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Israel On High Alert As Iran, Hezbollah Vow To Retaliate; Harris Looks To Make VP Choice Before Battleground Blitz; Investors Brace For What Could Be Another Rough Week; Growing Calls for Foreign Citizens to Leave Lebanon; European Union: Maduro's Reelection Can't be Recognized; Gold Medals for Grabs in Cycling, Surfing and More; At least 91 People Killed Sunday in Anti-Government Protests; Debby Strengthens into Cat 1 Storm. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 05, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up on CNN Newsroom, getting out ahead of the storm, as fears of Iran's retaliation against Israel grow, citizens are being urged to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.
Clashes turned deadly in Bangladesh with growing calls for the Prime Minister to step down.
And at the Olympics, an American, once again, the world's fastest man, will have an update on the latest and greatest gold medal victories from the game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Israel facing growing threats of retaliation from its enemies days after the assassinations of two senior figures from Hezbollah and Hamas. Just hours ago, Hezbollah representative said, quote, a squad of attack drones struck a military target in northern Israel, although Israel says many of them were intercepted and damage was minimal. The escalation and tension between Israel and the Lebanese militant group is raising fears of a wider war in the region. And as a result, Turkey has now joined a growing list of countries urging their citizens to get out of Lebanon.
Iran has vowed revenge against Israel, blaming it for assassinating the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will, in his words, stand against Iran on every front.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The State of Israel is in a multi arena war against Iran's Axis of Evil. We are striking hard at any of its arms. We are prepared for any scenario, both on the defense and the offense. I tell our enemies again, we will react and exact a heavy price for any act of hostility towards us from any arena.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden will convene his national security team in the coming hours after taking a call with the King of Jordan. The White House says the U.S. and Israel are preparing for every possibility, and the Pentagon has sent additional military assets to the Middle East.
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JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: Now I don't know what they're going to do or when they're going to do it, but we got to make darn sure that we're ready and that we have the capabilities in the region to be able to help Israel defend itself and, quite frankly, defend our own people, our own facilities, our own national security interests.
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HOLMES: On Sunday, Jordan's Foreign Minister made a rare visit to Iran where he called for peace, security and stability, after meetings with Iran's President and other officials. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Haifa, Israel with the latest.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Israeli military is at a heightened state of alert as Iran threatens retaliation for the assassination of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital. Iran has been threatening a direct attack against Israel, and its proxies have been doing the same. Hezbollah to Israel's North is also threatening retaliation for the killing of its senior most military commander in an Israeli military strike in the Lebanese capital.
And so there's no question that this is a country that is bracing at this very moment for the potential of a potentially major attack on Israeli soil. The Israeli military has said that it is preparing to carry out air defense maneuvers in the event of an attack. It is also reviewing potential retaliatory actions, should that Iranian strike actually come to pass.
That being said, though, there are still no changes in the Israeli military's home front command guidance to Israeli civilians. Those are the guidelines that tell civilians when there is the threat of potentially imminent attack, telling them to get their bomb shelters ready to be at a heightened state of alert. But several cities, including Haifa, where we are now, as well as Jerusalem, have been issuing guidance to their residents, telling them to begin to make emergency preparations.
Meanwhile, there's a lot of rhetoric flying around. The Israeli Prime Minister threatening that Iran will pay a, quote, very heavy price, should it carry out an attack on Israel, saying that Israel is prepared for any scenario. That's certainly rhetoric that is intended to try and make Iran question, make Iran recalculate what it is preparing to potentially carry out on Israeli soil, as there is a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region to try and avert the worst, which would be, of course, a regional war, one that would bring Israel and Iran into a direct state of confrontations.
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American and U.K. citizens and other foreign citizens in Lebanon at this hour are being told to leave immediately. In Israel, flights are being canceled in and out of Tel Aviv. So an extraordinary moment of tension in this region, but that is certainly not slowing down the Israeli military's actions in Gaza. Another deadly strike on a school sheltering, hundreds of displaced Palestinians on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, injuring 50 others, according to the Palestinian civil defense.
Two schools in the al-Nasr neighborhood of Western Gaza City were hit. The Israeli military says that Hamas was operating a command and control center inside of those schools. But for now, what we do know is that even as they say that they sought to minimize civilian casualties, there clearly were civilian casualties. The images coming out of those two schools show civilians, including children being pulled out of the rubble, dead and injured alike.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Haifa, Israel.
HOLMES: Palestinian officials say Israel did not give any prior warning to civilians before school -- those schools were struck, arguing the death toll would have otherwise been lower. The Israeli military is calling on residents to leave several neighborhoods in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Yet, again, the IDF says Hamas is launching rockets towards Israel from there and that it will soon, quote, act forcibly to stop them.
Meanwhile, an official in the Hamas led government, along with his elderly mother, were killed in an Israeli air strike in central Gaza, according to a family member. The IDF says it struck an operative conducting terrorist activities in the area. You see the man sitting there in the garden with his mother. And officials with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital say an Israeli strike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians near that facility, killing at least five and wounding 18 others.
And joining me now from Tel Aviv is Alon Pinkas, the former Israeli consul general in New York. Good to see you again, sir. Let's talk about Benjamin Netanyahu. Some even within Israel have pondered whether he perhaps even wants to provoke war with Iran and drag the U.S. into fighting it. What -- what's your read on that in the context of the killing of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, on Iranian soil?
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Well, good morning, Michael. Look, he wants two things. The first was to prolong the war in Gaza, to maintain an atmosphere war. Once the war expanded, even on a low intensity level of war into Lebanon, he developed this provocation of Iran as a means to expand the war, to escalate the war in a way that would drag the U.S. in. Now it's sort of counterintuitive to many of our viewers, why would he do that? Well, there's a simple explanation for that. The first is to distance himself from October 7th and to portray this or to, you know, fabricate this new narrative, according to which this is not just a terror attack by Hamas on October 7th, but this is a regional war. This is an existential war and -- and this is an inter-civilizational war. He's been preaching that for many decades.
HOLMES: Yes, yes, yes, he has.
PINKAS: The second -- right. The second -- the second reason is that you turn the calamity and debacle of October 7th into some strategic triumph if the U.S. takes out Iran's nuclear facilities. This is what he's been flirting with. And he's been doing that -- this, quite frankly, since November. This is not new, and this is not a result of the assassination on Haniyeh, which, for purposes of provocation, was done in Tehran.
HOLMES: The newspaper you write for Haaretz, has reported about what it calls a growing chasm between Netanyahu and the country's defense chiefs and intelligence chiefs over his handling of ceasefire and hostage negotiations. How is that tension playing out as -- as the entire region is now on edge. And -- and what is your sense of Netanyahu's desire to lower tensions anywhere in the region?
PINKAS: Well, OK. You know, the -- the chasm began not just with the hostage deal and a ceasefire. It began with the military and intelligence services questioning Netanyahu's judgment on, A, the prosecution of the war and, B, perhaps more importantly, the absence, the lack, the refusal to come up with a political plan, a framework and so called post war Gaza, by -- by neglecting or -- or flagrantly refusing to come up with a plan. The war has no objective (inaudible).
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And we all know that a war that in which military means are not aligned with political objectives is going nowhere.
HOLMES: Yes.
PINKAS: As for -- as for these tensions, they play out every day, that the only thing is, Michael, that needs to be emphasized is that they haven't made it public yet. It's all leaks. It's all a senior source. It's all, you know, divulging minimal amount of information. At one point it's going to come out on what you just mentioned on the hostage deal that Netanyahu is increasingly seen as the one undermining and stalling.
HOLMES: Yes. So you've got a situation, you've got Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, proxies in -- in Syria and Iraq, perhaps gearing up for this expected response, all while the Israeli military is still fully engaged in Gaza. Does that make Israel vulnerable militarily?
PINKAS: It has to. I mean, you know, it -- it doesn't matter how strong militarily a country can be when it -- when it is stretched on a 360 degree diameter, it has to be weakened, number one. Number two, technically, Israel's air defenses, the Iron Dome, the Arrow-3, can only take so many incoming missiles, rockets and drones.
Number three, there's a distancing. I mean, Lebanon and your correspondent is in Haifa, which is a few dozen kilometers away from Lebanon. Lebanon is closed, but Iran is 2,000 kilometers away. So all that presents a multitude of challenges, yes, it's vulnerable. It is still -- Israel is still stronger militarily, certainly than Hezbollah, certainly more than the Houthis in -- in Yemen, in southwest Yemen, and even more than Iran.
HOLMES: Right.
PINKAS: But nonetheless, you know the three frontal war the -- the -- what -- what Netanyahu chooses to call seven fronts, in order to, you know, to exaggerate the -- the scale and scope of all this definitely makes Israel vulnerable.
HOLMES: We're -- we're almost out of time, but I wanted to ask you real quick, you know, we've got these alleged disagreements between Netanyahu and defense chiefs. You've got massive protests still on the streets by Israelis wanting a deal done and Netanyahu gone, the U.S. President trying to pressure Netanyahu. What -- what is the level of support for Netanyahu right now? How is he able to weather the internal and external pressures on him and survive politically?
PINKAS: Well, to be honest, I was mistaken, Michael. I didn't think he would survive October 7th this far, and he did. His coalition, you know, it's a bunch of apartheid, opportunistic politicians who did not stand up and not do the right thing. And so he weathered that storm. And it's coalition of 64 out of 120 so it's a very narrow majority. And the Knesset, the parliament is now out of session, so he can't be toppled. So he has until October -- September, October, to try and somehow maneuver his way or extricate himself from this.
HOLMES: Right.
PINKAS: I am willing to be to, you know, to gamble and be wrong again. I don't think he's going to survive this in the longer run. All that said, these domestic pressures and external pressures are going to take a very heavy toll.
HOLMES: Always good to get your analysis Alon Pinkas in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much.
Ukraine is celebrating what it calls a new chapter, two and a half years after Russia's full scale invasion, and here's why.
Those are the first of the long awaited F-16 fighter jets operating inside Ukraine. They've been donated by Ukraine's allies after months of negotiations and pleas from Ukraine's leaders and training for Ukrainian pilots who had to learn how to fly them, Russia has maintained air superiority throughout the course of the war, but these F-16 and the others yet to come will offer critical air cover for Ukrainian forces. They can also attack ground targets, intercept missiles and take on enemy planes, of course, in the sky.
Well, it's perhaps most consequential decision of her political career so far. U.S., Vice President Kamala Harris will soon decide who will join her on the Democratic ticket as her running mate, and the clock is ticking, as she is expected to appear with her choice on Tuesday. CNN's Julia Benbrook has the latest from Washington.
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that there were plans for Vice President Kamala Harris to meet with at least three of the top contenders on Sunday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Throughout the process, Harris has been asking close advisors who would make the best governing partner for her at the White House. Another top consideration, though, is electability
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She's been looking at how each of them would balance out the ticket and how they'd help in key battleground states. Shapiro and Kelly, of course, from states that will be critical in November. Now the VP pick is often a political afterthought once they're selected. But for Harris, this is the biggest decision that she's going to make as the presumptive Democratic nominee. And she's still working to introduce herself to many Americans.
She's been speaking with a close group of confidants, including her husband Doug Emhoff and former Attorney General Eric Holder, whose law firm is helping with the vetting process. A reminder of just how quickly this process is taking place. Just a couple of weeks ago, Harris was President Joe Biden's running mate, and now she's selecting her own VP.
We will hear a decision soon, because she and her running mate are expected to appear at a rally on Tuesday in Philadelphia that kicks off a battleground blitz. They're going to be crisscrossing the country, visiting key states ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which starts on August 19th.
In Washington, Julia Benbrook, CNN.
HOLMES: A new poll shows the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is tight. The CBS News/YouGov poll shows there's no clear leader between the two candidates, as you see there on your screen. The presumptive Democratic nominee improving on Joe Biden's performance with 50 percent of support among likely voters. Trump holding on to 90 -- 49 percent.
Ahead on the program, protests escalate in the U.K. as right wing rioters attack hotels housing asylum seekers. We'll have the British Prime Minister's message to demonstrate it as violence flares across the country.
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HOLMES: All red, you're looking at U.S. stock futures there, dropping ahead of what could be another rocky week for Wall Street, the Nasdaq futures down nearly 4 percent. Each of the three major indices finished out the week in the red on Friday after a disappointing U.S. jobs report had investors looking to sell. And Asian markets stumbling out of the gate this morning as the global selloff continued. Marc Stewart, following developments from Beijing, pretty rough start in Asia. How bad?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Michael, since we last talked the selloff, these declines are just getting worse and worse. I've been glued to my computer here. The Nikkei, which is the benchmark index for Japan, is now down more than 8 percent hovering on 9 percent looking at South Korea, the cost be down nearly 8 percent as well. So we are seeing a very rough start to the trading day, our midway through the trading day here in Asia.
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If we look at what's been happening, the selloff really started on Thursday. And in the case of Japan, in particular, this is because, according to a lot of analysts, because the Bank of Japan decided it was going to raise interest rates, and so that caused a lot of ill feelings among traders. But as you mentioned, it is not just a selloff that we are seeing in -- in Asia. This is something that we have been seeing worldwide, really, starting on Friday in the United States.
There are a number of factors at play, in addition to the strife that we're seeing here in Asia. In the United States, we saw a lackluster jobs report. A lot of big corporations, whose words really helped dictate the fate of the American economy are indicating some rough spots, especially -- especially in the tech sector. We saw Intel announced layoffs. We saw Amazon, although it did have some strong earnings, indicate that growth in the future may not be as fast as we have seen in the past. That's all very concerning to investors.
As far as how people are feeling, at CNN, we have what's known as our fear and greed index. And we look at seven different factors, to get an idea of how people are thinking about their money. And right now that fear and greed index is distinctly in the fear category, almost hovering into the -- the category of extreme fear. So what we are seeing on Wall Street right now is also being reflected in this index.
We are going to be very anxious to see what the trade is like in New York when -- when markets open. Is what's happening in Asia going to spook investors there? We heard from one trader who described the situation here in Asia and Japan as a full on avalanche. So if this is an indication as to what the day will bring, it's very concerning.
Michael, also, in addition to all of these financial factors, we're dealing with a lot of geopolitical uncertainty, with concern that there will be retaliation against Israel by Iran that could certainly play into markets as well. I should mention, as far as oil prices right now, nothing extraordinary.
In fact, we heard from one oil analyst, Michael, who said, right now in the United States, at least, the biggest threat for gas and fuel prices would be a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. So we'll have to be watching the weather as well as these financial storms here in Asia.
HOLMES: It could be a rough week ahead all round. Marc Stewart in Beijing, appreciate it, Marc. Thanks. Now in the U.K., violent protests fuelled by far right groups have intensified on Sunday.
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CROWD: (Speaking in Foreign Language)
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HOLMES: Rioters in northern England vandalized and set fire to two Holiday Inn hotels that are being used to house asylum seekers. They also smashed windows and attacked police. The violence erupting after three young girls were killed in a stabbing attack last week. The far right seized on that attack to spread disinformation and to mobilize anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant protests. Journalist Eliot Gotkine with more now from London.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: Things do seem to have taken on a bit of a life of their own. We saw protests across cities in the U.K. on Saturday, and it was expected that there would be some more today on Sunday, but they really have degenerated into perhaps even more violence than we saw a day earlier.
This is in Tamworth in this evening. This is just outside Birmingham, the U.K.'s second city, where, as you say, the mob there tried to and succeeded in setting fire to a Holiday Inn extra, which has been housing asylum seekers, people that have come to this country to try to get refugee status. And I suppose it's -- the -- the timing is perhaps a little embarrassing for the local member of parliament, who is from the Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labor Party, when just last week, she said in parliament that the local people in Tamworth wanted their Holiday Inn back.
They didn't want it to continue housing asylum seekers. And some of those people, perhaps may have taken those words and -- and -- and taken matters into their own hands. And this just came a few hours after a mob also managed to set fire to a Holiday Inn extra in Rotherham in the north of England, where also the fire was put out. Officers there with riot shields seemingly pinned against the wall of the hotel there, as the rioters threw projectiles at them, they smashed their way into the hotel. They took out furniture and started hurling that at the officers as well.
At least 10 officers have been injured. There have been, what, there's something like 150 arrests after the -- after yesterday's violence, no doubt there have been many more today, and there's even reports that the government is going to have to draft in extra lawyers and have courts working kind of overnight to process the large number of people that are going to have to go through the legal system now, after being caught on camera and being found to be in breach of the law.
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HOLMES: Elliot Gotkine there.
Now, Nigeria's president is calling for an end to nationwide protests that have rocked that West African nation. President Bola Tinubu addressed the nation on Sunday for the first time since the demonstration started last week over government policies and the rising cost of living.
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BOLA TINUBU, NIGERIAN PRESIDENT: Suspend any further protest and create room for dialog, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity. Nigeria requires all hands on deck and need us all, regardless of each party, tribe, religion, or all that defiance.
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HOLMES: The police say at least seven people have been killed in the protest. So far, hundreds of others have been arrested. Meantime, Nigerians are refusing to suspend their demonstrations, saying that the President did not address issues of economic hardship.
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ROBERT DUMO, PROTESTER: From the speech that the President has made so far. If he doesn't address the -- the needs of the Nigerian people by reducing the fuel price back to 200 bringing back subsidy, reducing the cost of education, opening the borders, then he has not spoken.
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HOLMES: Still to come on the program, more countries telling their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible, with growing fears of a wider war breaking out between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran.
Also growing calls from the international community urging Venezuela to publish official voting records following the controversial presidential election there.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM with me, Michael Holmes.
The Middle East on edge with Iran and the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, vowing to punish Israel after the assassinations of two senior figures from Hezbollah and also Hamas.
And now a growing number of countries are urging their citizens to get out of Lebanon.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut where protesters marked the fourth anniversary of a deadly port explosion amid rising fears of a wider conflict in the region.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Church bells and the Muslim call to prayer for the more than 200 people killed four years ago in the Beirut port blast. Every year they gathered to mark that dark day.
When 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded, one of the biggest non- nuclear blasts in history, Paul Naggear lost his three-year-old daughter, Alexandra in the blast. He and his wife, Tracy has sought, but one thing ever since justice.
PAULA NAGGEAR, LOST DAUGHTER IN BEIRUT PORT BLAST: there's no justice whatsoever. This is the only thing we want from them. We don't ask for more. We just want justice for her and justice for everyone else that was affected by the blast. And we still don't have nothing.
WEDEMAN: The government funded investigation into the disaster has stalled. The culprits behind a long series of atrocities and assassinations going back decades have never been held accountable. Many still hold positions of power.
The Beirut port blast four years ago is a still open wound in a country full of scars (ph), a country now bracing for more wounds.
Along the line that separates Lebanon and Israel, Hezbollah daily strikes Israeli targets while Israeli warplanes and drones hit back on the other side.
Embassies are urging their nationals to leave the country while flights out are still available as Hezbollah vows revenge for Israel's assassination of a senior military commander while Iran insists it will avenge the alleged Israeli killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The future looks grim, but on Beirut's seafront the sun is hot and the water is cool. Some have decided to eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow, who knows?
The Lebanese have seen it all, says Samir Hoffman (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even Netanyahu is blah, blah, blah. It's no problem. We are (INAUDIBLE) people.
WEDEMAN: Fears that the Middle East is about to be plunged into war forgotten for a few precious moments.
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Beirut.
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HOLMES: The European Union has joined the growing international chorus questioning the results of Venezuela's presidential election. The E.U. announcing Sunday that Nicolas Maduro quoted cannot be recognized as the winner until the National Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the authoritarian leader, publishes official voting records.
The opposition party and multiple world leaders have also refused to recognize President Maduro's claim of victory, urging him and his government to respect the will of the Venezuelan people.
CNN's Fareed Zakaria spoke with the Venezuelan opposition leader and former political prisoner, Leopoldo Lopez who says massive fraud is being imposed on the country.
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LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, CO-FOUNDER, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION PARTY VOLUNTAD POPULAR: The exit polls of the day of the election all showed that it was 70-30. But most importantly, all of the printouts from every single one of the 16,000 voting centers spoke and it's printed and the results are there 70-30 in favor of Edmundo Gonzalez?
What Maduro did was to basically read out a different result and is trying to impose a massive fraud on the Venezuelan people's will.
He threatened to have a bloodbath and a civil conflict and that's what he's doing. There's been a massive arrests, thousands of people arrested, people that were participating in the voting process as observers, local observers, were being arrested.
But Maduro is now naked in front of the country and in front of the world. One thing is to think that we were a majority with a different reality is to know, massively know in every single state, every single municipality of Venezuela Edmundo Gonzalez won and Maduro is a minority.
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HOLMES: Eric Farnsworth is the vice president of the Americas Society, and Council of the Americas. You got the leaders of seven European countries calling for the release of all the tally sheets from the election. Any number of nations saying they don't recognize Maduro's claim of victory.
But what sway does the international community, be it Latin America or elsewhere have over what Maduro does? I mean past sanctions were seen to have hurt the people, not the regime. So what can the international community do?
ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, THE AMERICAS SOCIETY AND COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS: I mean, if Maduro doesn't want to leave, there's not a whole lot forcing him to have to leave and that's always been the risk, right.
You know, you take the vote. You count the vote. And then if the leader loses, he or she is supposed to leave gracefully and peacefully. Well, that's not happening in Venezuela.
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FARNSWORTH: I think that the government has its own vote totals, which by all accounts, whether it was previews before the vote, or exit polls after the vote, or even the polls of the vote, which the opposition has obtained more than 80 percent of them and it's released publicly, those are all consistent and they all show that Edmundo Gonzalez won clearly and decisively.
And that's why it's, you know, true that Maduro has not yet released the vote totals and likely won't because they show the he'll lose.
The challenge here is what are you going to do about it and the international community isn't completely unified here because you have outliers like Russia, China, Cuba, of course, who for their own interests are supportive of Maduro remaining in office.
And you also have countries like Brazil and Mexico, and Colombia who are neighbors of Venezuela but have taken a slightly different approach perhaps than other democracies in Latin America and the United States.
So it's more difficult now because the international community isn't necessarily completely unified. Even in the best of circumstances, it would be difficult. But if you've got a divided international community, it makes it even that much more difficult.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes.
Venezuelans have fled their own country in great numbers in recent years -- 8 million of them. I think 800,000 have been processed into the U.S. since 2021.
There were polls before this election suggesting 30 percent of Venezuelans who were still in the country would leave if Maduro won. Can you see that happening, a post-election exodus? And if so, what would be the impact?
FARNSWORTH: Well, in fact, I think that's actually likely. It hasn't started just yet necessarily, but you know, with Maria Corina Machado leading the charge and then of course, supporting Edmundo Gonzalez as the candidate they gave real hope to the people of Venezuela for the first time in years.
And so what's happened after last week in the vote that maduro has clearly stolen is that that hope has been extinguished in many quarters of Venezuela. And there are still those who remain, you know, hopeful that street protests or some sort of pressure from the outside might cause (INAUDIBLE) vote change and to accept the vote result.
But the fact of the matter is if he doesn't, a lot of people in Venezuela are going to be asking and are already asking, well, what's the future here and you know, what can I do with my family here anymore? I should probably think about leaving.
And in fact, that's what we've seen poll after poll, indicating its likely to happen. So yes, I do anticipate another migrant surge.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask you about this. The opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that all Maduro had left is the military.
Let's have a quick listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOPEZ: He has the military, he has the power to repress the Venezuelan people, to persecute, repress, torture and incarcerate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Is that military support, the support of the broader security services as well rock solid for Maduro or could cracks emerge.
FARNSWORTH: I think it's the key (AUDIO GAP) and one that we are watching very carefully.
I mean sure the upper ranks of the military and security forces, you have to include the police in there as well seemed to be loyal to the regime. And why not? They've been indoctrinated for 25 years. They've been bought into extravagant corruption that's been fed by really the plundering of state assets.
And so their instinct and their incentive is to remain and do everything possible to keep the regime in power.
But you know, there's some in the middle ranks and the lower ranks, they don't have access to that level of corruption. They don't -- and you know, their families are living on the local communities just like everybody else. They see the despair around them so there's a possibility that some of those might break.
Look, I don't think that you're going to see an uprising anytime soon from the security forces in Venezuela. But what I think it is a possible -- possibility to think about and certainly hope for and work for, is that if the order comes from on top to shoot and kill and repress peacefully demonstrating citizens in the streets of Caracas or elsewhere in the country that those folks with the guns will think twice and frankly won't shoot nor kill their own citizens.
And if that happens, then you could get a different game because if the regime can't actually control the streets, then that's when its real survivability is at risk.
And so I think that's the issue we need to be thinking about and working toward. If the people simply refuse to kill their own citizens who are peacefully protesting and I think we have the right to expect that as well.
HOLMES: Yes.
Eric Farnsworth always great to get your analysis. Appreciate it. Thank you.
FARNSWORTH: Thank you. It's great to join you.
HOLMES: The competition continues on day ten of the Paris Games with more medals up for grabs. Among those are individual events in artistic gymnastics for both men and women. Team U.S.A.'s Simone Biles has yet another chance to win more Olympics
hardware. Both women's track cycling and men's and women's surfing will also hold their finals.
Here's a look at the current medal tally in Paris. Crucially Australia holding its own at number four.
[01:39:49]
HOLMES: But we should mention Team U.S.A. sits tied with China for the most gold medals with 19 each. The Americans also with a lead in total medal count, 71 overall to China's 45 in second place.
Well, Monday's mixed relay triathlon is being cleared to go ahead amid continued concerns over water quality in the River Seine. Belgium's entire team has withdrawn from the event after one of their athletes became ill after competing in the Seine. The Swiss team has also changed their plans with a reserve athlete entering the event after a teammate withdrew due to a gastrointestinal infection.
It's not confirmed if either case was linked to the river. Olympic officials maintain the water quality was at quote, "very good levels" the day of the individual events.
American Noah Lyles is still riding high on his gold medal win on Sunday in the men's 100-meter dash.
CNN's Coy Wire with more on his impressive win and other highlights from day nine of the summer games.
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COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORTS: America's Noah Lyles has staked his claim as the fastest man in the world. When I talked to him ahead of these games, he said he already knew he was. This was just more for everybody else.
A 20-year drought for the U.S.A. is over. Olympic final of the men's 100 meters, the most exhilarating nine seconds in sports. Years of training for a moment that lasts about two deep breaths and this one went down to a photo finish.
Jamaica's 23-year-old Kishane Thompson thought he won it, but after about 15 seconds it was determined that American Noah Lyles out-leaned him at the tape, a personal best 9.79 seconds, beating Thompson by 5/one-thousandth of a second. U.S.A. Fred Kerley took the bronze. Lyles didn't win the qualifier, didn't win the semifinal. But when it mattered most, he delivered. He is the first American man to win the 100 meters in 20 years.
To golf, the comeback for the ages, world number one, Scottie Scheffler overcoming a four-stroke deficit on the final day to win his first Olympic gold, shooting nine under 62 on his final round. Team GB's Tommy Fleetwood took the silver, Japan's Hideki Matsuyama took the bronze.
What a year it's been for Scottie Scheffler: six wins on the PGA Tour, including the Masters. The dominance continues.
Novak Djokovic has finally snagged the one thing that seemed to allude him winning his first Olympic gold in his fifth games, he beat Carlos Alcaraz in a thriller at Roland Garros 7-6, 7-6. At 37-years-old, Djokovic has become the oldest man and to win a singles gold medal. It also completes Djoko's career Golden Slam, having won Olympics gold and all four majors.
Bobby Finke defends his title, setting a new world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle of 1,430.67. You can call him back-to-back Bobby. He put the entire men's program on his back. First American man to win an individual gold at these games and he did it on the last race possible. Finally
Finally, one of the wildest gold medals of these games in cycling road race, Team U.S.A.'s Kristen Faulkner grew up in Homer, Alaska, riding her bike around the fishing villages, became a varsity rower at Harvard, got a degree in computer science, started riding seriously just seven years ago, zipping through Central Park as a hobby. She got hooked, she quit her career working at investment firms in 2022. And now at 31 years old, she is an Olympic gold medalist.
See, there's hope for all of us.
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HOLMES: Cool. Coy Wire there for us.
Now some more history about to happen in Paris.
The first ever medal win for the refugee Olympic Team. Boxer Cindy Ngamba has secured at least a bronze medal in the women's middleweight competition after winning the quarter final.
She's originally from Cameroon but moved to the U.K. as a child. The boxer says she risks going to prison if she were to return to Cameroon after coming out as gay since homosexuality is illegal there.
Her U.K. citizenship isn't finalized either. So for now, she's making history for all refugee athletes competing at the games.
Coming up next, the deadliest day yet in the anti-government protests in Bangladesh as calls for the prime minister's resignation have been met with new levels of violence.
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HOLMES: Sunday was the deadliest day yet in the ongoing protests in Bangladesh with Reuters reporting at least 91 people killed in clashes between protesters and police.
What started as a student demonstration against hiring quotas for civil service jobs has grown into a wider protest with tens of thousands of people calling for the prime minister's resignation. The government has cut off Internet servers and imposed an indefinite nationwide curfew.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery joins me now from Tokyo with the latest.
The prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been pretty defiant over this, hasn't she?
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Michael, you're right. Hasin has been fairly defined over this, especially in the past couple of days. In fact, earlier, we once heard Hasina invite student protesters to engage in unconditional dialogue with her because she said she wanted to sit with them and to (INAUDIBLE) to really hear their grievances. She also said she wanted the violence to end.
But those very same students she once said she wanted to engage with, she's now calling terrorists amid their calls for her to stepdown.
Now student protesters did reject her invitation because they felt that essentially it was far too little, far too late.
When the supreme court scrapped most of those government quotas last month, we did see the protests subside and stop momentarily, but clearly it wasn't enough to quell peoples anger entirely because protesters believed that Hasina and her government should be held accountable for the numerous deaths and injuries we've seen from these demonstrations, which can often turn very violent and deadly.
Now, these student protest leaders have also called on citizens to engage in civil disobedience, to stop paying their taxes, to stop paying their utility bills, for example, to stop taking public transportation. They're also again urging Hasina to resign and for her and her government to be held responsible for these deaths.
So like you said, Michael, we're really seeing these student protests turn into a wider anti-government movement. Take a look at how some of these demonstrations are once again flaring up in Bangladesh. And they're becoming very, very deadly.
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MONTGOMERY: Dhaka is a battleground. That's how one witness described chaotic scenes in the Bangladeshi capital as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, some wielding sticks and knives, demanding the resignation of the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I want to step down Sheikh Hasina.
MONTGOMERY: Dozens of people were killed on Sunday alone in a resurgence of protests that have spread nationwide with violent clashes erupting between demonstrators, police, and ruling party supporters.
Rallies that began last month over quotas for civil service jobs have escalated into widespread fury with protesters demanding Hasina and her ministers be held accountable for the rising death toll. NAHID ISLAM, COORDINATOR, STUDENTS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION (through translator): She must resign and. She must face trial and not only Sheikh Hasina, her whole cabinet in the government must resign. This regime and the fascist rule must be abolished.
MONTGOMERY: Protests began in July, led by students angry over hiring rules that would reserve more than half of civil servant positions, which are highly prioritized for select applicants.
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MONTGOMERY: Students said it's a discriminatory system that would cut down on job opportunities in a workforce where an estimated 18 million young people are unemployed.
In the clashes that followed, at least 150 people were killed, thousands injured, and about 10,000 arrested. A military-enforced curfew and a mobile and Internet blackout attempted to suppress protests, as well as a ruling by the country's supreme court to reduce the quotas.
But public anger has only intensified with protests returning in recent days.
ZUHAINA AMIN, PROTESTER (through translator): It wasn't possible to stay at home anymore. Everyone is on the street. many people who are younger than me are no longer with us. They've been killed. They've been killed just because they came to the streets just like us. So how is it possible for me not to come here.
MONTGOMERY: A new indefinite curfew is in place and Internet access is once again cut off.
Hasina blames her political rivals for the unrest saying the main opposition party and other adversaries have infiltrated the student movement. The human rights groups have accused authorities of using excessive force to stifle dissent and curtail civil liberties in the past.
And in a troubling sign, Hasina also warned anyone engaging in what she calls sabotage will be treated as a criminal in one of the biggest tests yet to her rule in 15 straight years in power.
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MONTGOMERY: Michael, we're also hearing that there could be a very large demonstration in Dhaka, the capital today.
So that's led many to fear that there could be a lot more bloodshed in the coming hours, Michael.
HOLMES: Appreciate you keeping tabs on it for us.
Hanako Montgomery there in Tokyo.
And still to come here on the program, millions in the southeast U.S. bracing for Hurricane Debby as it strengthens into a category 1 storm. We'll have the latest forecast when we come back forecast when we come back.
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HOLMES: Debby has now strengthened into a category 1 hurricane as the storm moves towards Florida's Big Bend region. It's expected to further intensify before making landfall in the coming hours.
The National Hurricane Center says the storm already has sustained winds of 120 kilometers an hour. Debby expected to bring historic amounts of rainfall and storm surge to parts of the southeast. Residents in the storm's path are preparing for impact.
CNN's Rafael Romo with more on that.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cities across the southeast, specifically in Florida, here in Georgia, and also in South Carolina are getting ready for the impact of this storm.
Governor Brian Kemp here in Georgia declared a state of emergency Saturday because the state is expected to get potentially historic rainfall according to the National Weather Service.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has done the same in his state. Charleston is expecting up to 18 inches of rain, which could cause life-threatening floodwaters and flash flooding.
In Florida, several coastal counties from St. Petersburg and Tampa all the way to Panama City and Panama City Beach are under either mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders especially those people who live in coastal or low-lying areas.
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ROMO: We earlier heard from National Hurricane Director Michael Brennan, who said the threat is that this system may practically become a stationary one bringing torrential rains to three different states.
MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: The biggest threat, the most widespread threat is going to be the heavy rainfall and the potential for considerable flooding, flash and urban flooding, across portions of Florida and into the coastal southeastern United States from today all the way through Thursday.
And there will be the possibility of river flooding in many locations as well as that heavy rainfall falls and drains into river basins.
ROMO: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier said that he's activated both the Florida National and State Guards to be ready for rescue and humanitarian assistance.
The Florida National Guard alone is standing by with 3,000 service members who will be ready to assist the state emergency response team.
GOV. RON DE SANTIS (R-FL): It could get up to 85, 90, 95 mile an hour sustained wind. That is absolutely possible particularly in parts of the state like here in Tallahassee.
There's going to be a lot of trees that are going to fall down. You're going to have debris. You are going to have power interruption. So just prepare for that. If you're in the path of the storm assume that that's going to happen.
ROMO: And something else the governor wanted to make clear for Floridians is that there likely will be power outages because the storm may intensify before making landfall.
In South Carolina and here in Georgia, the National Hurricane Center is predicting 10 to 20 inches of rainfall through Friday morning.
Rafael Romo, CNN -- Atlanta.
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HOLMES: Now, agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection say they recently seized a stash of 4 million fentanyl pills from a 20-year-old man in Arizona. The largest bust of its kind in the agency's history.
They say the man arrived at the border station driving a pickup truck, pulling a recreational vehicle on a trailer and a K-9 team found that 234 taped (ph) packages of drugs hidden in the trailers frame. Those vehicles have been sent for further inspection because of course, you would.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on X and Instagram @HolmesCNN.
Stick around Rosemary Church, my friend and colleague picks up with more news after the break.
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