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Israel Source: Hamas Leader Wants A Ceasefire Deal; Harris And Walz Wrap Up Blitz Of Key Battleground States; All 62 Bodies Recovered From Brazilian Plane Crash Site. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 11, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Fred, tensions are running very high right now here in the Middle East, very high, as negotiators are preparing to sit down for what is being described as a critical week of Gaza hostage release, ceasefire negotiations.

A source 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. CNN Jerusalem correspondent, Jeremy Diamond is reporting for us today from Haifa, Israel. That's in Northern Israel.

And Jeremy, let me start with you. I understand you have some new reporting, major reporting about Hamas and the ceasefire talks that were set to begin this Thursday. What's the latest?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf.

Earlier today, I reported that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader had effectively told the mediators and the mediators transmitted this message to the Israelis, which is that Sinwar is interested in a ceasefire agreement. He wants to go to a ceasefire deal, but Wolf, this just shows you just how quickly and fast moving these developments are. And also the fact that events on the ground can also change the situation.

Hamas is now casting doubt on its participation in that major summit set for Thursday to try and finalize a ceasefire agreement. Hamas in its latest statement is saying that they want the mediators to effectively presented plan to implement what was presented back in July. The season fire proposal that was presented back in July and move forward with that plan rather than moving to another round of negotiations.

Hamas is indicating that this latest posture on their part is due to that deadly attack that we saw yesterday on school in Gaza City where at least 93 Palestinians were killed, many of those being civilians, according to the footage that we have seen on the ground of three Israeli munitions that struck this school, and appears to have killed dozens of people with many of their bodies left torn and shredded by these munitions, images too graphic for us to even be able to show.

But it shows, Wolf, that we are at a very, very precarious moment in these negotiations. Events on the ground can certainly influence the direction of things, influence the position of the various parties and Hamas is effectively saying they believe that another round of negotiations is only going to be providing cover for the "genocide war against our people."

And so this cast doubt on whether or not Hamas will actually attend those talks on Thursday. Israeli officials have said that they will attend those talks, but there is also uncertainty on the Israeli side, Wolf.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his allies have been telling other government officials, as well as journalists, I am told that Netanyahu is interested in a ceasefire deal that he will try and achieve one regardless of the political consequences that that may have for his own governing coalition.

But I can also tell you, Wolf that the Israeli security establishment, which has been pushing the Israeli prime minister to agree to a ceasefire deal, they still have a lot of doubts about Netanyahu's actual position on these talks.

What is clear, Wolf is that there will be major, major pressure from the United States, in particular being brought to bear on the Israeli government this week try and reach a ceasefire agreement, but of course, one of the other pieces of uncertainty here is a potential attack by Hezbollah, potentially by Iran as well, and should that come before those ceasefire negotiations on Thursday, Wolf, that could put everything back into doubt once again.

BLITZER: It certainly could. Jeremy, standby, I am going to get back to you, but Nic Robertson is with me here in Tel Aviv.

Nic, there is a lot of new reporting coming in right now about a possible Iranian -- major Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel. What's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The consensus view was until this afternoon that Iran would pause because there was diplomacy in action, that there would be a better ceasefire deal in Gaza, and therefore, they would have a way not to have retaliatory straight to be able to say we care more about the Palestinians in Gaza than our right to retaliation.

But as of yesterday, they issued a statement separating out their retaliatory strike from the situation in Gaza, which opens the door for them to go through with this retaliation.

Now, I've just been talking with a diplomat in the region. He believes there still is enough time for diplomacy, but as Jeremy is reporting there about but Hamas' position, the position that we knew just a couple of hours ago that they were willing to go along with this deal, they are now indicating that they think that Prime Minister Netanyahu has put terms into this deal is incompatible. If this all sounds very familiar, it is because it is, it is because we've been here before and it sounds exactly like the sort of posturing you would expect before a very important meeting.

[15:05:12]

But the question, as you rightly put, is, are we actually going to get to that meeting before a strike? I think, certainly the hope in this region is that the talking will continue, the diplomat I am talking to think there still is enough time.

BLITZER: Because the US, Egypt, and Qatar have worked out this deal to resume the negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release program and have a meeting this coming Thursday.

The Israeli government has said they will participate. They will send a major negotiator to that talk, whether it takes place in Cairo or Doha, Qatar, or someplace else, wherever it takes place. But Hamas is now saying, they are not necessarily going to send a representative, so what does that mean?

ROBERTSON: That means that these talks cannot happen in a meaningful way. I think back to a conversation that I had -- the Jordanian foreign minister had with CNN just a couple of days ago that very important meeting of regional foreign ministers in Jeddah, which is the one the Iranians went to, where they were trying to get enough support for the Iranian's diplomatic support to give them reason to believe it was worthwhile pausing and not retaliating, and perhaps one of the strongest voices there and the strongest, perhaps diplomat behind the scenes here has been the Jordanian foreign minister going to Tehran last weekend, really kickstarted think this whole process.

At the moment, it seems that Jordan has become very central now in trying to bring Iran to a moment of diplomacy rather than military action, and I get the sense that the Jordanians are perhaps going to play a bigger role in the diplomacy around the Gaza ceasefire as well, but let's see.

BLITZER: Is there a possibility that the negotiation on Thursday won't be in Cairo or Doha, but will be in Amman, Jordan?

ROBERTSON: I don't think we can rule out anything at the moment. I think look, everything is really fluid and I think from a diplomatic standpoint, you'll have it in the country where you think you can get the maximum effect on all trying to bring all parties together to move it forward.

But at the moment, we now appear -- you know, we've gone from a few hours ago, Hamas sort of being on board and it was now down to the White House and Prime Minister Netanyahu -- we are not there now. We feel like we've taken a step back.

BLITZER: The tension is definitely going to increase here in Tel Aviv over the next several hours, in the immediate days ahead.

Nic, we will continue our reporting on all of this. Jeremy, thanks to you as well.

Fred, in the meantime, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

All right, let's get going with this race for support as the sprint to the White House is now down to just 86 days.

Right now, Vice President Kamala Harris is at a major fundraiser in San Francisco as her campaign looks to build on a week-long blitz of battleground states. Harris is set to speak at any moment now.

The Harris campaign says this San Francisco event has already raised more than $12 million. That adds to her July fundraising, which raked in a whopping $310 million in the first 10 days of her campaign.

On Saturday, Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz held the fifth and final campaign event of their introductory tour of swing states with a rally in Las Vegas there.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joining us right now.

Kevin, good to see you. So tell us more about how Harris plans to build on the momentum from this week's battleground blitz.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: You know, that rally last night, really the exclamation point on this five-city introductory tour of the new Harris-Walz ticket. You know, taken altogether those two have spoken to tens of thousands of people across their rallies this week. So an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy that also applies to fundraising as well.

You know, 700 people bought tickets for that fundraising event in San Francisco that's getting underway right now, but that's not to say that challenges are ahead and certainly, the Harris campaigns still describes themselves as the underdog in this race. I think Kamala Harris would be the first to admit that vibes alone aren't going to win this election.

And to that end, she did tell reporters yesterday that she plans this week to begin rolling out some policy proposals, specifically related to the economy and lowering prices for Americans.

In fact, last night she just began that she ruled out a proposal to eliminate federal income tax on tipped wages. That of course, is enormously popular in a place like Las Vegas where so many people work in the hospitality industry. It is also a proposal that President Trump has raised on the campaign trail. He wasted no time saying that she was copying him in that front.

A Harris campaign adviser says that she will work with Congress to get this across the finish line. It will include income limits. It will also include provisions to ensure that people like lawyers, hedge fund managers, aren't able to manipulate it to take advantage.

[15:10:08]

Now, we will see Harris this week alongside President Biden. They will be in Maryland on Thursday for their first official joint appearance. They will be talking about the economy there as well.

You know, it will be interesting to see just how much President Biden campaigns for Harris this year. He just did his first interview since stepping down from the ticket. He says he plans to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help her the most -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

All right, Donald Trump's running mate is defending his attacks on Governor Tim Walz's military record. JD Vance sat down with CNN's Dana Bash for an extensive interview in which the Republican vice presidential nominee continued to claim Walz lied about his military record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Governor Walz served 24 years.

SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Sure.

BASH: He even stayed after he could have retired because of 9/11, more than the country asked of him. Do you honor his service?

VANCE: Well, of course, Dana, I honor his service and I've never criticized what Tim Walz did when he was in the military.

I criticized his retirement decision, and most importantly, Dana, I criticized his lying about his own record, okay.

This is a guy who is captured on video saying I carried a gun in war. He never went to war. This is a guy who has been captured on video as other people say, he is an Afghanistan veteran, he is a veteran of a war, nodding along in agreement instead of saying no, no, no, I did serve my country and I did it honorably, but I never went to a warzone.

I am not criticizing Tim Walz's service. I am criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain, Dana.

Now, I served in the United States Marine Corps and you know this. And look, there are a lot of things that I am proud about. I've never lied about what I did or overstated it because it would be beneficial to me in an election. I think that's what Tim Walz did. That's what I was criticizing and yes, I do think it is scandalous behavior.

BASH: You talked about one of the things that he said, "weapons of war" he was talking in a campaign stop about.

VANCE: Yes.

BASH: He was trying to talk about gun control. VANCE: Sure.

BASH: And he said, "Weapons of war I carried in war." I will say that the Harris-Walz campaign did say that the governor misspoke there.

VANCE: Sure.

BASH: Do you accept that?

VANCE: He misspoke, another word is that he lied about it and he didn't correct the record for 15 years until he was put under political pressure because I called it out, Dana.

Whatever you want to call it, a misspeaking or a lie, I think Tim Walz should have to correct the record.

BASH: I've seen a lot of statements from veterans, including those you served with saying it is just untoward to be criticizing somebody who served for 24 years.

VANCE: Dana, I am not interested in the ad hominem. I've heard from a lot of veterans groups who criticize Tim Walz. The question is, he said he served in war and he didn't. That is a dishonesty.

I really -- I couldn't care for less what one or the other person says about it. I care about what the truth is. The truth is that Tim Walz didn't tell the truth. And importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris' judgment and I think that when you ask why has Kamala Harris allowed the border to be wide open? Why does Kamala Harris support policies that had promoted the increase in inflation? I think it goes to the heart of her judgment and I think that that's what we should be talking about.

BASH: One last question, Donald Trump didn't serve in the military. He received a medical draft deferment for bones spurs to avoid serving in the Vietnam War, reportedly as a favor to his father. Do you find that shameful, too?

VANCE: I think that Donald Trump didn't serve in the military, but he didn't lie about it, Dana. I've known Donald Trump for a long time. He really honors our veterans.

BASH: You don't he -- so you think he had bone spurs?

VANCE: He honors me for my service. Donald Trump didn't lie about serving in the military. He didn't say that he went to Vietnam when he didn't.

This is the problem. I don't criticize anybody whether they served our country or not, I think its honorable to serve, but obviously a lot of people have reasons for not serving. I criticize somebody for embellishing their record, for lying, saying I went to war.

Dana, do you think that it is a problem that he said, I went to war, but he didn't actually? That seems to be a problem to me.

BASH: Well, they've corrected that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Much more on that interview on cnn.com.

All right, still ahead, French investigators have just arrived at the site of that deadly plane crash in Brazil. How they are helping local authorities figure out what caused the aircraft to fall for in the sky.

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[15:19:03]

WHITFIELD: As Brazilian investigators work to identify all 62 victims of Friday's deadly plane crash, they are getting help from French authorities to determine the cause of the crash since the aircraft was made in France.

Representatives from the manufacturer are also expected to arrive in Brazil.

Journalist, Stefano Pozzebon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The plane plummeted to its demise in a matter of moments. But for those who witnessed the tragic crash outside Sao Paulo, the images will last forever.

(GERTRUDE PEREIRA speaking in foreign language.)

POZZEBON: "I don't know how long it will take before I can sleep again. I'm still in shock," says Gertrude Pereira (ph). She filmed the fiery blaze from her own front yard.

Brazil has declared three days of national mourning as rescue workers tirelessly comb through the wreckage to recover the bodies.

RODRIGO SANFURGO, FEDERAL POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: I can say that we are working here now since yesterday. We have a hundred police officers working here.

POZZEBON (voice over): Sixty-two people have died on Flight 2283, but only a handful of bodies have been identified.

[15:20:09]

Among the victims, a mother of three, a pharmacist traveling to visit her family, teachers at a local university, and the crew of the plane.

Brazilian authorities saying they recovered two black boxes that could help clarify what really happened. The cause of the accident, still a mystery.

But in such a tragedy, there is also relief for those who felt it could have turned out much worse.

(MICHELLE SIMOES speaking in foreign language.)

POZZEBON (voice over): "The pilot was a real hero. He managed to crash in an open field without causing damage on the ground. Had he crashed two seconds before, we would be dead."

A community and a nation looking at the sky, still waiting for an answer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON: Fredricka, we are coming to you live from probably the most painful moment of the story behind my back is the Institute of Forensic Medicine, where the relatives have been invited to help with the identification process.

Since coming here this morning, we have seen several of them coming out of the institute, some of them, of course, in tears.

There is still a feeling of a shock that the nation is grappling still with the shock that has been left by this crash, which is one of the deadliest in Brazil's history.

And just to give you a glimpse of what the atmosphere here. There are several media basically, all of Brazil is looking at this institute right now, and all of Brazil is looking at that investigation with technicians from France, from Canada, because the engines were manufactured in Canada, so they also have arrived here in Brazil.

And of course, Brazilian technicians and investigators to try to get to an answer, try to understand what really caused a plane been to fall down from the sky -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is incredible.

Stefano Pozzebon in Brazil, thanks so much.

Coming up, Donald Trump's campaign says it has been hacked. Who the team thinks is responsible and what information was leaked details? Straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: All right, the Trump campaign is blaming foreign sources for a hack of its internal documents. The FBI says, it is aware of the media reports and has no comment, but a spokesperson for the National Security Council said the Biden administration, I am quoting now, "strongly condemns any foreign government or entity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process."

CNN's Jeremy Herb explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: The Trump campaign revealed on Saturday that it has been hacked. These hacked documents were sent to POLITICO, which reported on Saturday that it received e-mails from an anonymous account containing internal Trump campaign documents.

Now, Trump spokesman, Steven Cheung said in a statement that foreign sources were behind this attack and he blamed Iran for the hacking. He said in a statement: "These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process."

Cheung pointed to a report from Microsoft that was released this week. In that report, Microsoft revealed that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had attempted to hack a high ranking official's e-mails in June.

Now, the Microsoft report did not say which campaign it had targeted or if the hack was successful.

CNN reached out to the Trump campaign asking if it had sought more information from the FBI and the Trump campaign declined to comment. Microsoft also declined to comment on this report.

It is worth remembering now that in 2016, it was Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta who was hacked himself and his e-mails were published by WikiLeaks in the days and weeks before the 2016 campaign.

In a statement on Saturday, the White House condemned all forms of election interference from foreign countries.

Jeremy Herb, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, and you may recall that in 2016, days before the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks published nearly 20,000 e- mails from the Democratic National Committee server. After that hack, candidate Donald Trump publicly encouraged Russia to hack then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private server and release her e-mails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I am joined now by Faiz Shakir, a chief political adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, who also served as the presidential campaign manager for Bernie Sanders in 2020; also with me, Stuart Stevens, who served as the chief campaign strategist for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Great to see both of you, gentlemen.

FAIZ SHAKIR, CHIEF POLITICAL ADVISER TO SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Stuart --

STUART STEVENS, SERVED AS CHIEF CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST FOR MITT ROMNEY'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: -- you first, I mean, is this hypocrisy? Trump encouraging Russia to interfere back in 2016, and now that the Trump campaign may have been hacked, it says by a foreign entity, it is problematic.

STEVENS: You know the context of this is just something that is astounding to me that we don't talk more about.

What do we know? Without a shadow of a doubt, the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Intelligence Committee agrees, all US intelligence agencies agree, Russia interfered in our elections to help Donald Trump get elected. So Donald Trump got elected. What did they get? Well, it turns out they got an immense amount.

[15:30:10]

What used to be the most consistent opposition to the Soviet Union in Russia was a conservative element of the Republican Party, that is now the pro-Putin element of the Republican Party.

This is a switch has just never happened before in American politics. It will be like Churchill's party becoming pro-Nazi and they have said that they are going to continue to do so in this election and what people always go back to is well, can you prove that the Russians made the difference?

Well, causality in politics is always the most difficult thing to establish and we don't know everything that the Russians did. That's why we call it a covert op. But these --

WHITFIELD: Okay, well, I guess what is confusing here --

STEVENS: My old party is supporting a Putin candidate.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Okay, well, and what's confusing here however, though, because the campaign, the Trump campaign is now saying that it is possibly a victim of any kind of foreign entity of a hacking. Their hasn't been an intelligence agency that has confirmed that, only that it is acknowledging that there are media reports of it.

Do you find it strange now that the Trump campaign would take issue with this when there was evidence of Russian interference during the 2016 campaign and Trump didn't seem to have a problem with it.

STEVENS: Yes, no, that's an excellent point. And first of all, I think we have to treat anything that comes out of the Trump campaign with a great deal of skepticism. Trump is a pathological liar, and his campaign reflects his standards of mendacity. So let's see what happens. It is not unusual for foreign actors to try to hack campaigns in a presidential level. What's unusual is the fact that a candidate was encouraging them to do so.

WHITFIELD: Sure.

STEVENS: And WikiLeaks was going along with it. It is just the most un-American concept. I want you, a hostile foreign power, come hack my opponent. So, that's the big difference here.

WHITFIELD: Faiz, the Trump campaign says now that the Harris-Walz honeymoon is over and particularly it is speaking to the Harris campaign, acknowledging that there was a misspeak from running mate, Walz, over the whole weapons in combat. Is the honeymoon over, or is that simply wishful thinking?

SHAKIR: You have a desperate effort by the Trump campaign to tarnish Governor Walz's record. I mean, here is a guy who said, the age is 17, raises his hands, says I want to serve for 24 years, rises to one of the highest ranks in the Army as a sergeant major, runs an artillery unit.

By all accounts, everyone around him says he does a great job, handles an M-16, but then because of a phrase that unintentionally, I am sure unintentionally gets out of his mouth, oh we are going to tarnish that entire record of this decent and good person. That is the effort on the Republican side right there.

I mean, it is despicable and I am glad finally we are moving on and pining the momentum of an anti-MAGA side who I think the vast majority of this country is not going to be with Donald Trump.

And on this point of the WikiLeaks, so my former boss, John Podesta, you'll remember he was a target of this and we remember that Roger Stone, an ally of trump, was saying it is Podesta's time in the barrel. They were foretelling what was about to happen.

And then when the WikiLeaks does happen, here is Donald Trump standing at rallies saying I love WikiLeaks. That was cool. I love WikiLeaks. You guys should go read it. He enjoyed it, he reveled in it.

And of course now, yes, it turns out foreign interference in elections. It is not something to make fun of us, it is not something to revel in, and it is not something to enjoy. It turns out when you see it from your own vantage point and you're getting attacked, oh, suddenly you've decided it is a serious problem.

WHITFIELD: And then Stuart, as it relates to Walz and his military service, you know, Trump vice presidential pick, JD Vance continues to criticize Walz's claim about the weapons use in combat. The Harris campaign, of course acknowledging that other vets now, including Colorado Representative Jason Crow said, and I am quoting him now: "There's really very few things that sadden me more when you see a veteran maligning and attacking falsely another veteran."

So, is this Trump-Vance strategy backfiring? Is it time for Vance to move on? Or is this helping the Trump campaign?

STEVENS: I don't think it is helping to Trump campaign.

The reason this is happening is because Chris LaCivita, who is running the Trump campaign along with Susie Wiles was in charge of swift boat in 2004 and that is sort of his big moment in politics and he is trying to recreate this, it is kind of like a 90s band that is like trying to get a hit back.

Look, one got to serve 24 years and lost his hearing, a very serious hearing damage because he was exposed to so much artillery and had to have an operation that was paid for by the VA, which he has spoken movingly about because the first time he could wake up and hear his daughter singing versus JD Vance, who wrote press releases.

[15:35:18]

I mean, it is an absurd comparison for Donald Trump who was a draft dodger, who referred on radio live to avoiding sexually transmitted diseases as his own Vietnam, mocking those who died in Vietnam.

A guy, remember attacked John McCain, "I like heroes who weren't captured." So there is a long record of Trump denigrating the military, not respecting them, suckers and losers.

So this is just sort of your mama too desperate thing. It is not going to work.

WHITFIELD: All right, we will leave it there, gentlemen, for now. Stuart Stevens, Faiz Shakir, thank you so much.

SHAKIR: Thank you.

STEVENS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, former President Trump is launching a new attack at Vice President Harris claiming she faked a recent campaign photo.

The former president posting on his Truth Social account this afternoon that the photo of a crowd outside a rally in Detroit, he is claiming was AI generated. And now the Harris campaign is responding. CNN's Kevin Liptak is tracking this for us from Washington.

What's up?

LIPTAK: Yes, if you're looking for any more evidence that the size of these Harris campaign rallies are capturing Trump's attention and getting under his skin, look no further than these posts that he is putting out today, essentially lending voice to a conspiracy about the size of her rally in Detroit earlier this week.

He wrote: "Has anyone noticed that commonly cheated at the airport? There was nobody at the plane and she AI'ed it and showed a massive crowd of so-called followers, but they didn't exist." He goes on to say, "She's a cheater. She had nobody waiting in the crowd that looked like 10,000 people." Now to back up his claim, he seems to be using a photo that a Harris campaign staffer posted from the event and trying to claim that there is no reflection of the crowd on the exterior of the plane, that it was somehow manipulated. But we can stay with certainty that his claims that the crowd didn't exist are just false.

For starters, CNN was at the event and I have spoken to just now, the esteemed chief correspondent who was there. He told me that his team witnessed a crowd of many thousands that filled the large hangar where she was. There were two risers the crowds spilled out onto a sprawling tarmac where Air Force Two and you see it there came to a stop, two large risers were outside just settled on with rows and rows of chairs, several giant screens for the outdoor crowd to see what was on that rally stage.

And of course, we shot our own video from the event which you're looking at now which shows very clearly this major crowd that was at the event.

We also have photographs from Independent news photographers who were at the event showing the major crowd that was there to see her. All of this makes clear that Trump's claims are just absolutely untrue.

Now, today, the Harris campaign is wasting no time seizing upon this, David Plouffe who has been brought on as a senior adviser, writing on social media: "These are not conspiratorial rantings from the deepest recesses of the internet, the author could have the nuclear codes and be responsible for decisions that will affect us all for decades." _- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Okay, thanks for keeping us up-to-date on that one. Kevin Liptak, appreciate it.

Still ahead, could there be a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas? We are live with the latest.

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[15:43:22]

BLITZER: We are standing by here in Israel just ahead of critical talks later this week. According to an Israeli source, negotiators will be meeting this coming Thursday, trying to work out a potential ceasefire hostage release deal in hopes of bringing the remaining 111 hostages home after more than 300 days in captivity and to end all the bloodshed that has been going on inside Gaza.

Sources tell CNN that the Hamas' leader wants a deal, but Hamas just issued a public statement casting doubt on its participation in the upcoming talks.

All of this comes at an extremely tense moment here in the Middle East following a pair of very high profile assassinations.

Joining us now CNN's national security analyst and former deputy director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner. Beth, thanks so much for joining us.

We've seen these potential ceasefire deals fail time and time again since this war began, some more than 300 days ago, but now Hamas' leader appears open, potentially to striking some sort of compromise.

How confident are you that this deal can finally come through to bring these hostages home?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I am never confident about these deals, Wolf. I think that, you know, all of us have been kind of more optimistic than we should have been in the past. And I think we also have to remind ourselves that both sides, both Sinwar and Netanyahu could scuttle the deal at any point even in the beginning of it for their own reasons, and even after a deal is formed.

So we will just have to wait and see until Thursday when this crucial discussion is taking place.

BLITZER: We will see on Thursday if the Hamas representative actually shows up at these talks. That will be critically important, obviously.

And as you know, Beth, the US, the Biden administration has been putting a lot of pressure on Israel and the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal. But there are those in the prime minister's inner circle pushing back on these negotiations.

[15:45:30]

If these talks fall through once again, what does that mean for Netanyahu and his coalition government?

SANNER: Well, if talks fall through, ironically, the government is in good shape because the threat to the government from Netanyahu's perspective is from, you know, two far-right parties led by two ministers, the Minister of Public Security, Ben-Gvir, and the Finance Minister Smotrich, who have both threatened to bring down the government if he does agree to a deal.

No ceasefire in their view is warranted. They do not support it. They will bring down the government.

But we also have right now the Parliament, the Knesset is out of session, which makes it a little bit harder for them to actually do that, and so Netanyahu might be more willing at this moment to actually form a deal and take that risk, and then try to put things back together again when the session comes back in, in a couple of months.

BLITZER: As you know, Beth, Israel has been hammering what it describes as Hamas terrorist targets in Gaza in recent weeks with a series of very punishing airstrikes. What impact will that have potentially on these upcoming talks?

SANNER: Well, I think that the airstrikes maybe over the past week has been one reason why Hamas is not showing up for these deals. I think that we should keep in mind that Netanyahu made very clear in his joint session to Congress that he sees a military solution to this war or not, a political one.

And so he is going to keep on fighting and trying to militarily defeat Hamas, which most security people say is not possible although militarily you can do that. But I think that we are going to keep seeing this and it can throw a monkey in the works, definitely at any moment.

Plus, you are all waiting there for a potential Hezbollah and Iran strike and certainly that kind of military strike could put this deal in jeopardy. And in fact, some Arab leaders have warned Hezbollah to put off a military strike until after Thursday because they are worried about that happening.

BLITZER: Do you think it will happen? Hezbollah and/or Iran attacking Israel in the coming days?

SANNER: Yes, I mean, all bets are off I think on that equation. We've been waiting. I think there will be some kind of attack. Some people are saying it could be on Monday during a Jewish holiday, some people are now saying, just like these Arab leaders encouraging Hezbollah to hold off until after Thursday so maybe it could come later in the week.

Part of this whole deal with keeping all of the Israelis feet to the fire, I think by Iran and Hezbollah waiting for them is not necessarily a bad thing. It puts everybody on edge and gives them some advantage so, who knows?

I think that we just -- we just don't know.

BLITZER: Beth Sanner helping us appreciate what is going on. Beth, thank you very, very much.

Fred, in the meantime, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Wolf, we will check back with you. Thank you.

Coming up, the 2024 Summer Olympics come to a close, but not before one more exciting gold medal win.

Coy Wire joins us live from Paris next.

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WHITFIELD: Happening right now, the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris ending 19 days of competition from the world's best athletes.

Team USA wins gold by the way, in women's basketball today, the final event of the Summer Games.

CNN's Coy Wire is in Paris. We were all at the edge of our seat. That was an incredible game.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: No doubt about it.

First of all, Fredricka, welcome to Palais Brongniart, the official Team USA house.

WHITFIELD: Oohlala.

WIRE: It was first built in 1808 at the direction of Napoleon Bonaparte and served as the original French Stock Exchange. Now, it is this a hospitality space for the athletes, their families, and for the first time ever, the public could get tickets to celebrate Team USA, too.

Now, as for that game, the US women letting this thing go down to the wire. They entered the game with an Olympic win streak dating back to 1996, and they won by maybe the tip of a toe, France in a buzzer- beater, as time expired. The crowd thought that the host nation had just shocked the world and send it into overtime.

But Gabby Williams' foot was on the line. It was only a two-pointer. So heartbreak for France, glory for the US and eight straight Olympic gold.

And with that, Fredricka, Team USA blows everyone away in total medal count, but emerged victorious on the final event of the games to tie China at 40 gold medals each, it has never happened in the history of the Summer Games.

Now three of those gold medals came for America, thanks to Gabby Thomas, 200-meter champ, two relay goals. She does it all.

[15:55:08]

A Neurobiology degree from Harvard, Masters in Public Health, volunteers at a health clinic. She told me this feat though, has still has not sunk in. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIELLE THOMAS (Team USA track and field): I am just really grateful. I think that's the word I keep coming back to because everything worked out the way it was supposed to.

And I know how much went into this moment and to see it all come to fruition is so special.

WIRE: Are there any sort of foods or things that you miss from home that is difficult to get here?

THOMAS: Oh, that's difficult to get here?

WIRE: What would that be?

THOMAS: I think iced coffee.

WIRE: Iced coffee.

THOMAS: Yes.

WIRE: Very interesting.

THOMAS: Yes.

WIRE: Because producing, we have an ice coffee or Frappuccino, something around there.

THOMAS: No way.

WIRE: Cheers to the champ on rooftops of Paris.

THOMAS: Thank you. Oh my goodness. Thank you.

WIRE: That's a gold medal smile right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Gabby Thomas, unreal, Fredricka. And just one example of the inspiring, uplifting athletes from around the world. Their disciplined, their sacrifice, their passion make the Olympics so special.

WHITFIELD: Amazing.

WIRE: And can I just say, Fredricka, that the Olympics perhaps more than anything, bring people from all around the world.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

WIRE: No matter their differences, together to cheer and celebrate together.

WHITFIELD: Oh, it is incredible. It is the best peacetime event, right? It just brings the world together. Its lovely.

WIRE: That's right.

WHITFIELD: And so inspiring. Everything that you've done, too, and your interviews with people, the stories you've brought, all inspiring. You've done a great job.

Coy Wire, thank you so much. See you soon.

WIRE: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Back in the US, and we'll be right back.

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