitch to South Carolina voters ahead of the primary and how Senator Graham is responding to her critics.
Plus, more rain is on the way for states already saturated from the storms this week. We're tracking the flood threat across parts of the mid Atlantic.
And this weekend, roads in Washington, D.C. will be converted into racetracks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be breaking some rules also when we come here with our driver driving 180 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: We'll take you inside preps for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix coming up on CNN This Morning.
Saturday, August 22nd. Really good to start the weekend with you. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Victor Blackwell.
New this morning, the trade war between the U.S. and Canada is back on after trade talks failed at the last minute overnight. Now 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods are in effect. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will match them. President Donald Trump and Carney, along with trade officials from both countries were in talks all this week to avoid this. But both sides are now blaming each other for the breakdown of the talks.
US Trade Representative Jameson Greer said in part, quote, new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days.
PM Carney blames last minute changes from the US. He calls them unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal.
President Trump is trying to personally pull Darline Graham across the finish line in South Carolina. The president headlined a rally last night in Myrtle Beach with Senator Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham. Her campaign took a pretty big hit this week when she could not answer a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea in a debate.
She admitted that she was not informed about national security. Well, President Trump defended Graham's answer as he traveled to South Carolina yesterday. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: All she was is being honest. She's very smart and she was being honest. She's totally for the military. I mean, she's going to do what the military wants and really what the president wants. He understands that national security is my thing. And she is a terrific woman. Who answered -- I watched that. I thought it was a very honest answer, actually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Well, the president clearly has his mind set on the midterms right now. I want you to listen to this plea that he made to the voters there in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And the problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot, but when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote for senators, congressmen and other Republicans and that these people they're running, they're great. But if Trump isn't actually on the ballot. So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote. It's so important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So the runoff is Tuesday. And for Graham, this was her last big stage, the last rally, the big one for her chance for redemption in. Here's her pitch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): Critics say I shouldn't run for the Senate. They say I'm not a politician. You know what I say? Guilty as charged.
And by the way, President Trump had never served in an elected office before and I think he's done a damn good job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Within hours of each other, two major decisions came down on White House led initiatives.
[06:05:03]
A judge struck down the president's ban on visas for immigrants from 75 countries. A judge ruled it was contrary to law and outside Secretary of State Marco Rubio's authority. The administration could still appeal that ruling. The Supreme Court also made a ruling on President Trump's massive new ballroom. CNN's Kevin Liptak with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump scored a victory at the Supreme Court on Friday when the panel was ruled that construction on his ballroom could continue. Now, this was a temporary victory. They did not rule on the legality of the construction, but they have said that they need more time to deliberate on those particular points and they will allow the construction to continue while they continue to do that.
Now, President Trump is touting this as a major win. He said that the -- he was, quote, grateful for the decision of the United States Supreme Court. And he says that, quote, the military slash ballroom complex being built on the hallowed grounds of the White House, which is so vital to national security, will be the greatest of its kind.
Now, you'll remember two lower courts had ruled that construction was illegal because the White House didn't have the authority to make this large a change to the White House grounds. And they said that it would require Congress for construction to continue.
What the White House argued is that essentially it was too far gone, that because the ballroom was 65 percent complete, that they had already built five stories below ground and 70 feet in the air, that essentially it was too late to stop the construction now.
Now, President Trump has been traveling in South Carolina on a campaign swing. He also mentioned this victory. Here's what he said.
TRUMP: I'm in a very good mood tonight. I didn't mention this to Darline because today we just learned that the big decision of the United States Supreme Court came down and the military slash ballroom, this beautiful magnificent complex. Being built on the hallowed grounds of our cherished White House, which is so vital for national security, will be it's going to be the greatest of its kind anywhere that's ever been built. And it's something that presidents have wanted to be built for over 150 years.
LIPTAK: So you hear their President Trump using the ballroom during a campaign stop. It's not clear how much this issue is swaying voters. If anything, many voters say that the president is overly focused on these projects and not necessarily on what they're focused on, namely the economy.
And so this construction will continue. The court continues to debate and deliberate over what exactly the legalities of all of this is but at least for now, that ballroom still continuing apace. Kevin Liptak, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Kevin, thanks. In a new exclusive report, sources tell CNN the Navy is working on renaming an aircraft carrier that was scheduled to honor a black war hero. They're instead considering naming it after President Trump. The carrier is currently under construction and was scheduled to be named after Doris Miller.
He was a black mess attendant who, with no training, manned an anti- aircraft gun and helped save his wounded commanding officer during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Naming the shift after Miller marked the first time an aircraft carrier would be named for an African American. CNN's Haley Britzky has more of this exclusive reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: The U.S. navy is working to rename an aircraft carrier that's under construction which was named for an enlisted black sailor hailed for his heroic actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The USS Doris Miller was officially named during the first Trump administration in 2020, but sources are saying the Navy is now looking to rename a different warship after Miller instead. Miller was famously portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2001 film "Pearl Harbor."
The carrier would mark the first time an aircraft carrier was named both in honor of an enlisted sailor and an African American. It's unclear why the Navy is looking to rename the ship, though there are those who believe aircraft carriers should only be named after presidents, major Navy battles or notable senior ranking officers.
Sources say Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and his office are working to update the official guidance for how these ships can be named and who specifically they can be named after to include presidents.
And two sources told CNN that there has been internal conversation about potentially naming the carrier after President Donald Trump, though that has not yet been decided.
Miller was the first African American to receive the Navy Cross, and sources tell us that the Navy has submitted him to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military medal for valor, though the final decision on that lies with Congress and the president. Asked about this story, a Pentagon official said they had nothing to announce at this time. Haley Britzky, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[06:10:03]
BLACKWELL: All right, Haley, thank you. Later on 8:00 a.m. Eastern this morning on first of all, I'll be joined by the great nephew of Doris Miller and the former Navy secretary for their reaction to the possible renaming of that aircraft carrier.
Now if you are in the mid-Atlantic today, stay Alert. Portions of D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey at risk of flash flood from excessive rainfall today. CNN's Allison Chinchar char is tracking the latest. What do they need to know?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Well, part of the reason they have the potential is because it literally just heavily rained there not even 24, 36 hours ago. So it's the compounding effect. We're adding more rain on top of all of the rain that they got Thursday night and Friday morning.
So we take a look at the radar and where a lot of these storms are. You can see again, there's not a tremendous amount, but this is the first round. The second round will come back again later on this evening and continue into the overnight hours. So again, it's more of just that we keep adding more rain on top of it and that ground is now saturated.
So again, just a few showers out here. They're not the only place though. Up around the Great Lakes we also have some showers. That's going to be another area particular of concern for severe thunderstorms later on this afternoon.
And we've got a line of showers and thunderstorms moving right now across portions of the Midwest and into areas of the Northern Plains. So when we talk about severe weather, remember we mentioned kind of up here around areas of the Great Lakes, this is where the best potential is going to be. It's mostly going to be damaging winds. You could have some small hail embedded in some of these storms, especially even the one out in portions of eastern Colorado too could be looking at golf ball size hail with some of those storms.
Here's a look at the timeline though. Again, once we get back into the late afternoon and early evening, you really start to see more of those showers and thunderstorms firing up across the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes that will slide back into the mid-Atlantic. So many of those same places, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, all of them could be looking at more of those rain and storms overnight tonight and early tomorrow.
BLACKWELL: They need a break. They need a break.
CHINCHAR: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. Alex Jones's Sandy Hook judgment has been slashed. Ahead, what a Texas court says that now he must pay the families of the elementary school massacre over his false claims.
Plus that deadly double, deadly Russian double tap strike hit a shopping center in Ukraine. At least 15 people were killed. We'll tell you what President Zelenskyy is saying about that attack.
Also, the surprise outburst in the Tupac Shakur murder trial. What Duane "Keffe" D Davis is accusing prosecutors of doing. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:17:12]
BLACKWELL: Morning headlines for you now. There's been a major legal break for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. A Texas appeals court has slashed a $50 million judgment against him down to about $6 million. The court cited state caps on lawsuit damages.
Families of Sandy Hook victims sued Jones over his false claims that the mass school shooting back in 2012 was a hoax. Now, this ruling does not affect a separate one and a quarter billion dollar judgment against him in Connecticut.
the DEA has now joined the investigation into the death of actress Hayden Panettiere. That's according to reports from the New York Times and ABC News. Panettiere was found unresponsive in an apartment in South Carolina on Sunday. Authorities say her boyfriend administered Narcan before first responders arrived. An official cause of death is still pending results of additional testing.
President Trump defended his decision to temporarily pause tariffs on imported beef on Friday. That's despite major pushback from some U.S. cattle producers. This is a 90-day policy. It allows up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the country, tariff free. The president says the move lowers grocery prices, but rancher groups warn it undercuts American farmers.
With his political clout and control of Congress on the line President Trump hit the campaign trail last night stumping for Senator Darline Graham in South Carolina. Now, she admitted in a debate this week she was not that informed about national security. Now the president is trying to help her clean up that gaffe with an eye on preserving the slim Republican advantage in the Senate.
Let me bring in now Meg Kinnard. She's a national political reporter for the Associated Press and conveniently for us in South Carolina, good to have you back on this Saturday morning.
Meg, let me start here, because we've seen in other races the president can back one candidate. You know, it there in the gubernatorial primary, and then when he sees some problems, move in another direction. So, was there any indication from this rally that the president may be softening his support or hedging his bets at all?
MEG KINNARD, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hey, good morning, Victor. You're right. South Carolina just can't quit. This place continues to be the center of the political universe at times.
But last night in that rally in Myrtle Beach, where I was as well, we didn't hear any softening from the president. If anything, this was a doubling down on his support for Darline Graham. You're absolutely right. In June, in the gubernatorial primary at the last minute on the Friday before the election, before the runoff, which is kind of that time frame we are in now, that's when we saw Trump issue that double endorsement for both of the Republicans in the runoff.
[06:20:05]
That was something that was on people's minds, particularly after that debate earlier in the week on Tuesday. But last night, President Trump was clear that Darline Graham is his candidate. There were other South Carolina politicians taking the stage, Senator Tim Scott, Representative Russell Fry among them, also voicing that support for her.
So, it does seem that we're in a different situation when it comes to this Senate runoff. But the debate answer that she gave did leave a lot of questions on people's minds, on some voters and certainly a lot of political watchers.
BLACKWELL: So a reminder for people, what Senator Graham said in response to a question about the significance of Taiwan and the South China Strait. See, let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States, and if so, why or how?
GRAHAM: I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security, that I'm not that informed on national security. So -- but I do support the military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: We heard some ooze there in the audience. Is that hurting her in the state any indication?
KINNARD: It's hard to tell. I mean, I've heard a lot of voters say that they're not as concerned about those issues related to foreign policy. They're more concerned about their pocketbooks and kitchen table issues. And those are things that Darline Graham has been talking about repeatedly all through her campaign for this Republican nomination.
But, you know, it just stands in stark contrast to her late brother, Lindsey Graham, who clearly was big on foreign policy. That was one of his major things when he was in the U.S. Senate.
So for her to say, that's just not my thing, it really just did mark a moment for voters who had repeatedly supported Lindsey Graham here in South Carolina, and now we're considering his sister for the same job. And she clearly has a very, very different take. But there's clearly a difference of opinion because, as you know, right now the economy and a lot of issues related to that are top on the mind of voters across the country, including here.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you about the endorsement that came from the former governor there, Mark Sanford, of Graham's opponent, Congressman Ralph Norman. What's the potency of that? He came in fourth in the primary, didn't make the runoff. How much is that moving anyone?
KINNARD: The Mark Sanford factor is always something that we're watching clearly when he was in this contest himself. But he and Ralph Norman are very aligned when it comes to fiscal conservatism, dealing with the debt deficit, government spending. That's Mark Sanford's troika of issues that he's always campaigned on. But given that he finished fourth and didn't have a very significant standing in that primary, unknown how much that moves people.
But a lot of voters who would have been considering Mark Sanford based on those issues alone will likely be more aligned with Norman than Graham going into the runoff.
BLACKWELL: Meg Kinnard, always good to have you on the show, especially when we're talking South Carolina. You know it better than anyone. Thanks so much. Enjoy the weekend.
China is pushing back against President Trump's threat of an economic D-Day against Iran. Ahead, what Beijing's response could mean for Washington's pressure campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:27:54]
BLACKWELL: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate for Russia's latest deadly attack. At least 16 people were killed. More than 100 others were wounded in Zelenskyy's hometown Friday when Russian drones hit a shopping center in a double-tap strike. That's according to Ukrainian officials.
Zelenskyy said that just half an hour after the first strike, Russia targeted first responders in a second attack. Several children are said to be among the wounded. Russia has ramped up its aerial assault over the last few months while Ukraine pleads for missile interceptors from allies.
Turning now to the war with Iran, state media is reporting this morning that Iran will now allow Iraqi oil tankers to travel through the Strait of Hormuz. The number of boats moving through the critical waterway increased by 27 percent this past week. That's according to CNN analysis of information from a UK Marine trade agency. But shipping levels are still at just 20 percent of the pre-war average.
Meanwhile, China is rejecting President Trump's so called economic D- Day threat against Iran and is vowing now to economically punished countries who do business with Tehran.
China says it's not the solution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is working on diplomacy with Oman after the president threatened to bomb the country over its negotiations with Iran. Let's go now to CNN. Sebastian Shukla, tell us more about why Iran is now allowing these Iraqi tankers to pass through the strait.
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, good morning, Victor. It seems to be a deal that's been struck between Baghdad and Tehran to allow Iranian oil tankers to pass through the strait and then deliver their oil. It's obviously going to be a huge economic benefit to Iran and supplies that are needed also to Iraq and appears to be a deal made between the chief negotiator in the Iran talks, Mohammed Qalibaf, and the speaker of the Iranian parliament between him and his counterpart in Baghdad.
[06:30:03]
What I think, interestingly for context though here is that is obviously an economic benefit to Iran. But we are talking now about an economic D-Day which the President announced earlier this week, that is likely to include sweeping sanctions on Iran and the Iranian economy.
We're hearing now via "Reuters" that Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, is likely to give a press conference on Monday around 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We're hearing that may well be the announcement of the sanctions, or perhaps a timetable.
Details are not quite clear. And as you rightly said, these sanctions are now being criticized by China. A huge ally of Iran, who have said that they do not fit the interests of any party. And Iran, for their part too, Abbas Araghchi; the Iranian Foreign Minister has said that any economic sanctions would be a doubling down failed policy, and that the U.S. is facing surging interest costs.
That all of that is obviously true when it comes to interest costs. We've seen now that a gap, a dollar a gallon is now trading at a dollar higher than it was this time last year. But I think, Victor, in the context of all of this, we need to remember that economic sanctions are not guaranteed to work.
The Iranian economy has been functioning and serving its 90 million populace for many years under heavy economic sanctions. So, the question remains, what will these new ones this D-Day really deliver both to the U.S. and on the Iranian people? Victor.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Sebastian Shukla, with the reporting, setting the table for us. Thanks so much. Let's bring in now CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger. He's also the author of "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West".
Good to see you, David. Let's start here with the question that I think many people have after these last six months of this war. Will there be a sustained, comprehensive schedule of these sanctions to follow the bellicosity from the White House about this economic D-Day?
The conservative editorial board at the "Wall Street Journal" doesn't seem convinced. Here's what they write. "After six months of war with Iran, President Trump has a credibility problem. His blustering threats alternating with claims of imminent peace and victory are doubted by friends and foes. By now, the world will have to see it to believe it."
Really, whether the tremendous economic consequences the President's promising, that kind of starts and ends with what they do with China. Outline that decision that's happening.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Victor, good to be with you. A few things that I think are moving here. And you identified the most important one, which is China. Xi Jinping comes to Washington in just a month.
It's his first trip in more than a decade. And the President wants this to be a very successful trip, building on his own trip in May to Beijing. If that trip begins with secondary sanctions on the Chinese economy, because they are the single largest purchaser of Iranian oil, they're going to have a problem.
And I think the first question is, can the President enforce these new sanctions, whatever they look like, in a way that does not undermine the most important relationship he's got with the world's -- between the world's largest and second largest economy.
I think the second problem he's got, and I think the "Wall Street Journal" editorial you quoted from there, Victor, gets at this, is that the President now has turned economic sanction timing on its head. Usually, you start with diplomacy. You ratchet up economic sanctions in order to reinforce that diplomacy.
And you've got the ultimate threat that you might go to war if you felt that your interests so required it. He's now in the position where he's already gone to war. It hasn't worked. And so, the Iranians have every reason to try to sort of drag this out through the Midterms and make the pain as high as they can for the United States and for the President.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about Ukraine. We talked about that double- tap strike that happened, 16 people killed, more than 100 wounded. The President, President Zelenskyy says that they've been effective in fighting off the drones.
[06:35:00] Not so much with the ballistic missiles, because they need the Patriot
system, or at least the licensing to build some of those missiles to defend themselves. He says "we need missiles for Patriots, and only our partners can provide them.
We aren't talking about gifts. Ukraine is ready to buy the weapons we need. What matters is the decision be made first and foremost in the U.S." Where does a potential sale or licensing to allow Ukraine to build them on their own, where does that stand?
SANGER: Well, the President came up with the idea of licensing during the meeting in Turkey, when he met President Zelenskyy and offered it. It turned out to be news to the companies that produced the Patriots, and they have since sort of gotten the President to back off of that.
Clearly, the United States doesn't have the supply it needs right now to provide to the Ukrainians, and it's hard for me to imagine any time in the next couple of years where our inventories would be increased enough to make that possible.
So, what we initially saw as momentum in the favor of the Ukrainians as they were striking deeper into Russia, I think, is turning now because the Russians recognize the Ukrainians are essentially defenseless. It's one of those examples, Victor, where the failure to anticipate how long the war in Iran would go on has affected our inventories and thus, begun to affect the war in Ukraine, and perhaps, our ability to defend Taiwan if it came to that.
BLACKWELL: David Sanger, always good to have you. Thanks so much.
SANGER: Great to be --
BLACKWELL: New audio -- thank you. New audio in the Tupac murder trial, as jurors hear Duane "Keffe D" Davis tell detectives his nephew fired the shots that killed the Hip Hop legend. Details ahead. And if you're heading out, remember you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. right now from the CNN app. You can go to CNN.com/watch as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:40:00]
BLACKWELL: The trial of the man accused of setting up the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur has wrapped up its first week of testimony. Duane Davis shocked the court yesterday by speaking out for the first time:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUANE DAVIS, ACCUSED OF KILLING TUPAC SHAKUR: They can't give it up(ph) -- my address. They broke in my house, vandalized my house, vandalized my wife's car, you know what I'm saying? Because they keep giving out our evidence. Now, they gave out my sister's address. This stuff is wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've heard it's going -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Davis is -- he's also alleged that his family is getting threatened and harassed. Prosecutors dismissed those claims. He faces one count of murder in Las Vegas for his alleged involvement in Shakur's fatal shooting. CNN's Josh Campbell has more:
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Week one of the trial of the man accused of taking part in the murder of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur is complete, and the star witness so far, the defendant's own words.
Duane Davis has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he helped orchestrate Shakur's killing. In a 2008 police interview, prosecutors played for the jury, Davis claimed the shooting of Shakur and rap producer Suge Knight near the Las Vegas Strip nearly 30 years ago was done out of retribution.
Davis said his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, had been beaten up earlier that night by Shakur's entourage. Hours later, Davis, "Baby Lane" and two others spotted Shakur and Knight driving and pulled up alongside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did a U-turn, so then he pulled alongside of it, you guys were in the car, so you hand the gun to the back seat --
DAVIS: Yes, I gave it to Dre, and Dre was like, no, and "Lane" is like give it here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, Lane starts blasting, and you say Suge looks over, he sees you.
DAVIS: Yes. I see a bullet going Suge's head, I thought he was dead. I thought he was dead. He must have scrapped him or something in the head or something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Tupac is trying to jump in the back seat and what's Suge doing? Just ducking?
DAVIS: Ducking, yes. He couldn't really duck because he was too big.
CAMPBELL: A Las Vegas medical examiner testified about the wounds Shakur received.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He died of gunshot wounds of chest and abdomen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And do you have an opinion as to the manner of death?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Homicide. CAMPBELL: The jury also viewed video clips from a 2018 documentary entitled "Death Row Chronicles". Davis was interviewed for the show and provided a moment-by-moment explanation of how the shooting happened. While a recreated dramatization was displayed on screen.
DAVIS: When we pulled up, I was in the front seat. Happened to see my friend, Suge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the shots came from the back. Big Dre, Orlando. Who shot Tupac?
DAVIS: I keep it for the code of the streets. It just came from the back seat, bro.
CAMPBELL: In his police interview, Davis also claimed that disgraced rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs offered a $1 million bounty to have Shakur and Knight killed. Allegations that Combs has repeatedly denied. He has not been charged in connection with this case.
[06:45:00]
Now, despite past comments by Davis describing his role in the shooting, he and his attorney now claim he made it all up, and was merely trying to make money off of his stories. Of course, a major question that will decide his fate, which version of the story will the jury ultimately believe? The trial is expected to last several more weeks. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right, Josh Campbell, thank you so much. Race cars are taking over the streets of Washington D.C. this weekend, ahead more on the 180-mile an hour Trump-backed IndyCar race tied to America's 250th.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:00]
BLACKWELL: Race cars are hitting the streets of D.C. this weekend for the first-ever IndyCar race outside the National Mall. Drivers will be pushing more than 180 miles per hour as they navigate around the landmarks and the monuments.
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix is part of a belated celebration of America's 250th anniversary. Brian Todd has a look ahead at the race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've done some practice runs, lined up the tires, prepped the pit lane. They've even paraded an IndyCar on an underground metro rail train for promotion. In some, the nation's capital has been transformed like never before. For the first ever IndyCar Open wheel street race in the city's history. BUD DENKER, CHAIRMAN, FREEDOM 250 GRAND PRIX: We're going to be breaking some rules also when we come here with our drivers driving 180 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue legally.
TODD: The Freedom 250 Grand Prix, celebrating the nation's 250th birthday, is the brainchild of Penske Corporation President Bud Denker, who designed a tight course spanning almost 1.7 miles with seven turns that the drivers will take 147 laps around.
(On camera): The course is just so extraordinary with some of the most iconic monuments and buildings in the world. In view of the racers and of the fans, you've got the Washington Monument right there, the National Gallery of Art right here and the Capitol.
Now, the Chairman of this race, Bud Denker, originally wanted to have the course on the Capitol grounds, but he ran into so much partisanship and bureaucracy that he scrapped it and brought it all back down here.
(Voice-over): Twenty-five of the most elite drivers in the IndyCar Series will be here, including this year's Indy 500 winner, Felix Rosenqvist, racing royalty like Graham Rahal and young Mexican star Pato O'Ward, who promises this to first-time D.C. race goers.
PATO O'WARD, DRIVER, NUMBER 5 CHEVROLET FOR ARROW MCLAREN: And you know, it's an IndyCar street fight. I feel like, you know, after they watch this weekend, I think they might be hooked for a life-time.
TODD: We walked the course and surveyed the tight turns, the straightaways, grandstands and other special accommodations. Denker says 49 manholes in the city had to be reshaped and smoothed over, so the high-speed cars don't suck the covers off their moorings.
(On camera): One thing that really strikes out at you about this course is how tight the turns are. Check this out. This is the first turn left from Third Street onto Pennsylvania Avenue. Now the drivers are going to be reaching their top speeds of 175 to 185 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue.
And the organizers say Pennsylvania Avenue had to be included as part of this course because it's wide enough to serve as a pit lane.
(Voice-over): At least, one museum along the route conducted a vibration study ahead of the race. Not everyone in D.C. is happy. Street closures and construction will have disrupted D.C. traffic for close to two months by the time it's all cleared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It usually are quite expensive. So, I mean, as you can see, it's a big hassle for the district.
TODD: But for race fan Josh David, who's been to three Indy 500 races and traveled here just for this event, there's nothing quite like this.
(On camera): How is it different for a fan from like the Indy 500 -- JOSH DAVID, ATTENDING FREEDOM 250 GRAND PRIX: It's going to be a lot
more action, a lot more tight-turns, a lot more incidents and stuff like that.
TODD: You anticipate you're going to see some crashes?
DAVID: Yes, definitely.
TODD: Race organizers anticipate crowds of about 100,000 on each of the two days of this event. Just about all of those tickets are free and are already sold out. But there are also nearly 80 suites costing about $200 to $250,000 apiece. And we're told those are sold out as well. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: The 2,000, the odds as they're known, it was a decade of historic comeback championship runs, Tiger Woods ruled golf, Serena Williams became a tennis icon. Be sure to tune in a new episode of "DECADES IN SPORTS" aired Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.
This week, "Netflix" dropped the trailer for "A Different World", the continuation of the original series that aired in the late '80s and the early '90s. The new series centers around the next generation of Hillman College students, along with some returning favorites from the original run.
I had a chance to sit down with two of the stars about how the new series came to be and what to expect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: As a fan, this feels like it's been a long-time coming. How does this feel for you?
CREE SUMMER, ACTRESS: We've talked about it and had discussions for years, but it just always seems like an impossibility, and so, I think eventually we all kind of became naysayers of that. We thought, no, this is never going to happen --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, when it came up --
SUMMER: Yes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This time, I was like sure --
SUMMER: Yes, sure --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really --
SUMMER: Yes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I was telling Debbie, you better hurry up before I turn 70 --
SUMMER: Yes, if you don't --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I might be still learning my lines now --
SUMMER: Because it proved it --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we're having so much fun with --
BLACKWELL: Yes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each other, and we've been with each other in real life --
SUMMER: We hang out on purpose --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But our characters haven't been together for a while.
[06:55:00]
BLACKWELL: How does it feel to have Miss Allen back as part of this iteration of the story of "Hillman"?
SUMMER: Because she has to be, and that's my --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I was going to say, she has to.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: Would you have done it without her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No --
SUMMER: No. What Debbie Allen brought -- she's so smart, and what Felicia Pride is bringing as well is we suck it to you with the political truth, but then we catch you with humor. And it's that incredible balance that "Different World" always had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: There's much more of that interview that you have to see. It was such a fun time. Coming up on "FIRST OF ALL" at 8:00 a.m., I'll take you behind the scenes, you'll see some exclusive clips and hear from the next generation, "The Freshman Class" at "Hillman".
The new "Different World" starts at 8:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN and streaming on the CNN app. Thousands of people in Indiana are still without power after a deadly storm. Ahead, we'll talk with a person who lives there in Gary, Indiana, who says her neighborhood is in survival mode. And look at Pittsburgh this morning, showing off that beautiful sunrise. Good morning to you!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
