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Israeli Negotiators Cautiously Optimistic On Ceasefire Deal; Trump Allies Tell Him To Stay On Message He Levels Personal Attacks; Trump Campaigns In Pennsylvania, As Harris Prepares For DNC; Ernesto Brings Dangerous Rip Currents To U.S. Coastline; New Real Estate Rules Could Impact Home Buyers And Sellers; New Video Shows Ukraine Striking Deep Inside Russia; Florida Goes After Invasive Pythons With Challenge. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 17, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:30]

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

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Negotiators from here, the US, and Qatar are all urgently pushing for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas and the group from Israel says it is cautiously optimistic the deal could come through.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will leave for Israel tonight to join the effort to get the deal across the finish line. So many obstacles remain, but I will tell you, Jessica, enormous anticipation here.

DEAN: Yes, we are going to get back to Jim just a moment, but first back here in the US, Donald Trump is campaigning in Pennsylvania tonight at a rally in Wilkes-Barre. He amplified his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, reacting to her newly unveiled economic proposals. Then to the chagrin of some allies and advisers, the former president, making it personal commenting on her looks as well.

CNN's Danny Freeman traveling with Trump tonight and joining us live from the campaign trail, a raucous crowd behind you, Danny, what more are we hearing from the former president.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, at this point, former President Trump has been speaking for well over an hour, as you said to this raucous crowd and the big question that we all had as you alluded to, was would he stay on a specific message during this particular rally after allies and advisers had hoped he would stick to issues like the economy, immigration, crime specifically to try and blunt some of the Harris campaign's momentum over the past several weeks.

And while there were some lines that were specifically on those particular topics, and I will get to the few of those in a moment, but make no mistake, this was a rather normal Trump rally and has been so far with a lot of laundering moments and the crowd loved it, Jessica, largely but this was by no means an on-message rally.

Some of the things that he mentioned was he made fun of Vice President Harris' laugh. He also called her a lunatic and at one point, while discussing a recent "Time" cover magazine former president Trump asserted that he is better looking than Harris, which the crowd laugh at and applauded as well.

He also spoke at length about debates both upcoming and former ones and then he still continued to speak a lot about President Joe Biden again, no longer his opponent in this contest.

Now, the few points that did stay relatively on message on, he brought a young man from Venezuela to speak about the fears that he has of communism in the country. He also played an attack ad actually that ran on the jumbotron up hear above us at one point, painting Harris as an extreme liberal candidate.

And there were a few new lines that we heard tonight, specifically addressing Vice President Harris' new economic plan that she released just in the past 24 hours.

Take a listen to part of what the former president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yesterday, she got up, she started ranting and raving that Donald Trump wants to put a tax on gasoline, a tax on food, a tax on medication, a tax on clothing, a tax on every single thing that was ever invented you had he is going to tax.

Your shirt he is going to tax. He is going to tax your wife, he is going to tax your husband --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So again, you see that even when he is speaking about some of these economic policies, he is speaking about it in that way that we've come accustomed to hearing from former President Trump. I should say in Friday, the Harris campaign emphasized that their tax plan is trying to cut taxes for the middle class and reduce costs at the grocery stores.

But former President Trump said, well, if that's been her plan, why did you not do that already as part of the Biden-Harris administration?

I would say that these were the primary examples of new issue focused lines here from former President Trump. But it has not been the majority of this now, hour-almost-and-a-and-a-half speech that we've heard tonight Wilkes-Barre -- Jessica.

DEAN: A very typical Trump rally there and he was referring to his proposal to enact 10 to 20 percent more tariffs.

Danny Freeman, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for your reporting. We appreciate it.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, but the first big keynote speech is going to go to President Joe Biden. That will happen on night one of the DNC in Chicago on Monday.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joining us now.

Kevin, what else can we expect from President Biden's speech, which is really going to be -- I would assume, talking about his legacy and passing the torch onto Kamala Harris?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, very much so and he is refining what exactly he will say up at Camp David this weekend. He is out there with a couple of aids, really sort of revising the words that he will use in this capstone speech, which is really when you think about it, the end of a long farewell for President Biden to politics.

[18:05:13]

And I say the start of that because aides have been emphatic that we will see plenty of President Biden over the next five months.

He will be out campaigning for Kamala Harris, he will be working to cement his legacy. But at the end of the day, the speech that he will deliver on Monday is not the speech he was planning to give. It is not the speech that he was hoping to give. And certainly I think the president is still processing in some ways that prolonged effort to remove him from the top of the Democratic ticket.

But when it comes to this speech and when it comes to the convention, President Biden does want to well look forward, want to look to the future, and what we have been hearing from Biden aides is that he will really characterize Kamala Harris as the most natural inheritor of his legacy, and office and the person best positioned to carry on his accomplishments.

He will make a proactive case for her from that convention stage talking about her record, talking about her character, but he will also make the case against Donald Trump characterizing him again as a threat to democracy and saying that Kamala Harris is necessary to ensure as a Biden aide said, that democracy is preserved. So that is a lot that he is going to try and fit in this speech.

When we did hear from him last night, as he was heading out to Camp David, he was a little more concise in describing his goals.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: are you going to work on your speech this weekend?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.

REPORTER: What's your message to Democrats on Monday night?

BIDEN: Win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So "win." That's his message. When you talk to White House officials, they do say that President Biden is extraordinarily proud of how the Democratic Party has coalesced around Kamala Harris, in no small part because he was so quick to endorse her right out of the gate as soon as he withdrew from the race, and I think what you will see from Democrats at the convention is a lot of signs of thanking President Biden.

So there will be mentions of his handling of the COVID pandemic, of his legislative accomplishments. They will use those large screens inside the United Center in Chicago where the convention is being held to broadcast some of his quotes including the "history is in your hands." That's something that he said in his Oval Office address explaining his decision to withdraw from the race.

Kamala Harris will be on hand on Monday night as this passing of the torch happens, but after we hear from President Biden on Monday, that is the last we will see from him in Chicago. He will head out of town essentially handing over the convention to his chosen successor.

DEAN: Wow, so many twists and turns in this campaign season, Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for that reporting. We appreciate it.

And let's turn now to our panel for more on this.

Joining me now, former senior adviser for the Trump 2016 campaign, Jason Osborne, and also with us, former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, Ashley Etienne.

Great to have both of you here with does to talk about all of this as we head into this critical week in this race.

Ashley, let's start first with you. We've got this new polling out from "The New York Times" showing Harris gaining ground in those key swing states in the sunbelt. It is a very tight race, no doubt about it.

But she is the momentum does seem to be with her at this moment. Republicans have described these past few weeks as a honeymoon phase for Harris with all the enthusiasm and momentum we've seen.

What are you seeing in this polling that indicates to you that this is more than a honeymoon phase, if you believe that.

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Listen, I can imagine the Republicans are deathly afraid right now, shaking in their boots, they can come up with no defense, no attacks on Kamala Harris and none that will actually stick.

She is not -- this is not a honeymoon phase. It is not a sugar high as they've described it. She is trending up, consistently trending up. She has only been in the race for three weeks and continues to trend up.

She has outpaced Biden with our core base, that 2020 coalition that he built. You know, there are other polls like CBS' polls that is showing that she is not losing any ground with White men. That's got to be making them completely afraid of the possibilities of Donald Trump.

But if you look at -- if you look at former President Trump, he has actually capped out. He is not increasing his numbers. He doesn't have any more customers. It is great that he can fill a crowd there at this locations, but the reality is his target audience of people he needs to appeal to are not in those rooms and they are turned off by Donald Trump. They are over the Trump show.

And that's what all this momentum is about behind Kamala Harris right now. It is not just that she is a breath of fresh air and alternative, but people are demonstrating that they are completely over Donald Trump.

DEAN: And Jason, look before Harris got in this race, most of those states we just laid out looked like they were getting farther -- further and further out of reach for Democrats, that Trump was looking really strong in those states. What do you attribute this swing to?

And do you think, how do you think Trump could blunt that momentum if it is possible?

[18:10:15]

JASON OSBORNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER FOR THE TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: Well, I think polls at this stage in the game really serve two purposes. One, they inspire your base, they invigorate your base, but the other one is really from a campaign perspective as you're testing messages out, you're looking at the cross tabs and you're looking at some of the concerning areas where you're losing support are gaining support depending on the message that you have.

And when you do these kind of national polls, but you're sampling could be off a little bit here and there. I mean, those are the kind of things of the campaign looks at.

Without a doubt, there is no question that Kamala Harris has benefited over the last four weeks. Nobody can dispute that.

What I am actually a little bit surprised about is the numbers aren't a complete 180 from where they were with Donald Trump and Joe Biden. That given the amount of attention that she has received, and our vice president has received and to be honest, the negativity that Trump and Vance have put out there, I would expect numbers that would be outside the margin of error and none of these polls are outside the margin of error.

So at this point, I don't think there is a lot of concern, but if we start seeing some of these numbers in mid to late September, then -- you know, then there is going to be a lot of concern for sure./ DEAN: And Jason, I do want to ask you with these specific numbers, a lot of her momentum is being driven by female voters and I just talked to a pollster few minutes ago who said that she is also talking to independent women, independent female voters who are starting to break Harris' way.

Again, these are the voters she is talking to, not to speak for everyone.

But when you when you factor in that as a trend line and we just saw the former president saying tonight, I am better looking than Kamala Harris. Those sort of lines of attack, do you think that's the way to get at these women that he is going to need to win in November?

OSBORNE: No, a hundred percent, no. I think right now, honestly, if you look at what the American public had been presented with in terms of this is a new candidate, this is a snap election like we are seeing around the world normally in other countries, that they feel good about the fact that you have the first woman or now, the second, I apologize to Hillary Clinton, the second woman running for president on a major party ticket.

But once we start peeling back the layers of that onion and we start looking at some of these policies and if the Trump campaign can talk about these policies, I mean, this price gouging policy is kind of terrifying in many ways, right, and you look at some of the previous statements that she has made on other issues like defunding the police, on fracking. I mean, the list goes on and on and on, that almost overnight, there is a move to be 180 degrees different than she was three or four years ago.

So once that starts coming out and once quite frankly on a campaign side of things, you look at after Labor Day is really when the campaign starts heating up because families, now the kids are back in school, families are back to work. There is no more vacations and they are really starting to pay attention to their pocketbooks through their daily lives and I think that is when you will start seeing some calmness in the polls and you'll see, this really was never going to be an outright winner heading into November. This was always going to be close no matter who the candidates were on the Dems side.

DEAN: And Ashley, the polling shows that Trump still holds an edge over who voters think can best handle the economy, which time and time again, they are telling us they say is their top issue.

We saw the vice president rollout some policy, some economic policies on Friday. Some of them have been criticized, including the one on price gouging by Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama administration called that particular policy, saying it could hurt consumers and hopes -- he hopes that it ends up being more rhetoric than reality.

Others have gotten -- other policies have gotten a warmer response, but Democrats seem very happy with what she rolled out. Do you think that these policies can bring people over her to support her? To make voters think she is more capable of handling the economy than Trump? ETIENNE: Yes, absolutely.

I think the one thing I can agree with my Republican friend here on the show is that the polls are all over the place. "The Financial Times" poll showed that more Americans trust Kamala Harris with the economy than they do Donald Trump.

So the polls are all over the place, but it is going to come down to whether or not Democrats can effectively remind people of 2020 and that's when Donald Trump's tax cut added $8 trillion to the deficit, when two million women dropped out of the workforce, right? When we had no infrastructure to address COVID and he was putting forth no effort to do that and the entire economy was shut down.

[18:15:10]

He had negative job creation. He oversaw the worst economy in modern times. So Democrats are going to have to lean in on that issue.

Now, you asked me whether or not her policies are going to have resonance in these key battleground states, absolutely.

You look at a state like Nevada that has a dual challenge of having corporate landlords run amuck combined with the fact that there is a lack of space to build new housing. These types of policies that she is rolling out to decrease the cost of housing, decrease the cost of groceries and other issues that are affecting our pocketbooks is going to have incredible, great resonance.

The other thing I will point out is Donald Trump is not talking solutions. Every time he gets on stage, he uses it as an opportunity to attack -- attack her laugh, attack her looks -- not talk about policy.

When we talk about those independent women, they consistently said one thing, they want wants to hear policy discussions. They don't want to hear Donald Trump's attacks.

And more importantly, the advantage that Kamala Harris has is they believe that the threat that Donald Trump represents is that their daughters would have fewer rights than they do and, so to have the vice president lean in not on economics, but on this issue of reproductive rights and other rights that are threatening women is going to play to her advantage, not just in those battleground states, but across the country with independent and disaffected Republican voters.

DEAN: And Jason, I do want to ask you about the Trump campaign hiring Corey Lewandowski and some other alums to come back to this campaign. He was part of the Trump 2016 campaign, which of course we noted you worked on.

What do you make of those personnel moves?

OSBORNE: Well, I think this is typical Donald Trump, right? I mean, I think you had this happen in 2016 when there were three iterations of campaign leadership. You had, I believe you had it in 2020 in some form or fashion you know, I think there is this cast of characters that are in "Trump world" that Donald Trump relies on for advice whether or not they have been part of the organization or outside the circle.

You know, and I think, I know some of the other names that were mentioned in there -- I don't know what that does internally. I don't know if that is more of a firming up the base, to try and get the base out to vote. But certainly, I think the two people that have been in charge of this campaign, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles are probably two of the best campaign operatives in this country in the Republican Party and have been for a number of years.

So as long as they are still in the mix, I think that, you know, Donald Trump has a really good chance of making sure that the votes get out there in early voting, as well as election day voting.

DEAN: All right, Jason Osborne and Ashley Etienne, we have to leave it there, but I really appreciate both of you.

OSBORNE: Thank you.

ETIENNE: Thanks.

DEAN: More to come in the CNN NEWSROOM, including Jim Sciutto who is live in Tel Aviv -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, negotiators from three countries plan to convene again next week as mediators express some cautious optimism about a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deals, but to be frank, lots of obstacles remain and questions. We will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:06]

SCIUTTO: So this is what we are hearing on the ongoing negotiations over a ceasefire deal. Israelis say they are cautiously optimistic, that according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. The White House says similar things and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Israel today.

He is one of several diplomats racing to get a deal done as the potential for an attack from Iran or perhaps Hezbollah as well continues to loom over this region and these talks.

Nic Robertson joins us here in Tel Aviv.

So Nic, as we watch this game play out here and it is quite a consequential one, but a familiar one as the sides negotiate. We hear cautious optimism from the Israelis, and from the US.

Hamas is not saying the same thing and when I spoke to a senior Hamas official, he did not even want to go down to the path of discussing some of the issues here. So what is Hamas' actual approach and position now to the best of our knowledge? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: To the best of our knowledge, they support what President Biden, the framework that he laid out in May, and that went all the way through to early June and the late July. There was an agreement there.

UN Security Council Resolution 1735, I believe that there is a three- phase approach. This is the thing we've been talking about for a long time. Each phase is six weeks. The first six weeks is a hostage release of all females or the injured or the elderly. The following six weeks, there is the release of the male prisoners and then after that, it would be the bodies of hostages.

In conjunction with that, you have a ceasefire and then you get to a permanent end of hostilities.

Now, there is a difference, it seems in language around how you get between that ceasefire to the permanent end of hostilities and what it would mean, but there were other more significant sticking points that Hamas blames on Prime Minister Netanyahu.

[18:25:03]

And that is an insistence that armed men or women cannot go return home to the north of the country. Hamas wants free movement of people and all the Israeli troops out and importantly, the control of the border with Egypt.

SCIUTTO: Is it fair to say, and I should note that some of this criticism comes from inside this country itself. Is it fair to say that the Israeli leadership is throwing up its own roadblocks to getting a deal across the finish line.

ROBERTSON: It is not just the perception that Hamas has -- it is a perception here. More than two-thirds of people here or about two- thirds, say that they're ready for a hostage deal. They want to have a hostage deal now. They are not worried about precisely what it looks like.

The country is ready for it, but there is a feeling that the prime minister isn't because two principal hard-right members of his government threaten to collapse his government if he goes for a deal with just anything short of what he said, which is complete destruction of Hamas and that will put him out of power if he was out of power, than he would be liable for prosecution on a number of ongoing cases.

So the argument by Hamas, by his detritus here is that Netanyahu is holding on for his own political safety, if you will, own security, his own future. It his personal decisions overriding the will of the --

SCIUTTO: And just very briefly before we go, but you've been here for a number of weeks now, is it safe to say that the concerns at least today about an escalation and expansion of this war, an imminent strike from Iran or Hezbollah has dissipated somewhat as these talks continue? ROBERTSON: Yes. But how long that will last, particularly given what Hamas is saying, particularly what officials in Tehran are saying as well that the United States is siding with Israel they're not an independent arbiter in all of this, it can all spike back up again.

Look where the conversations get this week around the negotiations, this coming week, I think are going to be critical. If we are at this point next weekend and the mood is not so good, then the likelihood of a strike goes back up.

SCIUTTO: And as we know, you can often be surprised, right? One side can surprise the other.

Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

Jessica Dean back in New York. We will continue to stay on top of developments here as they happen.

DEAN: All right, Jim and Nic, thank you very much.

A deadly hurricane churning through the Atlantic is slamming in the East Coast with high surf and dangerous rip tides that have already killed two people.

And we are going to take you to Miami as snake hunters from across the country converge on Florida to remove as many invasive pythons as possible. That's right. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:59]

DEAN: Beaches up and down the east coast are flying red flags this weekend with Hurricane Ernesto kicking up dangerous rip currents from Maine down to Georgia. CNN's Elisa Raffa is in the Weather Center with more on Ernesto's impact. So what's the latest, Elisa?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's still a Category 1 hurricane after making landfall in Bermuda this morning. It's kind of been pretty slow and sitting in more or less at the same spot, that eye has gotten above the island. But we're still looking at tropical storm force winds on the island of Bermuda.

It continues to work its way up through the Atlantic, maintaining Category 1 hurricane strength until it gets into the colder waters. And it kind of side scrapes some of these Canadian islands with some intense winds and some heavy rain. And you can see that there as we go through the next couple of days, so really wrapping up the weekend and going into early next week.

These winds will also kick up significant wave heights as they've been doing. We've been seeing swells already cause some problems with erosion, even a home coming into the shore there over the coast of North Carolina on the Outer Banks.

Rip currents are a huge concern from Miami up to Maine. Look at all the red for a high risk of rip currents. That means that we're looking at some pretty large swells, intense waves. And again, the water is just dangerous. A lot of beaches saying, please don't go in the water.

So if you find yourself in a rip current, do not fight the current. The current takes you out to sea. You cannot swim directly to shore. You need to swim faster than an Olympic swimmer to do that. So you have to swim parallel to the shore to come out of the rip current. And then once you're out, then you can swim back to shore safely in a much better way.

But things to remember, again, if you see red flags on the beach, just don't go in the water. Jessica.

DEAN: All right, a good tip there. Elisa Raffa for us, thanks so much.

If you're in the market to buy or sell a home, you might want to listen up. This weekend, a new set of rules goes into effect changing how real estate professionals make money. And it could upend how Americans buy and sell homes. CNN's Jason Carroll has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A national shift is coming in the real estate market.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA GODDARD, HOME SELLER: I think this is going to be a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): One that has Barbara Goddard feeling good about putting her house, which she built from the ground up in Brunswick, Georgia, up for sale next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GODDARD: I'm optimistic, definitely optimistic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): Optimistic is not how real estate agents like Diane Traverso in Monmouth County, New Jersey would describe her mood as of late.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE TRAVERSO, REALTOR: I think a lot of people are mad, you know, that this is even taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): On August 17th, new industry rules go into effect, which could lead to lower costs for some selling or buying homes. How? By reducing commissions paid to real estate agents. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GODDARD: I never thought it was very fair for the seller to have to pay for the buyer's commission, their agent's commission. It didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): Now, sellers like Goddard won't have to, thanks to a federal jury which ruled the National Association of Realtors and large brokerage firms had conspired to keep commissions high.

[18:35:06]

As a result the decades old financial arrangement where sellers paid not only their brokers commission, but also the commission for the buyer's agent will be gone.

For example, under the previous arrangement, a home sells for nearly $427,000, the median price in the United States, the seller would typically pay a 6 percent commission, 3 percent to each agent, more than $26,000.

Under the new rules, the seller would end up paying half that, just 3 percent to their agent. But it could go down even more, because listing realtors no longer will set commissions for both agents. Buyers can shop around and could get a lower percent. Goddard has already calculated what she could save.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GODDARD: A little over $12,000, I will say, by not paying for the buyer's agent commission. That's $12,000. That's a lot of money to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): But for prospective buyers, going forward, they will now have to sign a written agreement that their agent will be paid before going to see homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVERSO: You know, no one likes change, so - but ...

CARROLL (on camera): Change, we like it if it's good change.

TRAVERSO: Right. Well, and it could be good eventually. It's like working out some of the kinks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): Diane Traverso says it's common practice for realtors like her to negotiate commission. Under the new rules she has concerned some new home buyers with limited income will now be on the hook for more costs at closing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVERSO: We do whatever we can to help our clients, and now we are kind of having to reinvent how we do things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): Some experts caution the new rules are no guarantee. All problems with high commissions will be resolved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN BARRY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PROFESSOR: The industry is ripe for some changes. Now, whether the changes in this settlement are going to fix the problems in the industry, I'm not optimistic there. But there are some good changes along the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): Good enough for Barbara Goddard, she's ready to sell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GODDARD: I think this is going to be a good thing, especially for consumers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (voice over): Jason Carroll, CNN Monmouth County, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Ukraine says it controls hundreds of square miles of Russian territory as Russia accuses Ukraine of using U.S. weapons to destroy this bridge inside Russian territory. We're going to have more on this. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:54]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Tonight, Ukraine is releasing stunning new video of a massive strike inside Russia. This video here shows Ukrainian forces destroying a critical bridge in Russia's Kursk region. There's the blast. Potentially a blow to Russian supply lines as Ukrainian forces continue to push further into Russian territory.

Russia's foreign ministry claims that Ukraine likely used U.S.- supplied HIMARS rockets in this attack.

Joining us now to discuss, retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and his brother, retired Colonel Eugene Vindman, both born in Ukraine. Eugene is also a Democratic candidate for Congress now in Virginia.

Good to have you both on. Gentlemen, thanks so much for joining.

COL. EUGENE VINDMAN, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Thank you, Jim.

LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN (RET.), FMR. DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Alex, you, of course, covered this issue quite closely as the former NSC Director for European Affairs. I wonder what your read is of Ukraine's goal with this attack. Clearly, it has put Russia on its back foot. Clearly, it has required Russia to move forces from the eastern front to respond to this attack. What is your view of the longer-term goal of this and could it include a potential trade for Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine?

A VINDMAN: So, I'll tell you that, like pretty much all analysts, Western analysts at least, I was quite skeptical about this Kursk operation. I think the fact is that the Ukrainians are pretty hard- pressed in areas of the battlefield, especially in the southeast. And I was concerned about drawing off forces that would be important to the defense in that area.

But we're about 12 days into this Kursk operation, and so far, the Ukrainians have executed it masterfully. They've put enormous pressure. They've embarrassed Putin. They've put significant pressure on the Russian forces, drawing off forces in other parts of the Ukrainian battlefield, maybe not in this most critical area, but it looks like that's on the horizon.

And they're going to - they continue to take territory. Even 12 days in, Russia hasn't been able to balance the equation and fortify its positions and prevent the Ukrainians from taking ground.

If the Ukrainians are able to draw forces off of this most critical area in the southeast I mentioned, this will be declared a masterstroke with Ukraine having both a strong bargaining chip, a better tactical position, and really, frankly, a way forward that will allow Ukraine to be successful for the rest of this year and into next year.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, it certainly has changed the impression of the state of the war, because prior, as you well know, the read was that Ukraine was on its back foot, losing ground in the Eastern Front, not clear what was going to change that balance.

Eugene, Russia is saying it was likely U.S.-made weapons used in the strike on the bridge. The reason, of course, that's important, because it knows the U.S. itself has been concerned about the use of U.S.- supplied weapons in attacks on Russian territory, which other - we should note, other NATO allies have not put any restrictions on that.

[18:45:09]

Do you think this gives U.S. officials pause?

E VINDMAN: I don't think so, Jim. I think what we've seen over the course of the last 12 days is that this has become a really permissive environment for the Ukrainians. There are some caveats about what weapons can be used where. But generally speaking, the Ukrainians are eliminating the safe harbor that Russians have enjoyed.

So for a year and change, we've seen Ukrainian, longer than that, frankly, Ukrainian drone strikes into Russian deep areas. But the Russians have never had to worry in the past about Ukrainian incursions, significant incursions like this that looks like, you know, a multi-brigade operation, potentially a divisional operation into their territory and subjecting their lines of communication, lines of control, their bases in the rear logistics, really in danger of Ukrainian attacks.

And this is going to put a significant strain on Russian forces than it already has. We've seen sort of difficulty in Russians responding. It's been 12 days. You would have thought that, you know, a major superpower would have been able to kick Ukrainian forces after years out. And they haven't been able to do that. So it's put a lie to this idea of that Russian rare areas are secure.

SCIUTTO: Alex, it's certainly rich for any Russian officials to object to such an invasion, given we're two and a half years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 10 years into its partial invasion going back to Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. What blow do you think this has struck, Alex, first to you and Eugene to you, perhaps, your thoughts as well, to Putin's leadership?

A VINDMAN: Well, I think at this point, Putin still enjoys a fairly plentiful support, but there are some indicators. I've seen some polling data as best as it's able to be collected on kind of social media platforms that shows a dip. And certainly it removes this idea that Russia remains invulnerable to attack, not just like an attack by, let's say, your peers, the U.S. NATO, but it's now suffering the consequences of its action reaping the whirlwind with regards to incursions onto its own territory.

In a way, this is the first attack from a foreign power on Russia since World War II.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

A VINDMAN: And this sends a message that Russia is vulnerable. It also opens up other theaters, potentially. Think about the fact that Russia is holding a frozen conflict in Transdniestria on - in Moldova. And that's adjacent to Ukraine. That may now be in play, too. Russia has to be concerned about its holdings there, too.

So I think in general, it create - really complicates Russia. I wouldn't overstate the military dimension of it yet. It's really looking quite positive yet. But we won't know that for another, you know, several weeks until we see what the Russians have to do to respond to this incursion. But so far, so good for the Ukrainians.

E VINDMAN: Jim, I would add also ...

SCIUTTO: We will, of course, have to leave it there given the time - please quickly before you go then, sorry, Eugene. E VINDMAN: Yes, I would just say that this is a profound humiliation to Vladimir Putin and the Russian military. And that, you know, just bring it closer to home for a second, as - I was at The American Legion here, locally. And, you know, for classic Republicans, I'm not talking about MAGA ideologues, you know, our standing up to Vladimir Putin, to dictators around the world is, frankly, very important. And for those folks that are interested in my policy on this, please go to VindmanForCongress.com. Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Retired Colonel Eugene Vindman, retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, thanks so much to both of you.

We will have more news when we come back.

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[18:53:17]

DEAN: This weekend, snake hunters from around the country are out and about in Florida's Everglades for the annual Florida Python Challenge. Participants catch and kill invasive pythons that eat Florida's native animals.

And joining us now, Ron Magill, the Communications Director at the Miami Zoo.

Ron, thanks for being here with us.

This is kind of wild, I think, to a lot of people who've never heard of it before, who maybe don't live in Florida. How does this hunt work? It's a one week every year. And we know that pythons can lay up to a hundred eggs a year.

RON MAGILL, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, ZOO MIAMI: That's correct. A large female can get up to a hundred - lay up to a hundred eggs. These animals were introduced to our South Florida environment through the pet trade years ago. There's estimated to be 10s of thousands of them in the Everglades.

And what they're doing is, you know, they're really depleting our natural environment. They are eating a lot of the small mammals, the raccoons, the rabbits. They're changing environments by doing so. They, you know, possess tremendous threats to other native wildlife, birds, roosting birds, nesting birds, even alligators. They've been seen eating alligators. So they present a big problem.

DEAN: It's kind of - we're watching it now. And for people who like snakes, this is probably great. For others, it may be a bit chilling. But what I noticed you saying was that they were - they weren't native to Florida. They were introduced there by people having them as pets?

MAGILL: Yes, that's exactly right. You know, South Florida is very unique as far as the country goes. It's kind of like the Ellis Island of exotic animals. You know, if you have a pet python in New York or Michigan and it escapes, the first winter it's dead. It escapes here in South Florida or is released here in South Florida, it's like coming to Club Med for pythons. So what they do is they find each other and all of a sudden you've got these pythons reproducing.

[18:55:01]

Keep in mind, South Florida has more non-native reptiles than they have native ones, and this is all due to the pet trade. So this is a big issue right now. And this, you know, this python challenge is basically meant to raise awareness about the danger of these exotic non-native species.

DEAN: Yes, it's - this is an only in Florida kind of story, it feels like. But, Ron, thank you for helping us understand it and learn a little something along the way. We appreciate it.

MAGILL: Always a pleasure. Thank you. Have a good weekend.

DEAN: Mm-hmm. Former President Trump and Vice President Harris are still essentially tied in four key states in the Sun Belt as new polling reveals this race's razor-thin margins. We are running through the numbers and how they compare to what we've seen in the past, that's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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