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Israeli Strike Kills at Least 90; Trump's First Rally since Walz Joined Race; Judge Grants Smith Delay, Team Asks Again for Gag Review; Brazilian Passenger Plane Crash outside Sao Paulo Kills 62; Multinational Mission Fighting Haiti's Gangs; U.S. Election Officials Slam X's AI Chatbot; Paris Olympics; Rebuilding Maui. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired August 10, 2024 - 05:00 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 of you watching, us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The Israeli military confirms a deadly strike on a school in Gaza City that they say held a Hamas man center. What we know about the strike and the ongoing push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Kamala Harris sending a new message about border security during a campaign event in Arizona. What she says her priority is for the southern border if she's elected president.
This as Donald Trump spoke to supporters in Montana, doubling down on his promise to enact a mass deportation effort.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Gaza officials say an Israeli airstrike has killed at least 93 people at a school in Gaza City. Gaza's civil defense says displaced Palestinians were staying at the school. Now CNN can't independently confirm the death toll.
But Israel confirms that it struck the building. Now the strike comes as more than 60,000 people have evacuated parts of Khan Yunis over the past three days. The United Nations says more than 80 percent of Gaza has been subject to evacuation orders since the war began last October.
The U.N. also says nearly two-thirds of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or possibly damaged by the war. And you can see in this map that the destruction is spread throughout Gaza.
Ceasefire talks are expected to resume next week but there are new fears of a widening Middle East conflict. Meanwhile, Iran says the talks shouldn't be connected to its planned retaliation for the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran. Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a strike on a building in Tehran last week.
Israel hasn't claimed responsibility for the strike. Israel's finance minister posted to social media, allegedly showing damage in Gaza, calling it a warning to Lebanon and Hezbollah. Now CNN hasn't been able to independently verify the location of the video. Our Ben Wedeman is live in Beirut.
But we begin with Jomana Karadsheh in London with more on the latest strikes.
And what more, Jomana, can you tell us on the strike on that school and the aftermath?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, according to Gaza residents and local officials, they're describing this as a horrific massacre taking place early this morning in the northern part of Gaza, to the east of Gaza City.
This is at Al-Tabi'in compound that they say housed a school and a mosque and they say the strike happened as people gathered for dawn prayers, striking where they were praying. The latest figures we're getting from authorities in Gaza, they say at least 93 people were killed.
But they say that the bodies were left in unidentifiable states. And at this point, they have only been able to confirm that, among the dead, are 11 children and six women. But the number is expected to rise, with many in serious condition taken to one of the last barely functioning hospitals nearby.
Now the Israeli military, as you mentioned, confirming that they carried out this strike, acknowledging that this was a compound where civilians were sheltering. But they claim that what they were targeting was a Hamas command and control center, saying that the mosque and the compound was this command center.
Saying that there were 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, including senior commanders, operating out of that compound. We've asked them for evidence to support this claim. But we have not received that from the Israeli military.
But they're also disputing the figures, as we have, seen following many deadly strikes throughout this war. They say that these numbers don't align with their assessment. But they are continuing to examine this incident and they say that various steps were taken to mitigate the risk to harming civilians.
Including precise munition, aerial surveillance and intelligence. But no mention, Kim, of a warning for civilians to get out before the bombs were dropped.
And this is something that we have heard from people on the ground, saying there were no warnings to civilians. And it's important to mention that this is not an isolated incident. Just over the past week, several schools housing displaced civilians have been hit in different parts of Gaza. [05:05:00]
The High Commissioner for Human Rights for the United Nations released a statement just a couple of days ago, saying that they are horrified. But what they described as this unfolding pattern of Israeli strikes on schools, killing displaced civilians.
And we have said this so many times over the past 10 months but the civilians in Gaza are trapped in their camp. They have nowhere left to go. And the places where they're sheltering, whether its schools, mosques and even so-called designated safe areas, have been struck.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely.
All right. Listen, I want to go to Ben now.
Ben, those hostage and ceasefire negotiations are supposed to resume next week. But we saw the Israeli finance minister undermining them on social media, comments that were then harshly criticized by the Biden administration.
What more can you tell us?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is coming from finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
He's the man who just recently said that, but for world opinion, Israel would be morally justified to starve 2 million people in Gaza to death. So clearly this is a man who's a fanatic within the Israeli government.
And the problem for Benjamin Netanyahu is that, if he makes progress in the ceasefire and hostage negotiations, people like Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir will leave his government. His government will collapse.
And, of course, then he may -- Netanyahu may face, of course, judicial processes that have been pending for quite some time.
And of course, the United States has been playing this broken record about a desire for a ceasefire and progress on the question of the hostages. But you know, it's talking like a superpower but it seems have all the diplomatic clout of the Dominican Republic when it comes to real impact on the ground.
And it's also worth noting that, even though the United States is calling for restraint and whatnot in the aftermath of the killing of Ismail Haniyeh and Fuad Shukr here in Beirut, that the United States is releasing $3.5 billion in military funding to Israel.
And so certainly, the United States says it wants an end to the war in Gaza or at least a ceasefire. But in reality, it doesn't seem that the pieces are falling into place.
Now August 15 is when these talks are going to resume. We don't know if they're going to be in Doha or Qatar. But many are seeing them as a last chance to somehow resolve this situation in Gaza peacefully before much worse could come. And of course, the worst is fears of a regional war involving Hezbollah, Iran, perhaps the Houthis, as well.
BRUNHUBER: All right.
I appreciate that, both of you, Ben Wedeman, live in Beirut, and Jomana Karadsheh in London. Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: The war in Gaza wasn't forgotten during the Democrats' latest campaign rally in the race for the White House. On Friday, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz visited Arizona, one of the swing states that could end up deciding the election.
And pro-Palestinian protesters made their voices heard, at one point, interrupting her remarks. CNN's Eva McKend was there and has the details.
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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: Donald Trump is expected to attend fundraisers in Wyoming and Colorado in the hours ahead.
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He made his first campaign stop since the Democratic ticket became official in Bozeman, Montana, on Friday. The Republican nominee, once again, insulted Harris' intelligence and attacked her over immigration. Here he is.
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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.
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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: We're one month away from the first presidential debates between Trump and Harris. They're both expected to show up on September 10th but Trump is pushing for more debates, including one on FOX News a week before the planned debate on ABC.
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TRUMP: And I think it's very important to have debates. I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight. So I just look forward to these debates. I think it's very important that we have them. I hope, she agrees to them September 4th, September 10th September 25th and I think they'll be very revealing.
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BRUNHUBER: He went on to say that minor details are still being worked out, including audience and locations.
Now earlier this week, Trump said that he wouldn't debate Harris until she agreed to the proposed faceoff on FOX News. But that doesn't seem likely to happen.
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HARRIS: I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10th. I'm looking forward to it and hope he shows up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you open to more debates?
HARRIS: I'm happy to have that conversation about an additional debate for after September 10th.
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BRUNHUBER: Next week, President Biden will make his first public appearance with Harris since dropping out of the race and passing on the torch. He will attend a welcome ceremony together in Maryland for the Americans wrongly detained in Russia.
It's not clear how much President Biden will hit the campaign trail for Harris, he's scheduled to deliver an address on the first night of this month's Democratic National Convention.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked for and has been granted a delay in the federal case against Donald Trump for attempted subversion of the 2020 election.
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The next hearing will now be postponed until September 5th to allow prosecutors time to assess the effect of the Supreme Court's ruling, granting a president wide immunity for official acts.
And in New York, Trump's team have asked once again for a gag order to be removed in the hush money criminal case. But the petition was denied. Trump remains barred from talking about prosecutors, court staff and their families.
Sixty-one people are dead and a nation mourns after a passenger plane crashed into a neighborhood in Brazil. We'll have the latest on the disaster.
Plus on patrol in the streets of Port-au-Prince. CNN gets exclusive access to the international security force taking on Haiti's gangs. That's all coming up, stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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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.
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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. The death toll would have been even higher if not for the fact that many people who were supposed to be on more of the plane went to the wrong gate and missed the flight.
Listen to this.
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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: Authorities say a black box has been found at the crash site and a team from the Brazilian air force will lead the investigation. As of right now, there's no firm information on the cause. Flight data says the plane left Cascavel, Brazil, shortly before noon local time, heading northeast to its destination near Sao Paulo.
The aircraft had been cruising at 17,000 feet until 1:21 pm local time, when it appears the plane began losing altitude before climbing and then falling again. It would eventually descend roughly 17,000 feet in just one minute before spiraling into the ground and crashing.
An official says the aircraft didn't report for an emergency before the disaster, according to preliminary investigations.
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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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Now 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 via 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 aid package for Ukraine valued at $125 million.
Parts of Haiti's capital are showing signs of normalcy again, after months of gang violence and unrest. And that's in part due to the arrival of a multinational security mission led by Kenyan police.
But the struggle against the danger is far from over. Now in this exclusive report, CNN's Larry Madowo gained access to the mission and rode along as they battled the gangs through the streets of Port-au- Prince.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gun battles rage on the street outside one of Haiti's biggest hospitals. Kenyan police here to help local forces take back the capital from the gangs. The first 400 officers from Nairobi quickly learning how volatile Port-au-Prince can be.
Minutes earlier, CNN was touring what is left of the hospital after gangs trashed it. The country's interim prime minister telling us it was just reclaimed.
GARRY CONILLE, INTERIM HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: There is no tactical or strategic value for the gangs taking over this. This is really just about, you know, completely discrediting the state.
MADOWO: Is enough funding coming through for the multinational security support mission here?
CONILLE: Unfortunately, not enough and not quickly enough. Now we understand there are a lot of emergencies going on out there. And we understand there is, to a certain extent, some Haiti fatigue. The good news is that there is hope.
MADOWO (voice-over): Midway through the interview, shots ring out.
MADOWO: Right.
CONILLE: This was really --
MADOWO (voice-over): The security details springs into action.
MADOWO: We've been told we have to leave now. We've had shots in the air. The gangs are getting close up.
MADOWO (voice-over): The prime minister and our team are rushed away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got your microphone.
MADOWO (voice-over): The constant menace of gang violence dominating life here, even for the country's leader.
As night falls, we head out on patrol with Kenya's elite police forces who have been brought in to help turn things around.
MADOWO: They're using four of these American supplied MRAPs or tactical vehicles and we're going to patrol from the airport, which used to be under gang control until very recently, into the downtown area, which is still contested.
MADOWO (voice-over): CNN was granted exclusive access to film the Kenyans leading an international security force that is expected to grow to 2,500 officers from 12 countries, funded mainly by the United States.
Haitian police lead the way as a convoy scan surrounding buildings for any suspicious activity. We soon come under fire. Thousands of bullets hit the vehicles.
MADOWO: The officers are very casual about it.
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They're calling it rain. I guess they're used to it. Just -- we're hearing a few more from this side of the truck.
MADOWO (voice-over): Some of these men in Haiti say they have fought al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists on the Kenya-Somalia border.
MADOWO: Do you think you guys can bring peace here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a lot of confidence that we are going to win this battle.
MADOWO (voice-over): More gun shots as we turn back but the police decide not to engage. Back at headquarters, the damage from the night becomes clear.
With 85 percent of Port-au-Prince under gang control, civilians here are paying a heavy price. This is one of the few operational hospitals in the capital, located in the city's red zone and surrounded by gang territory.
Twenty-two-year-old Natali Marti (ph) has brought her malnourished baby in for treatment. She was raped by a gang member, she tells me, and has had to flee her home because of the violence. The hospital lost half of its staff last year. Those remaining are determined not to give up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to fight back.
MADOWO: You can't leave it for the gang members?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't leave it for gang. Someone has to fight back. Someone has to stand up.
MADOWO (voice-over): With an estimated 2 million Haitians living in fear of being raped or killed in their homes, fighting back against the gangs is now an international effort. Haitian forces and their allies need resources but leaders here tell us funding and equipment are not arriving fast enough.
GODFREY OTUNGE, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL SECURITY SUPPORT MISSION TO HAITI: It's a matter of support. If they can be given the equipment that they need, these are the brave and courageous people.
MADOWO (voice-over): Through it all, this wary nation still has high hopes for peace -- Larry Madowo, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, it's the last full day of competition in the Paris Games. When we come back, we go live to Paris and speak with gold medalist Daniel Wiffen on making Irish history at the Olympics. 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.
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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 are tied for most gold medals with 33 each.
The U.S. maintains its lead with most medals overall and could add one more medal to its count as the U.S. Women's water polo team faces off against the Netherlands in the bronze medal match, which is currently underway.
All right, joining me now, live from Paris is CNN "WORLD SPORT" anchor, Amanda Davies. So dozens of gold medals still on the line today, the last full day of
competition. But first, take us through the best from Friday.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there was a whole lot we could be talking about from Friday. We've got one of those generations of stars in the men's 400 hurdles that we really have been lucky to witness.
But it was one that the U.S. record holder, Rai Benjamin, feared was going to leave him without the medal he deserved. But last night 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: Be light, be cool.
Well, Kenya's Beatrice Chebet did that and did an incredible distance double at a 10,000 meter goal to her 5,000 crown from earlier in the games, to scupper the hopes of defending champion Sifan Hassan. It is Kenya's first gold in the women's 10,000 at 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 the two. A real battle coming all the way down to the final event against Team GB's Katarina Johnson- Thompson, the 800 meters.
But both ran a personal best but ultimately, Thiam victorious again over last year's world champion.
And speaking of battles, what a men's football final it was. And despite all the home support and a packed Parc de France (ph) and the legend that is Thierry Henry, guarding the French side, the all too familiar story of recent times in football. Spain emerging as the winner.
They had to fight for it. They came back from 3-1 down to force extra time. Ultimately, they won it 5-3 to take Olympic gold for the first time since 1992. This under 23 success adding of course, to that European championship victory from Berlin last month.
Men's under-19 European success and women's World Cup victory last year as well.
And many of us got an education here on Friday, didn't we, as Olympic breaking or breakdancing, as you might know it.
Made its debut. It was Japan's Ami Yuasa, who took the first ever Olympic gold, we've got the men's final today. But who knows if we're going to see it again, it's already been dropped from the agenda for L.A. in 2028.
Now a week ago Ireland's Daniel Wiffen became the first Irish man to win any Olympic medal, of any color in swimming, doing it in style, taking gold in the 800 meter freestyle and setting a new Olympic record as well.
He followed that with bronze in the 1,500 free. But rather than kicking back, relaxing and soaking in some Parisian sunshine, then decided to give the men's open-water 10k race a go. In the same, finishing 18th and afterwards saying it's probably one of the worst things he has ever done.
Well from that to joining us live here, welcome. Gone.
Why was it so bad?
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DANIEL WIFFEN, IRISH SWIMMER: Oh, it was just so hard, just off and then -- when you get punched in the face, it really becomes real.
And then you've got at least two hours after the race. And yes, it was very hard.
DAVIES: When you say punched in the face, you mean kicked in the face in the water?
WIFFEN: Yes. Yes. No, it's all part of the sport. So a contact sport and then, yes. Out again, the whole two-hour race. It's kind of a bit of a brutal thing to do.
DAVIES: And you could have gone off and just enjoyed it. I have to ask, there's been a lot of talk about the water.
Did you have any concerns in terms of E. coli or pollution or ... ?
WIFFEN: I had no concerns. I mean, we were getting daily reports and it turns out that the water levels, yes, service is maybe less than something (INAUDIBLE) --
(CROSSTALK)
WIFFEN: -- levels. So actually wasn't that bad in the end.
DAVIES: And the pool most certainly is you're happiest place than the river, isn't it?
[05:35:00]
I mean, you stood here with these two medals around your neck. It was epic by 800, particularly. How do you reflect on it now?
WIFFEN: Yes, I mean, it was amazing. I set my sights ever since I was younger really and since Tokyo, place in 14th. And every year I just wanted to keep progressing and then to come away with a gold, which I dreamed of.
It was amazing and it was great to share it with my family and my coaches, they were all there as well and I -- and I shed a tear on the podium as well. So (INAUDIBLE) --
DAVIES: Yes.
I mean, are you ready for what is going to hit you when you get home?
What has the reaction been like?
Because I'm guessing you're kind of in a bit of a bubble here while you've been enjoying the Paris event and occasion.
WIFFEN: Yes.
I mean, I'm probably not ready for it. I've heard it's going to be like a crazy. I mean, we are in the Irish house last night and it was already crazy. I was taking photos for at least two hours. And then even walking out of Champs-Elysees, I say, when I'm in an item here in France and people are stopping me every two steps.
So it's going to be -- I'm sure it's going to be very crazy.
DAVIES: And I mean, that's probably, I'm guessing, not only because of the medals around your neck but you've started something of a movement here at the games yourself, Stephen Nedoroscik, the kind of making glasses cool again.
WIFFEN: Maybe it's the nerdy look (INAUDIBLE), I don't know. But. no it's pretty cool. And I don't know. It's just some stuff (INAUDIBLE). I mean, I saw them at Kenya because were going to put the pool behind us, ready for the 10k.
But yes, I'm sure we're going to be celebrating a lot and I'm looking forward to the closing ceremony as well.
DAVIES: Any commercial deals in the offing in terms of the glasses, you had any approaches as yet?
WIFFEN: Yes, I have a couple --
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIES: I just asked you that as a joke.
(CROSSTALK)
WIFFEN: (INAUDIBLE). DAVIES: And the other thing that you are known for is your role in "Game of Thrones." I confess I am not one of those game of thrones fan girls. But how did it come about?
WIFFEN: Yes.
My mom needs to be my -- manage that account over the twins' Multiverse Association, a charity for twins. And they came looking for twins because the need child actors, you know, they only have a certain amount of hours they can work. Then so these twin is basically doubles. They get double the amount of time.
And they came looking, they really liked the look of me and my brother. Finally, got that "Game of Thrones" look, (INAUDIBLE). I'm happy to be afraid. I don't know if people really want that look but that's what I have.
And then, yes. We got Cassie (ph), my sister is also in it and, I mean, they've actually, I think, maybe invite us back at some point as well for "House of Dragons." So it'll be pretty cool.
DAVIES: Oh, I love it, which, of course, works very well in the family.
Though we're all in here. That, I mean, is there more nerves appearing in "Game of Thrones" or lining up for an Olympic 800 meter freestyle final?
WIFFEN: I think 800 meter freestyle final just about hits it.
But no, it's great. I mean, I don't remember much of "Game of Thrones." I obviously see the scene. I'm only in it for like 40 seconds but it's crazy to say that I'm in one of the most famous TV shows.
DAVIES: One of the most famous TV shows ever. And one of the most famous (INAUDIBLE) events on the planet.
What are you going to do between now and the closing ceremony?
How are you going to make the most of Paris, now you are done with the swimming?
WIFFEN: Well, I said I might have to be done for the party and so I did last night. So maybe today is all about maybe embracing it and I'm going to see my family as well. I mean, (INAUDIBLE) I've been separated with them because I've been trying not to get ill.
So I've just been -- so I think I'll see my family, having chats with my friends and then get ready for the closing and get ready for the open top bus ride (INAUDIBLE).
DAVIES: And what is the moment you're going to take with you when you -- when you're sitting back in like 20, 30 years, reflecting on this moment? What do you think will be the image that stands out in your mind?
WIFFEN: I think it will -- definitely the most thing I'm going to remember, as I said it after today's free final, that when I walk back at home, I hear my twin brother's voice, only voice I heard. I thought the memory would last me forever and obviously seeing the gold medal.
I mean, it's going to remind me every day.
DAVIES: What does your twin brother say to you?
WIFFEN: He's just like, let's go, you've got it. That's all I heard.
DAVIES: You did have it. Congratulations. It's been a real pleasure to speak to you.
I love it. Plenty of celebrations here and, of course, still to come to enjoy that bus ride in Dublin, plenty more of action.
And we've only got two days left, so two days now, Kim. We're going to make the most of every second.
BRUNHUBER: Great to hear his story.
Thanks so much, Amanda Davies, in Paris, appreciate that.
All right, still to come, Elon Musk under fire from U.S. election officials, blaming his AI chatbot for sharing misinformation on the upcoming election. That's next on CNN. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The major party nominees in the U.S. Presidential election took their campaigns West on Friday. Republican Donald Trump held a rally in Montana. Yes, his fundraisers scheduled for Wyoming and Colorado later today.
And Democratic rival Kamala Harris' next stop is Las Vegas, Nevada. She campaigned in the battleground state of Arizona on Friday and vowed to sign the bipartisan border security bill that failed to pass Congress. Here she is.
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HARRIS: Earlier this year, we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades. But Donald Trump tanked the deal.
Because he thought, by doing that, it would help him win an election. But when I am president, I will sign the bill. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Donald Trump continued with his promises to make America great again and push back against Democrats, who've been calling him weird.
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TRUMP: No, we're not. We're very solid people. We want to have strong borders. We want to have good elections. We want to have low interest rates, we want to be able to buy a house. We want great education. We want strong borders. I think we're very -- actually, I think we're the opposite of -- they're weird.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Harris and Trump have both agreed to their first debate to be held on September 10th. Next week, President Biden will make his first public appearance with Harris since dropping out of the race and passing the torch to his vice president.
U.S. election officials are slamming Elon Musk and his AI chatbot for spreading misinformation about the 2024 race.
A bipartisan group of secretaries of state sent Musk a letter claiming his chatbot on the X social media platform was incorrectly telling users that Vice President Kamala Harris missed the ballot deadline in several battleground states. They say that's not true and they're urging Musk to make changes.
The officials say the false claims about Harris have reached millions of people. CNN has reached out to X for comment.
For more on this, I want to bring in Noah Giansiracusa, who joins me now from Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and he's a math sciences professor at Bentley University and the author of the book, "How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News."
I got there in the end with your name. Thanks so much for being here --
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BRUNHUBER: -- really appreciate it. So listen, let's just start base level here.
How much misinformation exactly is X's chatbot spreading?
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PROF. NOAH GIANSIRACUSA, MATH SCIENCES, BENTLEY UNIVERSITY: Well, it's hard to measure these things. First of all, it's hard to say what is or is not misinformation then it's hard to quantify this. But I think that big picture to keep in mind is this is a chatbot
that's been touted as being very timely and fresh and relevant because its trained on live Twitter -- or, as they now call it, X data.
So you have to ask yourself, if you have a chatbot that's trained on social media data, what do you expect it to produce?
The kind of stuff you see on social media. And there's a lot of misinformation on social media.
BRUNHUBER: So do we know what Grok -- that's the -- X's chatbot.
Do we know what Grok's politics are?
Does it tend to be extreme right wing or left?
GIANSIRACUSA: That's a great question.
AI chatbots don't have an understanding of the world, so they can't really have actual beliefs and views. They don't -- they don't have a conception of who is what and what's morally right. They just are these statistical entities that try to guess words.
So it's not like it believes what Democrats believe or believes what conservatives believe.
That said, it can have statistical tendencies that lean more toward Democrat talking points or Republican talking points. It's very difficult to know from the -- from looking at its behavior how it's been programmed. With AI, it really depends on the data which, as I said, includes a lot of Twitter data.
And we do know that Twitter has been leaning more toward the Right, largely because Elon Musk has been alienating a lot of liberal users. And he's been drawing a lot of conservative users.
So I think what we're seeing on Twitter is reflected on the chatbot and that's what he wants to happen. And that is what's happening. So there's no surprise. But once you really think about it, that's what you'd expect to happen.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And Elon Musk has allowed more extremists to go back onto the platform.
I guess what you're saying, in terms of the input, the saying, "garbage in, garbage out," is basically what's going on here. And then to exacerbate the problem, I guess, there are fewer guardrails now because Elon Musk essentially got rid of them.
GIANSIRACUSA: Yes, that's right.
There was a -- Twitter's always had issues. We all know this. But there used to be a large trust and safety team that protected a lot of people, looked at harassment. And one of the things they looked at was dangerous misinformation. That doesn't mean they were censoring people and that there was no
right to free speech. It just means, as a company, they wanted their product to try to limit some of the harms it did. And disinformation can cause harms, especially in the context of an election.
That's like the most important time when you want the truth to rise above. And Elon Musk, he's had not just a hands-off approach but he fired a lot of this team. Now it's more of the Wild West of whatever gets the most engagement and goes viral is what people see.
He says it's very free speech oriented. You can say whatever you want. But if you think about it, we're just giving megaphones to the people, the biggest megaphone to the people who get the most engagement. So yes, I guess you could say it's free speech. You can say what you want.
But people who lie the loudest are going to get the most reach. That's just how misinformation works.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And they've been calling for change. I wonder how likely Elon Musk is to act on that, given that he himself has been sort of a huge purveyor of online misinformation.
The non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate found that false or misleading claims about the U.S. election that Elon Musk has posted to X this year have generated nearly 1.2 billion views. I mean, that's insane.
GIANSIRACUSA: Yes.
I mean I hate to say it but it's just been so sad to see that the direction he personally seems to have gone. He's alienating his children. He's offending so many people. And this is not like liberal snowflakes being very sensitive.
He's just taken this real, authoritarian, right-wing shift in his views. And that's being reflected in his social media platform, X. And it's also being reflected in this chatbot.
As for what we can do about this, it's very tricky because the government -- we have such a strong free speech protections in the U.S. that there's little the government can do. So we hope that companies will really try to do the right thing.
And I don't think his company is. Sometimes the public can stand up and we can have things like advertiser boycotts. But now Elon Musk is suing advertisers for stepping off his platform.
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GIANSIRACUSA: He's taking all the weapons away that we used to have to fight this stuff.
BRUNHUBER: Exactly. He sued that group into extinction, essentially. So all right. The government limited on what they can do if the company is not going to act. So bottom line for the viewers who use these platforms, what can we
do?
What -- how do we know what's true and what's not?
What advice do you have as we go into this crucial election period?
GIANSIRACUSA: Well, there's this thing called journalists. And they do something called fact checking.
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GIANSIRACUSA: So I recommend following --
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BRUNHUBER: Familiar with those, yes.
GIANSIRACUSA: -- look, you know, watch programs with people you trust and respect.
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Look at their work that's been vetted. I know there's a desire to get information at the microsecond level as soon as stories break. I get into that. It's exciting. But just know the reason professional journalism is often slower than social media is because it takes time to do it properly, to vet, to fact-check.
And what difference does it make in your life, if you're the viewer, if you get your news 10 minutes later or an hour later?
I think that delay is worth higher quality and higher accuracy. We don't have to get everything instantly. And that's what social media is pushing us toward, the speed rather than accuracy.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, unfortunately, trust in traditional journalism has been getting lower and lower. But hopefully, people will listen and they'll take advice from that. Noah Giansiracusa. Thank you so much for being here with us. Really appreciate it.
GIANSIRACUSA: Always.
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BRUNHUBER: All right.
And we'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: Thursday marked the first anniversary of the Hawaii wildfires that devastated Lahaina on Maui. The nation's deadliest wildfire in more than a century destroyed the historic town, killing 102 people.
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In remembrance, dozens of surfers, boaters and paddlers put together a paddle-out, a traditional ritual in Hawaii that honors loved ones. 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.
One survivor talked about how difficult the last 12 months has been.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a long year just dealing with everything. But you know, with the strength of God, that helped me through everything. Family and friends.
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BRUNHUBER: 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. 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. Rainfall associated with Debby should be leaving northern New England in the coming hours.
All right.
Well, how much would you pay for a couple of pounds of coffee?
How about $10,000?
Have a look at this.
At 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's grown at a high altitude and in volcanic soil.
At $10,000 a kilo, one cup would cost between $70 and $80.
At this point, I would pay that for a cup of coffee right about now.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES."
