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Hamas Political Chief Killed, Raising Fears Of All-Out War In Middle East; Trump Invited To Speak At Black Journalists Conference In Chicago; Garland Slams Judge Cannon's Special Counsel Ruling. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 31, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get over to CNN's Ben Wedeman. He's in Beirut, Lebanon. And Ben, this all adds up to being very critical where you are. Where you are is the site of what the -- an attack that Israel has claimed responsibility for when it -- when it took -- when a strike took out a top Hezbollah leader there.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it was thought that perhaps that was done -- that was -- that was it. That strike was in retaliation for Saturday's missile strike on the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights that left 12 children dead. It was thought that was, sort of, Israel's basic response to that attack. There was expectations of -- and it still may come -- Hezbollah's response to that.

But the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran certainly changes the equation completely. Now there is real concern. We're hearing condemnation from governments across the region that this is an escalation that could lead to something very much worse.

Now keep in mind, on the first of April, the Israelis struck a diplomatic -- an Iranian diplomatic complex in Damascus, killing a senior Islamic Revolutionary guard commander. But for Iran, that was a violation of its national sovereignty.

Now for Israel to strike in the capital, Tehran, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau is, in a sense, far worse than that because it's not a diplomatic mission in another country. It is the capital of Iran itself. And the concern is that just as we saw in the aftermath of that strike on the diplomatic complex in Damascus, Iran launched more than 300 projectiles toward Israel. And it was a very sort of orchestrated event where the Iranians telegraphed well beforehand that it would be a limited counterstrike, so to speak.

But in this case, it's in many senses a far more serious violation for the Iranians of their national sovereignty. And, of course, all of their allies in the region -- Hezbollah, the Houthis, the militias in Iraq and Syria are going to be looking at Iran to respond in-kind or to respond at least in a way that sends a forceful message to the Israelis -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and how all of those proxies and allies that you just listed out respond in-kind after they see what Iran decides to do.

Ben, thank you, as always. Great reporting, as always -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with me now, Mark Esper, former defense secretary under President Trump -- former President Trump -- and a CNN global affairs analyst. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being with us.

This is a significant move overnight. How do you see this affecting the situation in the Middle East?

MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Absolutely, very significant. Arguably, the most important attack against Iran and its proxies since the April strike in Damascus where a number of Israeli -- I'm sorry, a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members were killed in Damascus, Syria.

So -- and it was a great embarrassment as well for the Iranians. This was done the day after the new president of Iran, Pezeshkian, was ceremonially introduced to the country and sworn in, if you will, by the Ayatollah. So, big issue.

BERMAN: Our friend, Ian Bremmer, called this a massive security and intelligence failure by Iran and expects a significant response. Do you?

ESPER: Absolutely. Look, what's unknown right now is how it happened. We know there was an airstrike at his residence in Tehran. We don't know whether it came from outside Iran via Israel or whether there were people inside Iran that conducted an assault. So I imagine the IRGC is trying to figure out exactly what happened.

But, needless to say, it's just going to be a matter of days. Iran is going to have to respond to this. The fact that it was taken against -- conducted in Iran against a guest -- a senior guest of one of Iran's proxies, they're going to have to respond.

And, of course, we had just hours earlier, Fuad Shukr, in Lebanon, was killed by Israelis as well. He was the senior military commander in Hezbollah.

BERMAN: Israel -- if this was Israel -- again, they haven't commented on it directly -- seems to have extraordinary capabilities inside Iran.

How do they do this?

ESPER: Yeah, it's incredible. Great military capability, intelligence assets. The Iranians have to be wonderful that as well. How do they keep getting in? How are they able to kill senior leaders, scientists? How are they able to strike our targets as they did in April without Iran being able to defend against it?

BERMAN: So you said you do expect a significant response. What, then, does it do to the stability in the region? ESPER: It completes upsets stability right now, at least temporarily. I would say that the ceasefire talks are on hold indefinitely. That's going to inject a lot of uncertainty into the process.

[07:35:07]

But look, I think Iran is going to respond. Their go-to action is often a missile or drone strikes. They can leverage their -- the militia groups throughout the region and they can try and conduct their own type of terrorist assaults.

And look, John, as a small footnote, just last night there was an American airstrike against a Shia militia group --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

ESPER: -- outside of Baghdad, which is being overshadowed by what happened in the early hours in Tehran.

BERMAN: You know, Axios noted a number of setbacks in the last 24 hours to Iran and its proxies --

ESPER: Right.

BERMAN: -- between the killing of the Hezbollah leader, the U.S. strikes against the Shia militias in Iraq, and then certainly, the killing of Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh was seen as being a key player in the peace negotiations in Gaza. What does it tell you if Israel is taking out one of the people who was involved in the peace talks?

ESPER: Well look, Israel has been very clear since October 7 that they were going to go after Hamas' leaders, and he's arguably one of the top three -- him; Yahya Sinwar, who is the leader in Gaza; and then, Mohammed Deif, if you will recall, a military commander who Israel struck last week or so in --

BERMAN: And may or may not be dead.

ESPER: And may or may not be dead. But those are the big three.

And as you said with regard to negotiations, Haniyeh was more the moderate. He was the one arguing -- pushing for a deal.

BERMAN: Seen as, yeah.

ESPER: Seen as, right -- arguing for a deal. And I think, at this point in time, Hamas is going to lock down. Yahya Sinwar is de facto really in charge now in Gaza.

BERMAN: And look, there are a lot of people who question why Haniyeh was allowed to be in the open as he was in Qatar and other places given that he is a top leader in Hamas.

But if he is involved in peace and Israel is killing him, does that indicate to you that Israel is not serious about pushing towards peace in Gaza?

ESPER: I think they're very serious about taking Iran's -- taking out the leaders or terrorist groups, whether it's Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, you name it. I think they're sending a message that you can't run; you can't hide. We're going to come after you. And they're going to do everything they can to take out the leaders.

BERMAN: Do you think the U.S. had any warning that this was going to happen?

ESPER: Well, Tony Blinken is -- the Secretary of State said they did not have a warning about this but -- which is interesting.

So -- and we also have to take into account, too, that this is going to ripple back here with U.S. domestic politics, right? We're going to wait and see what President Biden says from the White House. We'll see what Donald Trump says.

And importantly, we'll see what Kamala Harris says. What will her position be? Will she strike a different tone as compared to President Biden? Will she want to show toughness, solidarity with Israel?

I think this is going to be a factor back here was we are under 100 days from an election.

BERMAN: Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for being with us this morning. I appreciate it.

ESPER: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: It's great to have the secretary with us this morning.

Also this morning, the National Association of Black Journalists is kicking off its annual conference. It's in Chicago. This year, the high profile conference has become even more high profile as Donald Trump will be joining the NABJ for a panel discussion this morning.

Our Sara Sidner is in Chicago right now with all of the news. What is it going to be like today, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, there was controversy before this convention even started. What happened, according to organizers, is they always invite the two presumptive presidential nominees. In this case, only one of them agreed to show up in person and it wasn't the person who could become the first Black female president of America. Instead, it's Donald Trump. That has caused a great deal of consternation among some of those attending the conference and those that are on the board of this conference, one of whom has stepped down.

We're also hearing from local leaders who are concerned that only Donald Trump's voice is going to be the one that people hear from this particular conference. However, we just got notice from NABJ that they did, of course, as

they always do and have done since 1976, reach out to the two presumptive nominees about a month ago. Both of them were being talked to, including Vice President Harris before Joe Biden dropped out of the race. And Donald Trump was the one that said he could attend.

According to NABJ, Kamala Harris was unable to attend -- scheduling conflicts -- and could not do something virtual. And so they are now saying they are working out something to try and have her do some sort of virtual event where she can be asked questions by the members of NABJ.

But certainly, stirring things up here in Chicago. As you know, there are signs and things all over. Just next to me there is a big billboard that says, "I'm Speaking" and it's a quote from Kamala Harris calling her the first woman, which she is, and person of color elected to the vice presidency.

There will be controversy. We are going to hear from Donald Trump. He is already using this to try to take advantage of his rising number, in particular, of Black Americans who have been voting for him in a little bit larger numbers than we have seen in the past and polling showing that they are more interested in him. But now that Kamala Harris is in the race, we will have to see what goes going further.

[07:40:00]

However, the controversy is still being stirred here. We're going to hear from Donald Trump, we hear about 11:00. It is closed to the public but there are protests that are planned outside of the hotel where this will happen -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, glad you're there, Sara. We're going to be getting back to you throughout the morning and the day as this is going to be a really big day. Donald Trump being -- facing questions from journalists in the room.

Sara, thank you. We'll get back to Sara in a bit.

And by this time next week we will know who Kamala Harris' running mate will be. The pair will be going on a swing state blitz starting Tuesday. That's according to the campaign.

Harris got a head start in Georgia yesterday with a big campaign rally. And the Harris campaign has made clear in a memo that was out just this week that with Harris at the top of the ticket they say -- they see renewed electoral hope in winning Georgia.

Part of the strategy to pull that off is winning over disenfranchised Georgia Republicans. Republicans like the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, who joins us now. It's good to see you again, Lieutenant Governor. Thank you.

You were at the rally last night. You also just wrote a piece for the AJC announcing your endorsement of Kamala Harris. I want to read for our viewers just a bit of what you said, and it's worth -- it's really worth the read because you write not only about your endorsement but how she can win.

You write, "I'm a lifelong Republican whose current north star is ridding Trump from the GOP, but endorsing Harris wasn't easy. Through my conservative lens I see very few policy areas where we agree. Though my support for Harris didn't come easily, it did come naturally. She's the best vehicle toward preventing another stained Trump presidency."

Tell me why.

GEOFF DUNCAN, (R) FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Well look, we've got to do better than Donald Trump. As a lifelong conservative, I got to watch a fake Republican sit in the White House for four years and then almost destroy this country. And so we've just got to do better.

I -- if you're a common-sense Republican you've already lost, right? Donald Trump is not the vehicle to success with conservative values. And certainly, the Democrat don't align with us on policies verbatim.

So let's go take the next four years and heal and rebuild our party. Let's pick somebody that's not going to wreck the car like Donald Trump is, and let's work with the Harris administration. Let's work to try to find ways to bring them back towards the middle on key issues.

And really, there's been some receptive intakes already. I mean, watching things like fracking. Watching her walk away from some of these big ideas that were launched -- big liberal ideas in 2020.

There's no way to ignore this momentum that's going on. Yesterday was unbelievable, right? It almost felt like a national championship inside that arena with the energy. And you just think, in 10 short days they've --

BOLDUAN: Lieutenant Governor, I want to ask you about that. I want to ask you just about that energy and what has changed and how it's shifted -- and as you said, in 10 short days -- nine short days. Because a reporter at the rally last night quoted you as telling them about the energy in the room. "It probably felt like the first day after being traded from the Yankees to the Red Sox." There's a lot in there that you -- that we need to -- that we need to dig through. You played baseball, of course.

Explain what you mean and what you saw at the rally last night.

DUNCAN: Well, it was my first Democratic rally, but I got to walk into a room full of old friends and familiar faces that I served with at the Georgia Capitol -- and they're good people in that room. And we all don't agree on the exact definition of how to solve the world's problems but if we all sit at the same table -- and this renewed energy of -- this country is so thirsty for a genuine leader, right? Just thirsty.

And I think the hard part for me is if Republicans would have done something similar, other than Donald Trump, we would have had that same type of energy -- that authenticness to it. But we didn't.

And so, you know, I believe if Kamala Harris is able to take rooms like that and not have try to win a primary each and every night with her -- with just catering to the far left, then I think she's going to be able to win the hearts and minds of the 10 percent which, by the way, are still going to determine who wins this election.

She is going to be able to do a better job talking to that 10 percent in the middle than Donald Trump is. They've already hit the ignore button on him.

BOLDUAN: But let me ask you about what you're talking about here. You talk about the liberal priorities that you think that you -- and you write very explicitly in your piece that she -- you want to see her move away from. Because I have heard Republicans say that her momentum in Georgia and beyond -- that they believe that it will start melting away with voters -- the ones you're talking about -- the 10 percent -- start -- when they start digging into her record.

You mentioned fracking because the Harris of 2019 and 2020 stood in a different place on issues like fracking, border security, policing in America, Medicare for All than the Harris that were -- than the Kamala Harris that we hear of 2024.

But how troubled are you by this? Is your endorsement conditional?

DUNCAN: No, my endorsement is not conditional. Anybody but Donald Trump is going to do better than Donald Trump in saving democracy and giving us a chance to hit the reset button in creating a GOP 2.0.

[07:45:06]

I believe we're watching this happen. I wrote about this in the piece.

She's already walked back from the fracking idea. That's a big deal for a swing state like Pennsylvania. If she adds Gov. Shapiro to her ticket that's an even bigger deal to try to win Pennsylvania, which probably brings Michigan and opens up Wisconsin. And in Georgia, I believe it's still in play.

There's other issues like immigration. The Biden administration was late to the game and they were late to make moves on the border. But they finally did, and the metrics are showing that it's making a difference. She needs to continue to double down on increasing border security and talking about it.

She also needs to talk with a scalpel and not a chainsaw about the economy and inflation. Some people wake up and this is the worst economy they've ever faced. Some wake up and it's the best economy they've ever faced.

She needs to be able to talk with very articulate tones because the Biden administration -- or Biden campaign didn't want to talk about those things. It was like a hurt tooth. They just didn't want to talk about it. She's able to do that. BOLDUAN: Being able to talk -- to speak of a disenfranchised Georgia Republican is what you're doing right now. I mean, have you spoken with the campaign about being out there on her behalf, which is a shade different than saying that you're going to vote for her, to try to do what you're just saying right now?

DUNCAN: I've offered my support any way, shape, and form I can offer up. I'm pot committed to making this work. I want to see Vice President Harris win this race and I want to see the opportunity for Republicans like me to sit at the table during those four years and be able to work on opportunities to improve those policies or at least make them a little more conservative leaning.

And then also be able to go back to the GOP and try to rebuild us. We are broken.

BOLDUAN: Geoff Duncan, it's always good to have you. Thank you so much for coming in -- John.

DUNCAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: His eyes when he was talking about going to the first Democratic rally of his life.

BOLDUAN: It's such a perspective, right?

BERMAN: It's something.

All right. Overnight, the Secret Service made an arrest near the White House. New details about the gun and propane tank found by investigators. And "f" around and find out. The U.S. Women's Gymnastics team finally shares their name -- their team name after taking home the gold.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:51:44]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, we are hearing from Attorney General Merrick Garland for the first time since the federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents trial basically threw out the case.

CNN senior crime and justice reporter and dragon fly survivor Katelyn Polantz is here with the latest. What are you learning this morning, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, John, Attorney General Merrick Garland did this interview yesterday with NBC and he gave a reminder about his -- what his experience has been, and also that he is the attorney general who has appointed not just special counsel Jack Smith and approved of the cases that Jack Smith has brought against Donald Trump, including that one in Florida that Judge Cannon has now thrown out, and also appointed two other special counsels. So here is how he defended that, so far, in the midst of this situation where the Justice Department is trying to hold on to the ability to prosecute the case against Donald Trump and also say that yeah, we believe special counsels are constitutional.

Here's a bit more from Attorney General Garland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: As you well know, I picked this room for this interview. This is my favorite room in the Justice Department. It's a law library.

For more than 20 years, I was a federal judge. Now, do I look like somebody who would make that basic mistake about the law? I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So there's Gen. Garland talking about the constitutionality. He believes that the special counsel obviously has had this difference of opinion with Judge Cannon down in Florida. It's so unusual, John, to have the attorney general out there commenting about an ongoing case -- an ongoing case that's going to be appealed to a powerful circuit court -- appellate court.

A reminder there in those comments that Gen. Garland -- he used to be the chief judge of the second-most powerful court in the country after the Supreme Court.

This case could go in a lot of ways. But this really is basically, the most biting type of comment that you ever may hear from Merrick Garland in a politicized case like this and in something that is still in the court system.

BERMAN: Yeah. For Merrick Garland, this is an 11 on a scale of one to 10.

Katelyn Polantz, great to see you.

POLANTZ: Really.

BERMAN: Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And for Merrick Garland, he's making a point it isn't politics, right? He's making -- he's making a point it's the law that he's following.

So this just in. Boeing is now naming a new CEO. Robert "Kelly" Ortberg is expected to take the helm starting August 8. The company just reported a loss of $1.4 billion in the second quarter. That's more than triple the loss from a year ago. The company, as you well know, has faced serious scrutiny and investigations over the safety and quality of the planes. The company even agreeing to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge. This morning, a person with a gun and a propane tank is facing weapons charges after being arrested near the White House last night. The Secret Service says the person approached an officer claiming to have a gun in their vehicle. When officers searched the car, they found the gun and the propane tank inside. D.C.'s bomb squad responded and then declared the vehicle safe.

[07:55:00]

Police in Philadelphia -- they are searching for the suspect in what they are calling an execution-type homicide in the parking lot of a mosque. Officials say a 43-year-old man was shot and killed while he was walking to a prayer service. They believe that he was the intended target. Police say the incident was captured on numerous private surveillance cameras.

And the Olympic triathlon has just taken place with athletes from Great Britain and France claiming gold. The men and the women competed this morning after concerns over the water quality in the River Seine delayed the start. The men's race was postponed today due to unsafe levels of E. coli detected in the river.

About $1.5 billion had been spent on cleaning up the Seine ahead of the games but heavy rain over the weekend apparently was -- posed too much of a challenge. After meeting this morning, organizers decided that the water quality was good enough for the athletes to dive right in because as Berman loves to point out, you can't have a triathlon with only two parts -- John.

BERMAN: No. That who tri thing happens to be a big part of it.

With us now is four-time Olympic gold medalist, eight-time world champion, legend, Michael Johnson. So nice to have you on.

How psyched are you that never had to run through a track covered in, like, sewage -- like swimming in the Seine?

MICHAEL JOHNSON, FOUR TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST, EIGHT-TIME WORLD CHAMPION (via Skype): (Laughing) Yeah, definitely much less risk on the track. No E. coli dodging. Adds a new dimension to the triathlon.

BERMAN: Yeah, to be sure.

So the track and field events -- they haven't started quite yet. What are you looking forward to most in these games?

JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, there's -- it's always fantastic when you watch. I mean, it's the best athletes competing, and everybody wants to win. Only one person can win. Everybody's at their best because this is what they've been -- they're training for and pointing for months now -- for years, even. So every event is compelling.

But some -- yeah, some standouts in the men's 100 meters where you've got probably six athletes who could all win the gold medal. They've been -- the standard has been really high and it's -- and it's extraordinarily competitive this year. But then you've got the 400- meter hurdles for women with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Yeah, you've got the 1,500-meters men.

So there's quite a few races and field events as well that are going to be compelling. You'll have people who are favored to win who won't medal. You'll have people who nobody thought was going to win and they didn't even think they were going to win, and all of a sudden, they find themselves gold medalists.

BERMAN: We just showed a whole bunch of pictures of your famous gold shoes from 1996. How important is style when competing against the best people in the world? And who do you think has the best style in these games?

JOHNSON: I mean, look good, feel good, you know -- it's important. And it was important to me. It's a confidence booster for some people. Yeah, you want to feel good. You want to -- that moment, if you're so fortunate to win, will live on. You want to look your best for that.

But look, at the end of the day, it's all about the training. It's all about being mentally ready and prepared to go in there and deliver your best performance on the day when it counts.

But yeah, we're seeing some great personalities in the sport right now and so -- and they're showing their style. You've got your Sha'Carri Richardson, great style. Noah Lyles is all about the style as well. The Jamaican women. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce always wows us with a different hair color. And yeah -- and you've got Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Norwegian. He's covered in tattoos and he loves to show them off.

You've got a lot of great personalities in the sport of track and field and they like to show a little bit of it in addition to their amazing speed around the track.

BERMAN: Look, when you've got it, flaunt it, as they like to say.

You are launching a new track league called Grand Slam Track. What is this and how is it going to work?

JOHNSON: Yeah, Grand Slam Track is a professional track league that will have -- allow viewers -- allow fans of track and field and casual fans as well who will love these Olympics and who will watch the Olympics and typically will have (audio gap) head-to-head (audio gap) in the world.

Now you'll (audio gap) when we launch Grand Slam Track (audio gap) the four golf majors every year. So now, you'll have four majors of track and field every year.

So the fastest athletes in the world competing head-to-head, storytelling, drama, big prize money -- $100,000 for first place for our events. All about athletes that are assigned to the league. Our guarantee to base compensation.

It's compelling. It's -- you know, we -- this sport has always been equal gender, so men, women equal number of events between both genders, and equal prize money as well. BERMAN: Michael Johnson, I have to say that sounds really cool. Almost as cool as getting to talk to you this morning. Thank you so much for being with us. I really appreciate your time, sir.

[08:00:00]