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CNN This Morning

Harris Campaign Reports Record-Breaking Volunteer Surge In Key Swing States; France Investigates Massive Attack On Fast Train Network. Gaza Ceasefire and Hostage Negotiations to Resume in Coming Days; FBI Confirms Bullet Hit Trump at Rally; Boar's Head Recalls Deli Meat Products Due to Listeria Concerns. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 27, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:35]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday July 27. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you all. I'm Amara Walker and here's what we're working on for you this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She was a bum three weeks ago. She was a bum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Former President Donald Trump is testing out new attacks on Republican rival vice president Kamala Harris as he sees his once commanding lead and swing state polls shrinking within just a matter of days, how the Trump campaign is struggling to define Harris.

BLACKWELL: And some trains are back on track and France this morning a day after what officials called a coordinated act of sabotage ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony. The concerns for more attacks is the first gold medals will be handed out this morning.

WALKER: And a massive 300,000 acre wildfire has already burned an area the size of Los Angeles and it is on the move in Northern California. We are on the fire lines with the very latest.

BLACKWELL: And one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords is now in U.S. custody thanks to the help of drug kingpin El Chapo son. What we're learning about the arrest that's coming up.

At the Harris campaign is now charting its course for the next 100 days leading up to Election Day. Harris will campaign in Massachusetts today holding a fundraiser it will add to an already impressive fundraising haul. The campaign says Harris and affiliated groups have raised $126 million between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday evening. WALKER: And the campaign is looking to build out operations across the country. It says more than 100,000 people signed up to volunteer for her bid and more than 2,000 applied for campaign jobs. Meanwhile, a raft of new polling shows a tightening race.

According to a new Fox News poll, Vice President Kamala Harris is erasing Donald Trump's lead. The U.S. presidential race is now a statistical dead heat in three key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Now, Trump is heading to Nashville today as he sharpens his attacks on the vice president.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Kristen Holmes was there as he tried out new lines of attack with the very receptive audience in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Amara, the race to define Kamala Harris this campaign cycle is odd and Donald Trump is clearly trying to hone his messaging when it comes to attacks on the vice president. We had heard him speak in North Carolina earlier this week, a lot of reference ranting and seemed to all over the place.

It was much different on Friday night. Yes, there was still a Donald Trump traditional speech where he is ranting, he goes off message. But it was clear that within that were a lot of attacks on her record, not just as vice president, but her record was she was in California when she was a senator. They are trying to paint her as a radical liberal. Take a listen to just some of what he said.

TRUMP: She was a bum three weeks ago. She was a bum. A failed vice president and a failed administration with millions of people crossing and she was the border czar. Now they're trying to say she never was the border czar. She had nothing to do with the border. She was the border czar.

So now we have a new candidate to defeat the most incompetent, unpopular and far left vice president in American history. This one she is the most incompetent but certainly the most far left. They were explaining to me you can say Kamala, you can say Kemala. I said don't worry about it doesn't matter what I say I couldn't care less if I mispronounce it or not. I couldn't care less. Some people think I mispronounce it on purpose. But actually I've heard it said about seven different ways.

HOLMES: Now one other notable moment came when Donald Trump was speaking to this group, a Christian conservative group and he started talking about abortion, his stance on abortion and the fact that he supported exceptions when it came to health of the mother incest and rape. And you put here during him talking about this a scattered amount of boos from the crowd. It was the only time that the crowd disagreed with anything that he had said.

Now he did not react openly to this but instead he said of course you have to follow your heart, but you also have to win elections, something that he has said before, but it was notable again given that in this very friendly crowd he still faced attacks or at least boos on the topic of abortion.

[06:05:07]

A topic that has been very sensitive for Donald Trump as he has tried to navigate both being the modern day architect of overturning Roe v. Wade and also trying to steer clear of an issue that he thinks is a political liability. Victor and Amara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Kristen Holmes, thank you very much. Now Vice President Harris is heading into the weekend with what might be one of the most important endorsements she could get from the Obamas. But with support comes attacks as well.

BLACKWELL: Republicans led by the former president are ramping up the rhetoric against Harris but a lot of the claims are just false. CNN's Tom Foreman separates fact from fiction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor, hey Amara. On the Republican side of this election, it seems clear that there is an all hands on deck call to do anything they can to stop the rapid rise of this Democratic opponent.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I say bring it on. Bring it on.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Amid cheers from fans and cheers from foes Vice President Kamala Harris is being pelted by Republican claims about her life and career many unfounded. At his first rally since Harris became the presumptive nominee, former president Donald Trump tore into what he said are her views on social security.

TRUMP: She's talking about re listing the retirement age --

FOREMAN (voice-over): On when abortion should be legal.

TRUMP: Even after birth, the execution of a baby.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And on his own legal cases, which he long blamed on President Joe Biden.

TRUMP: that was all headed up by her.

FOREMAN (voice-over): All three of those cases about his opponent are patently false. But never mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the way on this show, our vetting has only begun.

FOREMAN (voice-over): While some right-wing media stars are erupting over the new Democratic challenger. Others are accusing Harris with no evidence of building her career primarily on race and gender. Some on the right in the past rebooted Trump's birther claims against former President Barack Obama by falsely saying Harris, who was born in California to immigrant parents is not a U.S. citizen. Now they say switching Biden to Harris on balances full is illegal.

Listen to Trump's running mate.

J.D. VANCE, U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was fundamentally illegitimate.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson,

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It would be wrong and I think unlawful in accordance to some of these state's rules for a handful of people to go in the back room and switch it out because they don't like the candidate any longer.

FOREMAN (voice-over): But that's false too. CNN contacted every state and aside from two which did not reply, they all said there are no obstacles to putting Harris on the ballot. And on it goes.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Kamala can't have my gun. She can't have my gasoline engine. And she sure as hell can't have my steaks and cheeseburgers.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Suggestions that Harris wants to outright ban guns, gasoline cars and red meat that she couldn't pass the bar exam and is totally against Jewish people. All of those are false.

FOREMAN: To be sure, Harris has talked about some gun control, about alternative fuels, about everyone eating better in this country. Make no mistake, there are legitimate issues that Republicans can engage her on. But what they're doing right now, it seems is just throwing everything her way to see what sticks whether it's true or not. Victor, Amara?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Yes, Tom, I wonder what her husband would say about not liking Jewish people.

Let's bring in now POLITICO White House reporter Daniel Lippman. I say that because Doug Emhoff is Jewish. Daniel, good to see you this morning.

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's start with the new polls out here head to heads in the swing states from Fox News. Virtually tied in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 49. All in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Trump 50, Harris 49 in Wisconsin, what do you expect is the reaction? Are you hearing reaction in the Trump camp from this tight race?

LIPPMAN: Yes, they were really hoping to go against Biden. They felt like they had a better shot against him that they could use the age argument. And it's much easier to tie the incumbent and head their policies against the actual incumbent instead of their vice president who can distance themselves and say, hey, I wasn't on board with this policy or that, of course, Harris can't walk back everything she has done as vice president and she is still getting hit for the border.

But I think the Trump campaign feels like they still have the upper hand, even if the race has tightened. And so that's what we're seeing in the polls.

BLACKWELL: Let's stay there for a moment you talk about maybe some distinctions between the Biden administration and what a Harris administration would be. We heard maybe some tonal differences in her statement after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[06:10:00]

Are we seeing any more from Harris about? I mean, she is still the sitting Vice President serving under President Biden. But any differences between where she would take the country where she wants to take the party after she gets the nomination?

LIPPMAN: Well, it's been sure -- but what's been interesting about President Biden is that he was kind of an old school moderate, and he had had to adapt to the party going more to the left in recent years to win the nomination. And so she is from California. And so Republicans are already kind of trying to cast her as an out of touch San Francisco liberal, even though she doesn't live in San Francisco.

And so I think, on many different issues, she is pretty aligned with Biden, and you can't walk away too much from your own boss right now. And you need him on board completely to go to rallies, go to fundraisers. But she is seen as a little bit more progressive, you know, a different generation and younger Democrats are more liberal. They, you know, they're kind of you saw how the Republican Party went to the right during Trump. And the Democratic Party has responded in recent years as well.

BLACKWELL: Last night, the former president called the vice president a bum, he's called their garbage, he's called they're crazy. Listen, we've known for eight, nine years now that Donald Trump will pick a moniker for his opponent. We don't know what that will be yet, but does it appear that he's having some difficulty defining her?

LIPPMAN: I think that's fair to say. And Republican strategists and operatives I talked to say that this last week was probably the worst week for the Trump campaign in terms of how good Democrats were feeling with all the money coming off the sidelines with poll numbers of bumping up with enthusiasm, people feeling like they finally have a candidate to get excited about you're seeing all these funny online memes about coconuts and brats. I'm sure people can Google that.

And so I think the Trump campaign, they have to be careful not to go too hard and say, hey, this is just a EI pick. That's what House Republican campaign chief Richard Hudson told his members saying, hey, let's not go there. That is that is kind of code word for her race. And so just attack her on the policies, that's fine. But I think what the Trump campaign is calling her laughing Kamala

Harris is not going to necessarily cut it. And so it's much harder for them to settle on one nickname. And I don't know if nicknames are their strong suit in terms of trying to win an election.

BLACKWELL: Decipher what's happening, if you can, with the debate, pull out. The Trump campaign says that they can't really settle on details for a debate until the nomination is settled. But back in May, when they agreed to debate President Biden in both June before both conventions, and in September afterward, there was no problem committing. So what what's going on here? You can't imagine that Trump would not debate Vice President Harris. Right. What's happening?

LIPPMAN: Yes, remember when Trump said he would debate anytime, anyplace, anywhere, and so that he's no longer you've seen that rhetoric. He's forgotten about what he said before. But I think that if you look at what he had said, oh, the Democrats are in disarray, there's actually very little chance that Harris would not be the nominee.

And so this is just a stalling tactic. And so I think they want to negotiate better terms or get a debate on Fox News, and see if they can box Harris in for that. They would think that that would be more friendly to them. But I think that they know that they have a much stronger debater on their hands than Biden did.

The reason that Harris is the nominee -- is the presumptive nominee is because of how badly Biden did and so they're worried about that. And they also during remember that debate with Hillary, you had Trump, you know, imposing physically only a few feet away. And so with a woman especially, they need to make sure that does not happen again, and that he shows proper respect to the city and vice president.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate. He's still tangled up in this 2021 comment on Fox where he said the country is being run by quote, a bunch of childless cat ladies. He's now clarifying, saying that he didn't mean people who cannot have children.

It's only been about 10 days since he was announced as Trump's running mate. There was a lot of enthusiasm in the beginning and at the convention, as this rollout and campaigning continues are Republicans across the country.

[06:15:00]

The elected Republicans even as enthused as they were at the start about J.D. Vance.

LIPPMAN: Not yet right now, because they look at that those comments and asked whether Vance was vetted enough. And it's just never a good idea in politics to be unnecessarily, you know, criticizing people for their own choices about whether to have kids, one in six women in their early 40s do not have kids. And those are a vote. That's a voting bloc that Republicans wanted to target. And so I think there's a fair chance that if Harris had been the

presumptive nominee before the Republican Convention and Trump had picked his VP, he would not have gone with Vance. And so they expected Biden and kind of a youthful, contrast with Vance, and I think they're there -- the strategist I talked to say, Vance is just a doubling down on his populace MAGA base. It doesn't bring in a ton of new women or Hispanics or black voters, which they had to hope to target.

And so they think that he is definitely the future of the MAGA movement in terms of being a populist, but you still have to win in November. You can't worry too much about 2028.

BLACKWELL: All right, Daniel Lippman, good to have you. Thank you.

LIPPMAN: Thanks, man.

WALKER: All right, so to come millions of visitors and thousands of athletes are in Paris for the Summer Olympic Games. We're going to take a look at the potential security threats in Paris, and how organizers are trying to keep the game safe.

Also, more on the investigation into the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and what caused that ear injury.

And California's biggest wildfire of the year has burned an area larger than the city of Los Angeles. We'll have details on how close firefighters are to containing it.

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[06:21:36]

WALKER: This morning repair crews are hard at work and French security forces are on high alert following a massive attack on France's high speed train network. It happened just hours before the start of the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony. Two trains carrying Olympic athletes were held up by the attack. Now the French rail company says this morning that 80 percent of the trains are running today after nearly a million people were affected. But there are delays stretching as much as two hours. Normal services are expected to resume on Monday.

Now no one has taken responsibility for these attacks. But authorities say they believe this was a coordinated act of sabotage.

Joining me now from Paris is CNN is Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, good morning to you. I know this is your fifth Olympics. And that opening ceremony last yet last night. I watched it last night was just so impressive and spectacular. Beneath all of that, of course there was this massive security operation. It was the first time that an Olympics opening ceremony was held outside as opposed to an indoor stadium. How did it go from your vantage point?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it went great I made so we're going to talk about the trains in the morning. But I think that that piece went great. There have been years -- basically years of planning for the opening ceremonies, Summer Olympics, no stadium, two sides of a river, every vulnerability you could think of from the air, from the water, from the land they had to account for.

Now remember the security precautions were happening weeks before they closed parts of Paris, they began to do QR codes for anyone who entered near the sun (ph). A week ago, I went through the process I had tickets. I, you know, you had to put your identification and it had to match your passport. Bridges closed midday, the waters, the river close to obviously. And so there was all sorts of security precautions over this long river and leading to the Eiffel Tower.

So in terms of the biggest security threat that I could imagine for the Olympics, which would have been this opening -- open opening ceremony with the world watching. They did a terrific job. The biggest issue ended up being the weather. I mean, the rain was just honestly it was miserable. But it was a great fun event. But the rain just put a sort of a damper on a lot of things.

WALKER: Yes, it seemed like the rain just kept coming down during the entire ceremony. But you couldn't tell as if you were at home, you know, that any of this was impacted at least the performers and the quality of the show.

KAYYEM: Yes.

WALKER: Let's talk about the investigation then into --

KAYYEM: Yes.

WALKER: -- these arson attacks on the rail system and into those, I mean, there were there were explosives put into the pipes. That kind of, you know, hampered --

KAYYEM: Yes.

WALKER: -- obviously these rail lines. No one has claimed responsibility.

KAYYEM: No and no one hasn't looked. I mean, I get a lot of the threat reporting leading up to something like this. This is a country that's used to strikes, a country that's used to protested just went through a very, very intense short period -- election period.

So there was a lot of, you know, sort of chatter and noise and that doesn't even include sort of the outside concerns or the foreign international threat concerns that of course any Olympic Committee would be worried about.

[06:25:05]

So the fact that there's been no claim means that there's going to have to be an investigation, I'll tell you, I've talked to a lot of people in France and law enforcement intelligence, all theories lead to some sort of domestic source, both in terms of the, you know, basically, it's a group that kind of had knowledge of the trains could get access to the rails, there's even talk of sort of, you know, sort of an internal thread or industrial espionage.

And so the Paris police will be, I'm sorry, the French police will be looking at sort of domestic sources. And I think we have to assume that that is probably what happened here, someone wanted to just be annoying. And we know that I'm not defending it. But we know that because they clearly weren't targeting people.

They did it in the middle of the night. They didn't do it at stations. They wanted to make a political point about the Olympics or about the French government, without harming people. But that is not to say that the threat environment has changed.

I mean, the folks I'm talking to here, you know, everything from drones, to cyber hacking to misinformation, which is key here, to steal the concerns of an active shooter or some sort of terror attack will continue those concerns and the response to them will continue for two weeks. That's super hard to do, right?

I mean, people to sort of sustain a security posture, like they did yesterday, during the opening ceremonies for two weeks is going to be one of the things they have to focus on because, you know, people sort of move on the events are very different. They're dispersed throughout the city now, in terms of where the activity might be.

WALKER: In terms of the security posture, what have you seen what has impressed you? What has stood out to you? What will we see over the next couple of weeks?

KAYYEM: Yes, so you'll see very different than last night, I will tell you like lots of applause for last night also internally with the people I'm talking to, in terms of, OK, that was the hardest part opening ceremony, and then what they call the silt area, which was the sun protected area that now is being lifted. So the challenge now is the city's trying to get back to semi normal, it's pretty empty, lots of provisions left.

But yesterday, you literally could not get around, they had closed everything down. I actually got stuck at one stage trying to come back to the studio because I was trying, I was looking at some of the facilities that had been built, that it is now open. So the challenge now is going to be how do you -- have an open city and also protected spaces at the various facilities throughout Paris. And that's going to be something that -- they focused on that they know how to do it. It's just going to be something that they're going to have to keep their eyes and focus on.

I'm just thinking about, you know, sort of everything from beach volleyball, which is in front of the Eiffel Tower to the gymnastics, which is about four cities or four miles outside of the city. There's just a big footprint. No city has ever tried to do this before --

WALKER: Yes.

KAYYEM: -- in terms of their -- the opening ceremonies and then keeping the city alive but also hosting for the next two weeks. WALKER: Well what a challenge it will be but they have shown at least for the opening ceremony, just how competent they are Juliette Kayyem. Very good to see you. Thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: The fast moving California Park fire is destroying buildings forcing thousands of people to relocate, or the weather is impacting efforts to contain those claims. That's next.

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[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: Top stories for you this morning. There are new details about hostage negotiations and possible ceasefire deal in the Israel- Hamas war. High-level talks are expected to resume in Rome as early as this weekend, according to a diplomat familiar with the planning.

Israeli official said the Vice President Kamala Harris' comments about the suffering in Gaza could be problematic for negotiations. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet with counterparts from Egypt, Qatar and Israeli Intelligence in the coming days.

AMARA WALKER: The FBI says former President Donald Trump was hit by a bullet in an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally earlier this month. Investigators concluded that either a whole or fragmented bullet struck Trump in the ear, and that it came from the gunman's rifle.

The department's confirmation is the most direct yet about the injury which has stoked political backlash about what actually hit the presidential candidate.

BLACKWELL: Recall alert for you before you make that sandwich, check your fridge. Boar's Head is recalling Deli meat products over concerns of listeria. Recalled includes 200,000-plus pounds of meat, including ready-to-eat liverwurst, certain ham, baloney, beef salami, roasted bacon products, officials are investigating if this is related to a multi-state listeria outbreak that has already killed two people.

WALKER: And this morning, California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Butte and Tehama Counties as fire crews feverishly battle the largest fire of the year. Now, the Park Fire near Chico in northern California has swallowed up nearly 310,000 acres. It has destroyed more than 130 structures. And the fire is the size of Los Angeles.

BLACKWELL: Police arrested 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout II, they accused him of pushing a burning car down a hill that sparked the fire. CNN's Camila Bernal has been covering the fire and brings us the latest now. Camila?

[06:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): California's largest wildfire of the year is on the moon.

DAN COLLINS, CAPTAIN, CAL FIRE BUTTE UNIT: This year, we're kind of starting off with a bang.

BERNAL: Scorching hillsides, decimating homes and buildings, forcing residents to flee. Fire fighters battling the fast-moving flames in rugged, remote terrain amid wind-gusts of 20 to 30 miles an hour in what officials call critically low humidity.

COLLINS: It is concerning that we're having these larger fires earlier in the season. If we're having big fires like this in July and August, we may have bigger fires come the Fall. As the fuels get drier and the winds start to pick up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our house gone, their house OK, house next to it, you can see the top.

BERNAL: Flames flattened Julia Garble's(ph) home. She called the experience surreal as she walked through the rubble serving the destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It puts a finality to it of just going, wow, this chapter over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go again, yes.

BERNAL: The Park Fire brings back haunting memories for residents in Butte County. It's the same county where the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed thousands of homes. It remains the deadliest wildfire in California history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is, I lost my dad in the Camp Fire, we got our home and we've been working on it a lot lately, fixing it up and it's just -- we're at the verge of maybe losing all that.

COLLINS: Talking to some of the evacuees yesterday, there's a big concern this county has been tested time and time again. Unfortunately, he knows some of our folks that are evacuated now from these fires lost their home during the Camp Fire.

BERNAL: And with the state's wildfire season already underway, it's a test this community may be forced to live with for months. Camila Bernal, CNN, Butte County, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Camila Bernal, thank you. Now, there is a little bit of good news, weather conditions on fire lines are expected to improve this weekend in California.

WALKER: Yes, but isolated thunderstorms threaten fires in the Northern Rockies. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joining us now with more. So, firefighters in California, are they about to get a break?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, from temperatures. So, that's going to be the thing, and we don't really see the winds necessarily improve all that much and dry thunderstorms are going to be a concern. But temperatures will start to go down.

So, at least, at this point, I think we'll take anything we can kind of get to help bring those containment numbers up. So, let's take a look because we've got a lot of fires. It's not just that one particular fire in California, over a 100 active wildfires across all of the west. But yes, one of the more concerning areas is going to be that Park Fire especially because of how quickly it has grown.

You take a look at these numbers, burned over 300,000 acres. Keep in mind that on average since it started, that means it's burning 50 football fields per minute, to kind of put that in perspective. So, you can understand how quickly this fire is spreading. One of the concerns today, you can see all these red flag warnings that we have in effect for today.

But likely, a lot of these continuing to Sunday as well, winds about 30 to 35 miles per hour gusting that can easily take the fire that's already there and spread it very quickly. Another concern is going to be the smoke. You've got all of these air quality alerts for numerous states, from multiple fires spreading that smoke, which could in turn cause some breathing problems for a lot of the folks there.

You can see here is that wind begins to take a lot of that smoke and shift it. So, as the wind moves, so does that smoke. So, you're going to see it start to spread in a lot of areas, maybe that have had to break the last couple of days, that may be changing as we go into the weekend.

Now, we talked about temperatures. That's one area where we are going to see an improvement. Take a look at this. Sacramento, 102 yesterday, high of only 83 today. So, a definite improvement there, Los Angeles, Fresno, Reno also seeing that drop in temperatures, the only downfall is, it's going to be temporary.

Because you'll see, as we head right back into next week, those temperatures go right back up again to above average. And this is Sacramento, but even some other areas, Portland also going to see their temperatures begin to jump back up as we get into next week.

So, again, the hope is at least this weekend while we have that brief reprieve and the temperatures that firefighters can take advantage of that, and maybe bring some of those containment numbers up. Because the outlook for today and tomorrow does have the potential for some thunderstorms, dry thunderstorms.

Some of those storm outflows can be 60 to even 80 miles per hour, which would definitely spread those fires quickly.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

WALKER: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you. And still to come, when U.S. authorities arrested two top leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, they had some inside help. We'll tell you who it was after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

WALKER: And this morning, we're learning more about a major drug cartel arrest. A son of infamous drug boss El Chapo turned himself in, but not before tricking and helping U.S. authorities arrest the man who co-founded the cartel with his dad.

BLACKWELL: The plan involved the plane and a changed destination. CNN's Polo Sandoval explains how it went down.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara and Victor, the prevailing theme in this seems to be betrayal, often times the heads of these criminal organizations have to decide do they flee from authorities and potentially get hunted down by them or do they choose to cooperate?

And so far, it seems like it may be the latter. A law enforcement official briefed on this investigation telling our colleague, Evan Perez that it is currently believed that one of the sons of Joaquin Guzman, who we all know as El Chapo, likely provided U.S. authorities with so-called inside information that allowed them to nab the narco Ismael Zambada, known as El Mayo.

[06:45:00]

Mayo and Chapo, two of the founding members of the Sinaloa criminal enterprise that the DA has said is largely responsible for massive amounts of narcotics that have ended up in the United States, particularly recently, a fentanyl -- now, we should point out that Department of Justice has not yet officially confirmed the following plot, but we have heard from multiple sources who believe that Mayo was initially told that he would be boarding that small airplane in Hermosa(ph), New Mexico, to go check out a property potentially for purchase that he possibly was not aware that, that flight was in fact bound for an airstrip near El Paso that U.S. authorities were waiting there on Thursday.

Essentially that he was hand delivered by the son of one of his former partners directly to authorities. Now, as far as El Mayo, he has recently entered a plea of not guilty. Joaquin Guzman Lopez is the 38- year-old son of Guzman that was also aboard that small plane that is also currently in custody.

And like Mayo, also accused in multiple indictments of taking part in this massive criminal enterprise, his drug distribution operation. This certainly does not mark the end of the Sinaloa cartel by any means, and following this organization, I've been told by multiple analysts that, that organization has essentially splintered out into other groups.

So, if anything, the arrest of Mayo leaves behind a massive power vacuum. So, one of the concerns is that what we could see south of the border is some infighting to try to gain control of what Mayo oversaw and his -- in his mid 70s. So, certainly, likely the end of one chapter, but many fear that it could be the bloody end, or at least the bloody start of another. Back to you, Amara, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Polo, thanks so much. Still ahead, the autopsy of Sonya Massey, the woman who was fatally shot in her home by a sheriff's deputy has been released. What that report says next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: This morning, we have new details about the woman in Illinois who was shot and killed in her kitchen by a deputy responding to a 911 call. The autopsy report concludes that Sonya Massey died by homicide due to a gunshot wound to her head.

WALKER: Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Massey's family said that the report is further evidence the shooting was unjust. CNN's Whitney Wild has more on this developing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There is a lot more to learn as this case unfolds, but CNN is digging into the background of the accused deputy here, Sean Grayson. And what we've learned is that he was employed at six different law enforcement agencies between August of 2020 and July 2024.

We've also learned that while he was working for one of those agencies, the Logan County sheriff's office, he was accused of inmate intimidation. That incident occurring in January of 2023. We've also learned that Grayson was cited for failing to stop a high-speed chase after a supervisor directed him to do so.

That was also while he was working for the Logan County Sheriff's office. That incident occurring in September of 2022. We have also learned, according to a CNN affiliate, that he was discharged from the army for misconduct. Although, the details of any alleged misconduct are not yet clear.

We reached out to Grayson's attorney who declined to comment on that question. And then further, we have learned that he was charged twice for driving under the influence, once in 2015 and once in 2016. And he pleaded guilty to both of those charges.

There are, again, many questions about the timeline here leading up to his employment at the Sangamon County Sheriff's office. He has since been fired from that job. But the Massey family is asking for much more accountability, a deeper dive into how he was hired and why he was hired in the first place. Meanwhile, they are speaking out about how this trauma has upended their lives.

SHADIA MASSEY, SONYA MASSEY'S COUSIN: Sonya meant the world to me. I loved her so much. This tragedy has been too much on my family. Her kids -- her daughter cannot sleep at night, you all. She's in one household, I'm in another household. For her to go to the bathroom, she has to be on FaceTime with me. For her to get a drink of water, she has to call us before she gets out of her bed. You know, this is the hardest thing that we have ever been through as a Massey. It just breaks my heart that our family has to go through this.

WILD: There is a lot more to learn as this case unfolds. Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

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WALKER: All right, Whitney Wild, thank you for that. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to become the first woman of color to be the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. CNN's Abby Phillip sat down with Harris and those closest to her for an in-depth profile of her life and career.

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DOUGLAS EMHOFF, SECOND GENTLEMAN: I violated every rule of dating, I believe. Leave this long rambling voicemail, ended the call and for what you remember that scene in "Swingers" --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you should call me tomorrow or not, two days, whatever. Anyway, my number --

EMHOFF: That was me leaving the voicemail, and I thought I'd never hear from her, but then --

[06:55:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Harris had a break in her schedule and called him.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We ended up talking for like 45 minutes to an hour and just laughing --

EMHOFF: Wow --

HARRIS: The whole time.

PHILLIP: A couple of days later, their first date.

HARRIS: It felt like we had known each other, and I didn't want it to end. And so, the next morning, I pulled the move of e-mailing her with my availabilities for the next 4 months including long weekends. And I said something like, I'm too old to hide the ball, you're great. I want to see if we can make this work. Here's when I'm available next, and I guess it worked.

PHILLIP: How did you feel about that?

HARRIS: I was terrified.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLACKWELL: Be sure to tune in on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern to watch

this hour on Kamala Harris, followed by another new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper, and that looks at Joe Biden's presidency and his historic decision to step aside. That airs at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

WALKER: All alright, thank you for sharing this hour of your morning with us. The next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts after a break.

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