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Race For White House Enters Pivotal Week; Israeli Source: Hamas Leader Wants A Ceasefire Deal; Gymnast Chiles Stripped Of Individual Bronze Medal, U.S. To Appeal; Uvalde Officials Release Additional Files Two Years After Tragedy; Ukrainian Forces Pushing Into Russia; 2,500-Plus Police Officers Deployed For Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 11, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:42]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague, Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv. Wolf, we'll get to you in a moment.

But first, we begin this hour with the race for the White House approaching another pivotal week with the campaigns fine-tuning their messages and sharpening their attacks.

Vice President Harris and her running mate Tim Walz just wrapped up their introductory tour with a week-long campaign blitz of battleground states. And with the National Democratic Convention just now eight days away, The Harris campaign will now look to build on new polling this weekend, showing Kamala Harris gaining with likely voters in the must-win swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Meantime, former president Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, are scrambling to adapt to their new opponents and slow their momentum. Trumps spent the weekend campaigning in Montana and fundraising in Wyoming and Colorado.

And in an interview with CNN, Vance tried to turn the tables on his vice-presidential opponent Governor Tim Walz after Walz called the Republican ticket weird.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: I want to move on to something that Governor Walz has called you and Donald Trump, and that is "weird".

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Sure.

BASH: And it has taken off.

VANCE: Well, certainly they've levied that charge against me more than anybody else, but I think that it drives home how they're trying to distract from their own policy failures.

I mean, look, this is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff. they can accuse me of whatever they want to accuse me of. As Harry S. Truman once said, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

And I'm doing this because I think that me being vice president will help improve people's lives. So I accept their attacks, but I think that it is a little bit of projection, Dana, if you think about, you know, just take a couple of days ago, Tim Walz gives this big speech. He's been announced as the VP nominee.

And I remember when I had just been announced as a VP nominee, I gave my big speech and I saw my wife and I gave her a big hug and a kiss because I love my wife and I think that's what a normal person does.

Tim Walz gave his wife a nice, firm midwestern handshake and then tried to sort of awkwardly correct for it.

So I think that what it is, is two people Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who aren't comfortable in their own skin because they're uncomfortable with their policy positions for the American people.

And so they're name-calling instead of actually telling the American people how they're going to make their lives better. I think that's weird, Dana, but look, they can call me whatever they want to.

BASH: You're saying Tim Walz doesn't have affection for his wife? I don't even understand that?

VANCE: I said that he acted weird, which he did, on a national stage in front of his wife and in front of millions of Americans who presumably were watching at home. And I think that its projection, Dana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Later on this hour, Vice President Harris is expected to speak at a fundraiser in San Francisco. And it's just the latest campaign event in a whirlwind week for the new Democratic ticket.

Last night in Nevada, Vice President Harris and her running mate held the final rally of their opening week blitz of battleground states. And they once again and used a rally speech to draw a contrast with Trump and Vance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the (INAUDIBLE) of President of the United States.

In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his every day of the week. GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Again and again and

again, Donald Trump made decisions to weaken this country to strengthen his own hand. If this guy gets an opportunity, again, he won't only pick up where he left off, it will be much worse than it was last time.

WHITFIELD: CNN's Kevin Liptak joining us right now.

Kevin, good to see you. What more can you tell us about what Harris had to say last night? How the campaign hopes to build on their momentum ahead of the Democratic convention as well.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, this rally was really an exclamation point on this five-city introductory tour for the Harris-Walz ticket. An enormous amount of energy, an enormous amount of enthusiasm that they've seen taken all together.

[14:04:51]

LIPTAK: They've spoken to tens of thousands of people at their rallies this weekend. And the enthusiasm also extends to their fundraising.

At that fundraiser in San Francisco later today, she's the expected to bring in more than $12 million into her campaign war chest.

So it is quite a marked difference from just a month ago when President Biden was the Democratic standard bearer. But at the same time, there are challenges ahead.

The Harris campaign says they're the underdogs, and I think Kamala Harris would admit herself that good vibes alone aren't going to win this election.

To that end, we did see Harris speaking to reporters yesterday saying that just this upcoming week, she does plan to roll out some new policy proposals, specifically focused on the economy and lowering prices for Americans.

In fact, she just began that policy rollout last night in Las Vegas revealing a proposal to eliminate federal income taxes on tips. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: so that's obviously an enormously popular proposal in Las Vegas where so many workers are in the hospitality industry. It's also a proposal that President Trump has raised and he has wasted no time in saying that Kamala Harris was copying him.

A Harris campaign official says that she plans to work with Congress to get this over the finish line. She would include income requirements. She would include provisions to make sure that fraud wasn't included in this proposal as well.

But it is sort of a continuation of this campaign that she's on this week. We will see her as well on Thursday with President Biden continuing this focus on the economy. That will be their first official joint appearance since she replaced him atop the Democratic ticket.

You know, it will be interesting going forward to see just how much President Biden is on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris. We did hear from him in an interview today, he said he plans to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help the most, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Kevin Liptak, we're going to play that soundbite a little bit later on. So stay tuned for that. Thank you so much.

All right. Here to discuss right now is Shira Stein, Washington correspondent for "The San Francisco Chronicle". Good to see you. Good to see you, Shira.

So you've been covering Harris for quite a bit now. What do you expect that reception will be like for her as she returns to San Francisco today. House -- former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be there. 700 people have RSVP'd and already they've earned something like $12 million in fundraising dollars for that event.

SHIRA STEIN, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Fredricka, I expect it to be a celebratory homecoming more than anything else. She is a Bay Area girl through and through even though she's lived in L.A. the last few years. And politicians in the Bay Area love to claim her, love to talk about how long they've known her, love to tell you stories about her from earlier in her career.

And I expect we'll see much of the same during the fundraiser today.

WHITFIELD: so talk to me about the story that Republicans are trying to tell of Kamala Harris. They're targeting Harris, labeling her as a San Francisco liberal, which you note in a lot of the pieces that you've been writing is a label, the party has used against Democrats for decades.

So what does it mean to be called that? And how does that label match up with Harris' his actual record, either as a prosecutor or as California attorney general?

STEIN: Republicans have used this against Democrats for decades. She has always gotten this. It's sort of a -- I don't want to use the word "dog whistle" because it's not about race but it's sort of a dog whistle to say, oh, the people on the coast that we don't like who are Democrats. That's the way the Republicans have used this.

Harris' policy positions have for much of her career been considered pretty moderate within the Democratic Party. Now, she has changed, grown in some of her policy positions in the last decade or two. But I think if you talk to people about the actual policy positions that she has taken in the past, they would not consider her to be too far left, but it's an easy attack for President Trump.

It gets fascinating, they're trying to paint Tim Walz, her vice- presidential running mate, as a San Francisco liberal considering he's from Minnesota and has spent very little time in California.

so I think that'll be -- that will be -- it's sort of -- it's sort of an unusual way to paint him.

WHITFIELD: So I guess it's also been noted that the vice president has changed course on some of the policies that she championed in her 2020 campaign.

[14:09:48]

WHITFIELD: She no longer supports a fracking ban or a single-payer health care system. Trump likes to associate Harris with those things, anyway. What are Californians, who feel they know her, saying about this?

STEIN: I think most of the Californians that I'm talking to right now they just want her to win. They're really focused on getting her to win. And you know, the people who know her are definitely focused on that.

The activists on the ground now they're definitely pushing her on some of those issues. I expect to continue seeing that on Gaza, on immigration, on environment.

And I think what well see in Chicago about where she goes with those things, about where her policies actually stand. I didn't get a chance to ask her, but I was with her in Phoenix earlier this week.

And I would really love to hear does she still support some of these policies? Why has she changed her position on them and where does she stand in sort of comparison to the president because she still is obviously his vice president. And so she has to sort of toe a line of supporting him but also carving her own path.

WHITFIELD: I pulled a portion from one of the articles that you've written about her. And you wrote that -- and I'm quoting now from that article, "Many Republicans aren't delving too deeply into Harris' relationships or specific positions from her time as San Francisco election official and are instead suggesting rather that her affiliation with the city alone makes her too far left."

So how do you see her potentially responding on that?

STEIN: I'm not sure that she's going to respond directly to that. I think we're more likely going to see some of that coming from surrogates on the campaign trail and not explicitly because it doesn't really work if she's directly combating oh, I'm not a San Francisco liberal because you still want to keep that wing of the party. So I think it's going to be a lot more subtly that they're going to

talk about policies like the tip wage and dealing with those income taxes, things that are maybe seen as a little bit more moderate and something that you know, people on both sides of the aisle appreciate.

So I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of those kind of moderate policies as a way to combat that. But we could, we could see her stepping out on certain things.

Obviously, she has gone ahead of the president on some issues speaking to Gaza, so I think if we keep an eye on that, we'll kind of see the path she's going to draw forward.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Shira Stein with the "San Francisco Chronicle", thanks so much.

STEIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Let's go now to Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right. Fred, thank you very much.

We're getting new details right now about the upcoming Gaza ceasefire, hostage release negotiations. Sources now telling CNN that the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wants a deal.

CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is here with me in Tel Aviv.

Nic, this is certainly potentially a very positive sign. How would the two sides dealing with this right now, and what are the major differences?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: One of the things they asked a source today is are you talking to Yahya Sinwar directly because he's in a tunnel somewhere in Gaza and out of communication. And he said, actually no, we're dealing with another very senior representative from Hamas, but we're trusting that this is the position. So there's a potential for a disconnect there.

There's obviously a huge amount of pressure at the moment to try to stop Iran taking a retaliatory strike against it Israel. And Hezbollah, the same and the mechanism to do that at the moment is seen as presenting the real possibility of a ceasefire here.

So in a way, if Hamas is saying we'll go for that deal, that puts pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to get on board with a deal. And that puts pressure on President Biden to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to get on board with a deal.

So this could be Hamas posturing, but it's certainly what I'm getting from diplomats and other -- and CNN's other reporters Jeremy Diamond is getting this from his sources as well. So we're hearing this from a number of places, this narrative that

Hamas wants the deal, but the test will be, does Prime Minister Netanyahu want it and precisely what, what is the deal that they're agreeing that they want.

BLITZER: And the negotiations will resume formally with representatives from all the sides this coming Thursday, right?

ROBERTSON: So in theory, Hezbollah and Lebanon whose commander was killed, senior military commander was killed by the IDF just over a week and a half ago and the Iranians in Tehran who -- where Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed a week-and-a-half ago, they will both hold their fire until Thursday to see how the talks go.

[14:14:49]

ROBERTSON: But as we know from other sources, there's a theory that says one or both of them may strike in a limited way even as early as tomorrow.

So you can see the diplomacy here is centered around just slowing the dynamic of retaliation down to try to move the ball forward. And perhaps we won't know until Thursday if it can be moved.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens.

President Biden gave an interview to CBS News and then aired this morning on CBS. And I want to run this little clip of what he says is the possibility of a deal. And what would happen if there's no deal. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is ceasefire possible before the end of your term.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes. It's still possible. The plan I put together endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, et cetera is still viable. And I'm working literally every single day to -- and my whole team to see to it that it doesn't escalate into a regional war.

But it easily can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What jumped out at me "it easily can escalate into a regional war". That's what everyone here in Tel Aviv and certainly throughout the region is very concerned about right now.

ROBERTSON: Oh, absolutely. You know, if Iran has a retaliatory strike, miscalculates, kills civilians, then there's an escalation there. If Hezbollah, the same. The escalation can easily happen.

If it doesn't happen now, with the ongoing conflict in Gaza, it can happen again around a different scenario. But I think, you know, President Biden's G7 allies, President Biden's friends and allies at the United Nations a role looking to him and his administration to apply the pressure on the Israeli prime minister to make the difficult concessions for him particularly given members of his party are saying, no, we'll collapse the government if you do give concessions on a ceasefire.

Everyone is looking to President Biden to make that strong move -- to force, if you will, or cajole Prime Minister Netanyahu into that position. He hasn't done it so far. And there's some doubt in this region that he actually can do it.

BLITZER: There's a widespread sense that maybe Hezbollah in south Lebanon and the Iranians, they will launch some sort of strike, but it'll be limited. So it won't cause the Israelis to overreact and launch this full-scale war.

ROBERTSON: That's a theory and it becomes a stronger theory if there's a diplomatic process that's ongoing as well, because then you would be able to say to Israel, you've had these limited strikes. Maybe there'll be telegraphed like they were before. So everyone knows where they're coming, they're limited. They were on a military bases, there were -- there was one civilian casualty in Israel at that time back in April.

If there's a diplomatic track that shows promise then there's a reason for Israel not to respond. But Israel's view on deterrence says, if there's a strike and that they feel it's escalatory and their eyes, they will strike back. And that's why this is, this such a difficult and dangerous position right now.

BLITZER: And everybody agrees are all sides this week will be critical in determining if this does escalate into some sort of regional conflict.

All right. Nic, thank you very, very much. Nic Robertson, appreciate it as always.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic and Wolf, thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead. It's become one of the most iconic images of the 2024 Olympic Games. But now one of the athletes on that podium is being forced to give back her medal.

What we're learning about the last-minute decision to strip American gymnast Jordan Chiles of her Olympic bronze next.

[14:18:25]

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WHITFIELD: U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles was on cloud nine after winning an individual bronze medal on Monday. Well now, she has to return it.

The International Olympic Committee announced today that her bronze medal for gymnastics floor exercise will instead be awarded to her Romanian counterpart. And it comes after a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling on Saturday, which said the initial inquiry made by the U.S. over Chiles' score was filed after the one-minute deadline.

Chiles' original score of 13.666 would be reinstated and her competitor's ranking with a score of 13.7 would move the Romanian back to third place.

CNN sports analyst and USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan joining me right now live from Paris.

Christine, great to see you. So I mean, this is sad in so many ways, right? The U.S. Olympic Committee feels so too because now it is appealing, but to whom, because it wasn't at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and International Gymnastics Federation, which already ruled on the medal to be returned.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: That's correct, Fredricka. But you can appeal those Court of Arbitration for Sport rulings. In fact, we just watched that happen over many months with the figure skating debacle involving Kamila Valieva.

So the USOPC will throw its considerable might and heft and money at this and have the best lawyers and I fully expect when this is over, that Jordan Chiles will have a pretty good shot at getting that bronze back.

And they may well, in fact, and what they should have done, they being the International Olympic Committee and the International Gymnastics Federation, they should have just given both bronze medals.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

[14:24:50]

BRENNAN: The Romanian said yes to that. The American said yes to that. And then for some reason that is unknown to me for all my Olympics I've covered, the International Olympic committee did not say hey that's a good idea. No, they actually said the opposite.

And what they've done here at this gorgeous, spectacular Olympic Games in Paris, the final day has now been consumed by this -- by this controversy, not by the glories of Paris.

And so, yes, that's where we stand now, but it's been a very unfortunate situation. I do believe it will end up being resolved. And of course, Jordan Chiles is back in the United States and she has the medal.

So they're not going to get back anytime soon because she's got it already with her back in the States.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. How uncomfortable? And just strange, you know. And as you said, the games were pretty much, you know, blemish-free. And of course there was that historic moment of these gymnast -- Biles, Chiles, you know, bowing to Brazil's Andrade and now you're going to erase that? BRENNAN: Thats -- I'm so glad you made that point because that truly is one of the most iconic images of these Olympics and what it says it's the first time ever all black podium, three women of color, three black women on that podium. The notion of diversity, inclusion, the message that is being sent to the world about gymnastics that alone is certainly worth more than a thousand words in the picture, right?

I mean, it's just an extraordinary moment. And of course, what the IOC now is wanted to do is just smash that, just break up that moment. Another piece of the puzzle as I've said, that, I think it just makes absolutely no sense.

And it's something I've been following and I will continue to follow because people are outraged. They should be outraged. And again, the easy solution is just to make sure both got the bronze medal and everyone would have been happy as opposed to what we have now.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And on top of all that, you know, in an era of acknowledging and honoring mental health, you know, for athletes. I mean, does this kind of decision, you know, seem to dismiss the mental toll that this is taking on these two athletes.

I mean, Chiles herself on social media said, I'm out, I'm getting off social media right now because I have to take care of my mental health.

BRENNAN: Right. And In this sport of gymnastics, of all sports --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BRENNAN: -- obviously the worst sexual abuse scandal in Olympic history, in sports history, the Larry Nassar horrors and Simone Biles, of course, is a survivor of that.

The fact that Simone Biles has talked so much about her own mental health and the twisties and everything she went through three years ago.

And now, here's another woman under the microscope in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons because the adults, the older people in this sport, in the Olympics, and in gymnastics have failed. They have failed 23-year-old Jordan Chiles.

There's no other way to say it, Fredricka. It is a total failure of the system. She did nothing wrong. She deserves that bronze medal. It was a joyous moment that sent a message around the world with that picture, as you said. And now to think that it has devolved into this morass of complete lack of leadership by the IOC and by the World Gymnastics Federation.

It's appalling. It's awful. And the good news is that USOPC is on it. Some might have said, hey, why weren't they on it before.

This appeal process went so quickly that no one really even knew was happening. And of course, the whole point is that they didn't appeal within the one-minute. That's the -- that's the word that they were four seconds late.

Well, I'm going to guess when we find out that there could be evidence that the appeal did happen within the one-minute time period. Because what's going on in gymnastics floor at that moment -- there's so much going on. You're looking if you're watching on TV at a specific athlete or coach, but that is an arena with lots happening and there's language barriers and there's a clock on everything.

So I think the USOPC they feel that they've got a very strong case for Jordan Chiles. But what an unfortunate situation to be dragged through this as she has for so many days.

WHITFIELD: Right. All great points.

Christine Brennan, thank you so much from Paris. Have a safe journey back to the U.S.

BRENNAN: Thanks. Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Coming up, two years after the deadly massacre at Robb Elementary School, the city of Uvalde releasing new files related to the tragic shooting. What we're now learning about the gunman.

[14:29:23]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:33:47]

WHITFIELD: Officials in Uvalde, Texas, have now released additional files, more than two years after the horrific school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

CNN's Camila Bernal, joining me right now with more on all this.

Camila, as CNN previously reported on, many of these files which include body cam texts and more, but this release now comes after several news outlets, including CNN, filed a lawsuit to obtain these records?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred, there's audio, there's video text messages that are so hard to listen to, to watch, to read. And like you said, most of this CNN and really the outstanding team covering this shooting has already reported on and shown you, but we did learn that a man who said he was the shooter's uncle called 911 that day and begged a dispatcher to talk to his nephew, hoping that he could help end the situation.

I want you to listen to this new 911 audio.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLPI)

UNCLE OF UVALDE SHOOTER: The thing that's happening at Robb right now, he's my nephew. I was wondering, maybe he could listen to me because he does listen to me, everything I tell him, he does listen to me. Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

[14:35:01]

BERNAL: That call came into dispatch at 12:57 p.m. That was seven minutes after law enforcement had used the janitor key to get into that log classroom and killed the suspect.

Now, in another one of the 911 calls released, that was actually first reported on by CNN in the months after the shooting, you can hear a ten-year-old girl trapped in a classroom that is telling police to hurry because there were a lot of dead bodies, you know, she shouldn't have been doing that.

We also received text messages that show a group of officers expressing fear for their safety in the hours and the days after the shooting, asking if their photos could be taken off the website. One of the group chats, even mentioned that the DPS director was throwing everyone under the bus, referring obviously to the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety and in a press conference after the shooting, the DPS director did say that the on-scene commander made the wrong decision and did not attempt to get into that classroom quickly enough. He later also said that the first officers that responded acted against active shooter training, and we have reached out to ups for a response on these text messages, but have not heard back.

And just this week, the former Uvalde police chief, the school police chief, Pete Arredondo, told CNN's Ed Lavandera that he felt like he was scapegoated from that very beginning. And there's still so many questions and law enforcement has been heavily criticized for their failed response.

Now, remember, it took them 77 minutes for officers at the school to confront this shooter. So the families of the 19 children and two teachers that were killed, there still dealing with all of this and, Fred, they want accountability still. They're waiting.

WHITFIELD: Camila Bernal, tell us more as you learn it. Thank you so much.

BERNAL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tonight, Donie O'Sullivan dives back into the world of misinformation in a new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" airing tonight at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

All right. Still ahead, evacuations are underway in one region of Russia as Ukrainian forces carry out their largest assault into Russian territory since the start of the war. What Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is saying about the latest offensive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:48] WHITFIELD: Six days into Ukraine's a surprise cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now confirmed Kyiv's troops are fighting inside Russia. The announcement has become a major embarrassment for the Kremlin as videos emerge online that appear to show Ukrainian troops taking down Russian flags in the region and replacing them with Ukrainian flags.

CNN's Clare Sebastian has more from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Russia is clearly racing to try to stem the Ukrainian advance into its territory now, almost a week since it begun. The ministry of defense putting out this video purportedly of a strike on a Ukrainian military convoy, some five armored vehicles on Sunday. And, well, CNN has geo-located this to about 14 kilometers his from the border near where the ministry of defense claimed to have thwarted Ukrainian advances last week.

Now, it's unclear at this point whether Russian efforts have slowed the advance. But the question for Ukraine as Russia amassed its forces and evacuated tens of thousands of civilians, is how long they can hold on. And if holding on, even occupying pockets of Russian territory as part of the plan, videos like these have started to surface online of Ukrainian troops replacing Russian flags with Ukrainian ones.

Now after days of silence, only dropping hints about the operation, President Zelenskyy addressed it directly for the first time on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-chief Syrskyii regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war on to the aggressor's territory. I'm grateful to every unit of defense forces ensuring that. Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor.

SEBASTIAN: Well, that pressure not enough to prevent another bleak chapter in an increasingly deadly summer for Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine's air force Sunday saying that Russia fired for North Korean ballistic missiles, part of a combined overnight missile and drone attack that killed a father and his 14 son in a suburb of Kyiv, Ukraine.

Now grappling with a new front inside Russia and an evolving enemy, likely intent on hitting back harder.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, the USA women's basketball team clinching their eighth consecutive Olympic gold. The dramatic finish against France, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:49:04]

WHITFIELD: Okay, the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games is just minutes away now, marking the end of 19 days of competition between the best athletes in the world. The Eiffel Tower, a venue for the games, was evacuated, by the way, I had to have a little extra something is the closing of the games after a man was spotted scaling the structure.

Paris security services, it's now shifting the focus to the closing ceremony, deploying more than 2,500 police officers to the event. A pretty stark contrast to the 45,000 officers or law enforcement for the opening ceremony, much of it along the River Seine.

And CNN's Coy Wire is wrapping it up there in Paris.

I know you're sad. You've had an amazing run there, introducing us to so many great athletes and having wonderful moment.

So the final medal of the games went to Team USA in women's basketball. Were you there because I know you were at the men's gold medal game, right?

[14:50:02]

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This was a rare -- yes. And talk about a rare nail-biter for the U.S. women. I mean, this is a team that entered the game with an Olympic winning streak that dates back to 1996. This went down to the wire, or should I say the painted line? Because France hit a buzzer beater, Fredricka, and the crowd exploded thinking that the host nation has just shocked the world, sending it to overtime.

But Gabby Williams' foot was on the line. It was only a two, so it ended up being heartbreak for France, elation for the U.S. and eighth straight Olympic gold. And with that win, Team USA emerges victorious, on the final event of the summer games to tie China at 40 gold medals each, the U.S. blown everyone away in total medal count.

So, now, Fredricka, all this left is closing ceremony. Tonight, it'll be swimming legend Katie Ledecky and rower Nick Mead carrying the flag for the U.S. and they'll have a very unique look. The official outfitters fearless leader, David Lauren told us the inspiration behind the look we're going to see. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LAUREN, CHIEF BRANDING AND INNOVATION OFFICER, RALPH LAUREN: We had this concept. It was very graphic, very bold. It's kind of a moto- inspired jacket, which is trending and fashion now. And it's -- it's less understated than the opening ceremonies which were ambassadors on a global stage. This is a little more fast, a little more exciting. I think a little sexier. I think you're going to have fun with it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. Vroom, vroom, Fredricka, to help celebrate all the nations and their athletes at closing ceremony. We're expecting Snoop Dogg, Billie Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Her, and others to perform marking the official hand over to the 2028 Los Angeles Games and the end of these incredible games here in Paris.

WHITFIELD: Oh, I mean, it's been a great to watch, but yeah, I'm looking forward to the closing. And, Snoop, I mean, he is the official mascot of these Olympics Games and something tells me he'll be doing it again in L.A.

WIRE: Drop it like it's hot.

WHITFIELD: Drop it like it's hot.

All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

All right, Paris, maybe too hot for the Summer Games, by the way, to ever return to that city past host cities like Rome, Atlanta, Tokyo in Athens, were games, were the games originated Athens, that is, will all apparently be too hot by 2050 to host the summer games ever again, according to new data from the climate non-profit group, carbon plan in the coming decades as several cities will experience way beyond safe temperatures.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here with more about all this.

So, oh my gosh. I mean, we're running out of places to host the games because of the heat.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, unless you want to be up in the mountains or they're not really in summer --

WHITFIELD: No, that would be -- not that would not be the Summer Games.

RAFFA: Right. It just -- that's how hot the planet is getting.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

RAFFA: And I want to show you Paris hosted the Olympics 100 years ago, and we have had warming since then in 1924, to now, Paris has warmed 5-1/2 degrees. So we're talking, that's a more than 80 more scorching nights over 68 degrees and more than 120 scorching days over 86 degrees, right?

So, it has already gotten warmer in some of these host cities. And when you go forward and look at, okay, well, what about future sites by 2050? Look at all the cities that get too warm -- Beijing, Rio, Athens, Atlanta. And they're using wet bulb temperature here, which is a measure of not just the heat, but the heat with humidity and shade, and wind, and all things that our body would react to. So it's measuring heat stress and there's so many of these iconic places that fall off the map because it is too hot, too dangerous for athletes. WHITFIELD: So this is, this is telling for them those countries that

want to host upcoming games as well, like India, Indonesia, Qatar. I mean, those places are already measuring to be too hot. They want to host the games maybe as early as 2036, at least they're putting their biddings in for that isn't going to happen for them?

RAFFA: These are places that extreme heat is what they're known for, right? If you think back to the World Cup that was in Qatar, remember they did it in like November, December, again because it was too hot to do it in the summer. So if we look at a map of all of the places that will be too hot by 2050. Look at all of those brown dots. Its most of the Eastern U.S., you could see India, a lot of Eastern Asia, all of these iconic places that have already hosted the Olympics.

So now what? Do we -- what are some solutions do we host the Olympics, not in summer. If you pick a place in the southern hemisphere, you could still have this summer months of May, June, July, August.

But for them, that's their cooler season, right? They did that in --

WHITFIELD: If you're asking me --

RAFFA: Right?

WHITFIELD: No, I'm not liking, but I understand. I mean, the world is big, but when you look at the map like that because of climate change or global warming, it's a problem.

RAFFA: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: I'm trying to find a cool spot in the summer.

RAFFA: Yeah. So it will become increasingly more difficult.

WHITFIELD: Or safe, right?

[14:55:00]

RAFFA: Yeah, safe.

WHITFIELD: We're talking about safety to your body.

RAFFA: It's unsafe for the athletes, for all the people that are there. So the only way to change this is by cutting down our emissions to really stop that warming trend, to kind of ease it off.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. A lot of work to be done.

RAFFA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks for bringing us the news. I'm not going to say good or bad, just the news. I appreciate it.

Elisa Raffa, thank you so much.

We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta, alongside my colleague Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv.