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CNN International: Israel Launches Large-scale Raid in Occupied West Bank; Israeli Foreign Minister Says Iran is Funding and Arming Terrorists, Smuggling Weapons via Jordan; Zelenskyy Previews Four- stage Victory Plan for Ukraine; Special Counsel Files New Indictment Against Trump; Harris and Walz Begin Two-day Bus Tour of Georgia; Harris Launches New Ad Tying Trump to Project 2025; SpaceX Scrubs Historic Polaris Dawn Launch; Nvidia to Release Highly Anticipated Earnings Report; AT&T Says It Resolved Software Issue That Caused Disruptions; Trump and Harris Still Haggling Over Sept. 10 ABC Debate; Moscow Responds With Anger Over Pavel Durov's Detention; Paralympic Torch Makes Its Way Toward Paris; Kelce Brothers Sign $100 Million Podcast Deal With Amazon's Wondery Studio; Shkreli Ordered to Give Up All Copies of Unique Rap Album; Chris Hemsworth Performs as a Drummer at Ed Sheeran Concert. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired August 28, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Breaking overnight, we are showing you new video from January 6, of Nancy Pelosi labeling Donald Trump as the domestic enemy in the White House, her anger over the Capitol attack and her determination to make Trump pay a price.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, an Israeli operation in the West Bank leaves many Palestinians dead. We are live in Tel Aviv with the details. Donald Trump indicted all over again in his election subversion case as the prosecutor tries to work around a supreme court on presidential immunity. And footage obtained by CNN shows Nancy Pelosi evacuating the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. We'll tell you what she had to say amid the chaos of that day.
Israel is launching large-scale military operation in the Occupied West Bank as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza drags on now for nearly 11 months. Palestinian Authorities say at least nine people have been killed in the West Bank operation. Video obtained by CNN shows bulldozers like this one tearing up a street in Tulkarem and military vehicles outside a hospital in Jenin. The Palestinian ministry of health says Israeli forces blocked roads leading to the government hospital. Also, footage released by the IDF shows a strike on what Israel says is a militant operations room in a refugee camp. Israel says it is targeting "Islamic Iranian terrorist infrastructure."
The Israeli foreign minister accuses Iran of funding and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons via Jordan. For more now, let's turn to Jim Sciutto, who is joining us now from Tel Aviv with more. Jim, what do we know about this operation and its significance? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it is the largest Israeli military operation in the West Bank since the October 7th attacks, it is significant.
The death toll at this point stands at nine and it is quite a sensitive area, no question, because the West Bank certainly viewed differently from Gaza. It is not controlled by Hamas, so the operations there are seen far more sensitively by the Palestinian population. Now, Israel is justifying this saying that they are taking apart terror infrastructure, which they described as Islamic Iranian terror infrastructure. The IDF saying that weapons are coming into the West Bank via Iran, facilitated -- funded by Iran and that they are -- these Israeli forces are addressing that.
Now, they're not making a connection to a failed suicide -- well, suicide bombing that took place in Tel Aviv little more than a week ago that only killed the suicide bomber, but they do mention that to highlight what they say is the nature of the terror threat. But, Hamas reacting by saying it is calling for a mobilization of Hamas supporters and fighters in the West Bank which, of course, would be an escalation. So it's quite a sensitive time, especially given you have these ongoing ceasefire negotiations for Gaza going on and this is quite a significant operation.
WALKER: Jim, what's behind this accusation from Israel's foreign minister accusing Iran of "Funding an arming terrorists and smuggling weapons"?
SCIUTTO: Well, it's not clear what evidence that is based on, but there is a clear connection between Iran and Hamas. Certainly, the nature of the connection to operatives or fighters in the West Bank less clear, but they are claiming that Iran is able to get funding and weapons into the West Bank to arm fighters and terrorists there. That would be significant. It's also notable to hear the Israeli foreign minister calling for operations in the West Bank like those underway in Gaza.
And of course, Amara, you know, the scale of the military operations in Gaza since October 7, we are nearly a year into that war, the level of destruction there, the number of civilian casualties as well. We are not at that point yet, certainly, in terms of the operations we've seen today, but they are the biggest we've seen since October 7th. And if Israel is planning something even bigger, even approaching the scale of what you've seen in Gaza, that would be, again, a significant escalation.
WALKER: Always grateful for your reporting. Jim Sciutto, good to see you. Thanks so much. Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region is only the beginning of what Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls Kyiv's 'victory plan'. The Ukrainian president says he will be traveling to the U.N. General Assembly next month and he will talk with U.S. President Joe Biden about the plan then. Now, speaking in Kyiv on Tuesday, Mr. Zelenskyy said the U.S. is crucial to his plan to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
The fighting continues on several fronts, in a week when Russia launched what's being described as its biggest-ever aerial attack on Ukraine Monday, with more strikes on Tuesday.
[08:05:00]
Salma Abdelaziz joining us now with more. Hi there, Salma. So, what's in President Zelenskyy's four-stage plan?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, let's begin with the context around this. As you mentioned, it was this week that President Zelenskyy said that Russia launched its largest, its most massive air assault at Ukraine since the beginning of this conflict. He was on stage -- President Zelenskyy was on stage Tuesday speaking to journalists and very much trying to convey strength, trying to assert control even in the face of this assault. He laid out what he called a 'victory plan'. I know we have those four steps up there. The first he said is going into Kursk -- crossing into Kursk and tick, we've already done that is what President Zelenskyy said.
The second thing is Ukraine's strategic place in the world's security infrastructure. I believe that's a reference to Ukraine's bid to join NATO. Thirdly, he wanted to speak on diplomacy. So, how can you bring Russia to the negotiating table? We've heard Kursk spoken of in this context that the more land -- Russian land Ukraine is able to grab, the more powerful its position will be in any future peace talks, in any future negotiations. And finally, economic pressure on Russia, this is something that President Zelenskyy has on and on about. He very much wants to see sanctions tightened ever more on Russia and he wants to see that pressure continue financially on the country as well.
He says he wants to take -- I will call this more of an outline than a plan. Of course, he's not revealing too many details here. He wants to take this to President Biden in September around the U.N. General Assembly, and he also wants to take to him what he sees as victories with the use of Western weapons. Take a listen to how he says Ukraine used F-16s provided by NATO.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: You said about F-16, there is good, very good result, very good. Nobody talked about it, but we destroyed already in these huge attack of Russians, we destroyed already some missiles and drones using the F-16. I will not share how many, but we did it, thanks to partners that they gave it -- gave us F-16 provided to us, but again, it's not enough, very small number of F-16. And we need to do wider training mission again, et cetera. We have propositions to the United States. It depends on their permission. They have to be positive on it. They have to look at this real -- real because we speak about our territories, not about American territories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: And as you heard there, not only is he saying, look, we are using the F-16s, we are using the weapons given to us by the West. They are effective. We also want more, it's not enough. So President Zelenskyy very much trying to say, yes, there is a mixed battlefield picture here. There are places where Russia is making gains. There are places where Ukraine is pushing forward, but we have the upper hand and we will keep having that upper hand, Zelenskyy says, if we get that support from the U.S. and NATO.
WALKER, I mean, obviously, there's a difference between hoping and expecting. And when Zelenskyy and Biden meet at the UNGA, what is the expectation from Zelenskyy, I mean, as we heard there, it sounds like he's going to ask for more weapons.
ABDELAZIZ: It's not just about asking for more weapons at this stage; it's about asking for how he can use those weapons. But President Zelenskyy desperately wants is for restrictions to be lifted on the use of long-range missiles. So, he has long-range missiles that have been provided to him by his Western partners, but there are rules as to how far he can use them. And what he wants to do, is strike deep into the heart of Russia, to hit the military infrastructure that belongs to Moscow at its source, on its territory. He also wants to be able to use air defense systems, air defense capabilities right up near Russian airspace.
Now, of course, this is something that will make White House officials concerned. They do not want to escalate this conflict with President Putin, at least that's the rhetoric we keep hearing. But throughout this conflict, as you know, the sliding scale of that red line keeps shifting. At the beginning of this conflict, the U.S. wasn't even willing to provide tanks, much less F-16s. So President Zelenskyy is going to capitalize that. He's going to hope that he can keep pushing Biden further with those red lines.
WALKER: All right. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much.
Well, if you thought the supreme court's bomb bombshell decision on presidential immunity would end the January 6th case against Donald Trump, not so fast. Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a new indictment, a superseding indictment against Trump in that case. It is shorter than the original indictment, taking out language about Trump's interaction with senior Justice Department officials in light of the supreme court ruling. But the charges against Trump are unchanged, four felonies including obstruction and conspiracy.
[08:10:00]
Let's bring in CNN's Senior Crime And Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz with more. Hi, Katelyn. Please take us through the changes here and how they may impact the case against Trump.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Amara, this is the attempt by the special counsel's office to tighten things up in line with what the supreme court told them they need to do, to respect the presidency and the immunity around that office that Donald Trump does get because he was serving as president after the 2020 election, and even on January 6. So what the Justice Department is doing is they went back to the grand jury in Washington, D.C., a different grand jury then before, talked to those citizens about this new set of allegations against Trump. So same charges, but the narrative of what the probable causes to bring the case against Trump, that's what they presented to the grand jury and the grand jury approved as an indictment. And so now, those allegations will get to move forward as they head to trial. The way they did it is cut out a lot of things that Donald Trump was doing while he was president, talking to the Justice Department, talking to senior aides and advisers in the Oval Office, talking to or learning things about the election from Intel agencies. Those were part of the indictment before. No more, but there are still a lot of things in the indictment about Donald Trump as candidate, wanting to block the certification of the electoral vote on January 6, and what he was doing with fake electors and private advisers in various states across the country.
So now, the Justice Department has this new version of the indictment in court and they are going to be talking to the judge quite a lot in the coming months about how to get this case to trial. And the courts are going to have to look very closely at whether this version of the indictment passes muster and does separate the protection around the presidency versus what Donald Trump can be held potentially criminally liable for in court.
WALKER: Yeah. A trial that will not begin before the election, but we can expect some hearings leading up to Election Day. Katelyn Polantz, great to see you. Thank you.
Well, for the first time since her convention coronation, Kamala Harris is back on the campaign trail. Harris and her VP pick, Tim Walz, are embarking on a two-day tour of Georgia by bus, culminating in a rally in Savannah on Thursday evening. Polls a month ago showed a small but significant lead for Donald Trump in Georgia, but that has changed since Harris replaced Biden on the ticket and Harris clearly now feels she has a decent chance with the state. Our U.S. Politics Correspondent Eva McKend is tracking the Harris campaign.
Hi there, Eva, I mean, obviously that sends a huge message that Harris' team is picking Georgia for their first joint campaign after the Democratic National Convention.
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It does Amara, and you know, when you speak to Democratic strategists and organizers in Georgia, they often lament that candidates do not spend enough time outside of metro Atlanta. So, they are speaking directly to those concerns. Keep in mind, they don't have to win some of these rural counties outright. But even if they diminish Republican margins, that portends well for their campaign in their estimation. They've got 24 field offices across the state. Of those 24 field offices, seven of them are in southern Georgia.
And then another part of this bus tour is aimed at sort of testing Governor Walz and how he does in appealing to rural voters in these pockets of the state. He, of course, saw grew up with a rural background himself. And so, they are sort of testing him out there. Does he connect with those voters? Can they deploy him separate from the vice president in the crucial weeks ahead? WALKER: And the Harris campaign, Eva, has unveiled a new ad today that talks about Trump's ties, which he denies, to Project 2025. Let's take a look at it really quick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Donald Trump may try to deny it, but those are Donald Trump's plans.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, revenge does take time, I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): He'll take control, we'll pay the price.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: There was a lot of focus on Project 2025 during the DNC. I mean, this is just a preview of the kind of attacks that we will see you from Harris in the debate, I'd imagine, in a couple of weeks from now.
MCKEND: Yes. And it has to be one of the most effective lines of attack because when I'm out on the campaign trail, time and time again, Democratic voters talk to me about how worried they are about Project 2025, unprompted. So I don't mention it first, they mentioned in first and they tell me that they have fears of the former president overhauling the Department of Justice. It doesn't make much sense to them to eliminate the Department of Education.
[08:15:00]
So even as Trump tries to run away from this, the vice president is running towards it because they have found that it is an effective political weapon.
WALKER: All right. Eva McKend, great to have you. Thanks so much.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will have their first interview since the Democratic Convention right here on CNN with Dana Bash. That will be Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Make sure to tune into that.
All right. Still to come, don't you just hate flight delays? We all do. Even astronauts are not immune. SpaceX delays lift off once again. We'll look at what went wrong for Polaris Dawn this time. And investors are playing a waiting game as they watch for a key earnings report from Nvidia, why some people call the chip giant the world's most influential company.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: And the wait goes on. For the second time in two days, SpaceX has delayed the launch of its experimental Polaris Dawn Mission. First, it was because of equipment issues on the ground. Well now, it is due to bad weather forecast for the crew's return to earth. SpaceX has not yet rescheduled mission, which is meant to include the first- ever spacewalk by commercial astronauts. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joining us now. OK, Derek, what doesn't SpaceX like about the weather forecast?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it turns out you not only need good launch weather, but you'd need good return weather as well. Remember, this mission is only about five or six days long at best, so there's no connection with the International Space Station for an extended duration of time. So putting a future splashdown weather forecast, something at a later concern, this is a five-day window where they need to have good conditions to launch from Cape Canaveral, but also good conditions to return for their splash down just off the coast of Florida.
And that is what meteorologists and weather forecasters were concerned about. Frankly, today's weather was perfect to launch. Today was no problem. There weren't any immediate thunderstorms in the area, although there were a few flare-ups just off the coastline. It is five days from now that they were really be concerned about. So, we know that SpaceX has specific launch criteria, can't have winds exceeding 30 miles per hour. Of course, certainly no lightning in the vicinity, actually a ten-mile radius around Cape Canaveral. But when we return, we need to look out for those perfect weather conditions as well.
So, we need a favorable weather forecast in terms of cloud cover, in terms of the lightning forecast for the future, five days from now, and also, the waves on the open ocean as well. So, what we are concerned about is what is called a stationary front. It is just as it sounds, it doesn't move that far very quickly, so it is expected to stall out right over the state of Florida and unfortunately, create good chances of showers and thunderstorms. So that means in a weather forecaster's mind, turbulent weather is forecast down the line.
[08:20:00]
So storm chances through the weekend and into early next week, of course, that is raising a red flag for those meteorologists whose job it is to watch specific weather conditions for both launch and the return of this SpaceX aircraft. So Amara, they're really looking closely at this. But again, the difference here being that this is a five- to six-day mission. They are not going to be connecting with the International Space Station, so they need to factor in all these variables.
WALKER: Yeah, those are a lot of specific variables. Derek Van Dam, thanks for breaking that down for us.
Well, investors are gearing up for a critical earnings statement from Nvidia, the chip maker has become one of the world's most valuable companies and its report later today could have a major impact on the stock market and how much other companies invest in AI development. The California-based firm is a big player in the artificial intelligence boom. CNN's Matt Egan joining us now with more. Hello, Matt. So, what can we expect it and why is this report so significant?
MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Amara, this is being described as one of the biggest moments for Wall Street in years because Nvidia is not just the MVP of the AI boom, it is the MVP of the entire stock market. And we know from sports, a superstar can either carry a team or bring it down. Now, everything has been going in one direction, straight up, for Nvidia. Look at that share price spike, this is a meteoric rise, almost 3,000 percent increase in the share price in the last five years alone. That's because Nvidia makes the AI chips that power this AI revolution.
And this rise has made the company one of the most valuable on the planet. Even though Nvidia is not a household name, it is now worth $3.2 trillion, more than Microsoft, more but Alphabet, more than Amazon, more than Saudi Aramco, and just behind Apple for the number one spot here. It's been absolutely incredible. But look, the bar has been set very high for Nvidia to justify that valuation and Wall Street analysts are expecting meteoric growth to be revealed in today's earnings report, triple-digit growth across the board for profit, for revenue, for free cash flow.
So whether or not this company can live up to those expectations is a huge deal because the higher the share price goes, the bigger impact it has on the overall stock market. So, everyone on Wall Street is going to be listening very closely to this earnings report after the bell today. Amara?
WALKER: All right. And so, investors are looking for clues on whether the artificial intelligence boom has room to run. What are they finding?
EGAN: Well, that is the big question. I think everyone really wants to listen to what Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang, says about demand going forward because we know --
WALKER: Say that again.
EGAN: -- bigtech is spending aggressively on AI, everything from chips and servers, and new products and new AI models, but the question is, what are they going to do next? I talked to veteran analyst, Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities, and he told me that he expects another "Drop the mic performance from Nvidia" as right now, Jensen and Co. are the only game in town. He said that there is so much demand for Nvidia's chips that they have become the modern day oil and gold. So, it is just absolutely incredible. But Wall Street wants to see whether or not that growth can continue. Amara?
WALKER: OK. And on the other side, I mean, AT&T having a pretty bad day, what's going on?
EGAN: Yeah. Another outage, significant one at AT&T. This happened starting around 5:00 p.m. yesterday. Thankfully, AT&T says it has been resolved and they say it wasn't national, but we do know from reports on Downdetector that users were reporting wireless outage issues in many different cities across the United States, including New York City, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston and L.A. So this was clearly broad- based and the scary part is that some local governments warned that it was even impacting 911 services. We heard that from local officials in California and in Arkansas as well. AT&T put out a statement, they blamed this outage on a software glitch and they say that it has been resolved and they apologize for any inconvenience here. Of course, it is worth mentioning that this is just the latest glitch at AT&T. Just in February, there was a massive outage that lasted for 12 hours. It made it really hard for some people to call from AT&T wireless accounts to non-AT&T wireless accounts. And earlier this week, the FCC fined AT&T almost $1 million over a 911 outage from a year ago.
According to the FCC, that outage only lasted for an hour and 14 minutes, but it still resulted in over 400 failed 911 calls.
[08:25:00]
So Amara, clearly, AT&T has got to get its head around some of these tech issues that are happening because there are real-world impacts.
WALKER: Yeah, absolutely, real-world impacts and obviously, impacts to their reputation. CNN's Matt Egan, good to see you. Thanks so much.
EGAN: Thanks, Amara.
WALKER: All right, still to come, Donald Trump sits down for an interview and makes one of his wildest claims yet about the 2020 election. What his words tell us about how he views a 2024 election. Then new documentary footage reveals Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's anger at Trump right after the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Welcome back. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will sit down for their first interview since the beginning of their campaign, and it will air Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. And in another first, later today, Harris and Walz will hit the campaign trail together on a bus tour in the battleground state of Georgia.
Meanwhile, the Harris campaign is releasing a new ad attempting to tie Donald Trump to Project 2025 and claiming it would make Trump the most powerful president ever. Now, Donald Trump says he has accepted the rules of next month's presidential debate with Kamala Harris on ABC. In an announcement on his social media platform, Trump claims the rules will be the same as the last CNN debate, which he says "seemed to work out well for everyone". He did not, however, mention specifics.
According to a source, however, the Harris campaign says discussions are still ongoing over whether the microphones will remain on or be muted to cut down on interruptions. CNN's Alayna Treene joining me now live from Washington. It's getting ridiculous, Alayna. Where do things stand?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I know, it really is. And I also recognize for our viewers that this sound so process and in the weeds, and that's because largely, it is. I mean, this is a debate over the debate, a debate over the rules, really trying to figure out, you know, I think what really it comes down to, Amara, is that both sides, both campaigns, the Harris campaign as well as the Trump campaign, they want their candidate to have whatever advantage they can.
[08:30:10]
I was speaking with us about a couple -- with a couple of Trump advisers yesterday and they said, even take away this, the question and the impasse that they have reached over the microphones, whether there'll be on for the duration of the debate or whether they will be off unless the candidate is speaking, they said a lot of this also just comes down to both sides want to have some level of control over this debate. And I do think that's where a lot of this is stemming from. But you're exactly right, Amara, Donald Trump did post this on Truth Social.
He said that they have come to an agreement. It will be the same rules as the CNN debate. Remember, that was no audience. They were standing at podiums and the microphones were shut off unless the candidate was speaking. He said that those are going to be the same rules. However, the Harris campaign pushed back a little bit on that to CNN. They said that there's still some discussion and debate over what will happen with the microphones.
Here's just a quick statement from Brian Fallon. He is a senior advisor for the Harris campaign. He said both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate, to fully allowed for substantive exchanges between the candidates. But it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him, sad. And again, a statement from the Harris campaign spokesperson there and look, I mean, they're clearly taunting Donald Trump with this. They were referencing to a reporter on Monday had asked Donald Trump about this dispute over the microphones and Trump himself had said, look, doesn't really matter to me. I probably prefer them to be on, but we had already agreed to these the rules.
So all to say, it is getting a bit ridiculous. I do want to point out though, I think why this is so important to them. Both candidates as well recognize how high the stakes are for this debate. It really is one of -- probably going to be one of the last defining moments of this election cycle. And of course, everybody knows that what happened at that June 27th debate with CNN really was what kicked off the chain of events that led to Joe Biden ending his campaign.
And so, what the candidates are both trying to do, what their campaigns are trying to do is give them an edge here. And I will say what the microphones, if they are allowed to be on for the duration of the debate, which it seems is still unclear, part of that is that Donald Trump's campaign more than even this -- the questions, the substantial policy questions, and the substance of what he is going to be saying, they think his demeanor, his tenor, the way that he treats Harris, whether he comes off being viewed as a bully or being very aggressive and interrupting her, that could be more for damaging to him than any kind of answer he gives. And so that's where some of this in the background is stemming from as well and you can see the Harris campaign really seizing on that and trying to taunt the Trump campaign, kind of dangling out that -- the microphone issue.
WALKER: Yeah. You're right though. So high-stakes, even though it seems like it is getting frivolous, it is really about the candidate getting the edge at the end of the day. Alayna Treene, thank you for your reporting, really appreciate it.
Donald Trump sat down for an interview on Tuesday with talk show personality Dr. Phil, and the interview contained the usual litany of bizarre claims by Trump but one stuck out to us. It involved the results of the 2020 presidential election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look at California. I gave a speech -- I had so -- I had a crowd so big. I said there's no way I could lose California, but automatically, they mark it down if you're a Republican, as a loss, that you lose by 5 million votes. I said 5 million votes? I guarantee, if Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California. OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: I would win California is what he just said. OK, to be clear, California has not voted for a Republican for president since 1988. It has been a blue state for many decades. Trump lost it by almost 30 percentage points four years ago, so the race wasn't even close. If you can claim he should have won there, it really says something about how far he might go in trying to cast doubt on any loss and what does that tell us about what could happen if he loses this year.
Let's bring in Princeton University Professor Julian Zelizer. He is also a CNN political analyst. Julian first, your reaction to Trump's claim about California.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it is one more piece of a long thread of election denialism thrown in with a little ode to his evangelical Christian base. But it is one more reminder that even though the Democrats have focused on a campaign of joy and optimism, Trump very much is still focused, maybe more so than a few months ago, on spreading this idea that the election is not fair and potentially setting up at challenges, this is as close as the poll suggests to convey.
[08:35:00]
WALKER: I want to pick up on what Alayna Treene was reporting and of course, the nitty-gritty about the processes of getting this debate to happen on September 10th. It looks like it will happen. What kind of clash are you expecting?
ZELIZER: Well, it will be very different than the first one. I think Trump will be the same. It will be chaos at some level. He'll throw a lot of things at her and basically try to overwhelm her and intimidate her through his words. And I think Harris will be different than Biden was. She is very precise. She can be very focused, prosecutorial in her demeanor. And I think she will listen, respond very carefully, and try to pick apart what he has to say. It is a hugely important debate, more so than many in the past, because it is the first and probably only between them and because of backdrop of the first debate.
WALKER: So, we now know that Vice President Kamala Harris will do a sit-down interview. It will air Thursday here on CNN. Dana Bash will be during the interview, airing at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. I mean, this is a high-stakes interview, one that everyone will be scrutinizing because she has been criticized for not making herself available as readily to the media. What does she need to do in this interview? And do you think that she will get more details on her policy as opposed to staying broad?
ZELIZER: To some extent. I mean, I think some of the questions about the details of policy are certainly not what is being asked of the Republican ticket, and I think the Democrats believe you keep the issues broad. You don't go into points A, B, and C, but you focus on the big themes. And I think she will try to lay out what are the three or four big agenda items that she wants to focus on and she'll continue to introduce herself as a person, which matters in politics, to the electorate, and she will try to do what she did in her speech. Republicans were attacking here, many thought she couldn't do it; she did it. Many think it was very successful.
And I think she'll try to recreate that with a little more in terms of the outlines of what she wants to do as president of the United States.
WALKER: It is also a high-stakes interview whether it will carry her momentum or slow it down. CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer, thank you.
Well, newly released footage is giving us a glimpse into Nancy Pelosi's mindset just hours after the insurrection on January 6, 2021. The footage was shot by her daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, as part of an HBO documentary and turned over to Congress. It shows how furious the House speaker at the time was with then President Donald Trump. We see how she was focused on getting him out of office, but also the frantic rush to get safely out of the U.S. Capitol once the riot began riot began.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA): I do not appreciate this. I don't support this -- my leaving the Capitol like this. We cannot let them disrupt what we are doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joining me now live from Washington with more. Sunlen, why are we seeing these images now?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Amara, it is really interesting that this video is coming up now, but this is all at the request of the House Committee on Administration. They requested this video from HBO. This is part of Alexander Pelosi's documentary, the parts that did not air. And they are looking into what happened on January 6 more, notably, this is a Republican-led committee. Now, they're trying to in essence undermine what the January 6 Committee found in their investigation.
And the video, as you know, is so striking. It is raw, it is unfiltered. It shows the real-time reactions. The emotions that the speaker was going through at the day and her going from the tunnels of the Capitol, the small hallways, moving to her SUV, and all along the way, you can really sense her frustration. You can sense her anger. She repeatedly asked why the National Guard has not been called. She repeatedly asked why security officers did not anticipate this level of violence. Here's more or of those moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA): How many times did the members ask, 'Are we prepared? Are we prepared?' We are not prepared for the worst. We are calling the National Guard, now? It should have been here to start out. I just don't understand this.
[08:40:00]
I just don't understand it. Why do we empower people this way by not being ready?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And she later goes on to say that I am responsible. She says clearly on this video talking about some of the security lapses that happened, and she sums up that saying, shame on us at the end. Now, later in the video, there's also video of January 7th, the day after for the attacks, and its notable that she is convening a staff meeting in her office and they're sitting around a table and they're talking. But you can see remnants of the day. You see the mirror over the fireplace, it has been shattered completely from rioters that let themselves into Speaker Pelosi's office.
So again, just another striking example of how lawmakers and the then speaker was dealing with the violence in real time, just remarkable video released.
WALKER: Yeah, a day that brings back so many memories and emotions for so many Americans. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you.
Hacking attempts by governments are nothing new, but CNN has uncovered how one group thought to be linked to Iran gets access to information that should be confidential. Our exclusive report after the break. And we'll bring you the latest on the arrest of Telegram's founder in France with the Kremlin now weighing in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Just into CNN, rescued hostage Farhan al-Kadi has been released from an Israeli hospital. It was just about 24 hours ago that we learned the Israeli-Arab who was taken on October 7th was rescued by Israeli forces. Officials say he was found in a tunnel in southern Gaza and then taken to a hospital to recover from his nearly 11-month ordeal. Family members have told CNN he is expected to go home to his Bedouin village.
And now to a CNN Exclusive, new information about a hacking group that experts believe works on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Our review of the group reveals how they targeted former members of both the Trump and Biden administrations over several years. The hackers would send their targets seemingly harmless emails that included a link to something like an academic manuscript. Once the recipient clicked on that link, the hackers would then have access to their computers.
Now, investigators are worried the group is focusing on influencing the 2024 election. CNN has obtained those actual emails and our Evan Perez joins us with a closer look at them. What are in these emails and what do we know about this group and its ties to Iran?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, it is very rare for us to see what these emails actually look like. The Iranian hackers are believed to be essentially spent a lot of time getting what's known as social engineering, to try to find out some of the things that might make you click on specific emails.
[08:45:00]
In the case of these former Trump officials and people who worked in the Biden Administration, they essentially are using academics, think tanks here in Washington to try to get them to click on something that would unleash malware and allow them to take control of their computers, of their email accounts. One such email that we'll show you, I think we have a graphic of it. It was from 2022 and it went to a person who worked in the Trump Administration. And the goal here was to try to get into and target people who are critics of the Iranian regime, people who are critics of the Iranian nuclear program. And it read something like this.
I am close to finishing a manuscript and have begun asking experts like yourselves to review the chapters. And instead of getting a manuscript, if you clicked on it, what you get is malware, again, to take control of your computer. We also talked to officials who told us that this is essentially what they did to try to get into the Trump campaign. They used access to Roger Stone's email. He is an associate of former President Donald Trump, and were able to then get into the campaign and get sensitive documents, which they then released to reporters.
WALKER: Wow. All right. Evan Perez, we'll leave it there. Thank you. Very important reporting.
Well, the Russian government is trying to calm fears that the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France could upend the messaging platform. The Kremlin spokesperson says calls to users to delete sensitive Telegram messages are baseless. French officials say Durov's arrest is part of a broad criminal investigation involving serious abuses on the app. But many in Russia say it is an attack against them. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russia's state-controlled TV up in arms, labeling the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov as a direct attack against Moscow.
NIKOLAI VAVILOV, RUSSIAN TV SHOW GUEST: I don't think it was an arrest. It was kidnapping, basically a hostage taking, direct political and economic aggression against Russia.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Pavel Durov remains in French custody. This video posted on Telegram purporting to show Durov and some associates, the caption saying they were having breakfast in Azerbaijan before flying to Paris. French prosecutors say Durov is the subject of a cyber crimes investigation and alleging Telegram was complicit in, among other things, illicit transactions, spreading child pornography, and fraud by failing to moderate the content shared on the platform.
Telegram says Durov has nothing to hide, but Russia's foreign minister now insinuating that the arrest may be politically motivated, even though France's president denied politics were involved.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Apparently, someone is hoping to somehow gain access to encryption codes. Now, this is already been proven by the actions of the French that Telegram is a truly reliable and popular network.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The 39-year-old Durov often referred to as the Russian Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the world's most well-known social media moguls, cultivating a playboy like image, often posting shirtless pictures of himself on social media, and even claiming he has fathered more than 100 children. He's the co-founder not just of Telegram used by hundreds of millions worldwide, but also a Russian platform similar to Facebook called the VKontakte. Durov rejects any regulation and moderation on his platforms, as he told CNN in an interview in 2015.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are you aware that ISIS, extremists, terrorists also used Telegram?
PAVEL DUROV, FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TELEGRAM: I heard of that, yes. We are not happy about that. But I guess, this kind of people use lots of encrypted technology.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While there have been questions about possible links between Durov and the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin spokesman denied the two recently met when both were in Azerbaijan. Still pro-Kremlin propagandists are voicing their support for Durov, like this rapper who goes by the name 'Shaman'.
SHAMAN, RUSSIAN SINGER: (Inaudible) it is only in Russia that you can breathe freely and easily. Come back home. Here, you are always remembered, waited for and loved. PLEITGEN (voice-over): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: All right, we'll have more news after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:51:05]
WALKER: The torch is making its way to Paris for tonight's opening ceremony of the 2024 Paralympic Games. More than 4,400 athletes will compete in 22 sports and medals will be awarded in 549 events. U.S. swimmer and gold medalist Jessica Long described the feeling of competing in her sixth Paralympics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA LONG, U.S. SWIMMER: Being here in Paris has been so exciting, right. Everywhere I look, it is the Olympic rings and the (inaudible). And I think that's huge for us, right? Especially even our credentials. I am so excited to compete. For me, this is kind of just the icing on the cake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: While the Paralympics are a celebration of overcoming challenges, Paris has to prove it has overcome its own challenge, having accessibility across the city. Only a quarter of the city's rail services are reportedly wheelchair friendly.
Brothers Travis and Jason Kelce have agreed to a massive podcast deal with Amazon's Wondery Studio, just in time for the start of a new NFL season. Sources tell CNN the NFL stars signed a contract worth around $100 million. In return, Wondery gets ad-sales and distribution rights to their popular podcast, "New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce". The brothers draw a big audience with their lighthearted football talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAVIS KELCE, HOST OF PODCAST "NEW HEIGHTS WITH JASON AND TRAVIS KELCE": The Steelers, first vikings in the first-ever best NFL team named bracket final. Steelers, 39.4 percent of the votes and you are Minnesota Vikings with the best team name in the entire NFL wins it on a 60 percent slide. Just not even close, not even close. The Minnesota Vikings? Damn, was nobody on Twitter?
JASON KELCE, HOST OF PODCAST "NEW HEIGHTS WITH JASON AND TRAVIS KELCE": It is just another beat for the U.S. steel market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGH)
WALKER: A U.S. judge has ordered infamous Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of what was meant to be a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang clan rap album to his attorneys. The order also barred Shkreli from selling or distributing data files copied from the double CD. It is part of an ongoing lawsuit that a group of NFT collectors filed against Shkreli. They bought the unique album from Shkreli for almost $5 million, but claim he kept copies and intends to release them to the public.
And finally, actor Chris Hemsworth has taken on a very different role. The star of Thor surprised fans at an Ed Sheeran concert in Bucharest, Romania recently with his new talent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED SHEERAN, GRAMMY-WINNING SINGER: And he has been on stage playing with us for the whole time, playing in time (ph), will you make some noise for Chris Hemsworth?
(CROWD CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Thor actor Chris Hemsworth surprised fans by taking on a whole new role, as a drummer for Grammy winner Ed Sheeran.
SHEERAN: Make some noise for Chris.
(CROWD CHEERING)
SHEERAN: Give him a big round of applause guys.
(Inaudible) basically what's happening is Chris emailed me last December saying he is doing a documentary on cognitive health and the benefits of learning instrument. He came to visit me and he has learned drums and he is coming on stage in front of 70,000.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH, ACTOR: Yeah. I've been thinking about it a lot. It will be nice to put this one to bed.
(LAUGH)
SHEERAN: He said, can I -- can I learn an instrument for playing in a show? And I said, yes. He started learning this instrument two months ago and he has been on stage playing with us for the whole time, playing in time. Will you make some noise for Chris Hemsworth?
(CROWD CHEERING)
[08:55:00]
SHEERAN: Give him a big round of applause guys.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: What a way to get a big smile on all of our faces -- all the ladies' faces this morning. Thank you for being with me here on "CNN Newsroom." Yeah, I got goosebumps watching that. I'm Amara Walker. I'll be back at the top of the hour with "Connect the World."
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