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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Rescue Efforts Intensify In Nepal After Catastrophic Flooding; Judge Pauses USPS Plan To Restrict Mail Voting; U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Warns On Inflation; Around 2,500 People Missing After Nepal-China Floods; Potential U.S.-Venezuela Oil Deal; NASA Set To Launch Roman Space Telescope On Sunday. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 28, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and

you're watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour, rescue efforts intensify in Nepal and China. After that, just catastrophic flooding that has left thousands still missing.

We'll hear from two of the only known American survivors about what they witnessed. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair says inflation is, quote,

"concerning." We'll discuss what impact, if any, that statement could have on the midterm elections. And NASA prepares to launch a telescope that

could change the way we see space. We'll speak to a key engineer on that project.

Well, a new day is beginning in Nepal and China's Tibet region, as hopes of finding any more survivors from this week's devastating flash flood grow

bleak. Operations had to be paused when a barrier lake, which had been created by that initial landslide, broke its banks. Rescues have since

resumed, but they could be hampered by monsoon-fueled storms impacting the area this weekend.

More than 500 people are confirmed dead. Some 2,500 remain missing across China and Nepal. The Red Cross says a total of at least 93,000 people have

been affected by the floods. You are looking now at before and after satellite imagery showing the enormous destruction brought on by this

disaster, before on the left, after on the right. Authorities are monitoring the formation of a second lake.

Survivors tell CNN the water hit like a tsunami. Will Ripley has more on their stories. We do want to warn you, his report is harrowing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, just really difficult to describe this scene here, but there's a woman who just came

and looked at a list of people who are being treated and also a list of people who are confirmed dead. We don't know the specific details of what

she saw, but you can see on her face just how anguished she is right now. And we've seen this type of scene just repeated over and over and over

again here in the capital of Nepal. This is the teacher's hospital. It's one of the busiest medical centers in this city. And let me show you this

way.

Let's just walk through the crowd here, John, because there's a whole wall of people here. And the number of pictures have kind of been increasing

throughout the day, photos of people who are missing, family members who are waiting here, hoping that their loved ones are going to end up on this

list here. This is a handwritten list of names of people who are confirmed survivors who are being treated right now at this hospital.

All day, people have been hearing that there might be more survivors brought in, but as of the six hours or so we've been out here, still only

31 names on this list. But if you look at this table over here, the number of people who are now registered as missing has grown from 1,200 when we

arrived here this morning to now more than 1,600 people. All these people who are here gathered at the table are adding the names of their loved ones

to the list.

And about a five-minute walk from here, there's a morgue with a much larger wall of photos of dead bodies and a much larger crowd of people looking at

these photos of dead bodies, trying to see if they can identify their loved ones there. And I saw people, bodies of all ages. There were men, there

were women, there were children. There were also photographs of body parts. They actually were trying to photograph arms and legs that might have had

tattoos on them, hoping that family members might be able to help identify these remains.

Now, the worst of it is the video that you've seen now, undoubtedly, at the China-Nepal border crossing. That large concrete structure that looked to

be about seven stories tall, with that giant black wave crashing over it, and another angle that showed rows after row of blue buses that were just

washed away like toys.

Within the last couple of hours, we have spoken with the only two known Americans who survived from that border crossing. They were sitting on one

of the buses. Their names are Patabi and Anjana. They're from Northern California, from the Bay Area. They said they were sitting on the bus, just

chatting with some other tourists from Italy, and all of a sudden, they looked outside the bus and saw people running. And they knew that something

was wrong. Then they looked up the hill and they saw a massive wall, a black cloud, as they described it.

[18:05:00]

They didn't know if it was water. They didn't know if it was smoke. But they knew that it was moving very quickly down the hill towards their bus

and the other buses that were all parked in a row. They had had breakfast at the hotel with members of tour groups that were inside that building

getting their visas processed to cross from Nepal into China, into the Tibet region of China. Those people have disappeared, presumed to be gone.

Even people on their own bus, when they saw this black wall approaching of water, they ran to the right and other passengers ran to the left, and

they'd never seen them since. But they ran up a hill and they were able, just sparing a matter of seconds, to be able to get to a vantage point

where they could then turn around and watch the horror that was unfolding beneath. Here's a portion of that interview that we just did. Please take a

look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANJANA RAJA, U.S. TOURIST WHO SURVIVED LANDSLIDE FLOODING: So, the way it came, it came just like a tsunami. It just came going all the way up. And

just like a tsunami, how it sweeps going like a row, it just took the buses, the houses, people, everything. We saw people just getting sucked in

the water. It was so traumatizing to see that. People are screaming, but, of course, water doesn't hear anything. It just kind of sucked them in.

I don't know if they were thrown away somewhere in the shore, but then this happened. It was just a span of 30 minutes. In 30 minutes, everything was

swept and gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: They don't know exactly how they did it, but they crawled and climbed and ran their way up that hill along with a small group and a local

tour operator who they say really saved their lives because he told them where to go higher and higher up the hill. They didn't have a cell signal,

so they had no idea what was happening until at one point they did briefly have a cell signal.

And at this point, they still didn't know if the flood was over, if there was going to be another event. But what they did when they had a brief cell

signal is they picked up the phone and they called their daughter. And in that 60-second phone call, while they had a cell phone signal, they gave

their daughter all of their passwords for their accounts because they thought that they might not survive.

And they wanted her to have all the information that she needed so that she could do what needed to be done if they didn't make it home. And they told

her they love her and to please take care of their younger son, her brother, who's in the Boy Scouts. And then the call got cut off. But

they've now survived, and we have much more of this interview with them. We had a long conversation with them, and we'll be sharing that with you

throughout the day here. But it was just extraordinary and harrowing to hear the details of how they survived.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Just a litany of sad stories and amazing stories. Among the tragedy and ongoing uncertainty, there are moments of miracles. An eight-

year-old boy survived the flash flood by running into a forest and climbing trees to escape the incoming debris. His mother had no idea what happened

to him or his younger brother. Yet after two days of searching, she found out the amazing news they're both alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTI MAYA TAMANG, MOTHER OF RESCUED BOY (through translator): I had completely lost hope that I no longer have my children. I was going through

a period of grief, and I couldn't even control myself and thought that there was no point in staying alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, there are challenging conditions, to say the least, for rescuers hoping to find any more survivors as monsoon rainstorms close in

on Nepal. Chris Warren has more from the Weather Center in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Day-to-day weather is still a big deal for search-and-rescue efforts. The rain can bring low clouds and reduce

visibility, which can slow down helicopters, meaning you can't fly. You might need to be delayed. Also, it can make things dangerous for rescue

crews. As that rain, the pop-up showers that come and go, falls on this terrain. Even a heavy shower up here can come downstream where there may be

some other efforts going on.

And then the rain falling on what at times in this area is very steep terrain. And after some of the sediment is left behind and then rainfall,

say way up here, and comes rushing down, a lot of water comes rushing down, it can create new slides, new blockages, which can create small lakes or

even larger lakes eventually that would be temporary and could be burst with another heavy rain shower.

So, as we saw a moment ago, these hit-and-miss showers will be the story. Now, it looks like there's a lot of rain, but this is really more about the

chances for rain over the next several days through the weekend. And the showers will pop up here and there. So, what you hope for is that they're

popping up somewhere else. This is the time of year, though, that the rain that does fall has a good chance of being heavy. Could see several inches

in some of that heavier rainfall.

And the reason for that, monsoon season. A lot of moisture available coming in from the Indian Ocean and the mountains themselves help give a little

bit more of kind of a kick.

[18:10:00]

You get more air rising, which means more clouds, more rain coming back down.

Now, temperatures will vary a lot based on the elevation, but the main thing is during monsoon season this is essentially your forecast every

single day, no matter where you are in this region. Chance of showers, chance for heavy showers and thunderstorms, but again, they're hit and

miss. It's not always a long duration rain event, but even a little bit of rain over areas that are muddy. It's not regular floodwaters that just come

and then move on, sediments left behind, and in some places you may have heard that it's like wet cement.

The big difference, which is it's a great analogy, the big difference though, cement cures and it hardens and it sets, but that's not the case

with this. You can have with like quicksand or that wet cement, which starts to dry and then more rain comes and kind of reactivates it, and that

can be waist-deep or even higher in some places. So that's one thing that makes rescue efforts not just difficult, but also dangerous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: If you would like to help the victims of the floods, and there are many of them, for more information please go to cnn.com/impact. You can

donate there directly as well as learn more about exactly what kind of support is necessary on the ground.

Here in the U.S., a legal battle over President Trump's second effort to curb birthright citizenship is intensifying. In a hearing today, a federal

judge asked immigrant rights groups to amend their lawsuit, which seeks to block the president's executive order issued earlier this month. The

Supreme Court struck down the president's first attempt to restrict birthright citizenship this summer. His second order now attempts to

tighten existing laws and narrow recognized exceptions.

This is just one of many major legal cases this week. The Trump administration is appealing a temporary restraining order hours after a

judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out a new rule that could limit mail voting. Democratic-led states and voting rights groups say

the rule is unconstitutional, that the USPS has no authority to implement it.

It's a lot of legal questions at the same time, and joining me now is Republican political consultant Barrett Marson. Barrett, good to have you.

BARRETT MARSON, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT AND CEO, MARSON MEDIA: Thanks for having me on, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, first let's begin with this USPS ruling. I mean, there was a great deal of concern last week when the Supreme Court lifted a stay while

not addressing the merits. Now, you have a lower court here blocking these new rules. Eventually it's going to make its way to the Supreme Court. What

happens when it gets there?

MARSON: Well, I'm hoping that the Supreme Court will actually decide the merits of the case. You know, they kicked it out last week because they

said it just wasn't right, because the regulations hadn't taken effect actually. Now, they are in effect. Now, states are suing.

You know, Jim, I'm based in Arizona. We have more than a generation of mail-in experience, of mail-in balloting. It's been safe and secure. We've

had virtually no problems over the literally generation, about 30 years or so, of mail-in balloting, and in fact more than 75 percent of voters here

in Arizona vote by mail. Taking that away from us would be a massive headache for election officials and for voters here.

SCIUTTO: Is there already going to be some confusion given how close we already are to the elections? I mean, the court may eventually rule, but

one can imagine, even when the court rules, that the administration will continue to challenge some mail-in ballots.

MARSON: Of course, they will. They will absolutely continue to do whatever they can because Donald Trump says mail-in voting equals fraud. Not in

Arizona, that's for sure, but you know, I think the Supreme Court will rule expeditiously because, you know, in Arizona and several other states, early

ballots go out the first week of October. You're literally talking about five, six weeks from now, so they've got to do this on a much-expedited

basis, probably quicker than most court cases.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, look at Colorado. Lots of mail-in votes there. Oregon. I want to ask about the president's second attempt to go after

birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court was quite clear on this, but now you have another attempt here, arguably a narrower one. Do you expect a

similar outcome?

MARSON: I would expect a similar outcome. Look, for Trump, it doesn't cost anything, right? I mean, he's not paying for this, so he can keep finding

alternative routes in hopes that maybe something will stick to the wall here.

[18:15:00]

You know, you throw the spaghetti up, you hope that it sticks. If it doesn't, try again.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And same could be true for the Kennedy Center, which a judge already ordered him to take his name down there. He's now pursuing another

way. Instead of putting his name above President Kennedy, he wants to put it below to kind of claim credit for renovations, while at the same time

threatening to tear the whole thing down.

Do you understand the president's fixation on this? And do you believe it's good for Republicans? Are you surprised more Republicans aren't saying,

hey, not a good idea?

MARSON: Yes. Well, Jim, as you know, American voters right now are most concerned about one thing, and that's what to call the Kennedy Center. That

is the number one issue on every voter's mind, of course. It's really ridiculous. The time that he is spending on the Kennedy Center, he really

should be spending on affordability, and maybe, God forbid, the Iran war, which he started now, literally six months ago, that was supposed to last

four to six weeks.

It's now 26 weeks, and there's no real end in sight, even if we're not necessarily shooting at each other right now. We're going to have the

sanctions of all sanctions, apparently, at some point. So, between the ballroom, Lake Ontario, Lake America, whatever you want to call it anymore,

you know, Trump really needs to get more focused on the things everyday Americans really care about.

What you -- most Americans cannot find Lake Ontario on a map. Most Americans can't name the five Great Lakes. This is not something Americans

care about. Care about gas prices. I was just up in Flagstaff today, $6 a gallon. It's out of the way, and it's a rural area, but $6 a gallon, that's

a substantial, I mean, that's California prices.

SCIUTTO: No question.

MARSON: And so, you know, here in Phoenix, it's four and a half --

SCIUTTO: It starts to be 100 bucks to fill your tank. That's --

MARSON: Absolutely, absolutely. And so, that's the thing that the president needs to focus on. The ballroom, what we call lakes, that's not important.

SCIUTTO: We'll see if that's a lesson learned. Barrett Marson, thanks so much for walking us through it.

MARSON: Thank you very much, Jim. Have a great day.

SCIUTTO: A U.S. military judge has issued a stunning blow in the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of plotting the September

11th attacks. The New York Times reports the prisoner's confessions to FBI agents were not voluntary and therefore cannot be used against him at

trial. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, KSM, as he was often referred to, was transferred to the prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2006 after interrogations by

the CIA in overseas prisons.

According to the Times, the judge in the case wrote in a ruling that the FBI failed to provide Mohammed's statements at Gitmo, failed to prove that

those statements were voluntary and cited other factors such as severe coercion and psychological conditioning by the CIA. This week, the judge

set a trial date of June 2028. It is not clear if prosecutors have decided to appeal that ruling, throwing out the confession.

Still ahead, Fed chair Kevin Warsh is warning he's tough on inflation in a high-profile speech. We'll see what kind of action he may intend to take.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. In today's Business Breakout Now, a lower close on Wall Street, the NASDAQ fell one half a percent amid weakness for the day,

at least, in the chip sector, but it was a positive week overall for U.S. stocks, the first winning week for the Dow in three weeks.

The main ad for investors was a high-profile speech by Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, the central bank's yearly symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Jackson Hole is a place where Fed Chairs often unveil important policy changes and signal where rates might be headed. Warsh, who was cutting back

on public guidance by the Fed, broke with tradition and said nothing about Fed policy.

He did, however, deliver a stern warning on inflation, suggesting the Fed might be closer to raising interest rates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN WARSH, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: Inflation is running above our 2 percent target, so the Fed's predominant focus right now should be on

prices. We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective clearly and at sufficient speed. Otherwise, we have work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Traders now believe there is more than a 50 percent chance the Fed will raise rates at its next meeting later in mid-September. Deutsche Bank

analysts believe the Fed will raise rates twice before the end of the year.

Joining me now is Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. And he joins me from Jackson Hole. Adam, good to

have you.

ADAM POSEN, PRESIDENT, PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC: Thanks, Jim, for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, listen, with all Fed Chairs, it's always about reading the tea leaves. I mean, that was a cottage industry with Alan Greenspan. Did you

read and do others that you speak to there read Warsh's comments today as, in effect, a signal that rates are going up?

POSEN: Yes. I was pleasantly surprised because the economic argument for doing it is clear. He has said all sorts of, frankly, weird and confusing

things the last three months. This speech was a little confusing, but was mostly normal central banker talk in a good, constructive way. And, yes, I

think the markets are right to price in very high likelihood they're going to raise rates in September. I think if they don't, given what the chair

said, they'll have a problem.

SCIUTTO: I mean, given that everybody seems to think that's what makes sense. I mean, inflation is not just above the Fed's target. It's well

above it. It's not going down. And by the way, as you know better than me, the bond markets are pricing in rising borrowing costs regardless, despite

Treasury's attempt to intervene here. What took them so long? I mean, you would think that the lessons from the last big inflation battle a few years

ago, you know, that this is transitory, et cetera, would be, well, weighing on the Fed chairman as he makes this decision.

POSEN: I agree with you, and I think I've been on with you previously talking about why it was pretty clear six months, even a year ago, we were

heading of the committee and the previous chair, Jay Powell, of course, had an excessive concern that they were that the labor market might be weak. A

number of us argued that was understood why you would care if it was, but that was a wrong assessment.

[18:25:00]

I think also there was this sense of solidarity of nobody wanted to dissent while President Trump was directly legally attacking Governor Cook and now

Governor Powell. And so, coming out of COVID, there was this long period where very few people dissented. So, I think those two factors led to a

mistake. And then they shouldn't have cut rates last year. They should have been raising earlier this year, but then nobody wanted to raise right ahead

of Mr. Warsh taking over.

So, it was this sequence of bad choices. But now, the Fed's behind the curve. They can still fix it and they got to get going.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, one of his goals had been to create a quieter Fed, less public signaling, et cetera. How's that working out?

POSEN: Hello.

SCIUTTO: Hi, can you hear me? We may have lost that signal, but our thanks to Adam Posen there for giving us a report from the Jackson Hole

conference.

Checking now some of today's other business headlines. There was a key legal win for A.I. giant Anthropic. A federal judge ruled that the Pentagon

violated the law when it labeled the company a supply chain risk earlier this year. The judge calls the move, quote, "unlawful retaliation in

violation of the First Amendment." The Pentagon moved to blacklist Anthropic when the firm refused to allow its models to be used for

autonomous weapons and mass surveillance programs.

New data shows that Japan spent more than $96 billion in just the past month to help prop up the yen. It is Japan's largest single currency

intervention ever. Japan launched the program with the help of the U.S., but the move has had limited impact so far, with the yen continuing to

trade near 40-year lows.

New data shows the Canadian economy holding up well despite its growing trade war with the U.S. Canadian GDP rebounded to 3.3 percent in the second

quarter, fastest pace there in three years. Also, notably higher than U.S. GDP growth of just one and a half percent in that same period. The Canadian

economy boosted by strong exports and solid domestic demand.

More next on our top story. Those catastrophic floods in Nepal and China's Tibet region. We look at how the brutal conditions are affecting rescue

operations. We will have a live report from the ground.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto, and here are the international headlines we're watching today.

A new day beginning in Nepal and China's Tibet region, where monsoon rain could hamper ongoing rescue efforts after devastating flash flooding this

week. Hundreds of people are confirmed killed. Thousands remain unaccounted for. Authorities are now monitoring a second newly formed lake spotted

upstream amid concerns there could be more flooding.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said in a high-profile speech Friday, U.S. inflation rate is, quote, concerning. Warsh did not give guidance on where interest

rates are headed, but his comments on inflation were more hawkish than in the past. Many believe the Fed is now closer to raising interest rates in

the coming months. Warsh said the U.S. economy remains, however, at full employment.

Jury deliberations resume Monday in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. The key question before them is whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally

responsible for killing her three children. The jury asked Friday to see evidence, including the kitchen knife Clancy used to cut her own wrists and

neck. They also asked to see Clancy's prescription pill bottles.

Let's get more now on a top story, the urgent rescue efforts at the Nepal- China border, where some two and a half thousand people remain missing. Without anywhere to turn, desperate family members are lining up to

register the names of missing loved ones. Hanako Montgomery is part of our team in Nepal, and she filed this story earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- Nepali army barracks right now, and we've just seen another helicopter. I mean, one of dozens that have

arrived over the past 30 minutes. And it looks as though people are getting off right now holding some kind of luggage. We can't tell if these people

are survivors or whether these are people of loved ones who are trying to find any remaining survivors.

KAPUR SINGH TAMANG, LANDSLIDE SURVIVOR (through translator): In our village, there are no people left. It's a very difficult situation. The

villagers were scared and ran to get to safety, but didn't know where to go. There's no food or drinkable water, all swept away by the landslide.

MONTGOMERY: These are all relatives of people still missing, and because they can't get in contact with them, they've come here to the army barracks

to give their contact information, their names, trying to see if the people that the army are finding are the same people as their loved ones.

GENERAL RAJARAM BASNET, NEPALI ARMY: Yesterday only, we rescued 900 persons from most affected areas. We are trying to intensify the search and rescue

operations, but due to some, you know, the heavy mud due to the flood. And another, you know, the challenging factor here is the weather itself.

MONTGOMERY: The rain.

BASNET: Yes, rain and weather.

MONTGOMERY: Have you seen anything like this? How are you feeling about this disaster?

BASNET: I haven't seen this kind of, you know, disaster in my life.

MONTGOMERY: So, these people here, they're looking for the names of their family members on these pieces of paper here, and there are hundreds of

names.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Now, to another story we've been watching closely. Jurors in that Lindsay Clancy murder trial will, as we said, return to deliberations on

Monday. You remember, Clancy is the woman charged with killing her three children in January. Her defense attorneys say she was suffering from

mental illness, specifically postpartum psychosis, when she murdered them. Prosecutors claim Clancy knew the difference between right and wrong at the

time of the murders. Brynn Gingras has more.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. So, this was the first full day of deliberations for these jurors. They went behind closed

doors a little after 9:00 this morning, and the judge brought them in about 4:00, essentially saying that they're going to go home and come back on

Monday morning. So, they got a little less than four hours yesterday and about seven or so. It's not clear if they deliberated through lunch today.

So, some significant time behind closed doors.

And during that time, they did ask for two key pieces of evidence. Remember, there are hundreds of pieces of evidence in this case. But what

they asked to see was the knife, which Lindsay Clancy used to cut her own wrists and her neck before she tried to take her own life. And also bags of

prescription pill bottles.

[18:35:00]

One of those bags was discovered in the nightstand in Lindsay Clancy's home. Those pill bottles were empty. It actually wasn't even brought as

evidence by police. They never even took it from the home. So, that was brought up on the defense's side because the prosecution was essentially

saying that she didn't take her medication. Yet that wasn't -- you know, that wasn't even taken as evidence by police at the crime scene.

And then the other bag was a bag that was in Patrick Clancy's car. Now, he testified that every time Lindsay Clancy would go to some sort of health

care provider and they'd come up with a new plan of treatment, they would take the pill bottles that she currently was using and put them in his car

so that they would not get confused with old treatment and new treatment.

So, this is some of the stuff that they're reviewing, to our knowledge, because they asked to see these pieces of evidence. Obviously, it's cannot

glean what exactly their discussions are and who maybe one or all wanted to see this evidence. But again, this is nobody really knows what they're

going to determine as far as this case is considered. And they have a lot to consider.

Like I said, hundreds of pieces of evidence. There is 90 witnesses that were in this case over several weeks of testimony. And they have to

consider, you know, not guilty by, you know, she had no criminal responsibility, which means that she could be brought to a psychiatric

hospital or not guilty on all charges, or she could be found guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, the lesser

charges. So, again, a lot to consider.

Kevin Reddington, the defense attorney, telling our cameras that Lindsay right now, she's scared. Her family is there, continues to be there by her

side. And everyone now waiting for this verdict. And we'll have to wait and see what happens on Monday.

SCIUTTO: Still to come on "The Brief," the U.S. is reportedly nearing a major oil deal with Venezuela. How it could affect global supplies. Also,

what it means for U.S.-Venezuela relations. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The Trump administration is reportedly close to a deal that would give the U.S. a stake in long-term access to Venezuela's oil. Axios was

first to report the story. It says the deal would more than double U.S. oil reserves because Venezuela's are the world's largest.

[18:40:00]

Back in February, President Trump laid out his vision for Venezuela's oil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: For the benefit of both our nations, we're going to refine their oil right here in America and right here in Texas and

then export it to all over the world. We're going to keep some for ourselves, we're going to give some to them, and they're going to make more

money than they've ever made before. We'll help build their country again, which was a disaster, and we're going to build it up, and we're going to

benefit also, and that's the way it's supposed to be, right? It's going to be great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now is Francisco Monaldi, the director of the Latin America Energy Program at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public

Policy. Francisco, thanks so much for joining.

FRANCISCO MONALDI, DIRECTOR, LATIN AMERICA ENERGY PROGRAM, BAKER INSTITUTE: Happy to be here.

SCIUTTO: So, right there, President Trump describes this as a win-win. Is it, or is the U.S. taking colonial possession of part of Venezuela's oil?

MONALDI: Well, we still don't know the exact details of the deal. So far, we have heard about a hundred-year lease, which is not in the Venezuelan

legal regime. The law was recently changed, and typically we're talking about contracts of 25 to 30 years.

So, this is highly unorthodox, the fact that they seem to be implying that the U.S. government will become a shareholder and own the rights, and even

more recent reports that it will do a deal with a Venezuelan businessman. It's highly unorthodox, to say the least.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. promised to, well, help the Venezuelan people, but if you do the math here, if more money is coming to the U.S. from this oil, less

goes to the Venezuelan population, I imagine.

MONALDI: Well, you know, so far there is total opacity of how much money the U.S. government, because the money of the Venezuelan oil revenues is

going to a U.S. Treasury account, and some of it is being transferred to Venezuela. But there is a lot of opacity. And so, it's unclear how the

money is going to be split.

On the other hand, Venezuela is supposed to continue to charge for royalties and taxes, and so Venezuela should benefit from the new contracts

that are being signed. The question, of course, is what are the characteristics of this new deal that is being announced, and we don't know

exactly the details, but it could be that it's a relatively normal deal, like the ones that Chevron, for example, signed, or it could be something

very different.

SCIUTTO: The talks are reportedly between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the acting president, of course, unelected president of Venezuela,

Delcy Rodriguez. Do you, should we, should the Venezuelan people trust her to make this deal in the best interests of the Venezuelan people?

MONALDI: I mean, it's very problematic that a regime or a government that is illegitimate and that has very low approval ratings signs a major deal

that could have a massive impact in the economic future of the country. So, that creates conditions that could eventually lead to a rejection by the

population of the deal and some future backlash.

Of course, if it's done in a transparent way and it's a reasonable deal that has international standards, it could lead to a lot of investment and

future revenues for the Venezuelan government and people.

SCIUTTO: If it does not, does it have standing, right? If you had elections and had a new Venezuelan president, you have elections in this country of a

new U.S. president, would it necessarily survive?

MONALDI: Yes, that's a big question mark. And that's why I am stressing the issue about transparency, because I think it will require a lot of

transparency and something that really makes economic sense for this to survive in the future. And I think oil companies know that deals that do

not pass that test eventually throughout history have been forcefully renegotiated by future governments.

And so, I hope this is done the proper way, because if not, this is not going to lead to significant new investments nor to the benefits that it's

supposed to generate.

SCIUTTO: Well, Francisco, thanks so much for walking us through it all. Appreciate you joining.

MONALDI: Thank you.

[18:45:00]

SCIUTTO: Coming up, a new look deeper into space. NASA gets ready to launch a new telescope, which could reshape our very understanding of the cosmos.

We'll speak to a NASA engineer about what it is calling the Roman mission.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: President Trump has ordered NASA and the Pentagon to help create a U.S. Space Academy. He made the announcement at NASA's Johnson Space

Center. He was there to award the Artemis II crew mission the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for their 10-day mission around the moon. The

president called astronauts aboard the U.S. the International Space Station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, this is a great honor. To be with you is a great honor. And I just want to thank Jessica and Neil, Jack. Great Americans, great patriots,

brave people. I wouldn't do it, I will tell you right now. I hate to admit it, I would not want to do it. But some people love it more than anything.

And you have amazing courage. And the job --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, not to stop there. NASA is now preparing to launch one of its most advanced telescopes ever to explore deeper into space. The Nancy

Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to blast off Sunday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be aboard the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

The telescope on board will begin a new era of deep space exploration. Scientists are hoping that Roman's 300-megapixel infrared camera will

capture billions of galaxies and stars and, they hope, tens of thousands of exoplanets.

Joining me now is Bear Witherspoon. He is the NASA Roman payload systems engineer. He joins us now from the Goddard Space Flight Center in

Greenbelt, Maryland. Bear, good to have you on.

BEAR WITHERSPOON, NASA ROMAN PAYLOAD SYSTEMS ENGINEER: Thank you so much for having me. Thrilled to be here.

SCIUTTO: So, of course, we're aware of the Hubble, and then James Webb goes up. It looks even deeper and clearer. Tell us what the Nancy Grace Roman

Space Telescope is going to do. Why it's such a big deal?

WITHERSPOON: Well, the biggest thing about it is its detector array, right? I'll keep doing this with my hands. It's about that big. And so, that means

we can take massive, massive surveys of the sky. So, we're just taking image after image, but we're peppering the entire sky, really, with Roman -

- excuse me, with Hubble resolution imagery.

And so, yes, it's going to be -- and then we give that data to the world and let people find what they want in it, which is going to really

revolutionize how astronomy is done somewhat. Historically, people would write a grant and say, hey, please point your space telescope at something.

And then we point the telescope and they get the data.

[18:50:00]

This way, we just do most of everything and then give it to everybody and, yes, changes the way we do things.

SCIUTTO: So, I know enough to know that, you know, it's about distance and time. So, how, not just how far away can it see, but how far back in time

can it see? What's its range?

WITHERSPOON: So, it's similar to Hubble in terms of its depth of field, right? Like James Webb is the one that you get to -- they have that big,

big light bucket that what the, their primary mirror is huge and they collect photons that are the faintest things away. So, you're looking back

to right -- you know, they call it the dawn of the universe, like right when the lights turned on.

Roman's field of view is super wide, but its depth of field going way, way back isn't quite as super powered as James Webb. So, that's one of the

reasons why it's wonderful that they're going to be in orbit together. It's as if Roman's going to find all the interesting stuff to look at and then

we can say, hey, do you want to point James Webb back at, to the dawn of time there and see what that looks like? Does that make sense? It's kind of

working in tandem, different powers.

SCIUTTO: Sure. I know that, you know, one focus is often finding exoplanets, right? Because folks want to know, are there planets out there

that have the ingredients that we believe you need for life? Is that going to be one of the big jobs?

WITHERSPOON: Absolutely. I mean, in two ways, right? So, one, we're going to do a demographic census of the exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy. To

put it sort of simply, we don't really know what our neighborhood really looks like and we're going to get to know that there are this many Earths,

there are this many Jupiters, there are this many Saturns. How far away are they from their host star? We're going to do that for the Milky Way galaxy,

our galaxy.

The other thing we have on board is called a coronagraph. And a coronagraph, actually, everybody has done some form of coronagraphy and

didn't even know it. You just hold up your hand and block out a bright light and try to see faint stuff around it. That's coronagraphy. So, what

we're going to be doing using crazy math and deformable mirrors, we block out a star that we're looking at so that we can see the super faint

exoplanets, the planets around it. And so, it's going to be direct imaging of those exoplanets.

It's something that -- technology we're really excited about because the next great observatory for NASA is called the Habitable Worlds Observatory.

NASA's very literal with their naming convention. So, it kind of says it right there on the tin, right? Like that's what we're looking for.

SCIUTTO: So, this has been, of course, in development for years. I just wonder, you put a lot of work into this before it sits on top of that

rocket and goes up and starts doing its job. Must be exciting. Must be a little nervous, too.

WITHERSPOON: Yes. Someone today told me I look like someone, my energy level right now is someone who's like just got on a roller coaster but

hasn't gone over yet. I don't know if that was a compliment or not. But it's super exciting, right?

I personally have worked on this for about eight years. And I'm not one of the people that's worked on it the longest. So, there are millions of

people hours going into this thing over the course of greater than a decade. And so, it's lots and lots and lots of immense effort from

incredibly passionate people doing great things. It's been a thrill. And this is just another part of that wonderful ride that I get to be on. Yes,

it's great.

SCIUTTO: Well, congratulations to you and those millions of people who had a hand in this. Bear Witherspoon, thanks so much for joining.

WITHERSPOON: So happy to spend the time with you. And go, Roman, Sunday morning.

SCIUTTO: We'll be watching. Well, finally tonight, Roger Federer is set to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday in

Newport, Rhode Island. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has a long list of accomplishments, of course, which include winning a record eight men's

Wimbledon titles and scoring an Olympic doubles gold medal for Switzerland. Federer spoke with CNN's Don Riddell today and answered this what-if

question.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: If you could play anybody already in the Hall of Fame, if the tennis gods would grant you that, who would you pick and

why?

ROGER FEDERER, TENNIS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: Yes. So, I would have a little list probably together. I would love to play maybe Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg,

John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and again against Pete Sampras.

[18:55:00]

I think those would be my favorite players to play against. I've always admired their personalities, what they have achieved and what they

represent in the game. So, that would be a very special match.

RIDDELL: It's wonderful that now you get to sit alongside them in the Hall. Roger, I followed your career very closely and from your first big win at

Wimbledon to your very last match there were a lot of tears. I would imagine this ceremony will be quite emotional for you. So, when do you

think you might start getting choked up on Saturday?

FEDERER: Yes, it's a good question. I'm also not sure yet so far. I've arrived in Newport a couple of days ago after playing the exhibition match

with Andy Roddick, Agassi and McEnroe in New York where we had an amazing time. I've been answering a lot of questions already about entering the

Hall of Fame and it's just nice to be in front of the media again and talking about all my memories. So far, I've been actually really, really

good. I don't want to say confident that tomorrow I'll get through it without any tears or not getting too emotional but maybe also I'm just

really at peace with my career.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: What a champion. Thanks so much for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please do stay

with CNN.

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