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CNN International: Netanyahu: Claim Israel Agreed To U.S. Ceasefire Deal "Not True"; Jury Selection Underway In Hunter Biden's Federal Gun Trial; Taiwan Criticizes Chinese Defense Minister For "Provocative And Irrational Statements"; House Republicans Grill Fauci Over COVID Response; Mexico Elects Its First Woman President; Sources: Biden Administration To Unveil Executive Action On Immigration; 624 Million People Vote In India Elections As County Swelters. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 03, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:37]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 11:00 p.m. in Dubai, 1:00 p.m. in Mexico City, 3:00 p.m. here in New York.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. And let's get right to the news.

We begin in Israel where the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now pushing back against a Gaza ceasefire proposal announced late Friday by President Biden. Now saying it is, quote, not true that Israel agreed to such a ceasefire.

An Israeli government spokesman said, president -- it's presented only a partial outline of the deal that Israel offered Hamas. This as we are learning that the IDF has informed the families of four hostages held in Gaza that those hostages sadly, are no longer alive.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has been covering this all from Jerusalem.

Jeremy, I do want to get to the status of the negotiations and this ceasefire deal, but let's begin with what were learning about these high hostages. And what I imagined were quite sad conversations with their families.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it, Jim. For nearly eight months, the families of these four hostages have held out hope that their loved ones were alive. They have watched as in the case of three of them, these three elderly men in December, Hamas released a video of them which showed them in not great condition, and conditions that left their families worried for the health and the well-being of their loved ones.

And today, the Israeli military delivering the absolute worst news that these families could get, informing them that their four loved ones are dead and their bodies still being held hostage by Hamas.

I want to read the names of those four individuals. You have Haim Peri, a 79-year-old father and grandfather, Yoram Metzger, 80 years old, whose wife had also been taken hostage and was released during the last deal. Amiram Cooper, 84-years-old, his wife had also been released during the last year deal, and then you have Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old British Israeli citizen.

Now, the Israeli military said that their loved ones, that these individuals I should say, were killed at, quote, a few months ago during their captivity in Gaza. The Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman saying that the Israeli military assessed that they were, quote, killed while together in the area of Khan Younis during an operation there against Hamas. That doesn't explicitly say that it was an Israeli military operation that resulted in their deaths, but we should say, we should note that Nadav Popplewell, the 51-year-old, last month Hamas, said that he had been seriously wounded in an Israeli airstrike and that key had subsequently died of his injuries due to a lack of medical care -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Jeremy, before we go, it seems that there is daylight to say the least between the Israeli prime minister and the U.S. president.

Do we know what that daylight is on the ceasefire proposal?

DIAMOND: Well, a lot of that daylight, Jim, seems to be not necessarily on the details of this proposal, but the way in which they are framed and President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu have very different incentives for the way in which they want to frame this proposal that is on the table. President Biden very much framed it as a wait to end the war.

That is something that the Israeli prime minister does not want to frame this deal as because for the very reason of what we've seen over this past weekend, which is two key members of his far -- of the far- right who are in his right-wing governing coalition, the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, both of them threatening to leave the government and potentially force its collapse as a result, should the Israeli prime minister move forward with this deal, which in their view would stop short of the absolute victory over Hamas that they have been seeking.

And so, the Israeli prime minister has been trying to reframe this discussion, reframe the way this proposal is being discussed, and insist that Israel has not agreed to a permanent ceasefire yet. And indeed, there is some truth to that in the sense that the first phase of this agreement would be the point where the Hamas and Israel would negotiate to go into a permanent ceasefire in the second phase. But there's no question as -- that the U.S. believes that if Israel goes into a ceasefire, particularly one that can be extended as long as negotiations are still ongoing, that it will be very hard for Israel to start this war up again and much more likely that they can reach a permanent ceasefire -- Jim.

[15:05:03]

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll see if that -- that distance between the two explanations comes -- comes together. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

Well, Ukraine claims it has successfully now hit a missile system inside Russia using weapons supplied by the West, strike comes just days after U.S. President Biden gave Ukraine permission to carry out limited strikes using U.S. weapons, limited strikes inside Russian territory, specifically around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Several other European nations have also allowed Ukraine to use their weapons on targets inside Russia. A Ukrainian government minister posted this photo of a burning Russian S300 surface-to-air missile system. It is unclear if the weapons used in this attack were specifically from the U.S. as opposed to other Western allies.

Now to Wilmington, Delaware, where jury selection is moving quite quickly in the federal trial on gun charges of the president's son, Hunter Biden, on track to potentially seat a full jury by the end of today. It is. We should note the first time in U.S. history that the child of a sitting president is on trial, that the three federal charges brought by the president's own Justice Department under a special counsel. Hunter is accused of illegally purchasing a gun in 2018, while addicted to drugs, which is a federal crime.

Hunter has been open about his struggles with addiction. He is pleading not guilty to the charges.

At his side today, First Lady Jill Biden who is in the courtroom. The president is in Wilmington and released a statement of support for his son. He is not though present at the court today.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz, she's been covering it all.

Katelyn, of course, the Bidens have deep roots in Wilmington, a national name. He's the president but they are moving quite quickly to seating a jury, which we should note as in Trump's trial, both the defense and prosecution have a number of objections, unexplained objections to those jury members.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Jim, basically, there were three things that the judge was specifically probing for as jurors, potential jurors were questioned individually throughout the day today. We don't have a jury yet, or at least we don't have word that we have a jury yet from inside that federal courthouse, but we're quite close to having enough people qualified to serve as potential jurors.

The three things the judge was asking a lot about was jurors feelings on gun control on addiction and on politics, of course.

And if jurors indicated that they weren't able to be impartial than they were removed from the pool. There was one man who believed that prosecutors in the Trump case were charging based on politics, that was enough to have that man tossed out of the pool. But there were others today that were questioned a lot about their feelings regarding addiction and family members that they might have had who had substance abuse issues that got emotional at times, but many of those people remained in the jury pool. Addiction is going to be a major emphasis of what has happened, what will happen here in the coming days as prosecutors highlight Hunter Biden and his addiction. And that's even what Joe Biden, the presidents spoke about in a statement earlier today, not about the case, but what he said instead was: Jill and I love our son and we are so proud of the man he is today. As the president, I don't and won't comment on pending federal cases. But as a dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Notable words in there. As president, he says he will not comment on pending federal cases. Of course, his opponent in the election, Donald Trump, has spoken quite frequently on such cases.

Tell us what the timeline we expect with this case going forward. Witnesses, length of evidence, so we just finished, of course, the trial of the former president took a number of weeks, is a similar timeline expected for this case?

POLANTZ: No, not at all. That trial for Donald Trump was seven weeks long. This case is going to be about a week, maybe two. It's pretty succinct. It's about the paperwork Hunter Biden did when he bought that gun in October of 2018, and the question of whether he is an addict or not at that time. And his defense team is going to argue that he didn't believe he was addicted to drugs because he was trying to get out of rehab.

But you ask about evidence and witnesses, three women are expected to be called to testify, his ex-wife, Kathleen, his brother's widow, Hallie, whom he had a relationship with at that time, October 2018, and a woman he has a child with. The prosecutors say all of them were witnessing him doing drugs or having paraphernalia related to smoking crack around him at that time.

And then on top of that, they're also text messages that prosecutors have pulled from that laptop of Hunter Biden's texts, where in that same week he bought the gun, said that he was smoking crack on a car and that he was meeting with a dealer.

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So all of that is going to be coming together and also there's the possibility of the jury is hearing Hunter Biden's voice in court, at very least prosecutors want to play a portion of his memoir, his own audio book that he recorded where he says that he was a drug addict over many years there is, of course also the possibility Hunter Biden could testify, but well just have to wait a couple of days to see if that happens -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much.

Here to break down the details, criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus, and Bernarda Villalona, former prosecutor.

Good to have you both on.

First to the point Katelyn was talking about there, you know, this comes down to whether he was an addict when he bought this weapon, and whether he answered truthfully in the forms you fill out when you do so. Is that a difficult question to address? And does that become sort of a self assessment? I wonder to some degree.

Bernarda, what are your thoughts?

BERNARDA VILLALONA, FORMER NY PROSECUTOR: It seems that its a subjective question and that's going to be the main issue during this trial. The question would be is whether Hunter Biden would be the person to testify to tell this jury what was on his mind when he actually filled out this form, because remember that Hunter Biden had just been released from a dependency center. So, he may have internally believed that he was no longer addicted, that he was no longer taking narcotics.

But the question would be when you look at the other evidence that the prosecution has, do they have text messages within a day or so of this form being filled out that they can be able to contradict his testimony or other evidence with.

It just goes to show you how difficult it is when we're dealing with narcotics and with drug abuse, how it really affects so many lives and so many different people and so many different ways and how you just cant really just grasp the effect of it.

SCIUTTO: David. I wonder, I mean, clearly that question about whether you have personal experience in your family with drug addiction has too many perhaps most Americans featured prominently in the juror questions, might jurors empathize with Hunter?

I mean, could that potentially play in his favor with the jury as they consider these charges?

DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, I think so. And Abbe Lowell, who's just a pro Hunter Biden's lawyer, will be looking for jurors who will feel for Hunter and already you see, you know, Jill Biden in the courtroom. So, you know, his mom is there. That's going to have an effect on jurors. Jurors see every little thing that happens in the courtroom.

And like we were saying, you know, they have to prove that he knowingly and intentionally lied on that form, even if they prove he was an addict, they still have to prove that he knowingly lied, which is very, very difficult to prove if -- these are not the kinds of cases you typically see. It's very rare to charge something on with lying by being a former addict. That is a very rare charge, Bernarda.

SCIUTTO: Bernarda, so let's ask this bigger picture question here because the defense, Hunter's defense, Hunter Biden's defense has said these charges are politically motivated, that had he not been the son of a sitting president, most likely he would not have been charged. Of course on the other side, the right says, well, this is a sweetheart deal or was a sweetheart deal and he would have faced, you know, stiffer penalties or maybe swifter justice if he were not the president's son.

What does the record show? The legal records show for a case like this? Is it unusually aggressive or unusually timid, this prosecution? VILLALONA: Jim, as a former prosecutor, and I was are prosecuted for

prosecuted for 16 years, three years in Philadelphia, which has the highest amount of drug -- of people that are suffering from drug addiction, and 13 years in a New York.

As a former prosecutor, I could tell you that a case like this, I would not have been looking to take this case to trial because in sounds of a prosecutor, the goal is to seek justice and not a mere conviction. And in a case like this was very deserving as a drug program because what causes crime was a drug addiction. So no one benefits out of sending Joe -- Hunter Biden to jail.

So the most prolific type of disposition in this case would have been at differed prosecution where he would have been able to get the drug treatment that he needed and guess what? If he would have messed up, then the law would it dealt with him and dealt with them in a sense of whether it needed for him to go to jail or be -- for the monitored or go into inpatient treatment.

But I think if his last name was not Biden, we will not be seeing a trial.

SCIUTTO: David, before we go, CNN's reporting today that Trump's defense teams is still debating whether they'll try to move the July 11 sentencing date following his own conviction last week due to its proximity to the Republican National Convention, is that more political decision in your view, or a legal one and an are there big chances that the judge would accept delaying the sentencing.

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MARKUS: I think most judges would delay it on a first request for adjournment. And I think there's both political and legal reasons you want to do it. The political ones are obvious. It's right on you know, in advance of the convention, but there are legal ones too that you want to be ready.

That sentencing is pretty quicker. You want to have all your -- all your ducks in a row. I mean, it's pretty wild the last couple week seeing trials involving sex, now, drugs and guns, involving the president and the president's son. I mean, these are -- these are wild times.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it's a smart point I mean, these, I mean, as we've said, they're both, right? The sitting president son on trial, and, of course, a former president on trial and now convicted. David Oscar Markus, Bernarda Villalona, thanks so much to both you.

Still to come, American hero or Dr. Fear? Members of Congress praise and grill the country's top COVID scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, in an intense, highly partisan public hearing analyzing the policy response to the pandemic.

Please do stay with is. We have an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Taiwanese officials are criticizing China's new defense minister for, quote, provocative and irrational statements.

This after the defense minister made a combative speech at a security summit in Singapore, he said defending Chinas sovereignty over Taiwan is, quote, sacred mission of the Chinese military. And those who support Taiwan will, quote, end up in self destruction.

This all comes just days after Beijing stage major military exercises around the island, after the inauguration of its new president last month.

Joining me now to discuss, Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania, Chrissy Houlahan. She sits on the Armed Services Committee, Intelligence Committee, and recently returned from Taiwan.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining.

REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): Thanks for having me again.

SCIUTTO: So, first, I wonder what your reaction is to the speech by the Chinese defense minister because it -- it comes really after a series of statements like this over the last several months and years where you have a much more aggressive public rhetoric from Chinese officials here.

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Do you think that it's just rhetorical? Or do you think it signals China's true intentions towards Taiwan?

HOULAHAN: So I think it is interesting, it has been, relatively speaking, escalatory, the behavior of China. They did, as you mentioned, the have a couple of days of operations, exercises off all of the coast of Taiwan immediately after the inauguration of the new president. And they also have been more vociferous and frequent with their rhetoric.

And I think that there really is a desire on the part of China to be able to absorb Taiwan. But we as Americans so the United States have been in a relationship with Taiwan since 1979, defined by the Taiwan Relations Act.

We're actually celebrating its 45th anniversary where were committed to making sure that we have an economic and cultural and vibrant diplomatic relationship with the island of Taiwan and the Taiwanese, and that, that area remains peaceful, not just for the Taiwanese people, but also for the entire region. There's a lot of shipping that goes on. There are a lot of commerce and a lot of our economies go through there.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this because as you know, President Biden, not one but four times since he's been president has committed the U.S. publicly to defend Taiwan militarily, some would say, upsetting the previous policy of strategic ambiguity. Should the U.S. commit itself to defend Taiwan militarily?

HOULAHAN: I think what we are trying to do in our relationship with Taiwan is make it unattractive and unappealing for the Chinese to make a move on Taiwan in a military way. We want to make sure that Taiwan has the defensive mechanisms themselves to be able to make sure to protect themselves from any sort of attack from anywhere.

And so, we're trying to provide them with the civil defense structure or help them understand what that means. We're trying to make sure that they have the will as well to be able to find their own destiny. I think that it's really important that we are helping them and making sure that were building what is sometimes referred to as the porcupine that would make it unattractive to start a war in that area.

SCIUTTO: Senior Trump advisers, those who served him in the last administration of told me that he does not believe the U.S. can or should defend Taiwan from China. I wonder, is that your view? Would Trump's reelection endanger the island's security?

HOULAHAN: Yeah, indeed. When I was there, there was definitely a lot of anxiety understandably on the part of the Taiwanese, as well as the region of kind of what will happen in the next election cycle. That anxiety exists all over the world. I have the privilege of being able to travel a lot of places and talk to a lot of our nations that our allies of ours and those that sometimes are not.

And I think everyone has a huge amount of I think understandable anxiety about the possible return of President Trump. President Trump brings with him as you're mentioning, a high degree of anxiety and chaos everywhere that he goes and we don't need that right now. We need to make sure that we're being stabilizing and a calm influenced and factor in places like China and Taiwan and in places like Europe and in places frankly like Israel as well as Gaza.

SCIUTTO: There was a brief, I don't know if warming is too strong a word, but at least calming of the rhetoric between the U.S. and mainland China. You had some visits back-and-forth, including with Secretary Antony Blinken -- and since then, I mean, comments like we were just talking about a few minutes ago at this conference in Singapore, would you say that that brief period of calmer relations is over and that they're -- the U.S. and China are back on a more adversarial, hostile path.

HOULAHAN: No, I think it's kind of a natural ebb and flow and every once in a while, you'll see the temperature elevate and then hopefully de-escalate as different people talk to different people. I think it is important that we make sure to be rational and real about this.

We are a world economy and we depend on one another for lots of different things. And so we need to recognize that all of our behaviors, whether they're Chinese or the American behaviors, are being watched on the world scale, stage and are being influential on the way that all the rest of the nation states are working. And frankly, all the rest of the stock markets of the world and individuals are as well. SCIUTTO: Before we go as you foresaw, the former president was

convicted last year -- last week, last week on 34 felony counts. I'm sure you've also seen that the GOP has virtually unanimously condemned that verdict and gone so far as to say that the justice system is rigged to use Trump's words, I wonder what effect do you think these have on the American public in terms of their confidence in the justice system?

HOULAHAN: Sure. And it does. It kind of feels like a year even though its only been a week. But I do think that unfortunately, that's exactly the kind of messaging that we shouldn't be hearing from elected officials such as myself.

We are a nation built on laws, nation built on law and order, and our judiciary system some and the jury system.

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And the judges that preside over all of us in many cases are selected by us and in the case of juries are selected to represent us and we need to have the full faith and trust and those juries and in that judge and in our system, that that justice will be done.

And there is a process that we go through to decide whether or not we as individuals maybe innocent or guilty. And there is an appeals process as well. And I think it's destructive for my colleagues to be questioning this process because it goes both ways and it's really important that we believe in our justice system.

SCIUTTO: Do you find a fundamental contradiction in terms of the reaction to that trial and silence at least as far as I can tell, to the trial today beginning at least jury selection of the president's son, Hunter Biden?

HOULAHAN: As I mentioned, you know, it goes both ways. And what's also inspiring to me to be honest is the fact that the son of the sitting president of the United States, and a former president of the United States have both recently gone to trial or at trial. That's a tragedy. But the fact is that those regular citizens like you and like me, we need to be held to the same standard as our president and as the president son and the reality is our justice system is indeed working because our president and our former president and our president son are going through this process just like a normal citizen would.

And I can tell you with my global travel that there are plenty of nations that I've gone to where I can emphatically state that that would not be the case.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, no question.

Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, we appreciate you joining and we appreciate your service in the Air Force.

HOULAHAN: Thank you. Appreciate you.

SCIUTTO: America's top scientists during the pandemic testified on Capitol Hill today in an aggressive, highly partisan and misinformation-laced hearing on the origins and response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. Republicans grill Dr. Anthony Fauci, an immunologist, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases accusing him at times of intentionally spreading the virus and at one point suggesting he belongs in prison.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): You agree that there was a push to downplay the lab leak theory?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIIOUS DISEASES: Not on my part.

JORDAN: Really?

FAUCI: Really.

JORDAN: Wow.

FAUCI: Wow.

REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): Well, how much have you earned from royalties from pharmaceutical companies since the pandemic began in 2021?

FAUCI: Zero.

So you said about four or five things, Congressman, that were just not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we have emails to prove it.

FAUCI: Well, you don't.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): We should be recommending you to be prosecuted. We should be writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison, Dr. Fauci.

(ENDV VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Crimes against humanity, she says.

Let's bring in CNN's medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell. She's been following the hearing closely.

Meg, I mean, this committee's job is to evaluate the federal response to COVID and lessons learned from that quite a reasonable remit, given the continuing questions, but it sounds like what it became was really an attack on Fauci, at least from Republican lawmakers. I mean, did we learn anything factual from this hearing?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the takeaways that Dr. Fauci himself made about our preparedness for a potential next pandemic, which is a horrifying thought, is that this divisiveness puts us in a worse position. And that was really on display at this hearing today after that interaction with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, I think Congressman Robert Garcia, is that it was like the craziest hearing he'd ever been to. I mean, it was a very prolonged strong interaction there.

You know, Dr. Fauci was asked a lot about the origins of the virus. That was a major focus, particularly from Republicans going into the hearing today, we did see transcripts of testimony he gave in January, two days of testimony behind closed doors. This was the first public time he has testified since leaving NIAID at the end of 2022.

But they really focused on his oversight of a grant that was made that funded some research going on in Wuhan, and his use of potentially personal emails, his relationship with a staffer at NIAID, who had made some problematic comments in emails. Dr. Fauci saying that he the jury is still out on the origins of the virus, also questioned a lot about the vaccine in a vaccine mandates policies made at the beginning of the pandemic.

He tried to explain the science behind all of them and also the fact that science evolves. But it was really a political back-and-forth and not a whole lot of scientific revelations today.

SCIUTTO: On the key question here, because you did have some joint work and even some funding between a U.S. project, and this lab. Is there any evidence, and I know this is quite a pointed question given the time we have, but is there any evidence about U.S. work or funding that even unintentionally could have contributed to the development of the virus?

[15:30:11]

Because that's the implication stated quite openly and with certainty from Republican lawmakers.

TIRRELL: Yes. Well, in the last month at a lot of attention has been focused on this group called EcoHealth Alliance. The Health Department has suspended funding for them. They were doing some work including in a sub-awarded grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Now, Dr. Fauci was asked extensively about this today and he said, quote, viruses funded by NIH phylogenetically could not be precursors to SARS-CoV-2.

So he was saying, no, nothing that we know of shows that this funding contributed to creation of the virus. And by the way, he doesn't think that's the most likely thing that happened. But, of course, this debate is going to continue and many folks say, unfortunately, we may never know the origins of this virus.

SCIUTTO: And it would help, of course, if China would reveal the records, right, which they have refused to do in the wake of this. So there could be an actual forensic study of it. And that's another obstacle I know. Meg Tirrell, thanks so much.

TIRRELL: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, a history-making moment in Mexico as the country elects its first female president. We're going to have a story and more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Mexico is set to have its first female president after Claudia Sheinbaum secured a landslide victory there. It's an historic moment for the country whose two leading candidates were both women. She will also be the first Mexican president of Jewish descent. Sheinbaum, a climate scientist, former mayor of Mexico City, vowed to continue the work of outgoing president and mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT-ELECT (through translator): I am very certain that we will keep President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's legacy. I know very well that the responsibility is enormous. But when your convictions are true and you love your people, everything is possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTOI: CNN's Gustavo Valdes joins me now from Mexico City.

And, Gustavo, of course, a history-making election, a landslide victory.

How are the results being received there?

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, it's been a subdued enthusiasm. The results came in late. It was expected that she was going to be the winner. The polls has shown that he was a little bit surprising, the large margin of victory. In fact, she got more votes that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gut six years ago.

So she's been taking it easy today. We haven't heard from her. She's been receiving a lot of messages from world leaders. So now the expectation from the Mexican sees what kind of president is she going to be? You heard that she's pledging to continue the policies of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the people obviously want to see that continue, otherwise, they wouldn't vote for her.

But they also want her -- for her to be her own person. They don't want Andres Manuel behind the scenes being the one pulling any strings they want Claudia Sheinbaum, who to be the one who really leads the country the next six years. Lopez Obrador this morning, he said that he's not going to interfere.

He might talk about a position, make some suggestions to continue the projects that he started, but he said that he wants Claudia Sheinbaum to be her own person. So now, come October 1st, were going to see she's going to have a chance to show who she really is.

SCIUTTO: Certainly, Mexico is facing challenges, cartel violence, just historic levels of migration through the country and onto the U.S. Do you expect major policy shifts or similar approach to her predecessor?

VALDES: I think this is where Mexicans wants to see who she is because violence, lets take that. Lopez Obrador has said (SPEAKING MEXICAN), hugs, not bullets. He pulled back the army and the police forces from going after the cartels and many think that that is a reason Mexico has fallen into this level of violence. So she's going to have to establish some kind of policy to show the people who voted for her and said that that was their number one issue to show that she's really going to do something about violence.

And then is a relationship with the United States. Even though there's no public friction between the two nations, people in Washington have said, according to analysts, people I've talked to in law enforcement that they have not received the cooperation that they've had in past years with the Mexican police especially in violence in dealing with drug cartels, that drug trafficking.

So this is going to be a challenge for the U.S. if Claudia Sheinbaum continues that policy of Manuel Lopez Obrador, they might not see the results they want. The first challenge might be tomorrow or this week whenever the White House announces this new plan on immigration we're hearing they're prepared to announce, and how Sheinbaum is going to take it.

Obviously, Lopez Obrador is the one dealing with it, at least until October, right before the U.S. election. And then she's going to have something to say about it.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. And, of course, the results that election will significantly impact U.S. policy north of the border on immigration.

Gustavo Valdes, Mexico City, thanks very much.

Well, north of the border, U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce as Gustavo saying there, a long-awaited executive order addressing immigration and border security. The executive action would allow authorities to quickly deport migrants who enter the U.S. illegally without processing their asylum claims once crossings exceed 2,500 people per day.

Immigration, of course, a major election issue heading into November's election. Polls show a majority of Americans do not approve of Biden's current handling of the issue.

CNN's MJ Lee joins me now from the White House.

So, MJ, I wondered, this is expected for the president to sign this is as early as tomorrow. What more do we know about the order? And is the administration expecting legal challenges here? I mean, do they even expect this order to be implemented because of those challenges?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. First of all, Jim, the timing of this is certainly very significant. You have to assume that politics is really driving the timing here, given that we are in the middle of the U.S. presidential election. But just first to give you a sense of what it is we're talking about sources briefed on this executive order tells CNN that this is an announcement but as you said, could come as early as tomorrow.

[15:40:02]

And what it would essentially allow the administration to do is shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers if the number of daily crossing surpasses a certain number as you just said, unaccompanied children. Importantly, we are told would be exempt from all of this and that that would be pretty worrisome to immigration advocates, given that they believe that this actually could have the result of incentivizing and encouraging some desperate families of sending their children and minors to the border on their own.

Now the president is using an authority that is called the 212F authority. And section, this is a regulation that you might recall what was actually used by former President Donald Trump during his administration. It was very much widely criticized by Democrats at the time. So you could very easily imagine President Biden getting a lot of heat for leaning on this authority that again, so many Democrats had criticized back when president Trump use this authority.

Now, really impossible to ignore the politics that are at play here. Border security, of course has been such a politically fraught issue for Democrats and for President Biden. They have gotten so much pressure from all sides to do more to get a better handle on the border.

And the timing is, of course, really significant, not just because of the looming presidential election, but keep in mind the first presidential debate between President Biden and the former president is only weeks away here on CNN.

Now, the White House, of course, is not confirming this forthcoming announcement that we expect to come tomorrow. But here is what an official said in a statement to CNN. They said, as we have said before, the administration continues just to explore a series of policy options and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system. Caveat, of course, is that there could be changes to that final text before tomorrow when we expect this announcement.

But of course, when it does come again, it will be a sweeping announcement that the president is certainly a -- certainty get a lot of backlash on, but he is hoping that it can also strengthen his political hand. But I think you raise a really good question about the potential legal challenges because this is an area where it can get really complicated because of the legal challenges that are most certain to come.

SCIUTTO: Complicated and perhaps delayed. MJ Lee at the White House, thanks so much.

Still to come, airlines CEOs from around the world gather in Dubai as the industry deals with political instability, price of oil and inflation. Our Richard Quest is on the scene.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:48]

SCIUTTO: 2024 is the year of the election with more than 60 countries go into the polls this year, impacting nearly half of the world's population. In India, voting has closed after a marathon six weeks, 642 million people cast their votes the most ever, according to the chief election commissioner there. An estimated 312 million were female voters, which is the highest in India's history. The high turnout is despite an excessive heat waves sweeping the nation. The heat killed dozens of poll workers as temperatures pushed 50 degrees Celsius. That's 121 Fahrenheit.

CNN's Ivan Watson is in New Delhi with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is baking hot out here right now. In fact, my phone says it is 44 degrees Celsius. That's 111 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, just last week, New Delhi recorded its hottest temperatures ever in history, with temperatures of 49.9 degrees Celsius. That's about 121 degrees Fahrenheit.

And this heat wave is deadly. It has killed scores of people across northern and eastern India over the course of the past week and a half. And this has coincided with the final days of India's six-week national election.

And so, on Saturday, in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, the authorities say that in a single day, at least 33 election workers died of heat stroke and heat related illnesses, more than half of these heat stroke casualties have been election workers.

Meanwhile, here in New Delhi, the authorities have had to ration delivery of water to neighborhoods, and CNN, we visited a hospital and heat stroke treatment center and their doctors warned us about how dangerous it can be once a patient succumbs to heat stroke.

DR. AJAY SHUKLA, RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA HOSPITAL: Mortality rate of heat stroke is very, very high. Here is close to 60 to 80 percent. And people can survive if they get immediate and very early medical care and that involves rapidly cooling the body.

WATSON: The Indian Meteorological Department is forecasting more heat wave condition until Tuesday, and that is the day when were expecting the final vote count to be tabulated in the national election.

And we're also expecting to hear the results in the world's largest democratic election.

Ivan Watson, CNN, New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Six weeks of voting.

Well, global airline CEOs are gathering in Dubai this week at the ADA annual meeting. The gathering comes at a time when the industry is facing challenges, ranging from political instability to the price of oil. Inflation as well, as well as ongoing safety questions that continue to swirl around the airplane manufacturer, Boeing.

Our aviation expert and anchor of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS", Richard Quest, is in the thick of it, speaking to CEOs from around the world. I wonder, before we get to Boeing's particular issues, what are they telling you about the state of the industry right now? Do they expect to get through these headwinds?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Oh, absolutely. And in fact the state of the industry is rather encouraging. They made 30 -- they're expected to make $30 billion this year. Sounds a lot of money to you and me, Jim, but that's on revenues of $1 trillion.

So, the industry is making money, but barely its not even getting back the cost of its capital and certainly the return on investment. This issue of Boeing and what's gone wrong there -- you know, the airlines need Boeing. They're quite clear about that.

But the airlines are also very well aware of where Boeing has gone astray. And it's all to do with taking the eye off the ball becoming too preoccupied with profits, if you will, not profits over safety but just the bottom line.

Scott Kirby of United Airlines, who's got so many Boeing 737 MAXes on order, was quite blunt about what Boeing problems are.

[15:50:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO OF UNITED AIRLINES: Yeah, I think all of us think that too focused on the short-term financials. And this goes back really decades. Too focused on the activity goes back to McDonald Douglas merger, too focused on the short-term financials, instead of focusing on building the best products in the world and building them with high-quality and then the financials take care of themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: And the interesting part is, Jim, everybody still has confidence in Boeing's ability to get back on track. There's no question about that, but if you ask them privately, do you have confidence in the current management of Boeing to get it right, you got a very different answer. In fact, they just won't answer.

SCIUTTO: That's interesting, because the application there, of course, is that there were safety consequences as a result of that chain priorities.

QUEST: Yeah.

Well, Richard, glad to have you there. You can see much more of his reporting at the top of the next hour on a little program called "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS".

Still to come, the champ is back with her sights set on an Olympic return. Superstar gymnast Simone Biles, dominated the competition. On her way to a ninth, ninth U.S. gymnastics all around title that's just an amazing number.

We're going to have that story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Simone Biles has now won her record extending ninth all- around national title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

She already had the record. She's made it bigger. The four-time Olympic gold medalist had a dominating run during her four events on route to winning the championship. There she goes. She now has her eyes set on clinching a spot at the U.S. Olympics ahead of the Paris Olympics that start next month. Of course, she has to qualify for the U.S. team first, she would seem to deserve it.

CNN's Don Riddell is here with us all to break it down.

I mean, Don, a lot of line -- first of all, nine out of what, 13 years? Also after that, comeback, really a personal comeback for her.

DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. Just extraordinary. I mean, every time we've seen Simone Biles in action over the years is just jaw-dropping what she's able to do and considering what she went through, as you say, the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when she gave us a new phrase, the twisties, which was what she said she was suffering from when she was really going through a bit of a mental health crisis and she just couldn't trust what her body was doing and flying through the air of those kind of speed.

[15:55:07]

She knew she could get really badly hurt. So, of course, we all remember what happened in 2016, or the Olympics when she was dominant in 2021, it was a bit of a disaster. She had to step away. Nobody really knew what the future would hold. She said it took her a long, long time to regain the confidence to go out and be able to compete at the highest level.

Her big comeback really was this time last year when she returned then reminded us all what she could do. And now of course, she's at again, but with an eye on returning to the Olympics in Paris. It's very, very hard to imagine that she won't be on the team. And the way she performed yesterday, just dominating the field, winning by six points is very, very hard to imagine that she's not also going to have a very successful time in Paris as well.

And just remember, she's 27 years of age, which is not all by any means, but for a gymnast it is. And she is on course to become the first American gymnasts to compete in three Olympics in a quarter of a century. So just every time she competes, everything she does is amazing. The record just keep tumbling, and she has so much one to watch.

SCIUTTO: Her mental and physical achievement.

Don Riddell, thanks so much.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.