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Harris Picks Walz as Running Mate; Hamas Names Yahya Sinwar New Head of Political Bureau; Israel Military Returns 89 Bodies to Gaza; British Prime Minister Vows to Keep People Safe with More Protests Planned; U.S. Stocks Bounce Back After Monday's Sell-Off. Harris Taps Tim Walz as Vice Presidential Running Mate; Pakistani Man Charges in Alleged Plan to Kill Trump & Others; States Hit with Severe Weather as Storm Moves Out to Sea. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 07, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:29]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm John Vause, live from Studio H in Atlanta. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: You know it, you feel it -- these guys are creepy, and yes, just weird as hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Harris taps Walz as her running mate. The Minnesota governor who rose to prominence two weeks ago for calling Donald Trump weird.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: No one should escalate this conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: No one should, but it seems they're all planning to. Iran, Hezbollah warned strikes on Israel are imminent. Israel considers limited preemptive attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I won't shy away from calling it what it is. Far-right thuggery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And across the U.K., hundreds have been arrested, thousands of police deployed and more violent far-right protests expected in the day ahead.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: In just two weeks, the two-term governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota has gone from relative obscurity to national prominence. An incredible rise thanks in part to his description of Donald Trump as weird. A criticism which seems to have stuck. On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris officially named Tim Walz as her running mate. And with that, the Harris-Walz campaign kicked off a five-day tour of seven battleground states, starting in Philadelphia.
Walz is a former high school teacher and football coach. He served more than two decades in the Army National Guard. And as governor, he expanded medical and paid family leave, abortion rights were codified into state law, and last year, he signed into law a bill providing free breakfast and lunch for all public school students regardless of family income. Sources say Harris was won over by his authenticity and appeal to voters who have drifted away from the Democratic Party to Donald Trump.
Our reporting begins with CNN's M.J. Lee in Philadelphia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: this was an incredibly raucous and energized political rally. The first formal introduction of the Harris-Walz ticket and we saw from this evening how much the Harris campaign is going to be leaning into that contrast between Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Both of them as they took the stage really talking about the biography of Tim Walz as they're trying to introduce him to so many people around the country that don't have a great sense of who he is.
His Midwestern roots, the fact that he was born in Nebraska. The fact that he was a football coach and a teacher and served in the Army National Guard. These are all factors that the Harris campaign is hoping will make him an appealing person on the Democratic ticket, particularly in the critical blue wall states.
Here's a little bit of how the vice president introduced her new running mate in Philadelphia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To those who know him best, Tim is more than a governor. To his wife, Gwen, he is a husband. To his kids, Hope and Gus, he is a dad. To his fellow veterans, he is Sergeant Major Walz.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walz.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: And to his former high school football players, he was coach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: And of course, one of the biggest reasons that the Harris campaign decided to choose Tim Walz as the vice president's running mate is because they also think that he is successful at sort of prosecuting the argument against the Trump-Vance ticket on the other side of the political aisle. And in fact, in this room, in this arena, some of the biggest applause line that Tim Walz got tonight was when he specifically he went after Donald Trump, including his recent conviction.
Take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: He mocks our laws. He sows chaos and division. And that's to say nothing of his record as president. And make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump. That's not even counting the crimes he committed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: And Harrison and Walz will be traveling more together, traveling to a number of battleground state, trying to introduce themselves together at that joint ticket and to that end, as they're trying to capitalize on the momentum. The campaign did announce Tuesday evening that they have raised at least $20 million since the moment that Harris announced her new running mate pick.
M.J. Lee, CNN, in Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[00:05:09]
VAUSE: Larry Sabato is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He's also the editor of "Return to Normalcy: The 2020 Election That Almost Broke America."
It's good to see. It's been a minute.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: So here's a little more from Kamala Harris on this Democratic presidential ticket. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The promise of America is what makes it possible for two middle-class kids, one, a daughter of Oakland, California, who was raised by a working mother. The other, a son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on a farm. For them together to make it all the way to the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes. It's a great aspirational story, but let's get back to 2008 when Barack Obama tapped Joe Biden as his running mate, an older white guy with lots of experience to reach older white guys, it was OK to have a young black man in the White House. Then Biden was played a must have in 2008. This time round, did Harris had to choose an older white guy? Was there a path to the White House without support from that part of the electorate?
SABATO: I think the hint about the truth is that her real list as opposed to that long list they were released early on was composed entirely of white males and generally middle age to older. So obviously, she believes she needed a balanced ticket and the balance was provided partly at least by race and also by gender.
But there's another piece to it, too. Biden was selected because he really knew foreign policy. He'd been head of the Foreign Relations Committee. He knew that, and Obama had been in office, in the U.S. Senate for only four years and a few years in the state legislature in Illinois. And a lot of Americans did not believe he had sufficient experience to be president.
Well, there's some of that here and she wanted someone with executive experience, and that's why she chose a governor.
VAUSE: Well, as you'd expect, Donald Trump was measured and contemplated in his reaction to this announcement. Here's part of an e-mail, fundraising e-mail. "Tim Walz would be the worst VP in history, even worse than dangerously liberal and crooked Kamala Harris. He's that bad. He'll unleash hell on earth, open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable."
Not entirely unexpected. Here's how Walz took on Trump, as well as Vance during that campaign rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: I got to tell you, pointing out just an observation of mine that I made, I just have to say it. You know it, you feel it -- these guys are creepy, and yes, just weird as hell. That's what you see. That's what you see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, in 2016, Trump's insults and name-calling essentially won him the White House. Maybe not so this election.
SABATO: I don't think it's working for Trump because were all too used to it. I mean, it's been quite literally nine years of this from the time he first announced. And it's novel in the beginning. But after you go through 10 tweets a day for eight and a half to nine years, everybody can predict what he's going to write in those tweets.
Now, the word weird was very smart of Walz to employ because I think that word more than anything else is what caught Kamala Harris' attention. For one thing, Democrats think it really fits both Trump and Vance. They are strange in many ways. Vance in particular, I think even more than Trump. So this helped a guy that nobody would've picked to be on the ticket a few months ago to come out of nowhere and become part of history.
VAUSE: And the Harris campaign also turning some of Trump's greatest hits onto him in a tweet comparing campaign schedules for the week ahead, and describing Trump, if you look at there, low energy. On the one hand, it seems kind of schoolyard name-calling but this seems to be something which could be very, very effective for Harris.
SABATO: Well, remember, the main line against Joe Biden was how old he was. Well, it turns out now that Biden is essentially on his way to retirement, it's Donald Trump who would be the oldest president in American history. He would be older at this point in the term were Trump elected this year than Biden was this year. So our oldest president turns out to be potentially Donald Trump.
And you know, he has a lot of word salads and he mixes up names and dates and places, and it's easy to see why some might question his cognition.
[00:10:11]
VAUSE: And for how Harris arrived at this decision, according to CNN reporting, Harris grew increasingly enthused by how Walz generally carried himself and found a warm chemistry with him during a final meeting Sunday at her residence at the Naval Observatory. Harris was impressed by his authenticity. Ultimately, is that more important than delivering a swing state which Minnesota is not, or any particular voting bloc?
SABATO: Well, it was to Kamala Harris because if she cared about a swing state she would have picked either Governor Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania or Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona. Both of them are swing states, and those two politicians are popular enough in those states potentially to carry them. But she chose someone she got along with well, someone she liked, someone she could see spending hundreds and hundreds of hours with, which is what a president and vice president have to do over the course of a term. Now, and that's her privilege. This was her choice. It is what it is.
VAUSE: Larry Sabato, good to see you. Thank you, sir.
SABATO: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Less than a week after the political leader of Hamas was killed in a suspected Israeli assassination, the Gaza based militant group has announced his replacement, Yahya Sinwar, considered the main architect of the October 7th attack on Israel. Sinwar spent months hiding in a vast network of tunnels deep beneath Gaza, but is believed to have been regularly consulted in ceasefire and hostage talks.
The main negotiator at those talks, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an explosion in a cabin guesthouse while visiting Tehran last week.
Cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah intensified Tuesday. According to Israeli officials, a swarm of Hezbollah drones injured a number of people. And Hezbollah rocket barrage sparked several fires. The IDF says it struck a building in southern Lebanon used by Hezbollah, killing five people.
Israel has been bracing for retaliation from both Hezbollah and Iran after assassinations of two senior leaders last week. And on Tuesday, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, promised a response is coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASSAN NASRALLAH, LEADER OF HEZBOLLAH (through translator): The weeklong wait for Israel is part of the punishment, part of the response, part of the battle, because the battle is a psychological and moral one that requires nerves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Loud sonic booms from Israeli jets were heard over Central Beirut ahead of that speech by Hassan Nasrallah. On Wednesday, foreign ministers from several Islamic countries are set to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss the tensions in the region.
(INAUDIBLE) Harel Chorev, a senior researcher with the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Thank you for staying up and being with us.
HAREL CHOREV, SENIOR RESEARCHER, TEL AVI UNIVERSITY: Hi, John.
VAUSE: OK. So here's the U.S. secretary state on the new leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, who replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated just last week. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLINKEN: He has been and remains the primary decider when it comes to concluding a ceasefire. And so I think this only underscores the fact that it is really on him to decide whether to move forward with a ceasefire that manifestly will help so many Palestinians in desperate need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Hamas has never shown any real concern for the people of Gaza. So I put that to one side. What's in it for Sinwar to agree to a ceasefire now? His predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was apparently pushing for a deal. He was killed in a presumed Israeli airstrike.
CHOREV: Well, you see at the end of the day in Israel, the people who recommend about assassination of someone like Haniyeh would be the security establishment. Now, they are the same people who deal with the hostages deal. So if it would contradict each other, they wouldn't do that. And the reason is, so we hear, is because Haniyeh was counterproductive more than he was useful for the hostage deal.
Absurdly, it seems that Sinwar was probably some -- is probably someone who is easier to do business with. As it seemed now, as all does it sound, but it has some advantages that indeed as Secretary Blinken mentioned, he is the one who will concentrate the whole thing.
VAUSE: Right now Israel is facing not just a possible strike by Iran in retaliation for Haniyeh's death, but also by the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah, which are based in Lebanon. I want you to listen to a little bit more now from the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, whose deputy was also killed last week in an Israeli airstrike. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NASRALLAH (through translator): After the assassination of the martyred leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran finds itself obliged to respond and the enemy is waiting in a great state of dread and confusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:15:04]
VAUSE: This almost seems unchartered territory here for Israel. If there is a coordinated strike on Israel, Iran and Hezbollah together, would be firing not just short-range missiles, but, you know, which could easily be shut down by the Iron Dome, but also drones and ballistic missiles, which the Iron Dome is not designed to deal with.
So have Israeli air defenses, just from a military point of view, ever faced a potential threat like this?
CHOREV: Well, yes, it worked very well last time. Of course, with the assistance of the allies, with the, of course the Americans and the British and other Arab air force in the area. It worked perfectly well. But not only that, but also the three-layer systems of Israel including the aero system and of course the David Slingshot, not just the Iron Dome, and not to mention other experimental devices that were probably used at that time.
So you can see the reflection on the Israelis. They're not hysterical these days. They are OK. They trust their security establishment and they trust their allies. So in that sense, I think it's not worrying the typical Israelis. It's more about how this thing can deteriorate of course.
VAUSE: Just sort of in comparison to what happened last time when Iran did fire, you know, more than 100 ballistic missiles, you know, at Israel. That was just Iran by itself. This time it could be Hezbollah joining in and also last time it seems the Iranians really telegraphed their punches, giving Israel and the allies time to prepare. It seems a lot different this time.
CHOREV: You're absolutely right, John, that it is challenging. And I must say something that I think most of the viewers are not aware of. It's not about they don't want to retaliate about the killing of Haniyeh and Shukr, who by the way killed 241 U.S. Marines in 1983. It's not about this. It's a much more strategic goal, which is to stop the war in Gaza without a hostages deal and by that, of course, stopping Israel from destroying Hamas.
And the next stop, which is of course Hezbollah, so the whole thing is very challenging. But I think -- and we heard that between the lines today at Nasrallah's speech, that they are seriously concerned because of two things. One, it seems that the allies are, you know, will defend Israel again and it would be efficient. The second thing is that Israel made it clear that this time the retaliation of Israel won't be just one missile that will hit its target as it did last time but a much stronger message.
VAUSE: Harel Chorev, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your insights and also your time. Thank you.
CHOREV: Thank you, John. Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Pleasure. Thank you, sir.
Well, a grim delivery to Gaza on Monday. Israel's military returned 89 bodies inside a shipping container. Israel did not provide the identities of the dead or information about when or how they died. Palestinian officials are -- and grieving families are seeking answers.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has the story and also a warning with her story comes viewers may find images in her report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gazans gather around this shipping container but it's not aid or food that's arrived from Israel. It's dead bodies. The decomposing remains of 89 of their dead, handed back by the Israeli military on Monday. Who they are, how they died, where or when, no one knows.
We were surprised to find that 13 bodies in the form of bones were placed in one bag, Dr. Mohammad Mughair says. Some of the bodies in this container were killed three, four or five months ago, and others more recently, he says.
Through the stench of death and with the little they have, forensic teams do what they can to try to identify them but most are unrecognizable. Still, they tried to document whatever they find.
This new mass grave is dug for the unidentified in a cemetery with the displaced living and the dead exists side by side.
By concealing information from the families, this is a new crime by the Israeli occupation, this local official says. We don't know if they were exhumed from graves or if they came from the occupation's prisons.
Israeli military has not commented on the transfer nor did it respond to CNN's request for comment. But it had previously admitted exhuming bodies from Gaza cemeteries. It said it returns them after checking they're not Israeli hostages.
[00:20:08]
As news of the arrival spread crowds converged on this graveyard in Khan Younis. There were those who were there to document possible war crimes. And those desperately hoping to find their loved ones here. The living and the dead, who vanished throughout this war.
Amam Hamad (PH) has been searching everywhere for her two boys who disappeared 25 days ago. She approaches the truck describing what they were wearing. One of them was wearing a big watch. They tell her they found one matching that description. It's her son's, she says. They tell her she can look through photos of the remains tomorrow. But all she wants is to see the body, to find her boys and lay them to rest. She tries before disappearing into the chaos.
Ibrahim is here looking for his parents. Their graves were dug up a few months ago and their bodies went missing. He searched every hospital and morgue to bury them once again. He believes he's found his mother's body with the same blanket he wrapped her in, he says.
I think God love me because I'll be able to bury my mother for a second time, Ibrahim says. There are people who have not been able to retrieve the bodies of their children from under the rubble.
Smoke billows in the distance from yet another strike in the seemingly endless war that has taken so much from so many. A war that has even stripped the dead of their dignity.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A senior minister within Israel's coalition government has said publicly it may be morally justified to allow the entire population of Gaza, more than two million people, to starve to death.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was speaking at a conference Monday, where he also equated the civilian population with militants saying Israel cannot fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with another. He also said no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages.
Israel's prime minister denies allegations that the country is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza but Israel faces enormous criticism from aid groups for restricting access to humanitarian supplies reaching Gaza.
When we come back, no easy answers for Keir Starmer, Britain's new prime minister promises he'll keep communities safe even as more violent far-right protests are being planned around U.K. for the hours to come. Also, global markets tumble on Monday, then rebound Tuesday. Could there be more volatility to come? Details in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:25:19]
VAUSE: As Britain braces for another day of violent far-right protests, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to keep communities safe so he had chaired another emergency meeting Tuesday after word that far-right protesters are reportedly planning to target immigration centers and law firms in the hours to come.
CNN's Nada Bashir has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Rotherham in northern England, there is still a feeling of unease following Sunday's unrest, which saw violent, racist, far-right rioters targeting this hotel behind me, a hotel which was reportedly housing asylum seekers. And we've been speaking to members of the community on Tuesday, many of whom told us that they were feeling afraid.
Some told us they were too afraid to leave their homes on Sunday. Others say they are fearful for further riots that could take place here in Rotherham. Of course, there have been warnings of further riots planned across the United Kingdom, and we have seen those riots taking place in various cities across the country.
On Monday, Plymouth was targeted by more violent riots and of course in Belfast, we have seen serious unrest, petrol bombs, bricks being thrown towards police officers, family homes being vandalized and targeted. One man in his 50s was also attacked by rioters. Police say that rioters had stamped on his head and have described him as being in a serious condition.
And there's a huge amount of concern, but also a huge amount of pressure now on the British government to take tougher action against these rioters. Take a listen to this message from the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STARMER: We've seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques, other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the street. Attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric. So no, I won't shy away from calling it what it is. Far-right thuggery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: The prime minister himself has vowed to use the full force of the law against rioters. At least 370 people involved in these riots have been arrested so far. The Crown Prosecution Service has said that it has already charged around 100 people, but again, there are huge concerns around the potential for more riots to take place across the country. The government has said it is stepping up police presence across the country and preparing additional security measures as a precaution.
Nada Bashir, CNN, in Rotherham, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Global markets appeared to continue to rebound after a meltdown Monday. At this hour, Asia markets are continuing Tuesday's rally. Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, all in positive territory. Wall Street also bounced back Tuesday after widespread losses a day earlier. Monday's selloff was triggered by a combination of investor fears over
a slowing U.S. economy, rising interest rates in Japan and falling tech stocks.
CNN's Julia Chatterley has more on the market's wild ride.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: I think you'd be forgiven for feeling a sense of whiplash after seeing green on the screen in Tuesday's U.S. session versus the dramatic losses that we saw in Monday's session. It's not unusual to see a big bounce after a big fall like this. The problem is it doesn't really give us an indication of where stocks are headed next.
The warning sign perhaps in what we saw in Tuesday's session was despite having recouped more than half the gains for most of the session, we lost ground into the close. So that's selling pressure came back. So got to be a little bit cautious now about how we reopen in Wednesday's trading session. It leaves us watching all the same things.
Part of what helped in Tuesday's session was the big bounce back that we saw in Asia on Tuesday. And that was in part really to do with Japan. But when you're seeing a 12 percent collapse one day and a 10 percent rise the next day, you can't describe these as healthy markets. That needs watching because there'll be blow back to the global markets if again we see similar volatility back in Japan certainly.
Tech stocks today also helped to some degree. I spoke to a big investor who said, look, he's hearing more people wanting to buy stocks versus sell. Tentatively a good sign, but again, keep an eye on tech stocks. And I'm talking all over the world. The wildcard then once again remains a palpable fear to what degree we're seeing the U.S. economy slow and the only way we answer that question really is by the data. And that's going to take some time to come through.
Right now the market is pricing a whole host of quarter-point cuts this year for the Federal Reserve. The question is, do we get them? And if we do, we get relief. But it's just going to take some time. For now relief because we've got green on the screen but watch Wednesday's market open once again. We're not out of the woods yet.
[00:30:11]
Julia Chatterley, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: When we come back, the Democratic ticket is now set in the U.S. presidential race. In a moment, meet Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, tapped by Kamala Harris, the vice president, to be her vice president if she wins in November.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: After Kamala Harris officially announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday, now comes a five-day campaign blitz in seven battleground states.
Walz is a former congressman, National Guardsman, a high school teacher, football coach. He appeared with Harris for the first time as a team at a raucous rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Walz drew a sharp contrast with his Republican opponents, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us.
First of all, he doesn't know the first thing about service. He doesn't have time for it, because he's too busy serving himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Walz has been a progressive two-term governor, but his time in office, not without some controversy. CNN's Whitney Wild has the profile.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): the national spotlight is shining on humble roots as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz becomes Kamala Harris's vice-presidential running mate.
WALZ: I couldn't be prouder to be on this ticket.
WILD (voice-over): Before running for office, Walz was a geography teacher in public schools and a football coach from rural Mankato.
WALZ: High school geography teachers don't usually think that. Look, it is -- it is humbling. It's a privilege. It's surreal.
WILD (voice-over): His resume also includes more than two decades in the Army National Guard, including a deployment overseas after the 9- 11 attacks.
WALZ: Want to thank the gentleman --
WILD (voice-over): The two-term governor previously served in Congress for 12 years, representing a rural district that voted for Trump twice.
In 2006, he won his first congressional race, ousting a six-term Republican incumbent.
WALZ: They liked me. They trusted me. They said, Tim, I think you're trying to do it right.
WILD (voice-over): His first term as governor saw some of the state's most turbulent times, when riots broke out after the murder of George Floyd.
As parts of the city burned, Republicans blasted Democratic leaders' response.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: In recent days, our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, Antifa, and others. A number of state and local governments have failed to take necessary action to safeguard their residents.
[00:35:05]
WILD (voice-over): After days of riots, Walz called in the entire Minnesota National Guard.
WALZ: Let's be very clear: the situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear, and disrupting our great cities.
WILD (voice-over): His record of progressive policies, such as codifying abortion rights, adding protections for transgender people, passing paid sick and family leave, and implementing free breakfast and lunch programs in schools, makes him appealing to some on the left and a target for Republican criticism, which he has begun to push back on.
WALZ: What a monster. Kids are eating, eating and having full bellies so they can go learn. And women are making their own healthcare decisions.
WILD (voice-over): Earlier this year, Harris visited a Minnesota abortion clinic with Walz, the visit marking a big impact on her decision, a source close to the governor told CNN.
HARRIS: You've been a great friend and adviser to the president and me, and thank you for all of that.
WILD (voice-over): Walz joins the ticket, having already made his mark on the race, coining a new line of attack against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Republican allies with a single word: "weird."
WALZ: We're not afraid of weird people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WALZ: We're a little bit creeped out, but we're not afraid.
WILD: We spoke with several voters out here who came to enjoy the moment that their governor was named as part of this ticket.
And what they told us is that they're looking forward to sharing with the rest of America what they already know about Governor Walz. And they say that he is authentic, that he is steady, and that he's a fighter.
Whitney Wild, CNN, St. Paul, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been charged for his alleged role in an assassination plot on former President Donald Trump, as well as other current and former U.S. officials.
His charges are separate to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last month.
CNN's Alex Marquardt has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There is disturbing new information of a murder-for-hire plot that could have included former President Donald Trump. A Pakistani man is accused of having ties to the Iranian government.
He was charged on Tuesday by the Justice Department for looking to carry out political assassinations here in the United States.
According to an American official, FBI investigators believe that Trump and other current, as well as former, U.S. government officials were the intended targets of the plot. And security by the U.S. government was increased around them.
The man's name is Asif Merchant. He's 46 years old and was arrested on July 12, trying to leave the United States. There's no evidence that this Pakistani man had any connection to the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who did try to assassinate Trump on July 13. He was then killed by Secret Service.
Merchant was allegedly looking to carry out killings in late August and in September. That's according to the court documents that just came out on Tuesday.
After arriving in the U.S. in April, he met with people he believed were hit-men, but were actually undercover law enforcement. Now, according to the court documents, Merchant wanted to target people who, quote, "hurt Pakistan and the world, the Muslim world."
Now this adds to a list of Iranian plots, a growing list, to kill Trump and some of those around him in his administration in retribution for the killing of the head of the Quds Force, General Qasem Soleimani, in early 2020.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, parts of the Southern U.S. reeling from Tropical Storm Debby. Growing fears this could be an indication of a very active and possibly deadly Atlantic hurricane season.
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VAUSE: Tropical Storm Debby has moved offshore for now, but the system still causing problems in states up and down the U.S. East Coast. More than a million Americans are under a tornado threat. Others are dealing with destructive flooding, power outages, and a potential heat wave.
Debby's center is off the coast near Georgia's South Carolina border right now. The storm is expected to strengthen before making another landfall later this week.
More now from CNN's Brian Abel.
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BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tropical Storm Debby is expected to re-strengthen just a few dozen miles off the coast. First hitting Florida, Debby is forecast to strengthen, turn, and make a second landfall in South Carolina later this week.
GOV. HENRY MCMASTER (R-SC): We are preparing for that, that kind of heavy rainfall and the danger that comes with that kind of flooding.
ABEL (voice-over): Officials already report at least five deaths across two states due to Debby.
JUSTIN POWELL, SECRETARY, SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We strongly advise residents to stay off the roads if at all possible.
ABEL (voice-over): Even communities that escaped a direct hit earlier this week are reeling from torrential rain and immense flooding, including in Sarasota, Florida.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We definitely saw, you know, very high water rise very quickly there. And we are bracing for more.
ABEL (voice-over): More than 17 inches of rain fell, causing the city's wettest three-day period on record, with water all the way up to rooftops in some places. The storm is expected to head back toward land come Thursday and then sweep up the East Coast.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This storm isn't over yet, so we urge everyone in its path to remain vigilant.
ABEL (voice-over): While all eyes are on Debby, that tropical storm could be just an appetizer of what's to come. Colorado State University forecasters are calling for an abnormally active August in the Atlantic, with an 85 percent chance of above-normal hurricane activity through the 19th.
In South Carolina, I'm Brian Abel.
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VAUSE: Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. Please stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. I'll be back in about 17 minutes.
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