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Harris Vows to Get Border Security Bill Passed; Trump's First Rally since Walz Joined Race; Israeli Strike Kills at Least 90; Brazilian Passenger Plane Crash outside Sao Paulo Kills 62; Rebuilding Maui; Paris Olympics. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired August 10, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Two U.S. presidential nominee hitting the campaign trail, one continuing her swing state blitz in Arizona, the other making a stop in ruby red Montana.
An Israeli strike on a school in Gaza reportedly leaves dozens dead as U.S. officials work to avoid a wider conflict in the region.
And rebuilding paradise: we'll check in on Maui one year after deadly wildfires ravaged the island.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: The Democratic presidential ticket is on a tear through Western swing states that could determine the outcome of the election.
Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz head to Las Vegas, Nevada, later today. But while in Glendale, Arizona, Harris reiterated her plan to sign the bipartisan border security bill that failed to pass Congress earlier this year, accusing her Republican rival, Donald Trump of torpedoing the bill for personal gain.
Trump is expected to attend fundraisers in Wyoming and Colorado in the hours ahead. He made his first campaign stop since the Democratic ticket became official in Bozeman, Montana. Now none of these Western states are considered battlegrounds, raising questions about his campaign strategy.
So we will have more on Trump's Montana rally. But first let's go to Eva McKend in Glendale, Arizona, with the latest on Harris' campaign stop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The Harris campaign
continuing to enjoy a surge of momentum, this arena packed to the rafters.
The vice president addressing ceasefire protesters directly, saying that she, too, wants a ceasefire and the hostages to be returned home and that she's working in concert with President Biden toward that effort.
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So let me say, I have been clear. Now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get a hostage deal done.
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HARRIS: Now is the time. And the president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home.
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MCKEND: She also addressed immigration in this border state, saying that, if elected president, she would be tough on the border but she also wants comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants -- Eva McKend, CNN, Glendale, Arizona.
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BRUNHUBER: Next week the U.S. president will make his first public appearance with Harris since dropping out of the race and passing on the torch. They will attend the ceremony together in Maryland. During an interview set to air Sunday on CBS, Joe Biden spoke about that decision and what matters most to him, here he is.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I ran the first time, I thought to myself as being a transition president. I can't even say how old I am. It's hard for me to get it out of my mouth although I -- it's a great honor to be a president.
I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I -- the most important thing to do. And that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.
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BRUNHUBER: During Trump's rally in Montana, he attacked Harris over immigration and told the crowd what he plans to do if he's elected in November. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: All we're going to do, it's going to be called a Trump mass deportation because we have no choice. Vote Republican and we will begin the largest deportation operation in American history.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Alayna Treene has more from Bozeman, Montana.
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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump traveled to Bozeman, Montana on Friday.
It was his first rally since Vice President Kamala Harris had announced her running mate and selecting Tim Walz on Tuesday. Now Montana's an interesting state, it is not a battleground, it is a reliably red state, one that Donald Trump's senior advisers tell me they're not concerned about him winning in November.
But he came here instead to stomp for Tim Sheehy. He's a businessman as well as a former Navy SEAL and he's locked in a tight Senate race with John Tester, the long serving Democratic senator of Montana.
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And really, when I talked to people on the ground as well as people on Capitol Hill, they say this is one of the most hardest fought races in the battle for the Senate majority.
Now I actually caught up with Steve Daines, a senator from Montana, as well as the chairman of the national Republican senatorial committee. And he told me that he was the one who actually privately encouraged Donald Trump to come here.
He said, we know it's not a battleground but this race is incredibly important. So a lot of reasoning for why he wanted to come here tonight.
Now we did see Donald Trump mentioned Sheehy as well as give shout- outs to both him and other Republican lawmakers. But most of his speech really mirrored what we heard him do on Thursday at his press conference in Florida.
He attacked Harris over immigration, crime, inflation but also mocked her intelligence, argued that she was running to the Left of Joe Biden, that she was a dangerous, liberal and also attacked her running mate, Tim Walz.
Now one thing that was new that we haven't seen before is he actually stopped in the middle of his speech on two different occasions to play a video going after Harris. I want you take a look at what he did.
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TRUMP: Kamala is grossly incompetent. And in my opinion, has a very low IQ. But we'll find out about her IQ during the debate. OK. Let's find out about her IQ.
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TRUMP: So, you know, we have this great system. I want to show you just one other thing, please.
Do you mind putting it up please?
Thank you.
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HARRIS: We've been to the border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You haven't been to the border.
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TREENE: Now I think it's clear from that that we have really entered this new phase of this election cycle.
Donald Trump's campaign but also the Harris campaign, their attacks have become increasingly personal and nasty. And I think it's reflective of just the state of the race right now as they're sprinting to November.
And one thing I can tell you, at least for Donald Trump's part on this, when I talked to his team, is that he has been increasingly frustrated with the Democratic enthusiasm surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris.
You know, she's sustained this enthusiasm for several weeks now. And you've heard him attack her, crowd size attack her for having celebrity performers. All of those things have been getting under his skin. And I think that's a lot of where this is coming from -- Alayna Treene, CNN, Bozeman, Montana.
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BRUNHUBER: All right.
I want to bring in Richard Johnson, who is a lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. And he's with us from Oxford.
Thank you so much for being here with us. So we just heard our reporter there talking about sort of the sprint to November. For Donald Trump, at least for his campaign schedule, it seems more like a slow walk.
What do you make of the fact that Trump isn't really stumping in the swing states?
RICHARD JOHNSON, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY: I think that's a good observation, Kim, and I'm thinking back to 2016 when Donald Trump had an extremely vigorous campaign schedule. Indeed, Donald Trump was at this point in the race doing more campaign events than Hillary Clinton.
And when we look back at the 2016 race, people criticized the Clinton campaign, for example, for not going to key swing states after the convention, like Michigan, which, of course, she lost to Donald Trump and helped give Trump that Electoral College victory.
So it seems to me that the Trump campaign could be at risk of making the very mistakes that say the Hillary Clinton campaign made against him in 2016.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's a great point. So if there's a lack of energy there, there also seems to be sort of a lack of focus in terms of Trump's attacks on Harris and her running mate.
But one thing that we have seen his campaign do is sort of seizing on Walz's military service record. For Democrats, sort of an unpleasant echo of the John Kerry swift boat controversy.
Will this be as effective as that was, do you think?
JOHNSON: Well, I think if you go back to 2004 the Kerry campaign made John Kerry's military service a central part of the message against George W. Bush. Remember the United States was in -- at war, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. George W. Bush had taken the United States to war.
But going back and looking at their records in Vietnam. George W Bush did not serve overseas in Vietnam, John Kerry did and was injured and won three Purple Hearts.
And at the Democratic convention in August of 2004, John Kerry began his speech by saying, "I'm John Kerry, reporting for duty."
And it was the swift boat ads that followed, really almost immediately after that convention, that took away the convention bounce in 2004.
Tim Walz's appeal, I think, of course his military record is something that the campaign will be talking about and wants to talk about.
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But I think that the context is very different. The United States is not in the same context of war as it was in 2004. And Tim Walz is not presenting himself as a military hero in the way, quite rightly, because he -- John Kerry had a particularly distinguished record in Vietnam. So I think he's less vulnerable to this attack than John Kerry was 20 years ago.
BRUNHUBER: I mean, while pivoting to the top of the ticket, Kamala Harris was in a swing state, Arizona, seeing huge crowds there, apparently, despite passing over Arizona senator Mark Kelly for running mate.
Do you get a sense that it's still part of Harris' honeymoon period? Or have the fundamentals of the race really changed here?
JOHNSON: This has been a remarkable few weeks for the Democratic campaign after a remarkably poor few weeks just before that. This election is about two belts, the Rust Belt and the Sun Belt. And Kamala Harris' selection as the nominee has put both in play for the Democrats in a serious way.
Harris, I think, puts the Sun Belt -- key Sun Belt states of Georgia, Arizona and Nevada back in play for the Democrats.
Because she can appeal to core constituencies that help put those states in a Democratic column, particularly turning out both African Americans but also suburban voters, who are becoming increasingly important in states like Arizona and in Georgia.
And then Tim Walz has been chosen to help strengthen that appeal in the Rust Belt states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and also, I'd say, Kamala Harris has an important appeal there. African American voters are important in those states as well. And suburban voters are also important there.
So I think this is quite a strong ticket. And one of the reasons why the Trump campaign I think is foundering at the moment is they weren't anticipating confronting a ticket like this and they're having to recalibrate. And their machine is not clicking into gear quite as quickly as it needs to.
Now the Democrats shouldn't be complacent about this and a lot can go wrong, a lot a lot of surprises can happen. But at the moment, they're in, they're in a good position and they should try and maintain this momentum going into the convention.
And then -- and then using the convention to kind of give an extra boost in the sprint toward the final general election.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, and the tightening polls seem to reflect what you're talking about there. Richard Johnson in Oxford, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for speaking to us. Really appreciate it.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: Gaza officials say an Israeli airstrike has killed at least 90 people at a school in Gaza City. Gaza's civil defense says displaced Palestinians were staying at the school. They also say emergency crews are working to rescue the injured and recover the bodies of those killed.
Now CNN can't confirm the death toll, partly because Gaza is inaccessible to the international media. But Israel confirms that it struck the building. The Israeli military says it attacked, quote, "Hamas terrorists
operating within a Hamas command and control center" in the school located next to a mosque. While the IDF says it tried to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, Egypt is accusing Israel of deliberately killing civilians.
Now the strike comes as the United Nations says more than 80 percent of Gaza has been subject to evacuation orders since the war began last October.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): W are tired of this life. By God, we are fed up. Death is better than this. Let the country see and find a solution. We're tired. We have died, died, died. We've died 100 times. We've died.
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BRUNHUBER: Ceasefire talks are expected to resume next week but there are new fears of a widening Middle East conflict in northeastern Syria. A drone strike hit a U.S. and coalition base. There are no reports of injuries at this time but the Pentagon says medical evaluations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke with Israel's defense minister on Friday. U.S. officials say he discussed efforts to deescalate tensions in the Middle East.
The deputy commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the group is ready to carry out orders to, quote, "harshly punish" Israel for last week's assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran. Israel hasn't claimed responsibility for that attack. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live in London, with the latest on the Middle East situation.
So Jomana, what more can you tell us on that strike on the school and the aftermath that we're seeing now?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, it is being described by local officials in Gaza as well as residents as a horrific massacre that happened in the early hours on Saturday at dawn prayers. They say as people had gathered for prayers, it is in the Al-Tabi'in compound.
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This is a compound in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, to the east of Gaza City. It is a compound that contains both a school and a mosque where internally displaced civilians have been sheltering.
Now we understand from local authorities, they say that at least 93 people so far have been confirmed killed. But they say a lot of these bodies have been left unrecognizable by the strike.
But at this point, they're saying at least 11 children and six women are among the dead and they are expecting numbers to rise as many people were seriously injured. And they have been transported to one of the last barely standing hospitals nearby.
Now the Israeli military is disputing these casualty figures, as is the case when you have a large number of casualties. We have seen this in the past. Now it also acknowledged that this is a compound where residents of Gaza, they say, have been sheltering.
But in their initial statement, the Israeli military says that this was a precise strike, that it was targeting a Hamas command and control center and Hamas terrorists there. We have asked them for evidence that we have not yet received to support that claim.
They also say that they took numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including precise munition, aerial surveillance and intelligence. But no mention of asking civilians to leave, no warning to civilians in that compound.
And this is something that -- survivors, eyewitnesses are telling us they did not receive a warning. Now an IDF spokesman, Kim, a short time ago, also posting on X, saying that 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, including senior commanders, he says, were operating from that compound.
And the compound and the mosque struck within it served as an active Hamas and PIJ military, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, military facility. Again, disputing the figures but saying it doesn't align with the information they have. But they are continuing to examine it.
It's worth mentioning this is obviously not an isolated incident. Just in this past week alone, several schools, in different parts of Gaza, have been hit by Israeli strikes. Of course, these are places where displaced civilians are sheltering.
The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights saying, earlier this week in a statement, that they are horrified by what they say is an unfolding pattern of Israeli strikes on schools in Gaza, killing displaced civilians.
And we've said this so many times over the past 10 months. People have nowhere left to go. Nowhere is safe in Gaza when you have schools, mosques and what has been designated as safe zones being struck -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Nowhere is safe. As you say. Jomana Karadsheh live in London. Thanks so much.
Sixty-one people are dead and a nation mourns after a passenger plane crashed into a neighborhood in Brazil. We will have the latest on that disaster.
Plus Ukraine is pushing its military incursion deeper into Russian territory. The offensive appears to be widening as Russian authorities scramble to respond. We'll have the latest coming up. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Brazil is observing three days of mourning after a plane crash killed 61 people with no survivors. Disturbing eyewitness video shows the plane's descent just seconds before the crash.
The passenger plane was on an internal Brazilian flight when it slammed into a residential area outside of Sao Paulo, as people on the ground shouted in fear.
Now the death toll would have been even higher if it hadn't been to the fact that many people who were supposed to be on board the plane went to the wrong gate and missed the flight. Listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I argued with the airport worker and that was it. He saved my life.
I know people must be calling now, thinking I was up there. People said the plane crashed. I still think that must have been an intervention from God because the plane might crash.
I was in a moment of anger with the airport staff but this guy, I need to know his name, because he really saved my life.
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BRUNHUBER: A team from the Brazilian air force will lead the investigation. But as of right now, there's no firm information on the cause. Stefano Pozzebon has more from the crash site.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The recovery operations are going on through the night for the bodies of the 61 people on board of the Voepass airplane that crashed in Vinhedo, Brazil.
It's a residential city about 100 kilometers northwest of Sao Paulo. The plane crashed in a residential complex called Recanto Florido.
And as you can see, there are still, even in the middle of the night, operations by the police, forensic medics and the civil protection unit, as they are trying to recover as many bodies as possible as quickly as possible under the rain, to recognize and to identify the bodies.
Of course, because of the circumstances of the accidents and the state of that body, that could take some time. At this moment, we know that at least three bodies have been taken to Sao Paulo to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the capital, Sao Paulo, about 100 kilometers from here, and that the relatives have been advised to go there. At this moment, Brazil has declared a three-day national mourning
period. The governor of the state of Sao Paulo has already visited the crash site just behind my back. And the company, Voepass, has said that they have still no information about how that plane could have crashed onto these houses, of what could have happened there.
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However, they did recover the black box. So hopefully more information will come up in the next few hours -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Vinhedo, Brazil.
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BRUNHUBER: Russia says it has introduced counter terrorist operations in three regions as Ukraine's military incursion stretches into a fifth day.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This video shows Ukrainian troops at a strategic gas transit hub in Russia's Kursk region on Friday. It's the last pipeline through which Russian gas still reaches Europe by Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces say they control the town but the mayor denies it.
Russian military bloggers suggest fighting has spread to a much wider area. The governor of Russia's Lipetsk region says a massive Ukrainian drone attack wounded at least nine people and damaged energy infrastructure.
A Ukrainian source says an airfield was hit and an ammunition depot destroyed. Meanwhile, the U.S. on Friday unveiled a new $125 million aid package for Ukraine. Military analyst and retired major general Mick Ryan says Kyiv's offensive into Russian territory caught Moscow and many others by surprise. Here he is.
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MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: I think this has been a massive surprise, not just on the battlefield but strategically. Most countries did not expect Ukraine to be capable of large scale offensive operations, at least until next year.
So it's not just taken the Russians by surprise but many of its supporters. To be fair, it's a pretty pleasant surprise because it's been a very successful offensive into Kursk. But it really remains to be seen how long the Ukrainians can remain on the attack for.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: It's been one year since the tragic wildfires that devastated Maui. Hawaiians are remembering and rebuilding. We'll speak with the chair of Maui's county council when we come back. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Thursday marked the first anniversary of the wildfires that devastated Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The nation's deadliest wildfire in more than a century destroyed the historic town, killing 100 people -- or 102 people, rather.
The governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, joined with local and federal officials in marking the date and honoring the memory of those who died. He paid tribute to the resilience of survivors, thousands of whom were left without homes by the disaster. Here he is.
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GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): This was unprecedented for us. The year was filled with immense challenges as you know. But people were so resilient. And that's what we've seen over the last 24 hours, especially as we've been with all of the families, who had so much loss.
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BRUNHUBER: Additionally, dozens of surfers, boaters and paddlers put together a paddle-out, a traditional act of ritual remembrance in Hawaii, that honors loved ones. The beach and park were packed with people blowing conch shells and scattering flower petals in the water, remembering the past but looking to the future.
All right, to find out about how people there are doing, I'm joined now live by Alice Lee, who's the chair of the Maui County Council.
Thank you so much for being here with us. I remember we spoke in the aftermath of this a year ago. Now a year later, more than 2,000 homes lost, more than 12,000 people without housing.
A year later, how are they doing?
How is the rebuilding process going?
ALICE LEE, CHAIR, MAUI COUNTY COUNCIL: Well, thank you, first of all, for having me here tonight. I'm glad that you keep checking in on us. What's happening now is the
properties are being cleared of the debris. And we're almost at 100 percent at this point.
And once all these properties are cleared, then they will be able to apply for building permits. And some people have already. We have a special company, which just strictly handles building permits so that we can expedite the process.
So that is moving along.
BRUNHUBER: How long do you think it will be before, you know, people are back in homes?
LEE: Well, some may be back in a short while. But for the most part, we still have major challenges with infrastructure. Transmission lines are broken with regard to the water transmission lines, sewer transmission lines.
Some of the roads have to be repaired. All of these things have to be done before people can actually move in as a community.
But little by little, they can start doing it now in some areas where there is infrastructure.
BRUNHUBER: And I know there has been a $4 billion settlement.
How will that help?
And when will that money actually flow in terms of making a concrete difference?
LEE: The settlement hasn't been approved yet. It's a little over $4 billion, as you said. And what we believe, that the -- it'll be completed in short order. But for now, we need a few more people to sign on to this settlement.
Some of the big piers will -- well, I can't really give you a breakdown of who's paying yet completely. You know, the county is paying, the state's paying; some of the big companies are paying the $4 billion.
But we do have an issue with the insurance companies. They have already paid out about maybe $2 billion, little over $2 billion. So they are filing lawsuits for subrogation, for reimbursement for the monies that they have paid out.
So we have these details to work out. And as soon as we (INAUDIBLE), then the money will start flowing to the people.
BRUNHUBER: In terms of economically, I mean, it's so hard to rebuild businesses that have been affected and lost here. And I know a recent study has found that a significant number of Maui County residents are suffering from financial strain. And many others are thinking about leaving the island because of poor economic conditions.
So what have you been seeing?
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And what can be done to help them?
LEE: We're doing everything conceivable that we can think of that, to help those in need. The federal government has been the biggest help of all, FEMA providing direct assistance to those who lost their homes.
And who've been staying first in hotels. Unfortunately, they have had to move from time to time. Then many of them have now moved out of the hotels into short-term rentals.
So these families are having a very difficult time because there's no real stability. And secondly, some of their -- they've lost some of their jobs. So yes, some people have moved away and some people have decided to stay.
And after this week's events of remembrance and community involvement, I've seen a change in a lot of people, where they start -- are starting to feel a sense of hope because the community, the county, the government is not going to abandon them.
We're going to stay with them throughout until they get their homes back.
BRUNHUBER: On the longer term, we know major fires will happen again.
So what has the community learned a year on now?
And how are you planning to make things safer, should something like this happen again?
LEE: It's very difficult to do something very quickly but what we're doing is making sure that coordination and communication is improved.
We are making sure that our fire trucks and the apparatus, they have the latest equipment that we can afford. For instance, all the trucks will now have these new thermal detectors, which can detect fires that have not gone out completely.
We are creating escape routes as far as improving roadways. We are enforcing our abatement laws more strictly so that those who have large swaths of land must maintain their properties. And so we're doing everything we possibly can to try to prevent something like this from happening again.
BRUNHUBER: We'll have to leave it there but wish you the best as you and your community continued to rebuild. Alice Lee. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
LEE: Thank you very much.
BRUNHUBER: Well, the remnants of Debby, which hit Florida Monday as a category 1 hurricane, are still wreaking havoc in parts of the eastern U.S. On Friday, fast rising water triggered the most severe flood alert in communities along the border of New York and Pennsylvania.
The National Weather Service said numerous areas were flooded in southern New York with people trapped in homes. Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for all of New York. But for many, the road to restoration is paved with questions.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is terrible now we're going to track through all this again. I don't know what's going to happen now because the storage off (INAUDIBLE) has been wiped out again. So whether they rebuild back or not, I have no idea.
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BRUNHUBER: In Pennsylvania, the state's National Guard were dispatched with helicopters and boats for water rescues. Governor Josh Shapiro announced a disaster proclamation spanning 21 counties.
Millions remain under some level of flood alert along the Eastern Seaboard but rainfall associated with Debby should be leaving northern New England in the coming hours.
It is the last full day of competition in the Paris Games. When we come back, a recap of history making wins on Friday. We'll go live five to Paris with a look ahead at the 38 remaining gold medals up for grabs today. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: We are well into the last weekend of what's been a historic and thrilling Summer Olympics in Paris; 35 gold medals were awarded on Friday. The U.S. and China at tied for the most gold medals with 33 each.
The U.S. maintains its lead, with the most medals overall. Today's competitions kicked off earlier today with the men's marathon. Ethiopia just grabbed the gold, setting a new Olympic record.
Runners from Belgium and Kenya responsibly taking silver and bronze. Later today the two must-see finals are women's football or soccer with Team USA and Brazil vying for golden glory.
And men's basketball sees host nation France facing off against the U.S.
All right, joining me now, live from Paris is CNN "WORLD SPORT" anchor, Amanda Davies.
I can't believe it's almost over. Dozens of gold medals still on the line today. Last full day of competition but just take us through sort of the best from Friday.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
Kim, we are hanging on to every last moment and medal it has gone so incredibly fast. But on the track, we've got one of those generations of stars in the men's 400 meter hurdles that we really have been lucky to witness.
But it's one that the U.S. record holder Rai Benjamin had feared was going to leave him without the medal he deserved. Last night though, he finally got his hands on Olympic gold, his first individual title after beating world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway and Brazil's Alison dos Santos.
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RAI BENJAMIN, TEAM U.S. TRACK: I think this whole experience of being in the village, actually having a real Olympic experience just -- it's been amazing so far and try the different approaches here, trying not to be too tense, too serious and just have fun and just be light, be cool.
So I think that was kind of like my focus going into this year.
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DAVIES: Kenya's Beatrice Chebet days an incredible distance double, adding the 10 10,000 meter gold to her 5,000 meters crown from earlier in the games.
So scuttled the hopes of defending champion Sifan Hassan. Kenya's first gold in the women's 10,000 to add a games. Belgium's Nafi Thiam made it an incredible three in a row, the first person to win three straight heptathlon goals in one of the toughest events, seven disciplines over two days.
It was a real battle that went right down to the final events against Team GB's Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the 800 meters. But both ran a personal best, ultimately, Thiam victorious again over last year's world champion.
And speaking of battles, awards, amens, verbal final, it was. And despite all the home support in a packed Parc de France (ph) and the legend that is Thierry Henry, regarding the French side, the all too familiar story of recent times in football. Spain emerging as the winner, they didn't have to fight for it.
They came back from 3-1 down to force extra time.
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Ultimately, they won it 5-3 to win Olympic gold for the first time since 1992. This under-23 success, adding to European championship victory from Berlin last month. Men's under 19 European success as well and women's World Cup victory last year.
And many of us got an education here on Friday as Olympic breaking, or breakdancing I should say, made its debut.
It was Japan's Ami Yuasa, who took the first ever Olympic gold, who got the men's final today.
But who knows if we'll see it again?
It has already been dropped from the agenda for L.A. 2028. xxx
In the last couple of days, the gold-medal-winning surf champion Kauli Vaast has been celebrating his success surfing down the River Seine in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower. He's made the journey here from Paris after claiming his gold 10,000 miles away where the competition has been taking place in Tahiti.
And I am delighted to say that he is with us now.
Kauli, thank you so much for joining us. I know it's been quite a whirlwind, hasn't it, over a couple of days. You are from Tahiti. But representing France, here.
What was it like, claiming that that gold, which is now around your neck?
KAULI VAAST, TEAM FRANCE SURFER: This is the best thing that can happen to me. I'm actually the best actually the golden champion, actually the happiest guy on Earth right now.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIES: I mean, it is the perfect story, given the fact you are from Tahiti, that is where the surfing took place.
But how confident were you heading into it?
VAAST: Yes.
It's a perfect story. Like you said, was a hard competition, a lot of expectation, lot of pressure because it's at home and I want to do good for sure. And well, yes, it was just insane just to be part of the Olympic Games, have the chance to have this spot at home and actually winning over there at home.
It's the best thing that can happen for me and I'm just super happy right now and the best day of my life.
DAVIES: How much did it feel like an Olympic Games?
Because we're obviously here. We've got the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower. We've, we've seen the events taking place. You guys were a long, long way away.
Did it feel different to your normal competition?
VAAST: No, you didn't feel different. It just felt the same that we were probably like far away but more focused on the contest. One job to do, hit by hit and just to be out there. Actually we looked all the discipline from here on the phones.
We were doing like opening all the computers and stuff and watching, for example, Leon Marchand, four gold medals.
It was really a good motivation for us. Actually, I'm talking about the team, the French team.
We were strong, A lot of good surfer and, yes, it was just like a lot of motivation watching them winning the gold. There was the goal and make us dream and hit by hit, we were closer to the dream and, yes, it happened to me and I'm just super, super stoked, super happy.
DAVIES: Did you have an advantage, do you think?
You started surfing on those waves when you were 6 years old.
VAAST: For sure it's having pitch (ph) for a local boy from Delaporte. It's the falco (ph) of the knowledge. And yes, it's, it's yes, just really good advantage because one thing is that, during the whole contest, we were surfing different conditions every day.
It was different, the condition were different. And I spend so much hours training out there, so much time spending in the water on every conditions, windy, cloudy, raining and stuff.
And that's why when I was doing every day, for example, I was surfing the free surf every morning, I was just like, remember, I was like, oh, I already surfed this conditions. I do remember I know exactly where to go and exactly which wave I need to catch and I think it helped me a lot.
DAVIES: One of the most iconic images we've seen, we saw the rainbows but we saw the whales.
Is that normal?
How normal is that for you?
VAAST: It's just insane, yes, to have these animals. We're really close to the animals, I mean to the ocean because we live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We probably, like, I can say we lost pretty much. And all around the island, we have the ocean.
So everything we do since we kid and stuff, we do everything about the ocean, swimming, fishing and just surfing. So that's why we're really close and you see the whales. It's something special and that's how we call the energy (INAUDIBLE). In Tahiti, we call humana (ph). It was just a beautiful, yes.
DAVIES: Yes, absolutely stunning. And enjoy the next couple of days here in Paris. Congratulations, once again, it's been a real pleasure to speak to you.
Kim, it's back to you, so much more action now, the biggest day in terms of medals here at the games since 2000.
[04:50:00]
So a lot more to look forward to.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely.
That was an unbelievable picture you showed there and what a great story to hear. Amanda Davies in Paris. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
One gold medal winner from Friday's action is proving the best revenge is success.
Algerian boxer, Imane Khelif, who overcame a torrent of online abuse regarding her gender throughout the games, won gold in the women's 66 kilogram final, becoming the first woman in her country to win any medal in this event. Here's what she told those bullies after winning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IMANE KHELIF, ALGERIAN BOXER (through translator): I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman. I lived a woman and I competed as a woman. There's no doubt about that.
They hate me and I don't know why. I really don't know why. I sent them a single message with this gold medal and I saved my dignity. My honor is above everything else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now one Olympian sacrificed any chance of making the podium on Friday at the Olympic debut of breaking, also called breakdancing, as we heard.
Well, she's a refugee athlete, Manizha Talash, who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. After losing her bout she was disqualified from the B-Girl breaking competition for wearing a cape emblazoned with the words "Free Afghan Women" during her pre-qualifier event.
Known competitively as B-Girl Talash, the 21-year old is one of 37 athletes representing the refugee team at the Paris Games.
We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday but they were still lower for the week. Still, after the brutal losses earlier, they're counting this as a win basically. The Dow rose 51 points or just 0.1 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite both added half a percent. Now
despite the turbulent week, stocks are still on pace for strong returns for the year. Investors next week will parse retail sales data and earnings from Home Depot and Walmart for insight into consumer trends.
Well, how much would you pay for a few pounds of coffee?
How about $10,000?
At an auction, Japan's Saza Coffee paid that price for a kilogram, about 2.2 pounds of Panamanian beans, called Elida Geisha Natural Vuelta. The price broke last year's record by about $8 a kilo.
The company that grows the coffee says it's special because it is grown at a high altitude and in volcanic soil. At $10,000 a kilo, one cup would cost between $70 and $80.
The secretive street artist known as Banksy has now revealed five new artworks this week, each with an animal theme. The latest work was found Friday in northeast London, depicting two pelicans eating fish.
The artist has been busy unveiling new works across London every day this week. Subjects also included a goat, two elephants, three monkeys and a wolf howling at the sky. The wolf stands on what appeared to be a satellite dish was stolen hours after it was discovered. All five were confirmed as authentic on the artist's Instagram account.
All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment, please. Do stay with us.
