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Judge Gives Jury Instructions Ahead of Closing Arguments in Clancy Trial; 350-Plus, 1,300-Plus Missing After Floods Hit Nepali- Chinese Border. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, wiped out.

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Oh my God. Oh my God.

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BLITZER: Hundreds are dead, thousands more are missing, including dozens of Americans after catastrophic floods swept through the Nepali and Chinese border.

Plus, business as usual? New reporting that debunks the president's explanation of the CIA director's surprise visit to Moscow.

Life-saving decision, the FDA now approves a drug that significantly improves a person's chances of surviving pancreatic cancer.

And name game, the last-minute effort to keep President Trump's name off of the Kennedy Center.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off. You're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news. The judge in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial is explaining instructions to the jury. After this, closing arguments are set to begin. Each side has up to an hour for closings, and later today, the jury will begin deliberating. Clancy, a former nurse, is on trial for killing her three young children. She has pleaded not guilty.

Her attorneys do not deny that Clancy strangled her three little kids, but argue she should not be held criminally liable. They say she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she carried out the killings. Jurors will be able to consider first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter charges if they find her guilty.

Joining us now, CNN Correspondent Jean Casarez, who's been reporting from the courthouse in Massachusetts. Jean, what have we heard, at least so far, from the judge today? JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the judge, just as you have said, is going over jury instructions. I want to tell everyone that that courtroom is packed to capacity. We understand that people started standing in line at 2:00 A.M. this morning to be able to get one of the coveted seats, and the majority of those people in the public gallery are women. And it has been that way all along. Closing arguments, we believe, have just started in that courtroom.

But the judge, in describing what the instructions were, focused on the different counts of murder. Remember, this is a triple murder case. Let's listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- that the Commonwealth has met its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt either of these theories of first- degree murder, you shall consider whether the Commonwealth has proved the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murder in the second-degree.

So, I'm going to begin by instructing you on the elements and the additional requirements of proof for each of these theories of murder in the first degree, and then I'll instruct you on murder in the second-degree.

All right, so, number one, I'll first define the elements of murder in the first-degree with deliberate premeditation. To prove the defendant guilty of murder in the first-degree with deliberate premeditation, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the following elements. One, the defendant caused the death of Cora Clancy, Dawson Clancy, and/or Callan Clancy.

Two, the defendant intended to kill Cora Clancy, Dawson Clancy, and/or Callan Clancy, that is the defendant consciously and purposefully intended to cause Cora Clancy's, Dawson Clancy's, and/or Callan Clancy's death. And, three, that the defendant committed the killing with deliberate premeditation. That is, she decided to kill after a period of reflection.

I'll now discuss each of these requirements in more detail.

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CASAREZ: And that courtroom is now having closing arguments.

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They've just begun. Let's go in live.

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Whether or not Lindsay is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, as His Honor instructed you and will instruct you, what that means, that standard of proof that we as citizens in this country are so blessed to have, proof beyond a reasonable doubt before the government charges any citizen with a crime. I don't care how many cops you have in here, how many D.A.s are sitting here, how many people are sitting in the front row, and they're all going to sit there and be proud of this prosecution. I told you in the opening statement that this is a prosecution that has ripped the soul out of this girl.

This is what they had. This is their family.

How does this turn into this? How? Because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she got.

You can troop as many paid experts as you want to come in here and tell a jury, oh, well, she didn't say that she heard voices inside her head. She said she heard voices from outside her head. She said she was making chicken McNuggets. There was a bowl on the sofa. She wasn't making chicken McNuggets. She said something. As I think and I muse, and I try real hard to tell you what my opinion is, that this woman was acting in her right mind when these children were killed.

So, when you consider the evidence in this case, you consider the person who is in front of you, who is the defendant, as the government refers to her. And as Judge Arnold wouldn't likely tell you, even though a person is a defendant in our system of justice, you don't have to defend against anything. The government has the burden of proof.

When the D.A. decides to charge someone with a crime, he has the burden of proof. His assistants have the burden of proof to prove, number one, that Lindsay is guilty of this offense beyond a reasonable doubt, and then prove, number two, that Lindsay, at the time, killed her children, was not suffering from a mental disease or defect that caused her to have a lack of substantial capacity to appreciate, to know, to realize that what was being done while she was in a psychosis.

But we'll laugh about that. It's just another woman. I guess that's just going to make an excuse. She's depressed. GAD, general anxiety. Give her a couple of pills, she'll be all right.

You know from looking at the objective evidence in this case, this young lady, believe me, I don't have many clients like that. This young lady did nothing wrong in her life. She was a nurse, a daughter, a wife, and a darn good mother.

You can see from the objective evidence, you can see, and you'll have all the exhibits for you to look at, and you can see by looking at these photographs, which you will have in the jury room. You can see the Facebook postings. You can see what she indicates about, for example, I just randomly grabbed this one, a son, my prince. That they would have you think she killed him first cruelly because she didn't like him. That is repulsive.

So, she's living her life with Pat, her kids, having a great time that summer. Life is good. She had to go back to work.

[10:10:00] In an opening statement, I told you, I said, watch the evidence. Watch the manipulation, because that's what this case was built upon originally and how it developed as the case progressed until it's in front of you.

And how does that happen? Well, from the very beginning, going all the way back to when the first 911 call that you've had to sit through was made. You could hear in the voice of Pat Clancy the horror of what he had obviously experienced.

You can see from the evidence that's before you the injuries that she suffered. You will have in the jury room the exhibits that indicated the extent of the injuries from -- I don't have to go through all of them -- the extent of the injuries to slitting her throat, to slashing her wrists, throwing herself out a window, blood all over the bedroom floor, window open, screen slashed.

Oh, no, the screen wasn't slashed, my bad. That's what she thought. It's called a delusion. She was in a psychosis when she thought that probably right here, sitting here, believes that she slashed the screen. She didn't, subjective evidence.

And why did we spend almost a week showing you the extent and the severity of that suicide attempt. The reason that we had to do that is because they were arguing that it was a fake suicide. Dinky little cuts, no bleeding. She didn't mean to kill herself. She's going to throw herself out the window, I guess, and slide down the house. Remember that one hanging off of the window, sliding down the house, and Lindsay screwed up, and she hurt herself bad.

You know that's not what happened. You know that she made the testimony of Dr. Velkovich, that she made a very, very significant suicide effort, slashing her wrists, slitting her throat. And isn't it interesting when you consider objective evidence, Googling slitting her throat, Googling suicide, Googling drugs, Googling side effects, Googling ketamine treatments, Googling all of these drugs, Googling the effects of tough medications, lorazepam, sertraline, hydroxyzine, lorazepam, buspirone, lorazepam, buspirone, trazodone, fluoxetine, zolpidem, mirtazapine, clonazepam, quetiapine, diazepam, diazepam, quetiapine. It goes on and on and on and on.

CASAREZ: And the whole point in this prosecution is truly whether she is criminally responsible for the actions of killing her three children. She has admitted she killed her three children. And the defense is saying that she is not criminally responsible because she was mentally insane at the time that it happened.

Here is the instruction we want to read for everyone that the jury heard this morning. A person is not criminally responsible for her conduct if she has a mental disease or defect, and as a result of that mental disease or defect, lacked the substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality or the wrongfulness of her conduct and to conform her conduct to the requirements of law. Wolf?

BLITZER: Very, very important developments indeed in this Lindsay Clancy trial. These are closing arguments. Each side will have about one hour to make their final points, and then the jury will begin deliberations. We'll stand by. We'll see what unfolds. There's been huge interest in these developments and we'll watch it very closely.

We heard the judge, William Sullivan, make the arguments, make the point for the respective need to understand completely what needs to be confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt if there's going to be a conviction.

Quick question, what kind of penalty potentially could she be facing, Jean?

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CASAREZ: With first-degree murder, it is life without any possibility of parole, second-degree murder, which is intent to kill. First-degree obviously being premeditation, atrocity, and cruelty to those children as they were strangled with the exercise bands. But second-degree murder, there is the possibility of parole.

Third-degree, which is manslaughter, and that would be a conviction, it is based on wanton or reckless conduct, but the emotional aspect of this, of the drugs and the impact and the psychological and the mental illness does play a role, that can be probationable. It's also up to 20 years. But she would be convicted of homicide in that.

And then you have the lack of criminal responsibility, which would be a not guilty based on that, and that's where the defense is going. But we cannot forget plain old not guilty. And if the jury believed that someone else actually did this, which is not in the evidence, but a defendant is presumed innocent, they must have that not guilty on the verdict form. That also is a possibility.

BLITZER: Yes, we'll see what happens. All right, Jean Casarez, thank you very much for your excellent reporting.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BLITZER: There's other important news we're following coming up. Meta's major settlement, what new changes are coming to the company's platforms after it agreed to pay $18 billion in a multi-state lawsuit? The attorney general from one of those states standing by to join us live. That's coming up.

Plus, catastrophic flooding, hundreds dead in Nepal and many more missing right now. A report from the scene, that's coming up as well.

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BLITZER: Breaking news, the death toll soaring in Nepal as we see new video of the monstrous wall of water crashing down with a thunderous roar.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. Oh my God.

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BLITZER: People run for their lives as the deadly floodwaters barrel toward them. The rivers of mud, rock, and debris explode in the landscape around them and swallow everything in their path. Police in Nepal say more than 350 people are now confirmed dead.

This is the view, by the way, from above the flood zone this morning, new images coming into The Situation Room showing the breathtaking scale of destruction. Floodwaters have pushed mud far inland, swallowing neighborhoods and burying homes.

And here you see an excavator bringing an elderly woman to safety. She's covered in mud and appears to be stunned by the terror she endured. And this is a photo of her from the Associated Press looking up to her rescuer.

Today, the tragic numbers keep rising and rising. 1,300 people are now missing. More than half of them are foreigners. Nepal says at least, at least 65 Americans are among the missing.

We're also hearing from a man who lives in Pennsylvania. He's so desperate right now to hear from his missing loved ones, his sister, her husband, and their twin two-year-olds.

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JAGANNATH UPADHYAY, FAMILY MEMBERS MISSING IN NEPAL: I just want to say I love you.

No updates so far.

I hope they are safe.

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BLITZER: I hope they are safe somewhere. That's what he says. I hope so, too.

CNN is one of the only international news networks at the scene of the disaster, and CNN Correspondent Hanako Montgomery is joining us live from there, just north of Kathmandu, the capital.

Hanako, what are you seeing?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, I'm walking down one of the main roads in Nepal, and this entire place used to be covered in mud. They've cleared part of it now.

And I want to show you some of the damage that we've been seeing. This house, I mean, its first floor is completely submerged in floodwater. You can see some of the windows and doors just caked in mud. This house over here, I mean, its walls have completely collapsed. It's unlivable. And down here is a gas station, and, again, just completely inaccessible and totally destroyed by this floodwater and the mud and debris that it brought with it.

Now, the Nepali government has said that several hundred people have been confirmed dead, several hundred more still missing, and they are afraid that the death toll could tick up in the coming hours and days as they are still trying to find any remaining survivors.

And this village that we're currently in is actually several dozen kilometers away from the worst of the damage. So, you can imagine if you get higher up in the Himalayan Mountains, just how many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their loved ones, and now they're left with very little, trying to find any remnants of hope, any remnants of their family members as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives now.

BLITZER: Hanako Montgomery on the scene for us. Thank you, Hanako, very much.

I want to go to CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar over in the CNN Weather Center.

Allison, the U.S. Geological Survey now says a collapsing great glacier could be to blame for this disastrous flooding.

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What can you tell us about that?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. So, the real key thing is that we still just, there's a lot of missing pieces to this. But the one thing to note is there are different types of glaciers. There are obviously many different sizes of glaciers. And so a lot of that will make quite a difference when they go to continue to investigate this. And the investigation is likely going to take weeks to determine ultimately what happened here to set off this cataclysmic event.

So, we know the landslide origin would be right around this point, and the U.S. Geological Survey knows that because they can go back and they can look at satellite imagery. And so what we know is, again, this area right through here, the glacier that was there likely dislodged at some point.

We also had a landslide and then all of that kind of flowed down through this riverbed and into the river valley, continuing, taking with it a tremendous amount of water, ice, rocks, trees, boulders, you name it, anything it could grab along the way, pushing all of that along with the wall of water down through a lot of these communities.

And, again, to really kind of show you the scope of how much we are talking about, let's take a look at some of these before and after images, okay? So, here you can kind of see, this is from yesterday. I want you to kind of focus right through this, this green area, which is at the base of kind of that glacier tongue heading into the river valley.

Now, we fast-forward to what happened yesterday, and you'll end up seeing a lot of that green shaded area turn brown. That's from the debris flow all sliding down there. But you can also see where the actual portion of the mountain broke off with the glacier flowing back down into the valley below.

BLITZER: Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that report.

Coming up, landmark settlement. Meta is now putting time limits on teens using their apps after reaching an $18 billion deal with states. Critics say it's not enough. We'll have the details. That's coming up.

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