Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Birth Order Linked to Health Risks?; Primary Election Day; Trump Engaged in Ruse Due to Iran Threat?. Aired 10:30a-11a ET

Aired August 11, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:49]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Well, this morning we are learning of an elaborate ruse to protect President Trump from an assassination threat by Iran.

And here we see right here the president boarding the old Air Force One last month to leave the NATO summit in Turkey, or so we were told. We were led to believe he was getting on the plane, he was going to fly. But minutes after stepping on board the plane, a U.S. official tells CNN the president was secretly moved into this catering truck in a clandestine move to protect him.

The catering truck and pulled away from Air Force One and deliver the president to a smaller nearby military plane. That undercover flight delivered him to England, where he arrived just before the Air Force One decoy.

Joining us now here in THE SITUATION ROOM is CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton, a retired Air Force colonel.

Colonel, how seriously must the Secret Service have viewed this threat to take such extraordinary measures here?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Pamela, it must have been a real serious threat, because, when you move the president around, there's obviously a public component to him going from one place to the other.

And there's always the press availability and the pictures that you see of him boarding an airplane or coming down from an airplane. But in this particular case, when they move a president and put him in an airplane that is not normally Air Force One, not normally the president's plane, they clearly thought that something bad could be happening and they thought the threat was imminent.

So that's my take on it, and that's why they would take these extraordinary measures in this case.

BROWN: But yet many of the president's staffers and the media remained aboard the decoy Air Force One as it flew to England. I mean, were they just sitting ducks for this potential threat?

LEIGHTON: Well, we don't know everything in terms of all the information that they had and the rapidity with which they needed to potentially move him. But, yes, in this particular case, it sure looks like the press, White House staffers, the military members on board the plane were potentially setting ducks in a case like this.

So that's something where you definitely have to look at the protective measures for everyone involved here, not just the president.

BROWN: If I was a journalist on that plane, I would not have been happy to find this out after.

LEIGHTON: For sure not, and I'm sure the same is true for the military members as well.

BROWN: Military staff members, so forth.

So, the deception even included Air Force One retaining its call sign, and then the plane actually carrying the president using a common military call sign. How many people do you think were aware of this ruse as the president traveled to England?

LEIGHTON: It's pretty clear that the number that knew about it at the time was very small. And one of the reasons they did that, I think, was to minimize the threat to the president.

What they wanted to do was, they wanted to make sure that the president could get out of Turkey as safely as possible, and they thought the threat in Turkey itself was probably at a pretty high level because of Iran's threats against the president. And that's the only logical determinant here now.

It could not just be Iran. It could have been proxy militias from Iraq that were active in Turkey. All these things are possible sources of this threat. But, having said that, it's pretty clear that using a different call sign was a clear indicator that they wanted to not only protect that aircraft.

So, the threat may not have just been a surface-to-air threat, it may have been an air-to-air threat. Whether it was another airplane, a drone, those kinds of things we don't know, but those are at least some possibilities that could have been in this case.

BROWN: Do you know if Secret Service game-plans these scenarios in advance, and so this was something they already knew that they could carry out if they needed to, or do you think they came up with it sort of on the fly as a threat emerged?

LEIGHTON: Yes, they certainly game-planned certain aspects of this.

And, years ago, I was involved in Air Force One route planning for President Clinton just on a peripheral basis. But it's pretty clear that Air Force works with the Secret Service. They work with all the intelligence agencies to get a whole threat picture of where the president is going.

And if there's any deviation in the president's plan, then they change the intelligence that the president gets and update that intelligence for that purpose. But, in this particular case, I think they game-plan some of this, but then they're also innovative enough on the Secret Service's side to move him as quickly as possible.

[10:35:03]

And I think that's what happened. And the use of the catering truck is I think fairly innovative and may have -- they may have had the help of Turkish intelligence in this case as well in order to use local facilities in order to make this happen.

BROWN: I mean, these are obviously extraordinary security measures, but it's not the first time that there's been subterfuge with the president's movement, right?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's true, because, for example, in the year 2000, President Clinton was traveling between India and Pakistan, and they actually put him on an unmarked plane to go between those two countries, and that was done for security reasons.

In the wake of 9/11, when President Bush was leaving Sarasota, the Sarasota, Florida, area after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, he was flown around, but he never left Air Force One, so he stayed in that airplane, because at that time the threat was judged to be one that could be handled by that Air Force One air aircraft.

So there have been efforts to move the president around sometimes quietly, sometimes in his public transport mode. But the key thing here is protecting the president. That's job one for the Secret Service, and they certainly did that in this case.

BROWN: All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, great to see you, as always.

Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM: Election Day in America. Voters in six states are heading to the polls for critical primaries, the key races we're watching up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Happening now: Voters are headed to the polls for a series of critical primary races, with key contests in Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Vermont.

[10:40:05]

In South Carolina, Republicans will decide whether Darline Graham will be their nominee to run for her late brother Lindsey Graham's full Senate seat against Democrat Annie Andrews in November. Despite President Trump's support, she faces challenges from other high- profile contenders like GOP Congressmen Ralph Norman and Russell Fry.

And, in Minnesota, moderate Congresswoman Angie Craig and progressive Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan are duking it out for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Senator Tina Smith. The GOP primary for Minnesota's governor's race includes none other than MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has President Trump's endorsement.

But most of the attention is on Wisconsin, where Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong hopes to build on the recent successes of other progressives in the Democratic primary for governor. She faces Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who has the outgoing governors backing.

A lot to talk about today.

Joining us now in THE SITUATION ROOM, our Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona and former aide for the national Republican Senatorial Campaign Liam Donovan.

All right, so, Maria, I want to start with you and talk about Francesca Hong. Watch what she told CNN in a recent interview that went viral.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled?

FRANCESCA HONG (D), WISCONSIN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a chef. And one of the first meals that I made that was for the community when I was 16 was a Thanksgiving meal. No, I always think my hospitality background in owning a restaurant for seven, eight years that bringing folks around the table to share conversation and build community is always a good thing.

But Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities. And so I think there I wanted to make sure that people understood that there are multiple views.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Hong has since made clear she does not want to cancel Thanksgiving. But how much of a challenge is it for Democrats that she has to defend her past positions, rather than discussing critical issues like affordability?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it doesn't make it easier for sure. But I also think that it does give her an opportunity to flip that on its head and say, what I'm really worried about and what I'm focused on is making sure that Wisconsinites can afford to even have Thanksgiving.

And that way she flips it to the affordability issue, to the issue of the economy. Lots of voters, especially in Wisconsin and, well, everywhere, they are hurting. This is why all of this -- this wave of having fighters, of having people who are actually demonstrating that they want to do something for these voters who feel like no one has had their back, that's why they are surging. That's where the energy is. That's why she has a lot of the backing.

Now, we don't know what's going to happen. What I am excited about in Wisconsin is that whoever wins is going to be focused on the economy, is going to be focused on the fact that Tiffany is somebody who is a rubber stamp for Donald Trump, that Donald Trump is going to be an anchor around his neck.

He has voted time and time again for tariffs that has skyrocketed costs for Wisconsin. He has been an extremist on the election. He's an election denier. He voted to not certify the 2020 election. And so I think, whoever wins, if it's Francesca, she will do this as well, is focus on that kind of extremism that is causing Wisconsin families to not be able to make ends meet, and then focus on how she's going to have the backs of Wisconsin voters, helping them lower costs and helping them have an affordable life.

BROWN: What do you say to that?

LIAM DONOVAN, FORMER NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE AIDE: I think it doesn't matter if it's Tom Tiffany or any Republican on the ballot right now. You need to be absorbing the attacks and pivoting back to making it about your opponent.

And Democrats are going to have the wind at their backs in this election, but as they indulge their base and make poor choices, put up flawed candidates, it reminds me a lot, as somebody who lived through the Tea Party, there's creative destruction at play.

And I think there's an opportunity for Democrats to leave a lot on the table by nominating people like Francesca Hong. They might survive. How it informs 2028, I think it's going to be very interesting. But for a Tom Tiffany or for anybody running against these sorts of Democrats, you need to pivot back and hit them where it counts.

What we're talking about in 30 days, 60 days is going to be the open question. Are we talking about Tom Tiffany's record or are we talking about Francesca Hong's Thanksgiving recipes?

BROWN: How difficult do you think, though, will it be for candidates like Tom Tiffany and the Republicans to defend Trump's record at a time where he's not popular? You have the Iran war that's not popular. What do you think about that?

DONOVAN: Midterms, particularly when you're the party in power, are never easy. And so it's a matter of individual discipline of candidates.

And so I think that's, if they're running Maria in Wisconsin, I think she's going to have a better job pivoting back to Tom Tiffany's record. I think it's unclear whether Francesca Hong has the chops to do that. And I think, for the natural charisma of somebody like an Abdul El-Sayed or even Graham Platner before him, that's clear their talent.

I don't know that Francesca Hong has shown that she has that sort of political talent. I think the base is going for her based on her positions and her ideology.

[10:45:05]

BROWN: I want to play how President Trump referred to some Democratic candidates yesterday. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, the one thing is, we have jihadists being elected all over the place. We have this -- whether it's communism, jihadism. It's -- a lot of -- a friend of mine called up. He said, really, you should use the word jihadist, because that's what's happening.

And I'm not sure that anybody, if you take a look at what happens in other countries, I think that's not going to be necessarily the way we want to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, to be clear, a jihadist is defined as a Muslim extremist who advocates supports or participates in a violent holy war to achieve political or religious goals.

And the president there said they are being elected. What is your response, Maria, to that?

CARDONA: I think that's completely unacceptable. And I think it demonstrates the extremism on the Republican side.

And that is another thing I think that Democrats should be able to underscore and then put Republicans on their heels to say, do you support this kind of otherism of Americans in general? I don't think Americans support that. Americans don't want to hear that kind of talk.

They are listening from -- they're listening for their elected officials and for their candidates to talk to them about solutions. That's why I think Democrats across the board have a terrific opportunity to focus on those solutions and to talk about how they are the ones who are going to put voters first, versus a president who can only talk about jihadists, who can only talk about spending billions on a war that no one wanted and no one needed, who is obsessed with his ballroom, as opposed to being worried about the economy of Americans.

And, in fact, he has said the affordability crisis is a hoax and that he doesn't care about the economy of American families. That, I think, is going to be what is going to help Democrats win in the midterms.

BROWN: What do you think, Liam, the president meant there?

DONOVAN: I mean, I don't know what he meant. I think we're 10 years into the Donald Trump experience, and there's chaff that gets thrown around daily basis. And I think most Republican candidates and officeholders are --

recognize that taking that bait and trying to get into that, they're not going to mirror that language. I think they're much more apt to take the president's language when he's out on the trail, when he's going to Nevada and talking about no tax on tips, when he's going to Michigan talking about no tax on new automobiles.

They need to put forward a positive vision. I think anything that Donald Trump is saying that's not on message is a distraction and...

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Which is almost everything, by the way.

DONOVAN: That's fair.

(LAUGHTER)

DONOVAN: They're used to that.

BROWN: All right, Liam Donovan, Maria Cardona, great to have you both on. Thank you so much for coming.

CARDONA: Thank you.

BROWN: We hope you come back soon.

CARDONA: Definitely.

BROWN: You can watch the results come in live. "Election Night in America" begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN and on the CNN app.

And coming up: A new study says your birth order may influence your risk for certain conditions like ADHD and autism. We will speak to the co-author on what he found up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:10]

BROWN: New this morning, what impact does your birth order have on your health?

A massive new study examined how the sibling dynamic affects potential health conditions and disorders. Researchers looked at health data of more than 10 million siblings, compiling a disease atlas that looked for correlations between the child born first or second.

What they found suggests an association between birth order and disease risk that was stronger than previously known. Based on this study, firstborns are more likely to have allergies and face neuropsychiatric conditions, like autism or ADHD, while second-borns carry more digestive issues and substance abuse struggles.

Joining us now to discuss is the co-author of that study, Dr. Steven Kushner.

Doctor, the study is so interesting. What led you to do this? And were you surprised by the funding findings?

DR. STEVEN KUSHNER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Yes, thank you for having me on the show and the opportunity to share this.

We were fascinated by this age-old question of birth order, because there had been so much prior discussion about it. It's something that all of us who are fortunate enough to be parents have thought about ourselves and other people.

And we had the opportunity, because of the data set that we were working with, to actually look at this in a very sophisticated way.

BROWN: So tell us more about it. Why do you suppose these conditions break down according to birth order?

KUSHNER: It's a very good question.

I mean, what we found was that, for firstborns, there's an excess risk of a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders. You mentioned a couple before, autism, ADHD. There are also others, and, in addition, allergies, kind of across the board, both what we would call hay fever or allergic rhinitis, allergies to poll, and also food-based allergies.

All of those had an excess in firstborns. In second-borns, we found different kinds of disorders that were -- had an excess risk. You mentioned some of them, substance abuse, migraine headaches, and shingles, all things that we tend to think about might be related to excess stress.

BROWN: So there's no clear answer, though, as to the why behind it, right?

KUSHNER: I think the why -- you're right. I think the why behind it is one of the next major frontiers. So it's very clear that these associations exist. The question is, why is that happening? What's the mechanism?

And that's something that we and a lot of other scientists are really very focused on because that may offer us the opportunity, if we can understand the why, as to things that could be changed to mitigate those risks, to lower those risks, or protective factors that may allow us to be able to develop new kinds of treatments for a variety of those illnesses.

BROWN: I also found it really interesting in looking at your study that you found that the age gap between two siblings played a role here. What more can you tell us about that?

KUSHNER: Yes, that was something that we really focused on as well.

Depending on the disorder, as you varied the age gap, that risk varied quite a bit, which suggests to us that one of the most fundamental mechanisms happening has to do with the interaction between those two siblings, something that I think, again, we all have an intuitive sense about. But to be able to actually see that was very encouraging and reaffirming of a lot of the ideas that have long been held.

[10:55:08]

BROWN: Can you just be a little more specific, though, about the gap in age and what it told you, like how much -- like, a year versus four years, like, what you found there?

KUSHNER: Yes, so for the -- for the shorter age gap that we saw, we saw a greater relationship between allergies and infectious type of illnesses, whereas, with that increasing gap, there was a shift in the neurodevelopmental disease risk in the direction that there was an increased effect with the greater degree of an age gap.

BROWN: Interesting.

Last question very quickly, was there any significance to the gender of the siblings, whether it was a pair of sisters, brothers, or one of each?

KUSHNER: No, we tried to look at that very closely, but there wasn't anything that was very, very strong.

Many of your viewers will probably know that, for example, for something like autism, there is very well established an excess risk for boys compared to girls. But we didn't see any major effect with regard to gender and the birth order.

BROWN: All right, Dr. Steven Kushner, thank you. And come back when you figure out the why behind all of this. Appreciate it.

KUSHNER: Thank you so much, Pamela. That would be a delight.

BROWN: All right.

Here's what's coming up all new at the top of the hour.

Election doubters and deniers on the ballot in key primary races, the candidates leaning in to President Trump's messaging.

Plus, right now, jurors are hearing from the primary psychiatrist who treated the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three children.

And a major debate regarding transgender player eligibility, as two former NBA players declare for the WNBA draft.

That's all new next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)