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Hezbollah Fires Rockets Towards Israel; President Biden Shares Reason for Dropping Out of the Race; Harris Raised $12 Million in San Francisco Fund Raiser, Leads in Polls in Key States; Russia and Ukraine Blame Each Other Over Fire in Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant; Authorities in Brazil are Investigating the Plane Crash in Sao Paulo; Fireworks Illuminate Sky Above Olympics Closing Ceremony; Officials Release New Documents Related to 2022 Shooting; Drug Lord Makes First Statement After U.S. Arrest; Childhood Vaccines Prevent 500M+ Illnesses Since 1994. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 12, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world and streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, waiting on a knife's edge as the Middle East braces for Iran to launch a retaliatory strike on Israel, a mass cast doubt on whether it will participate in this week's Gaza ceasefire talks.

U.S. President Joe Biden offers new insights into why he decided to drop out of the 2024 campaign and pass the torch to his vice president, Kamala Harris.

And Paris says au revoir to the Olympics, closing out two weeks of record-breaking athleticism in the City of Light.

Good to have you with us. A barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel is heightening tensions in the Middle East as Israel braces for possible retaliation from Iran and its proxies over the assassination of a top Hamas leader. The Israel Defense Forces says about 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon Sunday night, with some falling into open areas. No injuries were reported. This coming as Israeli forces remain on high alert.

CNN political and foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid reports that according to a source, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Iranian military preparations suggest Iran is preparing for a large-scale attack. Austin has now ordered a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East, with the announcement seen as a message of deterrence to Iran and its proxies.

The U.S. is also accelerating the arrival of a carrier strike group. And as concerns over a wider conflict grow, Gaza ceasefire talks are due to take place later this week. CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments for us. She joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Paula. So, what preparations are underway in the region for a potential retaliatory strike from Iran and its allies on Israel, and what is expected?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we have been seeing some movements from the U.S. side as you mentioned there. Some fairly significant movement, the fact that they have decided through the Pentagon to move the USS Georgia, which is a guided missile submarine to the Middle East. Now, this a nuclear-powered submarine. It's armed with cruise missiles. It had been just off the coast of Italy carrying out some training in recent days and it is now being moved into the waters of the Middle East.

Now, what's significant about this is the fact that it has been highlighted, it has been front. This is out of the ordinary. It is very rare for the Pentagon to announce movements of its nuclear- powered submarine. It is almost a complete secrecy surrounding the movement of this kind of military assets, which goes to show that this is a very clear sign to Iran, a sign of deterrence that this is what they have in the region.

So, we're really seeing this deterrence being beefed up by the United States. We're hearing from the Israeli side, the IDF, saying that they are on a high state of readiness at this point. And we have been hearing from Iran itself saying that they will be carrying out this retaliation. It's separate from ceasefire talks when it comes to Gaza, but this is something that they have to do because Israel, in killing Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader on Iranian soil, violated its sovereignty. So it is something they have to respond to.

Now we did see, because of course it's Iran's proxies we're looking at as well, for any potential retaliation. We saw overnight on Sunday night about 30 rockets being fired from Hezbollah into northern Israel. The IDF says there were no injuries for that particular barrage of rockets. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And Paula, what is the latest on the ceasefire and hostage release talks set for later this week?

HANCOCKS: So at this point the plan still is that there will be a meeting on Thursday.

[02:04:57]

This is a meeting that the mediators, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, really want to try and have this final bridging proposal put to both parties, to Israel and to Hamas, to try and push this deal forward.

Now a few things have happened over the weekend. We did hear from one Israeli source familiar telling CNN that they believed that the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, was ready for a deal and ready for a ceasefire deal. But we also heard a statement from Hamas on Sunday saying that they wanted the mediators, Egypt and Qatar, to push forward with the deal that they have already agreed to.

Effectively this deal from July the 2nd, the one that President Biden publicly endorsed as well. So, it does raise some questions as to whether or not Hamas is still willing to be part of those negotiations on Thursday or whether they believe that the deal has already been done and this is what they want to agree to.

Now, there are also questions about whether or not Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is fully signed up to this ceasefire deal. He certainly has enough pressure from his far-right elements of his coalition not wanting him to sign this deal. But we have heard from the Prime Minister's office that as of now he is going to send a delegation to those talks on Thursday.

So, there's a lot in the air at this point and as we have been seeing in recent months, both sides, Israel and Hamas, blaming the other for the fact that this deal has not been done yet. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Our thanks to Paula Hancocks bringing us that live report from London.

U.S. President Joe Biden is sharing new details about his decision to drop out of the presidential race three weeks ago. In his first sit- down interview since then, Mr. Biden explains why he decided to suspend his re-election campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 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. But things got moving so quickly, it didn't happen. And the combination was that I thought it was a critical issue for me still, it's not a joke, maintaining this democracy.

But I thought it was important, because although I -- it's a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I -- the most important thing we can do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.

ROBERT COSTA, CHIEF ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN CORRRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: Will we see you out on the campaign trail for Vice President Harris?

BIDEN: Yes, yes you will. I talk to her frequently. I was talking to Governor Shapiro, who's a friend. We have to win Pennsylvania, my original home state. He and I put together a campaign tour in Pennsylvania. I'm going to be campaigning in other states as well. I'm going to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Vice President Kamala Harris returned to her home state of California for the first time since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. She attended a fundraiser in San Francisco, telling her donors that the real work for her campaign is yet to come. CNN's Kevin Liptak has more.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Vice President Kamala Harris is looking to extend the momentum that has surrounded her presidential campaign into a new week. She did conclude a five-city introductory tour of the new Harris-Walz ticket. It was followed by an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy.

All told, Vice President Harris spoke to tens of thousands of people at her rallies across last week. That has also extended to her fundraising. On Sunday, the vice president spoke to 700 donors in San Francisco, bringing in around $12 million to her campaign war chest. And her message to those donors was, don't be complacent. She told them she's never been one to really believe in the polls and that they can take nothing for granted.

She does acknowledge that it's been a good couple of weeks, but we have a lot of work to do. And I think Vice President Harris would be the first to acknowledge that good vibes alone are not what's going to win the election in November. And to that end, she did tell us on Saturday that she plans to unveil new policy proposals in this upcoming week, specifically related to the economy and bringing down prices for Americans.

In fact, she did unveil one new piece of policy at her event in Las Vegas on Saturday evening, saying she would work to eliminate federal income taxes on tipped wages. That's something that's enormously popular among workers, particularly where she was in Las Vegas. It's also a policy proposal that Donald Trump has raised on the campaign trail, and he wasted no time calling her a copycat.

[02:09:56]

A Harris campaign official said that her proposal would need to be worked through with Congress, that it would include income limits, and it would also include provisions to protect against fraud. Now, in this upcoming week, she will continue this push on the economy. We will see her for the first time with President Biden, their first official joint appearance since she replaced him atop the Democratic ticket.

It was interesting. In an interview just this weekend, the president discussed how he would be campaigning for Kamala Harris in the months ahead. He said he was planning a tour of Pennsylvania, his home state, and he said he plans to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help the most. Kevin Liptak, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic." He joins me now from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary. So Vice President Kamala Harris is back in Washington after spending Sunday in California. She is poised to announce her economic plan this week and enjoying some poll numbers that put her ahead of rival Donald Trump in some battleground states. How significant are those numbers at this time and where do you see this race going from here?

BRWONSTEIN: Well, those polls that came out in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from "The New York Times" and Siena, which is really one of the most respected public polls, they basically would have Kamala Harris as president, because if she wins those three states, the odds are it's virtually certain that she will, in fact, win. And she was up by identical margins of 50 to 46 in all three.

There is a long way to go. But what I took out of those polls that was significant was there was not an intrinsic pullback from her as a mixed-race woman among older and blue-collar white voters as compared to the support that Biden was winning. And what that says to me, it's not that those voters are guaranteed to be with her all the way to the end, but the Republicans are going to have to dislodge them.

They were not inherently running for the exits. And the fact that she was running better than Biden did in '20 among working class white voters in all three states, I think is a striking result and one that underscores the challenge ahead for the Trump campaign.

CHURCH: And Ron, meantime, Donald Trump is struggling, it seems, to adapt to this new race with Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket. He is falsely claiming one of her campaign photos was created by A.I., apparently haunted by the massive crowds that she's attracting. Why is he so distracted while also dealing with a campaign hack?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, no. Look, I mean, he -- they felt that they had essentially put the race away at that debate, that the basic construct that voters were looking at was Biden defined by age and weakness as opposed to Trump being defined by strength. You know, strength is still Trump's strongest asset with the public. But against Harris, things look very different. She looks energetic, vibrant. Suddenly he's the candidate who seems older.

You know, that press conference the other day, a lot of his answers kind of hard to figure out where he was going. They, I think, are going to end up with an ideological argument that she is too liberal and too weak to keep you safe on issues like immigration, crime and national security. But they are sure flailing as they try to get to it.

CHURCH: Yeah. And Trump's V.P. pick, J.D. Vance, is responding to Democrats labelling him weird, saying Harris and Walz are name-calling instead of saying how they will make the lives of Americans better. But isn't that exactly what Trump is doing? So who wins in the name- calling stakes, especially if policies are ignored?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, well, I mean, for anyone associated with Donald Trump to accuse anyone else of name-calling, you know, given, you know, Crazy Nancy Pelosi and, you know, the names he applies to Hillary and to Ron DeSantis and to birdbrain Nikki Haley.

It's equally I mean, to me, equally incredible is the idea that J.D. Vance wants to accuse anyone, Tim Walz, of dodging military service when Donald Trump got out of Vietnam with a diagnosis of bone spurs in his feet that is still disputed and later said that his equivalent of Vietnam was avoiding sexually transmitted diseases while dating models in Manhattan in the '80s and '90s.

You know, you got to kind of look in the mirror. I mean, there are vulnerabilities that Harris will have between now and the finish line, as I said, largely around issues of strength and ideology and who can keep people safe. But the Trump campaign, since the replacement of Biden, really has led with their chin with a whole series of arguments that are more likely to drive away than attract voters.

CHURCH: And Ron, in his first sit down interview since dropping out three weeks ago and passing the torch to Harris, President Joe Biden said defeating Trump overrode everything.

[02:15:05]

So he stepped aside because he didn't want to be a distraction for other down ballot races. He now says he will do whatever Harris wants him to do to help get her elected. So how critical was this interview at this particular time?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, he was right, you know. I mean, he was -- you know, during the whole controversy when the White House was accusing people of being disloyal for pressuring him to get out after that really catastrophic debate performance, I felt that rather than being disloyal, they were holding Biden to the standard that he himself said in 2020. I mean, he has said repeatedly through his presidency that he views Trump as an existential threat to American democracy as we have known it. And there were -- there are a lot of reasons to agree with that judgment.

And so for Biden to then say, well, you know, I may be diminished, but I should get the right to go on no matter what, he was violating the kind of standard that he set out himself. And I think today in that interview, he was basically acknowledging the legitimacy of people like Pelosi, who said that he had to put that overwhelming imperative, that kind of prime directive, you know, to quote from "Star Trek," over his own personal ambition and his own personal pride.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, always a pleasure to chat with you. Many thanks.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Still to come, Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other after a fire erupts at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. We'll have that and more after a short break. Stay with us.

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[02:20:00]

CHURCH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is blaming Russian forces for starting a fire at a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. He shared this video online showing smoke coming out of one of the towers at the Zaporizhzhia plant. But Russia claims the fire erupted after a Ukrainian attack.

Russian forces seized the nuclear plant shortly after the war began and have occupied it since. Zelensky says Moscow is just using it to blackmail Ukraine and the rest of the world. He added that radiation levels in the area are normal. Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops are pushing deeper into Russia's Kursk region after launching an incursion last week. The latest report by the Russian defense ministry indicates they have advanced up to 30 kilometers inside Russia. On Sunday, Zelensky said his military is doing what's necessary to end the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Only from the beginning of this summer and only from the Kursk region, our Sumy region suffered almost 2,000 strikes, artillery, mortars, drones. We also monitor every missile strike and each such strike deserves a fair response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ukrainians being evacuated from the border near Kursk are echoing Zelensky's comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYKOLA, EVACUATED FROM VILLAGE NEAR BORDER (through translation): I feel great, really good. Let's let them find out what it's like. They don't understand what war is. Let them have a taste of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian has more.

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

And it's unclear at this point whether Russian efforts have slowed the advance. But the question for Ukraine, as Russia amasses forces and evacuates tens of thousands of civilians, is how long they can hold on, and if holding on, even occupying pockets of Russian territory, is 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 Zelensky addressed it directly for the first time on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translation): Today I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor's territory. I am 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: 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 four North Korean ballistic missiles as part of a combined overnight missile and drone attack that killed a father and his four-year-old 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.

CHURCH: After the break, family members search for answers as investigators try to figure out what caused last week's deadly plane crash in Brazil.

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[02:25:00]

CHURCH: Authorities in Brazil say it could be weeks before they have an initial report into the cause of Friday's deadly plane crash near Sao Paulo. They say all of the voice and data information has been pulled from the plane's black boxes. Meanwhile, authorities are working to identify the bodies of the 62 victims with the help of family members. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has more.

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The process of identifying the bodies of the victims of Flight 2283 here in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is still ongoing as of Sunday night. This is the Institute of Forensic Medicine where all the bodies have been taken from the carcass of the plane. And here is where dozens of relatives and family members have arrived on Sunday to participate in this investigation.

Only two bodies were possible to have been recognized through facial recognition due to the violence of the impact when the plane crashed to the ground. For all the other bodies, it's necessary to go through DNA identification and other techniques in order to correctly match their identity. And for some of these family members, today was also the opportunity to say goodbye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATIMA ALBUQUERQUE, VICTIM'S MOTHER (through translation): I had DNA collected for the identification of my daughter and I don't know what state she will be in. My daughter was 1.7 meters tall, a strong and beautiful woman. You will see her photos on the internet.

I saw my daughter burn live on television, a mother seeing the plane on fire with my daughter inside.

[02:29:58]

Guys, there is no greater sin there can't be for a mother. So I'm going to fight as long as I have life. As long as I have life, I'm going to fight because I know that she would be fighting if I had been killed because this wasn't an accident. Don't label it as an accident, don't use that narrative. STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Just like that mother, the entire Brazil is still waiting for answer to the question of what could have happened to cause that plane to fall from the sky and crash onto the ground.

On Sunday, investigators from France, where the plane was manufactured there in the first place arrived in Brazil to participate in the investigation. They are analyzing and going through two black boxes that were successfully retrieved from the carcass of the plane to identify a probable motive.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The pilot of a helicopter is dead after crashing into a seaside luxury hotel in Cannes in northeast Australia.

Stunned guests were evacuated out of the chopper slammed into the seven story building's roof and caused a fire. Police say the pilot was the only one aboard the helicopter and no other injuries have been reported. The helicopters charter company says it is investigating unauthorized use of one of its aircraft with officials.

When we come back, we will always have Paris, the city of light proves once again it can put on a show. We'll recap the highlights from the closing ceremony and look ahead to what's in store for 2028.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Look at that, spectacular fireworks illuminating the sky above the Stade de France just outside the French capital.

[02:35:05]

This was part of the Paris Games action-packed closing ceremony, up to two-and-a-half weeks of exciting and historic competition, Paris chose to go out with a bang. The ceremony underscored the Parisian flair for the dramatic aid captivating ballet showcase, the golden voyager overseeing the hoisting of the iconic Olympic rings.

Actor Tom Cruise went into "Mission: Impossible" mode of the ceremony when he repelled down from the stadium's roof and went Hollywood with the Olympic flag in tow. Fantastic.

All right, joining me now, live from Paris is CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan.

Great to have you with us.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Great to see you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So a stunning closing ceremony at the Paris Olympics and for the first time, it's a tie for gold medals between the USA and China with 40 each, the U.S. dominating the total medal count though.

So how did these Summer Games compared to others in the past? And what were the highlights for you?

BRENNAN: Rosemary, really the best. You know, when you've got the backdrops and you've got venues like beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, you're able to use all of these amazing landmarks that Paris is so well-known for tourists, know, everyone knows the Seine River, of course, for the opening ceremonies and everything else that happened afterwards.

I do think that Paris goes to the top of my list. And as you know, I've been doing this for awhile. This is number 21 in a row. There have been some -- every Olympics is fantastic in its own way, but just because it was Paris.

And as far as highlights, you know, I think being -- covering swimming, being at the swimming venue that first week, watching the Frenchman Leon Merchand go for, for, four in his individual racist his gold medals. Each time, the crowd roaring, singing the Marseillaise, as you know, that's what the Olympics is about, the host nation gets to have that moment. But, you know, so many across the board and Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, the 227 year-olds just still on top of their game for the United States on and on, it goes, I could, I could take the whole segment just talking about the highlights because it truly was a terrific Olympic Games.

CHURCH: Yeah, as you say, so many highlights, a couple of low ones, though. The most I think for most Americans, it's going to be very hard to get passed the controversy involving gymnast Jordan Chiles after she was stripped of her bronze medal by the IOC, what will likely happen? Do you think with her U.S. appeal?

BRENNAN: Rosemary, I think she wind up keeping her bronze. By the way, she's already in the United States, so it's not like it's been delivered back to the International Olympic Committee here in Paris if he has it.

I'm going to I guess maybe they'll give out two bronze medals, one to the Romanian and one, of course, Chiles will keep hers. That's my guess. The U.S. appeal is going to be strong. The problem was this happened too quickly, the United States wasn't really even aware of what was happening.

And there is now -- getting in the minutia. There is now time-stamped video footage that the USA gymnastics has sent to the court of arbitration for sport that shows the U.S. appeal was within the one- minute 47 seconds. So they did get that appeal in time. My sense is that they will win their argument and cast and I'm surprised, frankly, Rosemary, that the International Olympic Committee let it get this far and didn't just say, hey, you both get bronze medals and let's not have this ruin the last day of a fabulous Olympics.

There's precedent he figure skaters and 2002 and Salt Lake City double gold medal for the Canadians and the Russians in that famous French judge judging scandal. And so I think that they could have done that and handle that. I'm not sure why the adults in the room did that take charge and figure this out because he's too young women. Jordan Chiles, and, of course, Barbosa, Ana Barbosa, have now been twisting in the wind its such an unfortunate situation for those young athletes.

CHURCH: It really is. And I think your solution of two bronze is perfect to and, of course, it is worth pointing out that U.S. women dominated winning more medals than U.S. men for the fourth consecutive Olympics.

What's behind that incredible achievement, do you think?

BRENNAN: I believe it's the law signed by Richard Nixon in 1972 called Title IX. That's the log of flood -- open the floodgates for girls and women to play sports. And basically, it wasn't just a half of the U.S. nation. The male half, they got to play sports, but now we wanted our daughters, our nieces, our granddaughters, the girl next door to play sports as well.

And 52 years later, look at what has happened at the dominant athletes are women. This is all about the grade college system in the United States. It's all about the great professional opportunities now for women in basketball and soccer, volleyball, others things, of course, tennis for years. And we're seeing the results.

[02:40:01]

And U.S. women are just so confident, so strong, so well-coached, all the things that their moms and their grandmothers never had. These American Olympic stars have and yes, they went 56 percent of the metals that the U.S. won. If they've been a nation unto themselves, the U.S. women would have finished third in the medal count behind the full U.S. team and China. That's how dominant the U.S. women were.

CHURCH: Wow, that is impressive.

Christine Brennan, in Paris, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

BRENNAN: My pleasure. Thank you.

CHURCH: And thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.

For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next. And for those of you here in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers here in North America. I'm Rosemary Church.

We are learning new disturbing details about one of the worst school shootings in us history. This weekend, the city of Uvalde, Texas, released a trove of body cam videos, 911 call recordings and other documents related to the massacre at Robb Elementary School.

[02:45:00]

Nineteen students and two teachers were killed by a gunman there in May 2022. And these new materials are shedding more light on the horrors of that day.

Camila Bernal walks us through them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's audio, video text messages that are really hard to listen to, to watch and to read.

And most of the CNN and the outstanding team covering this shooting has already reported on and showing you, but we did learn that a man who said he was the shooters uncle called 911 that day and begged a dispatcher to talk to his nephew, hoping that he could put an end to the situation. Take a listen to the 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)

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 the 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 a 10-year-old girl trapped in a classroom can be heard telling the police dispatcher to hurry because there were a lot of dead bodies.

Now, we also receive 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 group chat also mentioned that DPS director throwing everyone under the bus, referring 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 go into the classroom quickly enough. He later said that the officers that first responded also acted against active shooter training.

We have reached out to DPS for a response and these text messages and have not heard back.

And, you know, just this week, former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo told CNN's Ed Lavendera that he felt that he was scapegoated from the very beginning. There are still a lot of questions and law enforcement was heavily criticized for their failed response. Remember, it took them 77 minutes for these officers at the school to confront the shooter and the families of the 19 children and the two teachers killed they are still dealing with this and they still want accountability. Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A Mexican drug lord is sharing in his own words how he ended up in a U.S. prison awaiting federal trial. Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada says he was kidnapped by the sons of another notorious Mexican cartel leader and dragged to the United States against his will.

Rafael Romo tells us why his statement is extraordinary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You normally only hear from a suspected drug lord speaking publicly and movies or TV. So on the rare occasions when they do so in the real-world, everybody pays attention.

A statement from Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada released through his attorney on Saturday is making headlines around the world. In the statement, Zambada reiterates the claim that he was ambushed and kidnapped by a son of notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and hand-delivered to U.S. authorities.

The notion that I surrendered or cooperated voluntarily is completely and unequivocally false, Zambada says. I was brought to this country forcibly and under duress without my consent and against my will.

We had heard us much from Zambada's attorney days after U.S. law enforcement arrested both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez or an airport near El Paso last month. But this time, Zambada added details including accusations that he was being asked to mediate in a dispute between the governor of a Mexican state of Sinaloa, which gives its name to the cartel and a political rival. Sinaloa governor, Ruben Rocha Moya, who belongs to the same party as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, vehemently denied the accusations on Saturday at an event where they appeared together.

RUBEN ROCHA MOYA, SINALOA STATE GOVERNOR: There's absolutely nothing -- nothing that can link me to that matter, nothing. I say it bluntly forcefully, nothing.

ROMO: The Mexican president later said he fully trust the governor and praised them for forcefully responding to deny the accusations.

As for the statement from Zambada, he ends by calling on the people of Sinaloa to use restraint and maintain the peace. The men accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of atrocities like conspiracy to murder countless people in trafficking of the deadly chemical known as fentanyl added that, quote, nothing can be solved by violence. Zambada remains in U.S. custody, held without bond after pleading not guilty to seven federal criminal charges.

[02:50:04]

He's due back in court next month.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights the ongoing importance of childhood immunizations. It finds that vaccines have not only prevented millions of illnesses and deaths, but also provided significant economic benefits.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: In this new CDC report, researchers looked at nine different common childhood vaccinations. This includes the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, the poliovirus vaccine, hepatitis A, hepatitis B vaccines among others. And the researchers looked specifically at children born between 1994 and 2023.

And the researchers found that routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented more than 500 million cases of illness, about 32 million hospital and more than 1 million deaths. This is all within a child's lifetime and the researchers say that results in a direct cost savings of more than $500 billion for the country. When we think about the medical costs and the researchers say that this results in an indirect cost savings of about $2.7 trillion.

Now, in this new report, it is noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, we did see delays in some childhood vaccinations. This is because some pediatricians' appointments were delayed, canceled, or missed due to the pandemic, but also this is partly due to the spread of misinformation leading to some families becoming more vaccine hesitant.

But the researchers emphasize that now is the time to make sure your child is up to date on their routine vaccinations. We're currently in the back to school season. So remember to talk to your pediatrician about what's needed for you and for your family as you head back to school, and as you think about your routine vaccines.

Back to you.

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CHURCH: Celebrities are becoming coming increasingly known for their participation in us politics and encouraging Americans to vote. The 2024 race is no difference. A new Harvard University study claims Hollywood's A-list are incredibly powerful at getting voters, especially younger voters to the polls.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more details in this exclusive report.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We know she can sing.

TREVOR NOAH, TV HOST: You know the great thing about an Australian accent is that you always sound happy because always --

WAGMEISTER: We know he's funny.

But can stars like Trevor Noah and Billie Eilish get their fans to the polls on Election Day?

NOAH: Increase the chances of democracy succeeding.

BILLIE EILISH, MUSICIAN: We're facing a nationwide poll workers shortage.

WAGMEISTER: The answer is yes, they can. According to a new study from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, released exclusively to CNN.

ASHLEY SPILLANE, AUTHOR AND CO-FOUNDER, CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY PROJECT: They have a group of people that also, you know, like the Swifties, who want to be affiliated with each other, not just with Taylor Swift, but with each other as well.

WAGMEISTER: This study dug into the civic campaigns of stars like Questlove, Hailey Bieber, Kerry Washington, and Taylor Swift, to see if celebrity endorsements really do matter.

TAYLOR SWIFT, CELEBRITY STAR: I need to be on the right side of history.

WAGMEISTER: In Swift's case, the study notes a 2018 Instagram post and others since have led to a quantifiable call to action. Swift helped vote.org registered 250,000 people in 72 hours, the study says. Eilish and Noah, too, had an impact.

The non-profit Power the Polls track unique web links that each celebrity shared with their fans.

[02:50:05]

Noah directly recruited over 35,000 poll workers in 2020, this study notes, Eilish's impact on a recent recruitment day was measured in real-time.

SPILLANE: With through the day, Power the Polls announced that she had signed up 2,500 people, which is amazing, that you can see that and see it in real time.

WAGMEISTER: The study only looked at civic campaigns.

HULK HOGAN, CELEBRITY WRESTLER: Let Trumpmania rule again!

AMERICA FERRERA, ACTRESS: I am with Kamala. No, seriously, I'm with Kamala.

WAGMEISTER: Not partisan political endorsements. Young people were often most influenced.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who says that?

DAVID DOBRIK, YOUTUBER: Yours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

WAGMEISTER: Like when YouTuber David Dobrik, known for car giveaways, teamed with non-profit Head Count to award five Teslas to registered voters. Of nearly a half a million raffle entrance, three-fourths were millennial and Gen Z. More than two thirds actually went on to vote.

With that kind of power, the study's author is urging other celebrities to follow suit.

SPILLANE: We hope celebrities will do it more often, more loudly, more boldly, more frequently, and get your friends to do it, too.

WAGMEISTER: Actress Kerry Washington is doing just that.

[02:55:02]

KERRY WASHINGTON, ACTRESS: It's handled.

WAGMEISTER: She played a political fixer on the hit show "Scandal". Now in real life, she's helping other celebrities find their own civic voices, telling CNN, I don't speak out because I'm an artist. I speak out because I am an American.

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WAGMEISTER (on camera): Now, according to the study, celebrities have the greatest impact on you hunger voters, and a fascinating statistic from Harvard study is that by the next presidential election in 2028, the majority of the American voting body will be made up of Gen Z and millennials, which means that the impact of celebrities, public figures, and influencers on social media could stand to get even greater.

Back to you.

CHURCH: CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister with that report.

Well, what's old is new again is the message Disney is sending after unveiling slate of new projects over the weekend at its D23 fan convention. Among the new films and shows, a large number of sequels including the coming release of "Moana 2". Take a look.

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CHURCH: Disney's latest animated feature will release in November, eight years after the debut of the first "Moana".

Well, meantime, actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, the teaming up more than 20 years after their remake of "Freaky Friday" for a second entry titled "Freakier Friday". Disney executives also announced new sequels or TV projects for other animated franchises, including the "Incredibles", "Toy Story", and "Inside Out".

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break. Do stick around.