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Father of Georgia High School Shooting Suspect Arrested; Super Typhoon Yagi Heads Towards Southern China; Putin Mocking U.S. Election, Supports Harris; Trump's Subversion Case Schedule Being Prepared by the Judge; Hunter Biden Pleads Guilty; Elementary School Fire in Kenya Kills 17. Ukraine Army Chief Reveals Strategy Behind Kursk Incursion; Michael Barnier Becomes France's Prime Minister; Summer 2024 Is Warmest On Record. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 06, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: Well, welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." A second arrest made in connection to the Georgia high school shooting. We'll have the latest on the investigation.

Southern China is bracing for a Super Typhoon Yagi, the strongest storm of its kind to hit the region since 2014. We're live in Hong Kong.

And Vladimir Putin trolling America's politicians just a day after Russia's accused of meddling in the 2024 elections.

We begin with the deadly shooting at a school here in Georgia. The father of the suspected gunman is now facing charges in connection with the attack that left four people dead and nine wounded. This is only the second time the parent of an accused school shooter has been charged in connection with their child's crime.

Fourteen-year-old Colt Gray faces four counts of felony murder. Authorities say the teen admitted his guilt while being questioned. Family and friends have been paying tribute to the victims. Two students and two teachers were killed Wednesday, just two weeks into the new school year. CNN's Ryan Young has more on the latest charges.

RYAN YOUNG, U.S. CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still a lot of strange feelings in this community. Of course, now there's news about the father of the alleged shooter being arrested. We spent the day outside the home talking to neighbors and trying to get some information. That's after investigators indicated to us that they believe the alleged shooter's father brought the weapon that was used here in a shooting as a holiday gift.

Now that's after Jackson County Sheriff's Department talked to the young man and tried to figure out if he was connected to some online threats. After that happened, the father indicated that there was no weapons that he had unsupervised access to. But that gun was purchased apparently, and then that was the same gun that was brought here and used for such tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS HOSEY, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: He is charged with the following, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children. Mr. Gray, these charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: We asked the GBI and the Sheriff's Department where the father was arrested, did he turn himself in? They did not have those details to share with us just yet. He will be brought to the Barrow County Sheriff's Detention Center. So we should find out Friday exactly when he will have his first court appearance. But still so many questions about not only the gun, but what led up to this shooting in a community that's still rocked by all this violence and all this loss. Ryan Young, CNN, Winder, Georgia.

BRUNHUBER: And joining me now from Los Angeles is attorney and legal affairs commentator, Areva Martin. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, from a legal point of view, I want to start with the father facing charges as well. So the timeline here is particularly notable. Police came to their house to investigate threats made to shoot up a school. And then a couple of months later, the father buys his son an AR-15 as a present. So, the charges, take us through what the prosecution would need to show for a conviction here.

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, Kim, such a tragedy. We've seen this played over and over in schools across this country. And this is, as Ryan said, the second time in U.S. history that parents are being charged with murder charges involving a school shooting with respect to their son. We saw it in Michigan with respect to the parents of Crumbley, that was the name of the school shooter in that case. And his mother and father in that case were charged and then later convicted.

And now this father facing not just involuntary manslaughter charges, but second-degree murder charges along with those eight counts of cruelty to children. And essentially the charge is very similar to the one in the Michigan case, where this dad is being charged for being reckless in his conduct with respect to not only the purchase of this AR-15 rifle, but the storage of this rifle.

Not putting this rifle in a place that would be locked, that would be inaccessible to his son, and ignoring the possibility that his son could gain access to it and could engage in this conduct that resulted in the death of four people.

[02:05:05]

This just -- it's a clear signal in this country that people are tired of parents not taking seriously their responsibility to ensure that if they're going to have a firearm in their home that they have a responsibility to make sure it is not accessible to their children.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, you mentioned that previous case, but if prosecuting that case and the two parents were sentenced to jail, if that was meant as a deterrent to stop something similar from happening again, I mean, it doesn't seem to have worked. What will it take do you think?

MARTIN: Well, Kim, I think it's too soon, right? That case just happened. It was in some ways people thought it was going to be an isolated case. I think the more and more we see parents like this father in this Georgia case charged, like those parents in Michigan, I can't help but believe that parents will start taking very seriously their responsibility.

In the case in Michigan, those families -- those parents were sentenced to some very serious jail time, and in this case, we have second-degree murder charges. These charges carry life in prison so, this father could be facing a very stiff prison a sentence and I would have to imagine that in combination with common-sense gun laws, we could talk about Georgia. Georgia has no universal background checks, no permits even required to own a gun, no red flag laws which allow law enforcement to take guns away from individuals who maybe have mental health issues.

So, it is a state where guns are readily available. So when you think about what is it going to take, obviously we have to do something to make it much, much, much more difficult for guns to be purchased and then left unattended, not in locked spaces and for kids like this 14- year-old to gain access to them.

BRUNHUBER: Gun laws, obviously important to stopping, you know, shootings like this. But also, I mean, we've seen before that investigation, sometimes individuals are flagged by either, you know, other classmates or friends and so on. It happened in this case, police investigated Colt, but they say they couldn't substantiate that he was behind the online account that made the previous threats. I mean, does that surprise you?

MARTIN: Yeah, this is very unusual Kim. As you said, this is a case where there were calls made to law enforcement that a teenager or someone on this social media platform, Discord, had made comments about shooting a school. They were able to trace what they believed to be the person that made that post to the shooter in this case. Did an investigation with him and his father.

He said that he did not make the post, that his account had been hacked. He was in (inaudible) that it wasn't him. Apparently, his father believed him and the father admitted that you know much about the social media site or much about what his son may have been doing on the site. But we also have comments now coming from family members that this was a young boy in crisis, that the family had gone through a very difficult divorce.

The family, the father and son had been evicted from their home, and that there were calls for help by this 14-year-old that went ignored. So again, a case where not only the parents apparently failed this 14- year-old, but the system because Child Protective Services apparently were involved with this family at one point as well.

So you have to ask, where were the adults? How is it that the adults completely missed that this 14-year-old was capable of and planning this mass shooting?

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, still so many questions about what could have been done to stop this from happening. Areva Martin in Los Angeles, thanks so much.

MARTIN: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Well, of course, the community of Winder is in shock as they remember the four shooting victims. Apalachee High School math teacher Christina Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students when she was killed. She's being remembered for her dedication. Fellow math teacher and football coach Richard Aspinwall is being described as, quote, "very passionate." His friend tells CNN he was like a brother to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT TANNER, FRIEND OF RICHARD ASPINWALL: He always had a smile on his face. He had a laugh that was contagious. I can remember one time in school over the announcements, it was either announcements or the morning news. I remember news for you. I think that's what it was called way back then, that somebody looped a video of him laughing when he was in probably seventh grade or so. So, if you ask anybody that knows him about his laugh, it was contagious. It was full of life and he was just awesome.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: He has two young daughters. I read that he loved being a girl dad.

[02:09:59]

It sounds like he was a tremendous father.

TANNER: Yeah, he -- and he loved those girls. He would do anything for them. Family was really big for him, really big to him. And you know that most folks always want to find a way to leave it better than you found it and do better than was done for you. And he really took that to heart. And he'd play with the Barbies. He'd do the hair. He'd sip the teacups. He was in the floor. He was very, very involved, very present father. And you know, he was a superhero to those girls.

NICOLAE CLEMPUS, FRIEND OF CHRISTINA IRIMIE: Christina is a hero for our community, is a role model. She was a role model and she basically goes into the history as a great person, great teacher, and very good educator, that was daring for her students. And eventually, you know, caring so much that she gave her life in front of them and probably trying to protect them and to save them from, you know, from this tragedy. I'm not surprised that everybody has a good opinion about her, about her teaching because she was also a great volunteer in our community and very joyful and very happy all the time. So she was contagious with her smile and her happiness around her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: We also remember the two children killed in the shooting, 14-year-old student Mason Schemerhorn and 14-year-old student Christian Angulo whose family described him as quote, "a very good kid and very sweet and so caring."

Super typhoon Yagi barreling down right now on China's Hainan island. It's the most powerful storm China has seen in more than a decade and it's set to make landfall in the coming hours. Yagi currently has winds of 240 kilometers per hour, the equivalent of a strong Category Four Atlantic hurricane.

I'm going to go live now to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong where conditions there seem to be improving but Kristie, it sounds like just a very powerful storm. So take us through what people are expecting and how they're preparing.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kim. Super Typhoon Yagi has swept past Hong Kong. It appears that the city has escaped major damage, but this is a powerful storm and it is on the move. Yagi is the second most powerful storm this year by wind speed, and it is heading straight to southwestern China and Hainan. Now here in Hong Kong, the typhoon alert level has been lowered. Schools, many businesses here remain closed. Dozens of flights have been cancelled.

Hong Kong stock market was suspended and the super typhoon is now on the move. It's set to make landfall in southern China later in the next few hours. Hainan and Guangdong provinces, they are bracing for impact and conditions there are rapidly deteriorating. We've been monitoring social media to get footage of what it's been looking like in the last few hours.

Now for Hainan, this is the island -- it's known as the Hawaii of China. The projected landfall there is very rare. Most typhoons that land there in Hainan are not super typhoons. They are weaker ones. So the government there is and has been on high alert. We know that transport links like bus services, railways, ferries, flights have been suspended. Residents in Hainan, they have been stocking up on food. If you look at video of them inside supermarkets, you can see they're leaving those store shelves empty.

And residents in Hainan, as well as tourists, they have been advised do not go outside. It is a tourist attraction. Several tourist attractions in Hainan have been shut down and authorities have warned that the winds generated by Yagi could be massive and destructive. Hainan again, so-called Hawaii of China, known for its sandy beaches, for its resorts, for its shopping.

Thankfully it is not peak travel season now and the island does have a pretty good record for handling and weathering storms, but this one is different. This is a super typhoon and it will be a menace. It's going to make landfall in the next couple of hours. Back to you.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be watching. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Thanks so much.

LU STOUT: Yes.

BRUNHUBER: As the U.S. cracks down on ongoing Russian interference in the upcoming presidential election, Vladimir Putin continues meddling with a sarcastic endorsement. We'll have details after the break.

Plus, prosecutors in the election interference case against Donald Trump could reveal new evidence in the days leading up to the election. Look at who the former president is blaming for his legal troubles. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They always have to remember that two can play the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[02:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be trolling the U.S. presidential race on Thursday when he endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris after years of siding with her rival Donald Trump. Putin's comments come one day after the Justice Department indicted two Russian media employees in a scheme to interfere with the upcoming presidential elections. We have more on the story from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vladimir Putin responded to a U.S. crackdown on alleged Russian election interference with more election interference. The Russian president claims his preferred candidate was Joe Biden, but --

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translation): He was removed from the race and he recommended all his supporters to endorse Ms. Harris. Well, that is what we will do too. We will support her. And also, she laughs so expressively and infectiously that it means she's doing well.

TODD (voice-over): Putin's comment drew a sharp rebuke from the White House.

JOHN JIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: Mr. Putin ought to stop talking about our elections, period. We would greatly appreciate it if Mr. Putin would, A, stop talking about our election, and B, stop interfering in it.

TODD (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump also quickly jumped in, posting on Truth Social, quote, "President Putin would much rather see comrade Kamala Harris in office, as he strongly said." Could Putin be using reverse psychology in publicly supporting Kamala Harris?

BRET SCHAFER, ALLIANCE FOR SECURING DEMOCRACY: Do I think he prefers a candidate? Do I think he prefers Trump? Probably. But what he really prefers is for us to be more at each other's throats. So he's playing us against each other, which somebody's done for years.

TODD (voice-over): This comes as CNN learns the identity of a Tennessee-based company that the Justice Department says was funded by Russian operatives as part of a Kremlin-backed campaign to influence this year's U.S. presidential election. A U.S. official briefed on the matter tells CNN that company is Tenet Media.

Prosecutors say Tenet Media, with Russian money hired right-wing social media personalities to fuel Russian narratives. Among those stars, content creators Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, and Dave Rubin. Combined, those three have about six million subscribers on YouTube alone. Pool once interviewed Donald Trump on his podcast. Benny Johnson interviewed Eric Trump. Tim Pool's show, "Timcast," features opinions that the Kremlin might want to see broadcast as widely as possible.

TIM POOL, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ukraine is the enemy of this country. Ukraine is our enemy.

TODD (voice-over): All three of those stars say they were deceived in this scheme, that they are victims, that they created their own content without input from anyone.

BETH SANNER, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I do think that these people do have responsibility to at least understand who's paying them.

TODD (voice-over): In 2016 and 2020, officials say, the Russian election meddling campaign against the U.S. involved hacking and releasing e-mails to embarrass politicians and establishing dummy accounts to spread disinformation. How much has that campaign evolved since then?

SCHAFER: It's evolved significantly. But that's why the Tenet thing was so sophisticated and smart is they found real Americans, Americans who are influential, who have massive audiences, and they were trying to manipulate that platform.

[02:19:58]

TODD (on camera): Analyst Bret Schafer says one of his biggest worries going forward is that whatever election meddling activity the Russians have been doing that the U.S. has caught, that they could be doing 10 times more of it that hasn't been caught. He likens it to trying to catch drug smuggling across the southern border. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: So, despite that unusual endorsement from Vladimir Putin, Kamala Harris is focusing on her opponent. Vice President and Democratic nominee arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday. She's expected to stay there until Tuesday doing debate prep and campaigning before heading onto Philadelphia for her first face off with Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Harris' boss, President Joe Biden, is out on the campaign trail himself. On Thursday, he was in the battleground state of Wisconsin rallying crowds in support of his previous running mate. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Vice President Kamala Harris fought like hell for all of you and for the future worthy of your aspirations. Look, just think about how far we've come. We have more to go, we have more to go. Too many people are still in trouble. But nearly four years that we've been president and vice president, we've run those extraordinary periods of progress in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: In New York on Thursday, Donald Trump gave a speech outlining his plans for the U.S. economy. They include boosting energy output, easing inflation and lowering taxes. He also took the time to attack Kamala Harris for her economic proposals and to falsely blame Democrats for his legal troubles. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She and her party are censoring speech, weaponizing the justices and trying to throw their political opponents, me, in jail. This hasn't happened. I didn't do that to Crooked Hillary. I said that would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? Putting the wife of the President of the United States in jail. But they view it differently, I guess, nowadays, but that's okay. And they always have to remember that two can play the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The judge in Trump's hush money case, as he will announce on Friday, whether he'll delay the former president's sentencing date. Trump was convicted earlier this year on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He's set to be sentenced on September 18th, but has asked the court to delay that decision until after the election date.

And new developments in the election subversion case against Trump that could have an impact on the November election. The judge has set a schedule for next steps in the case and it may allow prosecutors to unveil new evidence about what happened on January 6th, just days before voters go to the polls. Paula Reid has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: It's a total fraud. It was election interference.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's January 6th case back in D.C. federal court with a fiery and contentious hearing. Attorneys for the former president seeking an immediate dismissal to the case. "We have an illegitimate prosecutor. We have an illegitimate indictment. and we have illegitimate legal issues raised in that indictment," Trump attorney John Lauro said.

The judge, Tanya Chutkan, made it clear that was not going to happen. The Trump team sparred with her over a timeline for the case, calling it unfair to introduce evidence this close to the 2024 election. Chutkan responding, "I understand there is an election impending. You have said before, and I will say again, that the electoral process and what needs to happen before the election does not matter here, and that she was definitely not getting dragged into the election."

But there was one area of agreement. The judge must decide how a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity affects this case before any trial. "Immunity is the linchpin here," she said. A 6-3 decision in July gave former presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts, but not for private conduct. Attorney General Merrick Garland said this week he was confident in Special Counsel Jack Smith.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I stand by the actions of the special counsel. The superseding indictment is an effort to respond to the direct instructions of the Supreme court as to how to effectuate a new indictment in an ongoing case.

REID (voice-over): While the new reworked indictment removed things like Trump's infamous Rose Garden video --

TRUMP: So go home. We love you. You're very special.

REID (voice-over): It added new details about Congress's certification process and what role Vice President Mike Pence played in it. Trump's attorneys arguing on Thursday that the case should be tossed if the judge rules communications between Pence and Trump are immune from prosecution. "It tanks the entire indictment," Lauro argued.

They also intend to raise other issues, like the legitimacy of the special counsel, questions about obstruction of justice on January 6, and discovery. But one question that won't be answered anytime soon is when this case will go to trial.

[02:25:02]

"It is sort of an exercise in futility at this point to talk about setting a trial date."

(On camera): The trial clearly still a long way off. Sources close to the case say this particular case, all the questions in and around this, definitely gonna make at least one more trip back to the Supreme Court. Unclear if the justices are gonna want to take the case up again, but expect this case to be litigated to the high court one more time, which is why we don't expect that even if this case goes to trial, that would happen before fall of next year. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: In a surprise move, Hunter Biden has pled guilty to all nine charges in his federal tax case. His lawyer says Biden's actions are designed to spare his family an unpleasant ordeal. The judge accepted the plea and set sentencing for December 16th. Biden could face up to 17 years in prison for charges that include tax evasion and filing false returns.

All right, still to come CNN speaks with Ukraine's Army Chief in a world exclusive. We'll share what he told us about Kyiv's surprise cross-border incursion into Russia. That's coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: We're just getting reports coming into CNN that 17 students have been killed in a fire at an elementary school in central Kenya. Police say the students have been burned beyond recognition. I want to bring in CNN's Larry Madowo who's covering the story from Kigali, Rwanda. Larry, what more do we know at this point?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The most important question Kim that a lot of people will have is what's the cost of the fire? We still don't know that. Police say they're sending emergency crews there and the disaster management unit as well as investigators to figure out exactly what happened at this elementary school about 200 to 250 kilometers outside Nairobi.

This is a big tragedy; 17 children are dead already in this fire. Police saying they were burnt beyond recognition. At least another 14 are receiving treatment in hospital. There will be many distraught parents rushing to the school to see what happened, to see if their kids are among those who've been killed or who are injured. There'll be a lot of questions in the days and weeks ahead to understand what happened here.

[02:30:00]

Unfortunately school fires are not uncommon in Kenya. They often live in small cramped quarters sometimes and there are not enough emergency exits. In some cases, we're not seeing any of this happen here. Obviously, this is all speculative this time.

This is all going to be a lot of questions to clear the scene, to try and make sure that all students at this school are protected. They are given some canceling so very early start to this. This happened overnight and the country waking up to this shocking news and tried to come to terms with it, Kim.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, a horrific tragedy.

Larry Madowo, thanks so much.

The Israeli military says it has withdrawn from the West bank town of Jenin after more than a week of major military operations. Israeli forces began an extensive campaign in several locations across the occupied territory, at least last month. They've said that it was meant to root out terrorists.

The Palestinian health ministry reports Israeli forces killed 39 people across the west bank during that time, including eight children. Palestinian residents were allowed to start returning to the area short time ago, only for some to find their homes destroyed and neighborhoods without electricity or water.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was as clear as he has ever been about how he views a ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas. In an interview with the right-wing Fox News, he denied reports by CNN and others that the Biden administration believes an agreement is 90 percent complete.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Hamas is not there with a deal. There's not a deal in the making. Unfortunately, it still hasn't happened.

HOST: And it's not close?

NETANYAHU: They want to reconstitute their terror kingdom and its -- unfortunately, it's not close. But we'll do everything we can to get them to the point where they do make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The Biden administration is standing by its assessment. In an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. was asked why Netanyahu's latest comments contrast with the more optimistic statements from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We want to lower expectations because we have experienced with Hamas. In May, the U.S. proposed a deal. We said yes, Hamas said no. In August, another deal with proposed modified by the U.S., we agreed to the deal, Hamas said no.

So they rejected all deals that were proposed. That's why we don't want to raise expectations, but we are still continue to send the head of the Mossad and other officials to negotiate. We will not stop with that hopefully we will reach an agreement, but with Hamas, you never know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, protesters in Tel Aviv carried 27 coffins representing the 27 hostages killed in captivity in Gaza, whose bodies have been returned. It's symbolically placed the coffins in front of Israeli military headquarters.

The human rights group Amnesty International is calling for an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza. The group is accusing Israel's military of forcing thousands of families from their homes and rendering their land uninhabitable as a form of collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

The report says, quote: Our analysis reveals a pattern along the eastern perimeter of Gaza that is consistent with the systematic destruction of an entire area. These homes were not destroyed as the result of intense fighting. Rather, the Israeli military deliberately raised the land after they had taken control of the area.

Amnesty International released this map, which highlights the farmland and structures that have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza along the border with Israel since October. The group says the IDF used bulldozers and explosives illegally to destroy agricultural land and civilian buildings in eastern Gaza. It alleges the destruction wasn't caused by a drought a combat between Israel and Hamas, and that the destruction was carried out after the Israeli military had operational control over the areas.

Amnesty International says the Israeli military had other viable options available and failed to pursue them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed a new foreign minister amid a major shakeup in his cabinet. Andrii Sybiha is replacing Dmytro Kuleba, who is seen as one of the most public-facing and strongest members in Zelenskyy's administration. Several other ministers also resigned this week before Zelenskyy's upcoming visit to the U.S. He says his government needed new energy, adding that the coming months will be extremely important for Ukraine.

Ukraine's commander in chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, sat down with CNN for an exclusive interview, his first since becoming military chief in February. He revealed the strategy behind Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region last month that caught even American officials by surprise.

Here's what he told Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Some of your, for instance, your defense minister has said publicly that the reason was to divert Russian forces from other parts of the eastern front. But there are others on the eastern front, commanders who said it hasn't diverted enough forces.

[02:35:01]

And there's still a lot of pressure on your forces on the eastern front, that important logistical hub of Pokrovsk.

So has it been strategically a success? And even tactically a success? What you've done in Kursk or do you think you might lose Pokrovsk?

GEN. OLEKSANDR SYRKSYI, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, ARMED FORCES OF said that we do everything possible not to lose Pokrovsk. We increased our defense capability in the area. Indeed, over the last six days, the enemy hasn't advanced a single meter in the Pokrovsk direction. In other words, our strategy is working.

Of course the enemy is concentrated their most trained units in the Pokrovsk area, but we've taken away their ability to maneuver and to deploy their e reinforcement forces from other directions.

In other words, it turns out that even though he did not take any units from the Pokrovsk direction -- well, except for one marine brigade, they are now unable to maneuver their reserves as they used to.

And this weakening definitely has been felt in other areas. We note the amount of artillery shelling as well as the intensity of the offensive has decreased. In fact, the Pokrovsk direction remains the most problematic for us, whereas the situation stabilized in other areas.

So I think this strategy was chosen correctly, and it will bring us the desired result.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And you can catch the full interview with Ukraine's army chief right here on CNN at airs on the "AMANPOUR" hour at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday. That's 6:00 p.m. in London.

Well, if you think this summer feels hotter than usual, you're not wrong. Coming up, how the brutal keep matches up with purported history.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Pope Francis is heading to Papua New Guinea right now for the second leg of his marathon 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He is set to arrive in the coming hours and meet with government and local officials. Indonesia bid farewell to the pontiff earlier Friday with a ceremony at Jakarta's international airport. His first visit to the majority Muslim country was meant to improve interface relations. Before leaving, he issued a joint statement with Indonesia's grand imam, pinpointing to of what they call serious crises facing the world, climate change and dehumanization.

France officially has a new prime minister.

[02:40:02]

Michel Barnier formally took over Thursday in Paris. Barnier previously served as the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator. He replaces Gabriel Attal, whose eight-month tenure ended in July after his centrist party's defeat in parliamentary elections. French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the 73-year-old Barnier to form a new government. For the second straight year, the Earth is seeing its hottest summer on record. Scientists say the period between June and August was the world's hottest such periods since records began in 1940.

CNN's Chad Myers has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, the very latest is in now from the Copernicus climate change service, saying that August of 2024 was tied for the warmest August on record, 1.51 degrees Celsius above pre- industrial levels. We're trying to keep that below 1.50, another month that didn't do it.

But tied only with last year 2023. Now, we're noticing though the little trend here in 2024 with the anomalies compared to how quickly we were going up in 2023 at the end of the year. Still though with all of this very warm January through August, temperatures were really doubting that were going to get anything, but the warmest year on record because we had the warmest summer on record. Clearly, temperature anomalies to date well, above where we were even in 2023.

So, it is likely that 2024, the entire year will turn out to be the warmest year on record as well.

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BRUNHUBER: Astronomers think an asteroid 20 times bigger than the dinosaur killer that hit the Earth, may have crashed into Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede, 4 billion years ago.

A professor at Kobe University noticed lines on the moons surface spreading out like cracks from a stone hitting a cars windshield. Well, the pattern led him to believe the impact was so huge, it shifted Ganymede's access. He hopes to find out more when the European Space Agency's juice mission reaches Jupiter in seven years.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will begin its journey back to the Earth in the day ahead. NASA plans to have Starliner undock from the International Space Station without its crew on board. NASA decided it was too risky to fly astronauts. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back home. They'll remain on the space station until February.

And you can join us for coverage of the Boeing Starliner's return to Earth at 6:00 in the evening Eastern Time, 11:00 p.m. in London. We'll see the spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station, and then just after midnight Eastern, NASA and Boeing plan for the Starliner to land White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

All right. I thank you so much for joining CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "WORLD SPORT" is next, and I'll be back in 15 minutes with more news, please do stay with us.

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