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CNN International: Harris & Walz to Campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan Later; Republicans Paint Walz as a Anti-gun, Anti-cop, Far- left Candidate; Hamas Names Yahya Sinwar New Head of Political Bureau; Hezbollah Chief Vows to Avenge Killing of Top Commander; Global Stocks Stage Wednesday Rally; Iran Requests OIC Meeting to Discuss Haniyeh's Killing and Response; Gabby Thomas Claims Gold Medal; Imane Khelif Boxes Through the Scrutiny, Vying for Women's Gold Medal; Mixed Walk Marathon Debuts in Paris; U.S. Top of the Medal Count on Day 12; Pakistan Man Charged in Alleged Plan to Kill Trump, Others; Rioter Sentenced to Three Years in Jail Over Violent Disorder in Britain; Tropical Storm Debby to Make Second Landfall; Dolce & Gabbana Unveils Designer Fragrance for Dogs. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired August 07, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:20]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket hits the campaign trail. We'll take a look at the Minnesota governor and how he shot to sudden national prominence in the 2024 presidential race. Uncertainty and fear grip the Middle East as Israel prepares for a retaliatory strike from Iran, and the U.S. and its allies race to avert an all-out war. And Tropical Storm Debby forecasted to make a second landfall, producing historic rainfalls in parts of the Carolinas.
And they're off, the Democratic presidential ticket as now set and kicking off a tour of battleground states. An energetic crowd in Philadelphia welcomed Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. As she appeared with Walz at Tuesdays rally, Harris told the crowd, the Democratic delegates have officially made her the nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stand before you today to proudly announce I am now officially the Democratic nominee.
(CROWD CHEERING)
HARRIS: -- for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Walz has made a name for himself, campaigning for Harris over the past few weeks, and he's credited with this now famous line of attack. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ, (D-MN) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Pointing out just an observation of mine, that I -- that I made. I just have to say it. You know, you feel it. These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell. That's what you see.
(LAUGH)
(CROWD CHEERING)
WALZ: That's what you see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Their next stop is Wisconsin and that is where our Eva McKend is standing by with more. So the candidates, Eva, are in the Midwest today. What will their main talking points be, especially in these key battleground states?
EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, they are here to highlight the choice for blue wall voters. We are expected to hear them argue that Trump and Vance would undermine unions, that Trump and Vance are principally concerned about tax cuts for the rich, and that a Harris Administration would be focused not only on making sure that Americans can get by, but that they can get ahead. And they say that they have the infrastructure in the Midwest to be competitive -- so 400 staff, 100 field offices.
You know, I have been speaking to college students here. This is a college town, Eau Claire, and they tell me that there are actually students at Wisconsin Universities from across the entire region. So, many Minnesotans go to school here in this state and they know the governor well, and they say that he really understands the language of the Midwest and can make the case strongly for a Harris-Walz ticket.
And here's a sense of how he will make this argument on the campaign trail. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us.
(CROWD CHEERING)
WALZ: First of all, he doesn't know the first thing about service.
(CROWD CHEERING)
WALZ: He doesn't have time for it because he's too busy serving himself. Violent crime was up under Donald Trump. That's not even counting the crimes he committed.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP) MCKEND: And Amara, after here in Wisconsin, they will go on to Michigan and then Las Vegas and Phoenix, just barnstorming across the country.
WALKER: And clearly, you know, as you've been saying, Tim Walz, Eva, was not an electoral pick. It was more about his biography. Tell us more about what Walz's role will be as he's out there campaigning with or without Kamala Harris.
MCKEND: Yeah. This is a really interesting case here because he champions progressive policies, but does so in a way that is palatable for conservative audiences.
[08:05:00]
So in his home state, he was able to pass a generous child tax credit. He was able to advance free college tuition for families who earn less than $80,000 a year and expand the supply of affordable housing. And these of course, are policy priorities of Democrats across the country, but sometimes, it's sort of saddled with a negative framing from the right. They argue that this is too expensive, that it's too wasteful. But he has been able to make the case for these policies in a purple state.
So, what we'll likely hear him do, Amara, is basically make the same argument at the national level and try to persuade voters, these swing voters that might be on the fence, that they can support the Democratic ticket.
WALKER: Eva McKend in Wisconsin. Thank you so much.
On the other side now, the Republican ticket is wasting no time on attacking Tim Walz. Former President Donald Trump calls Harris-Walz the most radical left duo in American history. The Trump campaign plans to paint Walz as an anti-gun, anti-cop candidate with a liberal stance on the border, and will question his foreign policy record. Trump's vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance says Harris bent a knee to the far left with her pick. Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Vance listed some dubious examples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R-OH) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tim Walz is a guy who wants to take children away from their parents, if the parents don't agree to do sex changes in the school wants to (ph). Tim Walz is a guy who wants to ship more and more American manufacturing jobs to China. This is the guy who, when rioters we're burning down the biggest city in Minnesota, was actively cheering them on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Alayna Treene joining us now from Washington with the details. Obviously, a lot of fact checking needs to be done there because some of what he said is just not true. But tell us more about what the Trump campaign, how they have been reacting? They immediately started fundraising off of these attacks that Walz is a liberal. ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: They did and they were immediately sending out fundraising texts. That was actually even before Harris had formally announced that she was selecting Walz, really as soon as they saw the reports yesterday, including from CNN, that she was expected to select him, you really start to see the onslaught from the Trump campaign going after him. And part of that is because they are trying to define him as quickly as possible.
Remember, when the Biden campaign or President Joe Biden ended his campaign, I should say, and Harris quickly became the torchbearer and it became clear to them that she was going to be the Democratic presumptive nominee, they had struggled and they still are struggling with how to best define Harris. They have a bunch of attacks that they have pulled on, but they're still trying to figure out which ones are the ones that are most effective, particularly with more of the moderate and independent leaning conservative voters.
Now they see Walz and her selection of him as an opportunity to try to define them together. And that's what you saw them do yesterday. Now, part of this is they really want to focus, I'm told, on his last four years. He's been a governor in Minnesota since 2019, but they think the last four years will be the most effective in messaging against him. Part of that is because Walz was in Congress for 12 years. While in Congress, he actually was considered more of a moderate Democrat.
He voted with Republicans on trying to strengthen the border. He pushed for lowering the national deficit by trillions of dollars. He also had the backing of the NRI, although they later pulled that support when he was governor. Now, as governor, Walz was a lot more progressive and they're trying to focus on a couple of specific bills. One is that he enshrined abortion rights into law in Minnesota. He protected the rights of gender affirming care, and he also expanded universal gun checks or gun background checks in the state.
So, those are the things they're trying to seize on in their attempt to paint him as even more liberal than both Kamala Harris as well as Joe Biden. Now, I do want you to take a listen because one interesting thing that I heard a lot from Donald Trump's senior advisers yesterday was that they were very happy Harris did not select Shapiro. Trump addressed that on Fox & Friends this morning. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But when he didn't pick Shapiro and I don't think Shapiro was the second-best person or the third. I think there were other people better than him. I know the all. And so, but I was shocked when it came in to the final two that he didn't pick Shapiro. I was very surprised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: He says he was very surprised. And look, I think part of this is stemming from, like I said, his team was very worried about Shapiro being the one that Harris would select. Part of that is because he is so popular in Pennsylvania and that is a state that both campaigns are seeing as necessary to winning the election come November.
[08:10:00]
You had even seen Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, really level a series of attacks on the Pennsylvania governor over the last several weeks, kind of showing how much they're concerned about what he could do for their ticket would be. Although I will point out, Shapiro is still going to be a top surrogate for the Harris campaign. You saw him really deliver a passionate speech last night at that rally in Philadelphia. And so, we're kind of seeing all the shakeout.
But what I just want to say is that they have spent a lot of time pulling together opposition research on Walz, but also the other candidates. And you're really seeing them throw that out all over social media. They have ads being prepared. You mentioned the fundraising texts. You are going to see Donald Trump surrogates spanning the airwaves, trying to attack him. This is their plan. They want to define him before America really makes up their own mind about him.
WALKER: And define Harris and really a truncated timeline that they have to do this. Let's see what sticks. Alayna Treene in Washington. Great to see you. Thanks.
Well, it's looking like another day of market recovery. Global stocks staging a Wednesday rally after Monday's staggering slide. U.S. Futures pointing to a positive open on Wall Street in the next hour. This follows solid gains in Asia. Investigators taking heart from the Bank of Japan's deputy governor, who says the central bank won't raise rates while markets are unstable.
CNN's Julia Chatterley joining us now live from New York with more. I know that you've got -- you are a bit cautious about what's going on. But first off, what's behind this big turnaround we're seeing?
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST OF "FIRST MOVE": A couple of things, after a big down day like we have on Monday, you tend to see bounces. So it's not unexpected to see big gains. And what we're seeing already pre-market is that, and of course, we saw those gains yesterday. It's not often that U.S. investors really follow and take a hint from what's happening across in Asia. And I think what you said is critical here, a lot of the shakedown that we saw on Monday was those fears of the Japanese Central Bank raising interest rates.
A lot of people had borrowed in Japan and invested abroad, including in the U.S. and as they start raising interest rates, that money then was sucked out. When the bank of Japan goes, whoa, OK, we are not like king the volatility that we're seeing and we're not going to do anything for a while, that calmed things over in Asia. In fact, it took stocks in Japan from negative to positive, and it's fed through I think into the U.S. session.
WALKER: But then, is the volatility over for now, for the near future? Again, I'm asking you about your predictions, Julia.
(LAUGH) CHATTERLEY: Actually, this is one where I will make a prediction. Unfortunately, I think the volatility-- hopefully, not the kind of levels that we saw on Monday, but I do think the volatility will continue for all the reasons we've been discussing over the last couple of days. The big three themes here, U.S. growth. We need more data to ascertain how significant the slowdown is in the economy. Tech stocks too, they've been the big support for financial markets this year. I can show you if you've got it, what happened with the big magnificent seven, the AI winners. Yesterday, they we're gaining for most of the U.S. session; they fell actually into the close. We need stability there. And then of course, we continue to watch Japan. So in an absence of stability on all these fronts, and that's just going to take time, and perhaps I'll say less geopolitical risk and perhaps the U.S. election result, I think things could be choppy for a while. So, hang on to your hats or a table, whatever (inaudible).
(LAUGH)
CHATTERLEY: Yeah.
WALKER: I'll hang onto your hand, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: There you go, (inaudible).
(LAUGH)
WALKER: Julia Chatterley, thank you very much. Always good to have you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
WALKER: This hour, foreign ministers from Islamic nations are meeting in Saudi Arabia at Iran's request. It comes as Tehran mulls its response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last week. Meanwhile, Hamas has named Haniyeh's replacement, Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind mind of the October 7th attack on Israel. He will take over as the new head of the group's political bureau. All of this, as Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, vows his group will also retaliate to avenge the killing of the group's top commander, also a week ago. But he says keeping Israelis waiting for a response is "part of the punishment."
CNN's Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward is in Tel Aviv with the very latest. Hi, Clarissa. So, if we can first start with Hamas naming the alleged mastermind of the October 7th attacks as the new head of its political bureau, what message does that send? And what do we know about him?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think this actually caught people a little bit by surprise because while it was understood, Amara, that Yahya Sinwar was absolutely kind of pulling the strings behind the scenes. Traditionally, Hamas' political leader has not been on the ground in Gaza. And in the case of Ismail Haniyeh, within the context of Hamas, he was seen as a relatively moderate force. A lot of people expected that he might have been succeeded by Khaled Mashal. [08:15:00]
So, by saying that Sinwar is taking over that role, it's definitely sending a message and the message is to some analysts, at least, listen, if you're going to assassinate the moderate than you're going to have to deal with the hardliner. What this does effectively is it really dims hopes for those ceasefire talks that the Biden Administration and so many other diplomats in the region have been seriously trying to push ahead in light of this imminent expected retaliation from Iran. That seems less likely with the appointment of Sinwar, he is a hardliner.
He has pushed to prolong this conflict. He has pushed to broaden the conflict regionally. He has very close ties to Iran. But at the same time, it is important to remember that he was always effectively calling the shots from behind the scenes. And so now, this is just basically getting rid of the idea that there is any real separation between Hamas' military face and its political face.
Everybody here in Israel responding, as you might expect, to the news of Sinwar, basically saying -- the IDF spokesperson, for example, saying that Sinwar is designated to be under the ground by Israeli Defense Forces, and that's the only place we're interested in seeing him. But certainly, this is not doing anything to alleviate the tensions that we're seeing, to alleviate the anxiety. There has been this furious, last-ditch round of diplomacy. You mentioned, of course, the OIC foreign ministers gathering in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, trying whatever ways they can to essentially persuade Tehran not to engage in some kind of a retaliatory attack.
But given the rhetoric that we've seen from Tehran, Amara, given what we heard from Nasrallah again yesterday, the leader of Hezbollah saying, as you mentioned, it will come, the waiting is part of the punishment. They understand full well, Hezbollah, that the weighting has a very corrosive effect on Israel, both psychologically and also financially, economically. The effect that it's had on the airport, with all these various airlines either canceling or suspending flights in and out of Tel Aviv.
So, there is a sense that perhaps they want to try to milk this moment and of course, the Biden Administration and others are trying to take advantage of that and furiously kickstart this diplomacy to stop a retaliation before it happens, Amara.
WALKER: Yeah, the waiting game and the rhetoric obviously unnerving for so many in the region. Clarissa Ward, thank you very much. Let's talk more about all this with CNN Military Analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, what is your take on Yahya Sinwar being named the head of Hamas' new political bureau, in terms of the message that his appointment sends.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think -- Amara, good morning. I think Clarissa hit it right on the head, this is one of those situations where, now, everybody has to deal with the hardliner directly and that is I think going to be very difficult to go through the diplomatic process at this point in time, when everyone in Hamas, in Iran, in Hezbollah, in all of these organizations, and Iran (ph) in the form of the country, they are looking at conducting military action of one type or another.
So, we're on a very dangerous path at this particular point in time in spite of diplomatic efforts to try to move this in a more diplomatic or less confrontational direction. I think the appointment of Yahya Sinwar really shows the fusion of the military and the political efforts, that fusion has always been there, but now it's actually demonstrated in the form of this appointment.
WALKER: Also the rhetoric, it's been quite alarming to hear words like we're going to avenge Israel regardless of the consequences. That's from Hezbollah's Leader Hassan Nasrallah. Are you concerned that Hezbollah could take action on its own? Are you more concerned about a coordinated response with Iran?
LEIGHTON: In this particular case, we're looking at a coordinated response between Iran, Hezbollah and possibly Hamas. And the reason I say possibly with Hamas is just because they're under a lot of pressure in Gaza from the Israelis, but they can still mount attacks. There's still a lot of fighting going on in Gaza and that his something that they will probably leverage to their advantage. But I think the Iranians understand that their April 13th attack got a lot of press, got a lot of attention, but it wasn't militarily as effective as it could have been. And I think they want to make it a little bit more effective in terms of this next phase of their response.
[08:20:00]
And I believe that they would be more likely to work with Hezbollah in this particular case. But both are possible. It is possible that Hezbollah will try to go on its own, especially if there's a disagreement between Hezbollah and Iran, which is also possible.
WALKER: What might retaliation look like then? And how dangerous is this point in this war right now?
LEIGHTON: Yeah. We're at a very dangerous inflection point I think, Amara, in this particular case. What might it look like? I think what we're most likely to see is some kind of massive rocket, drone, missile attack against Israel, probably from several sides. So the Iranians, like they did in April, they will probably send missiles and rockets from their territory crossing over Iraq and Syria, possibly Jordan, into Israel. That's one route that they will take. And if they do a coordinated attack, there would be a lot of rocket fire from the Hezbollah forces, which are stationed in southern Lebanon.
So, this is going to be at least some kind of a two-front, possibly a three-front effort against Israel. That's the most likely course of action. Another possible course of action is that Iran could opt for more discreet attacks and then engage in other realms like the cyber realm, and in the terrorism realm against Israeli targets. But that doesn't get as much bang for the buck, so to speak, as a rocket attack would in their view.
WALKER: Very concerning as we watch this closely. Colonel Cedric Leighton, always good to get your perspective. Thanks so much.
All right. Still to come, a golden night on the track for Team USA as Gabby Thomas sprints to Olympic gold. And despite intense scrutiny, Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif is through to the gold medal bout. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: A new Olympic event has debuted in Paris this morning, the mixed marathon race, walk-relay featured teams of one man and one woman competing in the 42-kilometer race. Spain took the gold, Ecuador silver, and Australia the bronze. Let's check in now on the medal count. 24 of the Americans, 86 medals are gold, putting them in first place. They are followed by China with 22 golds and 60 medals in all. And Australia is in third place, having struck gold 14 times.
Let's go to Paris now where we can speak to CNN's World Sports, Amanda Davies. Hi, Amanda. Last night was a great one for Team USA on the track and elsewhere.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN ANCHOR OF "WORLD SPORTS": Yeah, it was a mega night on the track, Amara, for Team USA. Let's start with the women's 200 meters, a project six years in the making, according to Gabby Thomas.
[08:25:00]
The 27-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, who now lives in Texas, saying it's an unbelievable, indescribable feeling to claim Olympic gold, beating St. Lucia's 100-meter champion, Julien Alfred in the final to claim victory not only for Team USA, but to also become the first -- the only Harvard University graduate to win track and field gold at an Olympic game. She said it was watching Allyson Felix in London in 2012 that inspired her. Felix won seven Olympic golds in her career. So still some way to go for Gabby, but she is hoping for more in the 4x100 relay still to come.
But if she went into the final as the favorite in her event, Cole Hocker's victory in the men's 1,500 meters was an entirely different story. This one had been built (ph) as a race for the ages, all the talk was about the Olympic champions up against the world champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, against Josh Kerr. But 23-year-old Hocker, who finished sick (ph) in Tokyo, had other ideas. He put in a brilliant run, storming from fifth place to first in the last 300 meters and ultimately, set a new Olympic record on the way to gold, ahead of Kerr, in silver, with Team USA's (inaudible) bronze, it's the first time in 112 years that two American men have medaled in this middle distance event.
Definitely not what the scripts said, but elsewhere, the Emma Hayes era well and truly in full swing with the U.S. women's national football team. She's only been in charge since the end of May, but she's led the team to what is set to be a brilliant Olympic football final against Brazil. They produced a really hard fought extra-time victory over Germany. Sophia Smith's 95th-minute winner making the difference to book their place in the gold-medal match as they look for their first Olympic title since 2012. But, and it is a big but, it's also set to be the legendary Marta's last-ever game for Brazil. She's back from suspension and this is her sixth Olympic games, and she is desperate to lead her country to what would be a first international crown. The final is Saturday.
As we were saying there, it's another busy day of action here. Day 12, the USA's Katie Moon is the defending champion, heading into the women's pole vault. We're expecting a great battle between the USA's Quincy Hall and Team GB's Matthew Hudson-Smith in the men's 400 meters. And the women's golf is already underway at Le Golf (inaudible), the home of the Ryder Cup a couple of years ago, you might remember, but not a familiar course for many of the women. Nelly Korda is the defending champion, but France's Celine Boutier carrying the hopes of the hosts as the top-ranked European. Amara?
WALKER: Amanda Davies in Paris, looking great. Thank you so much. Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has advanced to the gold medal bout in the women's welterweight division. Many were there to cheer Khelif ahead of last night's fight. She's been under scrutiny, intense scrutiny because of misconceptions about her gender. CNN's Melissa Bell explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the match that saw Imane Khelif get through to the women's welterweight boxing final.
BELL: The controversy surrounding the Algerian boxer appears to have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds who turned out, once again, to cheer her on other country as the row over her gender has grown, so too apparently has her support, as it has for Lin Yu- ting, the Taiwanese boxer who was also banned from the world championships by the International Boxing Association.
BELL (voice-over): Banned by the IOC after years of governance problems, the International Boxing Association weighed in on Monday with a chaotic and rambling presser, its Russian president continuing to make insensitive and misleading comments about the two women.
UMAR KREMLEV, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL BOXING ASSOCIATION (through translator): We have tests where the genetic tests show they are male. We didn't check what's between their legs, that's for medical experts. If anyone doubts it, whether or not they were born that way, that's what medical experts are for.
BELL (voice-over): Under the IOC's rules and according to the athlete's passports, both are women. After a presser that were short on facts, but long on rants against the IOC and the games themselves, the response from the International Olympics Committee was swift.
MARK ADAMS, IOC SPOKESPERSON: It clearly demonstrates the sport of boxing needs a new federation to run boxing. If you ever needed any evidence at all that the IBA is unfit to run boxing --
BELL (voice-over): Khelif and Lin will now advance to the next round, despite the eligibility test the IBA subjected them to in 2023. MINDY WORDEN, DIRECTOR GLOBAL INITIATIVES, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: It's based on how a female athlete looks and that's a completely unscientific, degrading, undignified approach for the Olympics.
[08:30:00]
These Olympics should be about hope and about cheering athletes, not about tearing them down.
BELL (voice-over): And whilst calling out her detractors and calling for an end to the bullying, Khelif is more determined than ever to win.
IMANE KHELIF, ALGERIAN BOXER (through translator): God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best response.
BELL: A sentiment shared by those who came here to cheer her on, on Tuesday in Paris. (Inaudible) shared by Lin when she competes on Wednesday in the featherweight semifinals.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: In just 90 days from now, we should find out who the next U.S. president will be. Now that the Democratic ticket is set, let the mud mudslinging begin. We catch up with the candidates after the break. And this man is accused of plotting to carry out political assassinations in the U.S. What we know about him and how he was caught.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: 90 days and counting, that is all the time the U.S. presidential candidates have to convince voters that they have the right stuff to run the country. In the coming hours, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her new running mate Tim Walz, will bring their message to two battleground states, Wisconsin and Michigan. At their first campaign rally together, Tim Walz showed he was ready to battle with the Republican vice presidential candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: J.D. Vance, literally, literally wrote the foreword for the architect of the project 2025 agenda.
(CROWD CHEERING)
WALZ: Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, J.D. studied at Yale.
(LAUGH)
WALZ: 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)
WALKER: Edward-Isaac Dovere joining us now from Washington with more. Hi there, Isaac.
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Hi.
WALKER: So, what can you tell us about this relationship that seems to be really growing warmer with lots of chemistry between Harris and Walz?
[08:35:00]
DOVERE: Well, look, Harris and Walz barely knew each other before they got into this process. They still don't know each other very well. But one of the things that mattered here, in addition to chemistry, was that Harris was asking people that she was interviewing to be her running mate, how they thought about the vice presidency and what kind of vice presidency they wanted. She was telling them what she saw the vice presidency as, obviously, coming at it from a somewhat expert place as the current vice president, and she was seeing what matched up.
When she talked to Walz about it, Walz said that he would be very deferential to her. He would say I'll be in the final decisions when you want me to and not when you don't want me to. It's my job to run through walls for you. I'm not going to be interested in running for president, he told her, which is something that really surprised her because she just assumes that everybody who is applying to be running mate and be the vice president would be interested in running for president. So, it's taking shape, but it's taking shape on Kamala Harris' terms so far.
WALKER: Yeah, absolutely. It was interesting because the reporting was that Tim Walz had told Kamala Harris and the team that he doesn't use a teleprompter, and he even admitted that he's a bad debater. Will any of that become a problem?
DOVERE: Well, yeah, that's right. All of that is in our story; it's up on our site right now. Look, he has -- the expectation is that he will have a debate with J.D. Vance. He has not succeeded in debates that much before, but he has had a string of wins every time that he's run for Congress and then getting elected governor, re-elected governor. So, he's been able to manage even with seeing himself as a bad debater.
Not working on a teleprompter, I was at the rally in Philadelphia last night, standing near some Harris campaign aides, who we're worried about how he would do, reading off of the teleprompter at that rally on a speech that, by the way, he did not write, that the Harris campaign wrote for him, and he did not really stumble. So at least so far, we have not seen the pitfalls that he was worried about, but we are not even 24 hours at this point into Tim Walz running and the last six weeks of this campaign has shown us that we should not be able to even try to predict what might happen in the time ahead. WALKER: Absolutely. That's the one thing we know for sure, don't predict anything. That's probably the best way to do it. Isaac -- Edward-Isaac Dovere, thank you so much.
DOVERE: Thank you.
WALKER: Let's bring in Lynn Sweet now, she is the Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. Lynn, good to see. It's been awhile. Let's talk about last night's rally --
LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Good to see you.
WALKER: -- in Philly and Tim Walz's debut. Most Americans did not know who Tim Walz is until yesterday. I want to just show a quick clip of Kamala Harris at the rally there, at Temple University, rolling out her running mate, making that introduction, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: 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.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: What did you make of all that enthusiasm and energy in the crowd?
SWEET: Well, I made a lot of it. By the way, what he said right after she said coach and soon, he's going to add another title, vice president of the United States. So, this is an example of the pent-up demand that Democrats have had to find what is a three-letter word that I think will define at least the early stages of this late- blooming, swiftly-developing campaign and that is 'joy.'
That is a concept that we may not have been discussing a few days ago, as joy as a political message, but that's where we're parked right now because the new vice presidential contender talks about it. He talked about it last night. And the crowd ate it up and not only did the crowd inside that arena ate it up, but in just less than 24 hours after he was named to the ticket, the campaign raised $20 million. So people we're also applauding the pit (ph) with their pocketbook.
WALKER: Yeah, they launched their rally or the campaigning together with really some positive energy and we did hear the use of that word 'joy' many times. Another word that we've heard a lot before Tim Walz was elevated and catapulted into the national spotlight, is the word 'weird.' How much did that word going viral (inaudible) Tim Walz have to do with his -- him being named the VP candidate?
SWEET: Well, I just put that as the headline on my column today, the Sun-Times, how weird -- how weird is it? This is what people who study political messaging can't get enough of, something no one planned goes viral.
[08:40:00]
He described Former President Trump and J.D. Vance as weird and it just took off, everybody up to including Vice President Harris. So, what did it do to help him become vice president? It got him noticed, it got him in line. And then of course, he had all the credentials and the chemistry going for him that made it work, but that one word got him in the game.
WALKER: At the end of the day, it is going to come down to the math, right? And the electoral map, Lynn. How do you think the campaign will use Tim Walz to bring in those very crucial swing voters?
SWEET: Well, if he just nothing more than live in adjacent Wisconsin and then go pop over to Michigan, he would do a lot. Three states have a lot to do with getting the 270 electoral votes you need to become president. Pennsylvania, where the ticket was last night, is one. Michigan and Wisconsin, where they're at today, is two and three. Those are the places to use him and it is where he could do the most good, fastest in this very compressed campaign time that they have right now.
WALKER: All right, Lynn Sweet, it's great to have you and see you. Thank you so much for your analysis.
Pakistan says it's in contact with U.S. authorities after the U.S. Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with allegedly seeking to carry out political assassinations. A U.S. official tells CNN, FBI investigators believe Asif Merchant, who is said to have ties to Iran, was targeting Former President Donald Trump and other current and former U.S. government officials. I want to go live now to Washington and CNN's Zachary Cohen. What are we learning, Zachary?
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Amara, prosecutors say that Asif Merchant had ties to the Iranian government and that he traveled to the U.S. with the goal of hiring a hitman to carry out political assassinations. And we're told by a U.S. official that the FBI believes that Donald Trump and several other former and current U.S. officials were the intended targets of this murder-for- hire plot. Merchant, a Pakistani national, as you said, did spend time in Iran, has family in Iran, according to prosecutors and according to his court documents that were unsealed yesterday.
Merchant came to the U.S. and contacted someone in New York who he believed could help him carry out these assassinations. Unfortunately, for Merchant, that person turned around and told the FBI what he was planning and became a confidential human source for the FBI. Eventually, that led to Merchant's arrest last month. Now, look, this is separate from -- we should note, separate from the assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life in Butler, Pennsylvania, the shooting of course, that happened at his rally.
The FBI believes the timing between these -- of these two things is a coincidence. But at the same time, we do also know that intel related to this Iranian threat was passed along to the U.S. Secret Service who ramped up security around Donald Trump in response. So of course, that contributed to questions about the security protocols around the former president after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
WALKER: Yeah. This news has to be unsettling to Donald Trump and his campaign. I mean, has there been any change in their security posture for Donald Trump?
COHEN: Amara, we know that the U.S. Secret Service and the relevant law enforcement agencies completely threw the security plan out the window and had to build it from the ground up since the Butler, PA assassination attempt. So, they are really re-evaluating everything -- that's what our sources have told us -- in the wake of that and also in the wake of these Iranian threats, these persistent threats. These are still active, ongoing threats and these are things that the U.S. Secret Service is going to have to account for going forward, until the intelligence community seems to suggest that maybe the threat has died down.
WALKER: CNN's Zach Cohen, thank you.
U.K. authorities say a Liverpool man who punched a police officer has been sentenced to three years in jail. That is the longest prison sentence so far over the violent unrest sweeping parts of Britain in the last week. This comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer promises to keep communities safe as the U.K. braces for more, potentially, violent protests in the coming hours.
And London's mayor has a warning for violent protesters. He posted on X saying, "If you commit a crime, you will be arrested and face the full force of the law." Still to come, Tropical Storm Debby is not going away anytime soon. The storm is forecasted to make a second landfall in the southeastern U.S. We are live in the Carolinas after this.
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[08:47:00]
WALKER: Tropical Storm Debby continues to churn off the coast of the southeastern U.S. The storm is gaining strength as it refuels over the Atlantic Ocean and already drenched, South Carolina as now bracing for a new hit from Debby. It is expected to make landfall along the coast on Thursday, three days after a (ph) landfall as a hurricane in Florida, Tropical Storm Debby is on track to make a second landfall. And here with the latest on the path is CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Hi, Allison.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's right. We take a look at some of the video coming in. This is from Savannah, you can see some of the cars stalled out here due to the high water and it's not just in the Carolinas. This video from Manatee, Florida again, you can see the water up to some of these homes and it's not just one or two homes here, but several homes in the area that are dealing with that tremendous amount of water that they got from Tropical Storm Debby. Now, Debby overnight had its wind speed increase up to 45 miles per hour. Now that it's back over open water, which is fuel for the storm, that re-intensification was expected. It's got about 24 hours before it comes back and makes a second landfall very early Thursday morning, somewhere in South Carolina, before really they're getting picked up into that flow of the front and heading off into the northeast. But in the short term, there are still concerns of additional flooding for much of the Carolinas, not just today, but also tomorrow.
You just noticed the focal point begins to shift a little bit further inland as the storm itself begins to take all of that rain and push it farther inland. So, here's a look at what we've got. You can see some of these incredibly impressive rainfall totals. A lot of that pink color just south of Tampa, say around the Sarasota area, another blob of pink in northern Florida around Lake City. And then in this section here between Charleston and Savannah, all of those areas picking up well over a foot of rain. That's at least 300 millimeters of rain in just the last few two days and more rain is expected.
Again, you can see a lot of the flow starting to spread into North Carolina, Charleston and Savannah getting a little bit of a reprieve from the very heavy rain. But as we go into the afternoon and more of that flow returns, we too can expect some additional rainfall there. So, a lot of these places still looking to get at least an extra four to six inches of rain on top of what they've already had. That's an extra 100 millimeters to 150 millimeters. Again, that's on top of what a lot of these places have already had.
But you also start to notice the moisture spread northward. So, areas of the mid-Atlantic and into the northeast also looking at a decent chunk of these places that could pick up, maybe say about four inches, 100 millimeters, just as we go through Saturday. So a lot of that moisture is going to spread into a lot of places and it already has.
This video coming in from New York. You can see some of the cars attempting to drive through, which they shouldn't be, driving through some of those very high waters there from a lot of the heavy rain that came in last night. And same thing, we anticipate getting more heavy rain across portions of the northeast. Right now, mostly focused on some light rain, although you do have the few clusters of some thunderstorms in Pennsylvania that are dumping a little bit heavier rain. But as we go into the afternoon, more heavier showers that can be expected. The last 48 hours, again, you can see here, pretty significant rainfall across areas of New Jersey, New York, and even Pennsylvania.
Looking ahead to the forecast radar though, there you can see Debby and you can see it slowly make its way inland yet again tomorrow morning, before it finally starts to spread off to the north once we get into Thursday.
[08:50:00]
So that movement will take place, just not really much of it in the next 24 hours. That's why there's such a concern, Amara, for all of the extra flooding in the Carolinas because as much trained as they've already had with the very slow movement of this storm, they are still going to get a lot more rain for the next 24 hours before it finally exits the area.
WALKER: All right. That's concerning. I know you're watching this closely. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.
Still to come, she called it the redemption games and didn't Simone Biles deliver? CNN speaks to the now seven-time Olympic gold medalist.
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WALKER: The Paris Olympics marked a golden come back for U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, her third games has come to an end with four metals around her neck, three of them gold. In the lead in, she and her teammates had been talking of it as the redemption games after the disappointment of Tokyo three years ago. And she told CNN's Coy Wire, she was doing it for no one but herself.
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WIRE: Simone, you just seem like you won another level of excitement, of gratitude for this moment this time around. Why were these games so important to you?
BILES: Well, it was important to me because nobody forced me to be out there on that stage. I solely did it for myself and I'm in a really good spot mentally and physically. So doing this for just me meant the world.
WIRE: And you overcame a lot to get here, we all know that. Did you feel any of those demons start to come creeping in the mind again? And if so, how did you deal with it?
BILES: Yes, I dealt with them in therapy. Obviously, you always have those thoughts coming in the back of your head, but just trying to stay as positive as possible, going back to what I know, thinking about my therapy tactics and it worked.
WIRE: That's so important.
BILES: Yes.
WIRE: Iconic moment, the podium --
BILES: Yeah.
WIRE: -- bowing down to Rebecca there. Young girls out there today are getting torn apart left and right, torn down. How important was it for you to show the world, it is OK to adjust each other's crowns?
BILES: No, absolutely. I think it was really important for that moment. Obviously, it was just me and Jordan being me and Jordan, but I know it was really special and it was very impactful for kids to see that. You win with grace; you lose with grace.
WIRE: Yeah. Now, this iconic moment at this game is, on my opinion was, when you (inaudible) at some people talking about your appearance.
BILES: Yeah.
WIRE: And young girls deal with that all the time.
BILES: Yeah.
WIRE: The stress that -- to fit in. What is your message to those young girls out there who might be feeling like they're not enough, they are not fitting in?
BILES: You guys are beautiful, confident, you guys are so smart, stand in your power, believe in yourself, and you guys are going to be just fine. And I'll be here to support you every step of the way. I know it's hard, but you guys are going to do it and you're going to do big things.
WIRE: Incredible, right, does time stop when you're 12 feet in the air flipping through the air? For us, mere mortals, can we just close our eyes, and you walk me through what you are feeling, what you are sensing as you're flipping through one of your wildest maneuvers?
BILES: Honestly, sometimes, it feels like time goes really fast, like the floor comes sooner than it should. But most of the time, it does feel like you're up there for awhile and you're just waiting to come back down. But it is really exciting.
WIRE: What would you say your spirit animal is or spirit character that switch that flips when you have to go out there and dominate? And that thing has allowed you to win another (ph) Olympic medals?
BILES OK. So, I think mine would actually be a honey badger, like honey badger in the gym, sloth outside.
(LAUGH)
WIRE: Slothy Simone.
BILES: Yeah.
WIRE: I think you need a new chain now, that was pretty dope.
BILES: Thank you.
WIRE: All right. Now, you've got some time to enjoy your family, especially your husband, Jonathan, (inaudible) get to enjoy some football.
[08:55:00]
BILES: Yes.
WIRE: He's been here supporting you. Are you going to be at his games being a (inaudible) for him?
BILES: Yes, absolutely. I feel like I'm his biggest supporter beside some of our other family that we have, but it's always exciting watching him play on that field.
WIRE: OK. If they played Falcons (ph) or my Bulls this year, please don't show up. We don't get (ph) any more cheers for them.
BILES: That's actually -- they played the Bulls this weekend, so good luck.
(LAUGH)
WIRE: Did you say good luck?
BILES: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(LAUGH)
WALKER: What a great interview. Love Coy and of course, Simone Biles is just a legend, congrats to her and her team.
Finally, move over Coco Chanel. There is a new canine cologne on the market. Yes. Dolce (inaudible) that's a really cute dog. Dolce & Gabbana now has a designer fragrance just for dogs. A blooded midst of ylang ylang, musk and sandalwood, it's said to be inspired by Domenico Dolce's unconditional love for his dog. It's got to be his dog, look at this, so cute.
And it comes with a price tag to match, just over $100 for 3.4 ounces. I think dogs need breathalyzers before they need cologne. But, look at them, oh my gosh.
All right. That's my time. Thanks for joining me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect The World with Becky Anderson" is next.
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