Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Israeli Strike Targets Hamas Leadership In Qatar; Poland Says It Has Shot Down Drones That Violated Its Airspace During Russian Attack On Neighboring Ukraine; Emmanuel Macron Appoints Sebastien Lecornu As New French Prime Minister; Supreme Court to Hear Arguments Over Trump's Tariffs; Judge Blocks Trump From Firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook; Trump Won't Comment on the Birthday Letter to Epstein, Calls It a Dead Issue; Elderly Couple Beaten, Killed and Home Set on Fire in New York; DOJ Charges Man in Fatal Stabbing of Ukrainian Refugee; Apple Introduces New iPhone and Other Product Upgrades. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 10, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:36]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church in Atlanta.

We are following two major stories, condemnation from world leaders after an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leadership in Qatar's capital, we will discuss how the attack could impact the ongoing Gaza cease fire negotiations with Hamas.

And polish and NATO jets were sent scrambling after Russian drones entered Polish airspace in what's potentially a major provocation for Europe.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: And we begin in Doha, where there is tremendous anger over the brazen Israeli assault. Qatar is, of course, a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas war, as well as a critical U.S. ally. The series of Israeli strikes on Qatari soil targeted senior Hamas leadership.

Hamas says five of its members and a Qatari security official were killed, but that the attack failed to assassinate the delegation in charge of negotiating a Gaza cease fire.

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. telling Fox News, "If we didn't get them this time, we will get them next time," which suggests more attacks could be imminent.

But the White House says President Trump assured the Qataris that such a thing will not happen again on their soil. Earlier, the Israeli prime minister claimed the operation was fully justified. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: They perpetrated the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Now they were meeting in the same place, exactly the same place where they celebrated this savagery almost two years ago.

At the beginning of the war, I promised that Israel would reach those who perpetrated this horror, and today, Israel and I have kept that promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Let's go now to Becky Anderson, who is standing by in Doha, Becky.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Thank you, Rosemary. Israel's military chief has accused Hamas of repeatedly sabotaging cease fire negotiations. But the Qatari Prime Minister here says it's Israel that is sabotaging opportunities for peace. He says the air strike can only be described as state terrorism carried out by a rogue player, and he called Israel a bully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are talking about an intermediary country officially hosting negotiations for official mediation, and in the presence of delegations from the country that sent these rockets to attack, the negotiating delegation from the other side. By what ethical standards is this acceptable? This can only be called treachery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, a growing number of countries are condemning the attack, and the U.S. president says he is very unhappy about it. Well, CNN's Paula Hancocks has been reporting on the Israeli assault and is here with me in Doha. It's good to have you.

The language that we have heard, both here and around the world, is extremely angry words such as treacherous, shameful, a criminal act that threatens to further destabilize an already fragile region. Just take us back and remind us what happened here midafternoon yesterday.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula Hancocks So, Becky, this was Tuesday afternoon, and it was about 3:46 when there were -- is explosions in a residential area of Doha. Now it is a fairly upscale area. We know that this neighborhood is full of families. There's a nursery there. It's full of a number of expatriates' families as well. And there was one particular building that was targeted.

We have heard eyewitnesses, some of our team here on the ground as well, saying there were maybe between five and eight explosions. And then we understand that the Israelis fairly quickly afterwards, admitted that they had targeted Hamas leadership in Doha. [02:05:11]

Now, there was some confusion at the beginning as to who knew what, when. We understand now from the U.S. that they had been given warning, not enough warning to be able to do anything about it, or to be able to try and stop what was about to happen.

But we heard it very clearly from the Qatari side that they did not have a heads up about this. There had been reports that they had we heard clearly from the Qatari Prime Minister. We heard about it 10 minutes after the attack from the U.S. leadership -- the U.S. side.

And there is anger here. There is anger from people on the streets who do not expect this sort of thing to be happening in the Qatari capital. But there is definitely anger from the leadership here that this should not have happened.

ANDERSON: And that was palpable when you listen to the Qatari Prime Minister speaking to the press just some hours after. I mean, his tone was one of real anger and real frustration. This is a country that hosts the biggest U.S. base in this region, the U.S. seen as a sort of reliable guarantor of security here and around this region.

And it has to be said, I spoke to sources around the Arab Gulf region in the immediate aftermath of the reports of this attack, and there was real shock about this can happen here. It could happen anywhere.

Let's remind ourselves why it is that the senior leadership for Hamas on the political side were here in Qatar, very specifically targeted by the Israelis, and what the Israelis describe as a precise strike.

HANCOCKS: So, Israel has been very clear from day one that anybody within Hamas is a target, that they will target them wherever they are at whatever time.

Now, they have proved that on Tuesday, it went a step further, certainly when it came to the territory that they were targeting. But we do know that, that they have said that they would know after Hamas.

Now, Hamas is based here in Doha. There are elements of the militant group. This is sort of their base outside of Gaza, if you like. But they were in the midst of looking at a US proposal for a cease fire hostage deal that was on the table. We had been hearing -- I mean, you had been hearing from your sources that the next 24, 36 hours were crucial to see whether or not there could be a breakthrough, the cease fire hostage deal of releasing all the hostages on day one and then trying to secure that permanent cease fire with Donald Trump, the U.S. president, acting as a guarantee that there wouldn't be any outbreak of violence while the negotiations were ongoing.

So, the fact that it happened at this time is part of the shocking element of this story on Monday, the fact that the chief negotiator, who we now know from Hamas, was one of the targets, we don't believe was killed, was meeting with Qatar's Prime Minister. Was trying -- was trying to be convinced by the prime minister to push forward. ANDERSON: Israel has been very clear the targets were the senior leadership negotiating here with the Qataris, who are key mediators and have been now for the near 22 months of this conflict.

We know they're hosted here, as you rightly point out, they have been for some time at the request, the Qataris say, of the United States. The question is, where does this -- there are a number of questions today. Not least, how did Israel pull this off?

Qatar has a very sophisticated military set up here. Again, you know, the U.S. hosting -- Qatar hosting the U.S. base here. So, what was it that the U.S. would have known? Why was it that missiles from 10 Israeli F-35 were able to penetrate the aerial defense systems here. That's the first question.

The second key question, of course, is, where does this leave the cease fire and hostage negotiations? You're right to point out, I mean, we are aware that on Monday evening, late here. Not 36 hours ago, the Qatari Prime Minister, who is also the foreign minister, was meeting with Khalil al-Hayya, the senior Hamas negotiator here.

And I was told by sources very close to that meeting that the Qatari P.M. had put a significant amount of pressure on Hamas to respond positively to what is a new U.S. initiative on the table.

The question is, at this point, where does it leave things? Qatar's Prime Minister has certainly said in the press conference yesterday that it's not -- and I quote him, it's not valid to consider a conversation about talks at this stage, they haven't pulled out, they haven't officially pulled out of mediating those talks.

[02:10:04]

But clearly, you know, just 12 hours ago, the leadership here not interested in pursuing at least the conversation about what happens next, what they are doing, and they have every right to do this, as they say, is considering what their next approach will be. This is a sovereign nation. They have said this was a cowardly and criminal act, and they will consider what their next moves are. That language, of course, reflected around the region as well. To your mind, where does this leave, negotiations?

HANCOCKS: It's worth pointing out that this isn't the first time that Israel has assassinated the main negotiator when it comes to these cease fire hostage talks. Now, back in Tehran, there was Ismail Haniyeh, who was the head of the political bureau, who was assassinated.

ANDERSON: The lead negotiator here -- negotiator here, as we understand it, has not been killed.

HANCOCKS: Correct. Yes, that's a good clarification. But Ismail Haniyeh, at the time, many in the region, many involved in the process, were asking, why would you assassinate the person you are trying to come to an agreement with or the person that you are negotiating with.

So, it has happened before that Israel has been targeting those who they are supposed to be negotiating with. Of course, this is one step further, because you're doing it on the -- on the soil of the key mediator.

So, it's up in the air at this point, Doha has not said that they're pulling back. They haven't said that they are going full throttles ahead. It is definitely in a moment of limbo as everyone tries to re- gather themselves after this attack.

ANDERSON: And just to leave our viewers with this point, I mean, a sense of shock and anger here in a city that I have to say is on the move again, once again. This is to all intents and purposes, an incredibly safe place. The small Gulf nation of Qatar schools are working this morning. People are back at their desks, normal sort of traffic during the rounds of what would have been a rush hour, just about an hour or so again. But that does not dismiss the fact that there is real concern about how this could have happened.

The key U.S. allies, I say, one that would expect a reliable sort of security umbrella by the United States, not given any warning about this. In fact, only contacted by the United States, according to the Qatar Prime Minister, 10 minutes after this attack happened, what do we know about who lost their lives? What we understand is there are a number of lower-level Hamas delegates who were staying in this residence, but alongside, the death of at least one Qatari security guard who was part of the security detail there at that residence, and a number of others who have been injured.

So, Qatar clearly overnight in this morning considering its next move. The region and considering just what sort of reliable security it has as key members, key allies for the United States and then the wider region of the Middle East asking itself this morning, who is the biggest threat to this region going forward. We have heard that on numerous statements and the finger being pointed squarely today at the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

France has a new prime minister just a day after the government collapse. We will do more on that coming up, and we will get you more from here in the hours to come. In France, the leadership there faces an uphill battle in leading a government race for national unrest, and we will get you the latest developments and analysis on that after this short break, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:18:33]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Poland's military is accusing Moscow of, "An act of aggression," after Polish forces shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed a military response operation was launched following multiple airspace violations. Earlier, Polish and NATO jets were scrambled after reports from Ukraine's Air Force that Russian drones were headed toward the country's airspace.

During the incident, Polish authorities shut down several major airports, including Warsaw International. The exact number of Russian drones over Poland remains unclear at this point.

And I'm joined now by CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas. Appreciate you being with us.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, Poland says it shot down Russia drones that violated its airspace while trying to attack targets in Ukraine. Polish and NATO jets scrambled in response to those Russian drones. What does all this signal to you?

THOMAS: Well, it's a -- it's a test case for many things, Rosemary. I mean, first of all, I think it's really important to emphasize that the Polish leadership here, particularly with Donald Tusk at the helm, is an important thing to have. This is a long standing serving prime minister, former president of the E.U. Council, who knows so many of the NATO members.

[02:20:03]

But I think that just over the recent years, with NATO expanding, precisely with the incorporation of Finland and Sweden and E.U. countries committing to expanding their contributions to the NATO budget are precisely have been able to convince their electorates of the need of this because of what happened overnight in Polish airspace.

And so, I think the response from NATO leadership, and particularly from President Trump, is going to be incredibly important here. And the hours moving forward, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Dominic, how likely is it that this was to provoke Poland on Russia's part, or is it more likely the Russian drone simply violated Poland's airspace as they tried to attack targets in Ukraine?

THOMAS: The fact is, Rosemary, this hasn't really happened before, and so, of course, whatever the official outcome story ends up being here. Who ultimately gets the blame from this based on an escalating diplomatic situation, remains to be seen.

But the fact is that this is what Europe has feared, what member countries from Europe in NATO have been -- have been concerned about. And it does not seem like an accident. It seems like an expansion of Russian aggression in the region, demonstrating its various capacities, and I think today, now testing the resilience and strength of NATO member countries moving forward as they continue to explore negotiations, peace negotiations, and with Ukraine.

But I think it's also obvious that given President Putin's recent diplomatic initiatives, particularly with China and so on, that this is a leader who does not feel threatened, but who feels emboldened to take such actions here.

CHURCH: And Dominic, as you point out, this is the first time that Poland has taken direct military action against airborne threats from Russia since this war began. What does this reveal about Poland's readiness if it comes under threat again, and how significant is this at this point in time?

THOMAS: Yes, well, as Poland, and this has always been the important question with Baltic nations and so on too. It is a border country. It's been on the front lines of this conflict with Ukraine, in terms of welcoming displaced populations, the long historical threat and that it faces.

And let's not forget about the divisiveness within the country where Prime Minister Tusk sits in one party, but the recently elected president is very much a Russian friendly entity.

We know that Poland has recommitted and reinvigorated its commitments to NATO with one of the largest GDP contributions, it has been acquiring military equipment. It received a huge loan from the European Union recently to expand in that direction.

But I think that the readiness in the face of an invasion remains highly questionable, and I think it's clear that Poland as other European countries that are members of NATO would not be in a position to go it alone, and very much here, are going to rely on a very robust NATO response led by President Trump here to make it clear that such incursions are unacceptable in the European Space.

CHURCH: Dominic Thomas, want to thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, just a day after the French government collapsed yet again, President Emmanuel Macron has named his fifth Prime Minister in less than two years, who now faces the daunting task of seeing the country out of financial turmoil while leading a new government braced for mass protests.

Our Melissa Bell is in Paris with the latest on the political deadlock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: France has a new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, the outgoing defense minister has been appointed by the French president and tasked with trying to form a government. Sebastien Lecornu, just 39 years old, is considered a Macron loyalist. He had been drawn from the French traditional mainstream political right when he joined the ranks of Emmanuel Macron's party back in 2017, he served as a minister throughout that first and second term.

Now, he becomes prime minister at a particularly daunting time, following in the footsteps of Francois Bayrou and two other centrist prime ministers who tried and failed to govern in relatively quick succession.

There had been hopes on the political left that the French president might choose someone from their ranks. In fact, no, not just someone considered an ally, but as I say, someone drawn from the political right.

So, it will be interesting to see whether he manages to cobble together the consensus within the mainstream, right, left, center parties in France's National Assembly that he needs in order to push through what are expected to be some very difficult budget cuts.

[02:25:08]

This is precisely what had brought down his predecessor, the idea that money needs to be shaved off, the 2026 budget, even as the clock ticks towards the end of the year when that budget has to be approved by France's Parliament, and even with credit rating agencies like Fitch looking on Friday at whether or not to downgrade France in the face of this looming budget crisis.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, international condemnation after Israel strikes Hamas in Doha. How the U.S., Qatar and other countries are responding. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:00]

ANDERSON: Well, there's growing international backlash to Israel's unprecedented attack on Hamas leadership here in Qatar, a key mediator for Gaza ceasefire talks. U.S. President Donald Trump says he's "very unhappy about every aspect of how Israel carried out this strike." Israel's prime minister says the targets were directly responsible for the October the 7th attack.

Well, Hamas says the strike killed five of its members, but failed to assassinate the group's negotiating delegation. And a Qatari security official was also killed. Qatar's prime minister describes the attack as state terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): They acted to sabotage every attempt to find opportunities for peace. Does the world need a clear message than this? Who is closing the door to peace? Does the international community need a clear message than this of who the bully in the region is?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel say families of those still held in Gaza are following the developments in Doha "with deep concern and heavy anxiety." The mother of one Israeli hostage says this strike serves as a death sentence for her son. Adding Netanyahu "essentially executed him." Well, I want to bring in CNN's Nada Bashir, live from London. Nada, there are a number of issues here that we need to discuss, not least starting with exactly what we understand to have happened here mid-afternoon yesterday and Qatar's response.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look Becky, we have heard that firm response from Qatari officials including the Qatari prime minister, as you discussed, describing Israel's actions as state terrorism. This really has thrown into question, of course, discussions around a possible ceasefire, the status of those negotiations. And of course, as you mentioned Becky, what this will mean both for the fate of the hostages currently held captive by Hamas in Gaza and what this will mean for the fate of Gaza as well as we continue to see assaults on Gaza City.

You mentioned that statement from the representatives and family members of the hostages held captive currently in Gaza. We've been hearing from some of those relatives describing this, as you said, as a death sentence for those hostages. And of course, there is deep concern for the potential for any retaliatory action taken by Hamas in response to this strike and attack by the Israeli military in Doha, proportionately targeting Hamas officials, including Hamas' Chief Negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya.

Of course, as you've been discussing, Becky, these Hamas officials had been in talks with the Qatari mediators on Monday evening just ahead of those -- that attack. And of course, it seems on Tuesday as well to discuss that principles -- the proposal put forward by the United States to bring about a ceasefire. We've been hearing from others in the region, highlighting that in their view, this demonstrates that Israel is not interested in a lasting ceasefire proposal.

And of course, this has also really brought into question the role the United States plays as a broker, as a mediator in these negotiation efforts. It's important to note, of course, that in this latest set of principles put forward as part of the proposal introduced by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy, President Trump had been highlighted according to those familiar with those discussions as the key player that would guarantee a lasting ceasefire during which negotiations would take place for a comprehensive end to the war.

There are questions now, given the close relationship between the United States and Qatar, given what we have seen taking place yesterday, whether the U.S. can be trusted, whether President Trump can be trusted as a guarantor of any sort of lasting peace in Gaza. And of course, what we've been hearing from Israeli officials as well, Becky, has raised some questions. We know that they have said they've, in some sense, accepted the latest ceasefire proposal on the table. But real questions as to how negotiations can go forward.

And of course, this really stands in contrast to what we've been hearing in terms of the calls from not only the family members and relatives to hostages held captive in Gaza, but also of course the thousands of Israeli citizens who have been taking to the streets, protesting for weeks on end, calling for an end to the war, calling for a ceasefire agreement that secures the release of those hostages.

[02:35:00]

And of course, all eyes will be watching to see what Israel's actions in Gaza and in particular in Gaza City will look like going ahead. Becky?

ANDERSON: And it will be worrying not least to Qatar, but those around the region that Israeli officials have said this morning that they are determined to go after Hamas leadership wherever it is and whoever it is, clearly, not assassinating the targets that they had been after on this occasion, which begs the question what might happen next. Nada, thank you very much indeed. And Rosemary, this attack, we are told by one Israeli source was months in the making. It involved more than 10 fighter jets, which fired more than 10 munitions.

Qatar's prime minister said that Israel used weapons that went undetected by Qatar's very sophisticated anti-air defense systems. So, that is a real worry, also given the fact that of course there was a huge U.S. base hosted here as well. We were also told by one Israeli official that the jets required mid-air fueling, refueling, for the long-range strike and they hit -- all struck what was a single target, a residence where Hamas is housed here in the very heart of Doha, not a mile or so away from where we are now.

I have to say, despite this being a nation, a small Gulf nation in shock and anger this morning, schools are operating, traffic is as normal on the streets, as far as my observations can tell. It seems that rush hour was a very familiar busy time this morning. So, what is, is very safe Gulf nation under normal circumstances back on the move today, defying any sense from these Israeli attacks that this is a country that can't cope with its own security and stability in a region, which is so focused on de-escalating what is going on around this region, providing more peace and security.

And that is why Qatar has at its heart, this mediation pillar and has worked so hard over the last 22 months, they tell us, to de-conflict what is going on in Gaza. Of course, Gaza and that conflict, really the through line to sort of peace and prosperity around this region. Without an end to that conflict, there will continue to be a sense of instability and insecurity there -- here. So, the Qataris have been working extremely hard over the last 22 months. I've been back and forth, shuttling between the two as they have developed different plans about how to get these hostages released, get a ceasefire in place, and move onto a next phase for both Israel and Palestinians living in Gaza.

Those plans though, that mediation effort really in question today, certainly Qatar hasn't officially pulled out of its lead mediation role, but it is and it has said, and the Qatar prime minister made this clear last night that it is reassessing its role and it is assessing what its next moves may be. This is, they say, a blatant disregard for international law. This was a hit on a sovereign state and of course, a targeted attack, or be it (ph) targeted, but an attack, a strike in the heart of what is this busy residential city. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Right, thank you so much, Becky Anderson. We'll get back to you very soon. Appreciate it.

Well, the U.S. Supreme Court says it will hear arguments in early November over President Trump's unprecedented global tariffs. His administration is appealing a lower court ruling which found many of those import tariffs were imposed unlawfully. Last month, a federal Appeals Court affirmed that the power to impose taxes and tariffs lies solely with Congress under the Constitution. For now, the tariffs are staying in place while this moves through the courts. The government has argued that overturning the president's actions could force the U.S. to return up to $1 trillion in tariffs already collected.

Well, thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.

[02:40:00]

For our international viewers, "World Sport" is coming up next, and for those viewers in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers here in North America. I'm Rosemary Church. A U.S. judge has blocked President Donald Trump's move to unseat Federal Reserve Governor, Lisa Cook. The judge said Cook's claim of an unjust firing is valid, but that the issue brings up new legal questions that must be addressed. President Trump is trying to fire Cook for cause over allegations of fraud on a mortgage application completed before Cook was in her current role. But the judge said firing for cause is limited to actions taken in office.

Cook's attorney praised the ruling saying, "allowing the president to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law." President Trump says he will no longer comment on a letter allegedly showing his signature that was included as part of a release of documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate. He told NBC News, it's now a "dead issue." The president and White House staff have repeatedly denied he wrote that birthday letter to Epstein, which includes a sketch of an outline of a woman's body.

CNN's Manu Raju spoke with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and has more now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republicans in the House mostly shrugged off the news about this letter that came to Capitol Hill as part of this larger document dump from the Epstein Estate to the House Oversight Committee, including a wide range of documents that had the Birthday Book from 2003 Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. In that book is a letter purportedly from Donald Trump himself at the time expressing his admiration and his friendship with Epstein, something that Trump denied furiously just a few weeks ago when The Wall Street Journal reported its existence.

Trump denied it. Trump said the letter was not his and then he sued The Wall Street Journal for defamation. But in the aftermath of the public release of this, the White House has been defiant, saying that it has -- was not their letter, that the signature apparently was forged and the like. So the question on Capitol Hill is now what? How do Republicans feel about this? How do Republican leaders feel about this? And will they actually investigate what happened here and investigate the allegation from the White House that this is a forged document bearing the president's name sent to Capitol Hill?

That's a question I put to the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, if he would look into that allegation.

Shouldn't the Oversight Committee look into this? This is the president of the United States, you guys are contending this is forged.

JAMES COMER, CHAIRMAN, UNITED STATES HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: I'm pretty sure the document is 22 years ago. 22 years ago was, I believe, when that was allegedly sent.

RAJU: So how did you --

COMER: So, I don't think the Oversight Committee is going to invest in, look it up, something 22 years ago. We're going to look --

RAJU: So you're just going to take the president at his word that he -- this is not his?

COMER: What does it -- what does it have to do with anything? I mean, at the end of the day, again, this investigation is about providing justice for the victims. That's --

RAJU: Why are you just taking the president as his word that he didn't write this letter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I believe the president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think the Trump birthday note to Epstein is real?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: I don't. They say it's not.

RAJU: But the Republican who is leading that effort, Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, says that he believes his birthday note is a distraction of sorts, but he says he believes there's a reason why or it's really illustrative of the larger issue at play here, that the effort to block these files is an effort to shield some people from embarrassment.

But do you think it's even feasible to fake a document like this and send it to Congress?

(LAUGH)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE. (R-KY): I think the document is a distraction. I do think that it does bear on the credibility of the people who are trying to keep these documents from being released.

RAJU: What do you mean?

MASSIE: I mean -- I mean, it's sort of indicative of the things that might come out if we were to release all of the files. In other words, embarrassing but not indictable, and I don't think avoiding embarrassment is a reason to avoid justice.

RAJU: But Massie is still two signatures short of forcing a vote in the full House for his bill to call for the release of all the Epstein files. Republicans' signatures are only four of them right now. He needs six at the current -- in the current moment to get this vote on the floor of the United States House. He does expect that effort to eventually succeed because two additional Democrats are expected to be sworn in after winning special elections. And that could allow for this measure to come to the floor of the United States House, which could give him a victory of sorts. It would still need to be approved by the United States Senate and signed into law by the president.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:50:00]

CHURCH: A man hunt is underway in New York after an elderly couple were found beaten and killed in their burning home. Police say the attacker was caught on surveillance video, knocking on the back door of a home in Queens on Monday. He was let inside by a 77-year-old man who lived there with his wife. Once inside, authorities say the suspect beat the couple and killed them before setting fire to their house. Police are now searching for Jamel McGriff, a 42-year-old man from the Bronx in connection with the attack.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed federal charges against a man for allegedly fatally stabbing a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina. Decarlos Brown also faces state charges of first-degree murder. Sherrell Hubbard has the latest on the tragic killing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surveillance video shows the attack which happened last month. 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska boards the Blue Line train in Charlotte, North Carolina and simply takes her seat. The man who is sitting behind her, identified as Decarlos Brown Jr. attacks her unprovoked. Brown was charged federally with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.

RUSS FERGUSON, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA: We built a city that people want to live in, but we can lose that all if we allow violent crime like this to go on in our streets. And I'm here to tell you the federal government is going to save our city from that.

HUBBARD (voice-over): The slaying fueling a White House law and order crusade targeting Democratic-led cities.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: She was slaughtered by a deranged monster who was roaming free after 14 prior arrests. We cannot allow a depraved criminal element, violent repeat offenders to continue spreading destruction and death throughout our country.

HUBBARD (voice-over): Family members told CNN, Brown was living in a homeless shelter. They said he'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Charlotte transit officials say they're unsure that increased policing could stop an act like this from happening.

ERIC OSNES, CHIEF SAFETY AND SECURITY OFFICER: He wasn't interfacing in a manner that would've triggered attention to him, that he was about to do a heinous act.

HUBBARD (voice-over): The suspect is in custody and charged in North Carolina with first-degree murder.

JOHNSON: She fled amid the deadliest land war in Europe since World War II. She fled to the safety or so she thought of the United States.

HUBBARD (voice-over): I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Apple looked to impress as the company rolled out its latest devices during the annual hardware event at its California headquarters. This year, CEO Tim Cook and Apple executives focused on innovation and design, introducing a new iPhone, improved AirPods and updated Apple watches. CNN's Clare Duffy has all the details.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah, Apple was really under pressure to wow with these new releases. And that is in part because consumers have been slower to upgrade their devices in recent years because the iPhone launches that we've seen in recent years have been more iterative than revolutionary. Also, facing pressure because Apple has fallen behind competitors like Google and Samsung when it comes to incorporating A.I. capabilities into its devices. So, Apple really tried to focus in during this event on the fact that it is a leader in the hardware space, sort of setting A.I. to the side for now. And that is perhaps most evident in the announcement of the iPhone Air, the latest addition to the iPhone family and the iPhone 17 line-up.

This is Apple's thinnest and lightest iPhone ever. It's about 5.5 millimeters thick, so about three millimeters thinner than your regular iPhone. But Apple emphasized the fact that it will still have an all-day battery life, still be incredibly durable and the iPhone Air will just have one rear camera, one front camera, so fewer cameras than another iPhone offering.

But, analysts did say that they do think this could be a different enough option to get consumers to go back into Apple stores to check it out and whether they buy it remains to be seen, but a good sign that consumers are interested to go and explore the new offerings. I want to highlight a few other interesting announcements from today. There were three new Apple Watch, upgraded Apple Watch options announced the Series 11 base model, the Apple Watch SE 3, which is lower priced model, and the Ultra 3, it's pro model of the Apple Watch.

And these new offerings are going to have new health features including hypertension, high blood pressure alert, and a temperature detection feature. Health has been an area that Apple has really been investing in as a way to get consumers to buy new wearables and invest in services like Apple Fitness+ that operate across its devices. And then you have the Apple AirPods 3. This is the first time the pro version of the AirPods is getting an update in about three years. And this is also going to have a new health feature, a heart rate detection that will help you gage your workouts, things like that.

[02:55:00]

And also, the AirPods 3 are getting live conversation translation so that you could in real time be speaking with someone who speaks a different language and your AirPods will be translating that to English in your ear. So a couple of interesting options for Apple, but I think that the proof is really going to be in the pudding when these new devices go on sale on September 19th. Back to you.

CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" alongside Becky Anderson after a short break. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:30]