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Senior Hamas Official Interviewed on Hamas's Attack on Israel Last October and Subsequent Israeli Military Actions in Gaza; Ceasefire Negotiations between Israel and Hamas Continue in Qatar and Egypt; Economist Compares Economic Policy Plans of Presidential Candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris; Hurricane Ernesto Hits Bermuda; Military Careers of Vice Presidential Candidates J.D. Vance and Tim Walz Compared; Ukrainian Forces Continue to Take Territory in Russia's Kursk Region; White Woman Who Killed Unarmed Black Neighbor by Shooting Her Through Locked Door Convicted by Florida Jury; Caitlan Clark Likely to Set Rookie Scoring Record in WNBA. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired August 17, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: -- has indeed arrived at the protest down there in the Venezuelan capital. She's been hiding for almost two weeks now, but she has taken part in activity. In the meantime, several countries, including the United States yesterday, signed a document in the Dominican Republic all urging Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan electoral authorities to release the tallies, to release the voting ballot papers that certify that he has indeed won the election if that was the case. It has been three weeks that Maduro has claimed to be the winner, and we haven't seen any proof of that yet. Fredricka?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Stefano Pozzebon, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm here in the United States, and my colleague Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv. Jim, we'll get to you in a moment, and thank you to all of our viewers in the U.S. and abroad.

We begin in the Middle East where Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike overnight killed at least 15 members from one family. Video shows rescuers looking for survivors following the attack. And in a statement, Israel says it killed several militants in central Gaza, including one who launched rockets toward Israeli troops. The attack also raises questions about ongoing talks between the U.S., Israel, Egypt, and Qatar aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement, as well as an agreement for the return of hostages from Gaza.

Jim, let's go to you in Tel Aviv. Where do things stand?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fred, thanks so much. We're going to get to the ceasefire in just a few moments, the latest updates.

Right now, I am joined by Osama Hamdan. He is a senior member of Hamas. He joins me now from Doha in Qatar. Thank you for taking the time.

OSAMA HAMDAN, SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Let me begin here. We are 10 months into this war. Gaza Health Ministry officials say that 40,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been killed. On October 7th, Hamas killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. Does Hamas today regret the October 7th terror attacks?

HAMDAN: Well, it seems to me that you are giving the Israelis the right to kill the Palestinians when you ask if we are, if we were feel regret for what Israel has done. You have to understand that Israel has been killing the Palestinians for the last 76 years. And when the Palestinians react against the occupation who failed the Palestinians, who failed also agreement, or continue undermining all the peace process and trying to take over all the Palestinian lands, talking in public about kicking out 2 million Palestinians from West Bank to east Jordan, all this is that the right for Israel.

And when the Palestinians react against the occupation, they have to regret to what the Israelis are doing, killing them by thousands --

SCIUTTO: Mr. Hamdan.

HAMDAN: -- the Palestinians will --

SCIUTTO: I have covered -- I have been coming to this part of the world for more than 20 years, and I have personally covered terror attacks by Hamas that killed Israeli civilians more than 20 years. So I'm asking you this, just looking at the last ten months of this conflict for a moment, does Hamas accept any responsibility for the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza? Because as you know, Hamas tunnels, Hamas military units are based under and around homes, mosques, schools in Gaza. Do you accept responsibility for any of the deaths in Gaza?

HAMDAN: Yes. Unfortunately, you have covered this region for 20 years, but you were watching, you was watching the region by the Israeli eyes. You didn't show that Israelis killing thousands of Palestinians within those 20 years. In 2014 Israel attacked and they killed more than 4,000 Palestinians. You didn't see that. They attacked us and they killed in one day 1,000 Palestinians and in 2008, and you didn't see that. Those attacks --

SCIUTTO: Actually, I was here I was here in 2014, I was here in 2014 and I was hearing 2008. I'm asking you if Hamas accepts --

(CROSS TALK)

SCIUTTO: I do. But what you're saying is factually not true. I was here for both -- I was here for both of those conflicts. My question is, does Hamas accept any responsibility for the deaths of its own people in Gaza.

HAMDAN: In Gaza -- excuse me, you can't ask and answer by yourself. Either you let me answer or you can finish talking by yourselves to yourself. If you wish that, it's OK. I'm done.

[14:05:00]

I have to answer, and I want to say what I want to say. It's not your duty to dictate what I'm supposed to say. It's not your duty to receive the answers you wish to receive.

SCIUTTO: So the question is, do you accept responsibility for the deaths of civilians in Gaza? That's the question.

HAMDAN: You still keep watching what is happening by Israeli eyes, listening by the Israeli ears, acting as if you are part of Israeli military attack against the Palestinians. I've seen that you support the killing of 40,000 Palestinians. You are not blaming the Israelis for anything. You are talking about Palestinians who are being killed as if they were nothing, and you are just saying the Palestinians were killing the Israeli.

Let's go to West Bank. There is no Hamas, there is no action from Hamas, and the Israelis have killed already 800 Palestinians in the last 10 months. What about this? They are talking about the Palestinians --

SCIUTTO: In fact, sir, in fact, sir, as you know CNN has covered the deaths of Palestinians quite closely.

(CROSS TALK)

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you a question here because you're saying --

HAMDAN: -- unfortunately. You are --

SCIUTTO: So I'm going to quote you, I'm going to quote you right now --

HAMDAN: -- the Palestinians, you didn't show the women who --

SCIUTTO: I'm going to quote you right now a Palestinian in Gaza.

HAMDAN: We are talking about 16,000 children who are being killed by the Israelis. And you are asking if there --

SCIUTTO: I'm very aware of -- I'm very where are the civilian toll in Gaza.

HAMDAN: And you are not listening, and you are not allowing me to answer. You don't want to listen to the facts. You just want to listen to yourself. It's OK. That's enough. It's fine.

SCIUTTO: I'm going to quote you now. I'm going to quote now a Palestinian from Gaza --

HAMDAN: -- you just want to listen to yourself and to the Israelis. If you are aware and what Israeli action with Israelis, don't talk to Hamas. Thank you very much. The Israelis have killed us, and you are now -- SCIUTTO: In fact, we've invited you on the air to ask you questions.

HAMDAN: -- for the killings of Palestinians, you are supporting the killing of the Palestinians. I'm sorry to hear that from the CNN. Thank you very much. I have to finish that. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you. I'm going to quote you someone from Gaza who spoke -- well, there you go. It's a shame. We did give him the opportunity to answer questions on the state of the war there.

Our CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson joins me now. Not an unusual conversation when you press Hamas officials on the deaths of civilians. The question there was what does Hamas accept responsibility or any contribution to the deaths that have taken place in Gaza through the progress of this war given that Hamas lives among the population quite deliberately, and its tunnels are under residential areas and around mosques and schools, and he did not want to answer that question.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: One of the reasons he doesn't want to answer it, in part that there are many ways to break that down, but to admit that you are willing to sacrifice your own population for your own political aims along your own path, remembering that Hamas is not the only political option for Palestinians, but in Gaza, it is, essentially. When you listen to what Palestinians are saying in Gaza these days, particularly many months into the war, is perhaps the sensitive reason why he wouldn't want to get into that, or at least answer the question about this, because people in Gaza are frustrated.

And we were listening, you and I were just reading through a transcript with a man today whose right near one of the houses that was hit in Israeli airstrikes.

SCIUTTO: He blames Hamas.

ROBERTSON: And he's blaming Hamas. And earlier in the year, we were interviewing, CNN was interviewing another lady in Gaza who was picking through the rubble of her home, trying to find their children's schoolbooks. And she was incredibly angry with Hamas. That's a sentiment that exists. And there's a frustration. And therefore, that means the political calculation of Hamas is wrong. And that's why, and that's why it's difficult for him to answer.

But there are many reasons. It would have been good if he'd stayed on and got into a conversation about where he --

SCIUTTO: The status of the talks.

ROBERTSON: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: So our best understanding of where the talks stand today, because you are hearing American officials say cautious optimism about the state of the talks. We heard just in the last hour cautious optimism from the Israelis. We were hoping to hear an assessment from Hamas on the state of those talks here. Do we have any sense that Hamas is also moving towards agreement here?

ROBERTSON: It's very hard to judge. I mean, they like a position of ambiguity. He's in Doha, and just a couple of days ago, some Hamas officials were saying they wouldn't have anyone from Hamas in Doha where the latest round of talks was.

[14:10:01]

But yet he's there, and we know that there have been interactions between the mediators, Qatar, Egypt, and Hamas. So there's that ambiguity, they don't like to say things as they are. But what they have said is that they believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu is actually doing what he's been doing all along, that the United States is supporting him, that he's introducing elements into the -- into the narrative, in the conversation about the deal around the Gaza, the ceasefire. Who will control the border with Egypt, who will control the crossings? Will there be a freedom of movement for people to move inside of Gaza back to the north? Will they be allowed beyond? All those sorts of things, he thinks new conditions are being applied. Hamas believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu is continuing to do that.

SCIUTTO: By the way, that criticism has come from inside Israel as well. I mean, you had Benny Gantz saying quite publicly that he worries that Benjamin Netanyahu, and by the way, this is not a new criticism, is placing his own political concerns above, for instance, the fate of the hostages.

ROBERTSON: And even then negotiating team before they went also said something akin to that, that they felt that this was the time for a deal, and it's not clear the scope of the mandate that they've been given.

But Hamas's position at the moment, as best we can understand it, is that they are not -- everyone else is sounding cautious and positive, but they are not. And I think that's important, but there are more discussions expected in Cairo.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ROBERTSON: But look, when you speak to him, it's Hamas's vision, it's Hamas's view and understanding of history that's so important to them to protect their position. Presumably, Hamas wants to be part of the political narrative going forward in Gaza. Therefore, they have to survive as a political entity. Therefore, they have to defend every decision that they've taken, including murdering 1,200 Israelis on October the 7th. So that's why he sounds defensive.

SCIUTTO: And inevitably, around discussions like this, there will be public messaging separate from what's happening in that negotiating room, and perhaps different from what's happening in the negotiating room because they have political implications to think of it.

Nic Robertson, thanks so much. We'll be right back after this break with further updates on the situation in the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:17:01]

WHITFIELD: We're now just 80 days out from the presidential election, and both candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard in key battleground states, and putting an emphasis on the economy. On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out her economic vision for the future, aiming to make life more comfortable for the middle- class and low-income earners.

Plans include the creation of 3 million new homes and increasing child tax credits up to $6,000 for newborns. Harris also wants to put a federal ban on price gouging. Here's how she framed it, speaking to voters in North Carolina

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And more than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut. We will end Americas housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: And I will work to pass the first ever federal ban on price gouging on food.

I'll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone with your support, not only our seniors.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, here with us now, Justin Wolfers. He is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. Great to see you, professor.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, so as an economist, what do you think of the proposals that Harris has in store if she becomes president?

WOLFERS: Fredricka, if I might, I just want to put them all in a broader context, which is this week we had a big economic speech from Trump, a big economic speech from Harris. Let's put them next to each other.

WHITFIELD: OK.

WOLFERS: The first thing to note is that Trump's economic speech was not, in fact, about the economy. It was an 80-minute incoherent rant in which he started talking about immigrants and tampons and San Francisco and everything except the economy. By contrast, Harris's speech was squarely focused on the economy.

Second thing, Trump's facts weren't true. Harris's were. Let me give a simple example. Both talked about the cost of living. Trump claimed falsely that the price of bacon is four or five times higher. It's nothing like that. Harris claimed, seriously, that bread was 50 percent more expensive. It is. And I think that matters because serious problems deserve serious analysis, serious facts.

And the third is that Trump's policies, promised policies, were neither promises nor policies. You ask him about inflation. He says, I promise to get inflation down. You say, how? And he said in his speech, I will write an executive order telling my cabinet secretaries to come back to me with every idea they have about how to reduce inflation. That's not a policy. That's a process.

By contrast, Harris actually laid out her plan. There are pluses and minuses, and we can all have a look at it and really debate it. But this at least was taking economics seriously.

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's zero in, because I'm hearing you like Harris's plan a little bit better. So let's break down some of the elements of her plan where she says she wants to give $25,000 in down- payment as it pertains to homebuyer abilities, assistance to first- time homebuyers, particularly, as well as create 3 million new homes to help lower housing costs while investing $40 billion for innovative housing construction, as well as tax incentives for starter homes and expanding a rental assistance.

[14:20:24]

So how much of a burden are housing costs right now for Americans? And how much do you see her plan is alleviating some of that?

WOLFERS: Right, so high housing prices, I think anyone can tell you are killing us, and it's going to be very hard for the next generation to get a start. And again, I think it's worth saying, Harris has a plan. Trump, I don't know what the heck it is he's saying. Harris's was about housing. And I think there are good parts and bad parts.

Look, here's the crux of that housing problem. We've got too many people who need houses and too few houses. There's good parts and bad parts of the Harris plan. The part I don't like is if you subsidize more people buying houses, then you'll have even more people chasing the same number of houses. I don't think that's how you solve the problem. But the part I really do like is she's got a target and actually a proposal that will get 3 million more houses built. You got more houses now to house all those people. That's going to push house prices down.

WHITFIELD: So that's her announced plan. Of course, a lot of that is going to, perhaps, need the cooperation of Congress as well. Meantime, let's also talk about another area that she spelled out. She says she's going to call for a federal ban on price gouging to lower grocery prices, and everybody is feeling the pinch for the higher grocery prices. She wants everyday costs to come down. Inflated costs come largely from COVID pandemic supply-demand problems. So she underscored that shouldn't be a justification for high prices now. So what do you think? WOLFERS: Look, it's actually very hard to make sense of this. I

think, on the one hand, what she said in his speech was she wants to come after corporate price gouging, after collusion and big businesses doing anticompetitive behavior that was basically designed to get rid of competition and screw their customers.

Hey, that sounds fantastic. I think that occurs. I don't think it's the cause of our big inflation, but I think it's occurs, and there's a whole lot of companies I can imagine going after.

The flipside is some economists are worried that when she says those things, she means I want to institute price controls and prices are going to be set in Washington. That would be a very bad plan.

Now, let me be clear. I listened very closely to what Harris said, and at no point did she say that she was going to institute price controls. So we have successful rules and laws against price gouging in most states. And if that's what -- if that's the scope of her vision, I think it's terrific idea.

WHITFIELD: All right, Professor Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan, thank you so much.

WOLFERS: A pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, join us live during our coverage ahead of the dnc kickoff tomorrow night at 7:00 eastern time. We'll all be there.

And as hurricane Ernesto batters Bermuda, its effects, rather, can be felt along the eastern seaboard. Just take a look at that house being swept away into the ocean. The forecast next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:48]

WHITFIELD: All right, it all happened right on camera, right there that moment, a house in North Carolina just got swept right into the ocean as swells from hurricane Ernesto pushed ashore. You're looking at live pictures right now from Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina where officials urge caution for swimmers now that the storm is moving north, triggering strong rip currents and big waves at several beaches along the east coast. While it looks really inviting there, don't go in, they say.

Meanwhile, Bermuda is cleaning up after high winds and rain from Ernesto lashed the island. The storm made landfall as a category one storm. And it's not over. CNN's meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here. Ernesto has got a lot of punch, going the distance.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's still swirling around Bermuda. They still have some tropical storm force conditions. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the island now. It's still a category one hurricane with up to 100 mile per hour gusts, and it's really wide. So they're still getting the tropical storm force winds. It's kind of slowed down a little bit today. So this lasts for them through the day into the evening tonight until it could start to pull away from the island a little bit better.

But they've already gotten about a month's worth of rain. Their average monthly rain for August is just over five inches, and they've gotten up to five-and-a-half inches just yesterday. That doesn't even count the rain that has fallen today.

So it continues to pull away. It speeds up as it does so, too, that it makes it to the coast of some of these Canadian islands here as we get into Monday. So looking at some wind and rain impacts for them, and you can see the winds that will just continue to churn in the ocean there as we go through the weekend and into early next week. So that's going to kick up significant wave heights, which we've already seen, and the swells up and down the east coast. We're talking from Miami to Maine with these concerns for rip currents. And you can see that there from south Florida up through the Carolina coast. We've already had, unfortunately, some drownings. And then up through Long Island, New York, and then even up into Maine. All of this is looking at a rip current risk today because we're just sloshing and churning those ocean waters along the east coast. So if you see those double red flags, it's for a reason, please do not go into the water.

[14:30:02]

If you get caught into a rip current, I want to share with you how you can get out of it. A rip current is a current that takes you out to sea, so you're instinct might want to be to head back to the shore this way, but you can't, because if you try to swim back this way, you need to swim faster than an Olympic swimmer. Not many of us can do that. So what you have to do is swim parallel to the shore to get out of the current. That's your way to get out of that current that's taking you out to sea and then you can safely make it back to shore. It also helps if you don't panic as well, just let it take you, and then you can swim out of it once you get out to that end point.

But things to remember, if you see those flags, it might look nice, but please just don't --

WHITFIELD: Right, really important tips. You've helped a lot of people just in that moment. All right. Elisa, thank you so much.

All right, fire breaks out at London's iconic Somerset House, now London's premiere cultural center. Flames and smoke could be seen billowing out of the roof as more than 120 firefighters work to fight the blaze. The building was also once home to the Royal Navy. A gallery inside houses Vincent Van Gogh's self-portrait, but Somerset House says the fire started -- representatives of the Somerset say the fire started in the West Wing of the building where officers are located. Staff and public got out safely. The cause is still unknown.

All right, three months away now from Election Day, and attacks are ramping up on both sides, and increasingly, both vice presidential candidates have also come under fire for their military service. CNN's Sara Murray has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a novelty in American political history.

SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: After 9/11, I did what thousands of other young men my age did in that time of soaring patriotism and love of country. I enlisted in the United States Marines.

(CHEERING)

MURRAY (voice over): Two men who enlisted in the military.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D) VICE PRESIDENT NOMINEE: For 24 years, I proudly wore the uniform of this nation --

(CHEERING)

MURRAY (voice over): -- now vying for the vice presidency.

ALLISON JASIOW, CEO IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA: It is truly remarkable. And I think it says a lot about the promise of our country.

MURRAY (voice over): Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Senator JD Vance didn't see combat action, but both spent years in uniform.

WALZ: At 17, I joined the Army National Guard.

MURRAY (voice over): For Walz, that meant cleaning up after tornadoes, responding to floods, and handling heavy weaponry in an artillery unit, also known as --

SGT. MAJ. JOSEPH EUSTICE (RET), MINNESOTA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: We're Kong King of battle.

MURRAY (voice over): Joe Eustice served with Walz in the Minnesota National Guard.

EUSTICE: When we served, he was as good a leader as you'd find.

MURRAY (voice over): After 9/11, Walz reenlisted, and both he and Eustis deployed to Europe, leaving their families behind for months to support the US war in Afghanistan. Walz, stationed in Italy, guarded an Army base.

WALZ: We were under the early impression that we would shoot artillery in Afghanistan. As it turned out, we ended up being a European security force.

EUSTICE: After we got done, people had us talk smack about, well, you guys just went on vacation, and whatever. Well, I disagree with those characterizations because you don't get to pick where you go.

MURRAY (voice over): When Walz returned in 2004, he began weighing a run for office and retirement from the Guard.

EUSTICE: At the time he was a football coach, a teacher, a dad, in the Guard, and then you throw him running for office, and I mean, that's a lot. Instead of serving in the Guard, he wanted to serve in another manner.

MURRAY (voice over): While some of Walz's fellow servicemen were surprised by his political ambitions, that wasn't the case for J.D. Vance.

MAJ. SHAWN HANEY (RET), US MARINE CORPS: We all knew one day he would run for office. He always did a great job where he was at, but always looked forward to the next thing.

MURRAY (voice over): Haney was Vance's officer-in-charge at a Marine Corps Airfield in Cherry Point, North Carolina. Vance served from 2003 to 2007, enlisting as a combat correspondent and, for about six months, deploying to Iraq.

VANCE: Generally, I take photos or write short stories about individual Marines or their work.

HANEY: They go where the action is. In our job of public affairs, if the Marines were sitting at their desk, they weren't doing their jobs

MURRAY (voice over): After his deployment, Vance returned to Cherry Point and served as a media relations officer, appearing in press inquiries and escorting media on base, a role usually filled by a more senior Marine.

VANCE: I struggled a bit at first, allowing some photographers to take photos of a classified aircraft, speaking out of turn at a meeting with senior officers. And I got my ass chewed.

MURRAY (voice over): Ultimately, Haney says, he thrived, and fellow Marines described him as smart, funny, and responsible. Both Eustice and Haney now standing up for their comrade's service, even though they don't necessarily agree with their politics, as Walz and Vance, but especially Walz, face political attacks over their time in uniform.

JASIOW: However we are characterizing and/or downplaying or even denigrating either of these men's service is also sending a signal to those who may have served in similar ways. That should bother all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Sara Murray, thank you so much.

[14:35:00]

All right, the U.S. is watching closely as Ukrainian forces push into Russia with U.S. provided weapons. We'll break it all down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto. Now to the increasingly troubling situation in Ukraine and inside southern Russia. Ukrainian forces are making yet more surprising gains inside Russia's Kursk region. [14:40:01]

Russia says U.S. made rockets were used by Ukrainian forces to destroy a key bridge in the region. There's much to discuss. It's a surprise attack with enormous success for Ukrainian forces.

Joining us now, Dmitri Alperovitch. He is the Russian-born chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank and host of the "Geopolitics Decanted" podcast. Good to have you on, Dmitri. I wonder what you think the ultimate goal of this attack is by Ukraine here. Is it purely about diverting Russian forces from the eastern front? Or is it also about creating some leverage?

DMITRY ALPEROVITCH, CHAIRMAN, SILVERADO POLICY ACCELERATOR: Well, I think this was an opportunistic attack. They saw that the Russian forces were very weak there. They saw an opportunity to upend the whole discussion of this war in the international media and coverage, where we've been talking a lot about how the war has been stalemating, how Ukrainians were steadily losing ground. No one is talking about that now as they're advancing within Russia. They've taken POWs. They've taken military equipment. So tactically, at least, it's been a stunning success. But it's also a gamble that's not without substantial risks.

SCIUTTO: So let's talk about those risks for a moment, because I think we could say with some confidence that U.S. officials were somewhat nervous about this, because they have been quite concerned about an escalation of this conflict. That said, Ukraine has every right, certainly, to attack Russia given the horrendous attacks, Russia has carried out inside Ukraine for more than two-and-a-half years now. What is the risk here for Ukrainian forces, and what do you think the risk is from the U.S. perspective?

ALPEROVITCH: Yes, you know, in my conversations with U.S. officials, I'm not hearing a lot about escalation risks. There is nervousness about this offensive, but mostly from the perspective of, are the Ukrainians going to get a strategic advantage because of that? Because they've pulled they're very experienced forces and equipment off the front line in the east in order to do this offensive in Russia, in southern Russia. But in the east, in Donbas, they're losing ground to the Russians steadily, and it's not clear that they can hold this newly captured territory in Russia. If they were able to do so, of course, it would be beneficial to trade it for captured territory in Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: So let's talk about that trade, because quite immediately there have been dozens, perhaps hundreds of Russian forces, Russian soldiers that have been taken as POWs since the start of this campaign. That is immediate leverage for the return of Ukrainian POWs. But in terms of land captured, do you believe Ukraine believes to hold this land until some sort of agreement, perhaps to exchange it for Russian occupied territory inside Ukraine?

ALPEROVITCH: The people I speak with, including people at the front in Ukraine, are very skeptical about their ability to hold this territory. This is vast territory. They only have about the division- size force there, about 10,000, maybe 15,000 at most. And the Russians are now mobilizing to try to retake it. It's a vast terrain. Theres no fortifications, there's no tranches, no minefields, so holding it is going to be a big challenge for them.

SCIUTTO: Do you believe that Putin was caught off guard by this? And do you believe that he feels any vulnerability as a result of this attack? As we've said oftentimes on the air, it's the first attack inside Russian territory since World War II. And I think we could say, perhaps similar to the challenge he faced when Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner forces were on the road to Moscow a number of months ago. Is this a challenge to Putin's leadership?

ALPEROVITCH: Well, there's no question that Putin and Russia more broadly was caught off guard and were completely unprepared for this attack. However, I think it's important not to overestimate the impact here on Putin personally. He doesn't seem, to me at least, overly concerned about this. These troops are far away from Moscow and St. Petersburg, the center of Russian power. He's calling it a counterterrorist operation, not an invasion that he has to fight back. He's not yet calling for mobilization of the Russian forces to fight a foreign invader. So he's treating it and downplaying it in the media quite significant. So it's not yet a challenge to his power in the way the Prigozhin mutiny was.

SCIUTTO: To our knowledge, do the Russian people, other than those who were seeing it with their own eyes in the Kursk region, do they know? Are they aware of Ukrainian forces advancing many miles into Russian territory?

ALPEROVITCH: They do. This is not sort of 24/7 coverage in Russia, but they do cover the fact that there is an incursion. They do cover that there are refugees. Over 100,000 people have fled the southern Russian region to escape the advancing Ukrainian forces. They have relatives across Russia.

[14:45:02]

So this is broadly known. But there doesn't seem to be a big concern. I think the assumption on the part of many is that this is a temporary setback and that the Russian forces will ultimately retake back this territory.

SCIUTTO: Dmitri Alperovitch, thanks so much, as always.

ALPEROVITCH: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Please do stay with us. There's much more news to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:03]

WHITFIELD: All right, a white woman who killed her unarmed black neighbor after shooting her through a locked door was convicted by a Florida jury. Susan Lorincz claimed that she shot A.J. Owens in self- defense. The women had been an ongoing dispute over the victim's children playing outside.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is joining us now with more on this. So Ivan, this is a case that really tested Florida's stand your ground law, but things are very differently here.

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fred, with this verdict the jury really determined that Susan Lorincz was not justified when she fired through her bolted front door and killed 35-year-old, Ajike A.J. Owens, who was knocking on her door during a dispute. The Owens family says, while they believe that justice was achieved at least partially, they're now looking ahead to sentencing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA DIAS, AJIKE "AJ" OWENS'S MOTHER: I feel that although my daughter is gone on forever, the children's mom is gone forever, but we've achieved some justice for Ajike.

ANTHONY D. THOMAS, OWENS FAMILY LAWYER: The jury did their job today. Now it's up to Judge Hodges to do his job in handing down the best sentence he can, which is the maximum penalty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGUEZ: During the investigation, we learned Lorincz had argued with Owens in the past about her children playing loudly and leaving toys outside her home. Lorincz told police that the situation escalated last June after she confronted the children about the noise and threw their roller skates. Lorincz called 911 and was told to wait for police to arrive. She told the dispatcher her door was locked.

When Owens came to Lorincz's door to confront her, that's when Lorincz claims she feared for her life after she heard Owens banging on her door saying, quote, "I'm going to kill you." Before police were able to arrive, Lorincz pulled the trigger.

Now, like you mentioned, a big part of this case revolved around whether Lorincz was justified under Florida's stand your ground law. Generally, this allows someone to -- facing imminent threat, to react using lethal force in those certain circumstances without fear of prosecution. Now clearly, the jury here believing that at bar was not met. We also reached out to Lorincz's attorney. At this time they have no comment. What we do know, though, is that sentencing is going to happen later this year.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Ivan, for bringing us that.

All right, battleground campaigning this weekend from Pennsylvania to Nebraska, we're following all of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, WNBA rookie sensation Caitlin Clark was back in action and putting on another epic performance for her home crowd.

CNN's Andy Scholes has more. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, Caitlin

Clark is having a historic rookie season. And her mission during this final stretch run of the WNBA is to get the Fever to the playoffs, something they haven't done since 2016. And it looked like the Olympic break certainly agreed with Clark. She came out on fire, scoring 13 over 29 points in the first quarter. Clark also dishing out 10 assists in this one.

Clark is the first rookie in league history to have 450 points and 200 assists in a 27 game span. Fever were to win 98 to 89. Afterwards Clark talked about getting back in the swing of things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, INDIANA FEVER GUARD: I called for a sub, and I was like, holy cow. I think it was like around seven minutes and I called for it. I said I need a quick minute here because we were playing fast, and my defense isn't as good. So it's kind of a liability for my team. So I've just got to get a second to breathe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: In baseball, it was another day and another homerun for Aaron Judge. He got a hold of this one in the eighth inning against the Tigers last night. It was his league-leading 44th home run of the season. Yankees win three to nothing. Right now, Judge on paste to hit 58 homers this season.

And finally, it was a rough day at the office for Carlos Alcaraz in the Cincinnati open. In the third set, he doesn't get to this ball from Gael Monfils and just loses it, destroying his racket. Alcaraz lost in three sets. He called it the worst match he's ever played in his career. But Fredricka, he's got a week to regroup now and become friends with his rackets again. The U.S. Open starts August 26th in New York.

WHITFIELD: Right. And he's always so cool and collected. Andy Scholes, thank you so much. Alcarez, that is. Oh, And Andy Scholes, too.

All right, a new hour of the CNN Newsroom starts right now.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The battleground state of Pennsylvania is ground-zero this weekend in the race for the White House. And in the next hour, former President Donald Trump is set to return to the campaign trail with a rally in the keystone state. Vice President Harris is going to be on a bus tour in Pennsylvania tomorrow before heading to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which gets underway Monday.

And we're now learning that Trump plans to hold a series of rallies and events during the DNC as his way of counterprogramming the Democrats big weeklong event.

CNN's Danny Freeman is covering the Trump rally, which is about to get underway. Tell us more about what's happening.