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IDF: Israeli Military Starting to Leave Jenin Camp; Judge: Biden Administration, Social Media Firms Can't Meet; United States Air Force Band Performs on CNN. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 04, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: We received word from the Israeli military saying that they carried out an airstrike on a cemetery. Because they said there was an armed group of gunmen there that were threatening the Israeli military vehicles as they were exiting.

We are approaching nearly 48 hours now of this Israeli military operation. The largest Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank since 2002. Since the days of the second intifada.

Now as you noted, we are hearing from Palestinian officials. At least 10 -- I do believe that the death count is now up to 12 have been killed as a result of this operation. The ages are ranging between 16 to 23.

Now the IDF chief spokesperson just said on CNN International that as far as they know, no noncombatants have been killed. They say that essentially all of those that were killed were engaged with their soldiers in some way. But the IDF is acknowledging that of the more than 100 injured, there are civilians amongst the injured.

When you look at the scale of what's been happening in the Jenin refugee camp. There are roads that are completely torn up, the houses and cars that are damaged. And then also the electricity and water that has been severely damaged there. Thousands of Palestinians have fled the refugee camp trying to seek safer ground.

And then now we're also seeing the fallout of that from Hamas militants who have now claimed credit for this attack in Tel Aviv. A ramming attack, where a man drove a truck onto pedestrians on a sidewalk just outside of a shopping center near a bus stop. Then he got out and started stabbing people. We know eight people were injured, at least one critically. An armed civilian who happened to be nearby shot and killed the attacker. Hamas saying that the attacker is one of their fighters. And the Hamas militants had called on all of their members to come out and strike Israel. They said wherever they could in direct response to this operation.

Now the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking both about this attack and about this operation in Jenin saying that they will continue to fight terrorism wherever they think they find it. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): At this moment we are completing the mission. And I can say that our extensive activity in Jenin is not a one-time operation. We will continue to uproot terrorism. We will not allow Jenin to be a safe haven for terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: So now we will be watching closely, of course, what will happen in the coming hours. Sometimes the last few hours of these types of operations can be very critical and very busy and very violent potentially. And of course, for those thousands of people who have fled the Jenin refugee camp, they will likely be waiting to see when they can return and what will be left of the camp when they do return -- guys.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Hadas Gold for us in Jerusalem, thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Next new pictures from the Web telescope showing Saturn's rings like you have never seen them before. Note, nothing about this image is edited. We're going to tell you why they appear to glow.

And Mark Zuckerberg is coming for Twitter. We'll tell you about the new app about to be unveiled by the Facebook founder.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Tonight CNN celebrates Independence Day with a special concert event, "THE FOURTH IN AMERICA." And preps are under way to welcome thousands of people who are expected to flock to the National Mall in the nation's capital to mark America's birthday with an all-star musical lineup and a spectacular fireworks show. Boris is going to be there co-hosting. But CNN's Gabe Cohen -- Boris is waving. He's super excited. So you've got to join him tonight. Gabe Cohen is there right now. Gabe, tell us what is happening.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, I'm excited too. I can tell you it is sweltering. It feels close to 100 degrees right now in Washington. But if you look behind me, you can see, it doesn't seem to be slowing a lot of people down and we are expecting many thousands more will be arriving in the coming hours.

The National Mall will be packed for this spectacular fireworks show that's set to go off just after 9:00 p.m. tonight. One of the biggest in the entire country. It's 17 1/2 minutes long. It may not sound like a lot, but we know that a lot of work and a lot of money, close to $270,000, are used to make sure that this is both safe and spectacular.

We talked with the head of the company that actually puts on this show just a few minutes ago. Take a listen, Brianna, to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS SANTORE, D.C. FIREWORKS SHOW PRODUCTION MANAGER: It's hundreds of man hours of work that go into the project. It's a passion project. The devils are in the details. We have over a mile of wire out there. Dozens of computer modules, electric matches for thousands of circuits connected to all these fireworks. So, it's very high-tech and complicated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And Brianna, all of those fireworks are already set up just down the mall from where I'm standing near the reflecting pool which is right by the Lincoln Memorial. They are set for that 9:09 p.m. start time and we're all excited down here -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Gabe, I know it's going to be awesome. Thank you so much for the preview -- Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: All right, so another big July 4th tradition and a win delayed, but not denied. One of the most well-known and what many say, grossest Fourth of July tradition, the annual Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest champion.

[15:40:00]

Joey Chestnut claims his 16th Mustard Belt -- as it's known -- by scarfing down 62 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. His world record which was set in 2021 still stands at 76 hot dogs and buns. Today's men's competition was on hold for 90 minutes due to a storm in the New York City area. The women's competition, that happened before the storm hit, and Miki Sudo, she won her ninth title devouring 39 and a half hot dogs in ten minutes. Not bad for both of them. Boris, I wouldn't even come close.

SANCHEZ: I don't know, Jim. Maybe we should have our own hot dog eating contest. Let's see what we can find in the breakroom.

Still to come, social media has become instrumental in disseminating information from the federal government. But the Biden administration was just banned from any -- any contact of any kind with the executives in charge of places like Twitter and Facebook. We're going to get this script figured out and we'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This just into CNN. A federal judge has just blocked the Biden administration from meeting with the heads of social media companies. This order is part of a lawsuit from two Republican state attorneys general. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has been following this story for us. Vanessa let's take a step back and talk to us about the origins of all of this. VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as

you mentioned, Boris, this judge saying that key administration officials and key agencies can no longer communicate with social media companies. But as you said, this started in 2022 when two states attorneys' generals, Republicans from Mississippi and Louisiana, filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration saying that the administration overstepped or overreached in terms of communicating with social media companies to try to combat COVID disinformation.

But these are the agencies that the judge has listed that can no longer communicate with these social media companies. They include the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC, the FBI, the Justice Department, also including about a dozen key administration officials, including the White House press secretary and the U.S. surgeon general.

Now those people and those agencies cannot contact, whether it's email, phone, text or meeting in person with, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google and TikTok. And this is very important because this is a communication line that many of these administration officials and agencies have had with these social media companies.

Now we did reach out to the social media companies for comment. We didn't hear back except for Meta who said they have no comment on the issue. We also reached out to the White House and we're awaiting a response from them.

Now there are a few exceptions in this ruling from this judge in this injunction. The Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, and the FDA can still communicate with these social media companies. But those agencies and folks I just listed cannot, unless it has to do with illegal activity and security threats. This judge, Judge Doughty, is a Trump appointee. He has not made a final ruling on this case, Boris, but this banning of these agencies and officials from communicating with these social media companies is certainly a victory for these states who are suing the Biden administration -- Boris.

A fascinating development. Vanessa Yurkevich in New York, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we are watching this hour.

A sheriff's deputy in Georgia raced to save a woman trapped inside of her burning SUV. Body camera video capturing this traumatic rescue battling smoke and flames. The deputy smashed the driver side window, he pulled the woman to safety, her car caught fire after she crashed into the woods.

Also, NASA is showing off its first image of Saturn from the James Web Space Telescope. This new photo taken with an a mere infrared camera. It shows a very dark planet with a bright florescent light ring system there. Saturn appearing extremely dark due to the near total absorption of sunlight by methane gas.

And Mark Zuckerberg is coming for Elon Musk. The Facebook creator's company, Meta, is working on a new app called "Threads" which is supposed to rival Twitter. It appears to mimic Twitter's live conversation format with the ability to build followers and connect with other users. And it's set to go live on Thursday. Musk, of course, angered millions of users over the weekend after announcing a new policy that will limit how many tweets users can read while using the app -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: All right, what's more important than a bunch of tweets? Good music. Coming up, we're celebrating the Fourth in a CNN NEWS CENTRAL first. The U.S. Air Force Band is here in our studio ready to perform live for us and for you. You don't want to miss this. It's coming up.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: I don't know if you've heard, but we're having a party tonight. And you are invited. You can watch fireworks and celebrations from coast to coast right here on CNN, celebrating America's birthday. The 247th anniversary of the United States Independence with our Fourth in America special. Dana Bash and a few others including myself are hosting the live event, and we're going to bring you some fantastic musical performances including a very special one from the United States Air Force Band.

This year is special for the military. It's celebrating its 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force with ranks filled by Americans who have made the choice to serve the nation. The Air Force brass band joins us now along with its commander and conductor, Colonel Don Schofield. Colonel, we're grateful to have you. Obviously, we are going to hear from the band in just a moment. But first, tell us a bit about its history.

COL. DON SCHOFIELD, COMMANDER AND CONDUCTOR, USAF BAND: Happy fourth of July.

SANCHEZ: Happy 4th.

[15:55:00]

SCHOFIELD: The Air Force Band was started in 1941. And what we do is we connect people and we have partnerships. Less than 1 percent of the American population serves in the military. So military bands and the Air Force bands connects people with that military.

We do about 1,600 performances each year, 800 of those are at Arlington National Cemetery. We also do protocol work. We're at the White House. In fact, we're at the White House tonight, as well. But we do community relations work in which we connect the publics both here in the United States and with foreign publics with the United States.

When we're traveling, like in Iowa, there are no active-duty bases in Iowa, so when the United States Air Force Band goes there, we represent the Air Force. When we travel overseas, some of the people may have never met an American, so we represent the United States of America. We were performing in Ukraine, in Kharkiv, and a gentleman came up after the concert and through the interpreter said, "I do not like America, but I like you."

SANCHEZ: Wow.

SCHOFIELD: Yes. So again, building these connections and partnerships.

SANCHEZ: That is so special, and we appreciate not only that representation but your service overall. What does the Fourth of July mean to you personally, Colonel?

SCHOFIELD: Growing up, it was an opportunity for us to pause and have a day off and reflect on the birth of our nation. As a professional military musician, we're able to be a part of that celebration. I had a really neat moment last night during our sound check. I was out talking to some people in the audience, and I talked to a young lady who had just become an American citizen from Taiwan. She had studied for ten years, just passed her test, and this was her -- is going to be her first Fourth of July as an American citizen. So getting to see that enthusiasm and pride through eyes of a new American citizen is very special.

SANCHEZ: Yes, as an immigrant myself, it is a special day celebrating the birth of a nation that embraced you. So Colonel, let's hit it.

SCHOFIELD: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Great.

SCHOFIELD: We have a band that's going to play "Yankee Doodle" and "America the Beautiful."

SANCHEZ: All right.

(UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BAND PLAYING "YANKEE DOODLE")

(UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BAND PLAYING "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")