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NTSB Holds Two-day Hearing on 737 Max Door Plug Blowout; Harris Taps Tim Walz as Vice Presidential Running Mate; Harris, Walz Hold First Rally as Democratic Ticket; Colombian Scientists Use Lab-grown Insects to Fight Dengue; Pakistani Man Charged in Alleged Plan to Kill Trump and Others. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 07, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:27]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Vice President Kamala Harris picks her vice president, naming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, as the U.S. enters the final sprint to November.

Uncertainty grips the middle east as Israel prepares for a retaliatory strike from Iran. and the U.S. and its allies raced to avert an all- out war.

And after a weekend of violent far-right riots across England, the U.K. is bracing for more unrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemarie Church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. 90 days until election day here in the United States and the democratic ticket east finally set. Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. They kicked off a tour of seven battleground states and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Tuesday. Harris highlighted Walz's career as a high school teacher and football coach who served more than two decades in the Army National Guard.

As governor, he expanded medical and paid family leave, passed free breakfasts, and lunches for public school students, and codified abortion rights in two state law.

Sources say Harris picked him for his authenticity and appeal to Democrats, who voted for Donald Trump. Walz went after the former president as weird and level this attack against Trumps running mate. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: J.D. Vance literally, literally wrote the foreword for the architect of the Project 2025 agenda.

CROWD: Boo!

WALZ: Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, J.D. studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community. Come on! That's not what middle America is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now on the democratic tickets' big debut from CNN's M.J. Lee in Philadelphia.

M.J. LEE, CNN 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 were trying to introduce him to so many people around the country that don't have a great sense of who he even 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 faith.

Here is a little bit of how the vice president introduced her new running mate in Philadelphia. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walz. And to his former high school football players, he was coach.

LEE (voice over): And of course, one of the biggest reasons that the Harris campaign decided to choose Tim Walz as the vice presidents running mate is because they also think that he is not successful at sort of prosecuting the argument against the Trump dance ticket on the other side of the political aisle.

And, in fact, in this room this arena, some of the biggest applause line. But Tim Walz got tonight was when he specifically went after Donald Trump, including his recent conviction. Take a listen to that.

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)

[02:05:04]

LEE (on camera): And Harris and Walz will be traveling more together, traveling to a number of battleground states at trying to introduce themselves together at that joint ticket. And to that end, as they are trying to capitalize on the momentum, the campaign did announce Tuesday evening that they had race at least $20 million since the moment that Harris announced her new running mate pick.

M.J. Lee, CNN, in Philadelphia.

CHURCH: To Los Angeles now and political analyst Michael Genovese, who is the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Good to have you with us.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be here.

CHURCH: So, Kamala Harris announces Tim Walz as her new running mate, saying, she has found a leader, a fighter and a patriot. And he says he could not be prouder to be on the ticket. How did he go introducing himself to the nation, and how will he help Harris win over those battleground states?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, Walz is the quintessentially American character. It's almost as if he were taken out of a Frank Capra movie -- black and white. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

You talked about his past, about being a teacher, a coach, National Guard. He comes off as a regular guy, very likable, has a lot of curb appeal. And one of the things that people said about him is that he's very authentic. He is supposed to bring back some of the working-class Democrats who voted for Reagan in the 80s and then voted for Trump in 2016 and '20.

If you can bring some of those people back into the fold, they will have done a great job for the Democrats. But he's got a very buoyant personality, and he was introduced at a -- at a rally that just was wonderfully successful. I don't know if you can keep up this for the whole campaign, but it was a great day for the Democrats today.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, the whole mood of this race has changed, hasn't it? And many Americans, it has to be said, have never heard of Tim Walz. So, now the race is on to define him, and Republicans tried to get in first with that, painting him as dangerously liberal, radical, and a liberal extremist. But what does he actually bring to the table?

GENOVESE: Well, he is a person of Midwestern values, but liberal policies. If you look at his record in the House of Representatives, where he served for 10 years or 12 years, is center left.

If you look at his time as governor, more left. And so, he's a legitimate liberal, I think. In that sense, Kamala Harris doubled down bringing a liberal on to a liberal ticket. The same way that Donald Trump doubled down by bringing a hard right conservative vice president onto the hard right Republican ticket.

And so, a lot of times people say, oh, there is no contrast. There is no reason to vote. There is a contrast this time around. There is going to be major differences between these two parties, and voters will have a choice.

CHURCH: And Walz has already shown very clearly that he knows how to go after Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, and isn't afraid to attack them hard. How critical will that be in these remaining 90 days before the election, and is Trump struggling with his responses here, do you think?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, quite often, presidential candidates elect a vice president who will be an attack dog. Vance has tried to do that for the Republicans already, and we probably will see Governor Walz do that for the Democrats. But I think it really does shake up the Trump approach.

Donald Trump is accustomed to being the center of attention, to dominating the public space. Joe Biden could never get him off center stage. Harris and Walz have gotten Trump off center stage. They have shown that they have this kind of pizzazz, kind of appeal to voters.

And so, for years, Donald Trump benefited from an enthusiasm gap. His supporters were very enthusiastic about him. Biden is lukewarm. I think this may be the closing of the enthusiasm gap, maybe even the reversal of it. And so, Trump is going to have to do some scrambling.

CHURCH: And Harris and walls will now set out on this multi-state tour. The Harris team seeing this V.P. pick as the key to blue walls across the country. A nice play on his name there. What's it going to take, though for this new Democratic ticket to win, and what are their paths to victory? What do you see?

GENOVESE: Well, the road to the White House goes to the Midwest. That's why two of the three finalists for the vice-presidential spot, Governor Cohen (PH) of Pennsylvania and Walz were right in the thick of it.

The Democrats need to win that series of states in the Midwest, because that's where the -- they lost it in 2016, Biden won it back in 2020, and that's where the grace they'll be won or lost for the Democrats.

[02:10:02]

And what you will see is that both the Democrats and Republicans will spend an inordinate amount of time in six or seven states, four of which will be in the Midwest. That's the strategy to win for both parties. CHURCH: And just very quickly, just returning to Donald Trump's response here, because he is struggling, isn't he? He doesn't really know how -- he didn't know how to deal with Karmala Harris. And now, of course, he wasn't expecting Walz, he was expecting Shapiro.

So, what's going to be his next likely move here, do you think?

GENOVESE: Well, I think he'll do what he naturally does and does very well, we'll just go on the attack. I think he sent out Vance as his vice-presidential candidate to go on the attack.

But I think Harris and Walz are going to go on a positive run. They are going to try to talk about what the future will look like, a better future. And so, there is going to be a very dark versus a very light campaign, and that contrast is going to be very stark. That's what the Democrats want.

They want you to think the future is better. Republicans want you to think things are bad. You've got to put us in there to turn them around.

CHURCH: Michael Genovese, always a pleasure to get your perspective and analysis. Many thanks.

GENOVESE: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: Hamas has named the alleged mastermind of the October 7th terror attack on Israel as the new head of its political bureau.

Yahya Sinwar was already the militant group's leader in Gaza and one of the main targets in Israel's war against Hamas. It's believed Sinwar has often been consulted in the ceasefire and hostage release talks, even while he's been hiding in the vast network of tunnels beneath Gaza.

Sinwar takes over from Ismael Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last week. Both Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two of the main allies of Hamas have welcomed the news of Sinwar's new role.

Well, meanwhile, Israel and Hezbollah intensified their cross-border fighting on Tuesday. Israeli officials say Hezbollah drones injured several people in northern Israel, and a Hezbollah rocket barrage caused several fires.

The IDF says it struck a building in southern Lebanon used by Hezbollah, killing five people.

Israel has been bracing for further retaliation from both Hezbollah and Iran for the assassinations of key militant figures last week. The leader of Hezbollah on Tuesday, promised a response is coming, and Tehran has made similar threats.

In the coming hours, foreign ministers from several Islamic countries are set to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss the tensions in the region.

And CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Paula. So, what's likely to come out of today's meeting in Saudi Arabia of foreign ministers from several Islamic nations?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, this is a meeting that Tehran had called for. They wanted the foreign ministers of these Islamic countries to get together in Jeddah to be able to discuss what has happened over the past week, most notably the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader who was in Tehran at the time.

So, it has been a huge impact fought for Tehran. It's been an embarrassing security lapse. The fact that this was able to happen, even though Israel does not claim responsibility, Iran, and Hamas and many others do point the finger of blame squarely at them.

So, Iran wanted this meeting to try and shore up support from some of the other countries in the region to support their response against Israel. Now, they said that this response is coming. They say it has to come because of what has happened. There has been, for example, over the weekend, Jordan's foreign minister made a rare visit to Tehran as well. So, there has been a lot of diplomatic activity on that side.

Now, on the other side, you also have the United States, for example, who is trying to encourage its allies in the region, to tell Tehran to not react to what has happened, or at least to keep the response to a minimum, because, of course, there is this major concern that this could spark an expanded conflict in the Middle East.

Now, we also heard from Hassan Nasrallah, he's the head of Hezbollah, saying, once again, that there would be a response, because just the day before Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, there was Hezbollah's top military commander also killed by Israel. Israel claiming responsibility for that one.

And Nasrallah said once again that there will be a response, but he is not saying what it will be or when.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN NASRALLAH, SECRETARY GENERAL, HEZBOLLAH (through translator): A week long 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)

[02:15:08]

HANCOCKS: Now, it also comes at a time when, as you mentioned, Rosemary, Hamas has named its replacement for Ismael Haniyeh, it is the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. Someone who Israel has made very clear it is targeting, it is trying to assassinate, and they blame as the mastermind of the October 7th attacks. This, from Israel's point of view, certainly complicates matters when it comes to the hostage and ceasefire deal, which appears very much stalled at this point.

But Ismail Haniyeh was one of the negotiators when it came to this potential deal, and the -- we know that Sinwar, certainly had a more hardline approach. He is the one, of course, who is holding the majority of those hostages. Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Paula Hancocks, joining us, live from London. Many thanks for that.

So, let's bring in Mark MacCarley, a retired major general of the U.S. Army. He joins me now, live from Los Angeles. Appreciate you being with us.

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY (RET.), UNITED STATES ARMY: Thank you, (INAUDIBLE). Good evening from Los Angeles.

CHURCH: Wonderful to have you with us.

So, while we are seeing more intensified cross border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-linked militant group, is making Israel wait for its threat of retaliation for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, saying the waiting is part of the battle plan.

But is that what's going on here, or are they unsure about how to respond without igniting a wider regional war?

MACCARLEY: That's a perfectly valid question, and frankly, I wish I had the ability to peer into the headspace of Hassan Nasrallah, and the leadership in Tehran.

Certainly, what we see now is a tactical pause. Nasrallah, as earlier recited, came up with this statement to the effect of this wait, this interminable wait is continued punishment.

But my belief, and I have to say belief, because we're not yet operating purely on fact. My belief and expectation is that there will be an armed response. What we have to consider, and this is, again, speculation, is what will be the nature of that response? And I'm sure in the next minute or so, we can continue with what I see or expect to be that level of response based upon what we've seen vis-a-vis Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and I want to incorporate in this conversation the Houthis. And we can all link this up, this access of supporters, certainly within the Middle East, who have threatened massive retaliation against Israel.

CHURCH: Yes, and of course, I know that you don't know at this stage, but of course, a calculation is underway. Iran and Hezbollah have to work out how fierce that retaliate -- retaliation might be, because then they would have to factor in how Israel will respond to that retaliation.

So, what is your expectation? I mean, I know you don't know, but what do you think is the likely way they would respond? MACCARLEY: Giving me the license to speculate, I see initially a massive missile attack, but a missile attack that is certainly more robust than what we saw in April. In April, Hezbollah shot 40 missiles, Iran shot 300. I think we're going to see that number and a greater number, but we're also going to see the commitment, once again, this is speculation, but the commitment of the Houthis as well.

They have gained some significant success with their missile systems in their attacks, albeit whether it's Saudi Arabia or attacks within the Persian Gulf. So, this collective activity creates a significant threat for Israel.

Now, Israel, on the other hand, the big question is whether its defensive systems augmented by what we bring to the table, the U.S. and its allies, the British, the French. Does Israel have sufficient resources to successfully counter this massive military strike.

[02:20:06]

Or will this be the -- really, the first instance that we have seen over the years, really the life of Israel's primary defense system, Iron Dome, that, that air defense, missile defense system on the part of Israel will be overwhelmed.

And if that's the case with missiles coming from three different directions, then we have a significant challenge to Israel. Is it A, once again, robust attack? Definitely, does it say something that Hezbollah in Iran expect to be heard? Yes.

So, that's my speculation.

CHURCH: All right. Major General Mark MacCarley, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

MACCARLEY: Thank you.

CHURCH: And still to come, no easy answers for Keir Starmer, Britain's new prime minister promises he will keep communities safe even as more violent far right protests are being planned around the U.K. We'll have more on that after the break.

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[02:23:11]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus will return to Bangladesh to head up the country's interim government.

Yunus is an 84-year-old banker who was awarded the Peace Prize for his pioneering work in microfinance, developing small micro loans designed to lift people in Bangladesh out of poverty.

He was requested to lead the interim government by student protesters. The country's long term Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina abruptly resigned on Monday and fled the country by helicopter, capping off weeks of protests and deadly government crackdowns.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is promising to keep communities safe as the country braces for more potentially violent protests in the coming hours.

He held another emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the response to the unrest. It comes as far right protesters reportedly plan to target immigration centers and law firms on Wednesday.

The protests began last week after three young girls were stabbed to death in the coastal town of Southport in England.

Authorities say the far right has seized upon that tragedy to demonize Muslims and immigrants with the suspect in that attack falsely accused of being an Islamic migrant.

CNN's Nada Bashir has more.

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: 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.

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.

And 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 yet 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 is 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)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH LABOUR PARTY LEADER: We have 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.

CHURCH: Two prominent British figures say the unrest in the country is a culmination of years of anti-immigrant rhetoric by far-right groups. Here's what comedian Nish Kumar and author Coco Khan, co-host of the podcast "Pod Save the U.K.", told CNN's Bianna Golodryga earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NISH KUMAR, COMEDIAN AND CO-HOST, PD SAVE THE U.K.: Most of the minority communities I know are not surprised. This has been brewing for a number of years now, and I think it's very important to state that this has not come out of nowhere.

There is been a real push to kind of portray this as an act that nobody could possibly have seen coming.

But in reality, the normalization of far-right rhetoric has been happening steadily over the past decade and a half.

A lot of it coalesced, Bianna, perhaps in 2016. And there has been a kind of casual use of anti-immigrant rhetoric by not just far-right politicians, but mainstream conservative politicians, some mainstream politicians from the Labour Party, which is our center left party.

And there've been huge volumes of anti-immigrant sentiment churned out by mainstream conservative media outlets. There are op-ed pieces that have just been filled with bile about immigrants to try and shift the blame for the difficult economic circumstances we have endured for the last decade in this country on immigrant communities and refugees.

So, I would say, certainly amongst the people that I am speaking to, the mood is profound concern, extreme disquiet, but not surprise.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Coco, would you agree? Are you not surprised, sadly, by what we've seen?

COCO KHAN, AUTHOR AND CO-HOST, POD SAVE THE U.K.: No, I'm not surprised. I mean, as I think Nisha articulated very well there, we've seen a drip feed of anti-immigrant sentiment for many, many years.

I think probably the surprise element of it, if there is indeed any, was the organization of it. Like, not to trade in stereotypes about, like -- let's be honest, like, a mob of people that are not -- that different to football hooligans, who we know very much -- very well in Britain, you know, like, they are traditionally quite disorderly and quite chaotic, they've been very organized this time, and that is quite chilling.

And they don't seem to be relenting despite the pushback from not only the police, but from local communities who -- where they can, are turning up in force to defend, you know, asylum seeker homes, even just their own high street.

So, I think that, that bit's been a bit shocking. You would normally look at the kind of, let's be honest, drunk football lads who are just looking for a punch up and think, oh, yes, they'll go home, they'll get bored soon. But they haven't. And yes, they've organized themselves very, very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Comedian, Nish Kumar and author Coco Khan speaking to CNN's Bianna Golodryga.

Well, top U.S. transportation officials will get another chance to question Boeing over the door plug blowout on a 737 Max when a hearing resumes in the hours ahead. The National Transportation Safety Board began a two-day hearing on Tuesday to better understand what led up to the mid-flight blowout earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: This was quite traumatic for the crew and the passengers, and injuries we can't see, which we often don't talk about, can have profound lasting impacts on lives and livelihoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:30:00]

CHURCH: Testimony released from Boeing employees painted a picture of chaos and dysfunction at the aerospace company. They reported feeling pressured to do their jobs too fast. Boeing officials say changes are already being made, but the Chair of the NTSB says the agency is considering major industry-wide safety recommendations.

The Democratic ticket is set in the U.S. presidential race ahead. We will meet Minnesota Governor Tim Walz picked by Kamala Harris to be her running mate. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Democrat Kamala Harris will be introducing her new running mate to voters across seven battleground states in the coming days. He is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former Congressman, national guardsman, high school teacher, and football coach. They appeared together for the first time as a team at a raucous rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Walz is known for coining the attack against Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance as "weird." The Republican ticket is painting Walz as a radical, liberal who Trump says will unleash hell on earth.

Tim Walz has a highly successful record on progressive issues in his two terms as governor of Minnesota. CNN's Brian Todd prepared this profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And now, welcome the next vice president of the United States, Tim Walz.

(CROWD CHEERING)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a spirited unveiling, the 60-year-old governor of Minnesota becomes Kamala Harris' running mate, capping off a stunning meteoric rise that saw Tim Walz accelerate from being a third-tier candidate to the top of the Democratic ticket in just weeks.

MARGARET TALEV, MANAGING EDITOR, AXIOS: Governor Walz's name went from zero to 60 really quickly. But behind the scenes, we know that there was a push among many progressive Democrats and many Democrats who understand in the Midwest to tell Vice President Harris, hey, give this guy a real look.

[02:35:00]

TODD (voice-over): A source close to the process tells CNN, Harris was drawn to Walz because of their personal chemistry, Walz's experience, and his biography, which the campaign wasted no time in highlighting with a new video focused on Walz's small town roots.

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D-MN) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I learned to be generous towards my neighbors, compromise without compromising my values, and work for the common good.

TODD (voice-over): Walz also helped his cause by pounding on one attack line against Donald Trump.

WALZ: He's just a strange, weird dude.

BRIANA BIERSCHBACK, MINNESOTA POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT REPORTER, STAR TRIBUNE: That's just kind of how Governor Walz talks and he has always talked. And I think that has made him really relatable to voters.

TODD (voice-over): Walz has been killed characterizing the former president as weird for months, observers say, and Harris and other top Democrats just ran with it.

HARRIS: And some of what he and his running mate are saying, it's just plain weird.

(LAUGH)

TODD (voice-over): Tim Walz is a former six-term Congressman who is in his second term as Minnesota's governor. He served for 24 years the Army National Guard and was a high school social studies teacher and football coach in rural Mankato. Analysts say he enjoys a good popularity rating in the liberal leaning state, having pursued several progressive initiatives, including tighter gun control laws. One local reporter says, even though he comes from a Republican leaning district, he speaks a language all Minnesotans can relate to.

BIERSCHBACK: He's very focused. He kind of has this Midwestern dad vibe. He really knows how to kind of jump into a conversation with a stranger and then make them feel like he's listening to them.

TODD (voice-over): It's that relatability to working-class voters and Walz's populist approach to governing analysts say that could help Harris compete better with Trump in the crucial swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin. How will the Trump team likely target Walz?

TALEV: They will look to policy stances and votes that he has taken in approaches that they may paint as liberal on the border, on migration, and on treatment of felons.

TODD: In fact, the Trump team has already planned to attack Tim Walz for what they characterize as him being more liberal than Vice President Harris and President Biden, according to senior Trump advisers who spoke to CNN. J.D. Vance has already gone after Walz for the fallout from the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Vance saying that Walz, "allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis."

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.S. Justice Department has charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in an alleged murder-for-hire plot to assassinate Former President Donald Trump, as well as other current and former U.S. officials. 46-year-old Asif Merchant is accused of traveling to New York and working with a hit man to carry out the assassinations planned for later this month or early next month. A law enforcement official says there is no evidence the plot is linked to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania last month.

Scientists are using modified mosquitoes to combat dengue fever. When we come back, how a mosquito breeding factory in Colombia has proved crucial to fighting the spread of the virus. Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:15]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Scientists in Colombia are using biologically modified mosquitoes to combat dengue fever. CNN's Gustavo Valdes explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These Colombian scientists are at the forefront of the battle to stop the spread of dengue fever. This lab in Medellin, they are breeding mosquitoes, but not the ones whose bite spread the virus to humans. These are being modified with a special kind of bacteria that boost their immune system, reducing the chances that the flying bugs will contract a dengue virus and pass it on to humans. Holding a plastic basket with stripes (ph) of mosquito eggs, lab assistants begin the process of replacing these particular mosquitoes with those carrying the Wolbachia bacteria.

BEATRIZ GIRALDO, BIOLOGIST, WORLD MOSQUITO PROGRAM: Wolbachia generates a barrier in these mosquitoes that prevents the transmission of the dengue virus.

VALDES (voice-over): Workers from the World Mosquito Program have released genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild, which are also resistant to insecticides. Crucially, they are (inaudible) than those that carry the dengue fever. Health authorities report a 95 percent decline in dengue cases in the region of Antigua where the modified mosquitoes were released at a time when the virus is surging in Central and South America. The Pan American Health Organization says dengue has resulted in 45 deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean this year. The mosquito modification program was a bit of a hard sell, partially because of misinformation.

NELSON GRISALES, BIOLOGIST, WORLD MOSQUITO PROGRAM: Despite the amount of misinformation that comes our way, we have all the tools and evidence to prove and disprove any of those things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Many people did not like the first impact of releasing the mosquitoes. But as the follow-up is being done and the proper explanation is being given, they accepted it.

PATRICIA CHICA, COMMUNITY LEADER (through translator): They explained to us how good it was. They told us that if we could let them place a trap here, that it was good for us, good for the community.

VALDES (voice-over): Bill Gates supported the project, which has delivered promising outcomes. Now, this is a private project from local Colombian authorities. But, scientists hope the effort will expand.

Gustavo Valdes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I will be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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