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IDF Pulls Out Of Southern Gaza; Erez Land Crossing Delayed By Israel; Biden Tells Netanyahu To Change Policy In Gaza; Russian Propaganda Infects The GOP; Ouster Threat On Speaker Johnson And The Ukraine Aid Vote; Solar Eclipse Is Less Than 24 Hours Away; Jessica Dean Interviews Dr. Robert Shumaker; U.S. Faces High Winds; South Carolina Beats Iowa For National Title. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 07, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the "CNN Newsroom." Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we have breaking news tonight in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel, marking six months of its war in Gaza with a major development. The IDF is saying it's withdrawing its troops from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, having concluded its mission, and is now leaving to recuperate and prepare for future operations. A good (ph) significant force will still remain in other areas of the strip, this move marking a new phase in the war, as Israel faces rising pressure from the U.S. to dial down operations in Gaza.

But Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he's not backing down, and that pressure from the U.S. will not stop his plans to invade the southern city of Rafah. The prime minister also facing significant trouble at home, with thousands of protesters coming out in force this weekend to demand his resignation.

And abroad, as Israel's military says it's preparing to move from, quote, "defense to attack" on its border with Lebanon after the country said it hit multiple Hezbollah targets overnight. CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now. Nic, this is the six-month mark of this war, and we are seeing major developments today. Give us the latest.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, the IDF is characterizing this pullback, withdrawal of the 98th Division from Khan Younis as a marked step change in its operations, changing the ground war in Gaza in its current form, they say. The troops coming out, and we saw them today in a field about a mile or so from the border, dozens of tanks, dozens of armored fighting vehicles. A lot of the troops who had already gone off to begin their recuperation and preparation for the next phase.

Preparation was going on on the tanks. A lot of them need repair, intensive work. They've been in battle for months in Khan Younis, a lot of tunnels there. It's been a difficult fight. A lot of soldiers lost, four soldiers killed last night just as they were withdrawing and pulling out. But for the IDF, they're saying they can still go after and get the other commanders from Hamas if they get the intelligence.

They're keeping a strong presence in the north of Gaza, the 162nd Division there. And they're indicating that if they need to, then they can send these forces back in to Rafah, that southern Gazan city where about 1.5 million Palestinians currently living.

DEAN: And Nic, we're also learning Israel has now delayed its planned reopening of the Erez border crossing and I believe you were there yesterday for some time. What are you learning about that?

ROBERTSON: Yeah, the government has said it would operate today. It seemed like a fast turnaround because that's normally a foot passenger crossing, workers coming out of Gaza, work for the day or the week in Israel, cross back by foot.

And this is what officials are saying. COGAT, the government body that handles the transfer of humanitarian aid, says there's some logistical work required before the trucks can cross over. We noticed explosions in the area yesterday, heard them again today, gunfire at the border. A lot of the highways connecting the border to the towns where the aid would need to go, those have been blown up by the intensive fighting.

And that government body, COGAT, actually did make a point of saying, despite not getting Erez open and have not set a date for it yet, they say they got the most number of aid trucks into Gaza of any day in the past six months, 322 trucks, 70 percent of them they say had food on. So, it's 228 trucks of food they say went in.

This is something the U.N. hasn't spoken about yet. If they got that number where they are, what happened to them, but this is what the Israelis are saying. They actually, despite not getting Erez open, which was important because it's the north, they did get a lot of trucks into the south.

DEAN: And then lastly, before we let you go, I want to ask you too about these negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. We know that officials from Israel and Hamas are in Cairo, along with the CIA director and others. These talks have been pretty stalled, a stalemate. Is there any indication that this could be different?

ROBERTSON: So, a lot of pressure from the United States on Israel to make movement on this. We've seen that play out, I think, today in part because of the troop withdrawal, the pressure to open the Erez border crossing, a commitment it hasn't happened. So, I think this does change the dynamic a little bit at the talks table in a sense that the troops in combat need a break.

So, it changes what there is available to negotiate with and what Hamas is being presented with. The details, they're not there. We don't know if this is really going to make a difference.

[17:04:58]

But there could be and I think expectations at the moment are this is a moment where there could be progress. It could take several more days, maybe more than that. But this is a moment that could be different to what we've seen over the past few months and weeks.

The gaps, though, in the negotiations, they may not sound too big, like the number of Palestinians to be freed for the number of hostages released and if it's a permanent ceasefire or pausing ceasefire and how quickly you get a permanent. But these are the really tough details. But by pulling all these troops out, that's a signal that Israel is making that the dynamic is slightly shifting.

Now, I think the pressure will be on Hamas for them to make some kind of statement like effect on the ground.

DEAN: All right, Nic Robertson for us in Jerusalem. Thanks so much for that reporting.

We're also learning more today about that pointed phone call between President Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Thursday. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is following all this for us. Priscilla, what did the president say he wants to see? We had kind of heard broad explanations of this, but we're learning new details now.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jessica. He placed pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make policy changes or else the U.S. could change their policy. And some of those asks are really focused on ramping up humanitarian aid.

That includes opening that land crossing you were just speaking to Nic about, as well as opening up a port to get humanitarian aid in, and also just generally ramping up supplies into Gaza.

Of course, this was a critical moment. This call was put on the books last week after the deaths of those World Central Kitchen employees. And the sources tell CNN that when the president sort of walked through and ticked through these policy changes that he wanted to see, the response by the prime minister was that it was going to get done. But the president went even further, saying that it needed to get done quickly.

And so hours later, we did see the Israeli security cabinet approve multiple of those measures. Now, up until this point, the White House has welcomed the moves since that phone call, acknowledging that there have been frustrations, but also that they are watching what happens moving forward. That's something the National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby talked about this morning.

And of course, the U.S. here is really going a step further by suggesting that there would be a policy change if they don't see changes by Israel. The question is what that looks like and what are the metrics here? One senior administration official said something that the U.S. could do is slow down weapons to Israel.

But there are all -- I mean, the point here for the U.S., though, is that they are defending Israel. They still believe Israel has the right to defend itself. What happens next, though, still very unclear. DEAN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez for us in Washington. Thanks so

much for that reporting. And joining us now is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Army Commanding General Mark Hertling. Great to have you on. Thanks so much for making time. We are marking the sixth month anniversary. And we as we just learned, the IDF announcing its withdrawing troops from that communists (ph) in southern Gaza, saying that the division has concluded its mission. What does this say to you from a military perspective?

MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I'm going to counter some of the things that were just said, Jessica, if you don't mind. The 98th Division, the Israeli division that's been fighting for six months is really in tough condition right now. Any time you put a combat operation together like that for that long of a period of time, they have to rest and refit.

And I think Israel is taking that advantage of time to pull them out, refit them, get them prepared for future missions. Israel has also opened or is attempting to open the border crossings, as you said. But, you know, I kind of counter a little bit of what the common thinking is, that if you're on the Hamas side of this fight, you're thinking Israel has been pulled out of the fight at about the time they were getting ready to go into Rafah.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, rightly or wrongly, that this is the final battle against Hamas, that there are four battalions, and that could mean anywhere from two to 7,000 terrorists in that final area of Rafah. It's like taking an operation to the end point and then stopping just short of completing the mission. He's getting a whole lot of pressure from the world and from the United States to stop the Israeli operations.

And perhaps that's right to do so right now, and it will give Israel a chance to refit, but it's also giving Hamas a chance to refit. The Israeli forces went into Rafah, excuse me, into Khan Younis yesterday, and captured -- not captured -- but saved the body of a hostage. There are still 130 hostages left and there are a lot of terrorists left.

[17:09:59]

So, from a military standpoint, this is truly an inflection point in what's going on in the southern part of Gaza. But I'd also say Israel is preparing for potential strikes by Iran in different areas and the potential for Hezbollah to increase their activity on the northern border of Israel as well.

DEAN: And so, what does this mean, in your opinion, for these follow- up missions that the IDF was talking about? You just mentioned Rafah. That's been a key area of focus for them for several weeks now. The president and the Biden administration have been trying to talk with the Israeli government about that. Do you think we'll see a ground incursion there? And how is that all connected?

HERTLING: Yeah, I've said from the very beginning, Jessica, I think we will, because that is the last stronghold of Hamas. Hamas has dedicated itself to killing Jews and destroying the Israeli state. They're going to see this delay or this retrofit and the pulling out of the 98th Division as a semi-victory, in my view. That's how terrorists will react.

They will publicize this and message this, that yes, their strategy to bring the world and the United States to the fray of saying, Israel, stop your actions, it has gotten too rough. They will see that as a victory. So, I believe we will see an eventual operations inside of Rafah. I don't know when that will be, but I think Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to delay that because he is getting such political pressure from the United States and from the international community.

DEAN: And I want to ask you about that, because he is getting this increasing criticism and pressure from the U.S., from other nations, over how Israel is fighting this war. Do you think that's fair?

HERTLING: I do. Absolutely, I do. From a military perspective, I think the IDF is conducting operations in a very focused way to defeat the terrorists. Unfortunately, in these kind of counterterrorism operations, you also have to have a political and a diplomatic approach to this. And I don't believe the Netanyahu government has done that. They have not safeguarded the Palestinian citizens inside of Gaza, and that's creating more terrorists. And it's also bringing the diplomatic effort against Israel.

So, any kind of operation like this, Jessica, just can't consist of the military arm. It also has to include the diplomatic and the informational arm, as well as the safeguarding of innocent citizens. Israel has not done that and that is what has caused -- that's come to their detriment.

DEAN: General Mark Hertling, we're going to have to leave it there. Thanks so much for your time on this Sunday. We appreciate it.

HERTLING: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still to come, House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner says Russian propaganda has infiltrated Congress. Why he says this is impacting the Republican Party.

Plus, the U.S. is in the grips of eclipse fever. We're going to take a look at how droves of people are flocking to areas of totality.

And the surge in interest in women's college basketball. More on what's ahead for some of its biggest stars here in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

DEAN: Congress will be back in session this week and with it another pivotal week for Speaker Mike Johnson, who's facing some key votes on foreign aid and a threat to his speakership within his own caucus. CNN anchor and chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju has more.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, is facing a daunting road ahead as he tries to navigate competing politics within his own conference, as well as demands for action on aid to Ukraine. Remember, an aid package that passed the Senate earlier this year has been stalled in the House because of Republican opposition to that bipartisan $95 billion package that includes money for Israel, for Ukraine, for Taiwan.

Mike Johnson at the time said he wanted that to include border security measures. Then the Senate cut a bipartisan border security deal. Mike Johnson, along with Donald Trump, opposed it and eventually it was killed in the U.S. Senate. So where do they go from here because there is still this demand for Ukraine aid.

Mike Johnson is trying to move behind the scenes to try to cobble together a plan that could win over significant amount of Republican support and try to woo Democrats as well. It is uncertain whether he can do that. He wants border provisions in there. He wants to narrow the Ukraine package, all of which still could be too much for the Ukraine critics within his conference, namely Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is threatening to oust him from the speakership.

She has already filed a resolution that would call for his vote seeking his ouster. Remember, this happened last fall to Kevin McCarthy. He was the first speaker ever ousted by his own colleagues on a vote on the House floor. Greene is threatening to do that again. She told me last week that Johnson should absolutely not move forward with any Ukraine aid package, saying they would move the needle with her. Suggesting that that could actually force that vote.

The question will be would Democrats come to Johnson's defense and would they do that if they even have Johnson move forward with the Ukraine aid package? That was not something that they ultimately could get behind. All major questions for the speaker going forward.

[17:19:57]

Now, the speaker has been busy himself trying to raise money for Republican candidates as they try to scramble to keep their razor thin Republican majority on the Democratic side. I have learned new details about the push by the Democrats to take back the House in the fall. The Democratic Super PAC House Majority PAC plans to invest more money than it ever has to win back the House.

They are announcing today $186 million is split between $140 million or so for TV ads, the rest for digital ads in some key swing districts going after Republicans in Biden districts, trying to defend Democrats in Trump districts, all going to lead to a furious battle or as the leader of the group told me, trench warfare with Republicans district by district to try to keep the Republican, to win over -- to take the Democrats back to the majority.

But there are so few districts truly at play here. So enormous sums will be spent, but it'll have huge implications. As we can see right now, the majority decides the agenda. And if the Democrats take the majority, their agenda would be much different than the Republicans. Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.

DEAN: All right, Manu, thank you. And joining us now to discuss former Republican congressman and CNN senior political commentator Adam Kinzinger. It is great to have you here with us. We appreciate you coming on this afternoon. I just want to start first with one thing that Manu just laid out there that Speaker Mike Johnson may have to work with Democrats to essentially save his speakership.

They've signaled they might save him if he moves a Ukraine funding bill they can support. But he's going to have to walk quite a fine line. What do you think he should do when they return?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, here's what I think he should do. I mean, look, he's going to survive. I would put dollars to donuts. He'll be the Speaker at the end of this term.

Now, he's either going to survive by succumbing to the frankly, the terrorism of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Anytime, you know, anything wants to get done, she's going to hold this threat over his head or he can survive by cutting a deal with the Democrats. Now, he has to think about his conscience, because I got to tell you, if Ukraine loses this fight, he will be the guy in the history books that are written about why Ukraine lost this fight.

He will be -- they won't necessarily say that he's the one that pulled the aid, but he's the one that could have done something which changed it. And, you know, as he's developing whatever this package looks like, you know, there's talks of loans and I guess there's some pot, potential agreement with that. But I think we need to recognize the fact that Ukraine is it's not us helping Ukraine.

Ukraine is helping us by fighting to defend themselves against one of our chief competitors and frankly, enemies in this world. So, he needs -- if I was him, I would come back. I would put the Senate bill on the floor or next case is just strip the Israel portion out of it, since that's a little more controversial, pass it and either send it back to the Senate or send it to the president to sign and have your conscience clear and let the Ukrainians defeat the Russians on the battlefield.

DEAN: Yeah. And so, kind of next to this, we heard earlier this week from Republican Congressman Michael McCaul. He said Russian propaganda, in his opinion, has infiltrated the GOP. Then Congressman Mike Turner was on CNN's "State of the Union" and said this. We'll play the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R-OH): It's absolutely true. We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor. I mean, there are members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which, of course, it is not. To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian versus democracy battle, which is what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: And so, there's the intelligence -- the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, a Republican, saying that Russian propaganda has made its way into parts of the GOP. How did this happen?

KINZINGER: Well, yeah, I mean, look, so in 2015, I was on the Foreign Affairs Committee and there was a guy, Dana Rohrabacher, who would always defend the Russians and I would fight with him. He's a Republican. I would fight with him and people would say, Adam, don't fight with him. He's on our team. He's just wrong on this.

We actually thought he might have been being paid by the KGB. We said that jokingly, kind of. And -- but in five years, you look at our nine years in totality, how quickly it went from one member of the GOP to a number of members. I mean, I could do a 20-minute segment on why. Part of the reason is because this propaganda has convinced people like Marjorie Taylor Greene that somehow, you know, Putin, who bombs churches and murders children, that Vladimir Putin is some defender of Christian values.

Look, I'm a Christ follower and no Christ I follow would ever agree that bombing churches and women and children and attacking land to grab land for the sake of grabbing land would be anything he would espouse, but this has infected the party. These two gentlemen are right.

[17:24:56]

But let me also say, these two gentlemen, Turner and McCaul, are best seated to go to the Speaker of the House and say, look, we have a group of people that will shut down every piece of action to come to the floor, every bill we will -- we will vote against every rule until you agree to put Ukraine on the floor. And they would change that in a week. He would have no choice.

And frankly, the Speaker would probably appreciate that in the long run because it would force him into that corner. They need to step up as well on this issue.

DEAN: Yeah, you're saying they could they could give him some cover on that. And it is interesting as we're having this conversation to note that 21 Republicans are headed for the exits this year. They're not going to run for re-election. You resigned, obviously, over a year ago.

A lot of the Republicans that are leaving are known on the Hill, known in the House for being reasonable people that can cut deals, that can work in a bipartisan way. What kind of concerns do you have and what do you think the message is to be gleaned from who is resigning and what and how many of them are resigning or leaving at the end of the year?

KINZINGER: Look, the frustration is pretty simple. So, if you're a serious legislator, Washington, D.C. is not the place for you anymore. You know, look at Mike Gallagher, serious legislator, you know, led the China Committee, pushed the TikTok ban, which is actually a pretty good bill. And -- but he's leaving because besides that, it's a performance art theater.

I mean, that's really what the House has become is performance theater, mainly for the Republicans. It's all about how loud and angry can you be because you'll get retweets. You'll get, you know, Instagram. You'll be on the news. It's all about trying to yell at whoever's testifying in front of your committee so that Fox News covers it that night.

And that's like a huge win in the office. And everybody in your staff celebrates because you made the clip-on Hannity or whatever. And so, there's a lot of people that are serious that are just saying it's not worth it. I mean, Congress hasn't had a pay raise since 2006. I don't say that for sympathy for anybody. But every year, you know, with inflation, they're basically being paid less.

And the only people that are coming are those that are independently wealthy or this is the best job they can get or they just want to come and be instantly famous. So, I'm long term optimistic, honestly, because I think the American people -- I've been traveling around a lot, they're sick of this. And when America is sick of something, they rise up and change it.

But in the short term, we have to recognize what this problem is in order to confront it and change it. And I worry that this is the frog boiling in the pot and we just think this is how politics is and we deserve far better than these folks.

DEAN: Yeah, well, you'll have to come back on because I think there's an even longer conversation to have about how to fix that and what comes next before we get to that point. But we'll leave it there for now. Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Thanks so much.

KINZINGER: You bet. Take care.

DEAN: Still to come, millions of people will be watching tomorrow's eclipse. But what kind of impact is it going to have on animals? Well, we're going to check in with the zoo. That's in the path of totality to see how they're prepared.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:59]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have been talking about it for weeks. Now, we're less than 24 hours away from the solar eclipse. Meteorologist Elisa Rafah joins us now. Elisa, the path of totality, some people are going to get a clear view, but others, unfortunately, it sounds like they're going to get a lot of clouds.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT, METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, clouds and some storms on the exit from any of those solar eclipse events in Texas. That's what we've been watching closely as the severe threat there continues to grow. Looks like your best viewing could be in the Ohio Valley or maybe even in New England.

But we're now at an enhanced level 3 out of 5 risk of strong and severe storms for damaging winds, large hail, and a couple of tornadoes. Now, it does look like the storms will peak kind of after that totality for places like Dallas.

You might have a couple of showers early, and then the storms really blow up where you might have about a 1 to 2-hour window to get out of your eclipse events and get into somewhere where you won't have some of those -- where you won't have some of those storms. You've got some clouds that you'll have in Texas and then some more sunshine in Indianapolis. That -- that peak time will be 3:00. Jessica?

DEAN: And Elisa, if the cloud cover improves like a little bit farther north, does that mean like Burlington, Vermont might have the best view?

RAFFA: Uh, yes, we could have some pretty clear skies up in Burlington. That's where we could have possibly the best view. You can see we've got some of those showers that will be along that path of totality, but we do have some clear skies up in New England.

DEAN: All right, Elisa Rafah for us. Thanks so much for that forecast. We appreciate it.

And as you just saw, the total solar eclipse, it's going to pass over large areas of the country, including right over Niagara Falls, which has seen a big influx of tourists. And that's where we find CNN's Harry Enten. We're also going to check in first with Miguel Marquez, who is joining us from Cleveland. And Miguel, Cleveland right in the center of the path of totality. I know yesterday, everyone was getting a little anxious about the potential for rain. What's the word there today?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sun. Sun is the word. It was sunny yesterday. It's sunny today. It's going to be sunny tomorrow. We commanded it. We've done sun dances. It's going to happen. Absolutely guaranteed. It's going to be gorgeous.

Look, this is the Great Lakes Science Center. This is going to be one of the bigger sorts of events here. Thirty thousand people, maybe plus, poured into this area. Tens of thousands everywhere watching this thing.

This is home. Cleveland is home to the Glenn NASA Research Center, which is the only NASA facility in the country in the path of totality. So, NASA has a very big presence here.

[17:35:00]

The sun in that blue sky that I was telling you about, it's going to be right up there around 3:13 when totality starts. They're going to have it for about four minutes here. The last time Cleveland had a total eclipse, 1806. The next time after this time, you're going to have to wait a bit, 420 years. So, get your seats early. It's going to be a gorgeous day. Cleveland is ready for what they're calling the blackout to remember. Back to you.

DEAN: Oh, wow, 420 years, yeah, that's a while from now. Okay, let's check in with Harry in Niagara -- Niagara Falls, which obviously is such a beautiful place. A lot of people love to go and just see Niagara Falls. But now, they get the bonus of this as well. What's the energy like where you are?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I got to tell you, I am decked out officially in my gear. I got the Niagara Falls cap over here. We've got the Niagara Falls solar eclipse shirt over here. We're rock and rolling, ready to go. Jessica.

Look at the beautiful falls that we have over there. My goodness gracious. Look at that. This is perhaps the best place we could possibly watch the eclipse. That sun where it is right now, it's going to be a little bit further to the left when we have the eclipse tomorrow afternoon, but it's going to basically be in that position.

There are loads of people who are coming out. We are seeing more and more people. If you look at these lines, we see a steady stream of folks who are coming down. It's much more packed than where we were just a few days ago when the weather was, in all honesty, just really freezing.

The weather has really turned around. We have had sunny skies over the last few days. Tomorrow, though, is the big question mark. Will the sun actually remain out? That is a big question mark. What I will say was I was looking at the latest data. What I'm hoping for is we got a little microclimate over Niagara Falls and the sun keeps it. But we'll just have to wait and see, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, we are going to cross our fingers. Yeah, the conditions have improved vastly from the last time we saw you there. All right, Harry Enten and Miguel Marquez --

ENTEN: Oh, yeah.

DEAN: -- our thanks to both of you. There is this question about what kind of impact the solar eclipse is going to have on pets and other animals because, obviously, it's going to be a really wild occurrence and they're not going to understand what's going on.

Dr. Robert Shumaker is the president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo, and he's joining us now. Great to have you here with us. Why would an eclipse --

DR. ROBERT SHUMAKER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INDIANAPOLIS ZOO: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Yeah, it's great to have you. Why would an eclipse send animals on the fritz, so to say? And what are you think we're going to see from them in terms of their behavior?

SHUMAKER: We are hearing lots of people predicting anxiety, disorientation problems. I honestly don't agree with that.

DEAN: Uh-huh.

SHUMAKER: I think most of the animals we know certainly are animals here at the zoo in Indianapolis. They're very well-adjusted animals, great social groups, normal behavior. I believe they are going to take this in stride. It's going to be a day where things start to get a little bit dark early. That might be a little surprising.

And if -- if they're animals that head indoors at night, they'll probably be heading inside when things start to get dark and it will be a little surprising when it gets light again very, very quickly.

So, I think there might be a little bit of surprise, but the people that are expecting anxiety or drama or so on, not -- not really what I'm expecting.

DEAN: Hmm. It sounds more like what you're saying is that these animals, because obviously they're not talking, are getting their cues from the daylight and when the sun goes down, when the sun rises. That's what might be a bit disrupted. They might think it is time to go to sleep or wake up when it's the opposite.

SHUMAKER: I think you've summarized it perfectly. For the animals we have that take their cues from the sun, it's going to be a little bit of a surprising day where the day is going to seem very, very short, and the day is ending early, and then it's going to reverse.

So that's going to be a little bit of a surprise for them, but I'm -- I'm certainly not predict -- I'm certainly not predicting, um, any big challenges or any big problems for the animals. Certainly some -- some changes in behavior and you're seeing lots of -- lots of great footage of animals here now.

Now, just to be clear, none of that is the Indianapolis Zoo. So, I didn't want people coming here expecting those particular animals. That's not us. But I would I would tell you, I think it's going to be a very interesting day where we are already having many people flow into the city. It's going to be a huge day for the city. Hotels are full. As you heard, the weather prediction is perfect.

DEAN: Yeah.

SHUMAKER: So, it's going to be a great day. We're going to have lots and lots and lots of visitors here at the zoo. We love that. And it's great, we're going to have lots and lots of people in the city. So, it should be absolutely fantastic.

DEAN: Well, that is great news. And one more question I want to ask you before we let you go, for people out there who have dogs at home or cats, it sounds like, based on what you're saying, they shouldn't expect any atypical behavior from them. It's also worth noting the actual darkness in totality will be for a short amount of time.

[17:40:02]

SHUMAKER: Yeah. Here's what I think for people that are worried about their pets. Um, if their pets are seeming anxious, it's probably because the people are anxious.

DEAN: Hmm. SHUMAKER: So, the pets are masters at reading the signals that -- that the people in their lives, the important people in their lives are giving off. The best thing you can do is relax, be calm, enjoy it, go outside and watch it and have a wonderful experience.

While you're outside, even if you're not in the path of totality, here's a great thing that you probably notice, listen carefully, you might hear all the birds stop singing. So, as it starts to get dark, you're suddenly going to hear all the birds expecting or reacting as if it's late at night.

That's the one thing that's probably going to be pretty notable. You're going to see -- you're going to hear birds acting like it's the middle of the night. And then as the sun comes back, those bird songs are going to slowly going to continue again. That's one of the things that I think we probably can count on.

But again, the animals are very bright, very practical, very good at reading the signals around them, and that would be a very normal behavior for birds when it starts to get dark.

DEAN: Yeah, that is fascinating. I'll keep that one in mind. All right, a good tip from Dr. Robert Shumaker, the head of the Indianapolis Zoo. Have a great day tomorrow. Thanks so much.

SHUMAKER: Thanks, Jessica. Appreciate you.

DEAN: And be sure to catch CNN special coverage of the "Eclipse Across America." It starts Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern. You can also stream it on Max. We'll be right back.

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[17:45:00]

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DEAN: Hurricane force winds in Colorado forced the closure of a highway near the Wyoming state line overnight. I-25 is now reopened after it was shut down due to safety concerns because of the wind. Some of the wind gusts even approaching 100 miles an hour. Camila Bernal is joining us now. Camila, what are officials saying about damage there?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jessica. So, even though they are reopening I-25, officials really saying that things or people need to be extremely careful. It was a 13-hour closure on the highway in terms of damage.

We were told that no structures have been damaged as of yet, but there were two firefighters that were injured. So, we're talking road closures, some evacuation orders and many, many people left without power for hours. You know, this is just the perfect combination of the very strong winds, hurricane force winds with the very dry conditions.

So, it affected most of the western half of the southern and central plains. Actually, about 10 million people were under red flag warnings in the plains. And in Oklahoma, firefighters were battling flames in different counties, six different counties, different fires.

And they had to bring in air resources. We were told that after those resources came in, they were able to lift some of the evacuation orders early this morning and late last night. We do not know the status of the firefighters at the moment, but we know that the two of them were taken to the hospital for burn injuries.

Now, in Colorado this morning, 300,000 people were left without power. We got updated numbers just a few minutes ago, and we were told now 125,000 people are still without power. And some of those outages were programmed and scheduled to help people ahead of time. Others were, because of the weather, officials saying that people still need to be careful because any fire in that area that starts will likely be very difficult to contain, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, some good -- good to know about those warnings. Camila Bernal, thanks so much for that reporting. And we have a quick programming note for you. The untold story of the mission that changed spaceflight forever. A new CNN Original Series, "Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight," premieres tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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[17:50:00]

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DEAN: We have breaking news. The University of South Carolina Gamecocks just clenched this year's women's basketball championship title, defeating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in a down to the wire showdown. CNN's Brynn Gingras was in the stands in Cleveland watching it all happen. So, Brynn, wow, what a game!

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jessica, it was an incredible game. We are live right now on the court at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland where you can see behind me South Carolina still celebrating that impressive win against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Dawn Staley actually just cut down the nets. The legendary coach leading her Gamecocks to an undefeated season, clinched with that national title, which hasn't happened since 2016 by UConn beating, of course, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Caitlin Clark.

She had 30 points in this game, but it wasn't enough -- not enough, really, impressive from the bench, really, that -- they really didn't put up numbers that we were expecting to see to make the game even closer toward the end.

But still, what an outstanding player. Even Dawn Staley herself said that Caitlin Clark can be credited for lifting up this game of basketball. Certainly, though, that is the last time Caitlin Clark will be putting on an Iowa jersey, ending her career there at Iowa as she is going to the WNBA. But what an incredible game. So much energy in front of a sold-out crowd. South Carolina clinching the national championship. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Exciting. Brynn Gingras, thanks so much. We'll be back at the top of the hour with more news.

Breaking news right now. Frightening --

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[17:55:00]

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DEAN: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we have breaking news tonight in the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel marking six months of its war in Gaza with a critical development. The IDF is saying it is withdrawing its troops from communists in southern Gaza after concluding its mission there. The troops are leaving to recuperate and get ready for future operations.

Israel saying -- quote -- "a significant force will remain in other areas of the Gaza Strip." But this marks a new phase in the war as Israel faces rising pressure from the U.S. to dial down its operations in Gaza.

[18:00:00]

But Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he's not backing down and that pressure from the U.S. will not stop his plans to invade the southern city of Rafah.