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Ceasefire-Hostage Talks to Resume Despite Iranian Threats; Ernesto Gains Strength, Expects to Develop Into a Hurricane; Japanese PM Announces his Resignation in September; Starbucks Hires New CEO to Bounce Back Lukewarm Sales. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 14, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Donald Trump is posting again on X after an interview with owner Elon Musk, but some Republicans fear his messaging is off, while his allies are concerned about his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Plus, Gaza ceasefire talks are set to resume on Thursday, but could Iran's warning of a potential attack on Israel threaten the prospects of a deal?

And tropical storm Ernesto is bringing heavy rain and winds as it moves over Puerto Rico. More on where the storm is headed as it continues to gain in strength.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, we are 83 days away from the U.S. presidential election and Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, is struggling to regain his footing in the race. The Trump team is calling his chat with Elon Musk on Monday a success, saying the talk reached 25 million X users and raised more than a million dollars.

In recent weeks, Trump has appeared frustrated since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee. In the X interview, Trump aired old grievances about the 2020 election, spewed conspiracy theories and showed he remains fixated on his former opponent, President Joe Biden. Many of his Republican allies fear his behavior is costing him the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want this campaign to win, but the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. It's not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It's not going to win talking about whether she's dumb. It's not. You can't win on those things. The American people are smart. Treat them like they're smart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Trump campaign is angling for a line of attack against Kamala Harris. They have criticized her for a lack of policy proposals and failing to take questions from reporters. But the Harris camp is ready. Her advisers say she will lay out her economic policy this Friday in a speech that, of course, comes ahead of next week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Meanwhile, Harris' running mate Tim Walz is making his first solo appearance on the campaign trail, speaking at a union convention in Los Angeles. Walz went after former President Trump and J.D. Vance for attacking his military record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These guys have are even attacking me for my record of service. And I just want to say I'm proud to serve my country and I always will be. I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record. Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Walz also highlighted his union ties while pitching Vice President Kamala Harris and himself to the largest government workers union in the country.

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

ROB BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Hey, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So we are 83 days away from the November elections and the polls show a very tight race with Kamala Harris pulling ahead of rival Donald Trump in some critical swing states as he still struggles to form a strategy to fight back after a pretty rough few weeks of adjusting to Harris's surprise momentum. So where do you see this race going from here when you look at those numbers?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, you know, what Harris has done really is just unleash and resurface the energy that existed in the Democratic coalition to resist the vision of America that Trump is putting forward. And that energy had been suppressed by, kind of, widespread despair among Democrats from elected officials to rank-and-file voters about not only how others would view Biden's capacity, but on but about Biden's ability to make the case they wanted to hear made against Trump. And, you know, when that -- that chant began in Las Vegas at the Harris event over the weekend about bring it on, that to me kind of summarized the change in the race.

[03:05:06]

You know, it's still a very close race. I think the advantage is slightly toward Harris at this point. But the change has really brought Democrats from the base of the party to the apex back into the game to a greater extent than I think anybody imagined a few weeks ago. And that, as you say, has put Trump on his back foot.

CHURCH: And in his first solo appearance since being tapped to be Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz defended his military service, saying he's damn proud of his record amid these GOP attacks. Walz was speaking to one of the nation's biggest public worker unions, and he cautioned against denigrating anyone's service. But why would the GOP use this as an attack method, given Donald Trump avoided going to Vietnam, claiming he had bone spurs in his feet? Doesn't this put them on pretty shaky ground?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, not only did he avoid Vietnam by claiming he had bone spurs later, you know, in multiple interviews, he said avoiding sexually transmitted diseases during his, you know, date model dating days in New York in the 80's was the equivalent of going to Vietnam. And he was, you know, that was his Vietnam. So, yeah, there's a lot of vulnerability there. I think they're counting on Democrats not to close the circle.

You know, they certainly want to challenge Walz's military service in a way that prevents him or makes it harder for him to ground himself in mid-America. But obviously, they are opening themselves up to these counterattacks. We really haven't heard them yet from Democrats. So we'll see whether they kind of point or take this obvious bait that Republicans are leaving out there for them.

CHURCH: And on Monday night, Elon Musk turned his company X into a pro-Trump platform. It was two hours of attacks, unchallenged lies and 40 minutes of technical glitches, apparently attracting about a million listeners. But while his advisers were thrilled, other allies were not. Some insiders apparently saying Trump is spiralling, veering off message and needs to snap out of it if he wants to win. What exactly did Trump achieve during this two-hour rant and was he preaching to the converted or is he attracting a whole new voting sector on X?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, I mean, out of the two hour meandering conversation, the one comment that is most likely to have an afterlife beyond last night was when Trump praised Musk for firing striking workers.

And it is UAW and other unions immediately picking up on that. I mean, blue collar unions, kind of, construction unions and industrial unions have had trouble holding their white working class members against Trump, both in 2016 and 2020.

For Trump to so explicitly endorse union busting seemed to me just an incredible unforced error because it will allow them to allow these union officials to make the case that Trump wants to take away your union, which is a point of agreement between union leaders and blue collar workers, as opposed to all the cultural issues that might divide them and lead them toward Trump. Look, Trump has had success at reaching a universe of voters who are loosely connected to the political system.

And you can see in all sorts of ways, you know, from some of the podcasters that he's done interviews with to associating with the UFC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is looking particularly to kind of present himself to young men who are not habitual voters and who tend to be alienated from all elements of the political system.

X is useful for him in that. But over the course of that very strange conversation, I would say the unforced error of endorsing union busting so explicitly is probably the piece of it that's going to live on the most and it's going to live on more in the hands of Trump's critics than his supporters.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, appreciate your analysis. Thanks for joining us.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: CNN projects Minnesota representative Democrat Ilhan Omar will beat back a primary challenge. Her victory comes as a relief for progressives, especially those critical of Israel's war in Gaza. Pro- Israel groups have spent millions propping up challenges to progressive House Democrats. Omar called the campaign the ugliest of her life.

The latest round of ceasefire and hostage release talks are expected to kick off Thursday in Doha, Qatar. But diplomatic sources tell CNN the last-ditch effort is not expected to stop Iran from retaliating against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Sources say mediators will present a plan to representatives from Israel and Hamas separately.

[03:10:05]

But a number of key sticking points remain, including possible last- minute demands by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His office denies his change positions and accuses Hamas of adding unrealistic demands.

U.S. President Joe Biden is pushing back on questions about what he's doing to pressure Israel and Hamas to come to the negotiating table. But he acknowledges he has concerns about the talks, given the threat of an attack on Israel by Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you think you can still get to a ceasefire deal, or is it starting to be a distant possibility?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's getting hard. We'll see what Iran does and we'll see what happens if there's any attack. But I'm not giving up. REPORTER: Are those two things tied together? Do you have any understanding that Iran could cease or stop doing an action if a ceasefire deal was possible?

BIDEN: That's my expectation, but we'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments and joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Paula. So what is the latest on the lead-up to Thursday's ceasefire and hostage release talks, and what role might they play in Iran's calculation when it comes to retaliatory strikes on Israel?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we're seeing diplomatic activity, certainly from the Biden administration, trying to push the ceasefire hostage talks forward. We've heard from the state departments that Brett McGurk, the Middle East envoy for Joe Biden, the U.S. president, is going to be in Egypt, also Qatar.

He'll be in the Middle East trying to push what has been described as a final bridging proposal that both sides, Hamas and Israel, can agree to. We also know that Amos Hochstein, who's the special envoy trying to calm the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border, will be in Beirut trying to pacify things there.

Now, of course, the concern among many in the region, also the Biden administration, is that whatever Iran's retaliation could be may spark a wider conflict.

There are, though, some within the Biden administration who believe that Iran may not have decided what that retaliation is going to look like as yet. Of course, retaliation for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader on Iranian soil.

Bear in mind, this is a very new Iranian president. He was only inaugurated less than 24 hours before this assassination took place. So we do hear from two Biden administration officials that Iran may not have decided on its exact course of action as of now.

Wanting to retaliate, as we've heard from many officials within Tehran, that they need to retaliate. It's their right to self-defense, that there's been a violation of their sovereignty. But of course, at the same time, not wanting to spark that wider conflict.

Now, we've also heard from two diplomatic sources that they believe that these last-ditch mediation efforts when it comes to a ceasefire- hostage deal will not make a difference to Tehran when it decides what its retaliation will be.

So as of now, we believe that these talks will still go ahead on Thursday, trying to hammer out that final deal.

According to a U.S. official, the one main difference we have at this point is the sequencing of the hostage exchange. So that's something that the mediators, Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. are trying to iron out before the end. We do still have both Hamas and Israel blaming the other for this not having been done yet, this deal. But we really will have to wait and see what, if anything, can come out of those talks on Thursday. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Alright. Our thanks to Paula Hancocks for that report.

Maha Yahya is the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. And she joins me now live from Beirut in Lebanon. Many thanks for talking with us.

MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Thank you for having me, Rosemary. Good morning.

CHURCH: So, Israel is still bracing for retaliatory strikes from Iran for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. But U.S. officials believe Iran hasn't yet decided how, when and where it plans to strike Israel. But diplomatic sources suggest the ceasefire and hostage negotiations set for Thursday are not expected to prevent these strikes from happening. So what are your thoughts on those assessments?

YAHYA: Honestly, I think, I mean, Iran is a pragmatic actor. I don't think it's a question of not knowing where and how to retaliate. I think it's more a question of trying to see what kind of gains they can maximize, they can get out of this particular situation.

[03:15:05]

If there is a ceasefire deal, then Iran can safely say the blood of Ismail Haniyeh did not go in vain and can give up on the idea of retaliating. I think the same would apply to Hezbollah.

Everyone wants out of this conflict. Nobody is interested in having an all-out conflict in the region at this particular moment, particularly, especially Iran, Hezbollah, the United States. They are not interested in an all-out war.

The Israeli prime minister and his current government is another story, I think, and there it's a different kind of calculus.

CHURCH: So your sense is that Iran will wait and not retaliate until after these talks, in a sense, use the retaliation as leverage. Is that what you're saying?

YAHYA: That's what I think is happening at this particular moment. Now, there are lots of diplomatic discussions going on behind the scenes between Iran and the United States via the Omanis, amongst others.

So it is a wait-and-see game to try and understand, you know, basically, yes, using this as leverage to try and get some gains, particularly a ceasefire, I think. The issue of ceasefire is maybe the key de-escalatory move. If we want to avoid this war escalating into something that no one has any control over, it has to begin with a ceasefire in Gaza. CHURCH: And one of the remaining sticking points to reaching a deal is

the possibility of last-minute demands coming from Israel's Prime Minister, Netanyahu. Do you think he wants to see a deal reached in Gaza?

YAHYA: He has not wanted to see a deal for a very long time.

President Biden's initiative was on the table as of, I believe, the end of May. There was a three-point plan that was agreed to. And even Israeli negotiators are complaining that Netanyahu keeps changing the goalposts and keeps making additional demands in a way to scuttle the prospect of any deal.

His political survival and that of his cabinet, particularly the more right-wing elements within it, is dependent on the continuation of conflict. They do not want to see the end of conflict. They do not want a day after in Gaza unless that day after includes the ethnic transfer of Palestinians from Gaza.

CHURCH: What do you think it will take to reach a deal in Gaza and how would you compare the demands being made by Hamas to those coming from Israel?

YAHYA: I think what it would take is for the United States to exert actual pressure and use its leverage in terms of weapons transfer. What we've seen is the opposite. Yesterday, the State Department authorized the sale of $20 billion worth of arms to Israel.

Now, whether they're using this as a carrot rather than using the stick of saying we're going to stop weapons transfer unless you stop this conflict is another story. But I think what it will take is for the United States and this current administration to use the leverage it has and say enough. Enough bloodshed. We need a deal on the table right now.

What we've seen, at least publicly, in terms of the demands of Hamas, at least the statement that was made a couple of days ago, is they said we want to go back to what was agreed to in President Biden's three-point plan.

So clearly the goal posts, as I said, had been moved and shifted many times.

So they're saying go back to this three-point plan. We need something on the table, concrete, rather than continuing these endless discussions about the ceasefire deal, where every time we get to the point where there is a deal on the table, it gets scuttled by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Hamas is not blameless, but just to make clear that the primary obstacle until now has been the Prime Minister of Israel.

CHURCH: Maha Yahya, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your perspective and analysis. I Appreciate it.

YAHYA: Pleasure. Thank you, Rosemary. CHURCH: Well, Tropical storm Ernesto is lashing parts of the Leeward

Islands and Puerto Rico with heavy rain and gusty winds and could soon strengthen into a hurricane. The storm forecast after the break.

Plus, a fast-moving wildfire in Greece devastates the forest and sends a giant cloud of smoke billowing over the Parthenon in Athens. The latest on the blaze just ahead.

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[03:20:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Tropical storm Ernesto is just shy of a Category 1 hurricane with 70 mph winds. It's located about 40 miles north of San Juan. And right now, more than 100,000 customers in Puerto Rico are in the dark. And nearly all customers across the U.S. Virgin Islands are without power.

Meantime, in the Pacific, tropical storm Ampil could impact Tokyo as a typhoon over the weekend. CNN's Chad Myers has the storm forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, behind me here is Ernesto. There's Puerto Rico, very heavy rainfall coming down at this hour. In places, could see 4 to 6 inches of rain.

And with the wind, even in Puerto Rico, with even a 40 or 50 mile per hour wind, we can lose an awful lot of power here. We know that from history. Maybe 4 to 6 inches even over the British Virgin Islands as the tails, the outer bands still come over parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico proper.

Temperatures in the ocean are 1 to 2 degrees, even 3 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for this time of year.

And this storm is going to make a run to Bermuda. It's going to be left or going to be right. The American model is on the west side. The European model is on the right side. What you need to know is that this thing could be a 110 mile per hour hurricane as it makes its way toward Bermuda. That's only 1, 2 miles per hour less than a Category 3 hurricane. And with the waters being so warm, there's no way to know whether it's going to be a 2 or a 3.

[03:25:08]

But then where does it possibly go? Well, if you're in Nova Scotia or in Newfoundland, I want you to pay attention because some of the models are trying to turn this back toward the west, not into the U.S. or into Boston at this point, but still could be a brush with Nova Scotia and their Newfoundland.

Taking a look back out now into the Pacific, we're going to take you to Ampil. This is the storm that's going to make a run at Tokyo. Tokyo, you are in the cone of this storm, at least for now. And it likely will be a pretty healthy storm. 160 kph maybe here as we get close to Tokyo.

So the storm is back again in warm water. There's the circulation. You see the eye getting smaller and smaller, which means the wind speeds are going up and up. Now, for now, the storm stays offshore. But that doesn't mean that the winds are going to stay offshore or that all the rain is going to stay offshore.

So we have to keep that in mind. When you look at the cone here, you have to watch out. We know from history that this can go left or can go right. Even if it's just one degree, it's going to make all the difference, whether it's a near miss, a hit or just something out into the ocean. We hope for this scenario out over here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster fund has run out. It's the second year in a row the fund has been depleted before the peak of hurricane season, a trend one official tells CNN is because of climate change. The agency shifted into so-called immediate needs funding last week while it waits for Congress to pass a $9 billion supplemental funding request. A FEMA spokesperson says the agency does have enough resources to respond to impending disasters like Ernesto, but will need to pause long-term recovery from previous disasters.

Well Greece's worst wildfire of the year has eased as strong winds die down and firefighters work to put out the last of the blaze. More than 400 square kilometers or 156 square miles of forest in the Antika region and up to the suburbs of Athens have burned in the fast-moving fire. At least one person was killed and thousands of residents were evacuated as the fire came very close to the Greek capital where more than three million people live. Emergency crews have been working to extinguish the fire, which began on Sunday near the town of Varnavas.

Meantime, across Europe there's no relief in sight from the heat wave, especially in the southeast. Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid to upper 30s, even reaching 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.

And CNN's Barbie Latza-Nadeau joined us now from Rome. Good morning to you, Barbie. So what is the latest on these very high temperatures across Italy and other parts of southern Europe?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, you know, we're bracing for two very, very hot days here before there's any relief. There are 22 cities in Italy under red alert right now for the next two days. And these are cities that are very popular with tourists.

A red alert with the civil protection here in Italy means that it's not just those who are vulnerable or who have health conditions who are at risk from these high temperatures, but everyone is.

And they're urging people to stay inside from the hot hours of the day, from about 11 o'clock a.m. to about 6 p.m. Now, of course, that's very, very difficult for tourists, people who

come here for one or two days. Those people that the civil protection authorities are really concerned about right now, urging them to try to do museums, be inside churches, make sure they drink plenty of water and stay out of the sun. This is, of course, not just in Italy. We see these temperatures in Greece. We see them in Spain as well. But we're under a considerable heat alert here in Italy. Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Barbie, the wildfire in Greece, it has eased. But what are the overall conditions there and how is this affecting the people living there, the residents?

LATZA NADEAU: Yeah, you know, even though the fires have eased, you know, the people whose homes have been destroyed, whose gardens, whose pets have died, you know, they're just counting the damage right now. They're just getting back to their houses to see what, if anything, is left.

And this was so close to Athens. This was an Athens suburb. So these aren't, you know, beach homes that people go to during the summer, but these are residences that were destroyed so close, about 11 miles from the center of Athens. You know, so many tourists who visit that part of the world this time of year who are also very, very concerned.

Now, even though the fires have ceased, you know, people are very concerned that it would just take one accident, someone flicking a cigarette or being careless with a campfire or something like that, that could spark these fires again. So they're on high vigilance, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Barbie Nadeau for that report. I Appreciate it.

[03:30:00]

Well, drone strikes and an incursion as Ukrainian forces move deeper into Russian territory. Regional leaders are sounding the alarm to Moscow.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump says technical issues are to blame for his voice sounding different during his two-hour conversation with Elon Musk on X. At several points throughout the interview, Trump's speech sounded as if he had a lisp or was slurring his words, which attracted attention online. Trump says his voice sounded, quote "somewhat different and strange" due to technical issues.

Tropical storm Ernesto is getting stronger, now close to Category 1 hurricane strength, as it lashes Puerto Rico with heavy rain and strong winds. Flash flood warnings have been issued across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than 100,000 customers are without electricity in Puerto Rico and nearly all customers across the U.S. Virgin Islands are in the dark.

Iran's threat to strike Israel is looming over Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks set to resume Thursday in Doha, Qatar. U.S. officials tell CNN Tehran still has not decided on a course of retaliatory action after the assassination of a Hamas leader last month.

The governor of Belgorod in Russia has declared a regional emergency, saying Ukrainian forces have launched drone attacks there.

[03:35:01]

Russia claims its air defense has shot down dozens of Ukrainian aircraft-type drones and four tactical missiles over Kursk. That is the region of Russia where Ukrainian forces have been advancing. It's been one week since their incursion shocked and humiliated Moscow and put Russian President Vladimir Putin on the defensive.

Ukraine claims it's already taken control of more than 1,000 square kilometers, 40 of those in the past day alone. Ukraine's foreign ministry says the country does not intend to annex the territory and that they only want to, quote, "protect our people's lives from Russian attacks coming out of Kursk."

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me live now from London. Good morning to you Clare. So what is the latest on Ukraine's incursion into Russia and what's President Zelenskyy hoping to accomplish here?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah Rosemary, that's the interesting part of this because having seen Ukraine say nothing for the first few days of this operation, then talk somewhat cryptically about it, we're now seeing officials including the President really talking openly about their goals here. In a press briefing on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry saying that as soon as Russia agrees to adjust peace on Ukraine's terms, that is when the raids on its territory will stop.

So making it pretty clear there and for now quite clearly those raids are continuing. We saw Russia saying that it destroyed some 117 Ukrainian drones overnight over the border regions including Kursk, where of course the epicenter of this incursion by Ukraine is still taking place. Four missiles as well. That is a higher number than we usually see because of course even before this Ukrainian drone attacks across the border were fairly commonplace.

The Russian Ministry of Defence meanwhile releasing this video saying that its jets are striking Ukrainian targets in the Kursk region. So they are trying to look like they're really pushing back here, taking control of the situation. But of course if you read the accounts, the more unvarnished accounts of Russia's military bloggers, it's clear Ukraine is still on the attack in a number of locations.

And as you say, Belgorod which is another border region has declared a regional emergency. The governor is trying to have that upgraded to a federal level emergency which would mean that assistance for civilians and things like that would come from the federal budget. And meanwhile President Zelenskyy also talking pretty openly about

Ukraine's goals here and making it very clear that a secondary element of this operation has to do with the level of morale in the country. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All of us in Ukraine need to act as unitedly and effectively as we did in the first weeks and months of this war when Ukraine seized the initiative and began turning the situation in favor of our state. We have done the same now. We have once again proven that in any situation we Ukrainians are capable of achieving our objectives, of defending our interests and our independence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So the context here is of course that in the lead up to this and after the difficulties that Ukraine has had in the territory that Russia has been gradually taking back over the last several months, morale had been dipping in Ukraine as evidenced by their difficulties in recruiting new troops for the front. So he is really leveraging this moment here and the success so far of that Kursk operation.

He has also made it clear that there is an element of an end game here. He said in his speech on Wednesday that he had a working group on Ukraine's peace formula, so still very much looking at that. And he said the more that the Russian military in the border area is destroyed, the closer they will be to peace. Obviously Russia has a somewhat different view of this. Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian for that live report from London.

And earlier I spoke with Jill Dougherty, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and CNN's former Moscow bureau chief. And with Russian news outlets covering the Ukrainian incursion, I asked her how it's affecting Russians and their view of President Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: You know, I don't think on the last part of the question that we really know. This is very early and we really don't know exactly where all of this is headed. Why did Ukraine actually want to do this? There are a lot of theories.

But I think, you know, if you look at the Russian people right now, I would look at the instructions that the Kremlin gave to the media, the state-controlled media, of course, telling them essentially how to handle this. Because all of a sudden they had a big problem on their hands. So what do you tell the Russian people? Don't sensationalize this. Don't talk about a second front.

And that, of course, is really important because the Kremlin, Rosemary, is trying to let people in the big cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, believe that this is a war, but it's over there and it really doesn't affect them, et cetera.

[03:40:04]

Whereas obviously we're seeing it is beginning to affect Russians very directly. And then they're also saying, tell human interest stories. Don't tell, you know, theoretical things. Go for the human stories of people who've been killed or injured.

And then finally, make sure that Russians know that the government and Putin are on their side and will never leave anyone behind that type of message. So when they're issuing those types of directions, I think that we realize, we can definitely realize, that they understand they have a big problem in a propaganda P.R. sense with their own people.

CHURCH: Right. And how do you expect Putin to respond militarily to this Ukrainian incursion and how was it even possible that Russia was taken off guard by this?

DOUGHERTY: I don't know how he can explain it, quite honestly. I think we're going to have to see what does he do to the people who are in charge, who allowed this to happen? Where were the intelligence people who should have known that this was going on? How did the military handle it? How were the Ukrainians essentially able to walk right in?

These are big questions for Putin. And if you look at the way he's behaved in this, he essentially disappeared for two days. He said nothing. And then when he came out, he downplayed it. He said, you know, this is a provocation.

And even right now, in their counteraction to try to counteract the Ukrainians, they're calling it, the Kremlin is calling it, a terrorist operation. They're not calling it a military incursion, because again, they want to downplay it. Behind the scenes, I'm sure they know that this is a major step.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Jill Dougherty talking to me earlier.

And still to come, Donald Trump's two-hour rant with Elon Musk may land both men in some legal trouble. More on the complaint filed with U.S. officials against them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The United Auto Workers Union has filed federal labor charges against former U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In the complaint, the union accuses Trump and Musk of threatening to intimidate workers who go on strike. The UAW has repeatedly singled out Tesla, the largest non-union American automaker, as a target for the union's organizing efforts. The Trump campaign called the UAW charges a political orchestration by Democrat special interest bosses.

Nearly two years after Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, the billionaire appears to be leveraging the platform and its millions of users to try to sway the outcome of this year's presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Musk is actively campaigning for Trump and hosted the Republican nominee for a more than two-hour chat on X Monday. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I respect Elon a lot. He respects me.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is now complete.

TRUMP: And you know, Elon, I love Elon Musk. Do we love him? I love him.

SERFATY (voice-over): Elon Musk fully making the swing over to the MAGA right.

ELON MUSK, OWNER, X: I think we need to take the right path, and I think you're the right path.

SERFATY (voice-over): Aligning with former President Trump on some of his signature policies.

TRUMP: We need the wall to stop the drugs and the human trafficking. We need the wall.

SERFATY (voice-over): Musk tweeting his support for a border wall as he made a live stream visit to the border --

MUSK: A flow of people that is of such magnitude that is actually what's leading to a collapse of social services.

SERFATY (voice-over): -- in rhetoric.

TRUMP: We don't want to have crazy forms of counting our vote. We want to have paper ballots, same-day voting, voter I.D.

SERFATY (voice-over): Musk tweeting, we should mandate paper ballots and in-person voting only. And the pushing of far-right MAGA tropes and alt-right ideas.

MUSK: I'm simply saying that there is an incentive here. If liberal immigrants, which I think have a very strong bias to, at least everything I've read, it's a very strong bias to vote Democrat, the more they're coming to the country, the more they're likely to vote in that direction.

SERFATY (voice-over): The two are now almost finishing each other's sentences.

MUSK: It would only take a few percent of the rest of Earth to overwhelm everything.

TRUMP: We're already overwhelmed, Elon. We're overwhelmed.

SERFATY (voice-over): Making Musk's formal endorsement the night of Trump's shooting last month not at all surprising.

TRUMP: That endorsement meant a lot to me. Not all endorsements mean that much, to be honest. Your endorsement meant a lot.

SERFATY (voice-over): But this political moment for Musk is a long way away from where he was just a few years ago. For years, Musk has described himself as politically moderate. He says that he has voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the past.

TRUMP: He said the other day, oh, I've never voted for a Republican. I said, I didn't know that. He told me he voted for me. So he's another bullshit artist.

SERFATY (voice-over): In 2022, he says he voted Republican for the first time, something Trump both celebrated and mocked. Musk says the left has become more extreme. And he made a political shift in part, he says, because of his now transgender daughter, who he still refers to on social media by her male birth name.

MUSK: I lost my son, essentially. The reason it's called dead naming is because your son is dead. So my son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke wine virus. So I vowed to destroy the woke wine virus after that. And we're making some progress.

SERFATY: And Trump during that over two hour live stream signaled his openness to give Elon Musk a role in his administration, should he win the White House. Musk raised the idea of creating a government efficiency commission and said he would be happy to help out with that. Trump answered that he would love that.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Japan's prime minister says he will step down next month, ending a three-year term marked by political scandals. Fumio Kishida made the announcement during a news conference earlier today, saying he will not seek re-election as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party or LDP.

He said bowing out is his effort to restore people's faith in politics. His party has been rocked by some major political scandals involving allegations of failing to properly declare income and giving kickbacks to lawmakers. Concerns about the economy, including a weakening yen against the U.S. dollar, have also undermined confidence in Prime Minister Kishida's policies.

[03:50:04] Still to come, Starbucks is hoping a shake-up at the top will provide a jolt to its lukewarm sales. The veteran CEO who is taking over will have details after the break.

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CHURCH: In the coming hours, the U.S. government will release new inflation data. The Consumer Price Index offers insight into how prices are changing for Americans in their lives. It comes a day after another key inflation gauge showed price hikes slowed as expected in July. The Producer Price Index was 2.2 percent for the 12 months ending in July. That's a significant pullback from the 2.7 percent increase reported in June. Economists expect today's data to show that inflation continues to wane.

Well Starbucks is hoping a new CEO will get sales percolating again. The coffee giant has tapped Brian Niccol to lead the company, replacing its current chief executive who lasted only a year. Niccol has led the Mexican food chain Chipotle since 2018, growing its revenue nearly 800 percent.

[03:55:08]

CNN's Nathaniel Meyersohn has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Big changes in Starbucks as the company is going to have its fourth CEO in just two years as Brian Niccol takes over the company from Chipotle.

And Starbucks has really struggled the last several years. Last quarter, its sales were down 3 percent. Customers are frustrated with higher prices. People are paying 5, 6, $7 for iced coffee, even more for lattes. Starbucks' business model has completely changed over the past several years. You think back at Starbucks during the 90's and 2000's, people used to go inside, stay for a while, sit down.

Now everybody's ordering on their phone. Sometimes the service is often slow. But investors are very confident in him. The stock's up about 20 percent at Starbucks today shows excitement for Niccol. He's known as a turnaround expert, having turned around Chipotle after its E. coli and food safety issues. Also has a track record of turning around Taco Bell. And so Wall Street really thinks that Starbucks has picked the right man for the job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for spending part of your day with me. Hope you enjoyed the rest of it. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Christina Macfarlane in London.

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