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Biden Admits In An Interview Being A One-Term President; Trump Falsely Claims Harris Campaign Photo Was Created With AI; IDF Says Around 30 Rockets Launched From Lebanon Into Israel; Uvalde City Officials Release Additional Files Two Years After Mass Shooting; IDF: Around 30 Rockets Launched From Lebanon Toward Northern Israel; Interview With Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA). Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 11, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:57]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv, where tensions right now are running very, very high.

Axios' Barak Ravid is reporting that Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier today, warning that Iran is now preparing to launch a large-scale military attack against Israel, citing a source familiar with the call.

And there's also a new roadblock for the ceasefire and hostage negotiations. Hamas officials are now casting doubt on whether they will even attend a meeting scheduled for this coming Thursday with mediators from the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar.

We've got a full report coming up later this hour. In the meantime, let's go back to Jessica in New York.

DEAN: All right, Wolf, we'll see very soon.

Back here in the U.S. we are learning more about President Biden's decision to pass the torch to his vice president, Kamala Harris. In his first sit-down interview since dropping out of the race exactly three weeks ago today, Biden admitted he always intended to be a one- term president, but he said when it came to running a second time, quote, "things got moving so quickly."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president. I can't even say how old I am. It's hard for me to get it out of my mouth, and -- but thing got moving so quickly. It didn't happen. But I thought it was important because, although it's a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what the most important thing I can do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's senior White House reporter, Kevin Liptak, is joining us now.

And Kevin, did the president say what ultimately got him to that decision?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he said he didn't want to be a distraction for Democrats, not necessarily at the top of the ticket where he was, but on lower ballot races. People running for House and for the Senate. He said he didn't want to necessarily be a drag on them. But, you know, it was really fascinating to hear from the president in his own words really for the first time in a fulsome way describe this decision to withdraw from the race.

It was, by all accounts, a very difficult decision for him to make. He doesn't express any second doubts about making that decision. In fact, he said when he pulled out that he was running neck and neck with Donald Trump, but he did say that he didn't necessarily want to be a distraction for other members of his party. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: What happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate just thought that I was going to hurt them in their races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race that would be the topic. You'd be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say, why did so on -- and I felt it'd be a real distraction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now in this interview the president denied that that very, very bad debate performance revealed anything about a larger mental issue, about a larger health issue, in his words, he had a really, really bad day at that debate because he was sick -- Jessica.

[19:05:15]

DEAN: And Kevin, tonight we're also hearing attacks from former president Trump claiming the Harris campaign faked images of the crowd size at one of its Michigan rallies. Walk us through what the facts are here and also how the Harris campaign is responding.

LIPTAK: Yes. And I think if you're looking for any more evidence that Donald Trump is taking note of these crowd sizes and that it's getting under his skin, look no further than these posts that he's putting out today, essentially to lending voice to a conspiracy about the size of her crowd at a rally in Detroit earlier this week. He said on Truth Social, has anyone noticed that Kamala cheated at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, but she AI'd it and showed a massive crowd of so-called followers, but they didn't exist.

The president -- former president goes on to say, she's a cheater. She had nobody waiting and the crowd looked like 10,000 people. And to back up his claim, he appears to be using a photo that a campaign staffer, a Harris campaign staff posted from the event and trying to claim that because there's no reflection of the crowd on the exterior of the plane that it was somehow manipulated. But we can say with certainty that those claims that the crowd didn't exist are just false.

You know, for starters, CNN was at this event and I talked to our friend Jeff Zeleny, who is there covering it for CNN. He said that there was a crowd of many thousands that were filling this large hanger including two risers. They spilled on to a sprawling tarmac where Air Force Two came to a stop. What you're seeing there. Said that there are large risers outside as well along with rows and rows of chairs for these attendees.

Of course, we also shot our own video from the event that you're seeing there, which you can show a major crowd. There was also news photographers there, independent news photographers, who did capture this large crowd. So it does make clear that Trump's claims were absolutely false.

Now, today, the Harris campaign is seizing on this. David Plouffe, he's the campaign 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." Jessica?

DEAN: Yes. All right. Kevin Liptak with the latest reporting there. Thank you for that fact-check. We appreciate it.

Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be taking a page from Donald Trump's policy proposals which would be ending the federal tax on tips. Speaking to thousands of supporters at a rally in Las Vegas last night Harris offered one of her first notable economic policies since becoming the party's presumptive nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it is my promise to everyone here when I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Including to raise the minimum wage.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: And eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now, Trump first floated the idea during his own Las Vegas rally back in June, and he immediately responded to Harris' pitch on Truth Social, calling her a, quote, "copycat." The Hospitality Workers Union and the Culinary Workers Union, both of which have endorsed Harris, have downplayed the proposal with the culinary union secretary, treasurer saying, quote, "Relief is definitely needed for tip earners. Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon."

The Harris-Walz campaign is doing its best to continue its momentum that it's benefited from since the ticket launch. This coming as the Trump-Vance campaign trying to adapt to this new race. Trump spent the weekend campaigning and fundraising in GOP strongholds Montana and Wyoming, raking in cash at a fundraising event with a $28 million haul. Meantime, the vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance, making the media rounds, including on CNN's STATE OF THE UNION" with Dana Bash, where he claimed Democrats are anti-child.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You called out Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, in particular. Kamala Harris has two stepchildren. Pete Buttigieg and his husband have adopted twins. Do you recognize them as parents and more broadly as being part of families?

SEN. JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, of course I do, Dana. I never, Dana, criticized people for not having kids. I criticize people for being anti-child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now to discuss the state of the race is CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton, and DNC convention consultant and former White House director of Message Planning, Meghan Hays.

Hi to both of you. Thanks for being here with us on a Sunday evening as this race continues to evolve.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, Jessica.

[19:10:00]

DEAN: Shermichael, let's start with you. We heard that clip from Senator J.D. Vance. He was making the rounds today on a lot of networks, including our own, trying to make the case for the Republican ticket. That one clip we just played where he says he believes Democrats are anti-child.

Do you think that's an effective attack for the Republican ticket right now?

SINGLETON: You know, what I think is effective, Jessica, is the fact that J.D. Vance is something that's really unprecedented for Republicans in terms of policy positions. And that is the fact that he would like to expand the $5,000 child tax credit for all families. That's a position in the past that Republicans haven't necessarily supported. It's mostly been a Democratic mainstay. So that's something that I really took note of. I also think it's important to focus on the fact that he's talked

about affordable housing for families. We've seen over the past couple of years now where large banks and large investment groups are buying up single-family homes and increasing the rates across the country. Those are very serious things that impacts not only families but single Americans as well. So I'm looking at the messaging a little bit differently here in terms of a complete reversal of previous Republican orthodoxy.

DEAN: It is interesting, Meghan, to see the Republican who is on the ticket to be vice president pushing for an expanded tax credit and then to see, for example, a little bit different, but Kamala Harris embracing ending taxes on tips. It just seems to me, and I'm curious what your take is, they're both kind of starting to go toward that middle that might be up for grabs.

MEGHAN HAYS, DNC CONVENTION CONSULTANT: Yes, absolutely. And we both know or all three of us know, sorry, that, you know, this is going to be won in six or seven states. On the margins, there's 10,000 or 20,000 votes in each of these states. Those people are in the middle. They are the independent voters who are not paying attention and who are not for -- most of them were not for President Biden and not for former president Trump, that they're offering a different solution here with the vice president and J.D. Vance is offering something different to the Republican Party.

So I do think that they are going towards the middle. I think that it's good to start talking about policy and start talking about economic policy for both of these candidates to move forward. I don't think the childless with continuing talking about being childless and how, you know, that is some sort of crime here in the United States that he is claiming, I don't think that it's good for these independent voters. But I do give him credit and the vice president credit for starting to talk about economic policies because that's really what matters. And that is really what's going to drive people to vote in November.

DEAN: And Shermichael, that is the overwhelming feedback and comments I'm getting when I'm talking to people like you guys, talking to other elected officials, talking to pollsters. Overwhelmingly on both sides of this race, and in the middle, voters want to hear about policy. They want to hear about how will these candidates fix my problems or make my life better. And yet, we just had this reporting from Kevin Liptak, my colleague, a little bit earlier talking about this Truth Social post with the former president, where he's going off on this really just a conspiracy theory about AI that we've now debunked of course.

But why is he talking about that when he could win this race if he wanted to talk about issues potentially?

SINGLETON: You know what, the good thing is, Jessica, is that Donald Trump is on Truth Social and not Twitter because that means less people are seeing some of his comments. I just got to be honest about that. I think most Republicans out there would absolutely hope and wish, and maybe even pray that the former president would stick to the issues. As Meghan just so eloquently stated that is what's going to ultimately be the deciding factor for those voters in the middle, that 10 percent across a handful of states.

They want to see who is likely going to put forth the best realistic plan, right? Because we've got to look at the possibilities that Congress will be divided. So how do you accomplish these lofty ideas with a divided Congress to move people forward specifically as it pertains to the economic plight, and so I would advise the former president just lay off some of the interesting things for a little bit, at least for the next 80 plus days.

DEAN: And it is -- but what happens is people see somebody like that who is a former president spreading these conspiracy theories, Meghan, and that's how they get convinced that an election was stolen than it was -- that it was not. And then it broadens out. And now you have something like this.

HAYS: Yes. No, totally. I just think, you know, this is playing to his base and his base -- like that is just ginning up his base. And no, that's not where he's going to win the election, so it's great that he's going to gin up his base and he's, you know, going to go out and give press conferences where he -- I think they did something, some analysis that he told about two lies a minute which is incredible, but it's just -- that is not where the election is going to be won.

And so unless he starts focusing on issues, unless he starts talking to people in the middle he is not going to win this election, focusing on crowd sizes, nobody cares about crowd sizes. Joe Biden won during COVID, where we had car rallies so like let's be real here, that crowd sizes don't turn into votes.

[19:15:02]

So we just need to focus on issues. We need to get people excited. It brings momentum for sure but that doesn't mean these people are voting in either direction. So let's focus on issues and get people out to vote.

DEAN: The car rallies. I remember covering those. I had forgotten about the car rallies and everybody sat in their car and honked.

HAYS: Honks.

DEAN: Those were weird times in 2020 when we were on a very different campaign trail.

But, Shermichael, the campaign trail now has much more -- it's obviously what we were used to seeing. We're seeing Harris and Walz doing this battleground blitz. We saw the former president get back on the campaign trail, going to Montana. Look, for Democrats, they're looking to the next week when the DNC is going to happen and really hoping this enthusiasm continues, that they can get what is normally a little post-convention bump.

If you and when you are talking to the Trump campaign, what would you -- what are you advising them to do in this period of time? SINGLETON: I mean, look, you're probably going to see another week or

two of a bump in the polls for Vice President Harris. But when you look at that "Times"-Sienna poll that just came out, there were a couple of aspects of the poll that I find to be fascinating that I would probably want to focus on in my conversations with Republicans generally speaking. That is that more of those middle swing voters view Vice President Harris as more liberal than President Biden.

I'm also seeing that most Americans still believe the former president is strongest on the economy and immigration specifically men, and so I would probably want to focus on those issues. I would increase my targeting of men, Latino men, young black men. I would remind them that during Trump's first term, he signed an executive order that emphasized skills over college degrees.

I would also remind them that he was an advocate of apprenticeships. He even met with a former German chancellor Angela Merkel I believe in 2017, to try to focus on that, having sort of a united front between both countries. And so there are some appealing things that I think would move the needle more so in the former president's corner and I would say target voters on those issues where you had that strategic advantage.

DEAN: And Meghan, we don't have much time left, just a teensy bit, but with the convention, a lot of voters say they want to hear about the issues. Can they expect to hear more about specifics do you think when they -- when Democrats roll out their convention?

HAYS: Yes, I think that the vice president is obviously going to have to get more policy heavy and put forth her policy issues. I think that will be a lot of what her speech is about at the convention. I mean, you don't have a lot of time here and people need to know where she stands. And I think that she has now rolled out her vice president and is now rolling into convention and now is the time to put those policy issues forward.

DEAN: All right. Shermichael Singleton and Meghan Hays, thanks so much. I appreciate both of you.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Jessica.

HAYS: Thank you, all.

DEAN: We have more news ahead and for that we go now to Wolf Blitzer, who is in Tel Aviv -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jessica, thank you very much. There's breaking news here in Tel Aviv. A direct Iranian military attack on Israel could come we're told within days. That according to reporting from CNN analyst and Axios reporter Barak Ravid. He cites two sources. The Israeli military with a message to its citizens tonight. IDF troops are deployed all around the country and they are ready. It's as ceasefire talks aimed at stopping the war in Gaza are set to resume this week, but Hamas may be holding out.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:10]

BLITZER: We're back with new developments here in Israel tonight. CNN foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid is now reporting that new Israeli intelligence suggests Israel is preparing, excuse me, Iran is preparing a significant attack against Israel within the next few days. Citing two sources, Barak Ravid reports that Israel's defense secretary spoke to the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, earlier today, warning the attack could come before the ceasefire talks that are scheduled to begin this coming Thursday.

We're also getting late word right now that Hamas may be stepping away from those talks completely.

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

Nic, these are potentially very, very major setbacks to the possibility of some sort of truce or a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of more hostages and potentially, God forbid, the threat of an all-out war.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It speaks to the risk of the escalation that if Iran responds with this larger, significant buildup of weapons, then Israel would very likely respond to that. That will be an escalation. Hezbollah may join in. Israel would respond to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Therefore that would be part of an escalation.

I think the diplomatic understanding over the past week was that Iran was taking a pause considering the talks on Thursday about Gaza as a road to a potential off-ramp. And that diplomatic assessment was that if Iran was going to respond, it would be a moderate response. So this conversation that Barak Ravid is reporting from his two sources seems to indicate that Iran is perhaps not going to go for a moderate response.

We can also look at this as positioning and beefing up and strengthening positions and narratives ahead of those talks Thursday.

[19:25:06]

BLITZER: I just want you to follow up on this news that Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant actually had a phone conversation with the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier today, reporting Israeli intelligence that they now believe that Iran is planning a major military assault on where we are here in Israel within the next few days.

ROBERTSON: And that would absolutely bring, if it was a massive assault, it would absolutely bring a response from Israel and that would bring a whole new dynamic. If that were to happen, no one will be talking about peace talks around Gaza on Thursday. The diplomatic efforts would be seen to have failed. Then the question would be is just how quickly would this spread and how bad would it be. Again, this is intelligence assessments. You have to read them in the

context that this is a very, very tense moment, but also there is some diplomacy still in play.

BLITZER: We'll see how that diplomacy works out. Just a little while ago another development, and this is raising a lot of concern as well, we learned that pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, there are plenty of them, have sent a stern warning to U.S. troops. Those U.S. troops who are still remaining in Iraq right now. Threatening retaliation if U.S. forces use Iraqi airspace to launch any attack against Iran right now.

What do you make of this?

ROBERTSON: Yes, I think there's two things in this. One is it's clearly a direct threat to United States, but it also appears to be an implicit threat against Israel because we know when Israel responded back in April to Iran's massive missile, multi-missile onslaught, direct into Israel, that it was believed that some of those munitions fired into Iran actually came from Iraqi airspace. So this seems to be a double signal, not just to United States, but to Israel as well.

And what this warning to the United States says is very clearly stay out of this fight. Don't get involved, don't put your fighter jets in the air. Look, we know over the past week or so, I know I said massive us military base inside of Iraq, Iranian proxies fired missiles into that base, injuring a number of U.S. forces. It's not the only attack by Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria against U.S. forces over recent weeks.

But this is a very, very clear threat and it's just another element in potential escalation of what's happening, of what could happen.

BLITZER: As you know, Nic, we're sitting right in Tel Aviv right now. We're sitting in Tel Aviv right now. And if you take a look at the Mediterranean, which is right over there, the U.S. has moved aircraft carrier battle groups, destroyers, other military hardware, very, very close to what's going on right now. And potentially this represents for the U.S. a direct involvement, God forbid, if this should escalate into some sort of regional war.

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. The United States would be providing part of the missile defense shield for Israel to protect Israel from Iran's attack. And we saw this happened exactly back in April. I think he United States was credited for bringing down at least 70 of the drone cruise and ballistic missiles that were fired into Israel and was credited with being a significant part of showing Iran that they couldn't get through and defending is Israel and its citizens.

BLITZER: And we're getting some major breaking news right now. Nic, stand by.

The Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, is now telling CNN that around 30 rockets were just launched from Lebanon. They will release a statement very, very shortly with details, but this is a potentially significant development. Those rockets coming from South Lebanon and Hezbollah has a lot of rockets. Iranian-backed Hezbollah. It's a proxy of Iran right now launching some 30 rockets directly into Israel and hitting various targets in northern Israel.

ROBERTSON: One of the locations we heard, we're still running down the information, Wolf, so I should just add caution to this. But one of the locations we've heard that those rockets came towards this town of Nahariya. It's on the coast, just like Tel Aviv. It's about six miles from the border with Lebanon. Interestingly, that town has not evacuated its population like the tens of thousands of other Israelis who've been evacuated from towns. That close to the border in northern Israel, they're still there.

There's an estimated 77,000 people still living in that town. 30 missiles fired on a densely populated town can be very significant. It can potentially have the possibility of causing civilian casualties. When we think about all the other salvos of Hezbollah rockets that are fired across the border, they're relatively short range, they're often targeted at Israeli defense infrastructure or some of the towns.

But all of those locations are very sparsely populated because the IDF has ordered the civilian population to leave. So this -- if these reports are borne out by further information we will get that appears to show that Hezbollah has targeted with 30 rockets a town of 77,000 civilians.

[19:30:14]

BLITZER: This is Nahariyya, I've been there many times just north as you pointed out, of Haifa, between Haifa and Lebanon, it's a city, it's a big city. And as you correctly also pointed out, the residents of Nahariyya, unlike other towns in Northern Israel, closer to the Lebanese border, Kiryat Shmona and these other towns, all of them have been evacuated. Tens of thousands of Israelis and their families have been forced to move south to safety.

But Nahariyya, the people there are still there and if a barrage of rockets is now coming in from South Lebanon, from Hezbollah into the Nahariyya, that potentially could result in a major Israeli retaliatory strike as well. We will monitor this very, very closely.

We're getting new information from the IDF as we speak.

Nic, thanks very, very much.

We're following all of the breaking news and well be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:35:26]

DEAN: Officials in Uvalde, Texas have released additional files more than two years after that absolutely horrific school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. The records include bodycam and dashcam videos, audio recordings of 911 calls and radio communication, documents, and text messages all related to that shooting. And it comes after several news outlets, including CNN, filed a lawsuit to obtain those records.

CNN's Camila Bernal is joining us now. Camila, what more are we learning from this newly released information?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jessica, you know, this audio, the video, the text messages are really hard to listen to, to watch, to read, and like you said, most of this, CNN and the outstanding team that has been covering this shooting has already reported on and shown you, but we did learn that a man who said it 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 that new 911 audio.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNCLE OF UVALDE SHOOTER: The thing that's happening at Robb right now, he's my nephew.

DISPATCH: Who is your nephew, sir?

UNCLE OF UVALDE SHOOTER: 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)

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

Now, in another one of those 911 calls that were released and actually CNN was the first to show you months after the shooting and to show you let you listen to this audio, a 10-year-old girl was trapped in a classroom and you can hear her telling the police dispatcher to hurry because there was a lot of dead bodies.

We also got text messages that show a group of officers that were expressing fear for their safety in the hours and days after the shooting. They were asking if the photos of themselves could be taken off the website. One group chat was mentioning the DPS director throwing all of them under the bus. And we reached out to DPS for a response on these messages, have not heard back.

Look, there are still a lot of questions and law enforcement was heavily criticized for their failed response. Remember, it took 77 minutes for the officers to get into the school and confront that shooter. So the families of the 19 children and these two teachers killed they are still dealing with all of this and they still want accountability -- Jessica.

DEAN: Just such a dark, dark day.

Camila Bernal, thank you so much for that.

BERNAL: Thank you. DEAN: And we are following some breaking news. The IDF telling CNN around 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon and rocket sirens have been heard in Northern Israel.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer is in Tel Aviv. He'll be joined by Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts next.

We're going to take a quick break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:42:50]

BLITZER: Returning now to the breaking news, from here in the Middle East, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv. The IDF now says it is striking the sources, what it is calling the sources of an overnight rocket barrage that has just happened from Hezbollah forces in South Lebanon towards Northern Israel.

Officials say they were launched from across the border just a little while ago from Lebanon. It says so far, there have been no injuries reported. All of this, as Iran is preparing for a direct attack on Israeli soil potentially in the next few days. That according to reporting from CNN analyst and AXIOS' reporter, Barak Ravid. He cites two sources.

Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss is joining us right now. He is from Massachusetts. He's in Newton, Massachusetts.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

I quickly want to get your response to this latest reporting. It looks pretty serious as if the situation in Northern Israel between Hezbollah forces and South Lebanon and Northern Israel is escalating big time.

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): It does, Wolf, and it underscores the criticality of Iron Dome, which the United States and Israel work together to fund and to build, and the United States Congress must continue to put the support behind Iron Dome that allows it to shield Israel from the worst of these kinds of rocket attacks. Otherwise, places like Tel Aviv would be big targets for these terrorist groups.

Secondarily, we know that this tension on the northern border of Israel is really ultimately coming from its southern border in the ongoing conflict in Gaza and there, Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to need to architect not just the combat operations that marginalize Hamas and prevent it from ever being part of a post-war governance solution. But also architecting the security, the economic development, the education vision that will allow Hamas to be drained of its police political capital. Because Sinwar is clearly not afraid of destruction, but he is terrified of reconstruction.

WOLF: Sinwar is the leader of Hamas in Gaza right now. Some will see, Congressman, Hamas' decision right now to abandon this new upcoming round of talks involving a ceasefire and hostage release program as offering a greenlight right now to Iran, especially after Egyptian and Qatari officials have signaled just the opposite in terms of the group wanting to reach a deal as quickly as possible. How do you see all of this unfolding?

[19:45:23]

AUCHINCLOSS: I'm not sure I see that many chess moves behind it. I think Hamas is a terrorist organization that's broken five previous ceasefires and has as part of its charter, the destruction of Jews and Israel. It doesn't have a positive vision.

Organizations that have a positive vision for the people they serve try to negotiate to realize that vision. Hamas only has a negative vision, the destruction of another people.

And so, negotiation just isn't in their charter. So this is really the baseline from Hamas. I think it's true that there is -- if not expressed implicit coordination between Iran and Hamas and that really underscores that we need to stand with Israel again.

Like we did in April, where the United States, Arab States, and European States worked with Israel to shoot down those Iranian cruise missiles, we've got to be right there again so that Iran and Hezbollah don't think that they can gain leverage over Israel with this latest round of attacks.

WOLF: And we are told that Israel's Iron Dome System, that anti- missile system has now been activated at least in Northern Israel around the town of Nahariyya, which is north of Haifa as you know.

Congressman, you are a US Marine veteran. What do you see potentially as America's role in this conflict as things look like they're exploding right now?

AUCHINCLOSS: Twofold, one, as I said, stand with Israel as it defends from rocket or precision-guided munitions attacks from Iran, from his Hezbollah, from Hamas.

Two, don't allow Israel to miss the opportunity that it missed in April. Because, Wolf, as you know, as you saw firsthand after that successful April consortium of Arab, European, and American States shooting down those Iranian drones, Israel did not then take that diplomatic momentum and channel it towards reconstruction in Gaza, it did not channel it towards an alternative to Hamas in the Strip.

If Iran is going to attack again, if we are successful again in shooting down those missiles and those are two big 'ifs' I grant that, the United States needs to put significant pressure on Netanyahu to then channel that momentum towards a positive vision for Gaza that can contest Hamas' negative vision.

WOLF: What's your reaction to this latest report, Congressman, that pro-Iranian proxies forces inside Iraq are now threatening US troops in Iraq and there are still US troops remaining in Iraq right now, if the US uses Iraqi airspace to launch any counterstrike against Iran. AUCHINCLOSS: I'd underscore as the volatility of the region, and of course, Iran's tentacles within Iraq. This was one of the core strategic miscalculations of Bush's invasion of Iraq is that it actually kicked down an important regional counterweight to Iran's influence and turned a counterweight into a proxy force for Iran's influence, which has reverberated over the last 15 years.

I don't think the United States though can flinch because of those threats from proxy terror forces in Iraq. If Iraq attacks Israel, the United States, is going to help defend Israel and Iraq doesn't have a say so over whether or not we stand with our ally.

WOLF: Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. Thanks very much for joining us.

And to our viewers, stay with us. There's more breaking news. We'll be right back.

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DEAN: Conspiracy theories about 2020 helped fuel the rage that led to the storming of the US Capitol. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan was there that day, reporting on the chaos. And now, four years later, the question is, are those same conspiracy theories still spreading?

Donie's investigation to this is the focus of this Sunday's "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper. And Donie is joining us now, this is called "Misinfonation: Patriots, Pillows and Paper Ballots." Lay it out for us. What did you find, Donie.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: It's quite a mouthful.

DEAN: It is

O'SULLIVAN: Well, look, patriots, paper ballots might be pretty self- explanatory, of course, but here's where the pillow aspect comes into it.

Look, as you know, I cover misinformation -- online misinformation, conspiracy theories.

And obviously the big election lie from 2020 has continued to spread all these years later. It hasn't stopped actually.

As we were seeing these kind of MAGA-type influencers pushing these messages all across the internet, notice that's a lot of people were talking about the fall of American democracy and whatnot. and then quickly throwing to a pillow promotion, trying to sell My Pillow.

You might of course, recognize Mike Lindell, the famous or infamous My Pillow guy, and really, we go into Mike's world. He is obviously quite prominent Trump ally. He is a believer in these election conspiracy theories, but he is also using his resources, through pillows to kind of support this much broader ecosystem of MAGA influencers who are pushing these conspiracy theories.

DEAN: And, Donie, have you been able to kind of sort through all of this and figure out why these conspiracy theories still thrive? I mean, I'm even thinking about the former president today with this AI stuff that's been totally debunked about the crowd size.

O'SULLIVAN: I know.

DEAN: Why do they still thrive today when truth and facts are very available?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, I mean, I think people want to believe it, right, and I think most important thing really, what we're seeing here is people were, told Trump supporters were told in 2020, the only way Trump could lose is if it was stolen, which course was false. But we saw what happened then, it led to January 6th. That is exactly what this whole MAGA media universe is telling them again: If Harris wins, the only way it could happen is if the Democrats stole the election.

DEAN: Of course not true as well.

Donie O'Sullivan, thank you so much.

We'll be watching tonight the all new episode of "The Whole Story" airs next, only in CNN.

And I want to say thank you so much for joining us this evening. I'm Jessica Dean in New York. I'm going to see you right back here next weekend.

WOLF: And Jessica, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv. Join me again tomorrow in the CNN NEWSROOM, 11:00 AM Eastern, and then later in the day, a special two-hour "Situation Room" starting at 5:00 PM Eastern.

Thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv. Good night from Israel.

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