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Harris Veepstakes Reaches Critical Final Hours; Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro Seen As Favorite Among VP Contenders; Trump, Vance Rally in Battleground Georgia; Ukraine Military Says It Sunk Russian Submarine; Hurricane Watch Over Parts Of FL As Storm Gains Strength; Violent Protests In Northern England After Deadly Knife Attack; 2 Americans Still In Russian Custody After Prisoner Swap; Legends Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky Claim More Gold In Paris. Aired 4- 5p ET

Aired August 03, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:46]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we begin with Vice President Kamala Harris preparing to make one of the most important decisions of her political career, and that's choosing a running mate. These next 48 hours will be critical as Harris narrows down her choices among this list of top VP contenders. And today, she's meeting with their vetting team at the vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, where she's expected to get into her prosecutor trained mentality and, quote, "drill out and ask a lot of questions."

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us live with more details on this.

And Priscilla, we all know this campaign has been moving at lightning pace. It has been unconventional how it has come to be. How is the Harris team making sure this vetting process which normally takes months probably is thorough, but also moving quickly enough to pick the strongest candidate for their ticket?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely a condensed timeline and days ago, former attorney general, Eric Holder, along with his team, began poring over documents to try to start the vetting process of some of these VP contenders, and what they're doing today is essentially providing presentations, succeed and 90 minute presentation on each of the contenders to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Now she is known over the course of her political career to ask a lot of questions. So that is expected today as they sort through each of these contenders, and some of what the data they've also collected over the last several days is polling, going through focus groups, and again, sifting through their histories, documents, policy positions, all of it to try to give or allow her to make the most informed decision because what they don't want, Jessica, is any surprises after she makes this decision. And it is important because not only because she currently holds the

office of vice president, she knows what it entails, but also because it's going to provide voters an early window as well into what she thinks about the next few months, what her policies may be, and it'll give us again a greater sense of what she's hoping to achieve here with this ticket. And, you know, part of this, too, and the truncated timeline and a deadline we're looking at ahead, is that Tuesday rally.

The campaign announced that on Tuesday there will be a rally in Philadelphia with her running mate. And then after that, they will be visiting all the battleground states. So this weekend is really a critical one for the vice president as she gets those presentations as she talks to her advisers to determine who is going to be the best fit for her. Particularly important in this case because she doesn't have a very personal or close relationship with many of these contenders.

DEAN: And Priscilla, I also want to ask you about some new details we're hearing about Harris' husband and second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, regarding an affair in his previous marriage. What are you learning?

ALVAREZ: Yes. We have obtained a statement exclusively from Doug Emhoff about these alleged details of that relationship that were published by a British tabloid and in that statement, he says, quote, "During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility and in the year since we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side."

Now that report I mentioned, "The Daily Mail" have reported that Emhoff had a relationship with his then young daughter's teacher, which resulted in the end of his first marriage. Now, we should note that the relationship had already been disclosed to President Biden's vetting team. That was when Vice President Kamala Harris was being considered as part of that ticket. And Emhoff himself had disclosed this to Harris before or when they were dating and before they got married.

So what we do know is that since then Emhoff and the two children have become adults and the family dynamic has turned into a quite friendly one with his ex-wife also recently defending the vice president, and Doug Emhoff has been on the trail. He had been before she was leader of the ticket and that pace of fundraising and campaigning has certainly been more intense since she took the lead of the Democratic Party's ticket.

[16:05:05]

DEAN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez for us in Washington, D.C. Thanks so much for that.

And for a deeper dive on the highly anticipated veepstakes we turn now to CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten.

Harry, here we are. She's going to make a decision in the next few days. Who looks to be the favorite right now? HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Who looks to be the

favorite at this particular point? You know, you were going through some of those contenders. Who right now is the favorite? This is the chance of being Harris' vice presidential running mate. This is based on betting market odds, but I think it lines up very well with the conventional wisdom at this point.

And that is the far and away frontrunner is Josh Shapiro at 73 percent. He of course is the governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Tim Walz, who has kind of come on a little bit light, the governor of Minnesota, at 16 percent. Mark Kelly, who's sort of flagged a little bit here towards the end at 8 percent. Andy Beshear, the governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, at 7 percent. But I think right here, the big takeaway is it's Josh Shapiro's to lose in a lot of folks' minds.

Obviously it's Kamala Harris' choice. But at this particular point, the smart money is on the governor of Pennsylvania.

DEAN: And why is that, Harry?

ENTEN: Why, why is the smart money on the governor of Pennsylvania? Well, if there is one state that both the Harris and Trump campaigns know that they must win in order to win this election, it is Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Take a look. The chance at this state puts either Harris or Trump over the top in the electoral college, look at this, a 35 percent chance that that state is Pennsylvania, that's the determinant of state. That is way ahead of the other two states on the board right here, Wisconsin at 14 percent, Michigan at 12 percent.

You'll also note these two states are not actually represented by any of the folks on our first screen to the other top VP nominee contenders. So Pennsylvania right here, Josh Shapiro's home state, looks to be the most important state, and I think arguably that is one of the big reasons why he is seen as the frontrunner at this late hour.

DEAN: And earlier this week, Harris' Republican challenger, of course that's former president Donald Trump, said the VP has, quote, "virtually no impact" on the election, that that selection doesn't make a difference. Can a vice presidential nominee actually help carry the top of a ticket or carry a state? And I think that's a lot of -- it's a question a lot of people are asking right now. Can they carry a state?

ENTEN: Well, I just want to point out that I think part of the reason Trump made that statement is because his VP choice, J.D. Vance, just fell flat on his feet. He's the first VP nominee coming out of his party's convention with a net negative favorability rating. But nonetheless, it's an interesting question I think we should ask. And I want to note this is the VP nominee's home state effect. In fact, it's one of the few proven benefits of a VP.

All right, it's one of the few proven benefits of a VP nominee. It's in fact perhaps the only one that's been proven. Take a look here. So how much can a VP nominee add to their running mate in their home state? Look at this, it's 0.5 to two points added to the running mate's margin. Now you may say to yourself, man, that doesn't seem like a lot. But of course, keep in mind, how much was Pennsylvania decided by last time around? 1.2 points.

How much was Arizona determined by last time around? 1.3 points, so -- or 0.3 points, excuse me. So when we're talking about these margins that are just so close in these elections, any small movement can make all the difference in the world. And given that Josh Shapiro is from Pennsylvania, I think that's one of the big reasons why at this point he is the frontrunner.

DEAN: Right. And how Pennsylvania could make such a difference in this race. What kind of electoral track record does Shapiro have there in Pennsylvania?

ENTEN: Yes. Obviously, if Josh Shapiro wasn't very popular in Pennsylvania, I don't think that he would be the guy that's being chosen. But look at this, his favorable rating right now in 2024 is 61 percent. His 2022 winning margin was 15 points in the state Biden won by just one point. So you get a very popular guy in a state that's most likely going to be the one that puts either candidate over the top in the electoral college.

As an electoral statistician type of dude, to me, the math is really clear, but at the end of the day, Jessica, only one person is going to make this decision. That's Kamala Harris and we'll find out soon enough which decision she actually makes.

DEAN: That's right. It is her decision to make. A 61 percent favorability rating, though, in this day and age --

ENTEN: It's very good.

DEAN: You don't see that much.

ENTEN: No, you don't.

DEAN: All right. Harry Enten, thanks so much. Always good to see you.

ENTEN: Nice to see you.

DEAN: Former president Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, are on the campaign trail in the critical battleground state of Georgia. Let's take a live look now at pictures from Atlanta where they're set to take the stage next hour. You see Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is from Georgia as well, there. The event is being held in the same place where Vice President Kamala Harris rallied thousands just earlier this week.

And it's still not clear if we'll get to see Trump and Harris face off in a debate before November after Trump backed out of next month's planned debate with ABC News, saying, it's, quote, "terminated" because President Biden is no longer in the race. He says he will debate if it's hosted by FOX News instead. The Harris campaign responding, quote, "Donald Trump is running scared."

Let's bring in former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. He's also the author of the book "From Wall Street to the White House and Back."

[16:10:03]

Anthony, thanks for being here with us. Nice to see you on this Saturday. Let's start first on Trump backing out of this debate that was previously scheduled with ABC News. What do you think about that?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think it's very typical of him, but he's 100 percent going to debate Vice President Harris. And so there'll be a negotiation. It'll likely not be FOX News. It probably won't be ABC News, but they'll pick a venue and they'll debate. And so this is him posturing, this is him trying to get attention.

It's hard for him, but he has struggled over the last three weeks to win the attention cycle. He certainly hasn't gotten it relative to the Harris campaign and so he's trying to do that right now. And I think he ends up debating her, it would be a disaster for him. But he has good political instincts, whether you like him or not, it will be a disaster for him if he doesn't the vice president.

DEAN: So you think he understands in his mind that he does need to debate her at some point?

SCARAMUCCI: Yes.

DEAN: Yes.

SCARAMUCCI: Yes. No. Listen, he knows if he doesn't debate her, he has six weeks of getting pounded by her and her vice presidential candidate on the fact that he didn't debate her. There's also attention in Mr. Trump's personality. He has a difficult time with women who was evidenced last week. It's been evidenced since Hillary Clinton campaign against him.

What a disaster it would be for him and his people if she can say very simply and very concisely, he was just afraid to debate me because I'm more put together. I'm more cognitively aware. I'm more verbally -- more verbal acuity than him. What a disaster it would be for him. He knows that. He's just trying to figure out if he can cause some commotion right now and get people like you and me to talk about him.

DEAN: And yet here we are, right?

SCARAMUCCI: Yes. Here we are.

DEAN: Here we are. So this week, he was also harshly criticized for mocking Harris' racial heritage. Again, some argued trying to get back into the spotlight, trying to get cable news to pay attention. Today he's continuing to attack her, calling her a, quote, "low IQ individual," saying she doesn't have the mental capacity to debate him. These are obviously very personal attacks. SCARAMUCCI: Right.

DEAN: I'm just curious what you think independent voters who are probably going to decide this election, these tiny slivers of voters in these swing states, how do they read this?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, he's in his 2016 playbook. The problem with that playbook is 20.2 million baby boomers have passed away since that election. And so at the same time, he's got about 40 million people that are Generation X'ers that have risen to the voting polls. They don't like the behavior. They don't like him calling her those names. A more traditional baby boomer population was actually OK with it. They tolerated it. And I think what he's doing is accidentally increasing her turnout and accidentally increasing her support.

And I'll just say this, people are more or less decided. And so this election is going to turn on the turnout and so he keeps doing that. He's going to fortify her and he's going to really ignite a lot of people. There'll be women waiting eight hours. They won't care if they get water, don't get water. They'll be online to vote for Vice President Harris to end this type of sexist, bizarre nonsense in the country.

DEAN: And you've said Trump is falling behind in the race, even suggesting maybe he should replace J.D. Vance with someone else to get momentum going again. Do you think that's a likely move at this point?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I want him to keep J.D. Vance because I want the president to lose and I want Vice President Harris to become the president, but he is falling behind. J.D. Vance has been a complete dud.

The thing about the president, just remember this, he's such a full-on narcissist that he needs to get 100 percent credit for this electoral win. Any smart strategist would have put Nikki Haley on that ticket with him or somebody that could have helped him like a Marco Rubio. J.D. Vance does absolutely nothing for him, if anything, as Harry just pointed out, is net negative ratings so he's actually dragging down the president.

There was a tell in his interview last week with the National Black Journalists Association. He basically said, it doesn't matter. He wasn't referring to Josh Shapiro or whoever Vice President Harris is picking. He's referring to his own vice presidential pick. And that was really not a vote of confidence by President Trump in J.D. Vance. So he could make this move.

He's a reality television star. It would be a big foot event. If he could figure out a way to do it logistically right after the Democratic National Convention, because they're going to be getting lots of media attention for that. If he could somehow big foot them right after the convention and swap J.D. Vance out for, say, a Nikki Haley or somebody that could help him win the campaign, I think he's capable of doing it, and so we should be talking about it and analyzing it.

[16:15:06]

DEAN: I'm curious because obviously you know him, you've worked with him, you know how he operates. The last several weeks have been high highs and low lows for the former president in terms of his positioning in this race. He came out of that horrific assassination attempt right into the RNC, what was widely considered to be a very successful week for them. And then the race just shifted in such a huge way where, to your point, it wrestled away the attention from him. Really gave momentum to the Democrats that they're going to try to sustain.

How does he react and think about a situation like that? Some people are resilient, some people don't have that resilience and resort back to old tendencies. It seems like, as you noted, we're seeing the 2016 playbook come back out. How do you see this?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, listen, he's certainly resilient, but I want to point out that I'm now in the category that I barely know Donald Trump. So despite knowing him for two decades, working on that campaign, doing 71 campaign stops, serving for 11 days as the White House communication director, I barely know him. And so just like Project 2025, he had 85 of his loyalists there, he barely knows any of them as well.

So he's a very transactional guy and he's a very disposable guy. And that should speak to the reasons why he's able to get rid of Vance. But no, he's floundering right now. He's having a very hard time coming up with the right media message and the right narrative versus a younger, more energetic candidate that is building a Barack Obama coalition against them.

He knows he lost to Joe Biden because Joe Biden was capable of building a coalition of people that's just larger than whatever Donald Trump's coalition is, and so you have David Plouffe on that campaign right now. They're going to go back to that strategy. The momentum is with the vice president. And so he is floundering. He's upset with his staff. He's arguing with his staff.

He went against two people last week in terms of the way he handled himself at that event, blowing those racist dog whistles that he was doing. He thought that that's what his MAGA people wanted him to say that the vice president wasn't, quote-unquote, "black," forgive me for even entertaining that on your show. I apologize, but it's just something that a presidential candidate is doing here in America, and so we have to address it.

And this is sort of the absurdity of Mr. Trump and I think people are very, very tired of this and so what's at stake here is for the vice president, Vice President Harris, to build this massive Obama-like coalition and put an end to Trumpism. And so that whatever resolves itself in the Republican Party post-Trump will be the better version of that party than what we're seeing today.

DEAN: All right. Anthony Scaramucci, thank you for your time on this Saturday. We appreciate it.

SCARAMUCCI: Nice to be here with you.

DEAN: Still ahead, Ukraine claims it has sunk a Russian submarine. We're going to talk with former secretary of defense, Mark Esper, about the latest blow to the Russia's Navy. Plus parts of Florida are now under a hurricane watch as slow moving storm is set to get stronger and could become a hurricane by tomorrow. And the GOAT wins again. Simone Biles with another gold. Two more American gymnasts getting on the podium as well. We are live from Paris, ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[16:23:10]

DEAN: We are following breaking news in Russia's war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian military today saying it has sunk a Russian submarine and struck an anti-aircraft missile system in Russian occupied Crimea.

This attack is Ukraine's latest blow to Russia's Navy, which Kyiv claims has already lost a third of its Black Sea Fleet. Russia has yet to comment on the attack.

Joining us now CNN global affairs analyst and former defense secretary under President Trump, Mark Esper

Secretary Esper, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here with us. First, I just want to ask you about this move by Ukraine, this development that we're learning about. What do you think about this?

MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, good afternoon, Jessica. First things first, I want to congratulate you on being named permanent host of CNN NEWSROOM primetime weekend. So congratulations.

DEAN: Thank you, I'm very delighted by it.

ESPER: That's great.

DEAN: That's very kind. Thank you very much.

ESPER: No, fantastic. Look, it's quite significant. It's one of nearly two dozen major Russian ships that they have sunk in the Black Sea, in the two plus years of this conflict. This submarine was damaged a few months ago and then Russia purportedly tried to hide it in another part of the Sebastopol port and it looks like the Ukrainians found it and has sunk it. So at this point in time, maybe they're sunk or severely damaged about a third of the Russian Black Sea fleet, which for years and years was very respected, and if not feared among some.

And now it's been pushed into a corner of the Black, Eastern Black Sea where it's really having no impact on the conflict. So it's quite significant for the United States and major navies of the world. It should be a wake-up call with regard to the importance of what autonomy robotics and AI will play in the future. It was something that I focused on during my time as secretary of the Army and secretary of defense. But the Ukrainians, through innovation, the necessity of innovation on

the battlefield, are showing us the importance of autonomous and drone warfare in the 21st century.

[16:25:07]

DEAN: Yes, and what that's going to look like maybe going forward. There's so much happening in this national security space, international affairs. So I want to get to the next topic because we don't have a ton of time. I do want to ask you about the situation in the Middle East. We know the U.S. is sending an aircraft carrier warships and a fighter squadron to the region, bracing for Iran to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. How are you anticipating Iran to retaliate?

ESPER: Well, they will retaliate. The supreme leader of Iran has told us so. He was in a planning session a couple of days ago or yesterday, discussing plans, I think now Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has done the right things with regard to deploying additional forces in the theater. You know, war ships that can carry anti-missile systems, an additional fighter squadron, things that I had to do during my tenure.

But I think this will happen in the next day or so or three. What I anticipate, look, there are a range of options. They could attack an Israeli embassy somewhere in the region or outside the region. They could employ their Shia militia groups and others, all their proxies, whether it's the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, you name it. But I suspect, you know, they'll go back to where they were in April with a very large assault using missiles and drones against the Israelis.

And this time they will foreshadow the punch much less than they did in April. And I suspect what they could do is try to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and American assistance, I might say, by asking Hezbollah to launch a hundred if not thousands of rockets from the north. And that has the possibility of overwhelming the Iron Dome and the other Israeli air defense systems.

DEAN: Right. So just to remind everyone, because when this happened back in April and Iran launched those drones and missiles, the U.S. led a coalition. They were able to neutralize all of those. Nothing really got through, and they got a coalition also within the Middle East.

Do you think that, to your point if they now go to the northern border and do this at the same time that you think that that does have the potential to maybe overwhelm the defense system that worked last time?

ESPER: I think it is very possible. I mean, as you said, it was a very feckless attack. They launched drones that took five, six, seven hours to get there. They followed a northern route. So they gave the Israelis time to prepare and ultimately it was about 300 missiles. But, you know, at some point in time an air defense system can be overwhelmed if you -- if the attacker launches simultaneously barrages and barrages of rockets, missiles, and drones. And we know that Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, north of Israel, has

up to 150,000 rockets and missiles and depending on the numbers they use could overwhelm Israel. And this time, rather than, you know, a single person being hit, hurt or killed as happened in April, they could kill or hurt dozens. Who knows how many of the Israelis.

But I do feel that because the attack against Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, happened in Iran right after the ceremony bringing in Pezeshkian, the new president, it was just such a major embarrassment to Iran that they have to act, they have to do something. They can't just do it through their proxies and it's going to have to be more than what we saw in April.

DEAN: And so then that leads us to the U.S. role in all of this. Obviously, we laid out at the beginning what the defense secretary has been doing, the moves that have been made by the U.S. military. But at what point does the risk of U.S. involvement grow?

ESPER: Well, we are involved. You know, we're supplying Israel with weapons, intelligence, advice. We're pushing them here and there on different things. And as you noted, Jessica, in the April assault, we shot down Iranian missiles with our own missiles and using our aircraft to shoot down drones.

And so the fact is if it's not de-escalated at some point, right, as the Israelis did last time in April then we start moving up the escalation ladder and that could draw us deeper and deeper into a real all-out conflict in the Middle East, which would see now, not just, you know, the conflict and Hamas, but again, you'd have Hezbollah attacking from the north, the Houthis from the south.

You could have a lot of fighting on the West Bank right outside Jerusalem. You could have Shia militia groups attacking Israelis where American forces, we've got about 2500 in Iraq, and then of course you'd see a lot of missile exchanges and other type of capabilities being displayed between Iran and Israel. It could be a very big conflict. And at that point, Israel would need our assistance, our direct assistance. And it could even involve going after to Iran ourselves.

DEAN: All right. Well, we will see how this develops. Secretary Mark Esper, always good to have you on. Thanks again.

ESPER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, three Americans back in the U.S. after being freed from Russian prisons but others are still detained there, including a former ballerina. We're going to talk with a family member coming up.

[16:30:07]

Plus, parts of Florida are under a hurricane watch as a tropical system gathers strength off the coast. Evacuation orders now in place. We'll have the latest on that storm's track.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DEAN: Right now, a tropical system is picking up steam in the Gulf of Mexico and taking aim at Florida. Parts of that state now under a hurricane watch.

People are being urged to evacuate in multiple counties. They're being ordered to evacuate in part of Levy County. Impacts could start as soon as Sunday night.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is in the Weather Center with the latest.

[16:35:02]

Elisa, what are you seeing as this continues to develop?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're still watching for this tropical system to continue to develop. It has been sitting over land over Cuba most of the day. But it's starting to get over those open waters there in the Gulf of Mexico and that could allow it to strengthen.

We've had some outer bands, tropical storm-force conditions hitting the Keys pretty much all day today.

But as it gets into the Gulf of Mexico, there's really little to no wind shear, so that's a favorable forecast for intensification. It could intensify.

And we have crazy warm ocean temperatures, in the upper 80s, even some near the low 90s. You need an ocean temperature less than 80 degrees to get a storm to weaken. So again, really looking at some favorable conditions for this thing to strengthen.

As it does so, it could be near hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall sometime Sunday night into Monday morning. So that could bring us three to five feet of storm surge in that big bend there of Florida.

Two to four feet down from Tampa Bay, down to Fort Myers. That's where you've got some tropical-storm warnings stretching for a lot of the west coast of Florida. Hurricane watches in the pink in the big bend.

So again, nearing hurricane strength as it makes that landfall, sometime maybe Sunday night. Then we'll find it just like meander. Look at the way this thing just kind of bubbles along the Georgia- Carolina coast coastline.

When you look at the spaghetti plots, it's almost comical. Look at the way they just loop to loop. Just incredible.

And it's because this thing has nowhere to go. It's stuck between two areas of high pressure. It has to funnel in this way towards Florida. But there's a big front to the north that's stationary. It's not really going anywhere because we have this high pressure back to the west.

So it's just stuck in that spot. And the reason why that's such a concern and a problem is you have this tropical storm that will just sit and spin for days on end. That could give you prolific amounts of rain.

We're looking at a pretty widespread footprint of five to 10 inches of rain from Florida up to the Carolinas. But we are increasingly getting more and more concerned about a pretty big area that could find some totals over a foot.

Because we're looking, again, at this heavy rain over the next couple of days. So something to watch for your continuing to monitor for this moderate risk of heavy rain on Monday, again, up from the Florida -- northern Florida there, parts of the coast of Georgia and then getting into the Carolinas.

And you can see this in the future-cast. We'll have it hit some time maybe late Sunday night, in the big bend of Florida. And then again, just some very slow meandering, which could continue to bring an onslaught of storm surge for the Georgia-Carolina coast and that heavy rain.

Things that we'll have to watch incredibly closely -- Jessica?

DEAN: Elisa Raffa, thanks so much for that.

And still ahead, far-right protests in Britain tonight turning violent after three children we're killed in a knife attack. What we know about those demonstrations.

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[16:42:27]

DEAN: Right now, police and protesters are facing off in several British cities. It's the latest round of unrest fueled by the far- right following a deadly stabbing attack at a dance studio in Southport this week. It has sparked misinformation about the attacker online.

Elliott Gotkine is in London with the latest.

What are you hearing, Elliott?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: Jessica, throughout the day, as you say, we have seen violent protests in cities across the U.K., everywhere from Bristol in the west of England to Hull (ph) in the northeast of the country to Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester.

And what sparked these protests kind of led by far-right protesters against anti-immigrant protesters, anti-Muslim protesters, and they have been clashing with both police and also, in some cases, with anti-racist protesters.

In many of the cities, the police were actually trying to keep the two sides apart.

Now, there were violent scenes in a number of places. We've seen vehicles set on fire. There have been reports of looting. A number of police officers were injured after bricks and bottles were thrown at them.

And we've also seen clashes between pro -- between far-right protesters and anti-racist protestors, as well.

And as you say Jessica, what sparked all of this is the horrific stabbing of and killing of three small girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in Liverpool in the northwest of England. That was on Monday.

There were eight children injured. Two adults are in hospital as well.

And following that, there was misinformation spread online that the perpetrator was a Muslim, recent migrant to the U.K. And that misinformation spread and sparked a number of protests in the days following now that attack.

Now I can tell you that the home secretary, who is ultimately in charge of the police, Yvette Cooper, she has said that those involved in violence and disorder will, in her words, "pay the full price and they should expect to be met with the full force of the law."

Those words being echoed by Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, as well, according to a spokesman, saying that the police have their full backing for keeping Britain's streets safe.

The judge overseeing this took the unusual step of lifting the -- allowing report listing reporting restrictions on the suspect, who actually is 17-years-old and whose parents came from Rwanda. He himself, Jessica, was born in Wales.

DEAN: All right, Gotkine. All right, thanks so much for that reporting. We appreciate it.

Three Americans are back in the U.S. after being freed from Russian prisons in the largest international now prisoner trade since the Cold War. But some Americans were left behind in Russian prisons, including former ballerina, Ksenia Karelina, and teacher, Marc Fogel.

[16:45:13]

Joining me now is Eleonora Srebroski. She's the former mother-in-law of Ksenia, who was detained in Russia on treason charges, accused of donating $51 dollars to a Ukrainian charity in the U.S.

Thanks so much for being here with us.

I know you all, who love her, have heavy hearts and have held heaviness seeing these Americans come home, which I'm sure was wonderful for all of us to see.

But you're in such a particular situation because Ksenia is still being held there in a Russian prison.

ELEONORA SREBROSKI, FAMILY MEMBER OF KSENIA KARELINA: Well, yes. And thank you for having me today.

Yes, that was a mix of emotions. I was absolutely happy to see three Americans being back home, especially Alsu Kurmasheva. This video was of his kids and reuniting with him. It was just so, so emotional for me.

But it was bittersweet because Ksenia was not there. And many people asked me about that. So, but I knew it would not happen this time.

DEAN: And why -- were you told why it would not happen? Do you know any more details?

SREBROSKI: Yes. Because, technically, all this a prisoner swap is going according to some protocol, according to the Levinson Act. And first, every prisoner has to be appointed as wrongfully detained. And for that, this prisoner has to be sentenced.

So Ksenia has not been sentenced yet. So technically, she was supposed to have a trial in July. That was postponed because her lawyer did not show up. He thought that was just an intermediate hearing to extend her stay and he sent his colleague and said, that's what I was told. I hope it's true.

So, but he did not show up himself and the hearing was postpone. The trial was postponed to August 7th. We are facing a trial this coming week. And of course, we are hoping for the best even for us.

Now, the best is just for her to be sentenced, no matter how much, how many years she will be sentenced for, we need to start the process. Some people may not agree with me, but I feel strongly this way.

DEAN: And just to remind everyone, I want to make sure I'm getting this all right. But she is a dual Russian-American citizen who had gone back to Russia to visit family.

And while she was there was arrested on treason charges because she had donated, according to a place where she used to work, some $51 to Ukraine. Is that right?

SREBROSKI: Yes. But not quite. So technically, she was first detained for petty hooliganism. And that was a setup because we will know she doesn't drink and she doesn't cause. And they put her in jail for 14 days.

And while she was there, for this period of time, they came up with another reason because they had her phone and they found that donation.

And before that, she was interrogated for 11 hours at the airport. So technically, we know they wanted to do that. It was planned to do that. They know she's not guilty.

It's -- it's just it's just a country that is trying to terrorize everybody make sure that people know not to open their mouths and not to support Ukraine.

DEAN: And we're going to have to leave it there, but we're certainly thinking of you. And we hope to have her back here in America soon.

Thank you so much for joining us.

SREBROSKI: You're welcome. And thank you for making the noise and for mentioning her name. We are hoping to see Marc Fogel and Ksenia and two other Americans soon here in our country.

DEAN: Back in the U.S., of course.

Still ahead, Simone Biles continues to make history. We are live in Paris with more on the GOAT.

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DEAN: It's been an incredible day for a pair of American superstars at the Paris Olympics.

Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky are considered the greatest ever to participate in their sports. And each of them have added another gold medal now to their trophy cases.

CNN's Coy Wire joining us from Paris.

It's been amazing to watch them compete. And just make us all so proud, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: My goodness. And think about this, Jessica. In terms of Katie Ledecky, being the fastest swimmer in the world in your event over a span of 12 years, make it make sense.

Katie Ledecky is the stuff of legend, winning her fourth=straight Olympic gold in the 800-meter free. She beat out her rival, Ariarne Titmus of Australia, by more than a second. American, Paige Madden took bronze.

Katie is just 27-years-old, the most decorated female American Olympian of all time, 14 metals in all. She's won four of them here in Paris. And she's never ruled out going for more in L.A. in 2028.

Now, we also had another gold for Simone Biles, winning vault, reclaiming her title from 2016. She did a Yurchenko double pike, which includes a full extra flip, more than any other gymnast would vault.

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She says she's terrified every time she does it. That explains the huge sigh she let out afterwards.

Simone became just the second ever to win two Olympic vault titles. Jean Carry, fellow American, won bronze as well. But Simone Biles now has three golds here in Paris with a chance at two more.

Team USA's Clark Kent, of gymnastics, must be feeling like Superman. Stephen Nedoroscik just won bronze in pommel horse. He has gone viral, Jessica, for his big personality, his elite Rubiks Cube skills and, of course, those glasses. And now he just won his second medal of these games.

So we also had the fastest woman in the world crowned tonight, Jessica. Julian Alfred of St. Lucia becoming the first ever Olympic medal winner of any kind for St Lucia in any sport.

More fun to come in the days to come here at the Paris Olympics.

DEAN: Yes, no doubt about that.

Coy Wire, for us in Paris tonight, thank so much for that report.

And still ahead, former President Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, both in the battleground state of Georgia tonight as the state takes on new importance with a new Democratic ticket.

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