Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Secret Service Says It Previously Denied Trump More Resources; Secret Service Director To Testify Before Congress This Week; New Reports: Biden Campaign Outraises, Outspends Trump In June; Trump, Vance Hold First Joint Rally Together In Michigan; Pelosi Stresses Importance Of Election At Unity Dinner; Houthi Rebels Respond To Israeli Airstrikes With Missile Launches; Netanyahu Will Meet With Biden On Tuesday; Vance Hits Back At Harris For Questioning Loyalty To Country; Sources Won't Disclose How Clintons Feel About Biden Seeking 2nd Term; Restoration Of Services Continues After Software Update Crash; Soggy Weekend For Southeast, Dangerous Heat On West Coast; Paris Mayor Takes Dip In River Seine To Ease Concerns. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 21, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:45]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, and good morning to you. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, July 21st. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for joining us.

Here's what we're working on for you this morning. The Secret Service now says it did deny former President Trump certain resources in the months leading up to last week's assassination attempt. Why the agency says it made that decision and what to expect when the head of the Secret Service faces lawmakers tomorrow.

WALKER: Donald Trump and J.D. Vance hit the stage for their first joint rally since the Republican National Convention. The priorities, the two pledge to tackle if elected, and what Trump had to say about Project 2025.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like, we may have to walk there because we're getting out of town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Airports across the country is still struggling to get back on schedule after that massive cyber outage Friday. And judging by the mounting cancellations and delays we're in for another difficult travel day ahead.

WALKER: The start of the Olympic games are less than a week away. And one of the big questions has been, will the Seine River be ready for competition? We took a dip in it. Not us exactly, but one of our correspondents to find out.

BLACKWELL: Somebody we know took a dip in it.

WALKER: All right. Well, new this morning the Secret Service confirmed that it has previously denied requests from the Trump team for additional resources and staffing over the past two years. A spokesperson for the Secret Service said the agency did not provide certain resources to the former president in the past but instead provided other security measures that included local law enforcement.

BLACKWELL: It's another question Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle will face this week as she testifies before several congressional committees over the security failures that led to the assassination attempt. House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green will visit the rally site tomorrow to understand how this near- assassination took place. And at Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service is now increasing security measures through Election Day, which includes road closures around Trump's Palm Beach residence.

With me now, CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow. Jonathan, good morning to you. What would be the reason to deny a candidate's request for additional security resources?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Victor, good morning. And I think the challenge here is we don't actually know what the request was. Now, I think what the Secret Service has always done in the past is they applied proportionality to requests for, you know, additional assets. And it's based upon what specific threat those new assets, the net new assets would be what threat is that trying to mitigate.

But really, I find it hard to believe that, you know, since the former president left office there have been multiple, you know, threats that have been made towards him. And most recently, we've been reporting this threat from Iranian proxies. Operating in that, you know, persistent threat environment for the -- for the former president every resource that is potentially available that the Secret Service has should have been applied to the former president.

You know, we knew that, you know, all along that he would be running for election again. You know, he is very vocal. He draws large crowds wherever he goes. So, he's constantly operating in this threat environment. So, I'm a little bit stunned to hear that on not one occasion but multiplications these requests have been denied and that needs to be a focus of this upcoming hearing.

BLACKWELL: So, let me ask you to interpret for us or to make plain the statement from the Secret Service. And let's put it up on the screen.

"In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units are resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee. This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee."

What does that mean in everyday -- every -- everyday people speak?

WACKROW: Well, you know, Victor, actually, that's nothing new. That is something that the Secret Service has always done. I mean, I have said time and time again and the Secret Service has recently, you know, reinforced that the Secret Service cannot accomplish its protective mission by themselves.

[06:05:04]

They must rely on their law enforcement partners. And, you know, time and time again we have seen whether it's tactical support, uniform presence, you know, motorcade support, aerial support, we have to rely on our local partners.

So, supplementing, you know, protective, you know, components whether it's for the president of the United States, a former president, or a foreign dignitary that's actually common -- a common practice. So, to come out and say that -- I mean, I think it's obfuscating a little bit of what is actually going on here. It's not really telling us in this specific instance with this protectee what exactly was supplemented not by the Secret Service.

Again, and I go back to Secret Service takes a threat-based methodology on all of their protective missions. So, was there a threat that was identified and wasn't mitigated by the Secret Service and potentially, you know, supplemented by law enforcement? Again, I don't want to speculate too far there, but this is what exactly the Secret Service needs to get to when they speak with members of Congress.

BLACKWELL: So, what do you expect tomorrow when Director Cheatle speaks to the committee?

WACKROW: Well, I think it's going to be a very interesting hearing where a lot of questions have yet to be answered by the Secret Service. You know, for one week now we have not had a transparent, you know, post incident briefing by the -- by the Secret Service. We don't know exactly where these points of failure were last Saturday. And we need to hear that.

We also need the director to reassure not just members of Congress but the general public exactly, you know, what is going on. Is our election safe? Are protected -- leaders are they safe to continue their political activity?

We have not heard that. Why? Because there are still vulnerabilities that have remained unanswered by the Secret Service. They have not told us what the go-forward strategy is specifically, whether it's manpower, technology, you know, changing and working with the candidates to change their -- the types of activities that they're going to engage in. All of these questions need to be answered rapidly to reassure the general public.

BLACKWELL: Jonathan, before we go, there had been these memes and videos posted online that are depicting the women who protected the president last Saturday as being incompetent or sloppy with their work. What's your reaction to what you've seen focused on those female agents?

WACKROW: Victor, extremely disappointing and really untrue. What you saw was, you know, agents who are female. They stood there and they put themselves in-between a threat and the protectee. You know, you can try to micro criticize -- you can criticize a lot of activity on that day but to specifically call out somebody potentially for their gender and the way that they were acting that's unacceptable.

Every member of that detail stood up and they reacted the way that they were -- they had trained time and time again.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WACKROW: Their training tactics and experience whether male or female were, you know, near flawless on that day. So, I just -- I find it unacceptable that we're seeing that -- you know, all of that commentary online.

BLACKWELL: Jonathan Wackrow, thank you for the insight. And we, of course, will all watch that hearing tomorrow.

WACKROW: Thanks, Victor.

WALKER: Well, despite the uncertainty surrounding his political future Biden's campaign cash flow is still going strong. New campaign report show the Biden campaign plowed through almost $60 million in June with nearly $96 billion still in the bank. In contrast, Donald Trump's campaign barely spent $10 million, leaving $128 million in its war chest.

However, the Biden campaign is now stuck in a hard spot. Some donors are withholding contributions, are putting fundraising events on hold amid fears Trump could win if Biden stays on the ticket.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign saw a huge influx of cash after his conviction in the New York hush money trial. Another boost for the Trump campaign was the long-awaited selection of his vice-presidential running mate. Trump and J.D. Vance, held their first joint rally Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

CNN's Kristen Holmes was there as he promised to help auto workers and push back on any links to the controversial Project 2025.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Amara, Donald Trump on the stage here this first rally since that assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, spoke for nearly two hours and really seem to be thriving in this environment. There were thousands of people in this arena. Now, he gave a speech that meandered quite a bit, but it was clear he was trying to get to the message that does appeal to people here in Michigan.

[06:10:06]

Talking about bringing back auto workers' job. Talking about bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Talking about getting rid of electric vehicle, quote-unquote, "mandate." Something he has said often.

He also, interestingly, appeared for the first time on the campaign trail with his vice-presidential nominee, J.D. Vance. The reason to point that out is the fact that part of the appeal of J.D. Vance is his working-class background. They believe that he could help with voters in certain states like Michigan, like Wisconsin, like Pennsylvania, all of which are critical battle ground states, all of which Donald Trump won in 2016, but then went on to lose in 2020.

Now, one of the most notable moments was Donald Trump again pushing back on the concept of Project 2025. That being the transition plan that was created by the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank really umbrellas a lot of conservative groups that has had a lot of controversy around some of these plans that are considered very radical far right.

Donald Trump has tried to push back before. Here's what he said tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like some on the right, severe right, came up with this Project 25 and I don't even know -- I mean, some of them I know who they are, but they're very, very conservative, just like you have -- they're sort of the opposite of the radical left, OK? You have the radical left and you have the radical right. And they come up with this project -- I don't know what the hell it is.

It's Project 25. He's involved in project -- and then they read some of the things and they are extreme. I mean, they're seriously extreme. But I don't know anything about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: One thing to note, clearly Donald Trump's team thinks that this is a vulnerability for the former president, but he's not the only one or they're not the only one. So, does President Joe Biden's team. They have put out ads trying to link Donald Trump to Project 2025. They have attacked him over it. So, clearly this is a sensitive issue for Trump and for the campaign. Victor and Amara.

WALKER: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you for that. While Biden did not hit the campaign trail Saturday, prominent Democrats hosted a Unity Dinner in North Carolina.

BLACKWELL: Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi served as the keynote speaker. While she stressed the importance of unity within the party, she did not really address the future of President Biden's campaign. Here's CNN's Dianne Gallagher.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Amara, though she took the stage to Bonnie Raitt's "Let's give them something to talk about" former U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi did not really touch on the topic that has had everyone talking about her in the past couple of weeks. Heavy on party policy and the down-ballot races in North Carolina she addressed about 900 Democrats in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday night at the state party's biggest fundraiser, long dubbed that Unity Dinner even though the intra party has been anything but when we're talking about the presidential race.

Pelosi's keynote address ticked off plenty of accomplishments for the Biden-Harris administration. Though sources tell CNN that Biden himself is seething at Pelosi after sources did tell CNN that she was closely linked to a fresh round of statements from lawmakers on Friday that encouraged President Biden to step aside from his campaign.

But instead, when addressing this room, she focused on party unity and Democratic values while referring to former U.S. President Donald Trump as what's his name throughout her speech. She compared the Democratic and Republican platforms and values. And she focused on how Democrats can not only, she says, when North Carolina, a key battleground state that the Biden campaign has invested not only money but staffing already, but also the entire country and the election in 2024.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY PELOSI (D), SPEAKER EMERITA: I have three noes. No wasted time, no underutilized resources, and no regrets the day after the election that we could have done more. Are you ready for a great Democratic victory? I thought so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, Pelosi was a keynote, but also speaking several down- ballot candidates in North Carolina, including the nation's most closely watched governor's race. The attorney general, the Democrat Josh Stein, who was running for governor against the Republican. The Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, closely aligned with Trump. As well as the current governor, Roy Cooper, who has made headlines in the past couple of days, some prominent Democrats as well as pundits has tossed his name around as a possible running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris if President Joe Biden were to step aside.

Cooper did not address, again, any of the uncertainty at the top of the ticket. Instead, focusing on the theme of the night, unity, here in North Carolina and across the country for Democrats. Victor, Amara.

BLACKWELL: Dianne, thank you very much. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington, D.C. today for a high stake visit as Israeli forces unleashed retaliatory attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

[06:15:09]

The latest on the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

WALKER: Plus, going nowhere fast. Thousands of travelers are still stranded days after the biggest cyber outage in history. An update from the world's busiest airport a little later on CNN THIS MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:20:07]

BLACKWELL: All right. Now, the latest in the Israel-Hamas war. Houthi rebels say that they have launched missiles at Israel after deadly Israeli airstrikes on a port in Yemen.

WALKER: Yes, the IDF says a missile launched from Yemen did not make it into Israeli territory before being, quote, successfully intercepted. Journalist Elliott Gotkine is in London now with more on the escalation in Yemen. What more do we know, Elliott?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN REPORTER: Amara, what we know is that Israel carried out these airstrikes on Saturday night in response to this drone attack on Friday night that it puts down to human error for the reason why it wasn't shot down. It slammed into a building about 100 yards away from the U.S. consulate killing one man and injuring several others.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the reason why Israel struck the Houthi targets at Hodeidah port on Saturday and hasn't struck over the past few months when more than 200 projectiles, drones, missiles, and the like have been fired towards Israel is because they killed an Israeli citizen. Now, as you mentioned the Houthis have fired more missiles towards Israel. Israel said that it intercepted with its Arrow 3 aerial defense system, a surface-to-surface missile earlier today, and that it didn't enter Israeli airspace.

But I suppose the big question now is -- perhaps we could see an increase in the tempo and the number of launches by the Houthis towards Israel. The question is, was the drone attack that was successful from the Houthis on Friday night was that a fluke? Or does that point to further perhaps weaknesses in Israel -- in Israel's missile defense system, which thus far has prevented any of those 200 projectiles from hitting Israeli territory?

And of course, all of this comes just on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaving for Washington. He's due to speak with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday, and then Congress on Wednesday. And if anything, these attacks by the Houthis, and he mentioned this in a statement, will bolster his case to say that not only is Israel fighting these proxies of Iran, but it's fighting against Iranian-backed proxies. And that therefore, Israel and the U.S. are on the same page and that is its why the U.S. and all of the other allies of Israel should remain steadfast in its support -- in their support for Israel. Victor, Amara.

WALKER: All right. Elliott Gotkine, thank you so much. Joining us now is CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, good morning to you.

Let's start with this latest escalation in Yemen. Apparently, this is the first time Israel has struck the Houthis. This is according to Israeli officials. How significant is this confrontation between the Houthi rebels and Israeli forces? And what will this strike mean for the Houthis because Prime Minister Netanyahu said that this port was an entry point for deadly weapons for Houthis? KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's significant because the Yemenis managed to get or the Houthis, in particular, managed to get a drone into Israeli airspace and kill at least one Israeli in Tel Aviv.

Now, the IDF is saying that's because they did see the drone, but it was misidentified, not called a threat due to human error. It flew over Egyptian airspace and that's how it went an unusual route and circumvented the normal system.

But you see there's a pattern. Houthis are backed by Iran. Hezbollah is backed by Iran. Whenever Israel seems to get a sort of -- a bit of breathing room with Hezbollah, for instance, in the north you see now the Houthis stepping up in the south so that the Israeli Defense Forces are always engaged, being exhausted at one point or another as they try to complete their operations inside Gaza.

Now, if you talk to Israeli officials, they believe this is part of an Iranian ploy to wear them out and to always keep them on their toes and to keep testing Israeli's defenses. And that's one of the reasons that Israeli official say they struck the Hodeidah port because it is a place that U.S. officials have also said the Houthis get constant supplies, military supplies from Iran to keep up their fight on Israel and other parts of -- other western targets.

WALKER: Let's pivot to Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week. We're hearing from the Israeli prime minister's office that Netanyahu will be meeting with President Biden on Tuesday afternoon as Biden is still recovering from COVID.

A lot of things have drastically changed in just the past few weeks for President Biden politically here at home. But also, we've seen that strained relationship on display between the two leaders over the Israel-Hamas war. The timing is awkward, isn't it? I mean, it's going to be an interesting face-to-face for the two leaders, as you say, as Netanyahu is coming to town to tacitly back Trump.

[06:25:06]

DOZIER: Yes. This invitation was initially issued by the Republicans to come address Congress but, of course, the Democrats also backed it. That said, Netanyahu has almost made no secret that he'd like to see Trump back in office because the last Trump administration was much more permissive of whatever Netanyahu thought needed to be done.

The last Trump administration endorsed making Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Something that multiple Democratic, multiple administrations had refused to do, holding that out for ultimate peace talks. So, what you have is a weakened president in Biden who is being beaten up by his own Democratic Party now meeting with Netanyahu just after the U.N.'s highest court has condemned Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and that Biden is going to try to take him to task over continuing to prosecute a bloody war in Gaza. And from all public opinion it has no effect. So, it's going to make Biden look even weaker at a time when he's already getting beaten up in the polls and by his own party. WALKER: When Netanyahu addresses this joint session of Congress on Wednesday, what do you expect to hear from Netanyahu? I mean, might he highlight any of these policy differences that he has had with Biden? Because it doesn't sound like, you know, he'll be able to have this opportunity to announce some kind of ceasefire deal. It doesn't seem imminent at this point.

DOZIER: Not at all. I expect we'll hear Netanyahu complain about the 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden ministration has publicly withheld, complain about being targeted by the U.N. in various ways, and call into question the Biden administration's support of Israel which will -- leave it open for Republicans to applaud, endorse whatever Netanyahu is calling for. And this is also one way that Netanyahu signals back to Israel that he's still has power and influence back in Washington D.C.

WALKER: Kim Dozier, thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: This morning, more pressure on President Biden to end his reelection campaign. And President Trump was back on stage at a battleground state for the first time now with his running mate J.D. Vance. Hear the joke Trump made about the shooting after saying at the convention that it was too painful to even discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:07]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump and his new V.P. nominee, running mate, J.D. Vance wrapped up their first joint rally Saturday in Michigan. This is a strategic visit to a battleground state. They're trying to make rounds together for the first time.

Let's bring in now Errol Louis, CNN Political Commentator and Political Anchor for Spectrum News, also host of the Big Deal with Errol Louis. Good morning to you. So, let's start here with J.D. Vance. He is as expected focusing on the Democratic counterpart, Vice President Kamala Harris. Here's what he said in Grand Rapids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala Harris said something to the effect that I have no loyalty to this country. Well, I don't know, Kamala. I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business. What the hell have you done other than collect the check?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He says she's just collecting a check. What's your take on the framework early on from J.D. Vance?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there you are on the campaign trail. Kamala Harris of course has been a prosecutor at the local level, was the State Attorney General of California, was a U.S. senator, and has served now as a vice president for four years. So, if she's been collecting a check, I think we got a pretty good return on it as a public.

Look, this is going to get a little bit nastier before it gets any nicer. And the reality is J.D. Vance doesn't have much of a political career behind him. He's been in office for 18 months, doesn't have much to show for it obviously because Republicans are in the minority in the Senate. And he's going to -- you know, he's going to dish it out. That's the traditional role of a vice president. He's going to get quite a lot of push back I think. That ex-prosecutor I think is just waiting for a chance to get at him.

BLACKWELL: President Trump, he talked about the shooting in Grand Rapids, of course, in Butler, Pennsylvania is where it happened. I want to play first what he said at the convention and then let's play what he said in Grand Rapids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you exactly what happened and you'll never hear it from me a second time because it's actually too painful to tell.

I was pointing to an immigration border sign when I made this turn, and that thing went that way instead of that way. That sign was very good. I think I'm going to sleep with it tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, he's talking about it again, making a few jokes. The campaign released this letter from Congressman Ronny Jackson talking about the shooting. I just want to be clear, this is not transparency. Ronny Jackson is a political supporter. This is on Congressional letterhead. This is not from a doctor. This is not from -- I don't even think he still has a license to practice medicine.

Why are we not hearing from doctors? Why are we not getting the transparency a week later about this shooting? Instead, we're getting a political statement from a staunch Trump supporter.

[06:35:17]

LOUIS: Well, look. I mean, people should be demanding it, to be honest with you. I mean, I would love to hear and we're going to have Congressional hearings, so presumably it'll come out there. But you know, what -- we call it tik tock, minute by minute exactly what happened. Where was this person? Where was the security? Minute by minute by minute as well has a full readout of what actually happened to the former President.

I mean, in that confusion, I don't know if you were working that night but I was, Victor. And I remember at one point there were credible reports from local law enforcement saying that former President was hit by shattered glass from the teleprompter. That report just kind of went away. I know there's a lot of confusion but that's why you have a briefing to clear up those kinds of questions.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you about the Democrats here. We have been focused on the -- as it relates to the future of the Biden Campaign, what Pelosi believes, and Schumer, and Obama of course, Jeffries. We now know that the Clintons are urging the donors to continue to support the Biden Campaign. What is their influence? How do you read that reporting?

LOUIS: You know, look, I think the Clintons are very practical people. They're very practical politicians. They've been in this for a couple of generations now. And they know that you have to fight for the campaign and the candidate that you have and not the candidate that you wish you had. And the reality is a couple of anonymous donors who wield all of this influence and seem to be leaking constantly would be better directed toward actually trying to win the campaign, you know.

I mean, if that's what this is about if you -- if you want to have one candidate step aside because it's so important to win the race, well, you don't do it by kneecapping the candidate declaring defeat in advance. It's really extraordinary.

BLACKWELL: Errol Louis, thanks for being with us. Enjoy the Sunday.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, get ready for another day of delays for thousands of travelers at the world's airports. After the biggest cyber outage in history, the effects are still being felt. We'll hear from frustrated flyers straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:10]

WALKER: All right, day three of that fallout from a massive tech outage caused by a software glitch. Airlines, banks, hospitals, and government agencies were all knocked offline around the world.

BLACKWELL: Airlines may have been hit the hardest. Of course, we know today Delta has paused all travel for unaccompanied minors. More than 600 flights have already been canceled this morning after several thousand were canceled Friday and Saturday. More than 21,000 were delayed.

CNN's Isabel Rosales has more.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara, Victor, we know Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson is the world's busiest airport, but it is also the site of the most cancellations in the U.S. so far. Take a look at this line. This is Delta. This is really where the story is at because I -- yes, it's horrible, a passenger just said. We saw other carriers with large crowds, but today really we have seen that concentration of the lines at Delta. They have had the most cancellations.

So, this is a line of people. It just keeps going and going, waiting to be reunited with their luggage. It is understandably a frustrating situation for these passengers. Let me bring you right over here. I want to introduce you to Andrew who's here with his family.

Day two of trying to get to Greece for vacation. Where is your luggage right now?

ANDREW, PASSENGER: We just heard it's in New York City.

ROSALES: Did you mean for that to go to New York City?

ANDREW: No. No, not at all. We --

ROSALES: So, just randomly in New York City?

ANDREW: Whatever reason, yes, it -- there it is. It's in New York.

ROSALES: Yes. And how would you describe your experiences so far in traveling right because of this outage?

ANDREW: Well, it -- look, it's a -- it's a nightmare, no doubt about it. It has been a big delay in Los Angeles as we were leaving to come -- to come to Greece. We had a change of planes here in Atlanta. We had a five-hour delay leaving LAX. Once we got to Atlanta, we missed our connecting flight by about an hour, although we had a couple of hours to work with.

ROSALES: But now you don't know if you'll be able to make your next scheduled flight either? You don't know if that'll go through. You had to stay at a hotel. How was that experience?

ANDREW: It was horrible. My son at about 11:00 last night started going on his phone there to try to find a hotel and as we were going through the various hotels, rooms rates at $340 a night. They were changing to $500, $550. As we're just watching, looking at the app, they were even going up in $1,500 increments. Rooms were -- you know, we were -- we thought we were fortunate to get a room. Other people were just left out and they had to spend the night here in the airport.

ROSALES: And you saw their passengers distraught there, right?

ANDREW: Oh, it was horrible. I saw mothers with children that could not care for their child. Diapers they didn't have. Food they didn't have for their kids. We saw people trying to get a room breaking down. I mean, it was mentally very tough.

[06:45:13]

ROSALES: And in your view this was passengers being taken advantage of.

ANDREW: I -- the hotel thing and the hotel industry should really be ashamed of themselves for what they did. I am a landlord in the Los Angeles area. If I treated my tenants the way these people -- the hotel industry treated people, especially in a situation like this, I would be hung out to dry. I would be persecuted publicly and rightfully so.

This -- what I what I experienced last night, the inter -- the hotel industry should be ashamed to themselves for how they acted and how they took advantage of people. ROSALES: So, you're understandably frustrated. I'm sorry to meet under these circumstances and I hope you can make it, all of you to Greece.

ANDREW: We're going to try.

ROSALES: Yes, thank you so much. And on Delta side, they're saying that they're in recovery mode. That canceling is a last resort. They're working to get everything back online on schedule the way it should be. Amara, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Let's hope this doesn't stretch into another week.

WALKER: Yes, really.

BLACKWELL: That today is the last day of these delays and cancellations.

WALKER: Poor passengers. You got to feel for them.

BLACKWELL: Isabelle, thank you so much.

Heat is making a big comeback in parts of the West bringing a wildfire threat along with it.

WALKER: More than 30 million people remain under heat alert. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joining us now. The heat continues huh?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It does. You know, folks out West, they got a brief reprieve. And by brief, I mean, just a couple of days and then it's right back again. But the key thing for this is it's summer, we know it's hot. But some of these areas, you're talking 15 to 20 degrees above what they would even normally see in summer, so it's just extremely rare situation for a lot of these areas.

So, let's take a look. Look at all of these locations. You're talking states like California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, all setting record temperatures yesterday and all reaching into the triple digits, places you would normally think of for triple-digit temperatures like say areas of Idaho Washington, and Oregon, all getting up to that high up around 105.

Keep in mind that's the normal high temperature you would see in a desert city like Phoenix. not Spokane or Boise but that's what we're going to see today. 107 for the high today in Boise, still 105 Tuesday. But at least the northern cities start to get a brief reprieve by the middle of the week. It's the southern areas it's going to linger for a few more days.

Another growing concern is the fire threat. And we've got over 50 active wildfires right now in the West. This particular is an area of concern. This is where we have the critical risk for today. Yes, it's the extremely hot temperatures but also the gusty winds and the potential for some dry thunderstorms. We also have thunderstorms in the southwest, really much of the southern tier as a whole. The concern here from New Mexico all the way to the Carolinas is the potential for some flooding that could linger over the next couple of days.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you.

We're less than a week now from the start of the Summer Olympics and the Paris mayor is literally going into the deep to show the world how safe one of the main venues really is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:38]

BLACKWELL: The world will be watching Paris when the Summer Olympics kick off in just a few days.

WALKER: Yes. The opening ceremony will be on the River Seine, Friday. And despite $1.5 billion cleanup plan for the river, there are some -- still some lingering concerns about E. coli contamination there. And now, the Paris mayor is literally taking the plunge as you see to show that it is safe. Here is CNN's Senior International Correspondent Melissa Bell reporting from the waters of the River Seine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): They had said that it couldn't be done, so the mayor of Paris decided to show the world for herself that the Seine River is now swimmable.

BELL: And so, we thought we test for ourselves as well. And I have to say that today the conditions are perfect. The sun is out. The water is nowhere near as smelly as I imagined it would be. But there are still questions about whether the conditions will hold, whether some of these swimming events that are planned for the Seine can actually take place.

BELL (voiceover): Back in the 1930s, races in the Seine were an annual event.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The River Seine gets so full, you could almost walk over the swimmers in front.

BELL (voiceover): And the Paris games were seen as a great moment to bring them back. It's taken eight years and at least $1.5 billion do to get here. The river and its tributaries snake their way through vast waves of France collecting sewage and pollution even before their waters hit the French capital.

In Paris, a new reservoir has just been completed that collects overflow rain and sewage upstream from where the games will be held. Experts testing the river have just started to see a change.

DAN ANGELESCU, CEO, FLUIDION: If the trend that we see now of improving water quality continues then I would say that the Olympics could be safe. But if a big rain event comes, it can still change all the plans unfortunately.

BELL (voiceover): Planners were counting on dry weather to ease runoff from Paris' drain overflows but it's been unusually wet.

BELL: That data that's collected each day by the Seine is then put online analyzed. And what you saw there was the worst-case scenario for the Olympics organizer. Heavy rainfall which leads to this, high E. coli levels which could make the Seine unfit for the games.

BELL (voiceover): Still Paris officials are confident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't work on the plan B because we have contingency day, so we are able to move the competition for several days. So, we will be able to make the competition in the river. Don't worry about it.

[06:55:13]

BELL (voiceover): It's led to concerns and jokes from some of the athletes preparing for the games like triathletes worried that their swimming event may not take place at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a complicated subject but it's more like there were things to do before than one month before the games. It would be oh, la, la maybe no swim but you had like seven years to find another way so that's it. That's why I'm a bit mad but then, me, I'm just trying to focus on the fact that I would just try to be the best as I can do.

BELL (voiceover): And beyond the competitions, the world will be watching closely to see whether one of the main intended legacies of the games sinks or swims.

Melissa Bell CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right, Melissa Bell, great job. Thank you for that.

BLACKWELL: That's a lot to risk.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Just hoping it doesn't rain a few days before.

WALKER: What if it rains? What are they going to do?

All right, new this morning, the Secret Service is under fire. The new scrutiny and what the agency is now admitting about security during the attempted assassination of former President Trump last week.