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Democratic And Republican Presidential Candidates Kamala Harris And Donald Trump Prepare For Upcoming Debate; Donald Trump Promises To Increase Tariffs On Imports If Elected President; Dick Cheney And Liz Cheney Endorse Kamala Harris For President; Protesters In Israel Demand Israeli Government Agree To Ceasefire And Hostage Deal With Hamas; Pakistani Man Charged With Allegedly Plotting To Attack Jewish People In New York On Anniversary Of Hamas Attack On Israel; Vigil Held For Victims Of Georgia School Shooting; Registered Nurse Teaches Children How To Stop Bleeding Wounds In Preparation For Possible School Shootings; Iran Reportedly Transferring Drones And Short-Range Ballistic Missiles To Russia For Use Against Ukraine; Record High Temperatures Affecting Southwest U.S. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 07, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Those two going viral in Paris at the Olympic Games, and now they are a golden power couple for sure. Very sweet moments there, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Very sweet. All right, Carolyn Manno, thank you so much.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we're just 59 days now until the presidential election. Both candidates are out on the trail in battleground states today making their pitches to voters. Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning in Pennsylvania and also prepping for the upcoming debate, which will take place in Philadelphia in just three days.

Meantime, former President Trump is on the campaign trail in the swing state of Wisconsin, where he's about to hold a rally. And that's where we find CNN's Alayna Treene. Alayna, what can we expect from Trump today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Fred, Donald Trump is expected to take the stage in just a couple of minutes. Moments ago, actually, you saw his private plane fly over the rally crowd here and land behind us. We are in a tarmac here in Mosinee, Wisconsin. So his plane will be parked behind me, behind that stage.

But look, I was just touching up with a Trump adviser. They said a big focus for today's speech will be about draining the swamp, of course, a term that Republicans love to use, trying to argue that Kamala Harris is part of that. We have been hearing this back-and-forth between both campaigns over the question of who essentially is the incumbent in this race. Harris, as we know, has liked to paint herself as the underdog given that she had not been a candidate for most of the election cycle. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is trying to argue that she is the incumbent and trying to tie her to Joe Biden's policies. That is what you're going to hear the former president do today.

I'm told, as well, he's going to be focusing specifically on the economy, of course, an issue we know is top of mind for the majority of voters in this country, but it's also an issue where Donald Trump is polling better than Kamala Harris.

Now, a key thing about Wisconsin, a course this is a main battlegrounds state. It's one of those states, the blue wall states, that Donald Trump won in 2016 but lost to Joe Biden in 2020. However, in recent weeks polling has shown that Harris is actually polling higher than Donald Trump here in Wisconsin, higher than Donald Trump. And so it's going to be interesting to see how tight this race is in this specific state.

Another thing I just want to point out as well when we talk about the economy, we did hear Donald Trump go into detail really for the first time about some of the specifics of his economic proposals. On Thursday, he addressed a crowd at to the Economic Club of New York where he talked about how he wants to put in place sweeping tariffs on imports. He wants to cut regulations as well as further lower the corporate rate further to 15 percent.

Of course, he did not -- he did not address some of the implications of those policies, including how many economists argue that his policies on tariffs would actually increase inflation. So I think you'll hear a lot of those talking points today as he looks forward to the debate on Tuesday. Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK, and then this is Trump's last public event until the debate. Is he preparing?

TREENE: Well, look, it's so interesting. Donald Trump hates the word preparing, as does his team. He has an aversion to the idea of formal prep. However, Fred, of course he is preparing. I've been talking with Donald Trump's advisers. They say that he's been doing, quote-unquote, policy sessions since to prepare.

That includes a meeting with a series of his advisers, outside experts, his allies, as well as people including the former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Remember, Gabbard actually ran for president back in 2020, and she faced off with Harris on a primary debate stage when she was still a Democrat. She's now an independent. But she's actually been meeting with Donald Trump behind the scenes to help give them a sense of what Harris's debate style is like.

But apart from that, Donald Trump's campaign is also arguing that these types of events where he's talking to crowds, he's sharpening his policy, that is a way that he is preparing as well. So you're going to hear a lot of that today. And I think a lot of the comments you hear him make today we the same things he talks about on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

All right, meantime, Vice President Kamala Harris just made a surprise campaign appearance at a spice shop in Pittsburgh. She is also preparing for the debate just a few days away with her team, with former President Trump. And that debate on Tuesday, it comes as Harris is getting unexpected support from a former Republican vice president, Dick Cheney. He just announced that he will vote for Harris over Donald Trump in November, saying Trump can, I'm quoting him now, "can never be trusted with power again," end-quote.

[14:05:04]

Harris is also launching several new campaign ads tying Donald Trump to overturning Roe v Wade. CNN's Eva McKend is joining us right now. Eva, so were looking at video of Kamala Harris surprising a lot of the customers in this spice shop. She's hugging, taking pictures with, talking to. How is that going over there?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Fred, you can see the strategic choice of the campaign to plant themselves here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, over the last several days, playing out there in real-time. Yes, she has to be here with a small group of advisers strenuously preparing. But what she can also so do in her downtime is be out and about in that community getting critical facetime with voters in this battleground state.

Pennsylvania is so important. President Biden only won Pennsylvania in 2020 by about 80,000 votes. And she is weighing in on that endorsement that you mentioned from the Cheneys, a longtime conservative family. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm honored to have their endorsement, and I think that what they both as leaders who are well-respected are making an important statement, that it's OK, and it's not important to put country above party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And so, Fred, she also said that it's time to turn the page on divisiveness. This is part of the strategy of the campaign as well. They have a Republicans for Harris coalition. They're really trying to not leave any voter up for grabs off the table here. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Eva McKend, thank you so much.

Let's talk about this a little bit further. CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer is with us. All right, so let's start with your reaction to Dick Cheney announcing that he too will vote for Harris as is his daughter, Liz Cheney. What's the statement that he is making? And is he trying to influence perhaps other Republican voters?

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think just as important, he's trying to influence moderate voters. I mean, is the question whether the Cheneys will swing large parts of Republicans to the Democratic ticket, I think that's unlikely. But this is a campaign that's being fought on the margins. You have very even polling in most of the swing states. And so the idea is here you take an iconic Republican and a very

controversial one, the former vice president, and he's saying, I will put all my conservatism aside because it's that important. And you're hoping that moderates, independents, those pockets might listen, and that might be persuasive enough to overcome any concerns about voting for a Democrat.

WHITFIELD: And then Julian, Harris and Trump, this first debate for them, it's coming up in three days. Trump will try to define Harris. Harris will be trying to define herself. Does it seem that there is more pressure on one candidate over the other?

ZELIZER: Yes. I mean, I do think the former president is a much more known commodity, and we've seen he can do just about anything on that stage and it won't really sway a lot of Republican voters other than the Cheneys. So I don't think the pressure is as large for him. She is still less well-known. She's doing very well, but given what happened in the first debate between President Biden and Trump, I think everyone is going to be watching.

And she wants to define herself and just not make any big mistakes. She doesn't want to make this a moment that moves her backwards instead of continuing on the path she is on.

WHITFIELD: Yes, so for Biden, there were many who know him who say he was overprepared. So somewhere in all of this, Harris has to find, right, that the happy medium, being prepared and not being overprepared.

ZELIZER: Yes. I mean, by nature, she does prepare a lot for these kinds of encounters, and she wants to be loose enough that you get some of the person. But she also wants to systematically go after the former president as he throws everything at her and make sure she gets the key points that she wants to make about why he is not an acceptable person to hold office again.

And so she's trying to achieve all of this while not making any visual mistakes, because this is about how you look, about your demeanor, about your sound. So all of this is what you prepare for in these days.

WHITFIELD: And in contrast, when we heard it on Alayna Treene say that Trump, doesn't like to say that he's preparing. But if you read "The New York Times" today, it says that his aides are peppering him with questions, with hypotheticals all of the time. This is what could happen on the debate, and in that way, I guess he is preparing.

[14:10:07]

Is there an area that he does not want to repeat given that he has more experience than Kamala Harris on the debate stage?

ZELIZER: Well, look, it's hard to predict because what you think he shouldn't do, he often does. But if he was more quiet as he was in the debate against Biden, that might serve him well. He doesn't want to expose extremism. He doesn't want to expose chaos coming from him, because that all gives fodder to Democrats, it gives fodder to people such as a Cheney telling moderates come on the Democratic side.

But the thing is about him, he doesn't think that way. He will say what's on his mind. He will do what's on his mind. He will go by instinct. And I think that's what Harris wants to goad out of him, the worst elements of what voters think of that first presidency.

WHITFIELD: And then quickly we saw these spontaneous moments, really spontaneous for our programming, to see Harris in the spice shop, meeting with people there in Pittsburgh in-between her prepping for the debate. Do you see this as serving her as sort of a warmup before the big event?

ZELIZER: It is. It's a warmup for her, not just for people watching her. I think you get her in front of people, in front of crowds, in front of cameras, and every time you do that, it's like before a football game when you're literally warming up. That's what candidates are doing, so when the stage comes, they're ready to roll.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julian Zelizer, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And of course, makes sure you're tuning in for complete coverage and exclusive analysis before and after the debate. The ABC News presidential debate simulcast is Tuesday night at 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.

All right, outrage in Israel as protesters demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finalize a hostage release deal. New details on the major roadblocks holding up ongoing negotiations.

Plus, we're learning new information about an alleged foiled terror plot against Jewish people in New York on the anniversary of the October 7th attacks.

And 32 million people under heat alerts as triple-digit temperatures bake the west coast. We're following the forecast. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news. Protests are underway right now in Israel where demonstrators are demanding their government agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal. Today marks 11 months since the horrific October 7th attacks. Despite significant pressure, both sides appear no closer to finalizing a plan to end and the fighting in Gaza.

CNN's Matthew Chance and Julia Benbrook are following the latest. Matthew, let's go to you first. Massive protests there in Tel Aviv, a huge turnout. What are you learning?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, we're having a few technical problems here because the so many people, so many thousands of people that have gathered here in the center of Tel Aviv to come out in support, first of all, for the hostages, the Israeli hostages still being held inside Gaza. There are 101 them, although not all of them are, of course, alive. Some of them are, unfortunately, dead.

But what the people here at this particular protest are calling for is for a deal, a negotiation, and a hostage deal to be done as soon as possible. They want it done now. There's always been, Fredricka, that sentiment here in Israel ever since October the 7th last year, there have been calls inside Israel for the government to do whatever it can to get those adducted, Israelis and the others, back, back home to their families after they were taken control of the militants inside the Gaza Strip.

But the fact that the most recent round of negotiations with Hamas failed has really injected a sense of anger and desperation into that call. And so now, the last week or so, we see these crowds calling for an immediate hostage deal grow and grow and grow. There are thousands of people who are coming here tonight. They want that deal now.

And it's more than that. It's political, because they basically, the vast majority of the people, everyone that I've spoken to here, believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is not doing what he needs to do to get those people out. They say he's prioritizing the war, prioritizing the destruction of Hamas, doing it for political reasons to make sure he doesn't lose power in Israel. What he should be doing, they say, is make concessions, get those hostages back home as soon as possible.

WHITFIELD: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

Julia, let's go to you there in Washington. The White House has been pushing to get a ceasefire deal done for months now. Are administration officials feeling optimistic still?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Biden and top aides have been persistently optimistic that they can get a deal across the line. But significant complications have led to a shift in mood, leading some in the White House to wonder if they'll see an end to the Israel-Hamas war before the end of Biden's presidency.

[14:20:05]

Now, if a ceasefire deal fails to materialize in the next few months, it would be an enormous foreign policy disappointment for Biden, who has spent a huge amount of time, effort, and political capital pushing for an end to this conflict over the last year. Earlier today, during an event in London, CIA Director Bill Burns, a lead negotiator for the U.S. on this, emphasized just what's at stake, and also detailed how complicated the final details of an agreement will be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: I cannot tell you how close we are right now. It is it is a fact that if you look at the written texts, 90 percent of the paragraphs have been agreed to. But in any negotiation I've been involved in, the last 10 percent is the last 10 percent for a reason, because it's the hardest part to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: U.S. officials have said that they are increasingly skeptical that Hamas may actually want an agreement. And earlier this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a deal is not close. He's arguing for a permanent Israeli presence in southwestern Gaza, despite international calls, including from the U.S., to eventually fully withdraw. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook and Matthew Chance, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

All right, turning now to a foiled terror plot. A 20-year-old Pakistani man has been charged with allegedly plotting to attack Jews in New York. Justice Department officials say the attack was planned for the first anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terror attacks in Israel. Court documents allege the 20-year-old discussed his plan lands on an encrypted messaging app, but he didn't realize he was speaking to undercover law enforcement officers.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has been following the story for us and she's joining us right now. Gloria, what are you learning?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, his name is Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, and he has been under surveillance for nearly a year by federal law enforcement officials, and they finally moved in and arrested him just a few days ago, not far from the U.S.-Canada border.

Now, federal prosecutors say that Khan was using these encrypted messaging apps to communicate with these two undercover agents. Of course, he did not realize that they were working undercover. And he spoke about his desire to carry out an attack and attack the Jewish people. Specifically, he communicated and wrote that he intended to, quote, kill as many Jewish civilians as possible.

Now Khan has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, and according to a timeline provided by federal prosecutors, they say that he contacted the undercover agents in November, instructed them to obtain weapons in July, and by August, he said that he specifically wanted to change the location of his attack right here to New York City.

And Fred, he told them that because he knew that New York City was home to one of the largest Jewish populations the world. He also said that he thought they should attack on October 7th. That of course, being the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. He also considered attacking on Yom Kippur, which is a major Jewish holiday.

And then the last thing, Fred, is that law enforcement officials outlined in this indictment that they finally moved in after Khan shared a photo of himself next to a suitcase showing the cache that he had available to himself, and saying to them that he was ready to travel to begin to carry out this attack. That's when they arrested him just about 12 miles from the border with Canada. And we have tried to determine whether Khan has a lawyer and if he will be transferred here to New York. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. And then, Gloria, what is this about the Justice Department prosecutors also saying that this Pakistani national allegedly paid a human smuggler to help hit cross the border into the U.S.?

PAZMINO: That's right. In fact, this is what laid out in the indictment part of what Khan is accused of doing is contacting this smuggler who would bring them to the border. And in the process of doing that, Fred, they actually switched around to three different cars, an attempt to try and make sure that they were not being tracked or detected.

Of course, that failed after Khan was arrested. But he did contact this smuggler, paid in cash, said he had the cash to do it, and that was part of the plan to make sure that he could get into the United States.

[14:25:00]

WHITFIELD: I see. All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

The community of Winder, Georgia, is still reeling from that deadly mass shooting at Apalachee High School. There are now new details on additional charges that could be brought against the suspected shooter, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This weekend, the community of Winder, Georgia, is coming together, still reeling from Wednesday's mass shooting at Apalachee High School. A recovery center will open on Monday to support those affected. It will offer spiritual and mental health care, as well as legal services. Last night, people gathered for a prayer vigil to remember the two students and two teachers killed in that rampage. Senator and Reverend Raphael Warnock also in attendance there.

[14:30:06]

CNN's Rafael Romo is in Winder. Rafael, you spoke with former students. How are they remembering the victims?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes, Fred, it's very difficult for many people here. And let me tell you something. We've seen residents of current and former students, police officers, firefighters, people from this community, people from elsewhere in Georgia, people even from outside of Georgia, coming here to pay their respects, all coming together to tell the people here in Winder who are going through so much right now that they're not alone, that they're supported, that they're praying for them.

As a matter of fact, in the last hour, we saw a group of bikers who came over, and they wanted to bring flowers. They made a huge circle around the flag where it has a flag flying at half-staff. There was a minister who said a prayer. And again, you see this sense of support for the community after such a tragic shooting that happened here on Wednesday.

Earlier, I had an opportunity to talk to two young ladies who used to be students here, and they also wanted to come and bring some flowers to pay their respects. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIAN BAITY, FORMER APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: This is just crazy that anything like this could happen in our town. Like, there's no space for gun violence. And it just happening at all, it's just shocking. Our school doesn't stand for this, and we don't, we don't accept gun violence in the school. There's no space for that.

SAMIRA BARNETT, FORMER APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: We're a community, we're small. We'll all like close. This shouldn't have happened. And I truly feel for everyone. Going to this school, you know, we went to school with no worry in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The same reaction from many people that we've been talking to here and Winder, Fred. And when we first showed up this morning, there were dozens of a flower arrangements around that flagpole. Now, it is probably in the hundreds, just so many flowers here. There was supposed to be a football game here last night. As you can imagine, that game was canceled. Classes are canceled here as well at Apalachee High School for the time being. In Barrow County, classes resume on Tuesday.

And also, I have to tell you this, it's very important. There will be a community center where people who are having issues dealing with this situation are going to be able to find help. Barrow County and the state are getting together to help this community in this moment of crisis. Fred?

WHITFIELD: It's devastating, devastating for so many. Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

The mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, is the deadliest school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at the Covenant school in Nashville? CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta profiled a program at a California school where students learned to be first responders.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A gunman shot 26 people, most of them six and seven-year-olds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're evacuating people. We're evacuating people.

KATE CARLETON, REGISTERED NURSE, SUTTER ROSEVILLE MEDICAL CENTER: Sandy Hook, I think it was an anniversary but and I saw something that came across. My heart broke for those families, and I just thought about what would my kids do if they were in a situation like that? Like, what would my husband do if he was in a situation like that? Like, how can we help them?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kate Carleton has seen the very worst of humanity as a trauma nurse at Sutter Roseville Medical Center just outside of Sacramento. After Sandy Hook, the young mom took on a new mission to empower kids, really young kids, to do something during the unthinkable.

How much do you think about it?

CARLETON: I think about it when my kids are in school. I think about it when were at a sporting event. I think about it when we go to a mall, to an airport. It's just kind of one of those things, it's on your mind. I wanted my kids and other kids that if they are in a situation where it may be an active shooter situation or a mass shooter situation, that they could help.

Hi, guys.

GUPTA: Which is why we find ourselves in this classroom with these adorable third graders who are about to get a lesson in a way that I've never seen before. They're going to learn how to stop the bleed.

CARLETON: I want you to think about that. You guys have the knowledge and the power to save somebody's life by knowing this. You could save somebody's life. How does that make you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Amazing.

CARLETON: I love that word, "amazing." You're right. It makes you feel amazing. So that's what we're teaching you to do today, is we're teaching you how to save somebody's life.

GUPTA: Kate is now part of a grassroots movement among trauma specialists backed by the American College of Surgeons and the American Red Cross to teach these skills to young children. The likelihood of a child dying in a school shooting may be rare, but a child dying from a firearm is not.

[14:35:04]

In 2021, guns were the leading cause of death for young people under 18 in the United States, making up 19 percent of all children's deaths. Stop the bleed training was born in the aftermath of Sandy Hook when a panel of trauma specialists from around the country determined that turning bystanders into immediate responders could very well save lives.

What is staggering, though, is that for the past six years, Kate has been teaching kids as young as kindergarten how to pack a wound and stop bleeding.

CARLETON: So if you see somebody who's hurt and there's a puddle of blood next to them, that's one of the things you're going to look for. So everybody say, "puddle."

CROWD: Puddle. CARLETON: Yes.

GUPTA: Kindergarteners, it just seems so young to think about putting pressure on a wound, trying to stop the bleeding. But they seem to understand what you're saying.

CARLETON: As long as we present it in a way to them that is non- threatening, it's not scary, they roll with the information very well.

If I have a cut and the blood comes out like a sprinkler and goes --

We kind of take away that active shooter part and just say look at, we're teaching bleeding control in what can happen in the home, or just when you're out on your day-to-day environment.

You think if they got caught with one of those saws, that that might cause them to get hurt pretty bad? Yes. Okay, so we're going to take what we have, and we're going to pack it inside.

GUPTA: For the younger students, she emphasizes packing the wound deeply.

CARLETON: Next thing we're going to do is we're going to have to hold pressure.

GUPTA: Keeping in mind that with injuries like gunshot wounds, the bleeding often happens deep, so superficial pressure alone won't be enough.

CARLETON: Do you think you're strong enough to do this? So I'm just going to have you guys put your knee on. It'll make a little bit easier for you and you won't get tired. Good? Okay.

GUPTA: So do you feel like you doing good now that you had to actually do that?

JEREMY, THIRD GRADE STUDENT: Yes. I think I would be like ready to help anyone.

GUPTA: Wow. Well, what's the -- what's the best part of that for you?

JEREMY: Like the feeling when you get to see them go to the hospital and know that they're okay, like the feeling that you save someone's life.

CARLETON: We're going to go high and tight.

GUPTA: For those that are older, like these sixth graders, including Kate's own daughter, she also teaches them to use tourniquets.

CARLETON: You're going to twist this until the bleeding stops.

GUPTA: None of this is easy. Empowering, yes, but sad that the training has become increasingly necessary.

The question about gun violence came up today in the sixth-grade class. What goes through your mind when you know that topic has now been broached?

CARLETON: What I tried to do is acknowledge it, because it's real. But I'm very aware and cognizant of not spending my time on the gun violence part. But it also tugs at my heartstrings a little bit, for sure, with the kids that that's even on their mind.

GUPTA: In a world where we already teach our kids to run, hide, and fight during active shooter drills, teaching elementary students how to control bleeding may become as useful as stop, drop, and roll.

I was watching you today, and it was emotional a little bit for me even as a trauma surgeon to think that you're teaching kids to do things that, I don't know, I just feel like it's sad that kids would have to learn that.

CARLETON: Initially when I first started it, it used to. And I think I've really worked hard to take that emotion out of it. When I say that emotion, it's because I feel like when I would initially go into that with that kind of feeling, I just found that I couldn't teach the information in a way that it really, it resonated with them.

It was being taught out of fear for me, and I don't want that. If we can teach it like teaching hands-only CPR, or how to use an E.D., like it just becomes part of what we do. It can be used in all situations, whether it's a violent situation or it's not. But either way, it's saving somebody's life.

Stand up nice and tall, and what do you do? Pat yourselves on the back.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Rockland, California.

CARLETON: All right, you guys saved their life.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, Russia, launching a nationwide drone attack on Ukraine. One drone shot down right outside the parliament building in Kyiv. Our team in Ukraine has the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:43:54]

WHITFIELD: Officials in Ukraine say they've thwarted another massive drone attack after finding debris from downed drones outside parliament this morning. The Ukrainian air force says they shot down 58 of the 67 Russian drones targeting multiple locations, including the capital of Kyiv. The strike comes as details emerge of Iran interfering -- transferring, rather, short range ballistic missiles to Russia, a delivery that western officials warned was a year in the making.

CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen joining me live now from Ukraine. Fred, what are you learning? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there,

Fredricka. In all of this with those two U.S. sources saying that apparently the Iranians have transferred ballistic missiles to the Russians comes, obviously, as the Russians are drastically escalating their campaign, using drones, like for instance, last night, but also ballistic and cruise missiles against targets in Ukraine. There was certainly a big, noticeable uptick that we've seen in the past, I would say one to two weeks where the Russians were really firing a lot towards Ukrainian territory. So if there is a really delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles now to the Russians, that is something that could certainly drastically escalate also the military cooperation between these two countries.

[14:45:06]

One of the things that we need to point out is that in the past, the Iranians have denied giving any sort of weapons to the Russians, neither drones nor ballistic missiles, but certainly the Ukrainians are saying at the very least the drones that they've been seeing over Ukrainian territory and which they shot a lot down last night were things that were provided to the Russians by the Iranians, and they are very concerned about reports that possibly ballistic missiles from Iran now also in the hands of the Russians as well.

All of that was actually a topic at a talk between the heads of the CIA and MI6, the British intelligence service. I want to listen to a little bit of what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: Should Iran ship ballistic missiles of whatever kind, close range or other kinds, it would be a dramatic escalation of the nature of that defense partnership.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it hasn't yet?

BURNS: All I'll say is that it would be a dramatic escalation.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So do we have a dramatic escalation?

RICHARD MOORE, MI6 CHIEF: Just on, it's really important to remind ourselves, isn't it, with the drones that we definitely know are there, it's stuff that goes onto the battlefield. It will become very obvious very quickly. I mean, the stuff lands, it explodes, it kills Ukrainian civilians, it destroys the electricity infrastructure. And that's the thing, you have to remind, this is what Iran is choosing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Some really key points that were made there. And certainly, if we look at the drone attack from last night, the Russians using a large quantity of those drones they sent towards Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainians are saying they identified some 67 drones in 11 territories here in Ukraine. And the Ukrainians were able to shoot down on almost 60 of those drones, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Fred, we're also seeing videos emerge that show a fleet of fire spewing dragon drones dropping molten metal onto Russian held positions in Kharkiv. What does this mean for Ukraine's strategy?

PLEITGEN: Yes, I mean, it certainly shows that drone technology is definitely becoming a lot more dangerous and a lot more lethal. And certainly, they're finding new ways to use a lot of drones. This seems to be something that's still in the trial phase. We've identified several units inside Ukraine that appear to be using this dragon drone that some call it, the flame thrower drone.

There's one unit that actually called the Perun's fire. Perun is the ancient Slavic god of thunder. And it certainly does unleash what appears to be a big wave of fire on anyone standing below. Essentially what this is, is a drone that drops a chemical called thermite, one unit has confirmed to us.

This is a highly incendiary substance is that can burn at up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. And as you can imagine, anything in anyone that's underneath that is obviously in very grave danger. For instance, if there's Russians you were inside the tree lines, those would get burned down pretty quickly. But also if there's weapons stored below, you definitely don't want to be underneath that.

Again, this seems to be in a trial phase, and it's unclear how much of a difference this is going to make on the battlefield, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's definitely very ominous and frightening. All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much in Ukraine.

All right, back in this country, wildfire concerns are growing on the west coast as 32 million people are on alert for potentially record- breaking heat. We're tracking the forecast next.

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. You're looking at live pictures of downtown Los Angeles. It looks pretty, but it feels pretty hot. The temperatures are in the low 90s, and yesterday, it reached 111 degrees downtown, tying a record set in 2020. And 32 million people remain under heat alert in the western part of the country.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here. Oh boy, it's hot and is it getting hotter? It's supposed to be getting cooler. It's the fall.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: It's going to stay pretty steamy in downtown L.A., southern California, through the weekend and going into even Monday. You could see that's where we've got the excessive heat warnings in effect for parts of southern California, again, including Los Angeles, where temperatures have been climbing well into the triple digits. Some places reaching 114 degrees. The weather service actually updated that downtown number, 112, so

that officially breaks the record. Yesterday the airport hit 102 degrees, some temperatures in the upper 90s from Oregon and Washington as well. So temperatures again, just sweltering and will keep things pretty hard for parts of the southwest, up near 110 degrees for Phoenix as we go through the next couple of days, Las Vegas as well, up around 105 degrees, just continuing this streak of temperatures up at that century mark.

Los Angeles is also forecast to keep these temperatures up near 100 through the next couple of days after seeing 112 degrees yesterday downtown. That is only just for the third time in history since 1877. And they were just one degree shy of the all-time record of 113 degrees that was set back in September of 2010. Again, staying up near that century mark through Monday. Average for downtown L.A. this time of year is 84 degrees. So yes, southern California gets hot, but not this hot this late in the season.

Phoenix has been charging through their records at 103 days consecutively with those temperatures at 100 degrees or hotter. That completely obliterates the previous record of 76 days that was setback got 30 years ago in 1993.

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So just incredible to see not only how hot these temperatures are getting, but how long it's lasting. We do know that that heat yesterday on the west coast from our climate shift index from climate central tells us that these temperatures were made four to five times more likely because of climate change. What climate change does is it makes our heat more extreme.

It extends that season longer. It starts earlier in the summer. Remember, we were talking about record-breaking temperatures early this summer for parts of the west coast. And here we are in September talking about record-breaking temperatures, again, lasting longer. So it's just really that fingerprint, that sign and symptom that we see from our emissions.

WHITFIELD: Very long summer season. All right, Elisa Raffa, thanks so much.

All right, live pictures now of Tel Aviv where protesters are gathering to demand a hostage and ceasefire deal. We'll take you there in minutes. Stay with us.