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Biden Faces New Wave Of Democratic Defections; Trump Holds First Campaign Rally Since Assassination Attempt; Questions Over Plan B As More Lawmakers Call For Biden's Exit; Israel Strikes Houthi Military Targets Inside Yemen; More Than 2,100 Flights Cancelled Due To Global Tech Outage; Security Ramped Up At Trump's First Rally Since Shooting; Evan Gershkovich Sentenced To 16 Years In Russian Prison; Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Team Up For All-Star Game. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 20, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:12]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, and thanks for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

A defiant President Joe Biden is pressing ahead with his plans to return to the campaign trail as early as next week despite growing calls for him to end his reelection bid. Now the president has come down with COVID and is recovering from that. In the meantime 35 Democratic lawmakers are now publicly urging him to step aside with the latest announcement coming in the past few hours.

But Biden is vowing to stay in the race and a source says that he is, quote, "seething" at the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, since some of her close allies in Congress are joining in the calls for him to drop out.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is with the president in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

So, Priscilla, we've also just gotten an update from the president's doctor on his condition after coming down with COVID. What did that update say?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, bottom line, the president's symptoms are improving, that according to Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who put out an updated letter on the president's condition. He is improving. He continues to take Paxlovid, but he is still testing positive for COVID.

Now of course it was COVID that took the president off the campaign trail this week. He had been in Nevada where he was trying to shore up support among black voters and Latino voters. But it was in the middle of that that they learned that he had tested positive for COVID and had to return here to Delaware where he is in or he's isolating at his residence.

Now, as the president has been behind closed doors with his inner circle, Democratic lawmakers and allies continue to pour in with letters saying that the president should step aside and then he should withdraw from the race. That has been ongoing over the course of the week. And even today with more lawmakers coming forward publicly and saying that it's time for the president to drop out of this race.

Now, in the midst of all of that, in the face of it, the campaign is adamant that the president is staying in the race. On the airwaves yesterday Biden campaign chair noting that it has been a difficult few weeks and that there has been some erosion of support but really ultimately saying that the views among voters are hardened and that there is still a path ahead here.

And that's really what we've also heard from sources close to the president that he has kind of doubt over that polling that shows that he can't defeat former president Donald Trump, even as other top officials see the situation as it is now was wholly untenable as Democratic lawmakers just continue to share their concerns about the president's vigor and candidacy.

Now, I should note that among some Democrats there is consensus that should the president step aside, it should be Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the party's ticket. Now aides have told me that the president and the vice president remained close, that there is no daylight between the two, and that just yesterday the vice president at the behest of Biden advisers had joined a call with donors which again defended President Biden.

Now today she is going to be attending a fundraiser in Massachusetts. Of course, the campaign also struggling with donors, some big-dollar donors who have been holding back their checks amid all of these concerns. But again, the campaign is hoping that the president recovers, that he can get on the campaign trail next week, and that they can continue this campaign in earnest, and try to show lawmakers what they want to see, which is the president engaging with voters and up to the task of taking on former president Donald Trump.

But, Alex, even as they hope for that, we are still expecting more lawmakers to come forward and say that he needs to drop out.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Certainly a big week ahead with -- for the president as all these questions continue to swirl.

Priscilla Alvarez, with the president in Rehoboth Beach. Thank you very much.

CNN's Biden's -- excuse me, Republican challenger will soon be holding a campaign event in the battleground state of Michigan.

[15:05:03]

This will be former President Trump's first rally since surviving that assassination attempt last Saturday in Pennsylvania. Trump and his newly minted running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, they're set to take the stage in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in just a couple of hours.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is covering this Trump rally for us.

So, Kristen, what are we expecting to hear from this new Trump-Vance ticket?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, good question. We've never actually seen them campaign together. Now obviously as we have reported one of the reasons that Donald Trump chose J.D. Vance is because he wanted an heir to the MAGA throne. J.D. Vance is all in on Donald Trump's version of the Republican Party.

And the other thing we've heard is that the reason that Donald Trump chose J.D. Vance is because of the chemistry that the two of them have. Keep in mind, we've never actually seen any of that chemistry. We have only seen very small snippets of the two of them together from the Republican convention. He did not name him as his vice presidential nominee or vice presidential candidate until Monday of the convention.

So there are still so much that we have yet to learn about what a Trump-Vance ticket looks like, including how they interact, what it looks like up on that stage, how they speak to each other, or how they're seen to be crowd, how they interact with the crowd as a team. That is so critical in a presidential election to see what that team is doing.

Now the other thing is that here in Michigan, there is another reason they might have chosen J.D. Vance which is that he could help with voters in places like Michigan, like Pennsylvania, because of his working class background. Now, Donald Trump really doesn't need a lot of help in that area. If you look at all the polling, most of his supporters do fall into that category or many of his supporters do.

But he could still reach out to other factions within those kind of states. Again, we're really looking at right now is how these two run as a ticket, something we just haven't seen yet.

MARQUARDT: Yes. And how Trump will be in sharing that stage with his new vice president.

Kristen Holmes at that rally in Grand Rapids. Appreciate it.

The growing discontent within the Democratic Party over Biden at the top of the ticket is triggering questions over what would happen next if Biden were to step aside.

CNN's Brian Todd has this look at why an open convention process could be quite chaotic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president's team digging in, vowing to stay in the race despite dozens of Democratic lawmakers and party leaders suggesting otherwise. But if Joe Biden, in the days or weeks ahead, were to decide to quit the race before the Democratic convention in late August, the process for replacing him is uncertain and somewhat messy.

PROF. LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: The primaries are over, the caucuses are over. You can't redo the primaries or caucuses. You can't elect new delegates.

TODD: If Biden steps decide before the convention, it could turn the convention itself into a free-for-all, or at least make it full of intrigue. Names of replacements could be put forward and the roughly 3900 Democratic delegates from across the country could decide who to vote for as the nominee.

SABATO: It's up to the delegates. In the end, it's up to them.

TODD: President Biden won almost all of those 3900 delegates in the primaries. But does he have control over who they support if he's out of the race?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: It's not like Joe Biden can say, OK, I'm stepping down. All of you delegates that signed on for me half to now support this other candidate. That's not how it works. Those delegates would essentially be free to move the way they want.

TODD: Like the days of old, backroom deals and lobbying could prevail at the convention as potential nominees tried to convince the delegates to get behind them. In the end, how many of the 3900 delegates would a candidate have to win at the convention to get the nomination?

ELAINE KAMARCK, MEMBER, DNC RULES AND BYLAWS COMMITTEE: Ultimately, they would have to convince somewhat somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 plus Democratic delegates to vote for them on a roll call vote.

TODD: There are also additional so-called superdelegates. About 700 of them comprised of party insiders and elected officials who could also be allowed to join in the voting. It would all mean a late start for any candidate, including in the money race. If Vice President Kamala Harris won the nomination, she would presumably be able to use Biden's campaign war chest because her name is on all the filings. But any other candidate may have to raise their own money.

What happens if President Biden, for some reason, leaves the race after the Democratic convention? Experts say in that unlikely event, the Democratic National Committee would convene and select the Democratic nominee for president on its own.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Brian Todd for that report.

And with me now is presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

Douglas, thank you so much for joining us today at what could be a real turning point potentially in this race. I want to ask you first of all how unprecedented would it be for a candidate to drop out at this point, just a few months before the election?

[15:10:04]

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it's one of the reasons we all keep mentioning Lyndon Johnson in March 31, 1968 when he shocked the nation by getting out. It was the right thing to do. Eugene McCarthy and the anti-war movement was on his tail. Robert F. Kennedy was looking to run and Johnson said I'm going to put the country first. I'm going to have to deal with Vietnam as sitting president.

And then of course in 1968 with the death of RFK, Chicago Democratic convention went haywire. Mayor Daley's police beating protesters. A fight inside the convention hall between Eugene McCarthy, the dub, and Hubert Humphrey, the hawk on Vietnam, and alas, the Democrats got beat in '68 because they didn't seem to have command of their narrative.

MARQUARDT: And that would certainly be a major concern right now. When you look at what's happening behind the scenes and then in public, we have congressional leadership, senior members of Congress who reportedly have privately expressed their concerns about Biden continuing his campaign. At the same time we see this growing number of Democrats, almost three dozen at last count, so willing to publicly go against President Biden and asked him to drop out of the race.

How stunning is it do you think to see these lawmakers from Biden's own party standing up to him in this way?

BRINKLEY: You know Joe Biden was beyond the disaster when he debated Donald Trump. He gave a negative zero performance. The world was stunned. He had some opportunities to fix it, but he didn't. He went on shows like Stephanopoulos on ABC. He went and spoke to NATO leaders calling Zelenskyy Putin. He just kept eroding confidence that he can serve until he's, you know, 85 years old. And so it's not just about can he make it to November, to the finish line, there's a great concern can he be president.

And instead of talking and being reasonable, I think President Biden has been petulant. He's now denouncing CNN. He'll denounce "The New York Times." He'll denounce Nancy Pelosi, the Obama people, everybody's picking on poor Joe. That's not leadership. And so that's what's frightening people is his inability to talk to people and say, how do we fix this? Why not bring in a James Carville, a David Axelrod, say you guys won two elections apiece, Clinton, Obama, I need some help?

Let's get a new campaign manager. Let's put some energy into beating Donald Trump, which for Democrats is the all-important thing. Instead, he's whining about how he has been dealt a bad hand. It's not good for President Biden and every day he complains makes more donors and leaders in the party question his stability right now.

MARQUARDT: We are one month out from the DNC, under four months from the election itself. If Biden were to drop out, what impact do you think that there would be? Do you think that there would be any long lasting damage to the process of electing a president in this country?

BRINKLEY: I think Biden has damaged the Democrat Party already mightily. This has gone on for weeks. He's running out clock, he's just trying to burn days, kicked until the next week. He wants to do this, you know, do a Zoom vote for him to keep his delegates. He's being intransigent.

There's a simple solution. He could at any moment say I'm backing Kamala Hairs. That's my vice president. I picked her. She's a superstar because she was, as attorney general of California, had learned how to prosecute criminals. And you have a felon in Donald Trump and she's going to prosecute him, and I'm going to be at her side backing her every step of the way. In fact, I hope to be able to give the speech in Chicago announcing that she's the nominee of the party.

But he won't do that. And he makes people on -- fearful like why is he so hesitant to embrace Kamala Harris putting her in a very awkward position right now. Biden is insular. He's listening to four or five people and it's a problem that the Democrats have right now and I think Biden needs to read the writing on the wall that he's got to seriously get out of this game or else risk being known in history as being the leader who was so selfish that he couldn't see the moment had come for a generational change that the person, the octogenarian, had to hand it over to a historic woman in her 50s, Kamala Harris.

[15:15:06]

MARQUARDT: Well, let's say he makes that decision and it's not a guarantee that it would necessarily go to Kamala Harris, but that is of course the assumption. It could be a wider process than that. What are the potential different scenarios at the convention? And how would that compare to pass brokered conventions?

BRINKLEY: The plus of Harris, it's his pick. Joe Biden was very brave. I mean, he's done so much for black America. But picking a woman and getting her through to be this VP is a big deal. Biden should own that and say I'm with you and put all of his energy and delegates into Harris. Now if that's not going to the care, you're going to do an open convention. It's going to be very chaotic.

The money, the roles, the delegates and the risk factor multiplies. Who wants to get into that open convention? Gavin Newsom said no. Gretchen Whitmer, no way, neither of them are. So then what, you're looking at Governor Pritzker maybe because he's a billionaire, could jump in. Who in the last minute is coming in? The obvious thing to do is everybody get behind Kamala Harris right now and make it exciting, make it fun. Allow her to reach younger voters that Biden lost and allow her to be embraced by black America, Indo America, women.

Reproductive rights is the number one issue, have a woman lead the charge on it, but I saw in the debate was neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden knows how to talk about women's reproductive rights with any degree of competence.

MARQUARDT: Douglas Brinkley, really appreciate your perspective at this extraordinary moment. Thank you.

BRINKLEY: Thank you. MARQUARDT: And still ahead today, thousands of people are still

stranded in airports after a massive tech IT outage crippled airlines and businesses all around the world. The big question now, what can be done to prevent this type of catastrophe from happening again? I'll be speaking with a national security expert about that, next.

And the Secret Service now ramping up security around former president Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. It comes after the assassination attempt of a week ago. More on the steps that they're taking when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:00]

MARQUARDT: Breaking news this hour, Israel says it has struck several Houthi military targets inside Yemen. The Houthis say that the Israeli strikes hit oil storage and a power station in Yemen's port city of Hodeidah and they are now threatening retaliation.

This comes just two days after the Houthis claimed a drone attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. That's where CNN's Jeremy Diamond is and reports now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN TEL AVIV CORRESPONDENT: For months now, Houthi militants have carried out attacks against Israel as well as those shipping lanes in the Red Sea. But this is the first time that the Israeli military has actually struck Houthi targets in Yemen. And the reason for that is that drone attack that struck central Tel Aviv on Friday killing one Israeli citizen and changing the calculus for the Israeli government.

I'm told that these strikes were carried out against dual use targets in the area of the Yemeni port of Al- Hodeidah, energy infrastructure targets, in particular.

Here's Admiral Daniel Hagari talking about those strikes on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAELI MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: The Houthis' attacks are acts of aggression. A violation of international law and a threat to the international peace and security. Today Israel stepped up its actions in self-defense against these attacks. The Israeli Air Force conducted precise strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen. The military target was the Al- Hodeidah Port used by the Houthis as a main supply route for the transfer of Iranian weapons from Iran to Yemen, like the UAV itself, that was used in that attack on Friday morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And the Israeli prime minister also saying that these strikes make clear that there is no place that Israel cannot and will not reach. Also, focusing on the link between these Houthi militants and Iran, which according to the Israeli government provided Houthi militants with the very same type of drone that was used in Friday's attack. The Israeli military says that was a Samad-3 drone.

I'm also told that this was a 100 percent Israeli strike carried out by the Israeli military, not in conjunction with the United States or the United Kingdom. And that's notable in particular because over the last several months Israel has really let the United States and the U.K. take the lead in carrying out strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen. But because this drone strike on Friday actually resulted in Israeli casualties that changed the calculus here and Israel carrying out this strike alone.

I am told however by an Israeli defense official that the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant got on the phone with his American counterpart, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to give him a heads up on the strike ahead of time.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Jeremy Diamond.

And still ahead, major impacts are still being felt across the world for the second day after that massive global tech outage.

[15:25:07]

We're following the very latest when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: Right now a software glitch is still causing major problems around the world. An update from a single cybersecurity company, the U.S. based CrowdStrike. That was the root cause of all of this chaos over the past few days. And that mistake sent a wave of cascading issues from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, to schools, hospitals, and airports. And at airports, we are seeing even more delays and cancellations today.

[15:30:01]

CNN's Isabel Rosales is at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson International.

So, Isabel, what are you seeing there today? How are travelers dealing with all these issues?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, it is the world's busiest airport. It is also the airport with the most cancellations as of today.

Now, yesterday, we certainly saw the chaos. So many people just waiting and waiting in lines across different carriers. Today the story is really all about Delta. Take a look right up there at these boards. You're going to see a lot of red. Those are delays and cancelations. Really through no fault of Delta, right? This is their headquarters. This is the biggest Delta hub that they've got. So in terms of volumes, they didn't have a lot of flights coming out of here but the customers are certainly feeling the impacts and the headaches even if this is due to an outage from a cybersecurity company, this is not Delta's fault, they're still feeling the pain here.

Take a look at these lines. This line right here is people who have had cancellations, delayed. They're trying to find a different flight, trying to get rebooked. They're having to wait in line. That's actually gotten shorter here since I last spoke to you, Alex. But look over here, yet another line. This is for people who have been canceled and they need to pick up their luggage and be reunited with their luggage.

Let me introduce you to somebody right over here. Excuse me, ma'am. I'm so sorry. Let me squeeze right on by. This is Karen right over here.

Karen, you were going somewhere exciting today.

KAREN BRUCE, MISSED FAMILY CRUISE DUE TO TECH OUTAGE: I was going somewhere.

ROSALES: Where?

BRUCE: To a cruise from Houston, Texas, that we didn't make because the flight was delayed, delayed, and eventually was canceled.

ROSALES: And you've been saving up your PTO for this, right?

BRUCE: Husband was. Yes.

ROSALES: Yes.

BRUCE: Yes.

ROSALES: So disappointment? What are you feeling?

BRUCE: Very disappointing, very disappointing. And tired and it's just -- it's a mess. It's just a mess.

ROSALES: And you've been waiting --

BRUCE: All day in speaking with people that have been here for, you know, two days.

ROSALES: Right.

BRUCE: You know, we just got here this morning so I can imagine what they feel like.

ROSALES: So you just need to pick up your luggage, right?

BRUCE: Yes. You see this long line?

ROSALES: Yes.

BRUCE: Yes. Very long.

ROSALES: All the way to the front over here.

BRUCE: All the way.

ROSALES: I heard from some people who had their flights canceled yesterday, they were in this line and then it closed so they had to go to a hotel, had to go home, and now they're picking up --

BRUCE: Well, I hope they were reimbursed for it. It's just, I mean, I just don't know what to say. It's just tiresome. It's a mess.

ROSALES: Had you heard on the news perhaps or had you heard on social media that there was an outage causing all this headache?

BRUCE: My husband actually called me and he told me that, you know, so watch, because he was on his way from Texas.

ROSALES: And you were just hoping it wouldn't happen to you?

BRUCE: I was hoping that it wouldn't happen. And he was delayed yesterday coming from Texas and we left out early this morning, and it seemed like it was going to be OK and the next thing you know, delayed.

ROSALES: Delayed. Right.

BRUCE: Yes. Delayed, delayed, and delayed.

ROSALES: A huge headache. I'm so sorry --

BRUCE: And my family is in Texas and we can't see them.

ROSALES: I'm so sorry. Stranded out here. Thank you so much, Karen. I appreciate your time.

Alex, back to you.

MARQUARDT: That's some extraordinary scenes and such sad stories of missed vacations and weddings and even funerals.

Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for that reporting.

Let's talk more about all this with the former deputy national security adviser, Victoria Coates.

Victoria, thank you so much for joining us. This is really such a remarkable story. We see it very visually at the airports there, but obviously far more reaching consequences at elsewhere like emergency services, hospitals, businesses. I think it's surprising to a lot of people that so much hinges on one company and as one expert told me earlier, a miniscule piece of code.

So how is it that this happened? How is it that there's so much reliance on one provider like this?

VICTORIA COATES, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, Alex, good to be with you. I think this is now very much a national security issue what we're seeing here, and yes, this was one piece of code, but it brought everything to a grinding halt and it was an update, glitch. This wasn't a cyberattack and sort of coordinated penetration of the U.S. grid or system.

And I think it has to be a wakeup call to all of us who care about these things that we are intensely vulnerable in this sphere. Not enough has been done to create redundancy, to create backups. You know, the awful story Isabel just reported on is that woman losing her vacation. Well, think about just needed the compounding nature of that. The lost money, the loss to the airlines.

I mean, this becomes in a way, you know, an economic meltdown as well. So I think, as I said, a wake-up call. We've got to do better.

MARQUARDT: So what would you do? What would you have the U.S. government do if you were still at the National Security Council? Obviously, you know, they work closely with companies like CrowdStrike. Are we talking about diversification of cybersecurity companies? Are we talking about regulation? What do you think the solution is?

COATES: I think all of those things and a lot of this know-how actually resides at the Department of Energy where I worked for the last year of the Trump administration. Not specifically on this issue, but of course had a lot of colleagues who were very involved in this.

[15:35:08]

And I think as I said redundancy is the key here so that if you do have a failure it doesn't turn into this cascading situation that brings down a whole bunch of other things with them that there are secondary systems that can move into place, take over that function for whatever period of time it takes to patch or fix the errant code and then also to think about what happens if we are actually attacked.

We know the Russians, the North Koreans, the Chinese, the Iranians are all very, very active in cybercrime and, you know, that they -- that is their first resort when they want to hit the United States. And so if we can have this from -- you know, from an update, what would happen if they actually, seeing the vulnerabilities in our system, went after a series of different key components to create this kind of failure.

MARQUARDT: So what kind of weakness and vulnerabilities does it actually show to those countries that you named, that are such capable actors? Oftentimes it's not even just the governments. They have very capable hackers within those countries are independent who are malicious actors. So what kind of vulnerability does this expose?

COATES: Well, you know that they're all going through this now, and seeing where the weak point was, what was the update. They have access to, you know, to the stuff that's on the open market as well. And so they can see, OK, if you do this, you know, on a Friday morning in the United States, you can snarl air traffic for 48 hours essentially, or if I take this other action, you know, maybe I can impact the electrical grid, the financial system.

There are all sorts of different avenues they can take this, but every time something like this happens, they learn more and so I think we need to, as I said, we've got to get all of these systems hardened and realize that, you know, this isn't 1975 anymore. You know, we now really rely on these systems in a way that makes us intensely vulnerable.

MARQUARDT: Yes, 8.5 million systems all across those different industries. Some of them extremely sensitive.

Victoria Coates, thank you so much for your time and your thoughts today.

COATES: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: And still ahead, new details on the ramped up security measures in place to protect former president Donald Trump after last weekend's attempt on his life. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:05]

MARQUARDT: We are just a little over an hour away from former president Donald Trump's rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the Secret Service has ramped up security around that rally. It's the first event since the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania last weekend, which also prompted increased security measures around Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. You can see it right there. The town of Palm Beach where Mar-a-Lago is placed, is based, is warning drivers there of road closures through the election.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand is joining me now.

So, Holmes, you've been reporting on this since the assassination attempt last week and uncovering a lot of new things. You've got new reporting on how the Secret Service is rethinking the security around the former president and current Republican nominee going forward.

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So the entire apparatus of Trump's security is being rethought from as we talked about his Mar-a-Lago residence and how road closures are going to be there for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, up and until the election. That is a big change for the Secret Service.

We're also seeing on the ground in Michigan today far more Secret Service than was expected. And they've also called local law enforcement in recent days to increase their presence there as well. Part of the reason for this is certainly the assassination attempt last week, but it's also because of new federal assessments of potential copycats, and that is a big concern. And we're talking about a complete change of Trump's security presence

from his motorcade to his how they're thinking about campaigning in general, whether they want to move everything indoors, like tonight, it's being held indoors which the Secret Service likes because they can control that much, much more easily than a field like we saw in Pennsylvania last week. So all of these decisions continued to be made.

MARQUARDT: And of course, there was separately nothing to do with the assassination attempt, the Iranian plot which is not just against the former president, but again, some of his former aides as well. And so that has certain gotten law enforcement and Secret Service a bit more nervous as well.

Holmes Lybrand, thank you so much for that reporting. Really appreciate it.

Still ahead, international outrage after American journalist Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony after what U.S. government has called a sham trial. The continued effort to get him home, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:49:02]

MARQUARDT: "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich has been found guilty by a Russian court for spying. He was sentenced to 16 years in a high security penal colony. Now, the trial was closed off to the press. The "Wall Street Journal" calls the verdict a disgraceful sham conviction, and says it will not rest until Gershkovich is released.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ahead of the verdict in the Russian courthouse, cameras jostled for a glimpse of the U.S. journalist in his glass cage. After finding him guilty of espionage, the judge asked Evan Gershkovich if he had any questions about the 16-year prison sentence he'd been handed.

Looking thin and tired, the "Wall Street Journal" reporter answered no. But critics say his guilty verdict was inevitable and underlines how politicized Russia's judicial system has become.

[15:50:01]

A strongly worded statement from Gershkovich's employers called it a disgraceful and sham conviction that comes after his 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, and away from his family.

You can see Evan Gershkovich is in there. Hi, Matthew from CNN. Are you holding up all right? (Voice-over): It's been a saga which has seen Evan Gershkovich, now

32, make several tightly controlled court appearances since being detained and accused of gathering secret information on a Russian tank factory for the CIA. Allegations denied by Gershkovich and the U.S. government.

There are other U.S. citizens held in Russia.

PAUL WHELAN, AMERICAN, PRISONER IN RUSSIA: I am innocent of any charge resulting from --

CHANCE: Like Paul Whelan, a former Marine, sentenced in 2020 to 16 years for spying and also designated by Washington as wrongly detained. Dual citizens Ksenia Karelina, an amateur ballerina from L.A., and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva are also in custody. As are Gordon Black, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, and U.S. school teacher Marc Fogel.

Critics suspect the Kremlin has been collecting U.S. citizens as bargaining chips for a future deal. But even now, that deal could still be months, or perhaps years away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (on-camera): Well, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. government is working every day to bring home Evan Gershkovich and other wrongfully detained Americans held in Russia. It depends on what the other side wants in return, Blinken says, playing down concerns that Moscow could wait for a Trump presidency to make a deal.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Matthew Chance.

Well, remembering the life and legacy of Democratic congresswoman from Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee, Vice President Kamala Harris released a new statement describing Jackson Lee as, quote, "a tenacious advocate for justice and a tireless fighter for the people of Houston and the people of America."

Here was Jackson Lee back in 2005 after speaking with survivors, sheltering from the devastation of the category five Hurricane Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SHEILA JACKSON (D-TX): What we see here is the greatness of human spirit but also human devastation. People who have experienced such trauma that it is unspeakable. When I stop and listen to the stories of holding one-month-old babies above your head so they can survive, of amputees who couldn't get out, of destruction and devastation inside the Superdome, we are grateful that they're here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUARDT: The late congresswoman was also a proud fan of the Houston Astros. She went onto the House floor to congratulate them for their first World Series victory back in 2017.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACKSON LEE: Let me thank the Houston Astros for taking a Harvey worn community to the highest length. We have never won the World Series. And the L.A. Dodgers were a very fine competitor. Let me thank all of them for the great sportsmanship, the character that was shown. Show what America is about. You can be two great adversaries on the battlefield of baseball, but you can still be great friends and colleagues and part of the great American pastime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Congresswoman Jackson Lee announced in June that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was 74 years old.

We'll be right back.

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[15:58:14]

MARQUARDT: The stars are shining in Phoenix. The WNBA All-Star Game tips off tonight. The league's top players are taking on the USA Women's National Team. Headlining the event two rookie rivals, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. They're taking the court together for the very first time.

CNN's Andy Scholes has more.

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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Wow, this is one of the most anticipated WNBA All-Star Games ever. You got Caitlin Clark going up against the U.S. Women's Olympic Team that she was left off of. This is one of the U.S.' final tune-up before the Paris games.

Now tonight we're also going to get to see Clark and her rookie rival, Angel Reese, team up for the very first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, INDIANA FEVER GUARD: It's going to be fine. I think obviously as two rookies like getting to share this experience for the first time, like super rare to be here as a rookie. And then to have two of us here, I think it's just really great overall. I think obviously the fans are going to be very excited about it. But I'm excited to share the court honestly with everybody.

ANGEL REESE, CHICAGO SKY FORWARD: Yes, I'm looking forward to it. Everybody can wear their get-along shirts together for one day at least so I know a lot of people are going to come and watch us and see all of us. But there's a lot of talent within both rosters, other team, so they're in for a good one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So it'd be Clark and Reese on the WNBA All-Star team taken on the U.S. women's national team. Tip off from Phoenix is tonight at 8:30 Eastern.

Now, Clark opted not to take part in this three-point contest at all- star weekend, saying she needed a break. That made way for Alicia Great to have a historic night. The Atlanta Dream star putting on a show, winning both the three-point and skills competition. She's the first player in league history to capture both events on the same night. Great takes home a check of more than $115,000 for sweeping the events,

All right. Finally, when was the last time you went to a shopping mall? Well, Arena Football League fans had to in order to watch the championship game.