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CNN International: UNRWA: Roughly 50,000 Have Left Rafah In Past 48 Hours; CIA Director Meets With Netanyahu To Discuss Ceasefire Talks; White House To Issue Report On Whether Israel Violated International Humanitarian Law. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired May 08, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching, I'm Rahel Solomon live for you in New York.

Just ahead this hour, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting CIA Director Bill Burns. This as Israel's military operation in Rafah draws international condemnation. We're going to have the latest developments here. Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden heading to the battleground state of Wisconsin, where he is expected to announce the building of a new artificial intelligence facility. We'll discuss the impact this might have on the race for the White House. Then, a new report suggests Americans who saved money and a lot of it during the pandemic have now spent it all, and it appears that companies had taken notice as well. What the latest earnings reports reveal?

But, we want to begin this hour in Gaza, that's where tens of thousands of people are fleeing Rafah, that's according to a UN agency. And today, international pressure continues to mount for Israel to not launch a major ground offensive there. Now, despite those pleas, hospital officials in Gaza say that three people were killed in attacks in Rafah overnight, including a strike on a house in a residential district. More than two dozen people, including six women and nine children, have died in Rafah since Monday. Now, Israeli officials say that a key border crossing for humanitarian aid into southern Gaza has now reopened. It had been closed since Sunday following rocket attacks by Hamas.

And CIA Director Bill Burns has been meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today as ceasefire negotiations resume. In the meantime, the Biden administration will soon deliver a report to Congress on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law during the war, and the high-stakes report could potentially lead to a change in U.S. policy toward Israel.

We've all the latest developments covered with the help of Chief National security Correspondent Alex Marquardt. He is live for us in Washington. And CNN's Jeremy Diamond who is live in Jerusalem. Jeremy, let me start with you. As far as we can tell, this operation

in Rafah continues. What is the latest there, and what are the IDF's aims? I mean, any sense of how expansive this operation may be?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. As of now, I mean, this seems to be a fairly limited military operation, albeit one that is having significant ramifications on the ground in terms of the flow of humanitarian aid, in terms of hospital closures that we are already starting to see, and in terms of the number of people who are being forced to leave their homes or in some cases temporary shelters being displaced multiple times.

The Israeli military says that it is continuing to conduct what they are calling counterterrorism operations in eastern Rafah near the Rafah border crossing. That border crossing which Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled into in the early hours of yesterday morning remains under the control of the Israeli military. It also remains closed, cutting off one of the key supply lines for humanitarian aid into Gaza, also closing the point where medical evacuations have happened from Gaza to Egypt, as well as the in and out flow of humanitarian aid workers. That's the only point that they have been able to use.

We've seen Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, one of the main hospitals in that city, closed as it fell within that red zone that -- where the Israeli military ordered people to evacuate on a Monday, and that is having significant impacts on the ground as well.

Now, in terms of how much more this ground operation could expand, I think that will be based on whether or not a deal can be reached, as these negotiations still continue in Cairo. And also, we don't have a sense of timing yet of how soon that ground operation could expand. For months now, Israel's top military and political officials have threatened a major ground offensive to take out the four Hamas battalions that they say are still ensconced in that city. That would be a much more significant operation, and we don't know when or if it will come at this stage.

SOLOMON: OK. So, those questions remain. Jeremy Diamond live for us from Jerusalem. Jeremy, thanks so much.

And let's get now to those deal -- that deal and those negotiations. The Israeli war cabinet set to discuss the state of negotiations today.

Let me bring back Alex. Alex, what's the U.S. perspective on how afar things are, and if this deal can be accomplished at all?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, we're hearing some real optimism from U.S. officials. The White House saying yesterday on the record that they believe that the differences can be bridged. You look at the U.S.'s main interlocutor on this ceasefire deal, Bill Burns, the Director of the CIA. He has been on a whirlwind trip over the last few days. He went to Cairo, then to the Qatari capital Doha, back to Cairo.

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Now, he is in Israel. He met today with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as his counterpart, the Mossad director David Barnea. So, things are moving along. We don't know whether we are on the cusp of a real breakthrough. There are more meetings going on today in the Egyptian capital Cairo, at what is known as the working level. So, these are expert negotiators who are going over the finer points of this agreement.

What we heard a couple of days ago from Hamas really does raise questions about whether Israel can accept some of these terms, namely, the release of some 33 hostages. Hamas is saying that there will be both hostages who are alive and those who have died since October 7. And Israeli officials have said that that is unacceptable. So, that's one thing that they've got to work on.

Two other things, are the question of the IDF presence in Gaza. Hamas, of course, wants to see the IDF withdraw from Gaza, and conversations about a permanent ceasefire. Neither are things that Israel is really willing to engage on right now. So, those conversations are continuing at a working level in Cairo. You have those meetings in Israel today. We will see where this goes. But, American officials do believe that progress is being made, Rahel.

SOLOMON: So, some optimism despite some of those sticking points that you lay out there, Alex. Also, what can we expect from this report that's going to be delivered to Congress by the Biden administration? What are we expecting to come out of this?

MARQUARDT: Well, first of all, we're expecting it to be delayed. But, this is a momentous report. This is the first time that this has ever happened. A couple of months ago, in February, a national security memorandum was issued, and that is supposed to govern how the U.S. handles military aid for foreign countries, including Israel. So, what is supposed to happen is Secretary of State Antony Blinken is supposed to make a determination of whether or not Israel has been abiding by international humanitarian law, whether they've been allowing humanitarian aid to get into Gaza. And there can be huge ramifications.

If he says, no, Israel has not been abiding by international law. That could have a huge impact on how much the U.S. supports Israel, whether it continues to support Israel militarily. If the U.S. says, yes, they have been following international humanitarian law, you're going to hear howls from the human rights community, from a number of Democrats, from a lot of critics of Israel. So, there are huge implications on both sides of this. We are now not expecting this to be on time. I'm told by senior administration official that the emphasis is on the quality of this report. They want to make sure that they give all of the appropriate context that this is not, as I was told, a box-checking exercise. They really want to make sure that whatever they come forward with is explained fully to Congress in this report. Rahel.

SOLOMON: Well, it certainly would make sense, as you lay out, with the implications being so large, both militarily but also politically for the current President. Alex Marquardt live for us in Washington. Alex, thanks so much.

And among the many heartbreaking results of this war, children left without parents. Nearly 20,000 of them are now orphans. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh met with one orphan, Palestinian child, who is coping with the pain of such a loss. We do want to warn you that some of these images are difficult to watch.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Darin giggles and shrieks at the same time. The pain from bending her knees is just too much. You promised you will make me cry today, she tells the nurse. Months of these physical therapy sessions after multiple surgeries has gotten her back up on her feet, starting to walk again as she turned 11. The last time we saw Darin, she was lying injured, unconscious in a hospital bed in Gaza last October. She and her brother Kenan had just survived an Israeli airstrike. Kenan was quiet and confused, barely able to open his eyes. Their great-aunt was by their bedside, trying to shield them from the most crushing of news.

DARIN ALBAYYA, PARENTS KILLED IN GAZA (Interpreted): For the first time now I feel that I am an orphan. In the morning when I go to school, mom and dad are not there to give them a kiss before I leave.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Darin and Kenan now know they were the only ones who survived that airstrike. Their mom, dad, and eight-year-old brother Waleed (ph) are gone. Their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins, 70 loved ones, all perished that October day. The children made it out to Qatar for medical treatment. They have new friends. They go to school. They play and laugh. But, beneath this veneer of normalcy is the pain they share with nearly 20,000 Palestinian children who the UN estimates have lost their parents in this war. Five-year-old Kenan seems oblivious to it all. But, sometimes, his aunt says, he pretends he is on the phone to his parents. They laugh, they smile, but they also cry, Yusra (ph) tells us. Sometimes, I can't be strong anymore. I hug Darin and we cry. Then I pull myself together and tell her we have to be strong and get through this.

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Yusra separated from her own family in Gaza, has not left their sight since October. She has become their everything. They now call her Tatta (ph) or grandma. Not a day goes by for Darin without thinking of her parents and all those she has lost. She interrupts her interview several times to look through their photos. It's what she does when she misses them.

ALBAYYA (Interpreted): I miss mom's cooking. I miss mom, my dad and my brother. Dad made me my own princess themed room. Mum used to spoil me. When I was little and war would come, it would last a few days but this war is unlike any other war. God chose to take the people we love, the good people.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): On a call to her injured uncle in Gaza, Darin breaks down, begging anyone to get him and his family out. She has to protect them, she says. It's that all-consuming fear of losing those she has left.

ALBAYYA (Interpreted): I wish I could go back to Gaza, but what will be left in Gaza? Destruction, people are all in tents. Gaza is no longer Gaza. It is now a city of ghosts.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): For now, she is finding her own way of dealing with grief.

ALBAYYA (Interpreted): I am not sad that my family was killed, because they are happy in heaven. They are not dead. They are alive. We don't see them but they see us.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Doha.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Our thanks to Jomana for that report.

Overnight, Washington, D.C. police cleared out the pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University. The Metro Police Chief says that 33 arrests were made, and that has drawn criticism from demonstrators who say that the protests were peaceful.

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AHMED EL MASRY, DEMONSTRATOR AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: I'm angry. Like, we've been here peacefully protesting. This was our camp. We -- it became a community. Like, we were here speaking up for something noble, and it just -- they took it all away because the mayor is about to meet on Capitol Hill today, and they were going to ask her about that.

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SOLOMON: Now, that Capitol Hill hearing you heard that protester mention has now been cancelled. One source with knowledge of the school and police communication says that the university was not notified that police were going to clear the camp until about 1:30 a.m. local time.

Now, a short drive down the road from that university, a congressional hearing is underway over antisemitic incidents in school. Right now, lawmakers are grilling the leaders of three school districts in New York, California and Maryland. Now, some Republicans have made rising incidents of antisemitism a political issue this election year.

Here to explain is Annie Grayer, who joins us live from Capitol Hill. Annie, good to see you. In the past, these hearings were focused on college campuses. This is the first time that lawmakers are going to address school districts about reports of antisemitism in high school and with very young students. What have we seen so far here?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rahel, this hearing has already gotten off to a contentious start. The top Republican on this Committee, in his opening statement, just started grilling these local school administrators from New York, California and Maryland, asking them what they have done to discipline and hold students accountable who have made alleged antisemitic acts, and said that the real purpose of this hearing is to get to the bottom of what they have done, and accused them of not doing anything. Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the Committee is trying to take a more nuanced approach here, where she is calling for the need to condemn and call out any acts of antisemitism, but also saying it is important to protect the right for free speech.

So, we're seeing these kinds of different tacks from both Republicans and Democrats play out in the early stages of this hearing, when Republicans in their questioning, which is now underway, are really grilling these school administrators about what disciplinary actions they have taken against students and teachers.

SOLOMON: Yeah. We're just about an hour into that hearing. And as you point out, already starting off. Quite contentious. Annie Grayer live for us on Capitol Hill. Annie, thank you.

All right. Still to come, a big job announcement from President Joe Biden, as he tries to entice voters in the swing state of Wisconsin. Plus, U.S. lawmakers demanding answers after an exclusive CNN report on a deadly ISIS attack outside the Kabul airport in 2021. We'll take a short break. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. President Joe Biden will be touting a big job announcement today, as he hits the campaign trail in the Midwest. Happening soon, President Biden will be arriving in the battleground state of Wisconsin to announce the building of a new artificial intelligence facility there. Now, Microsoft is footing the $3.3 billion project which is expected to create thousands of jobs.

CNN's MJ Lee is standing by in Wisconsin. So, MJ, what do we know about this facility, and what can we expect to hear from Biden when he speaks?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Just to help set the scene for you a little bit, we are some 30 to 40 minutes south of Milwaukee, and this is a technical college where President Biden is going to take the stage any moment and make that big announcement that you were talking about, where Microsoft is going to invest some $3.3 billion to create a brand new AI (Artificial Intelligence) facility here. And this is a hefty investment that according to the White House would initially create some 2,300 union jobs for just the construction of this facility itself.

They are also partnering with the college that we are at to do IT training for some 1,000 workers. And all in all, the White House says that this will create some 2,000 permanent jobs. And the site of where this Microsoft plant would be built eventually is really politically significant, because this is a very same site where Donald Trump some years ago had promised a huge factory to be built by Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics company. And at the time, they had promised that thousands of jobs would be created, that billions of dollars would be invested. And those big promises largely just failed to materialize. And Democrats had pointed to that as one of the really big failures for Donald Trump and his administration.

And I am told by a White House official that when the President takes the stage behind me, he will point his finger at Donald Trump and point to that Foxconn failed investment, and just remind voters that this is something that didn't actually end up working out for Wisconsinites. Now, not surprisingly, given that this is an event that is heavy on economics, we are also going to hear the President more broadly talk about his legislative accomplishments, including the funding and the resources that came from some of those laws and went towards people that actually live here in this very important state of Wisconsin.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And MJ, I mean, it's clearly a very important state to Biden. It's his fourth visit to the state this year, I believe. So, walk us through after that speech, what else the President is going to be doing in Wisconsin today?

LEE: Yeah. There is going to be a second stop for the President, and that is going to be a campaign stop, really where the President is going to go to a training session where campaign officials are going to be training folks on basically voter turnout. We are told that by the campaign, importantly, that this is going to be an event where the President will be speaking directly to black voters. That demographic group, of course, is so important in this state, particularly if you keep in mind the context that this is a state that Donald Trump won in 2016 and President Biden was able to flip in 2020 but won that state very, very narrowly.

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And the thing that Democrats very much want to avoid heading into November is just a lack of enthusiasm and lack of really just ambivalence coming from black voters, particularly in the Milwaukee area, because this was a huge problem for Hillary Clinton back in 2016. This is a campaign stop when you talk about training campaign workers. That may not sound like sort of the sexiest campaign stop. But, I think Biden campaign officials would argue this is sort of at the core of the work that they are doing right now to build up the campaign infrastructure at a time when, of course, Donald Trump, their opponent, is spending weeks on end sitting in a courtroom.

SOLOMON: Yeah. MJ, as you talk about sort of Biden's slim majority in 2020, it is 23,000 votes. So, the slimmest of majorities, to add to your point. MJ Lee live for us in Wisconsin. MJ, thank you.

And CNN's Erin Burnett will sit down with President Joe Biden for one- on-one interview from the campaign trail in Wisconsin. Their conversation airs on "Erin Burnett Outfront" today. That's at 7 p.m. in New York, midnight in London.

And as the hush money trial takes a break today, Donald Trump apparently still fuming over Stormy Daniels and her testimony. The adult film star delivered dramatic and at times explicit testimony on Tuesday, as she detailed her alleged sexual relationship with Donald Trump. And Trump's lawyers argue that the judge should declare a mistrial after the salacious testimony. The motion, though, was denied. Now, with the defense looking to protect Trump's reputation, sources tell CNN that they intend to conduct a more lengthy cross- examination that they had -- than they had originally planned.

Now, away from the courtroom, the former President has won his primary in Indiana, but Nikki Haley, who you might remember, she suspended her campaign two months ago, Nikki Haley still won 20 percent of the vote. And just a few hours ago, the Georgia Court of Appeals said that it will consider a bid from Donald Trump to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case. The former President and his co-defendants say that Willis should be removed from the case. They argue that she engaged in an improper relationship with the attorney she chose to lead the investigation.

In March, Judge Scott McAfee ruled that there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Willis financially benefited from her relationship with Nathan Wade. We should, however, say that Nathan Wade did step down from the case, and that was a contingency of the judge's ruling. That was a requirement of the judge's ruling, if Fani Willis was to stay on the case.

All right. A lot to dive into with today's panel. Joining me from Washington is former Special Assistant to President Biden, Meghan Hays, and here in New York is former Advisor to former House Speaker John Boehner, Maura Gillespie. Good to see you both. Wow, there is so much to discuss today. Let's stick with Biden for just a moment.

Meghan, as we heard our correspondent MJ Lee there say that Biden is specifically meeting with black voters in Wisconsin, talking about turnout, how important is this state, and what does he need to say? Because if you look at 2020, if you look at 2016, turnout among this voting bloc has been soft. So, what does he need to say?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN, & FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE AND PLANNING: I think that he needs to continue to build his coalition and to build a strong coalition. The black vote is extremely important to the President and the President's victory in November. I think he needs to talk about the jobs he has created in Wisconsin, the things he has done and delivered on when he is President, and to the contrary, the contrast between him and President Trump or former President Trump. I just -- this is an extremely important voting bloc for him, and he needs to really turn out the message there and really continue to drive home how important it is for black people to vote for him in November.

SOLOMON: Maura, on the flip side, although if you're sort of looking at it in the aggregate, black voters do overwhelmingly support Biden. Although those numbers are softening, it's the flip for Trump where he actually sees his support among this group growing. What seems to be working for him, do you think, with this group?

MAURA GILLESPIE, FMR. ADVISOR TO FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER, & FMR. ADVISOR TO FMR. HOUSE REPUBLICAN ADAM KINZINGER: He plays a lot to people's fear and anger, and I think he really plays on people's emotions and feeling. Are you doing well right now? And he plays on the economy. He plays on people go into the grocery store and not being able to afford the groceries they were able to when he was President. So, he really does play on what are impacting table issues, things that are affecting families. He is good about that. But, again, he really is good at stoking fear and anger, and pointing the finger at somebody and pointing the finger at Joe Biden as the reason for all the problems we face right now in this world.

SOLOMON: Maura, let me stick with you for just a moment. And speaking of anger, it seemed like Trump himself was pretty angry yesterday during the Stormy Daniels testimony. She is expected to resume testimony tomorrow. How damaging politically, is what we've heard thus far? We certainly heard the argument before trial began. The charges are baked in. The cases are baked in. Voters know. They've already heard the stories. But now, this testimony is new, and at times pretty salacious. I mean, what are your thoughts about the vulnerability here for him based on what we've heard?

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GILLESPIE: I think with Trump voters, they already -- they're going to believe what Trump says, and he says that this isn't true, that he didn't sleep with Stormy Daniels, despite all these salacious details. I also think that the salacious details coming out yesterday, it does kind of make it look like this is targeted, and it really does feed into his narrative that he has been saying all along that this is a witch hunt. They're out to get him. And so, the credibility there, because they just decided to include those details that aren't necessarily relevant to the financial aspect of the case, it will only bolster his supporters. I don't think that you're going to have anyone dissuade or all of a sudden see this case and be like, Oh, I should vote for Trump. But, I do think that his supporters are even more firmly adamant to be on his side.

SOLOMON: Meghan, let me ask, one thing that's sort of flown under the radar today because of all the other news of the day is the Indiana primary, and what caught my attention is Nikki Haley's results. Nikki Haley, I mean, she suspended her campaign months ago. Obviously, voters know that. And so, what do you make of the results there, and is that something that Biden can capitalize, because when you look sort of at the details, it's the suburban voters? Is that something that Biden can capitalize on?

HAYS: I think he absolutely needs to capitalize on this to win some of these battleground states. I mean, she also wanted a huge majority in Pennsylvania -- sorry, a huge portion of the voting bloc in Pennsylvania, which was larger than the portion that Joe Biden won in 2020. So, it's just -- these are incredibly important voters. But also, to Maura's point from earlier, his base isn't going to change based on the Stormy Daniels testimony here and the case here, but these other voters and these swing voters that are voting for Nikki Haley, those are the voters he might be able to convert. So, I think that these are -- these stories are a little bit connected here. But, these are definitely voters that Joe Biden needs to convert to win. SOLOMON: Maura, is there anything that Trump can do to win these Nikki

Haley voters? Or is this a group that are sort of Never Trumpers? And whether Nikki Haley is in the race or not, they're not voting for Trump. I mean, what do you think? What can he do to try to win over some of these voters?

GILLESPIE: I think that it's going to be hard to get some of these people. Like you said, there are a large chunk of those voters who are Never Trumpers. But, that doesn't mean that they're Biden voters. So, I think it's really important for both candidates to find ways to reach out to those voters, especially on issues like the economy, safety and security and abortion issues as well, trying to reach out to them and pull them to their side, because it is the responsibility of the candidates to encourage those voters to vote for them. It is not the responsibility of the voters to choose between two choices that they probably don't really want to choose between. So, that's going to be important here in the stretch to November.

SOLOMON: Let me just ask both of you this last question. So, Meghan, let me start with you. So, the judge in the Mar-a-Lago case, Aileen Cannon, essentially saying, putting that case on hold indefinitely until they sort of sort out some of the issues there with some of the classified documents. The case in New York may be the only case that goes before jury before voters head to the polls in November. Is that a factor in things at all for Biden, or is that a non-factor, or is it sort of business as usual in terms of campaigning until 20 -- until November?

HAYS: Look, I think that the President will continue to campaign just as business as usual. He wants to be out there. He wants to be showing the American people the things that he has delivered for them. I think what these trials do and these indictments have done is to show a strong contrast between the two options here for folks. And it also, just like in Wisconsin today, he is campaigning on something that he is delivering that Trump promised and didn't deliver on. So, it's just all about both drawing that contrast and giving voters an actual choice here. So, it is not about going to trial. It's about all these indictments, and building a case of why Joe Biden is a better President, will be better for their future.

SOLOMON: And Maura, how do you see it? I mean, is this a gift politically for Trump? I mean, he obviously has this New York case. But, I mean, now in Georgia, you have this appeals being considered about Fani Willis and you have the Mar-a-Lago case at least being put on hold indefinitely.

GILLESPIE: Right. And I do think it helps Trump especially with those voters who are undecided. When it comes to Donald Trump, most people do either if they're already supporting him, they believe him when he says that it's not true, that the fake news is after him and those kinds of things. But, it's those voters who knew what was going into it beforehand. Right? We knew about the Stormy Daniels thing. We knew about the Hollywood Access tape. They still knowingly voted for him. They went working for him. But, for those voters who are currently on the fence, it is -- it comes down to, is he a threat to democracy? Is he going to put our democracy at risk if he gets back into the White House?

And so, what he does now from now until November, and calling January 6 insurrectionists hostages isn't going to get those voters onto his side. So, it will be a real messaging game for him from now until November.

SOLOMON: OK. We'll leave it here. Meghan Hays, Maura Gillespie, good to see both. Thanks, ladies.

GILLESPIE: Thank you.

HAYS: Thank you.

SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead, powerful tornadoes hitting parts of Michigan, including this FedEx facility. We will be live in Michigan with the latest. Plus, unprecedented global temperatures in April could point to another record-setting year. We will dig into the data with our chief climate correspondent coming up next.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. And here are some of the world headlines we're watching for you today.

Local officials in Ukraine say that Russia carried out a massive missile attack targeting energy infrastructure. Overnight, Russian forces attack facilities from Lviv in the west to Zaporizhzhia in the southeast. According to Ukrainian authorities, at least three people are hurt, including an eight-year-old child.

In Serbia, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been getting the red carpet treatment. He met with the Serbian President earlier. The two leaders announced plans to increase cooperation, including more agricultural imports from Serbia to China, and also more direct flights between Belgrade and Chinese cities. Next on Xi's European tour is a state visit to Hungary.

All right. Back here in the U.S., powerful tornadoes and storms ripped across parts of Michigan. It happened Tuesday night in the southwestern part of the state. Many homes and businesses, as we can see in this video here, were damaged or destroyed. Dozens of people were injured, many at a mobile home park near Kalamazoo. And just a few kilometers west of that, a FedEx shipping facility sustaining roof and structural damage.

Derek Van Dam joins us now with the latest. He is live in Portage, Michigan. So, Derek, give us a sense based on where you are on the ground, what you have seen, and what things are like for the people there.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are on the ground of that FedEx facility that had considerable damage. You can see it over my right hand shoulder. But first, I want to talk about just how active this year has been. If the forecast holds for today, the severe weather chances that are ongoing across the eastern U.S., this will be the 14th day in a row where a tornado, one tornado or more, has touched down in the United States. So, we're talking about severe weather fatigue. Here, where I'm standing in Portage, Michigan, this is on the western side of the state of Michigan, this area was struck by two tornadoes in the span of one hour and 20 minutes. This all occurred last night. And it caused the damage that you're seeing behind me.

Let's give you an interesting kind of aerial perspective. This is from our Mastcam from our satellite truck. That's how we're reporting to you here now, and you can see some of the roof that has collapsed within this area. And also, this kind of aerial drone shot gives a better perspective of the path of the storm as well and some of the damage. We've driven around, seen trees on top of homes. We've seen power lines snap. We've seen power lines still draped across roadways, and facilities and electrical companies are on the scene, trying to restore power to the people that have been impacted by this.

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But, what's made this tornado unique here in Michigan is that the first tornado emergency was issued here in Michigan yesterday evening with this round of severe weather that came through. So, that really set it apart. It was a considerable storm. And that threat has not only impacted here in Portage, but places to my south in eastern Union County as well. There was a mobile home park where 15 to 20 injuries were reported. They were minor, no fatalities that we're hearing of. But, this is what you're seeing behind me. It's just a drop in the bucket of the actual destruction from the tornadoes that swept through.

Now, the threat does not end today. Check this out. We have new storms brewing and new to CNN. In fact, a new tornado watch just issued for just south of St. Louis. Check out the graphics here, and you can see that's valid for portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri until 5 p.m. Central Daylight Time, or 6 p.m. Eastern Standard -- or Eastern Daylight Time, I should say. So, the atmosphere taking advantage of the volatile environmental conditions. And we'll show you just how many people are under threat of severe weather. We're talking over 140 million Americans under this threat, stretching from the nation's capital all the way to eastern Texas.

But, we really hone in on that shading of red. That is the level four or five from the Storm Prediction Center. They have highlighted this area where the latest watch has just been issued for the potential at least for EF2 tornadoes. That's winds of 111 miles per hour or greater from these storms. We know what type of damage and destruction they can do. And unfortunately, some of the fatalities have been known with these types of storms as well.

There has also been monster-size hail, equivalent to the size of a softball falling from the sky. Here in Michigan, yesterday, with the storms that came through, four inch in diameter hailstones fell from the sky, and that has only occurred 13 times in the state's history. It was nearing a record size hailstone. You can imagine, just as a meteorologist, it takes an incredible amount of updraft on a thunderstorm to suspend an ice crystal like that in the air so long that it accrues and accretes to four inches in diameter, eventually allowing for gravity to win and having that hailstone fall to the ground as basically a missile. Right?

So, it's been a day of extreme conditions, but it's not over yet. The severe weather threat continues to advance south and east, impacting the mid-Mississippi River Valley, and then the East Coast tomorrow. Rahel.

SOLOMON: And Derek, I'm curious, 140 million people, I mean, that is a huge swath of the U.S. population. We're talking about one third, 40 percent or so. I mean, is that typical to see that type of risk impact so many people?

DAM: This is a unique storm system that we have seen evolve over the past couple of days. Even though it's not the same storm that brought the tornadoes to Oklahoma a couple of days ago, it is a similar type of a setup. It just happens to be a little further east and over more densely populated areas of the eastern third of the country.

So, when we talk about tornadic development over the plains states or tornado alley here, as we refer to it in the United States, there is less people who live there. So, it doesn't impact the millions upon millions that we're seeing now, because we're including places like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia. Let's talk about places like Nashville and Cincinnati as well. So, those high population densities all add up in combination to have that 140 million people. I mean, that is roughly a third or more of our U.S. population.

SOLOMON: Wow. Just incredible. Derek Van Dam live for us out there in Portage, Michigan. Derek, thank you.

And the records just keep falling. When it comes to the climate, new data from Europe's climate monitoring service shows that last month, our planet warmest -- was our planet's warmest April on record. It continues a streak of unprecedented global temperatures, and scientists warn that this year could end up being the hottest on record for the second year on a row.

For more now, here is CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Here we go again. In the age of broken record breaking, April is now the hottest ever recorded, marking the 11th straight month of above average temperatures, above the Industrial Revolution averages. Now, 1.58 degrees, above pre-industrial norms. That is April. Of course, the Paris Accor, the entire climate movement multilaterally around the world is to try to hold that temperature globally at 1.5. This is yet another month beyond that. Scientists, of course, are more concerned about the long term, whether we hold at 1.5. But, the more months we break this record, the closer we get to that scary future. Right now, it seems the world is on path to a three degrees of

warming, which would have devastating consequences. But, you're already seeing in Asia, painful consequences of this unnatural heat, 110 degree days in India during the elections there.

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Folks in Vietnam, massive flooding, fish kills across Asia, and now we're heading into hurricane season, predicted to be among the most active ever in the Atlantic. And when you look at the sea surface temperatures, those are equally or even more alarming. Now, April was the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking temperatures in our oceans. This is bad news on a bunch of levels, for one is the coral bleaching events that are taking place from Australia to the Caribbean. These are the cradles of marine life. And so, the more we lose, the more that biomass shrinks. It means stronger storms. Heat is the engine of a hurricane, as we head into that season as well. So many concerns.

This all according to the Copernicus space agency in Europe. NASA knows numbers will come out later. But, both are certain to say that 2024 is on track to be the warmest ever recorded, yet another broken record. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right. Well, coming up, a check on Wall Street, as tech stocks pullback in early trading, and first quarter earnings reports exposing some worries about the all-important American consumer. We'll talk about it after a short break.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. A group of U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers from the Defense Secretary about the American military's chaotic exit from Afghanistan, specifically, the Pentagon's conclusions on the ISIS suicide blast outside Kabul airport in 2021. The Abbey Gate attack led to the death of 13 U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghans. But, the Pentagon's findings on what happened have been contradicted by video obtained by CNN, which appears to show there was much more gunfire than the Pentagon suggested.

Reporting from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and producer Mick Krever helped prompt this new demand from lawmakers. And joining us from London is Nick. Nick, good to have you. So, help us understand it. It seems to be that the issue of how much gunfire there actually was in the aftermath. That seems to be the biggest concern. Help us understand the discrepancies and what these lawmakers are now asking for.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, ultimately, going back to August 2021, a bomb goes off, an ISIS suicide bomber, 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. personnel, an exceptionally high number for one suicide bomber, many analysts have concluded. And there were reports from Afghan survivors of gunfire, some saying they were shot themselves, some saying other Afghan civilians shot in the aftermath after that blast. Now, the Pentagon in two investigations said nobody was hit by gunfire

at all, and those witnesses were wrong. And indeed, Afghan medical staff who say they saw gunshot wound in the dead and even pulled bullets from patients were wrong. They say the only gunfire in the aftermath were three separate bursts, which were nearly simultaneous and hit nobody, and were fired by British and American troops. That's the official narrative. Our video released two weeks ago shows this, the gunfire in fact lasted for four minutes and there were 11 episodes. You can't see who is shooting who there, but it's certainly not the narrative the Pentagon has stuck to for two years.

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The congressman have written to Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, eight of them, five of them veterans of Afghanistan themselves, and said, look, you briefed us about your investigations. And clearly, those briefings have a discrepancy with the CNN video. Explain that to us, please. Do you have any other video? Release that, if you do. And also, why didn't you interview any Afghans at all, including the Afghan doctor we spoke to who says that his hospital alone found 70 dead, had gunshot wounds? So, key questions from them.

Also, we've heard from seven of the families of the 13 U.S. service personnel who died there. They say that they feel misled by the Pentagon in a number of briefings that they have had from them. For their part, the Pentagon have always insisted that our video doesn't change their investigation results. Just yesterday, they said they'd be open to new video for a better understanding, potentially. But, the Secretary of Defense Office said that they have a sacred obligation to the Gold Star families or the 13 dead personnel for their service, for their sacrifice. And that means, I paraphrase here, that they will do their utmost to provide them with the best information that they can about what happened.

So, clearly, the Pentagon here trying to explain why there are so many trenchant demands now from so many congressmen about the discrepancies between their account and our reporting. Rahel.

SOLOMON: So, Nick, what happens now in terms of trying to bridge the gap between these discrepancies? This letter was just sent on Tuesday from these lawmakers. So, what happens next?

WALSH: Yeah. I mean, they've asked for an unclassified briefing. They've asked to be told openly for an explanation about this. They've been given classified briefings separately. They specifically asked the video. They specifically asked why Afghans -- look, we've interviewed dozens over the past two years, who reported either being shot or seeing people being shot and medical personnel who dealt with gunfire wounds themselves. So, those are potentially individuals who the Pentagon could speak to. And then there is the possibility as well that Congress may decide to take this into their own hands and investigate themselves.

It transpires that eight of those congressmen who signed the letter are all on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They may choose to take a role as well. And all of this is going to continue to pressure the Pentagon on this reminder here, the most awful episode that ended America's longest war, the biggest casualty event for Afghans and the U.S. personnel for decades, frankly, particularly in Afghanistan, and the truth of which still appears to be elusive so many years after. Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Great reporting, Nick. Certainly keep us posted. We know you'll stay on top of it. Nick Paton Walsh there.

Well, the Chinese company TikTok is suing the U.S. over new law that could result in a nationwide ban of the popular app. So, the law forces its parent company, ByteDance, to sell off the app to a non- Chinese entity or to get banned across the U.S. The Biden administration says that there are security concerns between ByteDance and its relationship with the Chinese government. But, the lawsuit from TikTok alleges that the law is unconstitutional because it prevents Americans' right to free speech.

The failed crypto exchange FTX now says that it can pay back most of its creditors. On Tuesday, the company unveiled a proposed reorganization plan and it would pay in full non-governmental creditors based on the value of their claims in bankruptcy court. In a collapse in 2022, FTX was valued between $14.5 billion and just over $16 billion. The former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection to the collapse.

All right. Americans' cash cushion has apparently gone flat. That is the conclusion of a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. You see, during the pandemic, Americans saved a lot of money, and I do mean a lot. At its peak, savings had reached $2.1 trillion. But, economists now say that extra spending money is gone. And it's really this cash cushion that helped the U.S. economy remain robust, especially compared to its counterparts, despite inflation and despite higher interest rates. The authors of this report also state that many Americans now have more debt than they do savings, and that, well, that could signal a downturn.

First quarter earnings reports have also exposed some of these worries about consumers and how much they're buying. Shares of Tyson Foods, for example, this is one of the largest meat producers in the world, well, those shares dropped nearly six percent on Monday. Starbucks also saw a large drop in its stock price, and the CEO of McDonald's noted that consumers were keeping their wallets closed too.

Joining us to break down the numbers is CNN Business Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn in New York. Nathaniel, earnings reports are always really interesting to me, especially these consumer-facing companies because they give you a real sense from these companies about, what people are doing? How people are feeling? So, what are the food chains saying about the state of American consumers?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yeah, Rahel. Not only do they give us an insight into the state of consumers.

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But, if you listen to the calls with these CEOs and analysts, they describe some really interesting trends, and they really get into specifics. So, Starbucks, it says that consumers are cutting back on some of these pricier drinks, these $5, $6 ice drinks that we see, the ice lemonades, etc. Mondelez, which owns Oreo and a bunch of these big snack brands, Mondelez says that people are cutting back on Chips Ahoy cookies, and this is because we've seen prices increase so rapidly these past few years. You look at restaurant prices. They're up about 33 percent in 2024 versus where they were in 2019, and this is forcing consumers to make decisions about what they want to spend on, what they're cutting back on.

McDonald's has gotten a lot of backlash on social media, on TikTok, for some of these expensive Big Mac meals that we're seeing, really sticker shock that folks are seeing for their meals. And so, McDonald's says that customers are cutting back. And I think, Rahel, we're seeing it particularly with lower income consumers and middle class consumers who are more squeezed than some of the wealthier income consumers.

SOLOMON: Yeah. As the kids might say, Nathaniel, outside is very expensive these days. Outside is very expensive. What are the retailers saying? Are people shopping for clothes? What are they saying?

MEYERSOHN: So, Rahel, some of the discretionary merchandise, that's where we're seeing people really cut back, stuff that they don't -- they'd like to have but don't necessarily need. So, some of the clothing, furniture, electronics, those retailers are really being squeezed. And so, we're starting to see retailers actually lower their prices. IKEA, H&M, Michaels, they've all talked about how they're going to start lowering their prices, adding more promotions to try to entice shoppers to buy. And look, this is good news for consumers, although it's perhaps on merchandise that they already have enough of. I mean, do we need another couch? Do we need another television? Maybe we already bought some of that stuff during the pandemic.

But, certainly, all the discounts squeeze the retailer's bottom line. So, consumers like to see it, but not great news for the retailers.

SOLOMON: No, not at all. And just in terms of the consumer. I mean, one thing that seems to still be helping the consumer despite, as we talk about higher prices, despite higher borrowing costs, is the strength of the labor market, as we continue to be in this really tight labor market. And so, one thing you've heard from economists is cash savings may have dwindled, but people still are employed. We'll see how much that continues to help these retailers, these restaurants and consumer spending moving forward.

Nathaniel Meyersohn, good to have you. Always love talking about earnings calls. Nathaniel, come back anytime. All right. Nathaniel, thank you.

Let's take a quick look and see how markets are doing on Wall Street. It's a mixed day, not drastically. The Dow is up a quarter of a percent. The NASDAQ is off a quarter of a percent, and the S&P is off fractionally. Let's take a look in Europe, markets closed higher. Green across the board. FTSE 100 closed up about half a percent. DAX, one third of a percent. Paris, almost three quarters of one percent, and Zurich up about the same. Let's take a look at Asia, more of a mixed picture there. The Nikkei closed off about 1.6 percent. South Korea closing up about four tenth of one percent. So, a mixed picture there. All right. That's your market recap.

We're going to take a quick break, and we will be right back.

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SOLOMON: And before we go, one more thing. The Olympic flame has arrived just outside a port in Marseille, France, for the Summer Olympic Games. It is scheduled to be brought off of this three-masted ship about an hour from now after sailing from Greece. Ceremonies in Marseille include a six-hour parade with hundreds of boats and tens of thousands of 1000s of people watching. The torch relay starts Thursday, sending the flame on a journey to Paris and time for the opening ceremony on July 26. Wow. July is upon us.

And we know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One world is coming up next.

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