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Satellite Images Show Israeli Ground Operations Around Rafah; Biden Says U.S. Not Walking Away from Israel's Security; Russia to Mark Victory Day with Putin's Speech and Parade; Three of Trump's Four Criminal Cases Postponed. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 09, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Coming up this hour here on CNN, as Israel's offensive on Rafah expands, the U.S. president says enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're walking away from Israel's ability to wage war in those areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: As one shipment of U.S. offensive weapons on hold, the president warns Israel of more delays in military assistance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is what Putin has to offer, and it's war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Vladimir Putin on Victory Day. How the Russian president tied his own blatantly rigged election win into the country's revered celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The legal strategy of delay, delay, delay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Justice delayed may be justice denied. And so it is for Donald Trump. Three of his four criminal trials all effectively postponed indefinitely.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: For the first time, U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Israel will not be supplied with offensive weapons which could be used in the military offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

During an exclusive interview with CNN, President Biden says the U.S. remains committed to Israel's security, but it's also concerned for the safety of more than a million displaced Palestinians now in Rafah on the orders of the Israeli military. Today South Rafah has been hit with airstrikes as well as tank and artillery fire, and Israel now controls the Rafah border crossing. But the president says Israeli forces have not yet moved into the city of Rafah itself.

Last week, the White House paused shipments of 2,000 pound and 500- pound bombs to Israel, concerned about their use on population centers like Rafah.

Here's part of President Biden's exclusive conversation with CNN's Erin Burnett.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: I want to ask you about something happening as we sit here and speak, and that of course is Israel striking Rafah. I know that you have paused, Mr. President, shipments of 2,000 pound U.S. bombs to Israel due to concern that they could be used in any offensive on Rafah.

Have those bombs, those powerful 2,000 pound bombs, been used to kill civilians in Gaza?

BIDEN: Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers. I made it clear that if they go into Rafah -- they haven't gone in Rafah yet. If they go into Rafah, I'm not going to supply the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem.

We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks like that came out of the Middle East recently, but it's just wrong. We're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used -- that have been used --

BURNETT: Artillery shells as well.

BIDEN: Yes, artillery shells.

BURNETT: So just to understand what they're doing right now in Rafah, is that not going into Rafah as you don't --

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: They haven't gotten in the population centers. What they did is right on the border. And it's causing problems with -- right now in terms of Egypt, which I've worked very hard to make sure we have a relationship and help. But I've made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet, they're not going to get our support if in fact they go in these population centers.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: But Israel's military offensive on Rafah appears to be expanded from airstrikes to ground operations. Satellite images from earlier this week show what looks to be bulldozed buildings and possible mustering areas for IDF vehicles.

More details now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond, and a warning, this report contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The blast is so close to the Kuwait hospital in Central Rafah that the victims arrive on foot, in the arms of those who rushed them out of the rubble. So many of the victims are children, crying out for their parents. Others are silent, unresponsive as the doctors desperately tried to save them. The hospital says most of the 25 people injured are children.

Israeli tanks have yet to roll into Central Rafah, but in the eastern part of the city the Israeli military is two days in to a ground operation that has killed dozens. They say they are carrying out targeted raids, working to eliminate Hamas militants and infrastructure, including tunnel shafts.

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As people are pulled from the rubble of overnight strikes, the need for medical care is only rising in Rafah. But this is the site at one of Rafah's three functioning hospitals. Empty beds and abandoned medical equipment after Al-Najjar Hospital was forced to shut down. Patients and staff fleeing after the Israeli military ordered civilians in Eastern Rafah to evacuate. The hospital's doctors are now setting up a field hospital further west. But with no intensive care unit and only a third of the capacity, there is only so much they can do.

DR. IBRAHIM ABU NASSER, ABU YOUSSEF AL-NAJJAR HOSPITAL: We have less equipment to work. We have less water. We have less of electricity. We are suffering. We watch (INAUDIBLE), civilian people, children, women, men.

DIAMOND: Tens of thousands of people are now fleeing Rafah, fearing the fighting but also the uncertainty that lies ahead.

Right now we're going to Khan Younis, this man says. God willing we'll find somewhere and we'll be able to put something up that resembles a tent.

But those who have already fled this coastal Al-Mawasi area, Israel's designated humanitarian zone, are finding little to sustain their struggle for survival.

I've been waiting from 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to fill one tank and I couldn't fill it all. What should we do? The water isn't clean, food isn't clean, neither is the canned food. Find us a solution. We don't want wars. We were not born for wars.

Four hundred thousand people are already living in this sandy area. Hundreds of thousands more could soon join them.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now is Steven Cook, senior fellow of Middle Eastern Studies at the Council of Foreign Relations.

Welcome back. It's good to see you. It's been a while.

STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES: Good to see you.

VAUSE: So here's more from the president speaking to the bigger picture of U.S. security assistance to Israel. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're not walking away from Israel's security. We're walking away from Israel's ability to wage war in those areas.

BURNETT: So it's not over your red line yet?

BIDEN: Not yet, but it's -- we've held up the weapons. We've held up that one shipment. It's an old shipment. We held that up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So the reason why these 2,000 pound and 500-pound bombs have been held up is because they don't want them being used on offensive in Rafah because in the president's word that would be the wrong thing to do.

How can it be the right thing then to use these bombs in similar circumstances in areas of high population density, like Gaza City, which they were earlier on in the war?

COOK: I think there's two reasons. The first and most obvious reason is, of course, is that the Israelis had vowed to dismantle Hamas and the United States had supported that goal, and Hamas had been using facilities and hiding behind civilians and civilian infrastructure. That's one thing. Second, though, the president has now decided to withhold this shipment because it's becoming tough for him politically to maintain the policy.

I try not to veer into domestic U.S. politics too much, but it seems clear that his calculation is that the situation in the Gaza Strip or the potential for carnage in Rafah is too much for him and his party to bear. And he wants to avoid that, those fractures at all costs. VAUSE: So in response to all this, here's the chief spokesperson for

Israel's military on overall U.S. military assistance, in particular the decision to hold back that one shipment of bombs for Israel. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The aid is unprecedented. The operational partnership is significant. When there are disputes, and there are, they are being resolved behind closed doors in a matter of fact way. We are responsible for the security interests of the state of Israel. And we are attentive to the interests of the United States in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This issue is clearly not being resolved behind closed doors. Why is that?

COOK: I think that this is happening now because President Biden was so vocal in saying he does not support, he would not -- he does now want Israel to go into Rafah. And yet the Israelis moved into Rafah, albeit in a limited operation, but this could be the beginning of something much larger. So in effect, very publicly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defying the president.

The president clearly felt that he needed to respond to that. And the obvious thing for him to do was to withhold this weapons shipment.

[00:10:01]

VAUSE: And what precisely does Admiral Hagari mean when he talks about being responsible for Israel's security needs whilst being attentive to U.S. interests in the region? This seems to be a fairly important distinction here.

COOK: Clearly the two countries have different interests. The United States has global, broader, regional interests than the Israelis. And as the Israelis pursue their security at times like this war it has impinged upon America's broader goals in the Middle East. It has disrupted or concerned Washington's partners in the Arab world. And so this is what Hagari is trying to get at, is that while responsible for Israel's security, they try to be attentive to America's broader interests in the region. They don't always succeed. In fact, they succeed probably less often than they say they do.

VAUSE: I want you to listen one more time to the president of the United States. Here he's talking about a bigger diplomatic solution for Gaza post-Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I've been working with the Arab states. I won't mention them. I don't want to get them in trouble. But five leaders in the Arab community were prepared to help rebuild Gaza, prepared to help transition to a two-state solution.

BURNETT: To govern it?

BIDEN: Well, to maintain the security and peace while they're working out a Palestinian Authority that's real and not corrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: So are the likely five Arab leaders he's referring to and overall how difficult is this problem of trying to find someone to govern Gaza once Hamas is gone?

COOK: Yes, I think the obvious candidates for this are Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. But there is a problem of capacity here. Who is actually going to provide security? Only really the Egyptians and the Jordanians have that kind of capacity and might be willing to do it, but it is extraordinarily difficult environment for them to operate.

There's no doubt in my mind that there are agreements in principle among the president and his counterparts in the Arab world. The question is, how do you get from that agreement in principle to actually putting people on the ground to secure the Gaza Strip, putting money into the Gaza Strip to rebuild it and to establishing an effective governing authority there. This was a very, very difficult thing and maybe too much for any of these countries including the United States to undertake.

VAUSE: Everyone agrees it's a good idea. They also agree everyone else should do it.

Steven Cook --

COOK: It's exactly right.

VAUSE: Good to have you with us, sir. Thank you very much.

COOK: Nice to see you, John.

VAUSE: Watch Erin Burnett's full interview with President Biden next hour here on CNN. In addition to war in Israel, President Biden shares his thoughts on the counter protests in support of Gaza and against the war, as well as the U.S. economy.

An overnight barrage of Russian missiles and attack drones have caused extensive damage to Ukraine's energy grid. According to Ukrainian officials, three Ukrainian power plants were targeted in the biggest Russian strike in weeks. It came on the same day Ukraine celebrated victory over Nazi Germany. Residential homes, parts of Ukraine's rail network were also damaged. At least three people were hurt.

Russia will celebrate Victory Day in the coming hours with a speech from the newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin and a military parade. On Wednesday Putin hosted a summit of the Eurasia Economic Union. The former Soviet Republics of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, their leaders will all attend Victory Day celebrations in the coming hours. Putin has used Victory Day often to rally support and rail against a long list of grievances against the West.

Jill Dougherty is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a CNN contributor. She's also a former CNN bureau chief in Moscow.

And it's good to see you. Welcome back.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: And so in the hours after Putin was sworn into office, Ukraine was hit by this nighttime barrage of more than 50 cruise missiles, drone attacks, attacking the power grid, which was damaged, residential homes, and part of the rail network as well. And Putin also hosted what the Russian news agency Tass described as Putin's first international meeting after inauguration and by international they mean leaders of four former Soviet republics, being Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.

So is day one of this, you know, of his fifth term sort of indicative of what we can expect for the years to come, at least in the short to medium term? More attacks on Ukraine and sort of increasing isolationism from an international point of view?

DOUGHERTY: Number one, definitely on Ukraine, I think this is going to continue. Putin has given no indication that that will stop. In fact, as you just said, it's increasing, it's hitting a lot of the energy structure of Ukraine. And unfortunately that does look as if it's going to continue.

The meetings that he had, I mean, you could make the argument, Belarus, of course, is very important because in terms of the war, Belarus has been very useful for Putin.

[00:15:06]

The other -- Armenia, you know, there has been some issue of Armenia, Azerbaijan, that could be important. I think the point, though, is that you're not seeing some of the biggest leaders in the world. We'll have to see. Perhaps China will be next, but that would be the level that you'd expect for President Putin at this particular time, right after his inauguration.

VAUSE: And in the coming hours, Putin is expected to make his public address for Victory Day, a very important day in Russia when they celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany. This year is a very different backdrop to last year when things weren't going so well in Ukraine. It's sort of turned around thanks to and in large part that U.S. withholding military assistance for months. Those weapons are yet to reach the battlefield, but certainly Russia has made gains in that period of time.

So what will Putin's message be this year? It's not just to fellow Russians, but also to Ukraine and the rest of the world.

DOUGHERTY: I think the danger here is that the war, which is extremely important, World War II, 27 million Russians died. There is no doubt about that. But Putin is now turning World War II into really the definition of what Russians are. This has become, you know, a sacred idea and taken to an extreme level. So it has turned Russia, I believe, into a very militaristic country right now internally with a lot of repression, et cetera. So this is where we appear to be headed. That this is what Putin has to offer, and it's war.

VAUSE: Notably, Ukraine have the same anniversary, but a day earlier. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy had very similar things to say about Nazism and fascism in Russia taking over. We also heard from a spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry with us how this war in Ukraine could deescalate. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: What is needed for de-escalation, Josep Borrell has already said it. He said that if you stop supplying weapons to the Kyiv regime, how long did he say? Everything will be over in two weeks. Here is the true formula for peace voiced by the Westerners themselves. Here is a possible de- escalation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That is truly world-class spin. One person's de-escalation is another's capitulation. But does that statement in a way reflect any concerns in Moscow possibly over renewed military assistance from the United States heading its way to Ukraine after being stalled for months in Congress?

DOUGHERTY: I think they're concerned about it. There's no question. That's a bit of trolling obviously that she has. But that is the position that Russia has. You know, everything is fine if Ukraine simply gives up and then the war will be over. But this again, we get back to that point that Putin at this point the entire economy, society, the entire country right now, is focused on one thing. And that is war.

And Putin is depicted, it's very interesting. He's depicted as the leader of the country but the Kremlin has succeeded in kind of separating him from the idea of war. He is now more of the symbol of the country.

VAUSE: Also, very quickly, he -- his government is still serving. They weren't stepping down immediately once he was reelected and the inauguration was held. So where does that leave things right now?

DOUGHERTY: That's one of the most interesting things. You know, every time that the president starts over pro-forma the members of his cabinet step down. This time, they did not because they've passed the law and they're able to stay in their positions at least temporarily, but it would the very, very interesting to see who Putin keeps and who he lets go. And one of the prime people will be the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu. He is not very popular with the military. He doesn't come from the military actually.

So who will be the core people around Putin? That is a bit one thing that everybody will be watching very carefully.

VAUSE: Jill, thank you for that. The insights are very valuable, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

DOUGHERTY: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN. Right now, three of Donald Trump's four criminal trials are effectively postponed indefinitely. How did Trump's legal team do it? Also ahead, education officials from the liberal cities grilled by Republicans in Congress about antisemitic incidents in public schools. Details coming up later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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VAUSE: When two autocrats meet. Viktor Orban greeting China's Xi Jinping in Budapest. The last leg of Xi's European tour. The two are set for talks and a signing ceremony in just a few hours. Xi wants to deepen ties with Eastern Europe where Chinese companies have invested billions of dollars, so did the government, as part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative.

Earlier Wednesday, Xi and Serbia's president agreed to a shared future for their countries signing more than two dozen trade and regulation agreement and then touted, touted an ironclad partnership. Some touting going on there.

Germany experiencing an increasing wave of violence against politicians, starting with an attack this past weekend on a European parliament member in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party. He was beaten and kicked so badly he needed surgery. Attackers are believed to be four teenagers with links to far-right groups. Tuesday a Berlin senator was struck in the head while visiting a library. The suspect a 74-year-old man previously charged with state security and hate crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANZISKA GIFFEY, BERLIN SENATOR AND FORMER MAYOR (through translator): I think it is worrying. And it also shocks and upsets me that we have been seeing more and more attacks of this kind recently that people are being attacked because of their political work, because of their stance and attitudes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Attacks on politicians in Germany have doubled since 2019 European parliamentary elections. Mainstream politicians blame the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, which says its own members have also faced violence.

Today former adult film star Stormy Daniels will return to the stand in Donald Trump's criminal hush money payment to a porn star trial. And we're told she will face a longer cross-examination than originally planned. This after she divulged specific and at times explicit details about her alleged affair with the former U.S. president during her first day of testimony.

Sources say the defense was not planning on an extensive interrogation, but they will now ask additional questions to try and protect Trump's reputation after Daniels raised the possibility that the sexual encounter was not entirely consensual. Trump's strategy across his many legal entanglements as being simply

to delay, delay, and then delay some more. And it's showing some signs of success. Three of his four criminal cases have now been postponed. The latest setback for prosecutors came Wednesday in the Georgia election subversion case.

CNN's Brian Todd has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you think your defense is doing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's not much mystery to Donald Trump's longstanding legal strategy.

EISEN: Delay, delay, delay. Donald Trump has never seen a delay that he doesn't like in a court case against him.

TODD: In all four criminal cases against him, cases in which he's pleaded not guilty, the former president and his legal teams have filed motion after motion to bob, weave and flat-out slow down all the trials.

Just this week in the Georgia case where he's accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election results, the state's court of appeals said it will consider Trump's continued efforts to disqualify district attorney Fani Willis from the proceedings because of the controversy surrounding her past romantic relationship with fellow prosecutor, Nathan Wade.

[00:25:07]

Willis has said she wants that trial to begin in August.

EISEN: That is looking doubtful at the moment to say the least.

TODD: In the so-called Mar-a-Lago case, where Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents and hindering the government's efforts to recover them, Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, has just postponed the trial indefinitely. Judge Cannon had originally scheduled that trial to start this month, but right now there are nearly a dozen issues before her that she has yet to rule on.

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: She has sat in her office apparently paralyzed from ruling on easily resolvable motions.

TODD: Cannon has scheduled two hearings for June on what had been considered long-shot motions from Trump. One on Trump's request for records from the Biden administration. The other on Trump's claims that Special Counsel Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor in the Mar-a-Lago case, was appointed unlawfully.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I seriously doubt this one is going to win, but once again, it's an example of an opportunity to slow things down. TODD: Then there's the January 6th elections subversion case against

Trump also brought by Jack Smith. Trump claims he has presidential immunity in that case, an argument the Supreme Court is now deciding the validity of, but one that the high court may take its time to rule on.

ALAN MORRISON, PROFESSOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: They could last until the end of June and I think it's going to be very difficult to get this case to trial, even if they decided it tomorrow. It's just not likely to get this. Too many other things that can happen. And Trump is a master of delay and delay is on his side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on-camera): So why the delay tactics by Trump? Analysts say if Trump gets elected again, he'd have the power as president to order the Justice Department to drop the January 6th case and the Mar-a-Lago case because those are both federal cases. The most likely case to survive against Trump, if he's elected, is the Georgia case because that is a state proceeding, but it's open to debate whether that case could survive.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

VAUSE: When we come back, new problems for aid convoys trying to enter Gaza. One crossing point is close, another may have reopened, but we're told supplies are still not getting through into Gaza. More word on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Right now it seems just one of three major crossing points into Gaza has confirmed as open and operational. That would be Erez in the north. The Rafah crossing in the south ell has been closed by Israeli forces. The Israeli government says the Kreme Shalom crossing also in the south has been reopened, but officials on the Palestinian side say trucks are not entering. The U.S. State Department also says the U.S. has not seen trucks crossing through Kerem Shalom because of logistical and security concerns.

[00:30:11]

The backed-up trucks and the delay in delivering critical supplies is now raising alarm at the United Nations on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON FOR U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: We are continuously engaging with all involved with -- about the resumption of the entry of goods, including fuel, so that we can get -- again, begin managing incoming supplies. However, the situation remains extremely fluid, and we continue to confront a range of cloud [SIC] -- challenges, including active military operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: For more details now on what's happening at the Rafah crossing in Southern Gaza, here's CNN's Paula Hancocks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Rafah crossing is a vital land crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

It's where much of the humanitarian aid trucks have been driving through, bringing in life-saving assistance for months. It's also where a small number of wounded and foreigners have been allowed out of Gaza. And it's where many of the freed hostages crossed into freedom early on.

This crossing is now under Israeli control. Troops planted an Israeli flag, you can see there, and filmed it. This footage was given to us by the IDF.

Now outside this once Palestinian-controlled border station, footage shows Israeli tanks destroying signs which say "Gaza" and also "I love Gaza."

Several tanks are also seen in this IDF handout footage. In this area, we see no signs of any other presence apart from the Israeli military here.

Now close via the part of Eastern Rafah where Israel's military has issued evacuation orders. Some 100,000 told to leave immediately on Monday to the area of al-Mawasi.

Now that's about five miles, or eight kilometers, away. But of course, most have no transport, and fuel is scarce.

It is an area the United Nations on the ground has called inhumane and has warned it is not suitable for habitation.

Well over one million people are currently living or sheltering in Rafah. Some estimates are closer to 1.4 million. Most have been displaced once or more times by the Israeli military over the past seven months.

Rafah itself is just 25 square miles. That's 64 square kilometers. It is a small area crammed with misery and fear, but it is also an area the IDF says houses the last stronghold of Hamas that needs to be destroyed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Our thanks to CNN's Paula Hancocks there, reporting in from Abu Dhabi. Well, after about two weeks of pro-Palestinian protests at George

Washington University in Washington, the school is now open and back on schedule. Police say more than 30 protesters were arrested early Wednesday morning for assault on police and unlawful entry.

Law enforcement say they used pepper spray three times on demonstrators, who were trying to reach others who'd been arrested.

Protesters have been calling on their schools to divest from companies and military groups connected to Israel and the war in Gaza.

Well, the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began, Congress held a hearing to look into the rise of antisemitic incidents in kindergartens, elementary and high schools across the U.S.

More on the story now from CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what we're fighting for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we're fighting for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what we're fighting for.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Turmoil at colleges has grabbed headlines for weeks, but now Congress is looking at the lower grades, K through 12, and growing reports of antisemitism there.

REP. AARON BEAN (R-FL): I can hardly fathom sending one of my sons to school, knowing he'll be exposed to vile, hate-filled discrimination.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The Republican-led committee called school leaders from three predominantly Democratic areas and grilled them about antisemitic incidents making some Jewish students and teachers feel targeted, pressured, victimized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are, like, saying and passing in the hallways is like, Oh, what side are you on?

FOREMAN (voice-over): One example, a pro-Palestinian walkout by students at New York City's Hillcrest High last year, which allegedly was aimed at a teacher who had shown support for Israel after the Hamas attack in October.

REP. BRANDON WILLIAMS (R-NY): How can Jewish students feel safe at New York City public schools when you can't even manage to terminate the principal of open season on Jews high-school.

FOREMAN (voice-over): But from the hot seats, the New York public schools chancellor said, hold on. The principal was removed. Students were suspended.

DAVID BANKS, CHANCELLOR, NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I condemn clearly. What happened at Hillcrest was a complete act of antisemitism. It will not stand on my watch. FOREMAN (voice-over): Another question: what about teaching around the

phrase "from the river to the sea" in a class about Middle East conflict.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the river to the sea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the river to the sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the river to the sea.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The Anti-Defamation League says it's a call to eviscerate Israel, but many Palestinians say it's a call for justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that's an appropriate thing to have on the slide for students?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we definitely believe that it's important to expose our students to a diversity of ideas and perspectives. And if it was presented as a perspective, I do think it's appropriate.

[00:35:03]

FOREMAN (voice-over): Amid such back-and-forth, some Democratic lawmakers finally let loose.

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY): I work in an institution that teaches hate.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Accusing their Republican colleagues of suddenly embracing this important issue only after years of ignoring similar complaints of bias from women and racial minorities and dodging problematic statements from their own party's presidential candidate, who only a month ago said --

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): Any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel. And frankly should be spoken to.

REP. SUZANNE BONAMICI (D-OR): If my colleagues care about antisemitism, they would condemn and denounce these comments from the leader of their party.

FOREMAN: In the end, many Democrats came out of the meeting rolling their eyes at what they clearly saw as a show of rank hypocrisy. And many Republicans came out patting themselves on the back for being -- dare we say it? -- so woke on this issue.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Welcome home, Prince Harry. When we come back, the Duke of Sussex warmly greeted by fans in London. No sign of his brother. No sign of Dad. Where were they?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: In the past week, record rainfall has triggered deadly floods in Southern Brazil. At least 95 people have died. More than 150,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.

The scale of the flooding is immense. The government has responded with mass rescues. More than 46,000 -- 46,000 people have been saved from rising waters.

Brazilian official say storms affected more than 1 million people, countless animals as well, including a horse, stranded on top of a roof. How'd he get there?

Heavy rains have been linked to human-caused global warming, as well as El Nino, which is a warming pattern of parts of the Pacific Ocean.

Strong storms are now making their way across parts of central and Southeastern United States.

More than 20 million people in a number of states under threat of severe weather and tornadoes. That includes Tennessee.

The National Weather Service says three have already been -- are being for today, reports from the state. Sorry. At least two people have been killed.

All of this playing out one day after powerful storms swept through Michigan. At least one tornado, possibly two, hit the town of Portage Tuesday night.

Other parts of Michigan also saw damage during the severe outbreak of weather.

Prince Harry's latest trip to the U.K. is showing the world that the rifts within the British royal family haven't mended.

The prince arrived in London, celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the Invictus Games. That's the sporting competition he founded for wounded veterans and members of the military.

Other British royals, apart from a couple of minors, were nowhere to be seen. Max Foster has details.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Arriving at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Prince Harry here to mark ten years of the Invictus Games.

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: There are a variety of gifts but the same spirit.

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FOSTER (voice-over): Notable in their absence from the service: close members of the royal family. Harry's celebrity friends stepping up instead. Prince William was never expected to meet his brother on this trip. But Harry had reached out to his father. The king wasn't available due to his busy schedule, according to Harry's office. British media called it a snub.

As Harry was taking to the pulpit at St. Paul's, the king made his own public appearance just a few miles away at Buckingham Palace's first garden party of the summer season. Father and son, so close, yet still so far apart.

They haven't seen each other since a brief visit in February after the king announced he was being treated for cancer.

Shortly before Harry arrived in London, an announcement from the palace that underscored the increasingly close working relationship between William and Charles. The Prince of Wales was officially being handed the Colonel in Chief title of Harry's former army unit.

Harry has had a strange relationship with the royal family since he and his wife, Meghan, stepped back from royal duties in 2020. The duke has since been highly focused on the Invictus Games, an international sporting competition for wounded veterans, established in 2014.

PRINCE HARRY: Ten years is a real thing. It's our birthday at Invictus Games Foundation, and we're all very excited and thrilled.

FOSTER (voice-over): Wednesday's event in London will be followed by a trip to Nigeria, where Harry will be joined by Meghan.

Both of these appearances unusually choreographed with the media, marking a fresh push to highlight the couple's work.

Max Foster, CNN, London.

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VAUSE: According to a report in "The New York Times," a worm ate part of the brain of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's now downplaying the report.

It quotes a deposition from 2012 in which Kennedy testified that a doctor told him his memory loss and mental fog could be caused by the parasite.

The independent candidate for U.S. president posted this quote, "I offer to eat five more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate."

Kennedy's campaign said he contracted a parasite while traveling, and it is in, quote, "robust physical and mental health."

He's not released his health records publicly.

The 70-year-old Kennedy has sought to portray himself as a youthful alternative, which is fair enough, given that Biden is 81 and Trump is 77. John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But

first, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. I'll see you back here and less than 18 minutes.

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