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Two Top Democrats Express Support for Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris; Some Democrats Will Snub Israeli PM's Speech at the U.S. Congress; U.S. Secret Service Director Heeds Bipartisan Call to Step Down; Senator Bob Menendez Steps Down Amid Corruption Charges; Taiwan Braces for Typhoon Gaemi as Strong Rains and Floods Forced Government Work and a Stock Market in Manila to Shut Down; Paris Olympics Nears Opening Day. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 24, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, the Harris for President campaign picks up steam as two top Democrats in Congress pledge their support. But a rattle Trump campaign looks to slow her momentum.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of Congress today. But some Democrats say they don't plan to be there.

And social media is embracing Kamala Harris, how Gen Z could give Democrats the boost they need to win the presidential election. We'll explain.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says her campaign is focusing on the future of America as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee kicks off her first rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

Harris fired up the crowd in Milwaukee just two days after launching her bid for the White House after President Joe Biden's exit from the race. Harris made clear she is ready to take on Donald Trump and drew a sharp contrast with her likely rival in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: And this campaign is also about two different visions for our nation. One, where we are focused on the future. The other focused on the past. We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Harris began her remarks by honoring President Joe Biden and what she calls his legacy of accomplishment. Mr. Biden is set to deliver a prime time address later today, which will focus on his decision to exit the 2024 race and on what lies ahead.

Meanwhile, Harris is racking up key endorsements with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joining the growing list of Democrats backing her White House bid. A closer look now at that first Harris campaign stop, CNN's Eva McKend reports from Milwaukee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Harris began gracious in her remarks talking about President Biden and applauding his legacy of accomplishments. But when she shifted to her election argument, it's clear she wants to be the former prosecutor running against the convicted felon. Here's how she talked about their disparate visions for America.

HARRIS: Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hate? And in this campaign, I promise you I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week.

MCKEND: And it is clear that this is a much different campaign than even from just a few days ago. There is so much energy, excitement and enthusiasm here on the ground.

When you speak to her supporters, they say even though there's just about 100 days until the election, they believe Harris is the best person to make this argument against Trump.

Eva McKend, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, Trump and his team wasted no time trying to discredit Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate. CNN's Kristen Holmes explains how his campaign is turning its attacks away from Joe Biden toward the vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump and his campaign are still figuring out how exactly they're going to go after Vice President Kamala Harris as this race has taken a huge turn. Now, they argue that they are ready for this, that they have been preparing for there to be an alternate candidate to President Joe Biden for months and been focused on the fact that it would be Harris. They have prepared opposition research.

However, there are still allies that are close to Donald Trump who acknowledge the race has fundamentally changed. Now, we saw a little bit of a highlight of what these attacks on Harris are going to look like earlier today when Donald Trump spoke to reporters. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's the same as Biden, but much more radical. She's a radical left person. And this country doesn't want a radical left person to destroy it. She's far more radical than he is. She wants open borders. She wants things that nobody wants.

[03:05:07]

HOLMES: Now, the big thing that Trump's campaign advisors argue is that Kamala Harris might have name I.D., but she doesn't have what they call name education, meaning that most people don't know anything about Harris. You hear Donald Trump. They're talking about her time in California. We are expecting that to come up a lot. They are going to try to use this education gap to fill the void with negative information. We know right now it is a race between Donald Trump and his team and Kamala Harris to define her in this race.

Now, the other interesting thing that Trump said in this call with reporters that he wanted to debate Kamala Harris, but that he never agreed to it or he hadn't agreed to it yet, saying he had only agreed to debate President Joe Biden. So clearly saying he wants to do it, but leaving the door open there for him to not actually take Harris on. One thing is clear. We are now in uncharted territory and everyone is trying to figure out what this race looks like ahead of November.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics and the editor of "Return to Normalcy: The 2020 election that (almost) broke America." He joins me now from Charlottesville, Virginia. Good to have you with us.

LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So Vice President Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail in Milwaukee Tuesday, energized and emboldened as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee attacking Donald Trump by comparing her record to his in an effort to define herself before he does. How was her message received?

SABATO: Oh, very well. I would say Democrats were not only energized, they were relieved.

Remember, this is the first opportunity they've had to see her as the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. And with all due respect to President Biden, who's been ill but is also elderly, they were delighted with the way she presented the case. She actually did serve as prosecutor of the case against Donald Trump. That's something that President Biden really is no longer capable of doing. So it came across well, the crowd loved it.

The point she made will help her to do well in the election because, as she noted several times, she has a history as a prosecutor, local and state, and she's running against somebody who has been convicted of quite a number of felonies.

CHURCH: Meantime, Donald Trump's going on the attack as well in a race to define Harris as more radical than Joe Biden, highlighting policies in San Francisco when she was a prosecutor and now refusing to debate her on ABC in September, saying he wants to but hasn't agreed to anything specific yet. Is he afraid to debate her, do you think? What is going on here?

SABATO: Well, that's what it looks like, which is why I think in the end he'll have to agree to a debate. He's not going to like that, and he remembers the debates he had with Hillary Clinton. While Clinton was judged the winner by just about everybody who has any experience in debating, that was not the way it was received by a critical swing group, mainly white, non-college voters, and that's what enabled him to carry the blue wall. So he will have less to fear than he thinks, but he also tends to get nasty, and I use that word because already today he was calling Kamala Harris a nasty woman. That's precisely what he said about Hillary Clinton during one of the debates in the most memorable segment of those debates.

CHURCH: Yeah, and of course, as you mentioned, the vice president made it very clear that she will draw on her experience as a prosecutor to go after Trump, and he's attacking back, of course, as you've said. It's going to get nasty, he's using the word nasty. How will voters likely respond to this? Because they've been really wanting this political rhetoric to be toned down, haven't they?

SABATO: They have, and the key is going to be how Kamala Harris presents herself in the debate or debates that she has with Trump. She needs to come across as warm but serious.

Hillary Clinton came across as serious. I don't think she was ever terribly warm. I think Kamala Harris, and it's sexist, men don't have to worry about this combination, but women candidates do. They have to be open and warm to people and at the same time be very incisive, and she's certainly showed she can do that in the past. There's no reason why she can't do it against Donald Trump.

She has a way of using his past phrases to come after him. You may recall that on several occasions when Trump was accused by women of sexual assault or rape, he answered the charge outrageously by saying, she's not my type. And so what did Kamala Harris say in her speech today? I know his type.

[03:10:07]

CHURCH: And of course, Larry, for most voters, this election is about the economy, immigration, abortion rights, and other big issues are also out there. But getting a clear message on these issues is getting harder and harder with so much misinformation and disinformation out there. Many voters, for instance, think we're in a recession. We are most definitely not. So how do voters work through the lies and find the facts here going forward?

CABATO: Well, thank God for the fact checkers. You know, they do have an effect and the time they're given is important on TV shows as well as in print publications. But it's difficult to do. The best technique, which has been honed over the years by politicians on both sides, is to immediately change the subject. So let's say the border, which is a real weakness for the whenever asked about the border, she should somehow move that into reproductive rights. Now, I don't know exactly how she does it, but I'm not running for president.

CHURCH: Good answer. Larry Sabato, many thanks as always for joining us. I Appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Israel's Prime Minister will deliver a high-stakes address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress but the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal talks are looming over his visit to Washington.

Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from families of the hostages being held by Hamas to take the deal that's on offer. Israel's response to negotiations is expected on Friday, but may include 11th hour demands from Netanyahu touching on key sticking points. Netanyahu will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday and with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday.

But dozens of Democrats are expected to skip the Prime Minister's speech as the party remains divided over his handling of the war in Gaza.

CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments for us live from London. She joins us now. Good morning to you, Nada. So what came out of Prime Minister Netanyahu's talks with hostage families and what can we expect from his address to a joint meeting of Congress later today?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as expected, Rosemary, as we've heard for months now from many of the family members and representatives of those hostages still held captive by Hamas in Gaza, there was that continued pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister to come to a deal, to strike a deal to ensure the safe return of all remaining hostages held captive. That was certainly the message from many of those family members and representatives on Monday. Once again, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued words of confidence towards those family. He said that the government remains determined to ensure the safe return of all those hostages. That is the message that he has carried through throughout the war in Gaza. But of course, there has been that mounting pressure from not only family members, but also citizens in Israel, some of whom have accused the Israeli Prime Minister of trying to prolong the negotiations for his own political gain, not doing enough to bring an end to the war in Gaza. And of course, there has been that pressure externally as well from members of the international community, not least in the United States.

And this is why his visit is at such an interesting point in time. There has been that growing tension, growing friction between the Israeli Prime Minister and the U.S. President Joe Biden. We've seen the Israeli Prime Minister publicly contradict U.S. statements, take a different route perhaps from the one of which President Biden, his administration would like to see the Israeli government go down when it comes to these ceasefire negotiations.

But what we have been hearing in the last week is a tone of optimism, both from Israeli officials and U.S. officials. We heard from Biden on Monday saying that he believes that the parties involved in these negotiations are on the verge and coming to some sort of agreement. We know that a broad framework has been agreed to that the hammering out those finer details and technicalities. But of course, all eyes will be on Netanyahu as he makes his address to Congress, and particularly the response that he receives from both the Democrats and Republicans. And of course, we are expecting protests to be taking place across Washington, D.C. at that time as well.

CHURCH: Our thanks to Nada Bashir with that live report from London.

Well, Mr. Netanyahu will meet U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris later this week after she declined to preside over his address to Congress, citing scheduled travel. Earlier, I spoke with CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier. She explains the change in dynamics now that Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Harris doesn't want anything to come out of the meeting that would damage her in her three-month sprint for being officially named the Democratic candidate and then running for the Office of President.

[03:15:08]

And she's already been out front in terms of public statements that go further than what Biden himself has said, calling for a ceasefire, calling for more aid to Palestinians. So she's already on the watch for being criticized for being anti-Israel, even though her husband is Jewish and has been fighting against anti-Semitism inside the U.S.

So it's going to be a really, as you say, awkward and delicate meeting. She also can't get too far out in front in terms of what her policy is going to be while she's still the vice president. And her job has been to represent and fight for Joe Biden's policy. What she would do in office, we would more likely find out further along. I don't think she's going to want to tip her hand that much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Still to come, the head of the U.S. Secret Service resigns after facing scathing bipartisan criticism of the agency's failures in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. We're back with that in just a moment.

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[03:20:03] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The head of the U.S. Secret Service has resigned one day after admitting to security lapses in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The announcement by Kimberly Cheatle comes after a combative hearing before the House Oversight Committee, where she angered lawmakers by refusing to answer questions about the shooting. CNN's Manu Raju has more now from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A rare moment of bipartisan unity in the Capitol. In the aftermath of Kimberly Cheatle, the U.S. Secret Service director, deciding to resign after encountering more than a week of really unwithering criticism over her handling of the security lapses that occurred in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

When she came before the House Oversight Committee just on Monday, she struggled to answer questions, refused to answer a number of questions. And that just caused made things even worse for her politically. Democrats and joining Republican calls for her to step aside and some Republicans even pushing for her impeachment. That was what Nancy Mace, a congresswoman from South Carolina, had offered a measure to actually force an impeachment vote on the floor of the United States House by Wednesday of this week. But she decided to step aside before that were to happen.

It was clear that she her support was pretty much gone on Capitol Hill and within different aspects of the Biden administration as well. But I caught up with some Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of that decision, including one congressman, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He told me that Cheatle gave him the wrong impression, apparently a misleading impression about why she wasn't able to provide him with more details.

REP. MARK GREEN (R-TN), U.S. HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: She said that the FBI had constrained her from talking to her own people because it was an investigation. I talked to the deputy director of the FBI and he said that wasn't true.

RAJU: She was lying to you?

GREEN: Well, that was a false statement according to the FBI. You know, I don't know. But according to the FBI director, they do not do that. And so it's really disappointing. I mean, that's when you find out the after action stuff, you know, you get in there and find that out.

RAJU: So where do they go from here? They still plan to investigate in the House or some talks of investigation ongoing in the Senate. There's going to be a bipartisan task force created with the support of the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, to investigate the security lapses that will play out through the course of this fall. We'll see if it devolves into any sort of partisan acrimony, which is typical on Capitol Hill. But at the moment, this is a bipartisan investigation, as they say,

they're trying to figure out what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, and to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Embattled U.S. Senator Bob Menendez will soon be resigning. A copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN says the New Jersey Democrat will step down on August 20. This comes a day after the Senate Ethics Committee initiated a review of his alleged rules violations. Menendez was convicted earlier this month on all counts in a federal corruption trial, among the charges: bribery, extortion and wire fraud. Menendez has since faced growing pressure to resign but insists he never violated his public oath of office.

She is huge on TikTok. She's brat and she's won the right to use Beyonce's music in her campaign rallies. Why Kamala Harris is so popular with young voters and how her campaign can capitalize on that momentum. We'll take a look.

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[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, from Beyonce to British singer Charlie XCX, influential figures from the pop world are showing their support for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. And she is embracing it all with her presidential campaign quickly gaining popularity among young voters. CNN's Brian Todd has a report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kamala Harris takes the stage in Milwaukee to the beat of Beyonce's hit song "Freedom".

A source close to the vice president tells CNN Harris's team got approval from Beyonce's representatives to use the song throughout her presidential campaign.

Analysts say it's an extraordinary move for Beyonce to let Harris use her 2016 Grammy-nominated ballad.

LISA RESPERS-FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: She does not need to step into politics. So by virtue of the fact that she's allowing her music, which she keeps a very tight rein on, to be used as part of this potential campaign is huge.

TODD (voice-over): Also trending, British pop star Charlie XCX posted on X quote "Kamala is brat". Brat has become a popular trend this summer after Charli XCX released her album by that same name in June.

Brat isn't just an album. It's a lifestyle as the singer herself explained to the BBC.

CHARLI XCX, POP SINGER: It can also be like so like trashy, just like a pack of cigs and like a bit lighter. And like a strappy white top with no bra. That's like kind of all you need.

RESPERS-FRANCE: Is a person who's like, you know, a little bit messy, but very much self-aware and does who they what they want to do. And you have the opportunity to be who you want to be.

TODD (voice-over): There's even a brat color, a kind of lime green. And Kamala Harris's camp has embraced all of it.

The Kamala HQ account on X now has a background photo in that color and the vice president's name in the same font style as the one on Charli XCX's album.

This as the Internet is now inundated with coconut memes. They've spiked since President Biden announced he was leaving the race, but have been popular on social media since Harris made this remark at an event last year.

HARRIS: My mother used to she would give us a hard time sometimes and she would say to us, I don't know what's wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?

TODD (voice-over): The context of what Harris's mother meant?

[03:30:00]

RESPERS-FRANCE: And you're not understanding that you come from a place, you come from a people. And so people grabbed hold of that, the whole coconut imagery.

TODD (voice-over): All of this, analysts say, could galvanize Harris's campaign with a critical part of the electorate.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, 'THE NEW YORK TIMES': This is sort of a sign and indicative of just the momentum that Kamala Harris has and the Democratic Party has right now, including with a voting bloc that Democrats were worried about, and that was young voters.

TODD: The entertainment and political analysts we spoke to say the next big endorsement we should look for from the pop culture and entertainment world is that of Taylor Swift. The singer has already proven that she can inspire young people to register and to vote. And if she endorses Kamala Harris, analysts say that could be a seismic moment in the campaign.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Taylor Lorenz is a columnist at the 'Washington Post.' She is also the author of the book 'Extremely Online: The untold story of fame, influence and power on the internet.' And she joins me now from Los Angeles. A pleasure to have you with us.

TAYLOR LORENZ, COLUMNIST, 'WASHINGTON POST': Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: We are seeing new enthusiasm and energy among young voters for Vice President Kamala Harris now that she is the presumptive nominee. Could this young voting bloc, do you think, prove to be her secret weapon perhaps in the upcoming presidential election as she hits the campaign trail?

LORENZ: Absolutely. You know, we had record youth turnout in 2020 when Biden was running. A huge part of that was driven by getting Trump out of office. You saw a bunch of content creators rally in this big collective called TikTok for Biden to group behind him.

However, four years later, those same content creators really had lost faith in Biden. The biggest collective of them, as I mentioned, TikTok for Biden changed its name and was no longer endorsing him.

Now this group has come out in support of Harris. So I think Harris being able to leverage these young voters, turn them out at the polls, I guess this fall, could be a huge boost. I think it could be a real secret weapon.

CHURCH: I mean, that is the key, isn't it? Does this enthusiasm translate to votes?

LORENZ: Yeah, we know that online enthusiasm can translate to votes. I mean, you see huge efforts by a lot of these young activists to get kids registered to vote through platforms like Snapchat, using social media, and kids feel really motivated. I mean, I spoke to one 20-year- old who was previously kind of on the fence about Biden and said this is the first time in her entire life that she's felt excited about a presidential candidate. And that's what a lot of Gen Zers told me. You know, they didn't have that 2008 Obama moment that a lot of millennials had, where they felt really excited about this candidate.

They had Hillary in 2016, some of them, but most of them were too young to vote in that election. And then 2020, Joe Biden was not their top pick. So Kamala is really resonating. And I do think that it could be reflected in the polls this fall.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, since Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, the internet has been flooded with memes of coconut trees, Harris dance moves, laughing it up. How are young voters defining Kamala Harris?

LORENZ: Yeah, you know, Kamala is seen as their kind of cookie aunt. You know, she's seen as relatable and funny. She's got these viral moments that make great memes. People make fan cams of her, which are these videos that edit her in this positive light.

I don't think that they're as familiar with her actual track record. I mean, some of them have expressed hope that she might support certain policies. I think right now Kamala herself has not really released a lot of her agenda yet to the public. We know that she has an extensive career in the criminal justice system. But I think a lot more people are supporting her right now based on her vibe. I think once she starts announcing her policies, you know, we'll see if that changes.

CHURCH: We will. Of course, Beyonce now is backing Harris, giving her campaign permission to use her song 'Freedom.' And British pop star Charli XCX has posted that Kamala is brat, her signature endorsement. So how significant is this and how else might the Harris campaign capitalize on pop culture embracing her like this because she may have a brief honeymoon period here, she's really got to get in there and enjoy this?

LORENZ: Absolutely. I mean, this is total honeymoon period right now. After Charli XCX posted that Kamala is brat, you saw the campaign change their header to brat-themed green. They've really been leaning into it. I think it's a huge sign.

[03:35:00]

I think it's a huge boost for them rather that, you know, these big name pop stars are coming out in support of her. But let's not forget that a lot of big name pop stars came out in support of Hillary as well. And that was ultimately an unsuccessful campaign.

So I think it's great to have these endorsements, especially early on. But it's not going to be enough if we only rely on the endorsements. She has to have popular policies as well.

CHURCH: And there is another artist everyone's waiting to hear from Taylor Swift. How likely is it that she will weigh in here?

LORENZ: You know, Taylor has been really hit or miss. She's been a little remiss to weigh in on politics. But in 2020, she did come out in support of Biden, posted a picture of herself holding Biden sugar cookies that said Biden 2020.

The Democrats are desperate for that endorsement right now. And I know I've spoken to people on background saying, you know, they've reached out to her team, they've been courting her.

So far, she has not come out in support of anyone. But if they could land that, I think it could make major headway.

CHURCH: We shall see what happens there. Taylor Lorenz, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.

LORENZ: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: Still to come, Taiwan is bracing for landfall from the powerful typhoon Gaemi. We have the latest on the conditions. That's after the break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Breaking news, at least 18 people are dead after a small plane crashed while taking off from Nepal's capital Kathmandu this morning. At least one other person was injured in that crash. All 19 people on board were Surya airline employees. That's according to Nepalese police. Rescue efforts are ongoing.

The conditions across Taiwan are getting worse as typhoon Gaemi gets closer to landfall. The storm is bearing down on the island, bringing heavy rainfall, gusty winds and dangerous storm surge. Top winds have been clocked at around 135 miles per hour, or 220 kilometers per hour. That's the equivalent of a category four hurricane.

[03:40:07]

The island's mountain areas have already reported rainfall of up to 16 inches, or more than 400 millimeters, and much more is expected.

Businesses and schools are closed across Taiwan, as well as in the Philippines, which has also recorded heavy rain and winds. Government offices are shut down in Manila and the stock exchange there is also closed. After Taiwan, Gaemi is expected to hit China's Fujian province on Thursday before moving into other parts of southern China.

The death toll from two landslides in southern Ethiopia is up to more than 200, and authorities say that number could still rise. The first landslide, caused by heavy rain, buried most of the victims on Sunday. Then another landslide on Monday killed rescuers who had gone to help, digging with shovels and their bare hands. Ethiopia is in the middle of its rainy season when landslides are common. The Prime Minister says federal officials have been sent to assist.

I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church for our international viewers. 'Marketplace Europe' is coming up next. For those of you here in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more 'CNN Newsroom' after a short break. Do stay with us.

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[03:45:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. The U.S. government is opening an investigation into Delta Airlines' ongoing flight disruptions. Over 6,000 flights have been canceled since Friday's global tech outage, impacting more than half a million travelers, and airline officials say it could be a week before it's all sorted out.

CNN's Isabel Rosales reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DYLAN STEELE, FEDERAL WORKER: It's been an experience. It definitely has been an experience.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Delta Airlines still struggling. Five days after a massive Crowdstrike outage cost the airline systems to fail, leaving its customers stranded, while other airlines are back to normal. STEELE: United Airlines seems to be back up and running.

ROSALES (voice-over): Delta has canceled more than 6,000 flights since Friday, and accounts for 66 percent of all the flight cancellations in the U.S. on Tuesday.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Delta's headquarters and largest hub, has been left in chaos. Rows and rows of bags line the floors of the world's busiest airport.

Even celebrities like Charles Barkley are searching through it.

CHARLES BARKLEY, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I'm looking around. It's going to be a minute. There's a lot of luggage here. I just flew in today. Didn't have any issues. Well, I don't know. I haven't found my golf clubs yet.

ROSALES (voice-over) Frustration is everywhere.

UNKNOWN: We're not being picky. We'll go anywhere in North Carolina. But he booked us some tickets, and before we got out of the airport, they had canceled them five minutes later.

UNKNOWN: This is out of control. It's not okay.

ROSALES (voice-over) Dozens of Delta employees from all different departments have jumped in to ease the pain for passengers.

BARKLEY: I fly Delta twice a week for 24 years. They've always been fantastic. I've never had an issue. But in fairness, though, they can't do anything about this.

ROSALES (voice-over): But the Department of Transportation doesn't agree. Secretary Pete Buttigieg today launching an investigation into Delta.

The airline's CEO, Ed Bastian, has apologized to passengers. The airline responded in a statement saying, in part, Delta is in receipt of the department's notice of investigation and is fully cooperating. We remain entirely focused on restoring our operation. Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for and make it right for customers impacted by delays and cancellations.

Such meltdowns are not new. Earlier this year, DOT reached a $140 million settlement with Southwest Airlines following an investigation into similar systems problems triggered by weather over the 2022 holiday.

Like with that meltdown, Delta's system that schedules crews for flights failed.

UNKNOWN: They would cancel, delay, bump, and then it would start all over again.

ROSALES: And it could be several more days of headaches for passengers dealing with delays, these cancellations, and lost luggage just like this.

We've also gotten a clear picture of the impacts of what's become now a Delta meltdown. Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, saying that half a million Delta passengers have been impacted. His office has received over 3,000 complaints about this issue and about Delta.

Isabel Rosales, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: New video shows the moment former NFL player Terrell Davis was handcuffed and taken off a United Airlines plane after he was apparently wrongfully accused of striking a flight attendant. The video was released by Davis' lawyers on Tuesday. The two-time Super Bowl champion says the incident happened earlier this month on a flight to California with his family. Davis says all he did was tap a flight attendant's arm to ask for a cup of ice. United Airlines says it has removed the attendant from duty while it reviews the incident.

We're just two days away from the start of the Summer Olympic Games. The torch relay made its way to Versailles on Tuesday. Right now, it's on the outskirts of Paris before it makes its final journey to the River Seine, where Friday's opening ceremony takes place.

Meanwhile, athletes are arriving at the Olympic Village and the atmosphere is buzzing as events for the Games kick off today with men's football and rugby.

And CNN's Saskya Vandoorne joins me now live from Paris. Good to see you, Saskya. So the opening ceremony is now just two days away with the Olympic torch making its way toward Paris. What more can you tell us about what we can expect in the days ahead?

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SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SR. PRODUCER: Well, Rosemary, I'll start off by telling you that, you know, I think the French were pretty lackluster about the Games several months ago. But we've been speaking to people here this morning and they are finally getting very excited.

As you say, that competition kicks off today. So we're going to see France facing off with Team USA in the men's soccer and in the rugby.

And athletes are arriving at the Olympic Village. They have been arriving for several days now. I went to the Olympic Village just last week and it's pretty amazing. They've really put sustainability at the heart of the village.

A lot of the buildings are going to be used afterwards as offices, as apartments. One of the organizers described it to me as Paris 2024 only renting the neighborhood. It really has been built to last.

Now, meanwhile, I'm here in central Paris. And Rosemary, I'm on the Pont Neuf within the security perimeter.

And Rosemary, I have not seen this iconic bridge without traffic since COVID.

It really is quite a sight to behold. And we're right over, of course, the Seine, which is going to be taking center stage for that opening ceremony on Friday. The first time an opening ceremony for the Summer Games is happening outside of a stadium.

So it's going to happen here on the Seine along a six kilometer route. There are going to be up to 7,000 athletes on the boats making their way down the river. And you'll be able to see the seats here. You've got over 300,000 spectators expecting to cheer them on. Now, we don't know who's going to perform yet. We are hearing rumors that it could be Celine Dion, she arrived yesterday or Dua Lipa or Aya Nakamura. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Great choices there. And Saskya, what is the latest on security preparations ahead of Friday's opening ceremony?

VANDOORNE: Yes, Rosemary. Well, as the opening ceremony is so out in the open, there are a lot of fears, especially with Islamist terrorism. That's what some of the officials were telling me, that they say that that is the biggest threat.

But, you know, there are policemen, soldiers. There's an amazing kind of security operation to try and keep everybody here safe during the Games. Take a listen to this general who we spoke to.

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UNKNOWN: We'll have more than 10,000 soldiers, more than 35,000 policemen. It will be completely secure.

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VANDOORNE: And over 900,000 investigations have been carried out ahead of the opening ceremony. In fact, just yesterday, a Russian national was detained as he was suspected of planning something that would disrupt the Games. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Saskya Vandoorne, joining us live from Paris. Many thanks for that report. I Appreciate it.

Well, as Paris prepares for its moment in the spotlight, Olympic organizers are trying to keep athletes safe from air pollution. CNN's Derek Van Dam shows us how.

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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Here in the Olympic Village, these air purifiers are here to help athletes breathe easier. And their inspiration comes from an often overlooked feature of the city's skyline.

You see, athletes' performance could be in danger because the Paris region has a serious pollution problem with over 8,000 deaths a year.

With a nearby highway spewing fumes into the Olympic Village, air quality experts are concerned.

JEAN-BAPTISTE RENARD, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CNRS: It's crazy. It's totally crazy. It's not a good place to put the Olympic Village. It's clear.

VAN DAM (voice-over): The engineer behind these giant vacuum cleaners says his air filters suck in polluted air and filtered out harmful particles.

JEROME GIACOMONI, CO-FOUNDER, AEROPHILE: Please start the device, the air filter, one by one.

VAN DAM: Oh, you can hear.

GIACOMONI: You breathe the same air as if you were at the top of the Alps. Breathe. This is good air. You can breathe. You feel it.

VANDAM: I feel it.

GIACOMONI: You feel it.

VAN DAM: These air filters have the ability to clean the air of the equivalent of 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools volume per hour, acting as a barrier from the adjacent highway, providing the cleanest possible air for the athletes.

VAN DAM (voice-over): The concept of purifying the air on a large scale came from a different hobby of Jerome's, hot air ballooning.

GIACOMONI: Let's have a flight now.

VAN DAM: Thunderstorm is coming. Is this thing safe? Get a little wobbly?

GIACOMONI: A little bit.

VAN DAM: This is like a real-life climate lab, but on a balloon. Now, not only is there carbon dioxide being measured by this very box right here, but we are also measuring methane, ozone, and even pollen counts.

VAN DAM (voice-over): Jerome noticed that while his balloon was flying, it was extracting pollutants from the surrounding air.

[03:55:03]

GIACOMONI: And so all the particulate matter who are positively charged come. And go straight to the balloon.

VAN DAM (voice-over): And with the balloon's visibility to over 400,000 people across the city, he could turn this into a useful tool for all Parisians.

VAN DAM: If the balloon is green, no action is required. If the balloon is orange, it's a warning to Parisians that they need to take extra precautions. But if this balloon turns red or violet, that's when they need to take action.

VAN DAM (voice-over): Back at the Olympic Village, these five filters remove at least 50 percent of air pollution, but their reach is limited to a few dozen meters. And even after the 14,000 athletes leave, they're expected to live on.

Derek Van Dam, CNN, Paris.

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CHURCH: Many islands in Greece are running dangerously low on water, just as millions of tourists are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. The mayor of one island says hot, dry weather driven by climate change is drying up reservoirs. But the increased demand from tourism is making matters worse. For now, authorities are looking for temporary solutions, like using desalination to turn seawater into drinking water. Long term, they may try recycling wastewater or tapping into underground water sources.

And a shocking discovery off the coast of Brazil. Researchers say sharks there have tested positive for cocaine. Scientists tested 13 Brazilian sharp-nosed sharks in the waters of Rio de Janeiro and found cocaine present in their tissues. Researchers chose the species because they're small and live in waters exposed to significant contaminants from human sewage. It's unclear if the cocaine damages the sharks' health, but researchers plan to study other shark species in the area.

And I want to thank you so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. 'CNN Newsroom' continues next with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane. Have a great day.

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