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Julian Assange Agrees To Plea Deal, Avoids Prison In U.S.; Residents In Southern Lebanon Fear War As Tensions Flare; Netanyahu: Intense Phase Of The War "About To End"; At Least 20 Killed in Dagestan Attacks; Biden, Trump Preparing for Thursday's Debate; Suspected Chinese Rocket Debris Seen Falling Over Village. Aired 12- 12:45a ET

Aired June 25, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:26]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: WikiLeaks leaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Bringing to an end his decade long flight against extradition to the United States and 18 felony charges for leaking classified material.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): After the intense phase is finished, we will have the possibility to move part of the forces north.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Preparing for another war for Israel every day without a ceasefire in Gaza is a day closer to an all-out confrontation with Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question is -- the question --

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- radical left --

BIDEN: Will you shut up, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Will grumpy old man from 2020 return as grumpier old man in 2024? The first presidential debate of this year's election now just three days away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.

VAUSE: Too many he was a champion of a free press revealing classified U.S. national security documents on a scale never seen before or since. To others, he was a hacker with an agenda who endanger the lives of U.S. soldiers. But now Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks will soon be a free man. Nearly filed court documents reveal Assange will not face extradition to the U.S. under a deal reached with the U.S. Justice Department. Assange was seen leaving in a black van from London to Belmarsh Prison, his home for the past five years.

From there, he boarded a flight to the northern Marina, Marina Islands. Assange is scheduled to appear at a U.S. court there on Wednesday. And as part of his deal with U.S. prosecutors, he'll plead guilty to one felony count for his role in publishing hundreds of thousands of leaked U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010, revealing sensitive data on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After the hearing, Assange is then expected to return to the country of his birth, Australia. His wife Stella posting on X. Julian is free. Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you, who have all mobilized for years and years to make this come true. CNN's Ivan Watson following developments live for us now in Hong Kong. It's really was quite surprising. We know that a plea deal was possible in the works of the U.S. Department of Justice wanted an end to all of this. But it seemed to come without warning. And I guess the question is now what happens?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, the next chapter in Julian Assange's, you know, very strange saga is this long flight, apparently from London after being taken out of prison there, all the way to this U.S. territory in the Northern Mariana Islands, where he is scheduled to appear in court, we believe, on Wednesday morning. And this is part of what looks like a plea deal.

We've seen the letter from U.S. prosecutors to a U.S. federal judge on the island of Saipan. And let me just quote a line from that, it says we anticipate that the defendant will plead guilty to the charge in the information of conspiring to unlawfully obtained and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States.

And interesting to note that the prosecutor goes on to write that they want the plea and the sentencing in a single day, and that is a joint request of both parties that Assange and the U.S. prosecutors, in light of the defendants opposition to traveling to the continental U.S. Assange has been fighting against extradition to the U.S. for years and years. And it is presumed that after his appearance in court, that he would likely return to his home country of Australia after I believe, decades overseas. This is being celebrated now by WikiLeaks, the organization that Assange founded and led. They've put posts out there saying, you know, Julian is free and they're celebrating this. And then of course, there's his wife, Stella Assange, a human rights lawyer who met him during his kind of odyssey here of trying to stay out of custody. And she said this to the cameras. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STELLA ASSANGE, WIFE OF JULIAN ASSANGE: Throughout the years of Julian's imprisonment, and persecution, an incredible movement has been formed, a movement of people from all walks of life from around the world who support not just Julian and not just us and our family, but what Julian stands for, truth and justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, we understand that the U.S. prosecutors have been asking for a 62 months sentence, John, that's more than five years and that just happens to be about how long he has spent a largely in solitary confinement in prison in London, since he lost his asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he had lived, I believe for more than six years trying to avoid arrest. And so that's part of the deal. Presumably he will not have to spend any more time in prison. That is unless there are any last minute unpredicted things that could come up to mess up this plea deal.

[00:05:34]

And let's kind of rewind to why the U.S. government was pursuing him. WikiLeaks released vast troves of U.S. classified documents onto the internet, the defenders of Julian Assange, which, for example, include the committee to protect journalists, which is also welcoming his release. They're arguing that this was a journalistic practice that he worked with a U.S. Army intelligence officer by the name now of Chelsea Manning, who has served her own time in prison for that, and was releasing information like that.

Now the critics would argue that it put people in harm's way. It released the names of sources and information and it hurt U.S. national security secrets, that's what he's effectively pleading guilty to. Personal disclosure, John, I had an Iraqi translator I worked with, a journalist who one of these cables released was a U.S. diplomatic cable. And he was named after he went to U.S. diplomats to talk about allegations of corruption and human rights abuses in the Iraqi government. And that put him at threat then from powerful people in Iraq after his name was just thrown out there. Those are the kind of arguments for why some people wanted Julian Assange to face justice for this. John?

VAUSE: A lot of people wanted Julian Assange to face justice for that kind of thing, Ivan, absolutely. Thank you for being with us. Ivan Watson, senior international correspondent live in Hong Kong. Thank you.

Joining us this hour is Mark Zaid, who specializes in national security law, government investigations and the Freedom of Information Act. Thanks for being with us.

MARK ZAID, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY: Thank you.

VAUSE: Now according to the court documents, Assange is scheduled to appear 9:00 a.m., Wednesday for sentencing in a courtroom in the remote U.S. jurisdiction of the Northern Mariana Islands. Now, for those unfamiliar with the Northern Mariana Islands, there are a lot -- there with Guam, they make up the Mariana Islands, about 12,000 kilometers from Washington, D.C., it's a long way away. Is this essentially kind of a clever workaround of extradition, Assange still appears in a U.S. court to plead guilty but not form of extradited?

ZAID: Right. I mean, he comes to a U.S. territory, I have no problem believing having dealt with many Assange supporters that there was some degree of paranoia as to whether or not if we brought him to Northern Virginia in the suburbs of D.C., which is the court where he was indicted, that somehow he'd be thrown away in a prison, and the deal would be off. So this is a way to bring him closer to home in Australia, finish off the plea deal, and then let them travel back home.

VAUSE: Yes. And to this plea deal with the Justice Department, Assange is expected to plead guilty to just one charge, and that he knowingly and unlawfully conspired with Chelsea Manning to receive and obtain documents connected with the national defense and communicate that information to persons not entitled to receive it. Iteratively guilty, Assange will essentially be sentenced to time already served. Any surprises here in the terms of this deal? Is it a good deal? Any surprises that the Justice Department has in fact agreed to this deal?

ZAID: No. I think it's a great deal actually for both sides. The Espionage Act prosecutions, and just because it's called Espionage Act doesn't mean it's espionage in the old style spy sense. This has to do with disclosure of National Defense Information to unauthorized third parties. Most historically, deals of this type only receive around four to six years. So this 62 months of time served is consistent with what many cases have brought.

Chelsea Manning's case and I've actually represented Chelsea Manning with respect to her book deal a few years ago. That was a military case. So the 35 or so years that she was sentenced to was somewhat of an aberration, in fact, still the longest type of sentence. Assange has been in basically jail for, you know, 12 years, so to speak with the embassy in Ecuador in London, and then a maximum security prison in London. So if they had resolved this years ago, he would have been home a long time ago.

VAUSE: So before the plea deal with Assange, he was actually facing, what, 18 indictments at all and possibly a very long prison sentence at least in theory. So does this deal boost Assange's argument that he should in fact be covered by First Amendment protections because he argued that leaking is classified document was in the public interest. And he was acting more as like a investigative journalist in a way?

[00:10:14] ZAID: So surely he did face an incredible amount of prison time, about 172 years. So not that that likely would have ever been the case. So this was a very controversial case from the get go. There is a huge debate over whether Assange is a journalist or not. And reasonable minds can differ as to that equation, when I teach on this subject, and I've handled espionage cases. And I represent many very high profile media outlets. Personally, I don't see him as a journalist.

But I also don't see it as a slippery slope. This was a very one off case. And, frankly, to have a slippery slope, you need to have a second case to see whether or not journalists at CNN, "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," would they be prosecuted, of which, of course, they never have been. Now, this case presented a really particularly peculiar issue with respect to his appeal in England because the court wanted assurances from the United States as to whether or not Assange could raise a First Amendment Defense in his case.

Now, there is no First Amendment Defense in federal law for espionage cases. But whether or not he could have raised it, at least made the argument was sort of up for grabs, because of the nature of him being a non-U.S. citizen indicted outside the United States. And there was a problematic equation as to whether or not if we provided, we, the United States, provided that assurance, would we perhaps open the door to other cases that have nothing to do like this, where perhaps terrorism cases where this could be an issue.

So that's one reason why it's a good deal for the United States to avoid that First Amendment argument. And the journalists of the world who believe Assange, as a journalist can say, this is a victory for the First Amendment as well.

VAUSE: Yes. It's a good debate to have whether or not he was acting as a journalist or in another capacity, but he is now heading back home to Australia, at least. Mark Zaid, good to have you with us. Thank you, sir.

ZAID: Thank you.

VAUSE: To Israel's northern border now with a steady drumbeat towards war with Hezbollah, it's growing louder. And will boost aids ramp up the threat as well as the cross border military strikes. U.S. diplomats are working to prevent the outbreak of a second war in the region. The Israeli Defense Minister traveled to Washington, Monday, where he was told by the Secretary of State, a ceasefire in Gaza with Hamas was crucial to avoiding a major confrontation with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

And the Israeli prime minister has given mixed messages about that ceasefire, on Sunday, saying he would support a partial deal or pause in fighting in return for the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. But the war would continue with the ultimate goal of eliminating Hamas, putting him at odds with the U.S. back deal which calls for a permanent end to the fighting.

By Monday, Netanyahu wanted all the hostages home before ending the war, insisting there'd be no change in his position.

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NETANYAHU (through translator): We will not in the war until we return all the hostages, 120 hostages, both the living and the dead. We are committed to the Israeli proposal that President Biden endorsed. Our position has not changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, the families of Israeli hostages, Netanyahu support on Sunday for a partial deal spark outrage. As a reminder of what they have endured. They released a new video showing the kidnapping of three Israelis by Hamas on that day October 7th. A warning now, some viewers may find the images you're about to see, disturbing.

Video released by the families forum shows the terrifying moments of the attack as well as the abduction of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, or Levy and Alia Cohen, who can be seen in the back of a pickup truck, driven away by our militants along a road in southern Israel. The parents of one hostage says the video should serve as a wakeup call for world leaders.

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JON POLIN, HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN'S FATHER: It's important that people in the world see the videos, understand what's happening, understand what happened on October 7th. And most particularly that leaders of the world see it. We families of hostages don't need any reminders. We don't need any wakeup calls. We work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the release of our loved ones. World leaders, maybe they need to wakeup call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining me now from Tel Aviv is Alon Pinkas, one Israeli consul general in New York. Ambassador, welcome back.

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Thank you, John. Good to be with you.

VAUSE: Thank you, sir. Now on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister talked about the war in Gaza we'd be winding down, also ruled out a permanent ceasefire though with Hamas. And by Monday though, he was back on board with the U.S.-backed deal which includes a permanent ceasefire. It's all very confusing what the prime minister is saying. So does anyone know including Netanyahu, where Netanyahu stands on all of this right now?

[00:15:12]

PINKAS: Well, in one word, no. In two words, absolutely --. This was not a -- this was a fourth --. He ignored that he partially -- again -- supposedly in the proposal.

VAUSE: Mr. Ambassador, can I get you to hold there for a minute, we're having some technical problems with your audio. So I'd like you to stay with us. We'll come back to you in a moment.

In the meantime, we want to go to the actual situation along the border between Lebanon and Israel. Residents there have been fearing a further escalation as tensions continue to ramp up between both Israel and Hezbollah. Their concern though, hasn't put a damper on daily life in southern Lebanon. CNN's Ben Wedeman is there.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a day of joy and celebration here in South Lebanon.

WEDEMAN: Israeli forces are just about five miles away from here but nonetheless here in the town of Hasbaiyya, there's a wedding going on.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): It didn't seem right to spoil this special day for newlyweds Temor (ph) and Fatin (ph) with questions but the dark clouds covering over Lebanon. But one guest told us off camera we're celebrating here world war is around the corner. Hasbaiyya has been spared the worst of the barrages and counter barrages between Israel and Hezbollah. Here they stop anyone from firing towards Israel. Parliament Member Elias Jarade was elected to represent Christians in this area.

ELIAS JARADE, MEMBER OF LEBANESE PARLIAMENT: Majority of the Southern people, majority of the Lebanese people from all sects, all religions, all parties. They are in one way or another they are committed with a Palestinian.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Everyone we spoke with had a completely contrary opinion. Few people wanted to speak on camera about the looming danger of war for fear of repercussions. Off camera we got an earful. There is zero appetite for escalation, little support for Hezbollah. Eighty- five-year-old Abu Nabil has seen it all, war and Civil War, invasions and occupation.

War is ruination, he says. In war everyone loses even the winner Abu Nabil knows of what he speaks.

WEDEMAN: Since October, Israel and Hezbollah and its allies have been engaged in low intensity warfare, largely limited to the border if full scale war breaks out, that war will spread well beyond the frontier on both sides.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Last week, Israeli generals approved a plan to attack Lebanon. While Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently warned if it comes to war, the group will fight Israel on land, sea and air and also inside Israel itself. The Iranian-backed groups sophisticated attacks have surprised Israeli officials, including precision strikes on surveillance posts on the border, shooting down high flying Israeli drones, and knocking out anti-missile and anti- drone defenses. And posting online, more than nine minutes of what it claimed was drone footage of sensitive military and civilian infrastructure in and around the City of Haifa.

The bell summons the faithful to mass in the predominantly Christian town of Marjaayoun. More than 90,000 people have already left the south for safer ground. Amal says she's determined to stay, but adds, if things escalate to war and it reaches here like it did before with some shelling, of course, like others we'll have to leave. For now they can only pray for peace and hope those prayers are heard.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, South Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We have technical issues repaired. Let's head back to Alon Pinkas, who is in Tel Aviv for more on the situation. Thank you for your patience, sir.

PINKAS: Thank you, John. Good to be with you.

VAUSE: OK. Thank you for being here and staying with us. Let's go to some reporting now from time, which says that the most recent diplomacy by the U.S. Mideast negotiator Amos Hochstein has been looking for ways to restore calm to the Israeli-Lebanese frontier absent of a ceasefire in Gaza. But Hezbollah flatly rejected the premise of his initiative. The group insists that the war in Gaza must first come to an end. So for everyday that Netanyahu extends the war in Gaza for both political and personal reasons, it seems a date comes closer to war with Hezbollah while at the same time he souring relations with Israel's most important ally, the United States, who will be crucial if there is, in fact, a second war with Hezbollah. It's a strategy which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense on the surface.

[00:20:19]

PINKAS: Not well, it's not even a strategy. It's just a compilation of statements that contrast or contradict each other every other day. Look, John, the U.S. has been treating the two fronts, Gaza and Lebanon as sort of communicating vessels, meaning that Lebanon can only be deescalated the Israeli-Hezbollah front in Lebanon can only be deescalated if there is a ceasefire or a de facto end of the war in Gaza.

The de facto end of the war in Gaza is something that Mr. Netanyahu resists. So on the one hand, he keeps on spewing these cliches about total victory and eradicating Hamas, and saying, at the same time that the situation in Lebanon is untenable. Now, as long as he refuses to accept the logic that links the two, were in this escalatory spiral for which there is no strategy so I wouldn't even call what he's doing a strategy.

VAUSE: Israel has been at war in Gaza now for eight months. They're facing a potentially much greater foe in Hezbollah compared to Hamas. Is the military, is the country prepared for such a confrontation, given the fact that the Israeli military is designed for very short wars, a few weeks, maybe a month, hit the enemy hard, demoralize the spirit, and then force him to negotiate to surrender? That is not the situation now. Israel's army has been at war for eight months.

PINKAS: Yes. Well, you're absolutely right. And you touched the most central question here. And that is, is the Israeli military capable, technologically and Israeli public capable of sustaining such a war? Because as you pointed out, absolutely right. Israel is used to very short wars. And, you know, it's been eight and a half months in Gaza. The military is exhausted, it is fatigued, it is overstretched. It is short on munitions. And it's I don't want to say demoralized, because they're not demoralized.

But there's a sense of aimlessness, there's a sense of where are we headed with this. Now, as for Lebanon, there are a lot of people who are mostly in the Pentagon, who in the U.S. who are under the impression that Israel cannot sustain a lengthy war in Lebanon because of Hezbollah's arsenal of several thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of precise missiles that may shower northern even central Israel.

Now, where's the flaw in all this Israeli thinking? It is that Israel somehow believes wrongly, I think, that it could initiate a limited operation in Lebanon, limited in both scope and duration and control the escalation. That doesn't happen in wars, John, that just doesn't.

VAUSE: Absolutely. Once the war begins, it's all bets are off, you know, that all that planning goes out the window. With that in mind, I want you to listen to a little more from what Netanyahu was saying on Sunday. Here he is.

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NETANYAHU (through translator): After the intense phase is finished, we will have the possibility to move part of the forces north. And we will do this, first and foremost for defensive purposes. And secondly, to bring our evacuated residents home. If we can we will do this diplomatically. If not, we will do it another way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This goes to your point here about why these two conflicts are linked. When we talked about the intensive phase, he's talking about the operation in Rafah and Gaza, seeming to think that is one independent part of all of this. But when he talks about we will do this diplomatically. We'll do this other ways. What does that actually mean?

PINKAS: Well, you know, he's -- Mr. Netanyahu until now has resisted any kind of diplomacy certainly in Gaza, but also in Lebanon. And he has defied the U.S.'s linkage of the two conflict. Now, what he said in this footage in that segment that you just aired, is I have to admit is totally unclear. What do you mean we will move soldiers, we will move to, we will move army units from the south to the north for defensive reasons? Hezbollah has not infiltrated Israel. Hezbollah has not invaded Israel. Hezbollah is probably incapable of doing anything on the large scale in that respect. Their strength is the missiles, not their ground operation.

So what is this defensive thing? I think he's just -- this is his way of saying, we have exhausted all our moves in Rafah or in Gaza indeed in general. And there is an unsustainable situation up in the north where Hezbollah effectively created a buffer zone and 70,000 Israelis have been dislocated or relocated or just fled. And this is this is unacceptable to Israeli public opinion.

[00:25:16]

So he's trying to, you know, to juggle the two. It doesn't seem very successful, particularly given, John, that there's no hostage and ceasefire deal in the making in Gaza. You saw the vacillation. You saw the flip flopping that Mr. Netanyahu put on display yesterday.

VAUSE: Ambassador Pinkas, thank you so much sir for being up early and for being with us. We really appreciate your time and your insight. Thank you.

PINKAS: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: We will take a short break. When we come back, the death toll rises from the terror attacks on churches and synagogues in southern Russia as authorities identified the gunman involved.

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VAUSE: Russia is warning of retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian strike on a beach and Crimea Sunday, which killed at least five people including children. The Kremlin summoned the U.S. ambassador in Moscow blaming the U.S. for supplying the missiles to Ukraine, accusing Washington of waging a hybrid war. The U.S. State Department says Russia is to blame for the fighting and Ukraine is defending its sovereign territory.

The death toll from Sunday's attacks on churches and synagogues in Russia's southern Dagestan provinces now up to 20. Almost 50 others were hurt. Russian authorities have identified five of the attackers including a mixed martial arts fighter and relatives of a regional official. New details now from CNN's Nick Payton Walsh. And a warning some of the images in his report are disturbing.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice- over): It's the horror of Putin rose to power pledging to eradicate, but still nearly a quarter of a century later haunts him now. Pitched battles in the southern region of Dagestan, where likely Islamist militants attacks Jews and Christians in synagogues and churches over hours in which police struggled into the night to gain control.

We still have an incomplete picture of what sends security services into a frenzy Sunday, as evening prayers began. But it is clear the flames spread along Dagestan's coast down to this synagogue in southern Derbent. And the police were also targeted. Their ranks stripped thin by mobilization to Putin and other war in Ukraine.

Russia security services keen to emphasize their swift reaction, releasing this video of them securing the assumption of Our Lady Cathedral in Makhachkala. Dagestan used over two decades to scenes of mangled metal and police hunting militants. But this time, absorbing whether Putin's war in Ukraine had taken away the security forces from their own home streets. [00:30:01]

And the disturbing news that three of the gunmen were related to a local official: one his son, another a nephew, and a third cousin, a local MMA fighter.

[00:30:13]

A key victim, Father Nikolay, pictured here, apparently having his throat slit amid reports there was a hostage standoff for a while. The deaths announced so far, mostly police, leaving questions as to whether more civilians have been killed when they came to evening worship.

And the main suspect here, ISIS-K, yet to claim the attack, and officials slow to name them.

"Of course, we understand who is behind the organization of these terrorist attacks," he says. "We understand what the organizers were trying to achieve."

Extremism has long cursed Dagestan. The Boston bombers partially linked back to here and its militants in 2013.

And police have long been ferocious in their response, fueling yet more extremism, analysts say.

Yet in 2022, protests erupted, when so many Dagestani men were sent off to Ukraine. And so now the old agony of terror perhaps made worse by police being thinned out for Putin's long war of choice.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So which Donald Trump will show up for Thursdays' presidential debate? After the break, place your bets. Unhinged or disciplined? The Biden campaign says it's ready for both.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Well, it's the rematch which brings the grumpy old men of 2020 together again in 2024. Will they be grumpier old men this time around?

President Joe Biden has been prepping with senior aides at Camp David. Donald Trump, notorious for not prepping at all, says he is taking questions and preparing by attending certain political events.

CNN's M.J. Lee has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody knows he's a liar. I just want to make sure -- DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But you -- you're the liar.

BIDEN: I want to make sure --

TRUMP: You were last in your class. I'm first in my class.

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four years after this contentious debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, featuring a torrent of insults, name-calling, and interruptions --

TRUMP: Why won't you answer that question?

BIDEN: Because the question is -- the question is --

TRUMP: -- justices, radical left.

BIDEN: Would you shut up, man?

LEE (voice-over): President Biden is again preparing to face off against his unpredictable predecessor on the debate stage.

CNN is learning that Biden is preparing for whatever version of Donald Trump might show up Thursday night, including a potentially disciplined Donald Trump, recreating the experience of going up against Trump, a key feature of the mock debates.

BOB BAUER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: You want to find some balance between recreating the experience and attempting to, if you will, audition for "Saturday Night Live."

[00:35:07]

LEE (voice-over): Top campaign aides insisting that, regardless of whether the ex-president is unhinged or more demure on Thursday, there's simply no altering his record.

MITCH LANDRIEU, BIDEN CAMPAIGN NATIONAL CO-CHAIR: People are going to know that he's a twice-impeached convicted felon who's been found to have defamed somebody, sexually abused somebody, and gone bankrupt six times. They will always know that.

LEE (voice-over): Ahead of the high-stakes debate, set to unfold inside CNN's Atlanta studio, Biden hunkering down with more than a dozen of his top aides at Camp David, the campaign hoping to showcase two starkly different visions on a whole host of issues. The economy, democratic institutions, and reproductive rights.

BIDEN: Decades of progress shattered just because the last guy got four years in the White House. You know what will happen if he gets another four. To MAGA Republicans, Roe is just the beginning.

LEE (voice-over): Democrats on Monday seizing on the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade and placing blame squarely at Trump's feet. A new Biden campaign ad featuring a testimonial from one Louisiana woman who says she was turned away from two emergency rooms after a dangerous miscarriage at 11 weeks of pregnancy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's now a convicted felon. Trump thinks he should not be held accountable for his own criminal actions, but he will let women and doctors be punished.

LEE (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris, who has emerged the administration's leading voice on the issue, one of many top Democrats blanketing the country today.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America, Donald Trump is guilty.

LEE: Now, if it's impossible to predict how former President Donald Trump might behave on Thursday, even Biden allies would acknowledge that President Biden's performance can be mixed. There are days and events where the president is very focused and sharp and other times when he is simply less on his game.

So there's no question that the president and his group of aides that are huddled right now at Camp David are also going to be working on the performance aspects.

And they're certainly hoping that the President Biden that gave his State of the Union remarks back in March, that that is going to be the version that shows up to the debate stage on Thursday night.

M.J. Lee, CNN, at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: You can watch the CNN presidential debate right here on CNN, coming up June 27 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. And if you miss it, well, we'll play the debate in its entirety a lot, at the 7 a.m. in London. Thats 2 p.m. in Hong Kong and 12 hours later, 7 p.m. In London, 10 p.m. in Abu Dhabi. Just watch all times.

When we return incredible images showing villages in China running from what appears to be space debris falling from the sky. Details in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:00]

VAUSE: The Florida Panthers are raising the Stanley Cup, the team's first ever NHL title. They beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-to-1 in game seven Monday night.

The Panthers won the first three games of the series. And no team has come back from that deficit to win the cup since 1940s.

The Oilers' Connor McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player throughout the Stanley Cup play-offs.

Well, villages in China were sent running to safety as debris, possibly space debris was falling from the sky.

A trail of bright yellow smoke was seen coming from a long cylinder- type object. These images surfaced online after a carrier rocket blasted off from Southwest China.

One expert tells CNN the debris appears to be the first-stage booster from the Long March 2C rocket.

CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: These dramatic social media videos emerged not long after the state-owned Chinese company responsible for this launch --

JIANG (voice-over): -- hailed it as a complete success in a statement online Saturday, describing this mission as a Chinese-made Long March 2C rocket, carrying satellites jointly developed by Chinese and French scientists into space.

JIANG: Now we have reached out to this company and the Chinese government for comment. But for many people on the ground watching these suspected debris plummet towards their village --

JIANG (voice-over): -- they felt quite differently about this mission, with one witness telling CNN that they thought they had seen a rocket far down right in front of their eyes, with other people on social media saying they heard a loud explosion after the debris fell into the ground.

A since-deleted notice from village authorities posted on social media showed that local officials were telling villagers that they were about to conduct a rocket debris recovery mission and advising people to stay away from these debris, avoid been harmed by toxic air and explosions.

Now, that assessment echoed by experts CNN spoke to, with them telling us that these debris --

JIANG: -- are likely from the first stage rocket booster and are, indeed, highly toxic.

Now, if this fallen debris incident is confirmed, it's not without precedent in China. Just last December, debris from another rocket launch from the same center in Sichuan province landed in a nearby region, damaged two houses according to state media.

And back in 2022, charred remnants from a Chinese rocket booster plunged uncontrolled back to Earth in an incident widely criticized by many Western experts as irresponsible and risky behavior by China's national space agency. JIANG (voice-over): All of this, of course, is taking place at a time

when China's not only catching up but also trying to get ahead of the United States in an increasingly heated space race.

JIANG: Steven Jiang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Steven, thank you.

I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you back here in less than 18 minutes. How about that?

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