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Four Israeli Hostages Rescued In Gaza Military Operation; Doctor Hagai Levine Who Met With Rescued Hostages Talks To CNN; Donald Trump Repeats Warnings He Wants Revenge For His Conviction; Justice Thomas Discloses 2019 Bali Trip Paid For By GOP Megadonor That Was Not Previously Reported; Alito Refuses Calls To Recuse In 2020 Election- Related Cases; Eight US Officials Have Resigned Citing Biden's Gaza Policy. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 08, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:01:55]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we begin this hour with breaking news and an emotional day for the people of Israel as four hostages were rescued from Gaza after eight months in captivity.

Loud cheers there from a crowd greeting the rescued hostages as they climbed out of a helicopter and took their first steps back in Israel, the four hostages kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival during the October 7th attacks, and they include 25-year-old Noa Argamani, 22-year-old Almog Meir Jan, 27-year-old Andrey Kozlov and 41-year-old Shlomi Ziv.

And you may remember Noa Argamani from this horrific video from October 7th, showing the attacks and showing her screaming and pleading with Hamas fighters as they took her away on a motorbike.

Israel says the special military operation took place this morning in central Gaza among residential buildings where Hamas had been keeping those hostages.

Palestinians there describing the raid as hell on Earth as heavy shelling and artillery fire bombarded the area.

Hospital officials in Gaza say the death toll has climbed to at least 236 people, with more than 400 injured, including women and children.

CNN cannot independently verify those numbers, and Gaza's government media office, which provided initial numbers does not differentiate between the number of civilians and militants who are killed.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joining us now live from Tel Aviv with more on today's rescue and the aftermath in Gaza. Paula, just first, how are those four rescued hostages doing tonight? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, this is the first night in eight months that they are not in captivity. So, it is an incredible time for them, for their families.

And what we're hearing from the doctors is that they are in good medical condition. But it has certainly been an emotional day for both the hostages that have been rescued and their families.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (voice over): Their first video call in eight months. Friends of former hostage, Almog Meir Jan welcomed the 22-year-old home.

HANCOCKS: He's back in his home, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And hide (ph) there. Hallelujah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just shouted at each other, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we are so happy to see him.

HANCOCKS (voice over): Meir Jan raised his hands in the air in celebration as he touched down on Israeli soil, one of four hostages rescued in what was called a high risk complex mission Saturday morning in Nuseirat central Gaza.

The IDF says all four were taken captive by Hamas militants at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th, where hundreds more were killed.

Noa Argamani has become a symbol of Israel's hostages being held in Gaza, filmed on the back of a motorbike being taken into Gaza by Hamas militants from the festival used in Hamas propaganda videos while in captivity.

[19:05:00]

Today, she is free, hugging her father, waiting to visit her terminally ill mother in a separate hospital.

Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv were working as security at the Music Festival when they too were taken hostage, all four were brought for medical checkups once back on home soil.

HANCOCKS: All four are said to be stable and in good medical condition. And this hospital just outside Tel Aviv, now Israel's military, security agency and police say that this mission had been planned for weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu giving the green light on Thursday evening.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: This was a high risk complex mission based on precise intelligence conducted in daylight in two separate buildings deep inside Gaza.

HANCOCKS (voice over): Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the rescued hostages.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We're committed to getting the release of all the hostages, and we expect Hamas to release them all. But if they don't, I'll do whatever it takes to get them all back home.

HANCOCKS (voice over): The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says 120 more captives remain in Gaza. The way to rescue them is with a ceasefire deal.

PROF. HAGAI LEVINE, HEAD OF THE HEALTH TEAM, HOSTAGES AND MISSING FAMILIES FORUM: That's not the way we can bring 120 hostages back home. We must, all of us together, the world, follow President Biden speech and go with the deal.

HANCOCKS (voice over): But the price paid in Gaza for these rescues has been unquestionably high. More than 200 killed, more than 400 injured according to the enclave's government media office. There is no clarity on the breakdown of civilian and militant casualties.

This man says there are children torn apart and scattered in the streets. They wiped out Nuseirat, it is hell on earth.

An endless cycle of dead and wounded rushed into Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital Saturday, a medical center already well over capacity and dangerously understaffed and undersupplied. It is a jarring view of two clashing impacts of one rescue mission.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (on camera): And that death toll has risen once again. We now understand it is at least 236 Palestinians that were killed. Again, we don't have a breakdown on civilians versus fighters, but we do have that information from two of the hospitals that were taken in the dead and wounded, both really struggling under the sheer number of casualties, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Paula Hancocks for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much for that reporting.

And earlier, I spoke with Dr. Hagai Levine, a doctor who's met with those four hostages as the head of the health team for the Hostage Family Forum. Here's our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Dr. Levine, thanks so much for being here with us. I think everyone wants to know how these hostages are doing now that they're back home.

LEVINE: Well, the important thing that they are back home. And clearly, it was a very emotional day for them, for their families, for many people in Israel and all around the world.

I spoke with the four of them and with their families, they are much better than our greatest concerns. But I must tell from my experience with the other hostages that sometimes after the first day, we see the marks of the long period in captivity in terms of mental health and then, need for rehabilitation. DEAN: Because our reporting is that outwardly, that there's no -- they didn't have to -- appear to have outward signs of any medical distress. Was there any sign of physical mistreatment or anything like that? I hear you on the mental health and I do want to talk more about that too.

LEVINE: Sure, we have to remember that the hostages are kept in different conditions, as they were kept above the ground, and at least the three men were kept together.

So, you know, they could support each other, and again, relatively to our greatest concerns in a better condition. But I cannot disclose their personal medical information.

And although I'm saying that, it does not mean that they do not have any medical problems.

DEAN: Sure, of course, of course. And I want to get back to what you said originally, that maybe in your experience, in talking with some of these hostages, that it's a day or two after when things really start to sink in, that the mental health really becomes something you have to focus on.

Walk us through what that might look like, what people who have been in captivity for eight months might have to deal with as this all sinks in.

LEVINE: It's really something we cannot understand, because especially for such a long period, they're -- you know, we are aware of the Stockholm syndrome, where they emphasize with the people that took them. But also, you know, the trust in human beings.

[19:10:10]

You know, I just met this week, Elma Avraham was released from captivity several months ago. And although she's really, you know, able to rehabilitate, she still has many medical issues. And you know, difficulties in concentrating, difficulty in trusting people.

I'm not speaking specifically about Elma, but that's things we see among released hostages and difficulty sleeping at night.

So, I'm just saying it's not only the mental but this mental situation also related to the ability to walk again, to socialize again, etcetera.

And I can tell you with specifically with the release hostages. So, and one of them, Shlomi, is living in the -- near the border at the Northern Israel. And I don't think he can now return to his home, because this is a war zone area and others have other issues.

And as long as not all the hostages are back in Israel, their families and they are still occupied, not with their own rehabilitation, but the -- but with the efforts to release all the hostages. So, that's another issue prevent from full rehabilitation.

DEAN: There's so many layers here. When you start recovery, when someone who's undergone something like this, which is so unimaginable for so many of us, how does that work? What is that process? Do you let them kind of come to it on their own? Are they talking with doctors?

I would imagine you don't want to push them too much. I know you've talked about bringing pets to the hospital. What might that look like? That sort of treatment to begin -- to begin anew.

LEVINE: To tell -- to tell you the truth, Jessica, when I see the footage that you are putting with Prime Minister Netanyahu visiting them, that's a great worry, because that's not the first thing they need to see when they are now here in Israel. They don't need politicians visits for PR purposes. They need some quiet. They need to be able to recover, to think, to regroup, to get more into some kind of a routine. It's personal. It's dependent on the people.

And, you know, I just was in the hospital when Almog visited his friends, visited him, and it was important for him to thanks his friends who were for him for the last eight months working to release him.

But still, they need comfort. They need what we call tender love and care and examine all their medical conditions, but try to get them back to life. Try to get them more independent, because they didn't have any control of themselves.

And you know, the first time they take a shower or choose what to eat, that's great things for them. It's very exciting.

I must say that together with that, they get a lot of bad news. They now hear about the close family members or close friends who got killed over the last eight months, either in October 7th or later, that's also very difficult for them.

And things may appear on the surface as OK, but even behind it, other things that we will have professionally and tailor made for each and every one of them find the proper solutions. Of course, also with the other families, I must say, It's great excitement, but also great worry that this heroic operation will confuse the government from understanding that the only way to bring on back all the 120 hostages is by a deal with the Hamas, and we need -- after President Biden's speech, we need all the world leaders to put the pressure on Hamas and its allies to accept the Israeli suggestion on the table, to have a deal for ceasefire and release of the hostages.

DEAN: And were they able -- are they able to elaborate about the conditions in which they're kept, or any sort of details? Again, I would imagine, based on what you're saying, and it makes a lot of sense that first you want them to heal or begin, at least, to start that process. I would also imagine that officials want to get information from them, if possible.

LEVINE: Yes, I mean, just imagine for them what it's like to, you know --and there are different considerations you want, the intelligence to get some information from them.

The media is very interested, and they want to be able to tell the story to the world, they have -- first and above all, the medical needs. You know, when I brought Noa Argamani her glasses today, it was, you know, remarkable, I can say also for me, because these glasses waited in the door in the clinic for more than seven months. And when I pull it to bring it to her, but I saw the other glasses of other hostages, some were killed, and some are still there.

[19:15:29]

So, it's really difficult to understand what exactly the priority right now for them, because of all these different obligations. I don't know if how much sleep they will get tonight. And you know, for one of them, there is a funeral tomorrow of his father, believe it or not, who just died.

So, I'm just saying, this is so confusing. The city situation is unbelievable. It's unbelievable for all of us. It's unbelievable for them.

I think that these coming days, they will be able to relax more and, you know, start getting back to life. That's what they really need.

DEAN: Yes, there are so many emotions as you're describing and so much to process.

Dr. Hagai Levine, thank you very much for being here with us. We appreciate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Coming up, chilling threats of retaliation from Donald Trump, how his desire for revenge is becoming a cornerstone of his campaign. But is it a winning message, and what does it say about his current state of mind?

And we're learning about multiple shark attacks over the past 24 hours in U.S. waters. We're going to have the latest for you.

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[19:21:20]

DEAN: They say revenge is the dish best served cold, or in Donald Trump's case, it's best exacted once you win back the White House, the former president now flirting with the idea of doing just that after being found guilty on 34 felony counts in his hush money trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, revenge does take time, I will say that.

DR. PHILLIP MCGRAW, HOST OF "DR. PHIL PRIMETIME": It does.

TRUMP: And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil. I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.

Look, when this election is over based on what they've done, I would have every right to go after them, and it's easy because it's Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN Senior Political Analyst and Senior Editor at The Atlantic, Ron Brownstein is joining us now. Ron, good to see you on a Saturday night in our case, afternoon in your case.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Jessica.

DEAN: But this argument, re-elect me so I can exact revenge. Is that a winning strategy for him?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, if you're looking at it in narrow electoral terms, the answer is no. I mean, Joe Biden's approval rating has been stuck at 40 percent, that's a range in which incumbent presidents usually lose.

His best chance of winning a second term is if a disproportionate number of people who disapprove of him vote for him anyway, because they view Trump as a threat to their rights, their values and to democracy. And Trump certainly is playing into that.

But I think the electoral calculation obviously is not the most significant element of this. I mean, what Trump is signaling and what is being signaled as much by the reaction of other Republicans to what he is saying is that a second term would be a whole different order of magnitude in terms of the degree of threat that it poses to the rule of law and the principles of constitutional democracy as we've experienced them through American history.

DEAN: Yes. And so, to that end, a lot of Republican lawmakers seem to be taking their cues from Donald Trump. We can listen to some clips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We have to fight back, and we will with everything in our arsenal.

REP. RONNY JACKSON (R-TX): President Biden should just be ready, because on January 20th, next year, when he's former President Joe Biden, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you calling for retaliation?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I'm calling for a strong response at every level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Ron, it's just worth reminding everyone, this was a state case, not a federal case. BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

DEAN: Joe Biden doesn't run New York government, Kathy Hochul does.

But how do you think voters are taking all of this in? Because obviously his base, many in his base, in Trump's base, do believe that this was a -- this was political, and that it -- the justice system has been weaponized to go after the former president.

But what about -- what about your middle of the road voter? How did they see all of this?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, we've seen in polling repeatedly now that a majority of Americans think the verdict was fair, whether that causes them to overcome other doubts they have about voting for Biden, or in the case of Trump, you know, we'll see.

But you see the downward spiral here, right? I mean, Trump in office, or in this case, before office, does things that push against the boundaries or beyond the boundaries of law.

And when the political and legal system tries to hold that kind of strong man leader accountable, his hold over his party virtually demands that they get up and denounce it in unison, which they have done, which leaves -- which leave voters in his coalition only hearing the idea that this was illegitimate, and then it becomes the justification for if he is re-elected, you know, groundless, you know, prosecutions going forward. It's the downward spiral that you can get into with an authoritarian movement.

[19:25:01]

And I think the reaction of these Republican leaders is really important, because not only for in terms of opening the door to Trump prosecuting Biden, but in terms of sending Trump a signal that on the whole broad range of fronts in which he wants to assert virtually untrammeled executive power, there is going to be much less resistance to him in the party than there was even in his first term. And it wasn't that much then.

DEAN: Right. And I want to talk about your new piece in The Atlantic. It's titled, what Trump's total GOP control means next, and it gets at the heart of kind of what you're talking about right now.

The willingness you say, you write, "The willingness now of so many House and Senate Republicans across the GOP's ideological spectrum to unreservedly echo Trump's denunciation of his conviction shows the flickers of independence that flashed during his first term have been virtually extinguished as he approaches a possible second term."

And I feel like you and I have had various conversations along these lines of that a second term would be different.

BROWNSTEIN: I think orders of magnitude different. I mean, not only is the -- as I said in the story, not only is the agenda Trump putting forward more aggressive, you know, mass deportation, claiming the right to fire U.S. attorneys who won't prosecute specific individuals that he directs them to prosecute, openly talking about using the Justice Department against his enemies. Mass firing in the civil service, unilateral military action in Mexico.

I mean, we could go all the way -- sending the National Guard into blue cities over the objections of mayors and government. We can go up and down the line, so there's a more aggressive agenda. And at the same time, as I said, the clear signal to him from this response is that there is not going to be -- there are not really many red lines that he can cross with Republican elected officials.

And I think what he -- you know, if nothing else, Trump has always been a great student of human weakness, and he understood in his first term how far he could push the Republican Party, and he knows now that he can push it a lot further.

Now, you know, as you say, this is politics that excites his base, I think, on an electoral basis, you know, narrowly looking at it that way, it is -- it is a net negative for him. But that doesn't mean that it will overcome all the doubts people have about Biden or all the other reasons they might have for voting Trump.

And I think, you know, if you look at this -- and by the way, if you look at the Supreme Court decision, any amount of immunity they give him from criminal prosecution for actions taken during president is another signal to him.

So, you have the legislative signal, the court signal both pointing in the same direction if he is re-elected, that whatever constraints existed in his first term would be far diminished in a second.

DEAN: Yes, all right, Ron Brownstein, great to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: New reporting is revealing how much Supreme Court justices have been quietly taking in trips, concert tickets and more luxury gifts. And which one of these justices has been getting the lion's share of those gifts? We'll tell you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:32:31]

DEAN: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is finally acknowledging two trips he and his wife took in 2019 that were paid for by conservative billionaire, Harlan Crow. One of the trips was to Bali on Crow's private plane.

It was the focus of reporting by ProPublica last year of about 20 years of lavish vacations paid for by Crow. Until now, Thomas had never even disclosed that 2019 trip or put a value on them.

Joining us now, former US attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, Harry Litman.

Harry, great to have you here. Thanks so much for coming on.

Walk us through the level of concern around these financial ties between the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and this billionaire donor, Harlan Crow.

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER US ATTORNEY: So, there are two points here. The first is they are really extensive, now really luxurious. They go to his mom, they go to his home, they go to his trailer.

So they are in the many hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the question is, could that reasonably influence him in a case, I think pretty clearly it could, but the main point is for the public to know about it.

So the biggest thing in these revelations I think is his including them. He said before they were inadvertently omitted. It is a good thing that ProPublica were able to find them, tell the country about them, and now he has affirmed that they happened.

So this system, like everything else with the Supreme Court is self- policing and it helps to have some watchdog there like ProPublica to try to make these things comprehensive, but knowing about it is the most important.

And then you would ask, in individual cases, could that reasonably effect his impartiality? It seems at this level of support, it probably could.

DEAN: And you mentioned a key point here, which is that the Supreme Court is self-policing and just they just got an ethics code after all of these controversies within the last year. Lower courts have to operate on one of those. Really oversight comes from Congress, but right now we have divided government. Republicans control the House and the Senate, of course is controlled by Democrats.

So what options are there to provide oversight to the Supreme Court at this point?

LITMAN: They are really few, especially as you say, in a time of divided government, it is basically politics. So we have this current brouhaha with Justice Alito, he has written to the Congress: Nobody could reasonably question my impartiality that the flag was flying.

[19:35:15]

Think about it for a moment, say you were involved in a gay rights case. You were on the other side and you pass judge's house and the gay pride flag is flying. Might you think reasonably that person won't be impartial? Of course, you might. But it is only now to Justice Alito's say-so and will remain that way. The only real thing that Congress can do is kind of shine a light on it in individual instances.

But even this new code, it will be to them. There are essentially no tools. I know there is talk on the Hill and they should -- they can have hearings and investigate. But short of impeachment, there are very few tools to actually force the Supreme Court to hew to its own, not just a its own code of ethics that every judge, federal judge complies with in the federal system.

DEAN: Right.

LITMAN: It is a problem.

DEAN: Yes. You brought up Justice Samuel Alito. I do want to ask you specifically about him. A former neighbor of his is questioning the justice's explanation for that upside down American flag that you've mentioned that was seen flying in his Virginia home in 2021.

And you mentioned the letter that he wrote to lawmakers. He said it was in response to "a very nasty neighborhood dispute," but the neighbor said this. We can listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY BADEN, FORMER NEIGHBOR OF JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO: At best, he is mistaken, but at worst, he is just outright lying.

The interaction that happened on February 15th is the one that they're using as an excuse for why they flew the flag. And I really want to hammer home the fact that that happened on February 15th and their flag went up two or three weeks before that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So that neighbor saying that the timeline is incorrect, that he has put out there.

Do you think that Justice Alito misled or lied to Congress in his explanation of events, and more broadly, people will say, oh, what about this flag thing? What is it?

Why does it matter that were talking about this? Why does it matter that this happened with a Supreme Court Justice?

LITMAN: So let's start there. The flag was understood at the time. This is just after January 6, as a Stop the Steal blazing statement.

So why would it matter that a Supreme Court justice who might have to sit on January 6th cases, but even beside that would be asserting their as a steal going on of the election among other reasons, because its false, there was no steal going on, but also because it is such a sign of partisanship that you would certainly question their ability to be impartial when Alito himself has distanced himself from it, which is an implicit understanding that if he himself, were flying the flag, it would be a problem.

Now as to this discrepancy, the neighbor says that. There is material evidence. We have a picture in "The New York Times" in January and a police report of the altercation in February, which Justice Alito says triggered it.

Look I am not saying that the neighbor's word should be taken over that of a justice of the United States; however, there is the discrepancy and I really think it is essential to get to the bottom of it. If it is the case, I am not saying it is the case, but if it is that Justice Alito sent a letter her to the Congress and didn't tell the truth in it, that is exceptionally grave. I think that would be an impeachable offense.

DEAN: Right.

LITMAN: And of course, that might not go forward in the current climate, but even so, that prospect really requires that the Senate or the oversight in the Congress should get to the bottom of it. There are material discrepancies. It is enough to have a hearing and look into it.

DEAN: All right, Harry Litman, thank you so much.

LITMAN: Thank you.

DEAN: We will have more news in a moment.

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[19:43:55]

DEAN: A growing number of US government officials are quitting their jobs over the Biden administration's policy in Gaza.

CNN's Kylie Atwood reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Almost a dozen us officials who have resigned in protest of the Biden administration's approach to the Israel-Hamas War --

STACY GILBERT, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I want us to abide by our own laws.

ALEXANDER SMITH, FORMER USAID OFFICIAL: There is a real disconnect between what we and USA are saying, and every humanitarian agency is saying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why should the rest of the world look to is as a leader?

ATWOOD (voice over): -- are banding together to explore how to use their voices effectively from the outside.

GILBERT: It's kind of like an underground railroad. When I was having questions about when it seemed like I cannot work on this anymore, but what do I do?

ATWOOD (voice over): Stacy Gilbert, who worked at the State Department for more than 20 years, said she turned to members of the group when she was considering resigning. Now she wants to help those who are fighting the system from within.

GILBERT: If we can be a resource to help others find their voice, find a way to try to affect some policy change that would be useful.

[19:45:04]

ATWOOD (voice over): Gilbert and the others who have left the US government in protest, like Alex Smith who resigned from USAID last month, are also eyeing public events and statements to shed light on all they've seen.

SMITH: Now that I'm no longer at USAID, I can speak publicly and loudly about what is actually happening on the ground in Gaza and I can try to get attention pointed towards not me, but people who are suffering there now.

ATWOOD (voice over): Gilbert's resignation came after her office at the State Department, which focuses on global humanitarian crises, found that Israel was impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, only for the final version of the report to say that Israel was not to blame.

ATWOOD (on camera): What are the implications of a report like this for the US government globally?

GILBERT: To say it undermines our credibility is an understatement. And for this report to say, conditions in Gaza are dangerous and these organizations don't have the capacity is just patently false.

It is absolutely dangerous. And it is difficult to do the work. But these organizations can do it. They are not being allowed to do it.

ATWOOD (voice over): The State Department says it stands by its final report.

MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We want to hear their opinions. We want to hear the expertise that they bring to bear, but ultimately, it is the president, the secretary, other senior officials that make the decisions about what the policy of the United States ought to be.

ATWOOD (voice over): But Gilbert says that many of her colleagues still working on the Biden administration's policy and are seeing the death toll of innocent Palestinians rise harbor her same frustrations and continue urging policy changes from within.

GILBERT: If I were the only one who thought this way, I would stay in the government.

ATWOOD (on camera): But you're confident they'll continue to fight.

GILBERT: Absolutely. Absolutely.

And I will -- I will be a voice for them on the outside, but I really am -- I am determined to do all I can to help from the outside because it's -- it's very, very hard doing this on the inside.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ATWOOD (on camera): Now, these former officials say they expect resignations to continue as well as dissent from within. One thing we will be watching to see is if the pressure that President Biden is putting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and of course, Hamas to come to a ceasefire agreement can quell any of this mounting dissent.

But from our conversations with these former officials, it would actually take the US cutting off the flow of US weapons to Israel in order to do that -- Jessica.

DEAN: Kylie Atwood, thanks so much.

Up next here, three shark attacks in two US states, all just hours apart. We've got details for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:28]

DEAN: Three reported shark attacks in a matter of hours to tell you about: One in Hawaii, the other two along the Florida Panhandle. The attacks in Florida left three people injured.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more on the scary scenes at the beach.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, it happened in an area that is very popular with tourists, especially in the summer. Watersound Beach and Sea Crest Beach are located in an area between Destin and Panama City Beach, Florida.

Officials are trying to determine the cause of the two separate shark attacks Friday afternoon that happened in the span of less than two hours and only we about four miles apart.

According to authorities, a 45-year-old woman who was attacked just after 1:15 PM suffered significant trauma to her midsection and pelvic area, as well as the amputation of her left lower arm, and then a 2:56 PM, two girls between the ages of 15 and 17 were also attacked. The first victim suffered what officials described as significant injuries to one upper and one lower extremity, both requiring the application of tourniquets. The second victim has minor wounds to her right foot.

Walton County officials said what happened is both tragic and terrifying, but historically, shark attacks are exceedingly rare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN CRAWFORD, WALTON COUNTY FIRE CHIEF: They're highly unusual and its extremely unusual for two to happen in the same afternoon within four miles of one another. As the sheriff mentioned, we are reaching out to speak to subject matter experts as to what may be causing that, what -- you know, if it is the Gulf temperatures, the steering current, whatever that is. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The Walton Sheriff's Office Marine Unit was monitoring the shoreline early on Saturday, deputies spotted a 14-foot hammer head in Santa Rosa Beach this morning from their boats, but they say this is not uncommon.

Officials also said that before those two attacks on Friday in Walton County, the last one in the area occurred in 2021 when a 14-year-old boy was swimming near the fishing line, 40 yards from the shore, and he survived. And then you would have to go back to 2005 when 14-year- old girl was attacked on a boogie board 250 yards from the shore and died after being pulled under by the shark.

While the risk of being bitten by a shark is extremely low, Florida tops global charts for the number of shark bites according to the Florida Museum of Natural Histories Annual Shark Attack Report.

Jessica, back to you.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo. Thanks so much.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:19]

DEAN: CNN's new Original Series is examining the tense geopolitics of the Cold War through the lens of two double agents who were pulling the strings behind-the-scenes, threatening to destabilize diplomatic efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALDRICH AMES, FORMER CIA COUNTERINTELLIGENCE OFFICER: I realized, I was, I think the only person at least from the agency, who really had a pretty good understanding of how the KGB works.

No amount of intelligence would seem to have any effort on the decisions of the policymakers.

Our foreign policy and everything was so locked in place, so politicized.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'd write these studies, everybody would read them and say, oh, that's really great work, Rick. And then that would be the end of it. You know, they didn't really send it anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: An all-new episode of "Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game" tomorrow night at 10.

Thanks so much for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean. We are back here tomorrow at 5:00 Eastern. HBO's "Rea-Time with Bill Maher" is up next.

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