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The Situation Room

Warning Signs in U.S. Bond Market?; Florida Removing Flock Cameras; U.S. Forces Escort Ships Through Strait of Hormuz. Aired 10:30a-11a ET

Aired September 03, 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]

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Well, new this morning, Gloria Steinem, the American journalist and political activist who became the face of second wave feminism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has died at age 92.

Steinem was a feminist icon who spent the better part of a century advocating for women's rights in the workplace, the right to abortion, and sex education. Steinem died in New York City yesterday, surrounded by some of the many who loved her, according to a statement on social media.

And, in New York, a man takes a direct hit -- you see it right here -- from a lightning bolt on Staten Island and survives. It was all caught on a neighbor's doorbell camera.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should I call the police?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes, please come. Come. Are you OK? I'm calling an ambulance for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Remarkably, the man was able to get up, and he staggered over to a neighbor's house right after getting struck. He says he felt incredible numbness, a strange tingling all over and burning pain, but wasn't seriously injured. He went to church Sunday to thank God, and then he bought a lottery ticket.

Probably a good thing.

And, in Thailand, now that the USS Abraham Lincoln is docked, observers have noticed one thing about the warship that's been under scrutiny, rust. Experts say it's expected after the marathon deployment. Tackling the rust problem is not something that could have been done at sea, especially during combat operations.

One expert tells CNN it could take at least 30 days to remove the rust -- Wolf. WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And happening now: Sources tell CNN the

American military escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, as the U.S. and Iran exchanged a new round of strikes on Tuesday, and that marks a wartime high.

Roughly 20 million barrels a day passed through the critical waterway prior to the start of the military conflict more than six months ago. CNN is also learning U.S. forces hit nearly 60 military targets around the strait while escorting the ships.

Joining us now here in THE SITUATION ROOM, our CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh. She was the deputy Pentagon press secretary during the Biden administration.

Thanks for coming in again, Sabrina.

What does this new reporting tell you about the overall state of this war now?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, it certainly shows the sophistication that our navy can employ when it comes to escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, you can't discount that that number is significantly high.

But what also this tells me is, despite all the administration's rhetoric of how this war has been won, how Iran's navy and air force are sitting at the bottom of the ocean, the reality is, is that, if this war was won, we would not need two carrier strike groups in the Middle East.

[10:35:14]

The 82nd Airborne brigade would not have been extended, and we have deployments looking into 2027. And we still wouldn't be conducting strikes in the Strait of Hormuz, when the strait was open before the war. So there's a lot that needs to be done. And while this administration wants to claim Iran of success, it just doesn't meet reality.

BLITZER: At least not yet.

Let's watch what President Trump said yesterday about these latest U.S. strikes, especially earlier this week.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were trying to see the ships, because they can't see the ships. We're taking out a lot of ships. They can't see them because they have no radar, because we blew it up, and we blew up much more than their radar last night.

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BLITZER: He says the U.S. blew up much more than Iran's radar. What do you suspect he actually means? SINGH: He's probably talking about different command-and-control

centers that are along the strait, radar centers, depots where the IRGC stores different weapons.

I think this administration has made a dent in some of their targets, but Iran still retains massive capabilities. And, of course, we saw recent reporting from CNN and others that there were innocent civilians also killed in these strikes.

Now, U.S. Central Command is likely launching an investigation into exactly what happened and the strike that happened on Monday that was allegedly at a wedding. But this is very serious. And I think what this shows is that Iran not only maintains capabilities to keep the strait closed.

The strait is not open. Despite the administration and the Navy's best efforts to clear mines, Iran can still strike ships, and we saw two tankers were actually struck on Monday while trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers some video of that strike on that wedding that killed civilians, including a little kid as well. And the U.S. Central Command says they do not attack civilian targets. But that happened, obviously.

President Trump also recently floated the prospect of a rebellion by the Iranian people in one of his social media posts, but he appeared to back away from that yesterday. How likely is regime change at the hands of the Iranian citizens really likely to happen?

SINGH: I think this president was sold on the idea that the Iranian people would take up arms as soon as the U.S. military started their strikes on February 28.

And despite intelligence assessments telling him that that was likely not to happen, and in fact, a more hard-line regime could take over, as you saw, people cannot take up arms against the IRGC. They do not have the infrastructure, the weapons, the support to do that.

And so the president is frustrated because he thought this was going to be something like Venezuela. We would remove one leader and a more compliable leader would get installed. And that is just not going to happen.

The IRGC, to Venezuela, the capabilities are vastly different. And the people just do not have the means to rise up against a government and a military that is so capable, as we saw in December, of quelling protests and are still killing innocent protest -- who they consider innocent -- are not innocent protesters in the streets.

And there's this lawlessness that the IRGC has been able to instill, and it's a fear in the Iranian people that it's going to take -- I mean, it's going to take new leadership, but that's not going to happen, I think, from an American bombing campaign.

BLITZER: Yes, the IRGC is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which clearly is still very, very powerful in Iran right now.

Sabrina Singh...

SINGH: That's right.

BLITZER: ... as usual, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, happening now: Law enforcement agencies in Florida have until the end of the month to remove license plate- reading cameras from all of the state roads there.

This is after Florida's Department of Transportation revoked all permits due to privacy concerns and reports of police abuse. Flock is among the brands impacted, and the company responded to the move saying -- quote -- "Rather than banning a critical public safety tool, we support thoughtful legislation and strong privacy, transparency and accountability guardrails that ensure technology is used responsibly, while preserving law enforcement's ability to use effective tools to keep people safe."

Joining us now for more on this is Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood.

Hi, Sheriff. Thanks for coming on.

So you have said that a lot of the criticism of these cameras has been based on half-truths, outright lies, and bad actors. Tell us more about your concerns with this ban.

MICHAEL CHITWOOD, VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA, SHERIFF: Pamela, thank you so much for having us.

Really quickly, we can walk and shoe gum at the same time. This technology got out of the barn way, way, way faster than anybody could get the guardrails up.

The rogue cops, what they did, they deserved to be fired and prosecuted for that. And the administrators of those rogue cops, what policies and procedures did they put in place to get it this way? I have been using tag readers for 17 years, and we have never had a problem. I understand, fully understand the privacy concerns, fully understand that.

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But when I say we can walk and chew gum, I was kind of hoping that our attorney general, who I think is a brilliant man, would have brought all sides together and hammered out legislation and policies and procedures and training, so you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, because of all the crimes that are being solved, you don't hear from the victims who benefited from this technology.

You hear all of these stories and all these things that are made up. And some of it is Flock's fault. Flock does these massive dumps for public records requests where information that should never be released is going out there. Is it going out to a third-party vendor? Is it going to the news media? Who knows?

And their data, when it comes to searches, if a deputy leaves the system open because they want it to continuously run, and they never put a tag in, it refreshes every 30 seconds. So, if you're in a 12- hour shift and you're keeping that open, so that you get live alerts on these tags that are stolen or there or somebody's wanted or whatever it may be, you're being charged with a search.

So, at the end of the day, you may -- the system may show you committed 300 searches when you never type the tag number into the system.

BROWN: Yes, tell us more about how your department has used Flock and what you would propose if you were able to speak to the leadership in Florida about what guardrails you think should be in place, rather than a total ban?

CHITWOOD: Thank you. Thank you for that.

We have given our policy over to the attorney general's office and shared that with other sheriffs. And, basically, our policy mirrors what is already in place for all the other technology. You have to sign onto the system, you have to put on a case number, and you check off an affidavit that pops up when you use any database in the state of Florida that says you are using it for investigative purposes only.

If you violate the policy and the law, you will be terminated, prosecuted, and you face a civil fine. And that is the first step, is establishing a digital footprint that you can go back and see, hey, you should get flagged within a week if you're running a tag number, like these -- and I call them clowns.

They're not cops, clowns that are following their wives or their ex- girlfriend or ex-boyfriend around. That abuse should pop up immediately, like it would with every other database that we have, whether it's driver's license databases here in Florida or criminal justice information systems.

Whatever that may be, that technology, you have to make sure you're on top of it, because humans are going to eventually screw it up. And just because you wear a badge doesn't mean you're not going to screw it up. And that's what you need. You need that oversight.

Like, for us, all of our databases are not only overseen internally by us, but they are overseen by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. So there's two layers there that will catch should somebody be abusing privileged classified information.

And that I think would help restore the trust of the community, because, while I get tons of e-mails about the bad side of it, I'm also getting a lot of e-mails from my residents saying, why are you stopping this? You caught the fraudster who got a million dollars from my grandparents. You caught the person who killed my boyfriend, or -- we get all -- you caught the burglar that cleaned me out.

So, you get -- there's two sides of it, but you have to come to the middle and realize that you have to respect everybody's rights and privacy. And, really, it is a concern, mass surveillance, because we're under it now, right? Everybody -- everything we do, we're being surveilled.

At the same token, you have a piece of technology here that could help reduce crime and increase the ability to arrest violent offenders. We got to bring those two things together, and we need real leadership to do that.

BROWN: So, it sounds like things have been successful with Flock usage in your department.

But, as we know, there have been several other cases in other departments where the privileges have been abused. And critics say that highlights the potential for constitutional violations and that basically the government shouldn't be tracking where cars go.

What do you say to those critics?

CHITWOOD: Well, I will go with half of that statement I absolutely agree with.

The part about your vehicle, that's -- thank you for bringing that point up. You have no expectation of privacy in your license plate. Historically, courts have ruled that way. And, as recently as the spring in Norfolk, Virginia, when this whole debate about tag readers went to federal court there, the judge there said everything that Norfolk was doing, their policy, procedure, their training, purging of the tags every 30 days, there was no evidence of a dragnet.

There was no evidence of systematic surveillance on citizens, and he allowed that program to stand in place there. That's where we come from with that. People -- some of the arguments I get is, get a search warrant for my tag number. You don't need a search warrant for your tag number.

I could drive down the street now and run your tag. That's how that works. It's just the technology is now doing what we can do manually. It's just technology can do so much more than we can do it manually.

But I do believe in my heart that, if everybody sat down and listened to one another, you could make this work, like we do all other databases, whether it's fingerprints, DNA, driver's license databases, all of the things, criminal justice information that we have. There's a way to do this.

[10:45:07]

Some people are never going to like it. Some people are always going to want more. But, like I said in the beginning, I think we could all walk and shoe gum together and think, do we want violent people in our communities, when you have technology that can take those people out, build much stronger cases, and do what needs to be done to keep us all safe, at the same token respecting everybody's civil rights and their privacy rights against mass surveillance?

BROWN: All right, Sheriff Mike Chitwood, thank you so much for coming on to offer your perspective. We appreciate it.

We will be right back.

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BLITZER: Happening now: Warning signs are flashing in the most important global trading market, the U.S. bond market. Interest rates on government bonds are on the rise right now, and it's getting even more expensive for Americans to borrow money.

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We have information you need to know.

CNN business senior reporter David Goldman explains.

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DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Think of the bond market like an old-timey scale. On one side, you have the price, and on the other side, you have the yield.

Right now, a lot is weighing down the price of Treasury bonds. Think inflation, competition from A.I. spending, a huge amount of government debt, and the expectation that the Federal Reserve could raise its rates. Think about it like this. Bond investors lend money to the government.

They want their money back plus interest. That's their return on their investment. Inflation and high Fed rates eat into that return over time, so they demand a bigger return. And that's why bond yields are higher. A.I. spending from big tech companies and the federal government's debt topping $40 trillion, both of those are weighing down the price side of the scale.

Why? They're both flooding the market with more bonds or opportunities to invest and competing for the same investors. That means the government has to offer a bigger return or a higher yield to attract new lenders. The problem for you, the yield on the other side of the scale is a benchmark for your mortgage, your auto loans.

When yields are high like they are now, that raises your cost of entry into the housing market. It boosts your cost of living, and it decreases your borrowing power. It also can hurt the job market. Higher yields raise companies' borrowing costs. That means they have less money to spend on hiring, and that could also lead to more layoffs.

So, how did we get here and how do we solve this problem? Well, from 2000 to 2020, we actually had the opposite situation that we're seeing today, high bond demand and very low rates. Historically low rates from the Fed, as well as low rates in the bond market, helped stimulate the economy back then.

For example, it helped us get out of the global financial crisis in 2008 and the COVID pandemic in 2020. But the historic spending from Congress that came alongside those low rates during the pandemic, it essentially gave the economy a massive sugar rush.

It helped the economy recover super fast, but all of that spending also helped send inflation to a 40-year high. Think back to 2022, when inflation was above 9 percent. All of that sent Fed rates higher and hurt demand for bonds, which sent yields higher, and mortgage rates went from under 3 percent to above 7 percent.

But the government never stopped spending. Taxes got cut, we went to war with Iran, oil prices shot higher, and inflation is becoming a problem again. The fundamental framework of the bond market and interest rates, well, it's all changed. High rates have become the new normal.

Think 6 percent mortgage rates and 22 percent on credit cards, all because that mix of inflation and spending, well, that's raising fears that the problem could spiral out of control into a fiscal crisis one day.

Democrats and Republicans both support populist economics right now. Everyone wants to spend more of the government's money, but no one wants to raise taxes. It's one of the only things that unites the left and the right. The Fed wants to get inflation back down to 2 percent, but no one really knows how it plans to do that.

Raising rates is one tool, but it has to be matched with responsible spending from the government. Think making difficult cuts to social services like Medicare, and no politicians supports that right now.

We are nowhere near a fiscal crisis yet. The key word is yet. But the solutions to this problem, well, they're hard to come by.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: A special thanks to CNN business senior reporter David Goldman for that excellent report.

BROWN: Well done.

All right, here's what's coming up all new at the top of the hour only on CNN.

Our team is on the ground and with the Lebanese army as Israel withdraws from the region, our Jeremy Diamond with the exclusive access.

Plus, a SITUATION ROOM special report: A 20-year-old Haitian immigrant steps into highway traffic and is killed. His family says he preferred death to the humiliation of wearing the government ankle monitor that's now required for a growing number of Haitian immigrants -- his story all new next hour.

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[10:59:21] BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We begin this hour with breaking news. "Bring it," that's a quote. That's what Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney said just a short time ago about the possibility of yet another trial if this jury can't reach a verdict.

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QUESTION: Some people say a second trial would favor the prosecution. What do you think about that?

KEVIN REDDINGTON, ATTORNEY FOR LINDSAY CLANCY: Bring it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Jurors are back now for their sixth day of deliberations in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They have spent roughly 30 hours already discussing the case.

BROWN: The panel is tasked with deciding if Clancy is criminally liable for killing her three young children. Her defense says she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time.