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Now: Deliberations Underway In Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial; Evyatar David Recounts Hamas Terrorists Forcing Him To Dig What He Was Told Would Be His Own Grave; Sources: Trump To Skip 9/11 Ceremony At Ground Zero. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 28, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- trying to tell her that it took a couple of weeks, even up to a month, to have the full effect of the medication. Now the knife is in regard to the suicide attempt, the very serious suicide attempt that both sides agree on.

The theory is that after the killings, this would be the prosecution theory, she went into the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and I think no matter what side you're on, it was a knife that came from the kitchen, went upstairs to the bedroom and started to slash her wrists and her throat.

And all of the medical providers and the first responders said they were superficial wounds, defense pushed back on that. Nonetheless, a lot of blood was in that bedroom, and of course that's the bedroom that she jumped out of the window following that in that suicide attempt, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And the charges are really complicated.

CASAREZ: There's a lot of them, which means the jury really has to go through all of this. First of all, you've got first-degree murder, which is deliberate premeditation, or extreme atrocity and cruelty, and that's where the exercise bands come in and strangling each child separately in the basement with those bands pulled tight.

We heard the medical examiners say 4 pounds of strength and force had to be on Cora's neck. The second would be second-degree murder. This is just intent to kill murder. You can get probation from this. Manslaughter, which is a wanton or reckless conduct, it's where you can take her mental state into consideration to actually be something that can downgrade it to that manslaughter, but that would be a conviction of homicide.

And then you have not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, or as we know it, mental insanity. And then you have a plain not guilty. That's on the verdict form because there is a presumption she is innocent at this point in that courtroom. That's her American jurisprudence. And by law, not guilty must be on that form. BASH: Jean, I don't need to tell you, this trial has drawn so much attention, sparked so many conversations about postpartum depression and in fact postpartum psychosis. What's the atmosphere like there around the courtroom?

CASAREZ: You know, I think that's what has drawn so many women to this courthouse. They were filled to capacity in that courtroom yesterday. And Dana, this is very interesting because this came into evidence. It's a sub-issue, but I think it's worth talking about. The DSM, they're up to DSM-5 now, is put out by the American Psychological Association.

It is the Bible for psychiatric providers in this country. And they say that postpartum depression lasts until four weeks after the birth. What Reddington brought before the jury was that there are other organizations that say up to a year you can have postpartum depression because their theory is it went into bipolar, which went into postpartum psychosis.

Now, he was talking about to the jury that this country needs to look at this. And it is a sub-issue because whatever was happening, she had a mental disease or defect at the end, whether it was caused by the medication themselves, whether it was caused by postpartum ramifications. But it is an issue that is now before the country because of this trial.

BASH: Yes. Yes. Definitely talked about a lot in the shadows and now it is not.

Jean, thank you so much. Appreciate all your reporting there.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BASH: Coming up, he was starved, abused, forced to dig what he was told was his own grave. Now, this former hostage is speaking publicly about his fight to survive 738 cruel, grueling days in Hamas captivity. Stay with us.

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[12:38:30]

BASH: A year ago, the world was haunted by this video. Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, emaciated, barely able to stand as his captors forced him to dig what they told him would be his own grave. Hamas terrorists abducted Evyatar from the Nova music festival during the October 7th terror attack on Israel and held him for a 738-day nightmare.

Today, Evyatar is free and for the first time speaking publicly about the starvation and abuse he endured in Gaza. In an exclusive interview with Bianna Golodryga, he reveals the chilling reason Hamas chose him for that propaganda video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EVYATAR DAVID, HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS FOR OVER TWO YEARS: One day before the video, so the commander went inside our tunnel and he just took a picture of my body and Guy's body and he saw I look worse than him. So they decided to take me for the video to -- yes, to be -- I'll be the actor of the video.

And again, everything you see there, like the paper with all the days when I, like, what I eat, what I don't eat, what I eat. It's all staged, but it relies on the truth because we didn't eat for three months.

[12:40:01]

We were in extreme starvation. We were in starvation, like all the captivity, but specifically on those three months, it was the worst. Everything I'm saying there and doing, they tell me what to do. But, of course, how you can see my body, it's all the through I couldn't -- I could barely move, could barely do anything.

When I tried to dig the grave, just to hold the shovel, it was almost impossible. Probably the hardest physical thing I ever did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Bianna is here now. Bianna, what an important and remarkable interview that you did. And how amazing is it to see him look physically at least so well.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, it's been almost a year since he was released. He was among the longest held captive. He and Guy Gilboa-Dalal were kidnapped together. They were childhood friends and held together for 738 days, as you noted.

And for him to go through that trauma, to be there with his best friend, to be deprived of food for so long, as part of this torture from the Hamas terrorists, he was describing days when the two of them would argue over how much food they would distribute among themselves.

Guy would like to ration some food and water for the next day. And for Evyatar, it was all about eating as much as you can right now. Just imagine how horrific that is, that you've got friends that are put in such a depraved position as to argue with each other.

He says he has good days and bad days, but it is those terrorists that he says would force him to write down how much he ate, how little he ate in that video. And on the way to film that video, he could see them and hear them laughing, eating, and drinking. He said they had plenty of food the whole time.

BASH: Well, on that, you asked a little bit more about the starvation tactic. Let's watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Did they ever tell you why they were starving you? DAVID: Yes, they told us that there is no food in Gaza, but we knew it's not true because we always saw them, the terrorists, they were fat and they had muscles. And we knew they're lying to us and they're doing like, they're starving us for sure. There's no other excuse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: This is -- this was their goal, to break them down and to starve them to the point where Israel would be forced to give in to whatever Hamas's demands were. You'll recall there was a previous video that Hamas released of the two of them watching other hostages released, just the psychological torture that they endured day in and day out. He does think that the release of this video, which his family agreed to, led ultimately or at least helped to the larger ceasefire hostage release deal that was achieved in October of last year.

BASH: Right, because it forced both sides, in particular, the goal of his family and other hostage families was to push their own government, the Israeli government on this.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

BASH: I do want to talk about the mental health challenges. And you asked Evyatar about that, given the fact that he was at the Nova Film Festival, excuse me, at the Nova Music Festival, rather. His mental health challenges are from being in a tunnel and starved for 738 days.

But there have been real, again, challenges by many who even didn't get held hostage. And you asked about that, and I thought his answer was so poignant. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: I know that a number of the Nova survivor community has taken their own life or there's concern about that risk for some of them that are still grappling with the trauma that they experienced. When you hear news like that, what goes through your mind and what is your message to those survivors about continuing to fight through those demons?

DAVID: I think when you feel in your lowest, it's the perfect time not to give up, because that's the point that can break you. And once you understand it and you don't let it break you, you just keep going, you'll find yourself in a better place for sure. I can say that.

It doesn't matter what you've been through, what kind of trauma you have, this is the best thing you could do to yourself. Just don't give up when you feel you're going to break, because this is where the turn point can be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:18]

BASH: For him to say that is so powerful and important for others who are struggling.

GOLODRYGA: While he continues to struggle himself. And, you know, his family and his friends launched a GoFundMe for him as he continues his path to recovery. And that is one concern that so many of these survivors and their families have.

They've testified before the Knesset that while the government has offered them help, they say it's not nearly enough. And of course now they are trying to go and seek help elsewhere and try to raise money for their mental health. He said it's now that the cameras are not there every day.

BASH: I'm sure.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

BASH: I'm sure. I do want to show a very nice moment, which is that Evyatar played guitar at his brother's wedding recently. And I remember his brother coming to the U.S. He was on this show, he was on your shows, Bianna, also talking about music and how he longed for the day that they would play guitar together. And there we see Evyatar actually back and playing guitar at his brother's wedding.

GOLODRYGA: It is incredible. He said music means everything to him. We've spoken to his family and his brother told you he will come home. He told me that as well. We were so concerned that that day wouldn't come and it did.

And to see this, this is what victory means for them. This is what the terrorists could not take away. It's a family coming together and celebrating life. And for him, that's through marriage and music.

BASH: It's just a remarkable interview.

Thank you so much, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Thank you. Thank you so much, Dana.

BASH: Appreciate it.

And coming up, this year marks 25 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. So why is President Trump skipping the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero? We'll explain after a break.

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[12:51:28]

BASH: The 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks is two weeks away. And sources confirmed to CNN, President Trump will not be attending the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City. Instead, he'll mark the occasion with remarks at the Pentagon. The New York Times, which first reported on President Trump's plans, says he originally intended to give remarks at Ground Zero, but he changed those plans since politicians are not allowed to give speeches at the site. My panel is back now. Gloria, I know you've been doing a lot of reporting just generally about the plans for the 25th anniversary. It's -- first of all, I cannot believe it's been 25 years.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BASH: It's really stunning. But I think the point here on President Trump is that there have been Presidents who have gone to a ceremony since, you know, after 9/11 --

PAZMINO: Yes.

BASH: -- and certainly since this memorial was put up since 2012, and politicians do not speak, no matter if you're president or not.

PAZMINO: Correct. In fact, if we get into a little bit of the history of the memorial, there was a time back, I believe, for the 10th anniversary, another sort of landmark anniversary of the day, that they did allow politicians to speak, but they specifically only allowed them to read passages or poems. They were forbidden to make any sort of personal political statements.

And that is because the memorial, which runs the ceremony, has tried very hard for several years to sort of make this into a non-partisan, apolitical event. And in speaking to many 9/11 families in the past few weeks, you know, they will tell you over and over that the last thing they want is for the day to become about anything political.

For 9/11 families, they live with their loss every single day. 9/11 anniversary is, of course, the day when we all kind of come together as a collective. They read the names of the victims down at the memorial. And so that's where they want the energy focused.

And I think, you know, knowing that Trump apparently has decided to skip the ceremony because he is not going to be allowed to speak at the memorial and likely make a political speech, I think, you know, says a lot. But I think there are a lot of families who would be fine with that.

I can also tell you that there's really no agreement across 9/11 families. We're talking about thousands and thousands of people --

BASH: Yes.

PAZMINO: -- that, of course, vary in their --

BASH: Sure.

PAZMINO: -- politics and their views. But I think the day has -- they have tried to keep it apolitical and non-partisan for a very long time.

BASH: And S.E., let me read you what the White House is saying through a spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, to our colleague Alayna Treene. "As a proud New Yorker, President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001, adding that the President, in his remarks this year, will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans."

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I lived through 9/11 here in Manhattan. I'm still -- I still dread every anniversary because it's still very emotional for me. And the things that I saw that day, they're right here. And I'm really glad he's not going to be speaking to desecrate this day and the memory of that day, because of course he would make it about himself. I think that statement was a tip off that he wanted to talk about his view of this day.

[12:55:03]

And my concern -- and maybe we'll see this play out when he speaks to the Pentagon, my concern is that he will use it to justify the war in Iran. For example, I mean, he could use it for multiple myriad political reasons, reasons that just make him look good or feel good, but also to justify a continued war in Iran. And I just think that is such a horrible injustice to people who were impacted by that day.

BASH: And he, just real quick, has of course been to this ceremony. He did it in 2024 when they were in the sort of the heat and the heart of the presidential campaign. I think we have some video of him. He was there alongside his then running mate, JD Vance. You see him with President Biden, Vice President Harris, Michael Bloomberg, and others.

MADISON FERNANDEZ, POLITICO REPORTER, CO-AUTHOR, "NEW YORK PLAYBOOK": Yes. And, I mean, despite these efforts to keep it apolitical, it does increasingly seem like it is going to be political. I mean, even there are Republicans who are saying, if Mayor Zohran Mamdani goes to turn their back on him. I mean, it's just going to detract from the stated purpose of keeping it apolitical.

BASH: Thank you all for being here. I appreciate it.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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