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Chinese Malware May Disrupt U.S. Military Operations; Russia- Africa Summit Wraps Up Amid Ukraine's Progress In Counteroffensive; Trump Charges With New Crimes In Classified Docs Case; The Legal Troubles Of Team Trump; Congress Leaves Serious Unfinished Business Behind; Mcconnell's Medical Scare Renews Questions Of Age Limits; Parliament Passes First Legislation To Weaken Supreme Court; Reaching New Heights. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 29, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:45]

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Washington, I'm Paula Reid in for Jim Acosta. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And the hunt is on. The "New York Times" is reporting the Biden administration is searching for malicious computer code that it believes China has seen inside key U.S. systems. According to "The Times" the malware may target power grids, water systems and communications for military bases in U.S. and around the world. That could disrupt or slow U.S. military operations which could be devastating in a military conflict, such as a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan.

CNN's David Sanger helped break this story. He's a national security for responded for "The New York Times" and a CNN political and national security analyst.

David, this sounds pretty terrifying. How concerned is the White House?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They're pretty concerned, Paula. And there have been a lot of meetings taking place in situation room about this. They haven't said very much about it.

We actually got on from one of the rare moments when we got a glimpse of this in May when Microsoft and the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and others put out a warning about some Chinese malware. It was found in Guam. Now, Guam of course is the home of a very major American military base. And it was the opportunity for us to sort of pull the string and sure enough this malware has been found in infrastructures all around the United States and military bases elsewhere in the world.

We don't know how aimed it is at military bases themselves because frequently the bases use the same water, the same power, the same telecommunications grids that everyone else in the area uses.

REID: So you report that this malware could disrupt or slow American deployments or resupply operations. That's obviously could be catastrophic if the U.S. is at war. This also comes at a time that China has ramped up threats against Taiwan which President Biden has vowed to defend. Obviously not a coincidence, right?

SANGER: Not a coincidence, we think. We don't know that this is entirely about Taiwan but clearly partly about it. Guam would be a major area where of course the response to a Taiwan invasion or even just a blockade of Taiwan would take place. But so would California, so would Pacific Command -- Indo Pacific Command in Hawaii. So there are a lot of places that the Chinese would have to worry about.

And remember, this malware may not be crippling, may not be crippling for war. But in most of the Taiwan contingencies that people have done tabletop exercises about, what they've learned is that a few days or weeks matter. If the Chinese were able to take over the entire island and of course they have been threatening to do so since the Chinese revolution that put Mao in charge of the mainland in 1949, then, you know, a short period of time to hold the island would make a very big difference.

REID: Could this malware affect civilian infrastructure?

SANGER: Absolutely. It is civilian infrastructure. You know, what's interesting about this is frequently you see adversaries, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, go after military networks, unclassified or classified. In this case, they are looking at the infrastructure that feeds the bases that is fundamentally civilian infrastructure.

Now it's possible that they believe that Americans would be so distracted by what would happen to their own power, to their own water supplies, that they would be not paying attention to what was happening five or 6,000 miles away. And that's basically called destruction by distraction. And they may well think, given the reaction to the Colonial Pipeline hack a few years ago, which you may recall created gas lines up and down the East Coast at a time that there is plenty of gasoline around.

[19:05:06]

That in fact could (INAUDIBLE) Americans, but they wouldn't pay as much attention to an action against Taiwan or elsewhere.

REID: You report that China's ability to penetrate government, networks, private networks, that it's become much more sophisticated. It's harder to detect. So if this malware is detected and removed, why isn't the threat going away?

SANGER: Well, one reason is the Chinese have gotten much more stealthy in the past two years and that struck almost everybody who's watching this. I've been covering cyber related issues for 15 years now and the change in the China trade craft in the past two years is quite striking.

But of course the trade-off is this, Paula. You see offending malware that you think, well, let's clean it out. Of course as soon as you clean it out the Chinese or whoever else placed this, wouldn't have to just be Chinese malware, would recognize you removed it. And that would give them time to come back in. Maybe with something better hidden.

The other choice is to sit around and just watch it, and move against it in time of conflict. But there you have to be certain that you can move fast enough. And that's a risk as well as.

REID: A risk indeed. David Sanger, thank you so much.

SANGER: Great to be with you, Paula.

REID: And Russian president Vladimir Putin has wrapped up a meeting with African leaders in St. Petersburg. Those leaders pushing for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine after Mr. Putin pushed back.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has the latest.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Paula, President Vladimir Putin has wrapped up several days of meetings with African leaders in St. Petersburg in which he faced pressure over his war in Ukraine as well as Russia pulling out of the grain deal which greatly benefited the African continent. He has been trying over several days to walk a careful line of being agreeable, of reinforcing the relationship between Africa and Russia, while also standing firm on this war in Ukraine, which he continues to call a special military operation.

After the last meeting, which was about an African peace deal in Ukraine, he spoke with Russian reporters. He praised the peace deal. He said it was a good basis for conversation. But he trotted out old arguments, saying that a cease-fire right now is not possible because Russian forces are under attack from the Ukrainian side. He says that Russia has never rejected a peace plan, and then he went on to say as he has been since the beginning of this war, that Russia is fighting against neo-Nazis.

President Putin also weighed in in the ongoing counteroffensive in Ukraine. He argued that Ukraine has suffered significant losses both in terms of manpower and equipment. Here is a little bit more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There are no major changes, and I think it is connected with the fact the enemy pulled back its assault units, so they could recover their combat capability. They have suffered heavy losses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Ukraine now says that it is consolidating gains that it has made over the past several days on that southern front. That front is a major priority as Ukraine tries to drive south and split the Russian forces in what has become known as this land border. The Russian occupied area that runs from Crimea to Russian occupied Donbas. Ukraine has claimed to have taken the town of Staromaiorske. It is

quite small. It has been destroyed in weeks of fighting. But it is a significant victory, Ukraine says, because it has been occupied for a very long time. It is the first town that has been retaken in weeks in this counteroffensive.

Ukraine's forces also pushing south in the Zaporizhzhia region as they try to capitalize on equipment and training that they have gotten from the West. Since the beginning of this counteroffensive, Ukraine has been prodding all along that southern front trying to keep Russia guessing, trying to find a weak spot, trying to pierce through that front. And once they do they believe their forces can pour through and this counteroffensive will accelerate -- Paula.

REID: Alex Marquardt, thank you.

And coming, up a closer look at the growing legal issues for Donald Trump. And the Trump employees and associates now getting caught up in all of it. Plus, as the former president's legal troubles add up, Republicans on Capitol Hill want more probes into President Biden. We will discuss how far Speaker McCarthy could go amid talks of impeachment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The "Washington Post" suggested Republicans may have to find something else to criticize me for now that inflation is coming down. Maybe they'll decide to impeach because it's coming down. I don't know. I love that one. Anyway, that's another story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: And later, we'll speak live to the man who just made the challenging hike up Yosemite's Half Dome at the age of 93.

[19:10:06]

That's all next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: This week as waited for an indictment in the special counsel investigation into former President Trump and election interference, we learned instead of three new charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Earlier I spoke with Ed O'Callaghan. He was a top Justice Department official during the Trump administration and also served as the liaison between the Justice Department and the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Asked his reaction to seeing the document investigation conducted in Washington but then the charges brought in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EDWARD O'CALLAGHAN, FORMER TOP DOJ OFFICIAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROSECUTOR: Certainly there were justifiable reasons to bring the indictment in D.C. and everything looked like it was going to be in D.C. And frankly as a line prosecutor myself, I would be inclined to continue to pursue the indictment in D.C. even if on the face of it, it looked like Florida was a more natural geographic home for that.

[19:15:10]

And that's not to get a home court advantage or anything like that in D.C. versus Florida. It's just that frankly the judges in D.C. are more experienced in handling national classified information cases and they're more familiar with the certain procedural rules that have to occur when you're trying to try a case that handles classified information.

Both Florida courts, they're great courts, but they are not nearly as savvy with regard to those rules. And so I would have done my best as the line prosecutor handling the case to have it in D.C.

REID: And it's so important to have you here because there are so many talking heads within Washington who are going to look at this indictment and just say it's the worst thing, he's going to jail. But if anyone thinks, right, that you're not going to be fair to the former president, we have to remind people that in your role as liaison to the Mueller probe, I mean, you were one of the authors of a memo laying out why the former president should not be charged with obstruction of justice based on what was uncovered in the Mueller probe.

So I just want to read for you really quickly the outline of the obstruction case here. I mean, they're saying, you know, he suggested to his attorneys that they falsely represent to the FBI that Trump did not have documents called for by the grand jury, directing Walt Nauta to move boxes, to conceal them from his own attorney, suggesting his attorney hired or destroy documents, providing the FBI and the grand jury some documents while claiming he was cooperating fully causing a certification to be submitted to the FBI and the grand jury, falsely representing that all documents called for by the grand jury subpoena had been produced, and attempting to delete security footage at the Mar-a-Lago club.

Based on your assessment if you had to draft a memo about whether they should pursue obstruction, what is your assessment of this case for obstruction of justice?

O'CALLAGHAN: Yes, so obviously you have to have the evidence to get all of those allegations into court when you bring the case. But just on the -- this is clearly a speaking indictment, meaning that you're putting a lot of details so people actually know the strength of your case, and by all objective standards seems like a pretty strong case of obstruction here. I mean, the material difference, there are a lot of differences between here and what Special Counsel Mueller was investigating.

REID: A lot of differences, yes. O'CALLAGHAN: But here what we had, the circumstances where he had

already been issued a grand jury subpoena. There was a grand jury that was already investigating whether or not he had unlawfully retained these national defense information documents. And he, according to the allegations in the indictment, knew that the grand jury was investigating this and specifically engaged in that conduct and conduct with others including the new defendant De Oliveira to specifically obstruct that grand jury proceeding. And so the conduct that's alleged in the indictment is of the kind that any prosecutor would be comfortable bringing that case.

REID: Does he have a defense here?

O'CALLAGHAN: So, look, the difficulty with bringing any obstruction case is proving corrupt intent, right? And so that is a very -- you need to as an individual, the government needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was some benefit to you that you expected to obtain by obstructing the investigation. So his defense would be that.

As we know going back to he could have declassified these documents whenever he wanted, that's what his lawyers have been saying and he's been saying from the beginning. So he's going to say, I didn't have any corrupt intent because I didn't think they were classified because I had declassified them. That's an interesting to tact.

I do think that the conspiracy charges that were added, including De Oliveira and some of the facts there, are specifically intended to show what's known as consciousness of guilt, if someone actually believed that they could keep these documents and they had no problem keeping those documents, why did he go about instructing others to try to attempt to destroy security camera footage of them moving the documents around? Why did he give instructions for people to do these things?

And it looks like they have witnesses who will corroborate each other in having received those instructions. So that's good from a prosecutor's perspective. Again, good consciousness of guilt evidence that having these other counts allows you to get in before the jury to help you prove the other accounts that are already charged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So let's hone in now on the mounting legal pressure on the associates of former President Trump. The manager of the Mar-a-Lago property Carlos De Oliveira now accused of trying to delete security footage for, quote, "the boss." He is just the latest person in Trump's orbit to find himself in legal trouble.

CNN's Tom Foreman reminded us who's already on that growing list.

[19:20:01]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another week, another person close to Donald Trump in trouble. The property manager at Mar- a-Lago, Carlos de Oliveira, like Trump aide Walt Nauta, has now been swept into the case over those classified documents, which the Justice Department says Trump illegally took and held. Trump denies it.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is harassment. This is election interference.

FOREMAN: But the charges against Team Trump have been mounting for years. Start with Steve Bannon.

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: I stand with Trump and the Constitution.

FOREMAN: The firebrand adviser has pleaded not guilty to New York state charges of conspiracy to money laundering and fraud. But he has been slapped with four months in prison for another matter, ignoring a congressional subpoena about the January 6th attack. His jail time is on hold while he appeals.

Allen Weisselberg, Trump's longtime chief financial officer, served roughly four months for tax fraud and was ordered to pay $2 million in back taxes, interest and penalties.

Paul Manafort, once Trump's campaign manager, he served two years in prison for bank and tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying, and more before Trump pardoned him.

Also pardoned, former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR OF THE UNITED STATES: The next president of the United States right here.

FOREMAN: He admitted lying to the FBI about his contact with Russia before walking the admission back and suing the government for alleged malicious prosecution.

JACK O'DONNELL, FORMER EMPLOYEE OF TRUMP ORGANIZATION: He compromises almost everyone that works with him at some point or another.

FOREMAN: None of it surprises Jack O'Donnell, who worked for the Trump Organization.

O'DONNELL: I mean, the man is the least compassionate, empathetic person I've ever met in my life. He doesn't care about anyone.

FOREMAN: And the list goes on. George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Elliott Broidy, Roger Stone, all had ties to Trump, all wound up in legal jeopardy. And, of course, former Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, was confined three years after admitting several crimes, including campaign finance violations. He says it's simple why so many follow Trump into trouble.

MICHAEL COHEN, DONALD TRUMP'S FORMER ATTORNEY: Look, it's not as devious as you might think. The man is a cult leader, plain and simple. FOREMAN (on camera): Neither De Oliveira nor Nauta responded to CNN's

request for any further comment. Those are the two men most recently tied to the Mar-a-Lago case. But that's not really very uncommon, is it? Many of those who were close to Trump's inner circle have remained largely tightlipped, even as legal peril has seemed to swirl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Tom Foreman, thank you.

And tomorrow night, a new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" breaks down the criminal investigation of Trump in Georgia. Don't miss it tomorrow night at 8:00 only on CNN.

And coming up, Senator Mitch McConnell's office making clear the minority leader will stay in his leadership post even after a health scare this week. The incident renewing debate over term limits for lawmakers. We'll discuss next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:25]

REID: What a time for Congress to go on summer break. Just before heading out of D.C., House Speaker Kevin McCarthy once again brought up the GOP's interest in impeaching President Joe Biden. In the Senate questions over an aging Congress after Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein both had issues on Capitol Hill this week. And Congress left town with no clear path to funding the government.

So there is lots to discuss with "Punchbowl News" congressional reporter Mica Soellner and "New York Times" congressional correspondent Luke Broadwater.

All right, Luke, let's begin with McCarthy bringing up the idea of impeachment. We played a quick clip earlier, where Biden suggested they're pursuing this because inflation is going down. What's the real reason?

LUKE BROADWATER, NEW YORK TIMES CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Speaker McCarthy is under tremendous pressure from his right-wing. They -- many people in the Republican Party, including many of the base voters, want to see impeachments. They want to see maybe one or multiple impeachments. And, you know, among the names that are being floated are the Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the attorney general, and Biden himself.

And so Kevin McCarthy has not yet committed to going fully through with the impeachment inquiry, but he has raised this specter in the air, hanging it out there, and I think he is hoping it buys him some political space on the right so we can keep negotiating these financial bills.

REID: Mica, do you see this impeachment inquiry actually happening? MICA SOELLNER, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: I think it's

highly likely given what Luke mentioned about Speaker McCarthy's pressure that he's feeling from the right flank of his conference. I will add that, you know, even given that what he said about essentially pursuing one with President Biden, there's members in the House Freedom Caucus that have, you know, publicly started to say, what about Alejandro Mayorkas, which they've asked for long before Biden. So it seems like there's a lot of push and pull even when he does kind of succumb to the asks of the right-wing.

REID: And Luke, we all saw Mitch McConnell freezing before the cameras earlier this week. Then Dianne Feinstein had a moment appearing to be confused on the floor. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): Submitted --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just say aye.

FEINSTEIN: OK. Just -- aye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

FEINSTEIN: For the Department of Defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Any chance this twin bipartisan incident that this will have any impact on term limits and the conversation around that issue?

[19:30:02]

BROADWATER: Yes, well, I've heard no serious conversation about instituting term limits. You know, there was a clamoring for some time for Dianne Feinstein to step down. She has refused to do that. She is planning to serve out her term.

Mitch McConnell on the other hand, I think this came as a kind of a shock for a lot of people, because although we have known about his health issues, to see him freeze up so publicly, in a way he hasn't before in front of the cameras, and all of us in the press like that, took a lot of people aback, and I think it's renewed conversations about who's going to succeed Mitch McConnell.

But of course, his team is saying he is staying on for the rest of his term.

REID: Yes. Quite a moment, especially when it is captured the full, right, 11 seconds or whatever it was, incident on camera.

Mica, Congress, look, it is a fact, they are getting older. "The Washington Post" reports that the current class of lawmakers is one of the oldest in history with a median age of 59 and specifically a median age for senators of 65. That's the median, guys.

Republican Nikki Haley brought up the McConnell incident on the campaign trail. Let's take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if this week didn't prove it to you, we've got to have mental competency tests for anyone over the age of 75. That's not being disrespectful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Is the respect your elders custom -- is that an issue here? Is it that older people vote? What's going on here?

MICA SOELLNER, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Well, I think we're seeing this rhetoric play up a lot more with President Biden in office, Republicans have certainly not let him forget that he's been the oldest president that they've had, but we've got to keep in mind that Donald Trump is only a few years younger than him and he is also running for president.

But we're also I think, you know, an important thing to note here is both parties are really highlighting kind of the younger next generations of both parties, and that, you know, for the Republicans, they're really leaning in on younger, more diverse candidates and the same with Democrats who are maybe imposing a larger vision, some of it might be a little bit more left-leaning than kind of the old guard of the Democratic Party, so we're seeing a lot of movement on both sides when it comes to aging in Congress.

REID: Generational conflicts, right? Nothing new there.

And of course, lawmakers must fund the government by the end of September, where they risk a government shutdown. But the House passed just one of the 12 spending bills before the break, so can this congress and all of the characters involved get a budget or anything else passed before the end of the session?

BROADWATER: I think most people expect them to miss the September 30th deadline. Breaking for a whole month right now is not helping move these appropriations bills any quicker. When they come back, they have only a few weeks to get this done.

I would expect there to be a short-term continuing resolution, as they say, sort of kicking the can down the road a little bit, but I do think we probably will look at a shutdown at some point, given the makeup of this Congress.

You know, the Freedom Caucus is so dug in to these cuts and bringing down the size of spending and I just -- I really have a hard time seeing them not have a shutdown this year.

REID: All right, Luke Broadwater, Mica Soellner, thank you both.

And news just in to CNN: An American woman and her child had been kidnapped in Haiti. What we're hearing from the State Department, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:34]

REID: This just in: An American nurse and her child have been kidnapped in Haiti. It reportedly happened on Thursday morning according to the Christian humanitarian aid organization she works for. They say this about Alix Dorsainvil: "Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family. Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves people in Haiti in the name of Jesus."

Haiti has been in a state of political turmoil and rampant crime and gang violence is plaguing the island. In a statement, the State Department says the US is aware of the abductions and are working with Haitian authorities and the US government's interagency partners.

In Israel, protesters have filled the streets for the past 30 weeks, and today was no exception. They are railing against the country's lawmakers passing a judicial reform measure that weakened the Supreme Court's oversight of government.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Paula.

Well, look, it seems to us almost as though the protesters here in Tel Aviv and in other cities have been jolted by this week's event and that the protests themselves have almost been supercharged.

In fact, I'm going to get out of your way for a second. And you can see that there literally are tens of thousands of people here on the streets of Tel Aviv, and of course, one of the things we know is that similar events are happening across the country, probably not of the same magnitude, but there certainly are people in many Israeli cities who are coming out and who are voicing their anger.

Now, of course, it was quite interesting to see how the street, how the people would react after the Knesset voted on Monday to wade through that first law of the judicial overhaul plan of the Netanyahu government.

There were some folks that we spoke to here at the protest and I want you to listen to what they had to say

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We felt that the problem will be in the court and not in the government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever I think the government is not taking care of us as citizens, the only thing we can do is come here. Well, it is our duty and it is the only thing that we can do as citizens. We come here every week for almost seven months. The law that passed last week maybe they thought we would be tired but

we're here to show that we're not tired, we're just beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So yes, some protesters there, and I think some of the things that people are angry about is, for instance, the fact first of all, of course, that the Knesset waved this law through.

But one of the things that people are talking to us also about is they're very angry at the reaction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu specifically the way that he conducted himself in that interview that he gave to our own Wolf Blitzer, where Netanyahu seemingly would not commit to abiding by a Supreme Court verdict if the Supreme Court of Israel decides to vote down that law that was passed in the Knesset on Monday, of course, in the Reasonableness Law, which as of right now is in power.

The folks that we're speaking to here, say for them, it's extremely important to continue to go out onto the streets. They see they need the government here to understand that there's many people here in this country who are not happy at all with this judicial overhaul, and of course in September, the Supreme Court is going to deal with that case, and they say until then, they're going to keep coming out -- Paula.

REID: Fred Pleitgen, thank you.

And coming up, he went skydiving for his birthday two years ago. So this year, he took on Yosemite's half dome, at the age of 93. Everett Kalin will join us next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:49]

REID: Just in to the CNN NEWSROOM: Reports of widespread damage here in Washington, DC following severe thunderstorms in the area. The National Weather Service has issued alerts for powerful winds of up to 80 miles per hour.

Authorities say they're responding to emergency calls for downed trees and power lines. The city's transit service is also reporting disruptions. The area's utility provider says at least 64,000 customers are now without power.

And Yosemite's half dome standing nearly 5,000 feet above ground is every outdoor adventurer's dream climb. The hike itself can take up to 16 hours round trip, and it's not for the faint of heart.

But for 93-year-old Everett Kalin, it was a chance to accomplish another life goal with three generations of his family.

So joining me now to talk about this incredible feat is Everett Kalin himself and his son, John who joined him on the climb. I should also know that his granddaughter, Sidney also went on the climb, but she cannot be with us tonight because she is at the Taylor Swift concert.

So Everett, I want to ask you, what made you decide to do this now at 93?

EVERETT KALIN, CLIMBED YOSEMITE'S HALF DOME AT 93 YEARS OLD: Well, I tried to think of something I could do. Two years ago, I jumped out of an airplane up in Novato near where we live, and as I thought about it, it seemed like this would be a wonderful opportunity to climb this higher height.

REID: John, what did you think --

E. KALIN: Actually it was higher than we were in the airplane, so that was fun.

REID: Well, that is interesting that this is even a higher than the skydiving. But John, what did you think when your dad asked you to do this with him?

JOHN KALIN, EVERETT KALIN'S SON: So this was in preparation around Christmas time. He is trying to decide what to do next. He says he wants to climb half dome. I thought he was pretty nuts.

Jumping out of an airplane was already kind of out there, but you know, jumping out of an airplane, gravity is going to do its piece, right? And all of a sudden having to climb up a mountain and be fit and as a backpacker myself, I know it's pretty strenuous. I kind of thought he was joking and he was -- no, he was dead serious. He wanted to do it.

REID: How long did it take you guys to get to the top, John?

KALIN: You know it was about -- so we actually broke it into three days. A lot of people do this journey in just a single day and we wanted to make sure that we were giving my dad every advantage to make it happen.

So we broke the trip in to three days. First day, we did about a six- and-a-half, seven mile hike, a couple of thousand feet to get up to a campsite. The second day, which was the day that we actually made it to the top of half dome was about a 13-and-a-half hour journey that day, about nine miles round trip throughout that we took and just an unbelievable experience to go through that, but a testament to his fortitude to be able to make it that long throughout the day. He was a champion.

REID: Yes. Fortitude, I'll say.

Everett, how did you train for such a strenuous and challenging climb? It doesn't seem like the Stairmaster would cut it here. What did you do?

E. KALIN: Well, we live in Oakland and five days a week I walk around Lake Merritt that's about two-and-a-half miles the way I do it. And more and more, I started to climb the stairs in our 16th floor apartment building and I did that maybe three or four times a day towards the end, that got me charged up to do it.

REID: Forget about half dome, just climbing 16 flights of stairs at 93 is very impressive.

John what was it like for you when you got to the top experiencing this with your dad and your daughter? What did that feel like?

J. KALIN: Gosh, I've got to tell you, Paula, you think about some pretty momentous occasions in life and this certainly will rank as one of the top for me.

[19:50:10]

My dad had been training for this for several months, and never at any one time do we know for sure he was going to be able to do it. Kept thinking that there would be setbacks and maybe something that wouldn't allow us and he kept proving me wrong, he kept going and going and going.

And so to finally reach that summit, we get past the cable section. My daughter is there, my dad is there -- you feel like you're on top of the world and the emotion of the moment just really got to all of us and we got in this warm embrace, and everyone else around us just kind of disappeared in that moment, it was just the three of us, an incredibly powerful, just experience to capture with both my daughter and my dad.

REID: All right, Everett, skydiving, half dome? What's next for you? What's the next thing on the bucket list?

E. KALIN: I must honestly say, I have no idea. But I must honestly also say I am looking and we'll find out.

REID: I have no doubt you will. Everett Kalin, John Kalin. Thank you for joining us and sharing this incredible story.

J. KALIN: Thanks very much.

E. KALIN: Thank you very much.

REID: And coming up, the new video, LeBron James just shared of his son after Bronny's cardiac arrest scare.

Plus the milestone swimmer, Katie Ledecky just reached that puts her past fellow legend, Michael Phelps. That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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REID: In Ohio, a moment that must be seen to be believed.

This happened in the city of Huron, which is located between Toledo and Cleveland. The suspected would be Robert, is caught on camera dropping down from the ceiling of a bank drive-thru and literally manages to fall into a recycling bin. Police were called to the scene long before he made his attempted

getaway so they were at the ready to nab him.

The man had a backpack of tools and is now charged with breaking and entering and safe cracking.

New today, video of Bronny James being shared by his father, LeBron after Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest just days ago.

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REID: It is unclear when the video was taken. The 18-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest during basketball practice at the University of Southern California on Monday and is now recovering.

Bronny was getting set for his first season at USC. Their season starts in November, but it's too early to know whether he'll be there for the start of it.

And today, superstar swimmer, Katie Ledecky left Michael Phelps' record for career wins in her wake, earning the most individual world titles with her 16th gold medal in Japan.

CNN's Patrick Snell tells us how she did it.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Well Paula, it was another standout career moment for America superstar swimmer, Katie Ledecky on Saturday. The 26-year-old surpassing the great Michael Phelps for most career individual world swimming titles. This, after winning her 16th gold medal at the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka.

The amazing Ledecky now the first ever swimmer to win six consecutive World Championships in the same event after winning the 800-meter freestyle event, the US swimmer coming home in a time of eight minutes zero 8.87 seconds, another remarkable achievement for an athlete who won her first Olympic title in the 800-meters free at age 15 back in 2012, and is undefeated in the event ever since.

Well, this is now Ledecky's second gold at this year's World Championships after she retained a 1,500-meter freestyle title earlier in the week. Her latest triumph, now the American with a career haul of 21 World Championship goals extending a record as the most decorated woman in the history of the competition.

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KATIE LEDECKY, SWIMMER: It is special. I really didn't even know I was going to achieve that until people started telling me so, that's cool.

I am happy with that swim. I wanted to be a little bit better, but I'll take it and I'm really pleased with how the week went.

I think this was a great stepping stone of a meet. I think just having improvement off of last year in pretty much all my events and just feeling like we're progressing really well in training and in racing. And I'm very confident with the work that I've put in this year and

how I can build on it come next year and when we get back to work in just a couple of weeks.

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SNELL: Well, the Paris Games are just under a year away now. Ledecky has seven individual Olympic gold medals. She is hoping to break Jenny Thompson's record of eight and make her the most decorated swimmer of all time and with that, Paula, it is right back to you.

REID: Patrick Snell, thank you.

And finally, if you didn't win, don't worry, no one else did either. The Mega Millions jackpot has soared to just over $1 billion. No winning ticket matched all six numbers in last night's drawing, so the estimated jackpot for Tuesday's drawing will be the fourth largest prize in Mega Millions' history.

Just last week, one Powerball ticket sold in Los Angeles matched all numbers to win a $1.8 billion prize.

Well, thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Paula Reid, I'll see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern. The whole story with Anderson Cooper is up next.