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Western U.S. Plagued By Dangerous Heat Waves; Historic Odessa Cathedral Damaged In Russian Strikes; Elon Musk Announces Overhaul To Twitter Logo; Unarmed Black Man Attacked By Police Dog; Special Counsel Contacts GA Gov. in 2020 Election Probe; Top Chinese Official Disappears from Public View; Israel's Parliament Set To Vote On First Part of Judicial Reform That Would Limit Supreme Court's Power; Barbie Rakes in $155 Million in Opening Weekend. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 23, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

SYLVIA OBELL, JOURNALIST AND CO-HOST, "THE SCOTTIE AND SYLVIA SHOW" PODCAST: You know, that's definitely been something that's been progressed, the ownership, the distributionship, seeing people like Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes and Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry really open those doors behind the scenes.

I think to stay there, I think as we -- television as a whole, we're seeing deal with the transition from cable and streaming, and you know, with the writers' strike and all of the things happening, I think equity and fair pay are going to be very big as to see how -- if we can keep this up because we've had booms before but it's been about sustaining them. And so I think it's about the executives sustaining the behind the scenes for it to continue and not have just been that, oh, remember those five to 10 years that we had good TV again kind of a thing.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sylvia Obell. Thank you so much. Great talking to you.

OBELL: You, too.

WHITFIELD: And be sure to tune in to an all-new episode of the CNN Original Series, "SEE IT LOUD, THE HISTORY OF BLACK TELEVISION," airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

All right, hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, for 23 straight days now temperatures have exceeded 110 degrees in Phoenix and the record heat wave is showing no signs of breaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KATIE GALLEGO (D), PHOENIX: The heat has been unrelenting in our community. We have to be innovative and that is the Phoenix way. We build for extreme temperatures in the summer so that we've made infrastructure investments that help us get out of these challenges but this summer has set some tough records.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: From the southwest of the country to Florida, 44 million people are under heat warnings today. The heat not just taking a toll on millions of Americans, it also drives up costs for businesses trying to find ways to keep employees and customers cool. A recent report says extreme heat costs the U.S. $100 billion each year in lost productivity.

CNN's Camila Bernal is live for us in Los Angeles -- Camila.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. Yes, there really is no industry that is immune to the effects of the extreme heat, especially when it comes to the most impacted, which we're talking construction and agriculture. These are industries where people want to work and need to work. There are many people that are out working in 110, 120 degrees because they need to make ends meet, and they're being reminded to take water breaks, to go in the shade, to stop working once they start feeling dizzy or sick in any way.

And so there is that group of people that absolutely needs to work but then you also have to think when we're talking about agriculture that there are fruits and vegetables that need to be picked because otherwise the economic impact is going to be even greater. So officials in the most affected areas, say, Phoenix and Las Vegas, for example, telling people to remain indoors if they're able to do so.

But again, keep in mind a lot of the people that are still working despite these temperatures, people in a food truck, for example, that can't be in a hot kitchen when it's 110 degrees outside, or think about your pets, the animals at the zoo, the people that actually who work at the zoo, and even people who work indoors who have to go to work, it becomes really difficult.

I want you to take a listen to one example of a librarian who had a little bit of a problem because of the extreme heat. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN JANEZIC, SANBORN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIBRARIAN: I was crossing the students, crossing the parents, and all of a sudden when I was done, I turned around, I'm sweating, I'm tired, I want to come in back to the library where it's nice and air-conditioned. And as I was walking back, I tripped. Like what just happened? And I tripped because this part of the shoe right here was like this, it looked like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And a shoe can be replaced but you do have to be very careful when it comes to your health because officials in many of the hospitals in those areas that are most impacted by the heat wave have said that they've seen an increased number of people with heat-related illnesses and so it is important to take care of yourself as you're experiencing these kinds of temperatures -- Fred. WHITFIELD: Yes, the soles of shoes melting is a true testament to just

how hot it is, how hot that pavement is.

All right, Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

So when will this heat wave break? Let's check in with CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Fred, tens of millions of people again across parts of the southwest are going to be either in heat indexes above 110, temperatures about 120 in some spots, and obviously we still have all of those excessive heat warnings and watches across the country.

Tens of millions of people today and there are going to be more than that by Wednesday and Thursday because this heat is going to spread out. Corpus Christi, you're going to feel like 112 degrees later on this afternoon. Baton Rouge yesterday felt like 118 for two hours straight.

[16:05:03]

Look at this, Vegas backed up around 110. Death Valley recalled 120. And Phoenix, we're just rounding it off to 115 at this point in time. More hot weather on the way. Phoenix, every single day for the past 23 have been over 110 in the afternoon, and there's no end to that in sight. What there is going to be an end in sight is the nice weather across parts of the northeast. We're going to push away these 80s and we're going to replace them with temperatures in the upper 90s in places like Minneapolis, we're going to go all the way over 100, in fact 101.

And this is not going to be a dry heat like you had out in Phoenix, or have out in Phoenix. This is going to be a fairly humid heat. You can tell by the morning and low temperatures that don't cool down, that means there's a lot of humidity in the air. So you're going to have the heat index there for sure. Same kind of story for New York. Your temperatures are still only down to about 80 in the morning hours and back up into the middle 90s.

So another hot couple of days in store for the southwest, that's not changing but some of that heat is going to spread out -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: We appreciate the warning. Thank you so much, Chad Myers.

All right. Turning now to Ukraine where Russian forces have once more launched devastating attacks on the port city of Odessa. At least one person was killed, 19 others wounded, including four children according to officials. Ukraine's military says residential buildings were hit in the attack, but officials there report Russia's main targets were dozens of architectural monuments in the historic city center, including this iconic orthodox cathedral. Ukraine says Russian missiles also damaged several U.N. world heritage sites in recent days.

CNN senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt is here with us from Kyiv.

Alex, what is the latest?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, significant damage in that historic city center, this beautiful city that is often called the Pearl of the Black Sea. According to a local military official around 25 different architectural sites and monuments have been damaged. The worst was probably the Church of the Transfiguration. It's a cathedral that has a long history in Ukraine. It was destroyed in 1936 when Stalin was in power. It was rebuilt when Ukraine got independence.

Remember, Fred, this is the fifth wave of incredibly intense attacks on Odessa in the course of the past week. They really started Monday night as Odessa -- as Russia pulled out of that grain deal that has seen Ukraine shipping grain to the world for the past year. And since then Odessa has escaped relatively unscathed. That is clearly no longer the case.

At least one person was killed, as you mentioned. It was a security guard who was guarding the House of Scientists, as it's called, and now President Zelenskyy expressing his outrage, his sadness but also calling for better air defenses, more air defense systems from allies. He said that Ukraine needs a full-fledged sky shield and that would be the only thing that could defeat Russian terror -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Alex, also today Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow. What do we know about that meeting?

MARQUARDT: It's supposed to be two days of meetings. Today was the first day coming exactly a month after that failed insurrection or aborted insurrection by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner.

That insurrection on June 24th coming to an end after Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, brokered that deal. And in that agreement, Prigozhin was supposed to go to Belarus with his troops. He has been seen in Belarus but he's also been seen back in Russia. We know that a lot of Wagner troops have gone to Belarus. We've seen them training Wagner soldiers.

Interestingly, Fred, Lukashenko said that he is starting to be stressed by these Wagner troops who say that they want to go on an excursion westward towards Poland, which would obviously be a massive escalation. Poland being a NATO country. And so Lukashenko says that he is trying to keep the Wagner fighters there in Belarus.

I should also note that Putin talked about the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive. He says that it has failed. Ukrainian and U.S. officials do admit that it's going slower than they would like and progress is not as much as they would like, but they still do have high hopes for the outcome of the counteroffensive -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alex Marquardt in Kyiv, thanks so much.

Still ahead, Elon Musk wants to get rid of all the birds at Twitter. His plans to rebrand the social media platform and the impact it could have on its users. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:14:06]

WHITFIELD: Elon Musk says it's time to set Twitter's blue bird free. In a series of tweets this morning the platform's owner announced that they will bid adieu to the Twitter brand and all the birds. The billionaire also hinted a new X logo and black color scheme could go live as soon Monday.

I want to discuss this with Sara Fischer. She's a CNN media analyst and a senior media reporter with Axios.

Good to see you, Sara. So what do you make of this apparent overhaul?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: What a shame. So many people have come to know and love the Twitter brand, that light blue Twitter bird, and that has been Twitter's competitive edge against all of these new upstarts, whether it's Threads or Macedon, the fact that people know this brand has been what's kept Twitter alive under its chaotic new ownership. And so the fact that Elon Musk is pulling the consumer awareness away from something that is so ubiquitous, is puzzling to me.

[16:15:06]

Now of course it's not super shocking. Elon Musk already renamed the holding company for Twitter X a few months ago with the intention of not just redesigning the product but redesigning its core use case, broadening it out of text based social media. But to me I think this is a huge mistake.

WHITFIELD: And he knows about the importance of branding. A, how long that kind of association takes place, you know, where consumers identify a product with a symbol, which is what it does with the, you know, blue bird, et cetera. Is there any way to look into this kind of decision-making? What do you really think is up his sleeve?

FISCHER: Well, one, it kind of brings to home this idea that he owns the company now, right, and that he's the one making all the shots, making new decisions. He's wanted to convince people that he could take it over and remake it for the better, and remake it for the good. And so I think this is him just visually putting an anchor on that idea.

The other thing is that Elon Musk has looked at this app as being mostly advertising supported, text based social media, and he's long said that he wants to broaden it. He wants to make it so that it has video streaming and payments, direct messaging that could do so much more than what it used to. And so in broadening it, I actually understand why he might want to rebrand some parts of Twitter.

But again to rename the entire app, to get rid of the logo that people know so well, I worry for Twitter that that's a huge competitive mistake, especially as you have all of these unknown upstarts again like Macedon or Spill trying to come in and take Twitter's turf, to get rid of the one thing that you have going for you over everyone else which is over a decade worth of brand familiarity just seems so shortsighted to me.

WHITFIELD: So what might be some of the similarities or the differences that you see in what Twitter is doing, Elon Musk is doing, and the tech companies that have restructured its brands over the years, Facebook with, you know, Meta, Google with the Alphabet? Is it a similar path?

FISCHER: No. Great question. Not a similar path. Alphabet restructured but it kept Google, its consumer facing products named Google. In fact most consumers who are using Google products they don't even know that they fall under a new parent company called Alphabet. Same thing goes for Meta. The Facebook app, that core blue app, remains Facebook, even though it's rolled up into a new parent company.

And it's worth noting that even though Meta's rebrand came at a time when they are facing a lot of regulatory scrutiny, these types of rebrands came with new restructurings, meaning that they were reorganizing the whole company.

What's happening here with Twitter is it seems like a fly-by the edge of his seat move in order to do whatever he thinks is interesting that day. In fact earlier this morning Elon Musk was saying whoever can post the best new X logo, that might be where we get a new logo.

(LAUGHTER)

FISCHER: I mean that does not seem like --

WHITFIELD: Audience participation. Yes.

FISCHER: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: Well, I mean, the X is a little ominous, isn't it? I mean, you know, that little blue bird -- I'm not a marketing genius but it seems visually inviting whereas that ominous X, I'm not sure if it's, you know, asking people to come on board and see what's behind the X or if it's saying, stop, don't go here.

FISCHER: It's a great question and I'm not a marketing expert either but what I'll tell you is that what X is supposed to signify is that it's an umbrella for so many things outside of social media. Again that's why he renamed the corporate company X. But the challenge is I don't think there's any marketing plan behind the re-brand to explain this to consumers. Typically when you're doing a big overhaul of a consumer product's brand, you're doing a lot of marketing behind it. The executives are going to come out and deliver speeches.

WHITFIELD: Right.

FISCHER: They're going to go on TV and explain it. There's been none of that.

WHITFIELD: It's a huge process. FISCHER: It should be.

WHITFIELD: Well, at least we haven't seen publicly the process. And there may have taken that process that took place behind closed doors. It's just a real surprise to most people right now.

All right, Sara Fischer, thank you so much. Good to see you.

FISCHER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, as Donald Trump braces for a possible third indictment, Jack Smith's team has contacted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp over former President Trump's efforts to overthrow the 2020 election. The impact it could have on the special counsel's investigation next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:52]

WHITFIELD: All right. Developing in Ohio, newly released body camera video showing a police dog attacking an unarmed black man who surrendered to authorities with his hands up despite a state trooper urging the officer not to release the dog.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is following the story for us -- Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Fred, ultimately it was the Ohio State Patrol that initiated this traffic stop. But now the questions of one Ohio City Police Department being called into question.

Now we should warn people that this video is difficult to watch and we will again warn you once this footage from the Ohio State Patrol takes a disturbing turn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): The footage provided by Ohio State Highway Patrol is disturbing but now under scrutiny after a man was mauled by a police officer's canine. July 4th, Jackson County Ohio, a case report shows a highway patrol officer in a marked vehicle tried stopping the driver of this big rig for a missing mud flap. The man behind the wheel later identified by authorities as 23-year-old Jadarius Rose drives on and a chase begins.

About 20 minutes into the pursuit, the big rig is seen rolling to a stop.

[16:25:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the truck.

SANDOVAL: But that lasts only a few seconds. The driver continues to flee and officers stay on him for another eight minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took off again. All right. We're heading northbound.

SANDOVAL: It wasn't until police used tire deflation devices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're stopped.

SANDOVAL: That the chase came to a slow but dramatic and disturbing stop. That's a Circleville Ohio Police Department Canine Unit rolling up to the scene. After repeated orders from state troopers, the driver eventually steps out of the rig, his hands in the air as requested. A patrolman is heard asking the canine to not be released, though it's unclear if he could be heard by all officers on scene. That's when the canine is deployed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not release the dog with his hands up. Do not release the dog with his hands up. Do not release the dog. With his hands up. Don't --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the dog off of him!

SANDOVAL: After the canine takedown, an officer approaches then quickly walks away. Her hands covering her face as Rose screams in pain. The frustration audible in the voice of another state officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was I not loud enough?

SANDOVAL: After the dog is removed, officers moved in to arrest Rose and administer first aid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just let the dog bite me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you got to do is come to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was coming. All the guns pointed at me. How do you expect me to respect you? You got a gun pointed at me. There's like 20 of y'all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you had to do was stop, brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did stop.

SANDOVAL: A spokesperson for the Ohio State Highway Patrol tells CNN his troopers were attempting to gain compliance by providing verbal commands to the suspect. The Circleville Police Department deployed their canine which resulted in the suspect being bitten.

CNN has reached out to the Circleville Police Department for comment. Police say Rose was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released before being taken to jail. His attorney declined to comment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Now, as we wait to hear back from some of those officials and from that police department, we should mention the D.A. and NAACP did release a statement through the head of their Columbus branch.

I'll read you a portion of it, Fred. It reads "The Columbus, Ohio, NAACP is outraged at the recent video depicting this Circleville police unleashing a dog on an unarmed black man, Mr. Jadarrius Rose, who had his hands up in the air and was on his knees. The officer's peers shouted for him not to unleash the dog but apparently their shouts fell on deaf airs."

Now we should clarify that we are still working to find out if that officer's commands that you can hear in that video could actually be heard by that canine unit. That will certainly be a key piece of evidence but ultimately, though, at least the NAACP calling for an investigation and also for potential termination of the officer involved. We'll have to see how it plays out of course.

WHITFIELD: All right, let us know. Polo Sandoval, thanks so much.

And a quick programming note. How did investigators solve the decade- long Gilgo Beach murder mystery? See how new technology led to the killer on a new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So what they need from Rex Heuerman is DNA. A surveillance team is sent to Midtown, Manhattan, the area where he works. And they're basically watching the building. And he comes out and he goes to a pizza place. And they see him go through three slices of pizza and he takes the box and shoves it into a green trash can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that was a treasure trove of DNA in there with that pizza box.

MILLER: So from a chain of custody standpoint, they've seen him eating it, carrying it, they've seen him discard it. And they pulled that box out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're able to test it with his DNA to match the DNA at the crime scenes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hair matched the DNA profile of defendant Rex Heuerman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The new episode airs tonight on the alleged killer at 8:00 on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:01]

WHITFIELD: As we await a potential third indictment of Donald Trump, we now know the special counsel investigating Trump's efforts to interfere in the 2020 election has reached out to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. The former President is accused of trying to push Kemp to overturn the election results in Georgia after narrowly losing the state to Joe Biden. For more on what this means for the ongoing investigation, let's bring

in Jeffrey Jacobovitz. He is a Criminal Defense Attorney and Adjunct Law Professor at American University.

Jeffrey, great to see you. So what is significant about Governor Kemp at this point being interviewed?

JEFFREY JACOBOVITZ: Well, this is very significant, Fredricka. And what it means is that Jack Smith, as well as Fani Willis are looking at any pressure that was exerted on Governor Kemp. And he's not the only Governor, there was an inquiry into Ducey as well. Governor Ducey, but with Kemp you have the unusual situation of a federal indictment about to be brought pursuant to January 6. And then Fani Willis is allegedly bringing another indictment in early August assuming that all of the various attempts at crushing it are unsuccessful.

WHITFIELD: What do you suppose some of the questions will be for Governor Kemp from Special Counsel Jack Smith?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, Jack Smith will want to know exactly what kind of pressure was exerted on him. He will want to know whether Donald Trump or any of his associates tried to get him to outlaw what happened whether to have a new election, whether they were forced electors that were pressured. Whether Kemp was involved in that. What did he know about it?

And, you know, that in Michigan, the false electors were just indicted. Then there were 12 of them, I believe 12 or 16 and -- and they If numerous people were indicted and that's something that Jack Smith would definitely want to know about. And it's part of the proposed counts he had in the target letter. He had a conspiracy to defraud the United States. And that would be dealing with the false electors.

[16:35:18]

WHITFIELD: We know about that recorded phone call, you know, that the former President had with the Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger, where he was, you know, saying I need you to find, you know, 11,000 XYZ votes. Will it be an obvious question from Jack Smith to see whether that same kind of question or probing or encouragement, you know, was launched at the Governor, similar to the Secretary of State?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, that would be a definite question. And presumably, there are no tapes with that call. But we know Fani Willis is looking at it. And there's a theory out there that she will bring a RICO indictment against 12 people, including Donald Trump, and if she does that, you're looking at a lot of his senior associates who are involved in the home Georgia scenario. So those are questions he -- Jack Smith would be interested in terms of what did Brian Kemp know about it? What did Raffensperger tell them about it? Who else knew about it? Were any of the calls taped? Those types of questions would be going to Raffensperger -- excuse me, to Kemp. WHITFIELD: And in the Georgia situation, you know, as you as you call it. Trump's legal team, you know, wants to disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, arguing that due to her conflict of interest as a political candidate, that she should not be allowed to pursue the case. What do you think about that argument?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, they already lost unanimously in the appellate court. And it would be unlikely that that decision will be changed by any trial judge. And what's unusual about the judge's situation, Fredricka, is you have parallel investigations here in Georgia, you have both a federal investigation and the state investigation, and you would have to imagine that they are coordinating with each other. Jack Smith and Fani Willis are coordinating. And you would think Jack Smith would want to go to trial first, and have a clean and trial that way. And he would probably keep his indictment that what they're calling the January 6 indictment, although it goes far before January 6, with any plans to overturn the election, you would think he would want to keep it very narrow, and probably not a lot of defendants if he wants to try Donald Trump prior to the election.

WHITFIELD: All right. And shifting to the classified documents case in Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, officially has set a trial date for May 2024, saying a trial could start as early as May 20. And that would fall right in the middle of the 2024 primaries for the White House. What do you make of the timing? And I mean, it's obvious, you know, Trump team would want to try to delay that, but they've already made those attempts to delay it successfully. And now the date is in May.

JACOBOVITZ: Right. And I don't think that date is set in stone. There could be further delays, as well. But, you know, what's interesting is if you're Donald Trump, and you don't think you did anything wrong, why not try to go to trial prior to the election and have that out there for your electorate and -- and your base and so forth. And the trial will be in Fort Pierce where there -- where there are a number of people who voted for Donald Trump in that jurisdiction, but his team seems to want to delay it until after the election and -- and the evidence in the Mar-a-Lago case is very strong. And -- and so you would think that his attorneys and Donald Trump are very concerned about the Mar-a-Lago case, and they keep trying to delay.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeffrey Jacobovitz, thanks so much.

JACOBOVITZ: Thank you very much, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Coming up. Amid growing protests, Israel's parliament is debating the judicial overhaul bill that would weaken the power of the Supreme Court. We'll go live to Jerusalem.

Plus, a diplomats absence raises questions and fuels speculation. We'll look at the curious disappearance of China's Foreign Minister.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:54]

FREDRICKA: Israel's parliament is getting ready to vote on the first part of a historic judicial overhaul. This coming after months of demonstrations and protests in the streets. The most controversial part of the proposed reforms are new limits to the Supreme Court's power to override government decisions it considers unreasonable. CNN's Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem for us. Hadas, so what is the process?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, it's been a busy day of protests here across Jerusalem and across the country both for and against this judicial overhaul legislation.

Now, debate in Parliament has already started. This is a marathon 26- hour long session expected. The votes are expected to take place tomorrow. And if this passes, this will be the first part of the legislation of this overhaul package that Benjamin Netanyahu's government is trying to push through that will pass those hurdles in parliament. Doesn't mean it will become law, it will likely face some legal challenges ironically, likely up to the Supreme Court. It will face of legal challenges in this drastically changed Supreme Court, but it is very significant. Because this will be the first part of it passing out.

[16:45:03]

Today, there were plenty of protests here in Jerusalem across the country. The protesters have set up a tent city in one of the main parks here, near the parliament to protest this. They saying they're going to stay there until the overhaul legislation is off the table.

Now, there are those who are in favor of this who say that the judiciary is in desperate need of reform that it has too much power they took to the streets in Tel Aviv today trying to encourage the government to keep going. As we speak, we know that there are plenty of discussions ongoing. The Israeli President trying to mediate discussions with the governing coalition with the opposition party to try to come to some sort of compromise.

One of the biggest concerns actually, is that military reservists. Thousands of them have said they will not heed the call to serve in the military. If this legislation passes that has brought some great concern about how that could affect Israeli military readiness. The Israeli military chief of staff has sent a letter to all of the soldiers saying that they need to serve no matter what.

Meanwhile, all this is happening. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the hospital being fitted with a pacemaker, but he says that he will be out of the hospital in time for those votes tomorrow. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Hadas Gold, thank you so much.

All right, weeks after vanishing from public view, speculation is intensifying about the whereabouts of China's Foreign Minister. Qin Gang was last seen on June 25, six months after he was promoted to his post. The diplomat was considered a rising star in Chinese politics, but now he's nowhere to be seen and no one can explain why he's gone. Here's CNN Will Ripley. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QIN GANG, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER: China has every right to defend his sovereignty and territorial integrity.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As China's ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang was combative and controversial.

GANG: We are fully justified to do what we must.

RIPLEY: Polarizing, persuasive, performing under pressure, a patriotic poster child of China's wolf warrior diplomacy for an assertive New Era under Xi Jinping. China's powerful President promoted his loyal aide to foreign minister last December, a meteoric rise, making Qin, China's second most powerful diplomat darting around the world, welcoming allies and adversaries to Beijing.

Just last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his last known meeting on June 25, with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister. Since then, he's been missing for more than three weeks, absent from high profile visits by top U.S. officials. Janet Yellen, John Kerry, and most recently, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

DENG YUWEN, FORMER EDITOR OF A CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY NEWSPAPER (through translator): It is very rare for a Senior Chinese diplomat to have gone missing more than 20 days ago. In my memory that has never happened before.

RIPLEY: China's saying he was unable to attend meetings due to health reasons. But even that official explanation later deleted from the Chinese Foreign Ministry website, the ministry often leaves out content it deems sensitive from its transcripts.

Qin's disappearance was also not mentioned in China's state-controlled media, fueling intense speculation online. On Chinese social media, one Weibo user asked, we can't guess what happened to him. Another saying, is this how are wolf warriors end up?

China's diplomacy on a busy schedule these days, driven by a stream of high-level exchanges between Beijing and Washington.

YUWEN (through translator): The fact that the Chinese Foreign Minister has disappeared at this particular time has created a lot of attention and discussions.

RIPLEY: Discussions fueled by China's authoritarian system, a one- party state focused on Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader in decades. Few outsiders know what's on his mind, the lack of transparency, igniting discussions about the missing Foreign Minister and what his future might hold.

(On camera): The sudden disappearance has become more and more common in China under Xi Jinping as he continues to crack on dissent and concentrate more power into his own hands. In the past government officials who have disappeared sometimes have been out of public sight for months, only to reappear facing potential charges from the Communist Party's corruption watchdog group. Will Ripley, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this week CNN Hero was struggling to survive after a brain injury when she saw Veterans in need. And she made it her personal mission to give back to those who have served their country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY BUCKNER, CNN HERO: It's just filling a basic human need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like this establishment, is a setup the guy.

BUCKNER: This is my brick and mortar. Even though I'm not a veteran, I do have mental health issues that come with having a traumatic brain injury. So I can relate.

You've been burned in the road up in that walker, I know that much. Sometimes I really do surprise people with who I am. I mean look at me I look really rough around the edges right?

[16:50:07]

Hey what's up brother? Nice for you. What else you need? I'm all tatted up and I may throw out a cuss word every now and then. But I'm just Stacey. It's important to show veterans that there are organizations out there that want to really provide support to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Pretty incredible Stacey. To see more, go to CNN Heroes.com. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's a blockbuster weekend for Hollywood with the release of two highly anticipated movies.

[16:55:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Barbie. Can I come to your house tonight?

BARBIE: Sure, I don't have anything big plan just a giant blowout party with all the Barbies and plant choreography.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Barbie dominating the domestic box office bringing in a stunning $155 million. It's the year's largest opening weekend so far and the biggest ever debut for a female director. Coming in hot behind the Greta Gerwig film is Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, which opened at over $80 million in the U.S. The three-hour historical drama couldn't be more different from Barbie, but as social media push to see both movies led to the double feature Barbenheimer craze. Hollywood film studios are working on new ways to use artificial

intelligence to improve their movies. And it's now a major sticking point for actors and writers on the picket line. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through some technological wizardry, 80-year-old Harrison Ford looks exactly like 40-year-old Harrison Ford. Do you understand how they did that?

HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: Not completely.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the latest Indiana Jones movie, Harrison Ford is de-aged for a flashback where he fights the Nazis. Ford explains how the movies makers use artificial intelligence for part of the process.

FORD: So they have this library of images. And they can mine it with artificial intelligence for a position of my face for the light, for where -- and then I put little balls on my face and I say the words and then they take that part and they stick it in that part. But it's perfect. It's not like the photoshopping de-aging, it's my actual face at that actual age.

O'SULLIVAN: Toronto based special effects company Marz, which did not work on the Indiana Jones movie uses AI in a different way.

(On camera): What does Marz done for?

MATT PANOUSIS, COO, MARZ: Monsters, aliens, robots and zombies.

O'SULLIVAN: I think that's the best name I've heard for a company.

PANOUSIS: Thank you. This is where we started. It's an automated solution for cosmetic and de-aging work.

O'SULLIVAN: The latest Spider Man movie released in 2021 features villains like the Green Goblin and Dr. Otto Octavius characters who haven't been seen in years.

JONATHAN BRONFMAN, CEO, MARZ: So they took the villains from previous versions of Spider Man movies and they wanted to bring them back in that moment then when they originally performed that character. So without naming names, we helped Marvel do that on a certain character.

O'SULLIVAN: Marz says it's de-aging AI technology knocks thousands of man hours off the visual effects process, but they say they aren't killing jobs.

BRONFMAN: The demand for visual effects way outstrips the supplies but there are a finite number of artists in the world that are able to execute on that demand.

O'SULLIVAN: Marz has also built an A.I. dubbing tool aiming to make awkward out of sync voiceovers like these that thing of the past. Marz uses deep fake technology to reconstruct an actor's lips to match the dubbed audio. They tried it out on me. First, we sent them this short clip I shot and a CNN studio.

That I've always been terrible at speaking, any language other than English. In fact, I struggle with English sometimes.

With that they were able to do this.

AI: (Foreign Language).

O'SULLIVAN: That is very impressive.

AI: (Foreign Language).

O'SULLIVAN: My lips look French.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know who you are.

O'SULLIVAN: This technology can even put other people's words in your mouth.

AI: But what I do have are a very particular set of skills. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you.

O'SULLIVAN: My fellow Irishman as well.

PANOUSIS: Lift dubbed was built for the purpose of allowing studios to take content in their native tongue and put that content across the globe in a way where it looks native to the viewer.

O'SULLIVAN: For its part Marz says it is not in the business of replacing actors. Its technology is meant to enhance performances, not create them.

FORD: I think it's not a question of the technology, is how you use it.

Look, you know, I can be hit by a bus tomorrow. And that's it. But my performances can go on and on and on and on and on. And outside of the understanding that it's been done with AI or deep fake. There'll be nothing to tell you that it's not me and me alone.

O'SULLIVAN: Fears of how A.I. will be used as party SAG after the actors union is on strike, saying the studio's want to replace them with artificial performances. The movie studios are pushing back on that claim.

BRONFMAN: Technology cannot replace an actor full on so you cannot go head to toe and redo the entire face and expect that to be photo real. The technology just isn't there right now. Now, as it relates to writers, I think they can more easily be replaced by Artificial Intelligence.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: None of that is good news, either. Donie O'Sullivan, thank you so much. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield CNN Newsroom continues with Jim Acosta right now.