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Biden Campaigns In Pennsylvania Amid Calls To Step Aside; Polls Close In Second Round Of France's Snap Election; Tropical Storm Beryl Heads To Texas Coast; 70M People IN WEST And Gulf Coast Under Heat Alerts; Jeffries, Top House Dems Hold Call On Biden's 2024 Hopes; Biden, Harris Back On The Trail As Speculation Swirls; American Hurt In Hezbollah Missile Strike In Northern Israel. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 07, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[13:59:53]

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Today we see on both sides of the border, narrow self-interest and short-term politics but Shultz's long-term vision should be the strategic goal for both nations.

Thank you for watching this special hour on Mexico.

I'm Fareed Zakaria.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with breaking news.

Right now, President Biden is back on the campaign trail as he scrambles to try and fend off growing calls to drop out of the race. Today, he's making two stops in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

This morning, he spoke at a black church in Philadelphia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've always felt the power of your faith in good times and in tough time. The fact is the scripture says all things work together for good. For those who love god are now called according to his purpose. Our purpose is to serve others. That's our purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Biden's stepped-up campaign push comes after his high- stakes interview with ABC News did little to calm the nerves of some elected members of his own party.

And any moment now the top Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries will hold a meeting with senior Democrats to talk about the president's future.

And in the Senate, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, plans to gather senators tomorrow to discuss Biden's reelection bid.

We've got a team of correspondents covering the developments. Danny Freeman is in Harrisburg where the president will hold a campaign event in the next hour.

Let's get started with our Arlette Saenz in Philadelphia, where the president just spoke at a church of mostly a black congregation.

So Arlette what did the president have to say and what was the reception like?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, President Biden is currently at a campaign office here in Philadelphia.

His second stop in the city as he's trying to show he is pushing forward with his campaign despite the serious doubts within his party about his ability to beat Trump in November.

Now the president made his first stop here at this church in Philadelphia, where he spoke about how he wants to stay focused on uniting the country.

The congregation here and the church leadership was quite friendly to President Biden, acknowledging some of his debate slip-ups and saying that he should not let people question his age.

One of the pastors here trying to describe President Biden as a young whipper snapper. Now, after the president spoke at this church to that predominantly-black congregation, he moved on to that campaign office where he delivered impromptu remarks.

It did not appear the president was using a teleprompter as he talked with these campaign volunteers about what's at stake in this election. He said that this election will boil down to simple politics, blocking and tackling and also argued that he has seen enthusiasm in the days since his debate. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're drawing crowds that have been really big crowds ever since the debate. Not joking, even that night as we had great crowds afterwards.

And so things are moving. They're moving hard look, the other thing is that people want to know you care. They want to know we care. There's nothing like letting someone know you care like knocking on doors and saying my name is so and so. I'm here for Joe Biden. Is there anything -- what do you need?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The president also spent some time shaking hands with reporters there. We heard one woman say to him, never give up and he said, I'm not getting giving up.

Now the president while he was here in Philadelphia also had a bit of a show of force among Pennsylvania elected officials. Senator John Fetterman, Senator Bob Casey, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean were all on hand for these events.

But it does come at a time when there is some skepticism among Democrats up on Capitol Hill about whether the president should continue in this race.

So far, at least five House Democratic lawmakers have called for President Biden to step aside. It's anticipated that the pressure could grow even more as Congress is set to return to Washington this week.

So the president at this time still pledges that he is charging ahead at this campaign.

[14:04:45]

SAENZ: But there are very real questions about the pressure that could continue to build for him and whether he will stay in this race. So far the president has insisted that he is not backing down in any way whatsoever.

WHITFIELD: All right. Our Arlette Saenz, thank you so much. Of course, the president staying in the state of Pennsylvania.

Next stop, Harrisburg, that's where our Danny Freeman is now. Is it likely the president is going to shake hands with supporters there just as he has done in Philadelphia.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Fred.

And really at this event in Harrisburg, there is a very lively feeling out here. It feels like a barbecue. There's mac and cheese and brisket being served already. We're in a union house courtyard basically. And we see a lot of supporters behind the camera, more filing in around here.

And again, it's all part of that show of force that Arlette described in this crucial state of Pennsylvania. And specifically this particular prevent is pitched by the campaign as more of a casual, informal, unscripted event.

You can see behind me this is where the president is expected to speak. There are no teleprompters up there behind me. It's all to put him in these situations to ease concern after that debate just a few weeks ago.

But first I want to describe why this location and really the larger trip here in Pennsylvania is so particularly important. We're in Dauphin County, right? This is where Harrisburg is and Dauphin County, Philadelphia; Allegheny County where Pittsburgh is, Joe Biden if he wants to win the state of Pennsylvania again, he really has to juice the numbers in these particular areas.

But Fred, it's interesting, not only is Dauphin County important but the campaign told me that some of the other areas that are perhaps redder adjacent to Dauphin County think Lancaster County, think Cumberland County.

If the Biden campaign wants to be on offense and wants to play in trying to chip away at some of the Trump support there, I was in Lancaster County last week and I spoke to a volunteer who said yes, you might know it because it's where a lot of Amish folks live. But there are younger people who are more progressive, more Democratic leaning coming into these areas. We want to turn them into Biden voters.

So that's kind of the overarching theme that we're hearing in this most recent trip to Pennsylvania. We all started from the governor's office. The governor is expected to meet with the president. That's Josh Shapiro, very popular in the state.

But we shall see how he does here and these unscripted events in just about an hour, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll keep checking in with you there. Danny Freeman and Arlette Saenz both in Pennsylvania, thanks so much, with the president.

All right. Now, to this breaking news out of France where polls just closed moments ago in the second round of the country's snap parliamentary elections. This is a pivotal moment for the future of that country.

CNN senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann is standing by at the prime minister's residence in Paris.

So Jim, polls just closed. What do we know right now?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a pretty unexpected result, Fred. And in terms of governing, it looks like what I think the technical term is "a hot mess". Basically, the parliament now, if these projections are right that were seeing, is it going to be divided into approximately one-third, one-third, one-third -- the far left the center, and the right.

And the one thing that President Macron succeeded at was basically keeping the far-right out of power. That was one of the goals of throwing the election.

But even so, it's going to make it very difficult to govern because you have three blocs that are going to be competing for power. None of them have an absolute majority. The relative majority goes to the far- left coalition. It's a loose coalition of parties that go from extremists on the very far left to center left. And it's so -- such a loose coalition that they can't even decide who the prime minister would be if they come to power.

They have to have 289 seats to come to power, they have 192, which that's the highest score anybody had in terms of possible seats in the projection.

So it's real massive in terms of governing. But in terms of what the goal was from Emmanuel Macron and in terms of keeping the far right out of the power, it seems to be that he succeeded at his gamble, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Ok, so at what point will it be determined who the prime minister will be because last week after the first round of the elections, it looked like it was the far right that had the majority. And there was all this talk about this 28-year-old who might become the prime minister.

So is all that scrapped for now, or how will it be determined.

BITTERMANN: Pretty much scrap for now, I would say. Jordan Bardella was the guy you were talking about.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BITTERMANN: He was from the far-right party and the guy who's sitting in this, what's behind me here is the prime minister's office Gabriel Attal.

It looks like he will probably stay on for a while, doesn't mean that he'll be there for ever because what happens is now the president has got to figure out who he should name as prime minister. And it has to be somebody in the cabinet that the prime minister names have to be people that will be acceptable to the various blocs in the parliament.

[14:09:48]

BITTERMANN: And that's a really confusing task when you look at the kind of political strands that are represented now in the parliament, Fred.

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: Wow, fascinating. It continues to be a nail-biter.

All right. Jim Bittermann in Paris, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right. Let's talk more about the elections from another perspective. Let's bring in former CBS Paris correspondent, now "New York Times" foreign correspondent, and CNN opinion contributor -- David Andelman with so many titles. And then he's an author too. His latest book, "A Red Line in the Sand" is available right now.

All right. David, wow, this is interesting. I think last week you were talking about a potential kind of hung parliamentary leadership, or rule. But now, as you heard Jim describe it, maybe one-third, one- third, one-third.

This couldn't have been the goal of Macron or was it?

DAVID ANDELMAN, CNN OPINION EDITOR: Well, it was to a degree. You know, it is certainly, as Jim said, he's quite right, it could very well prove to be a hung parliament.

But what's really interesting I find is what happened to the far right. It basically collapsed. They basically -- they don't even have barely a third of the seats in parliament.

You know, it's is very interesting, I've covered the far-right, the Marine Le Pen and her father Jean-Marie Le Pen back to the 1980s when they first emerged. They have never gotten past about a third of the vote.

That's about all there is left in France who are prepared to vote for the extreme right who are basically bringing back what's left perhaps of Vichy or you know, Nazi, or what have you., rule. They can't see taking their country and turning it over to them again.

So they don't ever get much more than about a third of the vote in the first round or in the second round for that matter. So the result is they're often just squeezed out.

They are apparently, from what I can see from French television on my other screen here, they look like they are just shocked and they should be. Actually they shouldn't be, they should really understand what's going on.

But look, it's the highest turnout since 1981 in terms of elections, the French people are riveted by this.

WHITFIELD: Right. And then in that way, it's perhaps very encouraging for the French voters that turnout would be and clearly this was very important to many.

But now, does this mean while last week it seemed as though there were a lot of nerves. People were very concerned about perhaps, you know, the right-wing getting the majority in one round. Does that now mean that there is a sigh of relief even though it will be very split?

ANDELMAN: There's got to be a certain sigh of relief.

There's no question about that because they were really prepared to revolutionize France in their own image.

In a sense, turning it over to just say Donald Trump perhaps. It works in France, because it's not something that really the French people had even really contemplated before this last set of elections.

Look, what's going to happen right now, I think is we have 18 days until July 18th -- less than 18 days -- July 18. That is when the new parliament convenes and that's when a new precedent to the parliament -- effectively the majority leader has to be chosen or the speaker should we say the speaker of the house.

That's when they have to be -- that's the first going to be the real test of who actually holds the power here and that's a very important moment because what we have to see is the left -- the so-called left includes everybody from the Green Party. And you know, sort of the center left, all the way over to the far left, the communist.

Some of these are going to be able to be peeled away by ensemble (ph), which is Macron's Party, to form some kind of a, a majority of sorts. But it's going to be a majority that goes from issue to issue, from vote to vote.

So in any given moment, perhaps the budget in the fall, or perhaps some other major education the program or whatever, it comes before the national assembly.

If that's voted down the government gets a vote of no confidence and they had to start all over again. Macron has to put together a new government, a new prime minister.

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: I'm exhausted.

ANDELMAN: It's going to be pretty, pretty, pretty chaotic.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I'm exhausted. If people thought American politics was complicated this is something else.

All right. David Andelman, thank you so much. Really appreciate your very comprehensive explanation. It helps us all grasp it far better. Thank you so much.

All right. Still to come in the country. Tropical storm Beryl is getting stronger once again. We're live on the Texas coast as the storm is set to arrive early tomorrow.

Plus records fall on the west coast, 70 million people start the week under heat alerts and an American citizen is badly hurt after Hezbollah fires anti-tank missiles at Israel.

[14:14:34]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Happening right now. In Houston, schools and related facilities are set to close Monday and Tuesday as the city braces for tropical storm Beryl. 81 Texas counties are under the state's disaster declaration, while Beryl eyes the Texas coast. And out of an abundance of caution, city officials in Galveston are closing city facilities on Monday, but emergency services will continue as normal.

South Padre Island, well, yesterday you saw it was beautiful and sunny. Well, conditions are deteriorating today. Very different story.

In the Weather Center, Elisa Raffa is keeping a close eye on things. Yesterday, we were marveling at how pretty it was, even though we knew that Beryl was on its way and even our signal isn't as clear right now, so that we can see how conditions are.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Some of these outer bands are already coming in. We're still looking at this tropical storm sitting -- the center is sitting 165 miles south and east of Matagorda, Texas. But you can see these outer bands have been coming in.

[14:19:50] RAFFA: Even Houston's camera has been going from very stormy to clearing up a little bit in-between these bands. You can see all of that lightning over Houston, 55 (ph) mile per hour winds in the center of the circulation.

We're also finding that this satellite image has been looking much more organized over the day. When I was doing some reports this morning, 6:00 a.m. the satellite kind of looks like a mess. So it is very much intensifying and organizing pretty quickly.

The radar again, like I said, you've got outer bands that are coming on with heavy rain, lots of lightning, any of these that have little isolated thunderstorms could rotate.

We have a tornado threat as we go into the afternoon and evening with this. Wind gusts are starting to pick up. You have got wind gusts getting up to 32 miles per hour in Galveston, 30 miles per hour in Corpus Christi and we'll continue to find the core of these very intense hurricane force winds swirling onto the coast overnight night tonight and into tomorrow.

Because were still expecting this to intensify possibly rapidly to just before landfall, the hurricane center warning that we were looking for sure at a Category 1 hurricane, but please don't be surprised if this makes it to a Category 2 by the time that you wake up. That's how warm these ocean temperatures are.

Hurricane warnings are in effect. You've got tropical storm warnings stretching as far north as Houston and then even farther inland for these very intense winds.

We're looking at these winds up to, you know, 75 miles per hour, getting in pretty deep, again the chance of tropical storm-force winds increasing, including places like Houston, Galveston. This red is the hurricane-force conditions near Matagorda Bay that are possible.

This will churn some storm surge talking about up to six feet possible. This is dangerous and life-threatening. You always want to evacuate away from the storm surge.

On top of this flash flooding, look at that risk of the rain were. Talking about five to ten inches of rain, Fred. Five to ten inches, that could cause considerable damage from just the rain alone.

WHITFIELD: Yes. We've seen that movie before, so to speak. All right. Well, everyone needs to be bracing for this new episode.

Thanks so much, Elisa Raffa. Appreciate it.

All right. Now, to the western portion of this country, it's a very different type of extreme weather pattern, a potentially deadly heat wave is breaking temperatures across the U.S. Today, more than one- third of U.S. residents are under heat advisories with more cities expected to see record temperatures in the coming days.

CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen is joining us now from Los Angeles. So Natasha, we're talking about five cities across California set all-time record high temperatures yesterday.

What are they bracing for today?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's just more of this heat, Fred. We are at the Hansen Aquatic Center where they can have 3,000 people in this pool behind me and they just opened the gates. So we'll see how many people are coming here to beat the heat today. They're definitely expecting somewhere between 1,500 -- 2,000 people.

The first person in line we talked to waited two-and-a-half hours just to make sure he got the best shady spots. We also talked to a lifeguard here. This is a really tough job for them because not only watching a lot of people full, it is extremely hot and they are trying to have people stay hydrated and follow the rules.

Here's one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW GIL, LIFEGUARD: We just want to enforce the rules and make sure that people are walking and staying hydrated because it does get hot here in the valley and people do pass out.

So we remind people to be drinking water and stay, stay hydrated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And just about 50 or 60 miles north of us in one direction you've got Lancaster, in another direction Sandberg. Those are two of the cities that broke all time high temperature records. And then you've got other cities further up the Coast in California who also broke all time temperature records, including Redding in northern California. And then also you got Palmdale down here.

So a lot of places seeing between 106, 120-degree weather. You've got Las Vegas that could challenge its all-time high of 117, and Death Valley that could 125 for the third day in a row.

And some of these places are also seeing really severe weather for the fires that are bursting all around them. You've got in the Fresno area, the Lake Fire that is growing about 13,000 acres and no containment. And you got the Basin Fire, that's also growing quite a bit.

So very dangerous conditions for firefighters as well as for everyday people just trying to keep cool. It's definitely something to watch out for coming into the next week, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. Shade, hydrate, hydrate. And if you've got air conditioning use it for sure.

Natasha Chen in Los Angeles, thank you so much.

All right.

In this breaking news, we're following House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is holding a call with committee ranking members this hour. This as the president is meeting with supporters in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.

[14:24:48]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right.

Breaking political news now. Right now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is holding a call with top House Democrats as President Biden maintains that he is staying in the race.

That conference call happening as Biden tours his beloved state of Pennsylvania. This morning, he made a concerted acknowledgment of his age, while also pushing towards the future in terms of policy and preparing the next generation of political leaders.

Biden saying this at a Philadelphia church this morning.

[14:29:45]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I know with every fiber of my being, I know I only look like I'm 40-years-old, but I've been around a little bit. The bishop (ph) and I were talking about that -- turned 40.

Well, all kidding aside, you know, I've been doing this a long time and I honest to God have never been more optimistic about America's future if we stick together. I really mean it.

(APPLAUSE)

There's else I've learned, that many of you have learned you walk your faith as well. We're all imperfect beans. We don't know where or what faith will deliver us to or when, but we do know is that we can seek a life of light, hope, love, and truth, no matter what, we can seek that life, take all our experiences and give everything we have to work together, because when we do you, they can't stop us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And the president is soon to head to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he will be face-to-face with supporters there as well.

And the next top later on in the week on Friday, Michigan.

Joe Garofoli is senior political writer with "The San Francisco Chronicle". He's joining us right now.

Great to see you.

JOE GAROFOLI, SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Good to see you, Fred. WHITFIELD: So you feel like hearing Biden there at church. Is this a

peek into kind of the new chapter, less about what Biden has done over his 54 year political career and more of what's to come?

GAROFOLI: That's Joe Biden's sweet spot, when he's speaking at the Black churches, I've seen him do that in Nevada and elsewhere, that is where he is in his comfort zone.

But I think the thing we've got to keep an eye on is these meetings that are happening right now that you alluded to of Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Warner on the Senate side among Democrats, the person to watch is Nancy Pelosi. When coming out of these meetings. She may not be a leadership anymore, but she's definitely --

WHITFIELD: Influential.

GAROFOLI: -- someone that -- very influential, she's raised over $1 billion for the party. She's in touch with the donors. She's in touch with the grassroots. She's in touch with -- she will have and she knows she's one of the few people with the gravitas. When she hears what the party is saying, to go to Joe Biden and if necessary, put a hand on his shoulder and said, hey, it's been a hell of a career. It's time to move on.

WHITFIELD: Well, interesting because you do right, you know, recently that everything, you know, the former House Speaker Pelosi does is very much calculated. You touch right now, she continues to be influential and even Hakeem Jeffries, you know, has mentioned in the past, how influential, how helpful she has been in teaching leadership, so to speak.

She just said last week that Biden's fitness for office and questions about it are legitimate it is she by even saying that is she kind of offering a prelude to what kind of decision-making make calm as it pertains to the Democratic caucus.

GAROFOLI: Her saying that and more important when she said that it's essential that Joe Biden have some of these tough interviews, like with Stephanopoulos and others and the when she says essential, she means existential, because if there's one thing Pelosi knows is how to win. She's been two times speaker. She's helped win Democratic majorities of the house. She knows every district in the country and when she is concerned about that, she will send a message.

She rarely calls out her fellow Democrats, but when she does shell do it in a coded way and she has a lot of respect for Biden.

WHITFIELD: Uh-huh. And it is, you know, I mentioned the decision of the Democratic caucus, but it really is ultimately the president's decision. And you heard from a lot of lawmakers who are acknowledging that and concurring with that.

Meantime, you know, Biden acknowledges he is no spring chicken, but it wants to show the vitality is there to improve American lives. Vice President Harris is in New Orleans. She was there last night and she emphasized how much is at stake. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is probably the most significant election of our lifetime. You know, we have said it every four years but this here one is it. Look at what we've done to know that when you voted in record numbers, people voted in record numbers in 2020 this is what was able to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like a more considered more concerted use of the vice president is also breathing life or vitality into this Biden reelection campaign?

GAROFOLI: They have -- they have no other choice. And let's -- let's be real. If Biden were to step down, the only choice to be made would be the vice president to step into that place. Number one, she's the only person who's been nationally vetted.

She's known -- your own CNN poll the other day said that you're talking about people like Governor Gavin Newsom, who is an excellent surrogate for the president, but only 50 percent of Americans know what is.

[14:35:07]

Two-thirds of Americans don't know who Governor Whitmer is.

She had the access to the money that the DNC and the Democratic Party has raised. The others would have to set up a fundraising network. She's -- and perhaps most important like this audience she was speaking to over the weekend, she is much better with people of color, with younger voters. Those folks are thinking of staying home.

And if they are not voting for Biden, they're not going to vote for Trump. But if they're not voting for Biden, Biden is not the president again.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Garofoli, great talking to you. Thank you so much.

GAROFOLI: Good talking to you. Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And as we just mentioned, President Biden is traveling in the key state of Pennsylvania right now, Philadelphia, then next Harrisburg, and then onto Michigan later on in the week. And as he tries to soothe concerns about his ability to beat former President Donald Trump this November, the Vice President Harris, she'll be front and center once again making the case for four more years when she heads to Nevada, her sixth trip to that state this year.

And as Harris draws more scrutiny, amid her running mate's woes, CNN's Brian Todd takes us inside the evolution of the Biden-Harris ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Our president, Joe Biden.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The public face of Kamala Harris's relationship with Joe Biden started on a contentious note.

HARRIS: I'm going to now direct this to Vice President Biden.

TODD: At a Democratic primary debate in 2019, Harris challenged Biden for working with segregationist senators in the past, telling Biden it was hurtful to her.

HARRIS: You also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.

I'm suspending --

TODD: Harris would later drop out of the 2020 race before a single vote was cast. But she'd impressed Biden enough with her toughness that he asked her to run with him.

BIDEN: Is the answer yes?

HARRIS: The answer is absolutely yes, Joe. And I'm ready to work. I am ready to do this with you.

TODD: Harris fought hard with Biden through a bruising campaign and emerged as the first woman, the first black American, and the first person of South Asian descent to hold the office of vice president.

HARRIS: We did it, Joe.

TODD: But there were setbacks early in the administration. In 2021, after Biden assigned Harris to handle relations with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Central America to help address the immigration crisis, Harris gave an awkward, heavily criticized answer in an interview with NBC's Lester Holt.

HARRIS: We've been to the border. We've been to the border.

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: You haven't been to the border.

HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. I mean, I don't understand the point that you're making. I'm not discounting the importance of the border.

TODD: CNN reported that year that the president's team was annoyed with that and with other fumbling answers she gave about the border crisis.

But CNN also reported that Harris team had its own complaints that the president's aides were leaving her exposed.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: It was like the other side where people were complaining there was too much being put on her plate that wasn't setting her up to succeed. TODD: But since Roe versus Wade was overturned in 2022, it's been Harris who has emerged as a key voice for the administration on reproductive rights.

HARRIS: This is a fight for freedom, the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not having her government tell her what to do.

TODD: She's also been one of the president's fiercest defenders since last week's disastrous debate performance.

HARRIS: Look, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're going to beat him again.

TODD: A Harris biographer says those who've run against Kamala Harris have underestimated her at their own peril.

DAN MORAIN, AUTHOR, KAMALA'S WAY, AN AMERICAN LIFE: She won statewide three times in California. That's no small feat. You don't do that if you're -- if you're a lightweight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): In recent days, Donald Trump and his MAGA surrogates have stepped up their attacks on Harris. Trump in a Truth Social post calling her, quote, Laughing Kamala Harris. Harris biographer Dan Morain points out that candidates usually don't do that unless they're worried about their potential opponents.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, breaking news, Hezbollah fires anti- tank missiles towards northern Israel, badly injuring an American citizen and two others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:43:45]

WHITFIELD: All right. There's breaking news out of Israel where an American citizen has been badly hurt by shrapnel from a missile fired into northern Israel by Hezbollah. Hospital officials describe his condition as worsening.

The Israeli military said the Iran-backed militant group fired dozens of projectiles and anti-tank missiles from southern Lebanon. Israel defense forces released this video of its return missile strike.

Elliott Gotkine is joining me right now with more on this.

So what are you learning about the extent of the American's injuries?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Fredricka, as you say, he was injured by shrapnel. Now this was the upper body. He was then brought to the Galilee medical center, one of the closest hospitals to where he suffered his injuries. He was anesthetized, he was operated on, and then he was put in the intensive care unit.

But as you say, his condition, we understand in the last half-hour or so in a statement from the hospital, his condition is worsening. It was previously described as serious and stable. Now we have reached out to the U.S. State Department to try to get some more information about the casualty, but no more for information, just yet.

But as you say, his condition is worsening this 31-year-old us citizen after suffering shrapnel wounds to his upper body -- Fredricka.

[14:45:01]

WHITFIELD: Okay. And then a senior Hamas official tells CNN the organization is ready to reconsider its insistence that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing an agreement?

GOTKINE: That's right. And this was one of the red lines, perhaps the biggest red line as far as Israel was concerned in terms of going forward with the deal. You recall about a month ago or so, President Biden too much fanfare made this announcement that Israel had signed up to the ceasefire proposal, and that Hamas was -- just down to Hamas to accept it.

Now, up until the last couple of days. And when beheaded confirmed from the senior Hamas official, Hamas was still insisting on a full Israeli ceasefire, a full cessation of hostilities before embarking on the first phase of this multi-face ceasefire for hostage release deal. It now seems that Hamas is entertaining the possibility of no longer sticking to that point, and that would seem to remove one of the main obstacles for this deal going forward.

And that is perhaps one of the main reasons why optimism is surging perhaps to its highest level since the first ceasefire took place, all those months ago, back in November. And today, of course, a very symbolic day, that its nine months to the day since the Hamas terrorist attacks. And since those are hundred and 16 people who were still believed to be in captivity, about a third of whom are dead were kidnapped.

Now from Israel's perspective, we also heard in the last hour from Prime Minister Netanyahu, putting out a statement saying that its thanks to his insistence on going ahead with the Rafah ground operation, despite criticism from the U.S. administration and others, pleading with Israel not to go forward. Netanyahu saying that that is why Hamas is now -- is now effectively reneging on its previous red line on insisting on a full cessation of hostilities, Netanyahu also outlining four points including that Israel should have the right to go back to fighting after the initial ceasefire, also insisting as the terms for, as the price for Israel doing a deal, but there'll be no returns says Netanyahu of armed terrorist to the northern Gaza Strip, no smuggling from Egypt of arms from Egypt into the Gaza Strip to Hamas. And finally, that is throw will maximize the number of live living hostages that would be released as part of this ceasefire agreements.

So as I say, Fredricka optimism possibly at its highest level since the last ceasefire in November on what is the nine month anniversary from those Hamas-led terrorist attacks.

WHITFIELD: Wow, hard to believe.

All right. Elliott Gotkine, thank you so much.

All right. And this breaking news out of France, the French left-wing alliance is projected to beat the far right in a shocking result. Live to Paris straight ahead.

Plus, with wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East showing no signs of ending soon, President Biden gets set to host some of America's biggest allies in Washington, D.C. this week.

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[14:52:00]

WHITFIELD: Right now, nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. For decades, researchers have tried and failed to come up with ways to effectively treat Alzheimer's. But now, there are new signs of hope from hard science on lifestyle interventions to earlier detection and intervention.

There are new tools to battle this disease. In a documentary called "THE LAST ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT", airing tonight on CNN, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at Mike Carver, a man who seemingly reversed early onset Alzheimer's.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a pretty incredible story, Mike Carver. He was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's in his mid 60s. He's now in his early 70s and living a pretty normal life. I mean, that is not typically what you hear when someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. You expect that there's not a lot that can be done. Maybe you can slow down the progression.

But the idea that he was able to actually reverse some of the signs of cognitive impairment as you heard from him and his wife, that's pretty extraordinary. Now, one thing I'll point out as you look at what the clinical trial entailed was just how quickly these changes happen for him.

He was big meat eater, but when out of vegan diet, 30 minutes of exercise, daily, three times a week of strength training one hour daily stress relief, and three times a week of these online hourly support sessions.

That's a lot or not that much depending on your perspective. But he was able to do it and he saw the benefits. And again within 20 weeks, within five months, it just speaks to how biodynamic the body is. It can get bad pretty quickly, but it can also improve pretty quickly as well.

At the same time that you hearing about these new trials on lifestyle changes, there has been some new developments with regard to medications as well. Another medication improves approved by the FDA, Donanemab. To give you some context here was about a, 29 percent slowing of cognitive decline with these medications. But there were also potential side effects, 37 percent brain bleeding in the Donanemab group versus 14 percent in the placebo group.

And then there is the price tag of these medications. I mean, it's mind numbing sometimes I think about $4 trillion we spend on health care every year. The numbers that you see on their screen, tens of thousands of dollars for these drugs are surely going to add to that.

And that's part of the reason it was so exciting to see the results of this early lifestyle intervention. We've known for a long time lifestyle interventions can reverse heart disease. People didn't believe it at first, but now it's well known. We're starting to see that same enthusiasm for lifestyle changes impact on brain disease. So very excited about the documentary film and hope you get a chance to watch it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: We're excited, too. We'll be watching. Tune in with Dr. Sanjay Gupta in his reporting, "THE LAST ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT". That airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

[14:55:02]

Coming up --

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SPORTSCASTER: Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix. What a victory. Hamilton is back.

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WHITFIELD: A thrilling finish for the British Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton ends a two-and-a-half year victory drought in his home country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPORTSCASTER: Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix. What a victory. Hamilton is back.