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CNN Headlines: Growing Calls For Trump To Replace Pete Hegseth As Defense Secretary; Sources: U.S. Escorted Vessels Carrying 18M Barrels Of Oil During Strikes; Trump: Midterm Elections Not Influencing Decisions In Mideast; At Least Two Dead, Several Hurt In Minneapolis Mass Shooting. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 03, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:27]

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Pushback against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Who's now calling for him to be replaced?

And -- a deadly mass shooting at a downtown Minneapolis high rise. More on this developing story.

Plus -- all right. Don't worry. That man is okay. But he certainly has a story to tell, after surviving a lightning strike.

And if you're heading out for the long holiday weekend, maybe you should already have left. We'll tell you the busiest day for those hitting the road, and for those catching flights.

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 the growing controversy surrounding Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and a scathing new appeal for President Trump to replace him.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis is calling Hegseth's management style inept and that he's creating a leadership void.

CNN's Kristen Holmes reports with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There have been multiple opportunities with multiple resignations and firings that President Trump could have stepped in. And in fact, he did the opposite. We know in certain firings and resignations, President Trump told military officials that this was Pete Hegseth's decision. And sorry, he made the final call.

And so he's deferring to him in that way. But I can tell you that I've talked to a number of military officials, and these are not military officials who are partisan. They are bipartisan. They are Republicans who supported President Trump, who feel the same way that Thom Tillis does, that Hegseth is not doing the role that he is meant to be doing in the way he's supposed to be doing.

And they worry about the future of the Pentagon. They worry about the future of the military under Hegseth. And there have been these internal conversations that they've been having about how concerned they are.

Of course, you pointed to CNN's reporting as well, that Haley Britzky had about this kind of focus on these culture wars. But overall, one of the things I was told very early on by this administration was that it would take an enormous act to get President Trump to turn on Hegseth. A lot of that being because this White House, the president, his team exuded an enormous amount of capital, political capital to get Hegseth across the finish line. They were all in on him. And it doesn't appear as though that's going to end anytime soon.

Now, of course, President Trump, we've seen him turn on people very quickly. But as of now, you heard him there. He really deferred the entire thing to Democrats didn't even bring up the fact that this is something that we had seen the reporting on that Dan Driscoll had brought up to President Trump when he -- when he resigned. So, the idea that he would completely ignore that and focus on Democrats, not even mention Pete Hegseth, just shows you where his head is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Thank you, Kristen.

We've got more details out about the latest round of strikes between the U.S. and Iran this week after weeks of military silence, two U.S. officials tell CNN, American forces hit nearly 60 military targets around Iran Tuesday, Iran retaliated over the last two nights.

CNN's Paula Hancocks explains what the action against Iran was meant to accomplish

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What they were doing specifically was trying to target along the Strait of Hormuz. So, taking out radar systems so that the Iranian authorities were unable to detect vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the U.S. military said that they did manage to get 40 commercial vessels through the strait. Now, of course, many of these in fact, the vast majority of them would have had their transponders switched off. So, it is very difficult to verify that with the -- with the immediate facts. But they also say that some 18 million barrels of oil were able to get through the Strait of Hormuz as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you.

President Trump commented on the escalation in the region Wednesday, noting the upcoming midterm elections are not influencing his decisions.

We are tracking a developing story out of Minnesota. At least two people were killed and several others wounded in a mass shooting at a Minneapolis high-rise.

[05:05:04]

A neighbor in an adjacent building captured the scene from above, a warning that some may find this story and this video disturbing.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SMITH: At least three officers were hurt while confronting the shooter.

CNN's Reid Binion has the full story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody got hit. That's why so many victims.

REID BINION, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Witnesses recounting the terrifying moments. Gunfire rang out in Minneapolis Wednesday, a deadly mass shooting taking place at a downtown apartment building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And petty officers were dispatched to a shooting at 15 East Grand Street.

BINION (voice-over): When police entered the building, they found victims and heard gunfire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers followed the sound of gunfire to the upper floor of the building, and on that floor, officers encountered a haze.

BINION (voice-over): With their vision clouded, police faced a barrage of gunfire, according to authorities. They exchanged fire with the shooter and rushed to bring victims to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three officers were injured, two of those by gunfire.

BINION (voice-over): All three officers are expected to make a full recovery, officials said. One person died at the scene and another died at the hospital. Several other civilians were hospitalized for gunshot wounds. The shooter was also confirmed dead.

Officials, including the mayor and interim police chief, spoke Wednesday night.

INTERIM CHIEF BILL PETERSON, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'm truly sickened by this level of violence. That feeling is tempered only by the courageous actions of Minneapolis police officers who responded.

BINION (voice-over): The city's mayor also praising police for their bravery. MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: But for their heroic work, the

death toll would have been far higher.

BINION (voice-over): I'm Reid Binion reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Thank you, Reid.

The jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial have again told the court that they just cannot come to a unanimous verdict. Yesterday, the judge read jurors, the Tuey-Rodriguez instructions also called a dynamite or Allen charge. The idea is to blow up any impasse to avoid a hung jury or mistrial, so deliberations will continue today.

But listen to what jury, consultant attorney Renato Stabile told CNN's Kaitlan Collins last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RENATO STABILE, JURY CONSULTANT: The most surprising thing that happened today was that the jury went home at 4:00, that indicates to me that they have made a decision that they don't need. They need to deliberate any further. Now, I'm not sure what the decision is. I'm guessing that it's going to be a hung jury. And I think what they said to each other at 4:00 was, look, we're going to tell the judge that we can't reach unanimous verdict. Let's all go home. Let's sleep on it one more night.

I expect that tomorrow morning at about 10 a.m., we're going to get that note from the jury saying that were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. And at that point, well see a mistrial.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: So if there is a mistrial, then what happens?

STABILE: Well, then the state has to decide whether or not they want to retry her, which they are entitled to do. I think every indication is that the D.A., Timothy Cruz, is going to retry her. But we saw some indication yesterday from her attorney when he was outside of court saying she really -- I don't remember the exact words, but she couldn't really handle going through this again.

To me, that's signaling that they would be open to some sort of disposition. And, you know, kind of from a P.R. perspective, she would take a disposition maybe to manslaughter if it's offered, who knows if it's going to be offered while still saying, look, I did this because I needed to put this behind me. I didn't want to put my family through this again. I mentally could not go through this again. I couldn't even put my ex-husband through this again, Patrick Clancy, who remember, was the very first witness called by the prosecution and was pretty favorable to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: And despite no verdict, there was plenty of drama around the courthouse Wednesday. A woman was arrested after prosecutors allege she recorded jurors as they left the building. She pleaded not guilty to a jury intimidation charge and then faced a swarm of media. You can see her running away in this video.

Tropical Depression Edouard has already swamped parts of Texas and areas in southeastern Texas are under a serious risk of flooding today. And here are some longhorns stuck in the flooding. At least one area had a months worth of rain in just one hour yesterday, overnight, and today storms are hitting parts of the Northeast. Cities like Philadelphia got a lot of rain.

And then there's also a storm threat for the Ohio Valley to the mid- Atlantic.

It is a race against time in Nepal along the border with China, as the death toll in last week's catastrophic floods now climbing to nearly 1,300 people, with more than 4,700 still missing.

[05:10:01]

Rescuers are using search dogs and equipment to look for those missing survivors. They're trying to get back what's left of their homes.

People seen here using a zipline to cross a river, one survivor telling us how both her house and her office were swept away by the wall of water, but she was unable to get back there because the bridge is gone. Nepal's prime minister says crews are working to restore roads as well as power and communications.

Rescue crews are also trying to reach workers trapped inside hydropower tunnels. New updates this morning from the Nepali army. More than 200 people are already rescued and over a thousand more are in contact with rescuers. But over 900 workers at nearly a dozen different sites are still unaccounted for.

We'll continue to keep you updated as the numbers and the stories coming out of the region are certainly continuing to update by the moment.

We've got lots more to come on. CNN headline express. Why this big blue statue was removed from outside the already embattled Kennedy Center.

Plus, check this out. A powerboat traveling up to 200 miles per hour. It flips and crashes. What happened next? Straight ahead. Scary scene there.

And this flyover meant to impress stadium goers at a rugby game, is now under investigation. Some are calling it a publicity stunt that went too far.

That story and more coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.

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[05:16:09] SMITH: President Trump's D.C. renovation marches on with the removal of a sculpture from the Kennedy Center grounds. It's called "Blue", and it was installed in 2019. The president has also tried to add his name to the building, along with closing it for renovations.

Here's CNN's Sunlen Serfaty talking to Jim Sciutto about the changes last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: They are attempting to portray it as a routine installation, as they say, that happens from time to time. But they did confirm and tell us that it was indeed the center's decision to make the decision to remove the sculpture today. And importantly, they did not reveal why -- the why the sculpture was removed at this point in time. And that's so interesting and important to the context of everything that's happening around the Kennedy Center.

Now, we did speak earlier today and previously to a former curator here at the Kennedy Center. Last year, he was in a meeting in September of 2025. And it was told to him then that that the center had wanted to get rid of some of the sculptures on the campus around the Kennedy Center. And specifically, it was because he says that President Trump had wanted to make room for art of his own to come in after the planned two year renovation.

Now, Jim, one source tonight telling me that they dispute the account of that meeting and the reasons to why. But again, the Kennedy Center not revealing any more as to why the sculpture came down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Vice President J.D Vance is scheduled to take the podium today for the first White House press briefing since Karoline Leavitt stepped down. President Trump has not named her replacement yet. While she was on maternity leave, the White House turned to a rotating cast of cabinet members and senior officials to lead the briefings.

Well, the airline behind an extremely low flyover of a packed rugby stadium says it will turn over data from the plane's black boxes. That incident is what you're seeing here on your screen. It happened over DHL stadium. That's in Cape Town, South Africa, and at their lowest, the planes were about 46 feet above the stadium's roof.

Investigators will determine whether safety rules were violated. The airline in question says the black boxes will show the planes were within the approved safety altitude. We'll wait for more of the details to come on that.

Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, if your financial portfolio has been volatile, the bond market may be to blame. How the war with Iran may be influencing your investments coming up.

Plus, getting ready for the last major holiday of the summer, Labor Day weekend is upon us. What travelers can expect straight ahead. Stay with us.

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[05:23:22]

SMITH: In today's money express, the stock market gets most of the attention, but the swings of the bond market are impacting your wallet, too. Karin Caifa explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maybe you hear bond market and think of savings bonds that grandma gave you. It's a similar idea. Grandma loaned the U.S. government money when she bought that bond, and you'll get interest when you cash it in. But your class of savings bond can't be publicly traded. And in the market where a different kind of bonds are bought and sold, investors find U.S. debt risky right now.

The U.S. national debt just hit a record $40 trillion. The stagnant situation around the Strait of Hormuz has kept global oil prices high, and U.S. inflation remains stubborn. Investors are selling off their U.S. government bonds and demanding higher interest or yields from the government when they buy new ones because of the greater risk. And that impacts the entire economy.

CARDIFF GARCIA, NPR: Effectively, what happens when treasury rates go up is that your life becomes more expensive.

CAIFA: That's because when it becomes more costly for the government to borrow, it becomes more costly for consumers to borrow, too, because banks use those yields as a benchmark for setting interest rates for everything from mortgages to auto loans

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Thank you, Karin.

Well, you have to see this next video. A speedboat that topped 200 miles per hour went airborne before crashing. It was all caught on camera.

CNN's Jeremy Roth has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A speedy and spectacular moment was caught on camera when a powerboat was rocketing across the lake of the Ozarks at more than 200 miles per hour when it suddenly took flight, Flipping end over end before crashing down. That's according to organizers with the Lake of the Ozarks shootout, an annual powerboating event in Missouri.

As terrifying as it looked, KYTV reports both pilots escaped the insane wreck with only minor injuries. Organizers said one raced the next day, the other is at home doing well. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Wow.

All right, ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, more on one of our top stories. A shooting at a Minneapolis high rise that left two dead and several injured, including three police officers. And why major medical groups are issuing their own guidance on certain vaccines, instead of waiting on guidance from the CDC.

Details on that and much more, as CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS continues.

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