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CNN This Morning
Iran President Says Country Is In A "Full Scale War"; U.S. Imposes 50 Percent Tariffs On Canada After Talks Collapse; Canada Announces Matching Tariffs Starting Sept. 8; Freedom 250 Grand Prix Underway In Washington, D.C.; Paramount, State AGs Head To The Bargaining Table This Week; Trump Defends Graham After Debate Foreign Policy Gaffe. Trump and Ossoff Trade Insults in GA Senate Feud; Kennedy Center Could Restore Trump Name After September 8; Once-A- Month "Nude Dining Experience" at Florida Steakhouse; Nevada Gov. Declares Emergency Due to Reno's Hawk Fire. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired August 23, 2026 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:00:42]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN This Morning. We are following several new developments for you. First, Iran has made some new threats against the U.S. as the Trump administration prepares to impose new sanctions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: The rhetoric is ramping up, and Iran has declared it's now in a full-scale war. President Trump fired back at Canada after the country imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products. We've got the latest on that escalating trade fight.
And the battle for CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, could take a new turn this week. We'll tell you what we're learning about a meeting between Paramount and the attorneys general suing to block the deal.
Plus, some soldiers in Georgia are being offered a unique perk to reenlist, a four-day Grand Theft Auto binge. That's coming up in the morning roundup on CNN This Morning.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, August 23rd. Good to start this week with you. I'm Victor Blackwell.
All right, just in, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian admits the country is in a full-scale war. State media reported this morning that the President acknowledged Iran's economic difficulties as the U.S. is now getting ready to ramp up sanctions.
Tomorrow, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a news conference to detail those new sanctions. But the Iranian security chief already promised retaliation. He says he'll shut down the Strait of Hormuz again if any of the country's neighbors enter this economic war.
CNN's Oren Liebermann explains the latest developments.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: After months of military conflict have failed to militarily defeat Iran or to secure a nuclear deal, President Donald Trump is shifting to a new strategy, which may well be an old strategy, economic warfare, with a new set of sanctions set to be unveiled on Monday by the U.S. Treasury Secretary in an effort to put pressure on Iran's economy and either force the Iranian regime into a nuclear deal or perhaps defeat the regime or topple the regime in some other fashion.
This is less a brand-new strategy and more what appears to be a return of the maximum pressure campaign we saw in the Trump administration's first term, an effort to weaken Iran economically here. Trump is trying to bring in other countries to help put pressure on Iran. This isn't an immediate solution to the conflict.
Economic sanctions and economic pressure take time to work, and this seems to be an acknowledgment that the military conflict, the strikes on Iran over the course of the last few months, have failed to bring about what Trump was looking for, that is, a nuclear deal that he would consider acceptable.
So now that that has failed, it's back to economic pressure, and we have seen this in an acknowledgment from Iran's President who described this now as a full-scale conflict. He said, according to Iranian state media, this is Masoud Pezeshkian, "We are apologetic that these problems exist as we find ourselves in a full-scale economic, military, and security war."
So you see him acknowledging there the pressure on Iran's economy, the inflation, the other issues facing the Iranian public, but trying to rally around the idea and this continued economic conflict now with the United States. Here is an Iranian national security official as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHSEN REZAEI, SECRETARY OF IRAN'S SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (through translation): If President Trump decides to take further action, our response, our retaliation, will be seismic. First, we will tell all neighboring countries and countries around the world not to join the United States in its economic war.
Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy. Of course, we will first negotiate with them. We will hold talks and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States. But if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country's interests. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: Now the question becomes, who can hold out longer if this is economic warfare. The Trump administration is betting that the pressure on Iran's economy will pressure the regime into either a nuclear deal or perhaps some of the wide-scale protests around economic issues that we saw earlier this year.
[07:05:03]
The difference, of course, now is that there is a conflict. There is an enemy at which the Iranian regime can point and say this is their fault and see if they can rally the people around Iran and around Tehran and the supreme leader there. Iran, meanwhile, is betting that trying to limit the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will put pressure on Trump through gas prices and the effect the general prices of everything are having across the United States ahead of the midterms, which is what Iran is looking at in terms of the economic warfare from their perspective.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.
BLACKWELL: New this morning, a full-scale trade war is brewing between the U.S. and Canada. President Trump claimed he's doing it for America's farmers. Just after midnight, he posted, "Canada wants the benefits of being a state without being one. They have also charged our great farmers for many years massive amounts of tariffs. No more."
Now, this dispute quickly escalated after trade talks collapsed Friday night. That's when President Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on $20 billion in Canadian goods. Canada reciprocated by imposing retaliatory tariffs on steel and dairy and appliances and agricultural equipment and pulp and paper and electronics.
With me now is Ari Hawkins. He authors the "Morning Trade" newsletter for Politico. Ari, good morning to you. So you told my producers first that it would be inaccurate to just call this a spat, a tariff spat. So let's talk about scope.
ARI HAWKINS, REPORTER, POLITICO: That's right. This is really sort of two interconnected issues. There is on the one hand this $20 billion worth of tariffs that are now in effect. That has a pretty significant impact on industries across the board, really.
But in addition to that, this negotiation was also aimed at setting the groundwork for these broader North American talks to pull Canada into discussions over our North American free trade agreement known as the USMCA. That, unlike the $20 billion, has a much more massive scope and highly integrated markets. That is really the concern and why you're seeing such a strong reaction from industry groups that have already urged the Trump administration to come back to the negotiating table.
BLACKWELL: And you say this also shows a division within the Trump administration between the Commerce Secretary and the Trade Representative. Talk to me about it. HAWKINS: That's right. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was opposed to certain concessions that were on the table. These negotiations have heavily focused on Trump's so-called national security tariffs. And part of the deal that was on Trump's desk before talks fell apart included tariff relief on automotives, metals, as well as lumber.
However, for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, some of those were a bridge too far. It's worth noting here that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was the head negotiator here. And a lot of those national security tariffs actually fall under the domain of the Commerce Department.
However, Lutnick appeared to feel a bit sidelined by this entire process. And that was part of some of the disorganization within the Trump administration that also slowed down talks here.
BLACKWELL: So that's the intra-administration fight. Let's hear from the Canadian Prime Minister now and his concern with how those talks fell apart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Well, we believed earlier this week that we were moving towards, moving towards a mutually beneficial agreement. In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that run economic, unfair, and undermine the net benefits for Canada and called into question the reliability of any deal. In short, they asked too much and they offered too little.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And so what's at the top of the list of Carney's characterization of uneconomic, unfair demands from the U.S.?
HAWKINS: There were a number of long-term stressors that these negotiations failed to resolve from Canada's digital services attacks the U.S. wanted off to a laundry list of other issues from agriculture. It's worth noting, however, that this is a bit of a tale of two interpretations here.
Yes, on the Canadian side, they have said that there were last-minute asks from the U.S. that torpedoed talks. The U.S. says a very similar thing, that there was an 11th-hour request from Canada to apply tariff relief to trucks. That was already applied to smaller automotive vehicles, but that expansion appeared a bridge too far from the U.S.'s side as well.
So we're getting this finger pointing here where both sides are effectively accusing the other of making these insurmountable asks at the last moment.
[07:10:00]
It's worth noting here that whether or not there was one issue that was ultimately what broke the camel's back here, there were a number of long-term issues that ultimately failed to be resolved. A lot of the pressure points here related to those national security tariffs that Canada wanted eliminated entirely, as well as concerns over Canada's dairy market and widening that access (ph) for American consumers. That was a significant ask from the Trump administration that Canada was on the verge of agreeing to before these talks fell apart.
BLACKWELL: All right. Ari Hawkins, we'll see if they get back to negotiations, but it seems like when you hear from Carney that it puts into question the reliability of any deal, there's some fundamental trust that's lost between these two leaders that has to be repaired.
Thanks so much for setting the table for us.
More race fans are expected in Washington today for the first-ever Freedom 250 Grand Prix IndyCar race. IndyCars will speed across the capital city, past landmarks like the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building. CNN's Brian Todd was at yesterday's preliminary races.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an exciting two days of racing here at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. We're at turn four, one of seven hairpin turns on this course. We're going to raise the camera, and you can see some of these guys coming around the corner here at amazing speed.
Look how tight these turns are. Really impressive, the way they take these turns. Again, this is turn four, and there are seven total turns on the course. It's a 1.7-mile course. They have to do that 147 times on the main race day to get to 250 miles. So an exciting two days of events.
On Saturday, you have these qualifying segments. Sunday is the main event at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. Again, it's a 1.7-mile course, and they have to do it 147 times to get to 250 laps. About 100,000 people are expected to attend this on each of the two days, according to race organizers.
We spoke to several fans who are here, some of them for the first time, about the experience overall.
What's your impression of this, first time here?
BRAD HAUN, FREEDOM 250 GRAN PRIX FAN: Impressive, blown away, speechless.
TODD: Well, in what way? What really strikes out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the sound, I love it. The speed, the crowd, everything about it.
KRISTIN HAUN, FREEDOM 250 GRAN PRIX FAN: Getting away from work and getting to -- get to experience this kind of once-in-a-lifetime event for us has been great. Wanting to get out and have those experiences and coming here, very worth it. TODD: So lots of fan excitement here for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. On Sunday for the main event, President Trump is expected to attend. He'll drop the green flag. Before that, he's going to take a ceremonial lap around the course.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right, Brian, thanks so much.
Still ahead, people have been told to leave their homes while crews fight a fast-growing fire near Reno, Nevada. We have the latest for you on that.
Plus, as many as 60 million people are facing extreme heat heading into the workweek. We'll tell you where temperatures could hit triple digits.
And Paramount and state attorneys general will meet this week over Paramount's plan to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. The key concerns ahead of the meeting next.
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[07:18:02]
BLACKWELL: This week, Paramount representatives and the state attorneys general suing them are expected to meet. But both sides are still far from any deal in the Paramount-Warner Bros. takeover. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.
On Friday night, California AG Rob Bonta said any resolution needs to include robust structural remedies. CNN's Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter is here now. Stelter, good morning to you. Where did this meeting come from?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, experts tell me that it's not likely to actually lead to an immediate deal. But these talks have to start sometime. They have to start somewhere. And so they are starting. This was apparently at Paramount's request. So it's coming from Paramount's side.
And that makes a lot of sense because Paramount is more incentivized to try to reach a settlement in the coming weeks. Paramount's trying to pull off one of the biggest acquisitions in business history. Not just in the media industry, but in any industry.
We're talking about a deal that has a $111 billion price tag. Trying to merge with Warner Bros. Discovery, which does involve CNN. But these 12 states and the Writers Guild of America have sued to block the deal. It's been an antitrust showdown that's been very dramatic this summer.
Now the writers in the states, they say that the combination of Paramount and Warner would be too big, it would break antitrust law, and it would hurt Hollywood. So you have the writers in the states basically with time on their side.
The trial has been scheduled for next March. But between now and then, the deal is going to get even more expensive for Paramount. And both Paramount and Warner say this is just going to slow things down and hurt the industry.
So you have a situation where Paramount is increasingly desperate, it seems, to have talks to maybe get to a settlement. But California Attorney Rob Bonta -- Attorney -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who's the one leading this coalition, he says that any deal would have to be very, very stiff.
Here's the statement he sent to me overnight on Friday. He said, quote -- he said, "Any potential discussions about the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger will be unproductive absent robust structural remedies on the table that address our concerns."
[07:20:11]
So what do structural remedies mean? They mean divestitures, breakups, spinoffs, ways to break apart the combined company before it ever actually merges. And the whole point of the deal, according to Paramount, is to bring all these assets together.
So essentially, there are going to be these talks on Monday, but experts believe there won't be an immediate resolution because the two sides are so far apart. But like I said, Victor, the talks have to start sometime, they have to start somewhere.
And there continues to be a political cloud hovering over all of this, with many observers believing that CNN is a part of this drama because Paramount wants to own CNN. And many outside observers, many liberal groups, they don't want to see Paramount take control of CNN.
But Rob Bonta, the California Attorney General, he says this has nothing to do with CNN at all. He says it's mostly about Hollywood, about the future of film production and television licensing.
BLACKWELL: All right, we'll see what comes out of this meeting, although expectations are low.
Brian Stelter, always good to have you. Thanks.
Still ahead, President Trump's name could soon return to the Kennedy Center. The creative ways that his hand-picked board is trying to get around a judge's order.
And good morning to you in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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[07:25:41]
BLACKWELL: President Trump standing firm behind South Carolina Senator Darline Graham after a pretty rocky debate performance. Critics pounced when she admitted that she wasn't informed on a national security issue, key issues. As voters weigh critical foreign policy debates against party loyalty, will the President's backing be enough to carry her across the finish line?
With me now for the morning roundup, Drew McCaskill, Culture and Economics Contributor for SiriusXM, Rick Folbaum, anchor for Atlanta News First and Attorney Lisa Bonner. Welcome back, everybody. We had some vets in the roundup this morning.
So let's start here. The voters in South Carolina know three things about Darline Graham, essentially. That she's Lindsey Graham's sister. She has the President's endorsement and national security is not her thing. And so, do you think that the President's endorsement gets her across the line? How potent is it?
RICK FOLBAUM, ANCHOR, ATLANTA NEWS FIRST: They also know she's honest.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
FOLBAUM: Then she's able to say, look, this is not my area of expertise. I looked it up. There are a lot of sitting and past U.S. senators who came into office with no national security background. Tommy Tuberville is a football coach. Al Sharpton was on SNL.
BLACKWELL: Donald Trump is a businessman.
FOLBAUM: Donald Trump is a businessman and a game show host, you know?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
FOLBAUM: So I think that she's being honest. I think the President pointing that out is actually, you know, a good thing. And I think that voters will appreciate that in South Carolina.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And so, Rick, let me stay with you because when we heard her say, you know, I'm going to be honest. I don't know much about national security. What's most relevant here is that national security was Lindsey Graham's thing.
FOLBAUM: That's right.
DREW MCCASKILL, CULTURE & ECONOMICS CONTRIBUTOR, SIRIUSXM: Yes.
LISA BONNER, ATTORNEY: Yes.
BLACKWELL: They reelected him. He elected four times in the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BLACKWELL: And so they're used to, especially in South Carolina, with that military base there having that representation in Congress.
FOLBAUM: That's right.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
FOLBAUM: Yes. It is something that they're accustomed to. And obviously she comes at it from a different place --
BLACKWELL: Sure.
FOLBAUM: -- and a different background. She says that a lot of her policies, though, are going to be very similar to her brother's, but she's her own person. And, you know, I think if she does win this nomination and go on to take over her brother's seat permanently for a full term, I think that she'll find her way.
BLACKWELL: Drew?
MCCASKILL: I think that this is a real testament about who gets the benefit of the doubt in America too to a certain extent. Imagine any of the 7 million Americans who are out of work right now watching this saying, if I said in the job interview that, you know, whatever the key portion of what my job is, it's just not my thing, and then still get that job.
I mean, what does that say about the Senate process too, right, is that did legacy admissions just move from schools to now the U.S. Senate? This is a real issue for Americans is who takes over this seat. And honest -- being honest about being disqualified still makes you disqualified.
BLACKWELL: So Rick announced that you're going to be moderating the debate here in Georgia between Senate nominees for the Republicans Mike Collins and the incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff. Senator Ossoff introduced for a lot of Americans Natalie Harp, who's an aide to the President. What do you think that tells us about his strategy, not only in his reelection, but looking ahead to maybe 2028?
FOLBAUM: Well, there's been so much talk now. This is really sort of elevated him in the national discussion and he's being talked about as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, but he doesn't have any political future if he doesn't win this race.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
FOLBAUM: And, you know, I think that while the base loved what he did and mentioning that young woman's name, I think that there are a lot of moderates in Georgia moderate voters, independent voters who might have been turned off by it. This race is tightening.
If you look at the polls, his lead is shrunk, the senators has. And so, you know, I think he does run a risk here of upsetting some of the moderate voters. He's going to need in order to win.
BLACKWELL: Lisa, some of these letters that have been released where she says that you are my protector, you are all that matters to me, CNN has new reporting up this weekend about 150 tweets that she posted on January 6th in support of President Trump. For maybe some in Washington that doesn't seem bizarre, but it's really concerning for a lot of people.
LISA BONNER, ATTORNEY AND ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY: It's very concerning for a lot of people because it is not normal behavior. It seems to go outside of the realm of normalcy and almost goes into, you know, idolatry, like, idolizing this man, as opposed to really just she is supposed to be his aide and really focusing on what he needs. And it seems like she is really fascinated and almost enamored with him. And that just takes her out of -- the seriousness out of what she is there to do.
So, I don't think it does anything for -- maybe it might not shock the people in the -- in Washington who are used to this kind of behavior, but it certainly raises flags for the American people because it just is not, like I said, normal behavior that one would expect from someone as close to the president in politics.
BLACKWELL: Let me stay with you on this next one. The attorneys for friends of Nolan Wells, the young man who was seen with him and who was last alive, he's the, young black man, put the picture up, who was last seen alive on July 4th. His body washed ashore several days later. That -- their attorney had threatened to sue the Reverend Al Sharpton for defamation. They send a pre-suit demand letter. They want an apology for all three of those friends that Sharpton spoke about in a vigil. They say he referenced three young white male friends and suggested that they had some role in his death. Do they have a case here? Because he didn't name them.
BONNER: That's key, Victor, that he did not name them. And specificity is required in defamation. So, you just cannot go out and allege that you said something about somebody. So, specificity is required. And also, courts give wide latitude to First Amendment protection in these type of defamation cases. He did not name them. He is opining on, you know, the facts. And he asks questions. He did not specifically say, you did this. He asked them in a larger perspective of what is going on in what has historically been happening in Mississippi.
So, it's -- you have to allege actual malice, which I think this falls very short of. So, it's an uphill battle, but they are trying to preserve any type of record for a potential trial. So, it's not something that is a slam dunk either way.
BONNER: One more topic here, and I want to get to you, Drew, on this, and the Kennedy Center board that was picked by President Trump attempted to put the president's name back on the building. And let me say, the tarp that was up in June is still there. It's still part of the building.
DREW MCCASKILL, CULTURE AND ECONOMICS CONTRIBUTOR, SIRIUSXM AND FORMER FACEBOOK DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION LEADER: It's still there.
BONNER: It's still there.
BONNER: It's still there. And so, now the AP is reporting that according to an emergency filing by attorneys for Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who's an ex-officio member of the board, that they passed a resolution to name the plaza in front of the building after Donald Trump and now put on the facade, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump. Why is this building so important? MCCASKILL: Yes, it's -- part of it is just the insanity of wanting -- of clearly wanting to leave a physical mark on the City of Washington, D.C. after the president leaves. But I think that this is one of those instances where all Americans should learn black history, because it makes me think about 1939, Marian Anderson couldn't sing at Constitution Hall, so she sings in front of the Lincoln Memorial to 75,000 people.
What this board is about to learn is that no matter whose name is on the facade, culture follows the artist. And there's going to be -- you can put whoever name on it, but there will be artists who will not perform there because of the way this is being done and the way this is being handled. That board should understand that and culture follows the artist.
BLACKWELL: Yes, and those artists pulled out before the president put his name on there because of what he did with the board. Everybody stay with us, we got a lot to talk about.
Still ahead, the filets are fully dressed. The diners, not so much. We're going to take you to the steakhouse where customers are invited to get bucket-necked before dinner.
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[07:35:00]
BLACKWELL: Hey, talk about knowing your audience. An Army unit in Georgia's Fort Stewart is offering troops a four-day break, some time off if they re-enlist. The catch here is those days off are limited specifically for the November release of the highly anticipated video game, Grand Theft Auto VI. Now, to get this perk, soldiers have to commit to two more years. And so, far, they do have some folks who've signed up. My panel is back with me now.
So, I'm not a gamer, but I do understand that this is a big deal. What do you think? 20 of the eligible 130 soldiers have signed up so far.
MCCASKILL: Listen, culture as compensation is something that we're going to see a lot more of, particularly when people are trying to recruit younger folks. I think the armed forces numbers are actually really good in terms of recruiting numbers. They beat all their numbers, regardless of what's going on in the world right now.
But this is also one of those things that I think is a signal to the culture that the armed forces is still there. And particularly for younger folks too, they're like, hey, watch this space. There are all these amazing things that you can do to serve your country, but we're also keeping up with the times. I think this is a great marketing move more than anything else.
[07:40:00]
BLACKWELL: Yes, because honestly, if you're going to re-enlist --
MCCASKILL: -- four days of video games. BLACKWELL: GTA keep you from doing that.
BONNER: You know, I would go shopping doing those four days off. I'm just saying, I'm not a gamer. So, take me to the mall.
BLACKWELL: All right. So, this is the one we've been waiting to talk about. The first Monday of every month, CLASS Soiree in Hollywood Steakhouse in Hollywood, Florida. Hosts naked dining. 20 or so diners, some single folks, some couples come in stripped down to maybe some socks and they have a good meal. Here, I want you to listen to the hostess and the chef owner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's more so of a gathering to get to know people, new people in the city and the lifestyle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, there's no touchy-feely stuff going on at the table. What about that? Somebody gets friendly. What's the story?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's French, but no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: What do you all think? You're in for naked dining?
BONNER: Yes, I'll pass.
BLACKWELL: No?
BONNER: I mean, well, you know, she said it's for people in the lifestyle, right? So, they have an audience. I'm not mad at it. If it works for you, fine, but I won't be there.
RICK FOLBAUM, ANCHOR, ATLANTA NEWS FIRST: Don't order the burnt ends.
BLACKWELL: Or the soup.
MCCASKILL: Or the soup.
FOLBAUM: Or the soup.
BONNER: And you just need plenty of Clorox wipes, you know.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MCCASKILL: It's the attention economy on a dinner plate.
BONNER: Yes.
MCCASKILL: Restaurants are against incredible pressures. They're -- you know, the apps are taking 30 percent. This team of folks for one night a week, they got national coverage, including this segment, right?
BLACKWELL: Yes. MCCASKILL: And they're going to be a ton of people who are going to go get that naked steak.
BLACKWELL: You know what, the first thing I thought about is those chairs. All right. I looked at the chairs immediately. Not so much the cleaning of the chairs. But if I'm naked, do I want -- you know how sitting on your grandmother's sofa in the plastic?
BONNER: Oh, my God.
BLACKWELL: You know, it's -- I needed a cloth chair.
MCCASKILL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: But I understand why you don't have them.
MCCASKILL: I do too.
BLACKWELL: Yes, I got it.
BONNER: It's a bridge too far.
BLACKWELL: All right. So, --
FOLBAUM: I feel bad for the cleaning crew.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MCCASKILL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: OK. So, you know, on this segment, this half of the segment, we like to get into the viral trends in food as well. And so, Oreo now has three new flavors, hit stores tomorrow, and they're letting shoppers determine which of these limited flavors will come back in 2027. So, they have sent them to us early. All right. So, we're going to try them. The first up is banana pudding. So, everybody take one, pass them down as I described. Lisa, here you go.
BONNER: OK.
BLACKWELL: And so, it's banana and vanilla pudding sandwiched between two vanilla wafer cookies. So, All right. we'll try this one first. I'm into it.
BONNER: I like this.
BLACKWELL: OK.
MCCASKILL: That's good.
BLACKWELL: That's good. So, that's a check.
MCCASKILL: I can be convinced.
BLACKWELL: I can be convinced. This one is called deep fried. OK.
BONNER: This tastes like the vanilla Oreo though.
MCCASKILL: Very similar.
BONNER: Very similar.
BLACKWELL: All right. There you go. Fried dough flavored cookies and dark chocolate and fried dough flavored cream.
MCCASKILL: I don't know that I know what deep fried tastes like.
FOLBAUM: Well, deep fried Oreos are a thing itself, right?
BLACKWELL: It's to give you that fair flavor.
MCCASKILL: No. That's not the one.
BLACKWELL: That tastes like grease, like chicken grease.
MCCASKILL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Like French fries.
MCCASKILL: I was going to say it does have a greasy kind of taste to it. I was like, what does deep fried taste like? And now, I feel like I know.
BLACKWELL: Well, if you thought that had a grease flavor, how about chicken and waffles?
BONNER: I'll pass because I don't eat chicken. It's chicken flavor. Is -- OK.
BLACKWELL: All right. Come on. Come on.
BONNER: I'll take one for the team.
MCCASKILL: Take one for the team.
BONNER: Oh, my God.
BLACKWELL: Sweet and savory waffle embossed cookies and sweet and savory fried chicken and maple syrup cream.
FOLBAUM: I either want fried chicken or --
BLACKWELL: Oh, it smells chicken too.
BONNER: See.
FOLBAUM: It does. No. I want chicken or I want a cookie. I don't think I want them combined.
BLACKWELL: This tastes like a chicken cookie.
MCCASKILL: It tastes like a chicken cookie. Like somebody poured sugar on chicken. BLACKWELL: OK. Votes for --
BONNER: Banana.
BLACKWELL: -- banana pudding?
FOLBAUM: Banana pudding.
MCCASKILL: Banana.
BLACKWELL: OK. All right. That's our vote. You can vote and -- for the next couple of months. I think the winner will be announced in October.
MCCASKILL: Yes. Look, it's a hundred and fourteen-year-old cookie. Nostalgia is coming back like
BLACKWELL: Banana pudding gets our vote.
BONNER: Yes.
MCCASKILL: Banana pudding, 100 percent.
BLACKWELL: Drew, Rick, Lisa, thanks for always playing along.
BONNER: Thanks for having me.\
FOLBAUM: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right. CNN's next big trip -- I got a little chicken and waffle -- takes viewers all over the world to the places that offer a different exciting experience. So, this week will Ripley takes us to Western Mongolia.
[07:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Western Mongolia, home to one of the world's oldest musical traditions, throat singing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Terrific.
RIPLEY: I got -- I got goosebumps.
RIPLEY (voice over): Mongolia's Wild West is one of the most remote places on Earth, where eagle hunters roam and China and Russia meet. People here are still living as nomads, just like their ancestors.
RIPLEY: Even in this day and age of A.I. and the Internet and social media, you have so many people here in Mongolia that are choosing to continue to live off the land and live in a simple way. It's really beautiful and incredible.
RIPLEY (voice over): But this is something I've never heard before. RIPLEY: The last song you sang was about this, this river behind us. Can you tell us the meaning behind that song?
GANZONG, MONGOLIAN THROAT SINGER (through translator): The meaning of this song is about our Olgiy heritage. It's our hymn. This beautiful, famous song is praising this river, and it has been sung for 75 or 80 years now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:50:00]
BLACKWELL: Evacuations have been ordered in the northwest Reno area because of this fast-growing hawk fire. Time-lapse video shows just how quickly the flame spread overnight. Officials say the fire has burned more than 10,000 acres and it is 0 percent contained.
More than 60 million people are under heat alerts across the southern U.S. and at least a dozen cities could hit record levels. Allison Chinchar is back. What are we talking about here?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's summer. We get it. It's supposed to be hot. I'm over it. I'm sure many other people are over it.
BLACKWELL: I have too.
CHINCHAR: Yes, but we still have to go. And for some of these areas, it's going to last all week. Can we take a look at where we have a lot of those heat alerts? Again, it's pretty spread out, but it's mostly along the southern tier of the U.S. You've got Texas, Oklahoma, portions of Louisiana, and then even out areas of the southwest, including California and into Arizona.
Here's a look. Now, the concern here for a lot of the eastern regions is it's not just the temperature itself, but you also have to factor in the humidity. So, again, that high temperature today in Dallas, 107, but it's going to feel much closer to, say, 112 or even 115 at times just because of the added level of humidity. And it's not just today. Even as we push this forward into Monday, those temperatures are still expected to stay on the high side. And for many of these, as we said, it could be all week. Look at this. Dallas, the average high this time of year is 95. So, we get it. It's supposed to be hot.
But every single one of the next seven days, they will spend in the triple digits. And remember, the feels-like temperature will be even higher. Not just Dallas. Oklahoma City also expected to spend every single one of the next seven days well above their average.
BLACKWELL: All right. Allison. Thank you. Well, it's a long-awaited win for a new Dodger. Happened last night. Carolyn Manno joins me now with more. Hey, Carolyn.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey. Well, you know, there's been a tremendous spotlight on Tarik Skubal since joining the team. The two-time Cy Young Award winner started out a little shaky against the Pirates last night. The Dodgers were in a three-run hole after the first inning.
But then Skubal showed why he was baseball's prize acquisition at the trade deadline, racking up 11 strikeouts over seven strong innings of very efficient work to keep the Pirates off balance. Skubal limited Pittsburgh to just five hits and handed out just one walk during his first win since joining the two-time defending World Series champs.
The Mariners were counting on former LSU star, Kade Anderson, in his big-league debut last night against the Cubs, and he pitched well overall. Anderson yielded three earned runs in five and two-thirds innings. The Cubs actually broke through on back-to-back solo shots in the sixth that ended his outing after 81 pitches, but a really solid effort from the 22-year-old.
The team was down 4-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Mariners clawed back before Randy Arozarena crushing a 404-foot two- run shot off Cubs closer, Jacob Webb, to center field, sealing the dramatic come-from-behind win. And it capped off a huge night for Arozarena, who also had a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. So, he's the seventh player in MLB history with a leadoff homerun and walk-off homerun in the same game as the Mariners beat Chicago 5-4.
In the W last night, the New York Liberty pulled off an exciting 109- 102 win over the Indiana Fever at Barkley Center in a game that went down to the wire. Things were knotted up at 100 late in the fourth before Breanna Stewart broke the tie with a clutch free throw, quickly followed by a massive basket from Leonie Fiebich, who is back on the floor for her first game since July 3rd. She finished with 20 points. She had an incredible game.
Stewie led the way with a team high 22, and Jonquel Jones pitching in with a strong 19-point-10 rebound double-double to help the Liberty fend off a very tough Fever squad as we get closer to September and the WNBA playoffs.
With that in mind, the Atlanta Dream locked up a playoff spot with a 10-point road win over Phoenix last night, fueled in large part by Angel Reese putting together a career night, 31 points and 14 boards for her 25th double-double of the year. The Dream controlled the first half. Phoenix used a huge third quarter from Kahleah Copper to cut the gap to one, and then Atlanta riding the ship. They were very steady in the fourth to officially eliminate the Mercury and move a half game ahead of Indiana for the fourth seed as it stands.
On top of the team win, though, Reese completely unstoppable, shooting 14 of 21 from the field to eclipse her previous career high of 27 points, inching even closer, Victor, to that single-season double- double league record. She has been so impressive this year. Back to you.
[07:55:00]
BLACKWELL: All right. Carolyn, thanks so much. So, I want to include you, Allison, in on our viral food segment here. So, one of the Oreo flavors, I just want to share this. Sweet and savory, this is chicken and waffles.
CHINCHAR: OK.
BLACKWELL: And again, you can vote through October 12th, and the winner will be announced on the 13th. What do you think? A little sweet, a little savory?
CHINCHAR: I taste the maple syrup flavor.
BLACKWELL: Do you taste that? Do you get the chicken crust?
CHINCHAR: Don't taste any chicken.
BLACKWELL: Oh, see, I tasted the chicken. This is the one that was the least favorite of the group.
CHINCHAR: Lucky me.
BLACKWELL: Deep-fried. Tell me what you taste. First thing I tasted was --
CHINCHAR: A stale Oreo?
BLACKWELL: Oh, no. It tasted like French fry grease to me, so it wasn't my favorite. Now, I left this one at the end, so at least we, you know, finish off --
CHINCHAR: End on a high note?
BLACKWELL: Yes, a great flavor.
CHINCHAR: Although the chicken and waffles one, it wasn't bad.
BLACKWELL: See, I taste the chicken. Another banana cream here.
CHINCHAR: OK. That is hands down the best one.
BLACKWELL: Good. Thank you for joining us this morning. Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:00]
