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CNN Headlines: Growing Concern For Mental Health Of Crew On USS Abraham Lincoln; Sources: Mangione In Plea Talks Ahead Of Today's Hearing; New Storms Threatens Midwest As Rivers Rise In Indiana's Catastrophic Flood Zone; Federal Judge Demands Answers From DOJ About Epstein Files. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 14, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:26]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: The USS George Washington will replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, according to a U.S. official. This after growing mental health concerns. What some crew members are saying about the conditions on board.
And accused killer Luigi Mangione is expected in court and could plead guilty today. He is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. We are tracking the latest developments in the federal case.
And a statewide disaster emergency is declared in flood ravaged Indiana. Water rescues and evacuations are still underway as more rain is expected.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us today.
Let's get this started.
We begin with growing concerns about mental and physical conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That's an aircraft carrier deployed now for months in the operations against Iran. Now, new this morning, a U.S. official tells CNN another carrier, the USS George Washington, is now headed to the region to replace the Lincoln. The switch is described as previously planned.
The Lincoln has not made a port call in nearly seven months, setting a modern-day record. Family members of the crew describe food shortages and water contamination issues.
Democratic Congressman Mike Levin went further, citing reports of moldy showers, broken toilets and no hot water for weeks, and quoted a ships doctor who told a family member, people are going to start losing their minds.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says concerns are overblown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Completely misrepresented. Listen, we make sure at every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: These developments come soon after military media reported multiple attempts by crew members to jump overboard from the ship. CNN's Ivan Rodriguez has that part of the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been more than 250 days since the USS Abraham Lincoln left its home port of San Diego last November, with more than 5,000 sailors and marines. Its mission was extended to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran. Lawmakers are now demanding answers over concerns about deteriorating living conditions and service members' mental health.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I don't think President Trump is listening to these alarming examples of how sailors have been pushed to the very limits.
REP. GABE AMO (D-RI): We need to hear from senior administration officials. How are they going to resolve this as soon as possible and deal with the disruption in the mental health and the physical health and the well-being of people serving our nation?
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): News outlet "Stars and Stripes" and "The Navy Times" reported there have been multiple attempts by crew members to jump overboard, citing interviews with sailors and families of those on board who described the impacts of the lengthy deployment.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy says, "We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideation or attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member's well-being seriously and have religious, medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise.
CNN spoke to some of those aboard about a month before those reports.
U.S. NAVY SAILOR: It's hard. You know, it's hard on your mental state, you know, to see for eight months without being on dry land. It takes a toll on you.
U.S. NAVY SAILOR: I miss my family, and I'm ready to ready to go home.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): I'm Ivan Rodriguez, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Ivan Rodriguez, thank you.
And later this hour, well hear from CNN's Pamela Brown, who was embedded on the USS Abraham Lincoln last month. And if you or someone you know is struggling, we want you to know that
help is always available. You can call or text 988 in the United States. You can also chat online with someone anytime at 988lifeline.org.
Luigi Mangione is expected back in a New York courtroom later this morning. Sources tell CNN that he could plead guilty to federal criminal charges as soon as today. Mangione is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December of 2024.
CNN's Reid Binion has the latest here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERIT BERGER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: So at this point, we don't really know what to expect for tomorrow.
REID BINION, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A former federal prosecutor weighing in on developments in the federal case against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
[05:05:02]
Sources say plea negotiations are underway and Mangione could plead guilty as soon as Friday to federal charges tied to the fatal shooting.
Friday's hearing was hastily scheduled after the final pretrial hearing Tuesday in Mangione state case, in which he faces second degree murder and weapons charges. At the federal level, he faces stalking charges connected to Thompson's killing. Mangione previously pleaded not guilty in both cases.
BERGER: I think it's unlikely that he would get, you know, a deal in the way that we typically think of a deal being some sort of reduced sentence.
BINION (voice-over): A lawyer for Mangione declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office. But experts say a guilty plea at the federal level could be part of a strategy to affect the state case.
JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So, I think it's a brilliant move in terms of double jeopardy. It -- there'll be an immediate motion made by his attorneys to void the state prosecution.
BINION (voice-over): That state case trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on September 8th. The federal case had been scheduled to go to trial in January, but that could change depending on Friday's hearing.
I'm Reid Binion, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SMITH: In today's weather express, more heavy rain is headed to flood-ravaged Indiana. That's where water rescues and evacuations are still underway following historic rainfall this week.
Video from Yorktown, it shows the scale of the devastation as water rages over bridges, submerging homes and cars. In Cambridge City, streets are completely washed out. The storm is being labeled a once in a thousand-year rainfall event.
Yesterday, Indiana's governor declared a statewide disaster emergency and mobilized the state's National Guard to help with resources and cleanup.
The jury that will decide whether Duane "Keffe D" Davis is responsible for Tupac Shakur's killing has now been seated. Opening statements are set to begin Monday, and Davis is not accused of pulling the trigger. However, prosecutors say that he helped orchestrate the 1996 shooting and plan to use his own public statements as part of their case. Davis has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. The trial is expected to last 4 to 5 weeks.
A federal judge is demanding to know why the Justice Department is keeping so many Epstein files redacted. A journalist and attorney filed a lawsuit to force the removal of some redactions and the release of more files. The judge warned DOJ attorneys that if they don't comply, contempt proceedings could ruin their careers.
CNN's Katelyn Polantz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A federal judge making a stern warning to the Justice Department, specifically the attorneys sitting in his courtroom and saying that they didn't have any answers for him on questions he was asking about the Epstein files and the redactions, the documents that have not been produced yet under the transparency law Congress passed.
The key quote today from Judge Emmet Sullivan in the D.C. district court is that he said the public has a right to know what the hell is going on in this case, the victims have a right to know. The court has a right to know.
That was the judge telling the prosecutors that their answers so far, especially when they were trying to say they didn't know when the work would be done to explain the redactions to the American public about what they've done with the Epstein files, they released millions of those documents but have redacted or withheld many, many more. There also is no explanation from the Justice Department today about files in the Epstein documents or related to the Epstein investigation that are in foreign languages, and the Justice Department had nothing to say to the judge that they had a reason to withhold handwritten notes.
The FBI took during interviews. They said they didn't need to put them out because they were the same as memos that were released by the FBI, summing up those interviews. So not the interview notes themselves that were handwritten, but the memos are out there. They're not the same thing. And Judge Sullivan was not pleased with that answer.
He also gave them a warning by telling them a story about the past. The story was the trial of the late Senator Ted Stevens. Judge Sullivan presided over that found prosecutorial misconduct after there was a verdict in that case, and it severely hurt the lives and the careers of the prosecutors who worked on it.
He told the story for about 20 minutes and then just put it out there. That contempt was not something that was happening right now in these Epstein files cases, but the parties and specifically the Justice Department, needed to know that this is the judge that wouldn't be afraid to sanction lawyers if they needed to be in the future, if they weren't answering the questions that the court demanded.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Thank you, Katelyn.
The cyclospora outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce has now spread to 17 states, and there are more than 9,400 cases, according to the FDA.
[05:10:00]
So far, two people have died and nearly 400 have been hospitalized in connection with this outbreak. The parasite can cause an upset stomach for weeks if left untreated. Health officials say that the main source of this outbreak is iceberg lettuce that was imported from Mexico. The FDA says it believes that all of the recalled lettuce has since been removed from the market.
We've got lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, including this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you guys ever seen this kid before? He's probably five, if that. And he's -- he's autistic. He's nonverbal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: The search for a missing child. The story of how he was found, told through the body cameras.
And in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, why prosecutors think notes in her cell phone could help their case.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, that is a way to spend your 100th birthday. More on Ruby's story coming up.
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[05:15:24]
SMITH: Phone searches took center stage in the trial of Lindsay Clancy yesterday. She is the Massachusetts woman accused of murdering her three children. Both the prosecution and the defense questioned a state police investigator regarding months of data recovered from Clancy's phone.
Sera Congi, with our affiliate WCVB, has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby.
SERA CONGI, WCVB REPORTER (voice-over): Writing in her phones notes, Lindsay Clancy expressing her struggle with motherhood just three months before allegedly killing her children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to feel happy. I want to be able to relax and take care of my kids and that. And when they go to bed at night, I want to deeply relax and hang out with Pat and then fall into a deep sleep for eight hours.
CONGI (voice-over): Investigators testified about searches on her phone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you treat a sociopath?
CONGI (voice-over): Prosecutors say Clancy planned the murders of her three children, pointing to a search on her phone for the route to the restaurant and CVS, where her husband was sent. While he was away, the children were strangled in the basement of their Duxbury home.
Data also shows while Patrick Clancy was out, the couple spoke on the phone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Call from the defendant's phone to Patrick Clancy for 14 seconds at 5:34 p.m., correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CONGI (voice-over): Clancy's defense claims she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was overmedicated. On cross-examination, her attorney highlighted that no evidence was found about harming the children.
KEVIN REDDINGTON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Are you aware that there were any searches from Lindsay Clancy or Patrick Clancy on ways to kill? Have you ever heard of that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not come across that. No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: That was Sera Congi reporting.
Court is in recess today, and the trial will resume on Monday.
The newly installed attorney general, Todd Blanche, gave his first address to the employees that he's now leading at the Justice Department. He delivered his speech to a group that has been upended by firings, backlash in court, as well as accusations of political dealing on behalf of President Trump.
Blanche says that he's committed to upholding the department's highest ideals.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BLANCHE, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I promise you that I will lead this department with integrity. I promise you that I will focus on our core mission, which is to uphold the rule of law fairly and impartially for what we do. It's a promise that that we're going to uphold the law without fear or favor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Prior to becoming attorney general, Blanche served as President Trump's personal attorney. He was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday in a vote of 50 to 49.
A federal judge has thrown out the Trump administrations lawsuit, accusing Harvard of allowing antisemitism on campus. The administration urged the university or argued the university failed to stop anti-Semitic behavior tied to protests over the war in Gaza. But the judge ruled that the government did not prove an ongoing violation of federal civil rights law. The judge acknowledged a handful of incidents, but said they were too isolated to show a continuing pattern of discrimination.
Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, why a new lawsuit is targeting Selena Gomez and her mother. More on that story coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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[05:23:17]
SMITH: It looks like Donald Trump's name is going back on the Kennedy Center. Sources say that his hand-picked board for the institution voted to inscribe the president's name below the Kennedy Center sign. It will now say the iconic building was, quote, "restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump." The move is testing the limits of a judge's order, a federal judge, by the way, back in May that blocked Trump's attempt to name the building after himself. The board also voted to close the arts complex for a two-year renovation.
An investigation is now underway after vandals hit Washington's World War Two Memorial, spraying graffiti and filling its fountains with soap. The Interior Department calls it an utter disgrace.
CNN's Kit Maher has the latest for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIT MAHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Interior Department is investigating vandalism at the World War II memorial on the National Mall, after soapy bubbles were spotted inside of a fountain at the Atlantic Pavilion. There's also graffiti written inside the pavilion that said "clean hands, dirty money".
Crews are spraying off the graffiti right now that is written on the inner pavilion. I walked around the other side of the memorial and did see that the bubbles are still there in the fountain. An Interior Department spokesperson told me that the act was an utter disgrace, and they vowed to find the person responsible.
They also said that the investigation is ongoing. There is U.S. Park Police on the scene, as well as National Guardsmen.
This isn't the first time that vandalism has been reported at the National Mall. Back in June, there was an "86 47" etched into the grass with chemicals, but Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the Katie Miller podcast that case would likely remain a mystery because it wasn't caught on camera, and it happened at night.
[05:25:00]
It's unclear if the vandalism here today was caught on camera, or perhaps by bystanders phone, but there are a lot of questions that remain about who did it and why.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Thank you, Kit.
Straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, the federal case against Luigi Mangione could take a major turn in just a few hours. The latest on that developing story.
Plus, catastrophic flooding, is hitting Indiana with water rescues and evacuations. And the rain isn't over yet. That's coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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