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Border Czar: Deportation of Far-Right Influencer 'Not Political'; Trump Calls on FCC for NBC's Welker to Be Punished; Today: Closing Arguments Begin in Duane Davis Case. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 31, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: -- made it official in Vegas the next day.

[06:00:03]

Congratulations to the happy couple and glad that that flight safely made it to Vegas, as well. Because I would certainly be in the back saying, "Man, this autopilot better be strong."

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

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, the deportation cheerleader, Milo Yiannopoulos, finds himself deported. Did a bitter far-right feud with Laura Loomer have anything to do with it?

President Trump wants to punish NBC's Kristen Welker over two words. Will the FCC now turn that threat into action?

And in Texas, Republicans hold down the fort and wait for the cavalry as James Talarico floods the airwaves. Team Paxton wonders, where is all that MAGA ad money?

And is AOC now too mainstream for the left wing? Democratic socialists are divided over a possible '28 run for the White House.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Here is where we begin.

A man who was once one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters. After a falling out with the MAGA movement, conservative Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported. DHS posted his mugshot, saying that he, quote, "overstayed his welcome."

According to border czar Tom Homan, it was not political.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, U.S. BORDER CZAR: We don't deport people based on political affiliation. Again, as soon as we get an order of removal, our goal is to remove them as quick as possible, regardless of who they are.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Was he given preferential treatment to leave instead of remaining in an ICE detention facility longer?

HOMAN: No. We've been working steadily the last few months on -- on getting people out quicker. That way it saves the taxpayers money and detention space.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Sara Fischer, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios; Jonah Goldberg, CNN political commentator and co-founder of "The Dispatch"; and Luke Thomas, co-host of "Morning Combat."

I'm going to start with my media person, because Milo was a media personality, right?

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Totally.

CORNISH: A very high-profile one. If you've ever wondered who set up the dinner between Nick Fuentes, and Kanye West, and the White House, he took credit, which he said he did to make the president's life miserable.

And since then, he's made a lot more on the right unhappy.

FISCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: So, tell me about what -- why he's embattled.

FISCHER: Let's go back to 2016, 2017. Milo was at the center of this conservative upheaval around free speech.

So, at the time, there were a lot of people who thought -- in particular, the advertising community -- that we shouldn't be putting ads on conservative websites, that we needed to come down harder on conservative speech. And Milo became kind of the poster child for pushing back against that.

That earned him a lot of kudos with the new Trump administration.

CORNISH: Right. Because he'd go to campuses, too.

FISCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: And that was the whole thing. So yes.

FISCHER: So, now fast forward to where we're at today. In the time since, he's sort of been canceled by the right. And you can see evidence of that in people like Laura Loomer, who are saying, Oh, I'm actually the one that called ICE on Milo. There's no proof of that. Let's be clear.

So, he's a person who is neither right by the -- like -- right, or the left. He's no longer a very, you know, significant or influential media figure. But his arrest matters, because it sends an important signal.

It pairs the question: does your status as an illegal immigrant warrant enforcement, or is it your celebrity status as a former MAGA star that warrants the enforcement? CORNISH: So, to Loomer's point, I'm going to show you her post on X.

She says, "I was the first person to report on the fact that Milo was in the U.S. illegally, where he incited violence against President Trump and worked for Marjorie Traitor [SIC] Greene." That's not her legal name.

But also, Milo went after Loomer at one point. And I don't know why. I know about MAGA soap opera stuff. But at one point he was trying to release what he was claiming were her health records. He was claiming she was unhinged and a liability to Trump.

But in the end, it looks like maybe she had the ear of the White House more than Milo does.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, like with a lot of these kinds of stories, there's no reason to take Loomer's word for it. There's also no reason to think it's not possible. Right?

And I'm kind of in a Iran-Iraq war. It's a pity only one of them can lose, was Kissinger's line about it, about these kinds of fights.

CORNISH: That's fair. At one point, he -- he called for the deportation of millions and millions of people and for ICE checkpoints at supermarkets, gas stations, strip malls, intersections, and government buildings.

GOLDBERG: Yes. So, like, I mean, Milo is a long-standing troll. I used to have quite a bit of friction with the guy back before it was cool to do it.

The thing I find sort of hilarious about this is the sub. So, this is all heightening the contradictions, as Lenin might say, about the MAGA movement, right?

[06:05:08]

This is -- this is a good sign of how the MAGA movement is frayed. It -- there are different factions vying for the president's ear. There are different factions vying for primacy after the Trump era ends.

The Loomer faction right now is ascendant, or among that kind of crowd.

CORNISH: Yes.

GOLDBERG: But it's kind of funny. Some of Milo's defenders are saying this is outrageous, because he should be allowed to stay, because he is, quote, unquote, "spiritually American."

CORNISH: Right.

GOLDBERG: And --

LUKE THOMAS, CO-HOST, "MORNING COMBAT": There's a bit of precedent for this, too. I mean, sort of. Right?

I mean, I'm with you on the one hand: he didn't challenge any of his removal proceedings.

CORNISH: Yes.

THOMAS: Like, what did he think was going to happen when he boarded a flight, given what we've seen with the ICE surge over the summer?

But the other part is, you recall -- and again, this was reported in "The New York Times" -- it is alleged in "The New York Times," where they're reporting Paolo Zampolli, who I believe is on the Kennedy Center board, he was reported by them that he had an ex. He had a child with this woman. The ex was in jail. He alerted ICE to it so he could get her removed. That would enable him to have custody of their children.

Now, again, this is reported in "The New York Times," right? So, I don't know to what extent that they would bear this up.

CORNISH: Yes, but I've heard it, this idea that, if you have the ear of the White House --

THOMAS: That's right.

CORNISH: -- you somehow can pick up a phone call on your neighbor, metaphorically. And with this, it's --

THOMAS: And that's gross. We don't want to imagine Loomer is this powerful, but --

CORNISH: It's not gross; it's terrifying, frankly.

FISCHER: Yes. Well, I think that's why Tom Homan is coming out and trying to make the case that this is not a one-off because somebody has some sort of tie to the president; that this is a situation that is actually a gold standard for the idea that your status is what is going to be impacting their policies.

Whether or not that's true, I can't speak to that.

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: All I know is that that's the framing that they want to be presenting to the world.

CORNISH: Yes. And unfortunately, one we have to ask questions about, right?

FISCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: It's not a given.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the president's deal with Venezuela. He says it's the biggest ever. The details, of course, are thin. We're going to talk to an oil expert about what it could do for your gas prices.

Plus, Trump wants the FCC to go after an NBC host over two words he didn't like. So, how much does the power -- how much power does the government have to punish journalists?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:11:55]

CORNISH: So, the president ran on a platform to end government weaponization and censorship. Is he now weaponizing the FCC to censor the press?

Trump on Sunday called for, quote, "rebuke or punishment" of NBC "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, HOST, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": He's going to loom large over these midterms. There's no doubt about that. He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He's had some mixed results.

But most recently, his pick of Senator Darline Graham, of course, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, was successful in her primary battle. So now, she takes on Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, in multiple Truth Social posts, he said she should be reported to the FCC. He called for something to be done about the so- called fake poll, calling the FCC to the rescue.

The group chat is back. Sara, you're the only person I know who says, Oh, good, I'm excited to talk about the FCC.

So, how does this compare to just I mean, the pressure against Kimmel, the pressure over Colbert? Like, is this moving into -- we've moved from the people pretending to be journalists to the journalists.

FISCHER: Yes. Well, for one, Kristen Welker is part of NBC Universal, which is owned by Comcast. Comcast has said that it wants to spin NBC out into a separate, publicly-traded entity.

CORNISH: There's always a deal.

Fischer: Always a deal. That's the difference here, Audie.

So, remember when he was going after Kimmel? You know, there was a lot of questions around would this ever impact Disney and its parent company, the parent company to ABC, if it was trying to divest the network or trying to get some sort of deal done?

So, for this, you know, the FCC is supposed to be the approving body for any transfer of broadcast licenses. So, President Trump knows that. And by the way, local broadcast licenses.

CORNISH: Yes, but --

FISCHER: The president and the FCC can't revoke national licenses.

I think what President Trump is doing here is he's trying to use sort of fearmongering to get journalists scared of what they're going to say on-air.

Now, what we've seen is different now versus maybe a year ago during Kimmel-gate, is that Disney, the rival to NBC, of course --

CORNISH: Yes, they're suing Trump's FCC. Yes.

FISCHER: Exactly. They're standing up to the FCC. So, there are folks now asking, will NBC join that lawsuit?

CORNISH: Yes.

FISCHER: Are other networks going to come in and try to defend ABC?

I think this is a great example of the fact that anybody who touches a regulated industry needs to be worried that they're going to be --

CORNISH: So --

FISCHER: -- sort of weaponizing the agency to exert political pressure.

CORNISH: And we know this is a long-time kind of venerated news program.

I'm also going to play something from Bill Maher, host of "Real Time with Bill Maher," which also talks about politics. Luke, I want to get your point of view, because I feel like the FCC is not something that, like, the rest of us are talking about, and you're in Internet land. So, here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, HOST, HBO'S "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": And I said last week -- I'm quoting myself -- Trump used to win all his endorsements. Now, he's winning almost none of them.

I heard from this one viewer who was very upset about this, contacted me directly.

That isn't true. Overstated. There. was that so hard to not be a dick about everything? To just sometimes say, And by the way, when I say we all shouldn't just dig in and be a dick about it, I think I'm also addressing that one viewer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:17]

CORNISH: The idea that you could be contacted, we get that. That's the job. But what is it about the way Trump is broadcasting his concerns?

THOMAS: This is, to me, somewhat reminiscent of the Ann Selzer poll situation where, remember, she had this kind of poll that was -- I think it had Kamala up three -- three in Iowa. And then that turned out to be quite wrong.

CORNISH: Wrong.

THOMAS: And then he sued her for it, which was -- you know, it's still ongoing, as I understand it.

There is some kind of through line here about there is -- in any kind of measurement of what he can do -- his success rate, you know, his ability to produce, and how that can be meaningfully reproduced. Anything that challenges that seems to draw his ire.

But I just have to say, I don't want to be, like, overly reductionist, but the fact that we have a -- a black woman on TV, in his mind anyway, questioning his ability to produce the kind of political outcomes that he believes he's known for, this has to rub him the wrong way. And I don't think it's unfair to necessarily underscore that point.

FISCHER: Can I just say something on the polls? Because I've run analysis that subsequently, after the whole, you know, legal situation with CBS, I've seen the president cite CBS polls that are favorable to him.

So, if you are going to be doing data that he doesn't like, he'll go after you. But even after settling with CBS and after that whole fight, he still would cite their polls if he needed.

One other thing I wanted to call attention. And then, Jonah, obviously, I want to get your thoughts. But the -- the SEC is supposed to be an independent agency.

What changed during the Trump administration is that the chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, said that he couldn't necessarily say that it was an independent agency during a hearing. And during that hearing, the FCC scrubbed the word "independent" from its website. In real time.

CORNISH: But that's also in line with this administration's belief of the power of the executive.

FISCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: The FCC is not the only independent agency it believes it should have control over. And this question has dogged the attorney general. It's come up at the Fed for Kevin Warsh.

There's this idea that they aren't really independent, and they are subject to the whims of errant tweets.

GOLDBERG: Yes. So, I mean, I think a couple of things here.

One is I think it's time for the FCC either to be dismantled or at least seriously re-evaluated how it does its job. It was built for an era of radio. It was updated for TV. It doesn't cover stuff on the Internet already. CORNISH: Right.

GOLDBERG: And you know, with people under 30, they're basically getting everything through the Internet already. So, like, figure out what the mission should be and maybe don't make -- and maybe redesign it so a president can't do any of this stuff, because it's gross.

I do think everyone's missing the actual political angle on this though, which is, I agree with you the analogy of the Selzer poll is a good one.

But specifically on this thing where Trump called Maher or when he's freaking out at Kristen Welker, Trump is terrified that he's losing control of the Republican Party.

And the idea that his --

CORNISH: The Republican Party.

GOLDBERG: Of the Republican Party.

CORNISH: OK.

GOLDBERG: Of his unilateral imperial control over it, that it's the Trump party.

And if the idea that his endorsements in primaries don't matter as much as they used to, that is the only thing that keeps a lot of Republicans in line, is terror --

CORNISH: Right.

GOLDBERG: -- of him endorsing a primary opponent.

If it gets out that, Oh my gosh, he's a lame duck, and his -- his endorsements inside his own coalition don't matter as they once did, that's why he's freaking out.

CORNISH: Right. Or don't lead to a win.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

CORNISH: We're actually going to be talking about some Senate races coming up. So, I'm glad you're bringing this up.

When we come back, turning to Democrats. Abdul El-Sayed walking back comments he made about a Michigan synagogue attack. We're going to ask whether that's going to be enough for him to win over skeptical Jewish Democrats.

But first, closing arguments begin in the Tupac Shakur murder trial. We're going to ask a former prosecutor if Keffe D.'s own words are enough to convict him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:11]

CORNISH: All right. Happening today, closing arguments set to begin in the trial of Duane Davis, the man accused of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur in 1996.

So, the defense actually rested on Thursday after calling three former Las Vegas police officers to the stand. Duane Davis did not take the stand in his own defense.

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

So, the whole time we've been talking about the fact that this rests on his own words, things he wrote in a book a long time ago.

As you followed the case, did the defense offer any other rebuttal? Any other, I guess, ideas than the fact that he claims he was lying?

ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes. I mean, well, the fact that he could potentially be lying is the main idea, because, in order to convict him, these 12 jurors have to credit his words.

Now, that being said, another factual argument that the defense made and we can expect to hear in closing, is the lack of corroboration. There is essentially no more evidence other than Keffe D.'s words.

We don't have the murder weapon -- weapon. We don't have the automobile that was used in the commission of the crime. We don't have any other witnesses.

And I just want to say, Audie, that while that is a strong factual argument, the jury instructions that were agreed upon on Friday will instruct the jury that a lack of corroboration, once a criminal act has been established, is not fatal to the case. The jury can credit the words of the defendant alone.

So, that's an important fact that I think folks should know.

CORNISH: Now, there were some witnesses. I want to play an example. This one is James McDonald. He's a formerly Death Row -- Death Row Records associate, gang member. He testified -- he testified on August 18th, I think for the prosecution.

I'm going to play it for people. They can see why I've got a question mark here.

[06:25:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MCDONALD, TESTIFIED AT DUANE DAVIS TRIAL: Ask me something I don't want to talk about, you're going to have a problem. Treat me as a hostile witness. You're not going to talk to me and tell me, as a grown man, what I have to do up here.

I'm not going to send him to prison. You are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: How did witnesses hurt or help either side?

ADAMSON: Yes. You know, I think in this case, I'm going to answer and say, Well, neither. Right?

I mean, all the witnesses, we had reluctant witnesses. And that's to be expected. This is a 30-year-old gang-related homicide. No one really wanted to be talking, which is why it's so surprising that Keffe D., the defendant, did. Right?

When it comes to any damage that witnesses did, we had one law enforcement officer that did concede that there was no physical evidence in this case that linked Keffe D. to the crime.

But as I just explained, that's irrelevant if the jury chooses to credit Keffe D.'s account.

We also had another law enforcement officer that described Keffe D. as the shot caller, as being high in that gang organization, and saying that this crime wouldn't have been committed if he had not been complicit in it. I think that was an important win for the prosecution. Because Keffe D. is not alleged to have actually pulled the trigger, but he has to have been part of this plan for him to be convicted as a principal.

So, those were one for the defense, one for the prosecution. But overall, I think this case ends where it started, which is will these 12 jurors believe what Keffe D. said when Keffe D. said it?

CORNISH: Elyse Adamson, thank you so much.

ADAMSON: Thanks, Audie.

CORNISH: And stay with CNN for coverage of the trial. We're going to take you inside that Vegas courtroom for every moment. And Laura Coates anchors the Tupac murder trial. That's now streaming on CNN.

And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to go to Texas, where James Talarico has his first attack ads on TV. Republicans have lots of heartburn.

Later on CNN, flash flooding ripped through one of the Grand Canyon's most popular areas. Coming up at seven, the search for more than a dozen people who remain missing.

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