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Four Days To Go For Biden And Trump 2024 Debate; Suspected Militants Attack Synagogues And Church In Russia; Texas Woman Accused Of Trying To Drown 3-Year-Old Girl; Supreme Court Delivers Victory And Loss To Gun Rights Activists; One-On-One With ATF Director, Steven Dettelbach; Tomorrow Marks Two Years Since Roe. V. Wade Was Overturned; Women's March To Host Nationwide Strikes Tomorrow. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 23, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And the finale of CNN's original series, "SECRETS AND SPIES, A NUCLEAR GAME," airs tonight at 10:00.

Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now. Let's go.

All right, welcome, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Omar Jimenez in Washington.

Tonight, we are for counting down to CNN's presidential debate now just four days away. That is the live countdown clock. The first major showdown between incumbent president Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump since 2020, and the earliest general election debate in U.S. history.

Now the two candidates are preparing in very different ways. Trump taking a less conventional approach, meeting with potential running mates and hitting the campaign trail, where he's again been mocking the man he'll be facing off against.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S PRESIDENT & CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now Crooked Joe has gone to a log cabin to study, prepare. No, he didn't do it. He's sleeping now because they want to get him good and strong. So a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I say he'll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Obviously, no basis for that. But meanwhile, Biden is currently at Camp David with a close team of advisers poring over possible questions, holding mock debates, and focusing on how to best frame Trump as unfit for office.

CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak joins me in the studio with new details about how the Biden campaign hopes to maximize on this major showdown with Trump. So, Kevin, what are you learning about the preparation process?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's clear that the Biden team really views this debate as a critical moment. They are ramping up the stakes and in fact, we just got this memo from the campaign this morning that kind of lays out their strategy and I think if it boils down to one thing, it's really trying to make clear this contrast between Biden and Trump. They really don't think that a lot of Americans are paying any attention to this election, but they think that this could be the moment that they start tuning in and they really want to crystallize that differences.

They say put a magnifying glass on the choice that people have in front of them in November. And so that is why President Biden is spending so much time at Camp David. It's almost a week and it is providing obviously an opening for Trump to make fun of him a little bit. But they think it's worth it. They think that this is going to be an essential time for President Biden to really hone in on what he plans to talk about.

And it was interesting in this memo, you know, we were talking yesterday that Ron Klain, who is leading this debate prep has these debate rules that he wrote probably a decade ago. One of them is coming up with three things that you must say in this debate. And I think it's clear from this memo what those three things are.

One is talking about abortion and talking about Trump's record on abortion, and really trying to lay at his feet the overturning of Roe versus Wade. That's something they think will galvanize Democrats. They think it's really important heading into the debate. The other is talking about his attacks on democracy. Obviously this has been an underpinning of the entire Biden campaign, but they really do want to drive home the threats that they see Trump posing to democracy, the threats of political violence. They think that's an important contrast point.

And the last one is the economic agenda. Obviously this is a lot of voters' top issues. They really do want to make the point that they think that Trump's plans would benefit the wealthy. But there are obviously risks in that because Biden in many ways so vulnerable on the economy, a lot of people are still dissatisfied with their economic conditions. So those are the three things that I think Biden is almost certainly hammering away out there at Camp David this weekend, really making sure he has crystallized what he wants to say and says it very crisply so that point gets across.

JIMENEZ: And on that first point that you brought up on abortion likely going to have some momentum going into it. I mean, we're a day out from the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. We know the campaign, the Biden campaign, has people out and about to sort of drive up enthusiasm around those issues. So we'll see how that actually plays in when the debate actually comes.

Kevin Liptak, appreciate it.

Obviously a lot have to talk about here. That's why we've got some of the best. Let's discuss with our political panels, senior staff editor at "New York Times Opinion," David Swerdlick, and national political report at the "Washington Examiner," Salena Zito.

All right, good to see you both.

Look, Trump and his team are trying to spin Biden's debate prep as another sign that he's unfit for office, that he's locked away out in the mountains. And I want to play a little clip from GOP congressman and possible Trump VP contender Byron Donalds this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): He has to be in Camp David for seven, eight days to prepare himself to be in a 90-minute debate with Donald Trump. That does not bode well for a man who says he wants four more years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So, David, I'll start with you. I mean, what do you make of the different preparation strategies that we're seeing here?

DAVID SWERDLICK, SENIOR STAFF EDITOR, NEW YORK TIMES OPINION: So, Omar, I think, right, the Biden team needs to ignore this teasing from Trump and his surrogates over the next few days.

[19:05:01]

The proof will be in the pudding when they actually debate on Thursday night on CNN. Biden is not good at improvising so the prep is useful to him. Trump is someone who improvises. So it's not surprising that he's not huddled up with his team in that same way. Biden needs to focus on two of those three things that Kevin mentioned a minute ago. He needs to focus on telling a story about where we are in the economy now and where he and Vice President Harris want to take the country in a second term.

He can't just list off the bills they passed and the executive orders he signed. He also needs to focus on talking to Americans about what how he has brought the country back from COVID. He shouldn't focus, Omar, on Trump's -- he shouldn't focus on what Trump has done in this election. He shouldn't focus on Trump's convictions because people already know about that.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And Salena, I'll ask you a version of the same question. I mean, is Trump running a risk by foregoing traditional debate prep or was this always going to be the case ahead of an event like this?

SALENA ZITO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, I think this was always going to be the case. This is just how he functions best. It's not traditional, it's not what most people do going into a very critically important debate. However, it works for him and I think Biden's preparation works for him. These are two very different men who approached politics in a very, very different way.

And I think David was really right. I think Biden's big weakness right now is his narrative on the economy and the inflation. I think it's also his biggest weakness in talking with voters is not expressing I'm going to take you to a better place that Americans love sort of aspirational qualities in a leader. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. And I think the onus is on Biden to make that argument, and I think that's where he needs to focus.

JIMENEZ: Now, we just heard a little bit from Kevin Liptak a little bit earlier that there are three issues Biden is expected to drive home during the debate. Abortion, democracy, and how Trump's economic plans have hurt the middle class.

David, what is your reaction to seeing these issues? Are they the right issues for Biden to sort of work within over the course of this?

SWERDLICK: Yes, Omar, abortion is that one issue that Republicans are clearly on their heels, where Democrats clearly have the initiative, because Republicans don't have a straight message on this and Democrats can use it to drive voter enthusiasm among their base. But again, Biden has to tell that positive story. Everybody knows about January 6th. Everybody knows about the conviction.

Biden has to tell that positive story and say, look, unemployment is at 4 percent, the stock market is 8,000 points above where it was when I took office. Yes, inflation is down quarter over quarter, but prices are still high. We are going to do X, Y, Z in our second term to realize the goals of the American people. Those are the issues that voters tell pollsters over and over again that they care about.

JIMENEZ: And Salena, do you agree with David there but also what do you expect Trump to focus on if you have to line up similar issues?

ZITO: So I 100 percent agree with David. You know, American politics, the winner is always about who has put together a coalition, right? And these coalitions sort of have this Frankenstein thing where you don't really think of people being together. But on the economy and on being in a better place, David is 100 percent right. That is what the American people are looking for.

I think abortion for Democrats, it was -- worked perfectly for them in 2022 and to a lesser degree in 2023. And as one Democrat told me it was going to be great for us until it just wasn't anymore. The challenge with abortion in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, it's already enshrined. You know, voters especially in Ohio and Michigan spoke about it, and it cannot be touched. So I think it's going to be a challenge for them to push that too far.

In terms of Trump, I think Trump recognizes that the most important voter in this election cycle is the working class voter in 2016, those working class voters, which are traditionally part of the Democrat coalition, moved to more heavily towards Republicans. And those were white working class voters. I think the most important voters right now are still working class, but it's not divided by race. And those are the ones that are feeling it the most with the economy, but also with crime and with the border crisis.

[19:10:05]

So I think his message will likely be to focus on galvanizing those voters.

JIMENEZ: And look, I think the bottom line here is both of these candidates are looking to improve their standing with the voters, communicate what they believe they'll bring to a new term here in the U.S.

And David, I guess just from your perspective, what is Biden need to do to improve his standing with voters? Because at this point, either the polls have not shown him in a good spot, or at the very least have shown him neck and neck with Donald Trump in a too close to call type scenario. How do you improve on that?

SWERDLICK: Omar, that last FOX News poll that showed him up two percentage points nationally was good news for Biden. It tells me that the race is still sort of a jump ball, but he's got to keep focused on those swing states, right? We don't have an election across the country in a national election, we have 50 statewide elections. And it's in those swing states, he can't afford to lose more than in most scenarios probably two of the states he won last time. And that's where the focus has to be, not on, oh, he's up or down in a national poll.

Now, I do disagree with Salena slightly. My old friend Salena slightly on which demographic is most important. You've got to look at those persuadable voters between the 45 yard lines and to me, those voters especially are white women with college degrees in the suburbs. I do think they will be important in those Pennsylvania collar counties, in Michigan, in Nevada, and Arizona.

JIMENEZ: Salena, I'll bring you back next time and we'll start with your response, but we're out of time. Thanks for being here.

ZITO: That's OK.

JIMENEZ: Thanks for being here, Salena Zito, David Swerdlick, really appreciate you, guys.

SWERDLICK: Thanks.

JIMENEZ: All right. We're following a lot of other headlines as well, including breaking news out of Russia. State media says officials are blaming what they call, quote, "adherence of an international terrorist organization" in what they're calling coordinated attacks in the south of Russia.

Now so far it's not clear how many people have been killed or injured. Earlier today, a priest was killed inside a church and a synagogue set on fire after gunmen attacked, according to police.

You see and hear some of the video that we've brought in there. Separately, officials say gunmen fired on a police traffic post and a synagogue there was also targeted.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is tracking the latest from London.

Clare, what more are police able to confirm at this point? CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as you say, Omar, they

believe that these attacks which happened really at around the same time in two cities that some 80 or so miles apart, Derbent and then Makhachkala, further to the north, both of them along the Caspian Sea, coast of Dagestan, that they are now being investigated as terror attacks.

We don't know the death and injury tolls for sure at this point. Initial reports suggested that they were mostly law enforcement officers. There's, as you say, one priest, according to the Dagestan Monitoring Commission, was killed in Derbent. Gruesome details emerging that he was apparently had his throat slit by attackers. Security guards, also according to some reports, appeared to have been among the injured or killed. But this news is still sort of coming out. You can see from those night shots that those scenes of violence continued pretty late into the evening.

What I can tell you is that Dagestan is a pretty turbulent region, has seen sporadic violence over the years that borders Chechnya. And this is a predominantly Muslim region. So clearly, there's a lot of focus on the targets of these attacks which mainly seemed to have been synagogues and churches in these two separate cities of course -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Clare Sebastian, I appreciate it, but I also want to actually thank you for that. We're going to move on. But I appreciate those updates for us.

All right. Still ahead, stunning accusations against a Texas woman accused of trying to drown a 3-year-old girl at a pool. Why those in the community are calling the incident a potential hate-crime. Plus major gun cases decided on by the Supreme Court, including upholding a law in preventing domestic violence abusers from accessing guns. We're going to talk with the director of the ATF.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:19:01]

JIMENEZ: A Texas woman has been charged for allegedly trying to drown a 3-year-old girl in an apartment complex pool, while making racist statements. Now police say Elizabeth Wolf was asking the child's mother if they were American before she forced the little girl under water.

CNN national correspondent Camila Bernal joins us now.

What can you tell us about the case?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Omar. So the Council on American-Islamic Relations says that this was a Muslim family and they believe that that's why they were possibly targeted. And it's why they're calling for this to be investigated as a hate crime. Now authorities say that this happened back in May 19th, and they were called to an apartment complex pool about a disturbance between two women, about someone who was attempting to drown a child.

And so when authorities arrived to the pool, they arrested 42-year-old Elizabeth Wolf and initially arrested her for public intoxication. Now, when they began investigating and speaking to the child's mother she told me then that Wolf had asked her where she was from and if those were her children.

[19:20:05]

And when she answered, apparently Wolf grabbed the 6-year-old child, and so that 6-year-old child was able to get away, only his finger were scratched, but as the mother was taking care of her son, then she grabbed the 3-year-old child. And so this little girl is then forced under water. Authorities say that the mother says that her child was screaming and asking for help and also coughing up water.

Thankfully that mother was able to pull her out of the water and authorities saying that she is OK, and so is her 6-year-old brother. Now, it is important to point out here that the mother does not want to be identified, but she is speaking to the council, and take a listen to what the council says she told them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSTAFAA CARROLL, CAIR DFW CHAPTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Miss H said we are American citizens originally from Palestine. And I don't know where to go to feel safe with my kids. My country is facing a war and we're facing the hate here. That hate here. My daughter is traumatized. Whenever I open the apartment door, she runs away and hides, telling me that she's afraid the lady will come and immerse her head in the water again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now police also confirming that the mother told them that Wolf had made racial statements and statements about her not being American. So eventually Wolf was charged with attempted capital murder and her bail was set to $25,000. So then she was also charged with injury to a child. That bail was set to $15,000 and she posted bail. So the council is now asking for higher bails. That's why they're also asking for an investigation into this possibly being a hate crime. And they're saying that they want more security for the Muslim community overall.

So again, you know, they say this is a mother that's traumatized and they want accountability for it -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Can't imagine. Camila Bernal, thank you so much for bringing that report.

All right. Still ahead, the Supreme Court rules on two major Second Amendment cases. The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives will join us live. We're going to talk to him about the sale of bump stocks now being legal and guns being kept away from domestic violence abusers.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:45]

JIMENEZ: All right. The Supreme Court handed both a victory and a lost to gun rights activists and gun-control activists this session. On Friday the justices in an 8-to-1 decision upheld a federal law making it a crime for domestic abusers to own guns, rejecting the argument that the law violated the Second Amendment. But the justices also struck down a federal ban on bump stocks used to make some guns fire more rapidly.

Now the ban came under former president Donald Trump after a mass shooter opened fire on an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 and wounding hundreds.

Joining us now is the director for the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Steven Dettelbach, to talk about a whole range of topics in regards to firearms.

Thanks for being here, Director. I want to start with the Supreme Court because few gun-related decisions over recent weeks, I know that DOJ was supportive of the Supreme Court's decisions to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. But when the court ruled against the ban on bump stocks, the ATF put out a statement saying, quote, "As the 2017 massacre of nearly 60 people at a concert in Las Vegas made clear weapons equipped with bump stocks posed an unacceptable level of risk to public safety."

As we know, bump stock attachments were found on the weapons used there. You said you're going to work with Congress to ensure these devices no longer posed a threat. If the Supreme Court just ruled realistically, how do you work with Congress on that front?

STEVEN DETTELBACH, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES: So a couple of things.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: So first of all, obviously let's start with the legal decision that the Supreme Court made. The Supreme Court decided that the National Firearms Act of 1934. And then the rule that President Trump, as you said, promulgated after the massacre in Las Vegas. That that law and that rule it couldn't cover the bump stock at issue in that case.

We as a Department of Justice were on the other side of that, we defended the Trump rule vigorously. Our position is laid out in hundreds of pages of legal arguments and we did not prevail. So of course we respect and we of course are going to follow the Supreme Court's decision. That's the legal part. Then there's the legislative part that you referred to, right.

So the president offered that Congress should act because it was just a statutory decision. It's not a constitutional decision. It's not about the Second Amendment. Congress can do this if they want to and we at ATF would then be there to provide what's called technical assistance if they wanted to know about the different types of firearms, about the different attachments, about the capabilities. We could provide technical assistance and we have to members who asked for it on those kinds of things.

Then there's the public safety part. And that's what my statement dealt with and we are seeing all over this country a promulgation of machine gun fire, lots of different kinds of devices that's just dealt with bump stocks. But this is a public safety tragedy that is happening, whether it's a cop in Houston getting killed by somebody shooting through a door or a police chief outside of Pittsburgh, or many of the hundreds of people that are facing machine gunfire, and ATF agents were running into that fire so many times.

This is a real problem. You know, we have had great success lowering the rates of violent crime, but it's summer and that sound of machine gunfire is coming to the streets of this country like jackhammers. And it really is a problem for people and we're going to use every tool in our arsenal, every legal tool we have to try and fight this.

[19:30:11]

JIMENEZ: And whether it is in the form of bump stocks or switches on handguns, that machine gun fire has been a little bit more prevalent, at least the sound of it, the rate of it.

Just for folks --

DETTELBACH: By the way, Omar, a lot more prevalent.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: Everywhere -- I was with the mayors in Kansas City this week, I talked to chiefs all the time, sheriffs, this is a real and present danger to public safety and it is all over.

JIMENEZ: And just to give are viewers an idea here, we just want to play a little bit of a video, this from Zack Nelson from YouTube channel "Jerry Rig," everything.

This is a gun without a bump-stock.

("JERRY RIG" VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

JIMENEZ: So you can see its initiated obviously with the individual pulling of the trigger there. Now, this is a gun with a bump stock.

("JERRY RIG" VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

JIMENEZ: So obviously, a pretty dramatic difference.

DETTELBACH: Yes, and no laughing matter.

JIMENEZ: Yes, yes, of course, of course. And the way that these are being used and I guess my question is, how prevalent are bump stocks specifically on the streets? Are these things that you're finding pretty frequent?

DETTELBACH: Well, bump stocks have been -- we are enduring the pendency of this rule, right? Were banned?

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: so you know, so, we will have to see what happens.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: Yes, we will have to see what happens next. It was, as you said, the largest massacre by firearms in American history at a country music concert from a hotel room in Las Vegas that left 60 dead and hundreds and hundreds wounded that caused President Trump and Attorney General Sessions to ask for ATF to look at the National Firearms Act and ended up promulgating that rule. So these things can be used to great detriment.

So these are real threats and we have the laws that we have and the Supreme Court spoke on those. So we have to now take that whatever we have to deal with automatic weapon fire and use it as best we can.

JIMENEZ: And you were -- as you mentioned, you were at the Annual Conference of Mayors this week and one of the things you said there is that there is no more important relationship or partnership in the fight against violent crime America's mayors. What do you mean by that? What's the most productive nature of that relationship?

DETTELBACH: Well, it is the police departments.

JIMENEZ: Yes. So the police departments that mayors all over this country run, the chiefs that work with them, the sheriff's deputies in these local communities and the sheriffs, they are the ones who are our partners at ATF.

We are opening something this week in Cleveland called the Crime Gun Intelligence Center or a CGIC as we call it. We have 60 of those all over the country and everywhere we do it, we do it in conjunction with local law enforcement.

Agents and cops and deputies and troopers sit in the same room with analysts and every morning, they look at the shootings that happen happened the day before, and they take the most modern intelligence that ATF can provide, crime gun intelligence to "follow the gun" and it has enabled us to identify the trigger pullers and shooters that are terrorizing our communities, as well as the people who are illegally trafficking firearms to those people who aren't allowed to have them.

So, it is a leading edge tool and we are rolling it out everywhere we can. Unfortunately, we have had limitations on our budget, so we are not able to do it everywhere, but we have 60 and I would like to extend that to every community we can in the country. JIMENEZ: And Director Dettelbach, stay with us because we are going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we are going to talk about a new -- we are going to talk about a lot of things here, including the Crime Gun Intelligence Center, along with some of their budget expectations, and a little surprise, potentially at the end as well.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:30]

JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone.

We are here once again with the ATF Director, Steve Dettelbach.

All right, this week, I know you are opening a new Crime Gun Intelligence Center in Cleveland.

DETTELBACH: My hometown, by the way.

JIMENEZ: Of course, there you go. You've got to throw that in there. But what are they? What do they help you do? Do you think that work like this has had a direct impact on the drops of murders that we've seen in many cities.

DETTELBACH: I definitely do. And this is really --

JIMENEZ: Why so?

DETTELBACH: I think taking the best of traditional investigation and the best of intelligence and putting them together.

So the best thing we do as an agency at ATF as we said before, partnering with state and local law enforcement.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: We are incredibly good at that and we need to be, because they are also on the frontlines, shoulder-to-shoulder with us risking their lives every day to protect. They are incredible.

We've always done that, but we have a new tool to bring to the party there, which is this Crime Gun Intelligence. Our goal is to do two things here: To use data and there are several big datasets. One of them is our crime gun tracing data and the second one is what are national integrated ballistic information network, it is millions and millions of ballistic images and also we have DNA, social media.

To combine those intel techniques with the partnerships, so we sit in the same room. It is agents as I said and cops sitting in the same room, and drinking the same stale coffee and complaining about the same crusty old boss, working the same cases, but now with the benefit of this Crime Gun Intelligence.

Columbus is a great example. Mayor of Columbus -- Mayor Ginther, he wanted to do this and we did this with him.

[19:40:10]

And by the way, these are bipartisan things with Mayor Ginther and with Governor DeWine and Attorney General Yost and in Cleveland, we are doing it with the attorney general and the mayor. Mayor Bibb and County Executive Ronayne, these public safety. This is good government.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: And we equip them in real time with hard leads based on the intel to identify the worst of the worst and put them in jail where they belong.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: Right, number one; and number two, to figure out how they are getting their crime guns when the law says they shouldn't have them and try to cut off their supply, and both of those things are really crucial to successful strategy.

Youve got to go get the worst of the worst and put them in jail, right? Because a few people drive most of the gun crime.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

DETTELBACH: And you have to cut off their illegal black market supply guns. That's what Crime Gun Intelligence Center do.

In Columbus, it led to double digit decreases in murders and violent crime and Mayor Ginther in Kansas City was correctly attributing that to the CGIC we have there.

JIMENEZ: And look, as you say all of that, all of that sounds great, but I know that you guys have a House Subcommittee evaluation of budget requests at this stage coming up this week.

You're of the belief that your budget may be slashed.

DETTELBACH: Well, it has been.

JIMENEZ: It has been already.

DETTELBACH: Last year.

JIMENEZ: Even more so.

DETTELBACH: Yes, in 2024, we are seeing violence. It can be very frustrating to law enforcement. We are seeing something that works, proof-of-concept, violent crime is coming down, shootings are coming down, but we know we still have a problem, right?

There were five mass shootings just this weekend everywhere from Louisville to Arkansas, right, to Chicago -- all over the place. So we know we can still lose, but we know what to do to drive it down and just at the time when we are having some success, it is not the time to back-off. It is not the time to pat ourselves on the back or for high fives.

It is time to double and triple down on this strategy. And we saw a $50 million cut in our actual real dollar budget, and if you look at all the different other costs, it is even effectively even larger, and that has led to us having to cancel new agent classes and not be able to give Crime Gun Intelligence to local homicide and gang squads.

We have to come together and take care of protecting the American people from violent crime.

JIMENEZ: And before we go, I do want to bring up another class of ATF agents of sorts that you all have brought into the fray because you just graduated your explosive sniffing dogs from a five-month boot camp. I can them there.

These are the dogs we see at Inaugurations, Super Bowls, political conventions and more. Can you just tell us about this process and what goes into the training for these dogs.

DETTELBACH: It is an incredibly intensive training process, both for the K-9s and for the hand handlers, and the handlers are people that work at police departments also all over the country.

So this has again a joint ATF, local law enforcement program. You're right. You might see these at the Indy 500. We were out there. At the Super Bowl, at large events, but you also in the middle of the night, if you have a mass shooting or a homicide, those dogs go out and they can sometimes find cartridge casing and ballistic evidence that could be crucial to solving a homicide.

These are incredibly, incredibly well done, and I have to say, this is one of the other programs that is going to be tough to continue to fund, but as a person who just saw his high school son graduate just a few weeks ago, I am also as a proud -- as a proud director, I am very proud of all of graduates that we've had out of our K-9 in Front Royal, Virginia.

JIMENEZ: Another class just the same. Director Steven Dettelbach, appreciate you being here. Really appreciate taking your time.

DETTELBACH: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, we've still got a lot of news we are following as well, including tomorrow marking two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. How women's rights groups are marking the day and why they plan to go on strike. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:51] JIMENEZ: Tomorrow marks two years since the Supreme Court struck down Roe versus Wade. In conjunction with the anniversary, the Biden campaign is set to hold more than 50 events ranging from roundtables to rallies in a number of battleground in states.

Women's March will also host dozens of strikes across the country. The hope is to draw attention to the high stakes on the 2024 presidential election and the fight for reproductive freedoms.

So joining me now is Rachel O'Leary Carmona. She is the executive director of Women's March. Thanks for being here.

I know you're going to be on the ground at the strike in Oklahoma City, but can you tell us more about what is planned?

RACHEL O'LEARY CARMONA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WOMEN'S MARCH: Yes. There are hundreds of strikes and rallies all across the city where the call is to stay home, build community, build power with people who care about women's rights, care about reproductive freedom, and care deeply about the outcome in November 2024.

JIMENEZ: And look, obviously, it is not just in Oklahoma, strikes from Oklahoma to Florida to DC. How are you getting people mobilized?

CARMONA: The same way we always do. We have a distributed network of organizers, 80 percent are new each time, who come in, organize folks in their community. We are the largest on-ramp on the progressive side of the aisle, who gets people involved in, gets people the tools and the community to organize on the issues that matter to them.

[19:50:13]

JIMENEZ: And look, we are a day out from this two-year anniversary. Just, my question to you is, I mean, how when you look back on this time and how much changed on that day, I am curious what comes to mind for you?

CARMONA: My opinion is that Dobbs decision ushered in a new era of American politics, and so I think that it changed for me, it changed for women, it changed for people who care about reproductive freedom, but it also changed for democracy.

It is the first time we had constitutionally protected rights stripped from us, and I think that we need to keep laser-focused on what the battle for abortion rights are, which is a battle for democracy itself.

JIMENEZ: And we sort of -- and since then, we've sort of seen a piecemeal effort in some states versus others and trying -- really a piecemeal as far as abortion rights across the United States.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court, though also rejected a lawsuit challenging the FDA's approach to regulating the abortion pill, mifepristone, so I am curious just for you, in states where abortion is legal, how significant was that decision? CARMONA: I mean, the decision was absolute significant, but for a couple of different reasons. One, we are absolutely glad that mifepristone is still available, but two, that case never should have seen the inside of any court much less than the Supreme Court.

And so it is important for us to understand that justices and judges certainly, the judge that heard that case was Matthew Kacsmaryk, which is from Amarillo where I live and that case was meritless from science, from legal precedent, you know, in every possible way, which the Supreme Court agreed with and tossed it.

And so what we need to understand is that our rights are not only being stripped away by the decisions of these court cases, but also which court cases are being heard. So we are not going to give any flowers for the fact that a stopped clock or what was right twice a day, but rather, we understand this for what it is, an attack on our democracy, on our rights just coming from a different venue.

JIMENEZ: And look, I know it is no secret, a presidential election is coming up. It is really the first since Roe's reversal, the presidential election. What you want to hear from the candidates ahead of election day? Ahead of this debate in a few days, what do you want to hear from them?

CARMONA: I mean, what I want to hear is that people who are fighting for women, for reproductive freedom on the side of the people, they are the folks that we should be listening to right now, not just the United States has an election this year, half the countries in the world have elections this year and what we see over and over again is that no matter what race is, no matter what the country is and here in our country, no matter what the state is, no matter what the race is, there are two people on the ballot, two things on the ballot, it is freedom or fascism. That's it. That's the decision.

And so for me, I know where my vote is going to be, and so for our base, I know where our vote is going to be as well.

JIMENEZ: Rachel O'Leary Carmona, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it.

CARMONA: Thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, everyone, we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:41]

JIMENEZ: An emotional ceremony in Pittsburgh today. The Tree of Life Synagogue broke ground for a new campus. It will include a memorial to the 11 worshipers who were killed in a 2018 attack.

First Gentleman Doug Emhoff was there and CNN's own Wolf Blitzer spoke. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Today, we break ground on a new path to peace.

The new Tree of Life will not only be a tribute to those we lost and a home for the Pittsburgh Jewish community for generations to come, it will also be a place to teach and share profoundly important lessons against hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Strong words from Wolf. The original synagogue was torn down after the 2018 shooting, which was the deadliest attack ever on Jewish people in US history.

Meanwhile, President Biden and former President Trump are taking starkly different approaches when it comes to Mexico, but what happens along the border and beyond will likely affect who wins the White House in November.

Fareed Zakaria's new documentary" "America's Mess in Mexico" lays it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": From the border to the economy, to the cartels, America's relationship with Mexico is crucial and very complicated.

I will be exploring this pivotal relationship in-depth in my new documentary, airing Sunday at 8:00 PM.

REPORTER: A breaking point at the US-Mexico border --

ZAKARIA: Year after year, records at the border are shattered.

REPORTER: A major surge of border crossing --

ZAKARIA: Over two 2.4 million migrants were apprehended last year, an all-time high.

REPORTER: Those numbers have been staggering.

ZAKARIA: Breaking the record set just one year earlier, which topped the record set the year before that.

REPORTER: We are at a point of no return.

ZAKARIA: People have been coming --

REPORTER: Everywhere from Haiti to Venezuela --

ZAKARIA: From all over the world --

REPORTER: India, Vietnam, Afghanistan -- ZAKARIA: But one country that is actually not driving the surge is Mexico.

At the start of the century, Mexicans made up 98 percent of the migrants at the southern border. Last year, only 29 percent were from Mexico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: "America's Mess with Mexico," a Fareed Zakaria special is next right here on CNN.

Thank you for joining me this evening. And actually, by my count, I was counting it out, nine days 22 hours anchoring across CNN platforms, so you're going to see no more of me for a bit, but I am Omar Jimenez, we will see you again next week.

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