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CNN This Morning

Iran Warns Israel After It Strikes Hezbollah In Lebanon; Trump Refers To Harris As "Evil," Mocks Her Laugh; Campaign: Harris Raised $200 Million Since Biden Endorsement; Some Polls Still Have Harris, Trump In Close Race; California's Park Fire Now 7th Largest Wildfire In State's History; Huge Northern CA Fire Burns 350,000 Plus Acres, Suspect Arrested. Musicians and Movie Stars as Influencers in 2024 Election; Blood Test Could Diagnose Often-Deadly Disease; Biles' Olympic Injury Concerns. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 28, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:01:22]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Good morning to you. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Sunday, July 28th. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. So good to be with you.

Here is what we're working on for you this morning. We're starting with breaking news. Israel strikes back, hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight after the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7th. A dozen children have been killed. A critical Israeli Security Council meeting and new fears of an all-out war ahead in a live report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's terrible. She's worse than he is, I'll tell you right now.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some of what he and his running mate are saying, well, it's just plain weird.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris trading attacks on the campaign trail as a race for the White House enters its final 100 days. We are live with the latest.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And several ongoing wildfires active in the West Coast. This is increasing areas under air quality alerts due to smoke. We'll also take a look at the forecast for these fires coming up.

BLACKWELL: And a possible setback for the greatest American gymnast of all time as she competes in the Paris Olympics this morning. New concerns, Simone Biles is injured ahead in a report from Paris.

We begin this hour with the breaking news out of Israel. Officials there now confirm that 11 of the people killed in yesterday's rocket attack were children.

WALKER: We're talking about 11 out of the 12 that were killed being children. Israel blames the militant group Hezbollah for the attack. And overnight, Israel says its warplanes have struck the Iran-backed group deep inside Lebanon. This morning Iran has issued a warning to Israel, stoking new fears of a major escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in the community that was struck in Israeli- occupied the Golan Heights. Jeremy, what are you hearing and what can you tell us about Iran's warning to Israel?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are in a community that has been absolutely devastated by this attack. As you said, 11 of the 12 who were killed were children. The identity of the 12 is unclear at this stage. Yesterday we were told that the victims were between the ages of 10 and 20.

And, you know, this morning we were here when the funeral procession began. Scenes of mourning as thousands in this community and thousands of Druze from other parts of this region came here to Majdal Shams to pay their respects, to mourn collectively, and also for some of them to call for a response.

Several people who we've spoken here -- to here today want to see the Israeli military respond to this. Others are expressing anger at the situation. What is clear, though, is that right behind me, yesterday around 6 p.m., a rocket slammed into this area, according to the Israeli military, at a time when there were children all over playing soccer on a hot summer evening.

And the question now, beyond this community, as it is extrapolated to the Israeli government, as the Israeli prime minister prepares to receive a security briefing and then meet with his cabinet, is how severe will the response be? We know already that Israel struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon following the attack overnight.

But it is also clear that a stronger response is likely to come soon. The question is how strong will that response be, as fears in the region are growing that this incident could perhaps be a prelude to that all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah that has been feared.

[07:05:02]

Now, Hezbollah has denied responsibility for this attack. We should know, but the Israeli military says there's no question this was an Iranian-made rocket that is only in Hezbollah's arsenal that hit here. The United States also backing that conclusion, saying that they have every indication that this was Hezbollah that fired from southern Lebanon into this community in the Golan Heights.

BLACKWELL: Jeremy Diamond reporting for us. Jeremy, thank you so much. We're now 100 days out from the presidential election, and right now the race is tight. The candidates are focusing, of course, on the critical swing states that could decide who wins the presidency. Vice President Kamala Harris heads to Atlanta on Tuesday for her first visit after launching her presidential campaign.

Now, back in 2020, President Biden flipped Georgia for the first time in nearly 30 years. That same day, coming up on Tuesday, Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance will be in Nevada.

WALKER: And with the Democratic National Convention right around the corner, the veepstakes, as it has been dubbed, are underway for the Harris campaign. Former Attorney General Eric Holder is leading a team to thoroughly vet possible candidates. Some include Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, along with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.

BLACKWELL: Now, as Harris focuses on choosing a running mate, Trump's campaign is sharpening the attacks on her. Trump appeared first at a cryptocurrency conference in Nashville and slammed Harris as vicious to Bitcoin investors.

WALKER: Then both Trump and Vance headed to a rally in Minnesota. CNN's Alayna Treene joining us now from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Good morning to you, Alayna. Tell us more about, you know, what was said. And, of course, you know, Trump is still trying to define Harris and have more of a streamlined attack line against Harris.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's exactly right, Amara and Victor. And look, Donald Trump sharply stepped up those attacks last night in Minnesota. And it's been really interesting to watch because you can see that he's clearly workshopping new lines of attack to see what sticks best. And many of those attacks grew increasingly nasty. And we really did see that play out here in Minnesota yesterday.

Now, Donald Trump claimed that Harris is far more radical and liberal and also worse than President Joe Biden. He also really focused some of his attacks on her positions on immigration, the border, inflation. All issues I know that Donald Trump's team is telling the former president to focus on because those are the issues they believe that Republicans do better than Democrats.

Now, what I found really notable was at one point he actually said that people in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on his life earlier this month thought that maybe he would be nicer. He joked that actually I think I'm worse and then continued to attack her.

Now, I want you to take a listen to some of those lines and what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a new candidate to defeat, the most incompetent, unpopular and far left vice president in American history. Probably the most far left person in American history. As a senator, she was ranked the number one most radical left Democrat in the entire Senate. They say she made Bernie Sanders look like a moderate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Victor and Amara, he also made some personal attacks on her, saying that, you know, going after her laugh when he was comparing her to perhaps Margaret Thatcher, saying Margaret Thatcher didn't laugh like that. But I also want you to listen to this moment because I found this very interesting as well. I think it shows how Donald Trump is struggling a bit to adapt to the new playbook. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Sarcasm doesn't work when you have a crooked press. You know, when I imitated him because Biden and -- I don't want to waste a lot of time but because it's over now, right? He's gone. I told you he would be. I told you he wasn't going to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Victor and Amara, I found that really notable, honestly, because I think it exemplifies what I'm hearing in my conversations with Donald Trump's senior advisers, which is they are still figuring out the best way to define Harris. And remember, for over a year now, really this entire election cycle, they had created a playbook and spent millions of dollars on modeling, data, advertising, all designed to go after Joe Biden, someone who increasingly grew unpopular, an 81- year-old man.

Now they're completely changing gears. And I think you can see some of that with that moment and other moments. Last night, he continued to attack Joe Biden anyway. I know from watching, you know, going to the majority of Donald Trump's rally, it's a shtick of his.

And he was really trying to move away from that. And you could see that. He was really trying to -- try to change and focus his attacks on Harris. But I think he's still getting a bit used to it. Amara, Victor?

WALKER: All right, Alayna Treene, appreciate you being there. Thank you so much.

[07:10:00]

And new this morning, the Harris campaign has just announced a huge fundraising haul since President Biden stepped aside and endorsed her as a Democratic nominee for president. $200 million, that is the figure.

BLACKWELL: Let's go down to CNN's Camila DeChalus. She's joining us now to bring us up to date on all the new developments here. What did the campaign memo say?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign announced that they have raised $200 million since President Biden dropped out of office and formally endorsed her to run for office. And they also emphasize in this memo that 66 percent of these donations came from first time donors.

Now, this is just really notable, considering that since Harris announced that she was running for office, she has now see the endorsements of several coalitions, including those voters of color, young voters and most recently, the endorsements of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama.

Now, one of the things that they also mentioned in this memo is that she now has over 170,000 volunteers across the country that are knocking on doors, talking to voters and really making that argument of why these voters should back Harris and what she would do if she is elected in this upcoming election.

And as you just mentioned, we are now 100 days out from this election cycle. And they are saying that they are going full steam ahead and they're holding more than 2,000 events this weekend to really mark how we're really close to this election and really to get out there about why Harris is the best candidate out there and why they should really, these voters, should go out and really back her in this upcoming election cycle.

BLACKWELL: Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.

Let's bring in now former Obama Campaign Regional Director Tharon Johnson and Republican strategist Brian Robinson to break all this down. Brian, let me get your response to that. Your reaction to that big number from the Vice President's campaign, $200 million dollars, two-thirds of that from first time donors.

BRIAN ROBINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: There's no doubt that the Democrats have finished the week with a lot of momentum, a lot of energy. But I think as much as anything, it shows the deficit that they had before. We saw a lot of donors withholding their money after the debate performance, waiting on Joe Biden to step down.

I'll add that Donald Trump had a gusher of money come in after he was shot in the ear as well. And then we saw big pocketed donors like Elon Musk saying they'll put in $40 million a month. So, the Republicans are in pretty good shape as far as money goes. I think what this is doing is bringing Democrats back into parity with the Republicans to some degree. The numbers might not be exactly the same, but they're fairly close.

So I don't see this as a huge advantage. What I see is a huge relief for Democrats because they were worried about the spigot drying up if Joe Biden didn't step down there.

BLACKWELL: Tharon?

THARON JOHNSON, FORMER SOUTHERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR, OBAMA 2012 CAMPAIGN: You know, Victor, this has been the most exciting political development that we've had in over a decade. I have not felt this much excitement from the Democratic coalition since Barack Obama was our nominee for president. And they're striking similarities.

And what we're finding is that, yes, she's raising over $200 million in less than a week. Different demographic groups from all over the country are basically coming here saying, hey, we don't want Donald Trump. And Victor, you've heard me say this before. We're -- yes, we need the money, but we're going to win this race on the ground.

The volunteers, the new volunteers, the organizations, the offices that the Biden campaign started with. Vice President Harris inherits all of that. And I think this is the thing. We know that we've got to rebuild this winning coalition. It's the Harris coalition.

And the money is going to be so important because, as you just heard, Trump is going to try to define her. But what she's doing right now, she's defining herself. She's earned this nomination. And we're going to go into the convention united and we're going to have another bump. You're going to see more money. You're going to see more volunteers, more new donors, more people excited about this woman running for president.

BLACKWELL: Brian, why do you think the former president is having such a difficult time, I guess, settling on the moniker that he hands out to every political opponent or defining, from his perspective, the Vice President in her campaign?

ROBINSON: Well, we've seen it just before. You know, Victor, I remember four years ago you and I discussing some of the test messaging he was doing on Joe Biden, creepy Joe Biden, sleepy Joe Biden, eventually settling on sleepy Joe Biden. So we've seen him do this before.

We saw him do it with Ron DeSantis of Florida during the primary. Ron Desanctimonious just didn't really seem to make him all that happy. So this is something we've seen before. It's a pattern of behavior. But I think what we're hearing from the campaign, Victor, is much more important than whatever nickname that he gives Kamala Harris. And I think Crooked Kamala is what he's testing this weekend.

What we're seeing in TV ads and swing states are that Kamala Harris was the most liberal senator in the U.S. Senate. The ranking organization that named her that took that down off of the Internet, which certainly raises eyebrows amongst Republicans showing they think that it is a weakness.

[07:15:11]

She has said that we should decriminalize illegal immigration. She has said we should have Medicare for all and do away with private health insurance. These are extreme positions. And this is what the campaign is highlighting in messaging to Independents and Republicans in swing states. That is where the Republicans have the advantage, not in nicknames, but on policy, on the things that are determining people's votes. President Trump has an advantage in polling.

BLACKWELL: Well, that advantage, as it relates to the swing states and nationally, has deteriorated. We've seen in the Fox News poll, the Wall Street Journal poll, that this is essentially a tied race nationally within the margin of error and in some of the most important states. Tharon, let me ask you about a messaging here. Harris campaign released a statement last night after Trump's speech in St. Cloud in which they said this, "Tonight, a bitter, unhinged, 78-year-old convicted felon kept clinging to his lies about the 2020 election he lost being rigged, rambled about his former opponent and golfing, and made excuses for why he's afraid to debate Vice President Harris."

The Biden campaign was reluctant to refer to Trump as a convicted felon. This is a far more aggressive footing here. Do you think it's effective?

JOHNSON: Yes. And what has happened, Victor, is that now Donald Trump is the old and weird guy in the race. The fact of the matter is, is that he is a convicted felon. He can't even vote for himself in this upcoming election. Those are facts.

And the thing that I like about the messaging is that you cannot, you know, you can no longer go after Joe Biden being old, right? Kamala Harris is a young, vibrant, qualified Black woman running for president of the United States of America. And the other thing that's really going to hurt the Trump campaign, and B-Rob knows this better than anyone, that all the polling shows, even Republicans don't want the former president talking about the 2020 election.

We know that he's basically been spreading that false narrative, those lies, now for over four years. And so as long as he's talking about the past and Vice President Harris' campaign is talking about the future, every single campaign that I've been on nationally, locally, if you're talking about the future, you're talking about issues that matter to the American people, then that's how you win this campaign.

And the thing is, is that, look, Vice President Harris, where's Donald Trump on the debate, Victor? I know we don't have enough time to talk about that. He said anywhere, anytime. We're ready to debate Donald Trump, but he's scared to debate Vice President Harris because he knows that she would tear him up in the debate.

BLACKWELL: I think we expect that there will be a debate. Maybe that was an opportunity to throw some jabs at Democrats. But September, there was supposed to be one on ABC. We'll see if it happens.

Tharon Johnson, Brian Robinson, thank you.

WALKER: Politics and pop culture are colliding on the campaign trail with 100 days until Election Day. How Hollywood is playing a major part in the presidential race. Plus, a possible injury forces Simone Biles to crawl off the floor at the Paris Olympics. We'll have an update on her condition in a report from Paris.

Plus, a massive fire in California is now bigger than the city of Phoenix, while in Canada, a fire there is burning one of that country's largest national parks.

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[07:23:13] WALKER: A massive wildfire dubbed the Park Fire is raging out of control in Northern California. It has already burned over 350,000 acres. That is an area larger than the city of Phoenix, and it has destroyed more than 20 structures. Four Northern California counties are under evacuation orders or warnings, and despite efforts, containment is only around 10 percent.

BLACKWELL: President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the situation and has ordered his administration to provide maximum support to the firefighters. Authorities have arrested 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout. They accuse him of sparking this massive blaze by pushing a burning car down a hill.

We have team coverage for you now on what is the seventh largest fire in California's history. CNN's Allison Chinchar has the forecast on what is fueling the flames. But let's go first to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones. She's live in Chico, California. So give us a sense of what is happening there now.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Victor, we're here just north of the Chico Airport. This is a largely rural but residential area as well. You can see we still have a little bit of fire, hot spots popping up. Even on the fifth day of this fire, it's still ongoing.

There's so much brush, so much fuel for the fire. It's been driving through these roads. It feels like we're on the upside down. It's like a world devoid of color, ashes, and firefighters are having a hard time just getting to these hard-to-reach areas where it's very forested, very wooded.

This is one of the biggest challenges and why that fire expanded, exploding in size, tripling in size yesterday to over almost the size larger than Los Angeles, larger than Phoenix into these other counties going up north, even with the better conditions that we saw weather- wise.

[07:25:03]

Now, we're hearing from the residents here that this fire is just triggering their PTSD just up the road, keep going this way, and you get to Paradise, California, where the Camp Fire devastated one of the deadliest ones in California. We're just hearing also a lot of anger about the way that this fire might have started and people saying they just want to get back to their homes, but authorities are saying it's still going to take a while. We're seeing cars lining up, waiting for escorts to go check on that damage, Victor.

WALKER: Such a difficult situation. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you very much.

Let's talk with CNN's Allison Chinchar now for the latest on this rapidly spreading park fire.

BLACKWELL: Yes, tell us more about the weather conditions.

CHINCHAR: Yes, so we got a little bit of a break yesterday in terms of temperatures. It was a little bit cooler. Sacramento only topped out at 78 degrees. The problem is those are going to start to warm back up. Now, we were able to make some containment number jumps. We went from 0 percent to 10 percent. That's fantastic news.

Today is really going to be the last day where we can really hope to bring those back up simply from weather alone because we're going to start to see those numbers begin to increase starting tomorrow. Now, overall, you've still got more than 90 active wildfires across nearly a dozen Western states, so the park fire is not alone.

But the reason the park fire takes so much of the attention is because of how quickly it spread. Over 350,000 acres so far have burned just since late Wednesday. You do the math. That's roughly 50 football fields burning on average every single minute.

So just to kind of put that in perspective for you now, that area, but also some other areas, wind is going to be one of the big components here where you see the pink. That's where we have red flag warnings. Now you're talking 30 mile to 35 mile per hour wind gusts that can take a lot of those embers and spread them very quickly. It can also spread the smoke.

So you've got a lot of these air quality alerts out here for numerous states because that smoke is going to be very thick in some places. So if you have respiratory problems, this is likely going to be a concern. Maybe try not to spend too much time outdoors if you can.

We've got the potential for dry thunderstorms across the northern tier and then also those above average temperatures as well as those gusty winds. The temperatures, though, for a lot of these places are going to start to spike back up, not just in Sacramento, but other areas as we head into next week.

WALKER: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: A new blood test is offering hope to Alzheimer's patients. How the new test could make diagnosis -- diagnosing, rather, the disease easier for those patients and their families.

Let's go now to Amanda Davies in Paris.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning. After Team USA's first goals in the pool on day one of competition, the quest for a gold rush ramps up on day two. But while Simone Biles is back, a fall in practice sparks injury concerns here in Paris. Stay with us.

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[07:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here's a look at some of the big stories we're watching in the week ahead. A law in Iowa that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy goes into effect tomorrow morning. The state's Fetal Heartbeat Law was passed last year, but a judge blocked it from being enforced after a lawsuit from abortion providers. Now, under the law abortions are banned after a fetal heartbeat is detected. There are limited exceptions for rape and incest if they're reported to law enforcement or a health provider within a certain amount of time, if the fetus has an abnormality that's "incompatible" with life or if the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother.

The security lapses surrounding the assassination attempt of Former President Trump takes center stage in the Senate on Tuesday. The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees will grill Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. and FBI Director Paul Abate. Rowe took the reins at the Secret Service after Kimberly Cheatle resigned after contentious testimony during a House oversight testimony last Monday.

Cheatle called the July 13th attempt on Trump's life the Secret Service's "most significant operational failure in decades."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: We choose freedom.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And that is how VP Kamala Harris kicked off her first campaign ad to the music of superstar Beyonce who gave Harris permission to use her song "Freedom." Entertainers are playing a big role in this November's presidential election. Joining me now is Brian Stelter, Vanity Fair special correspondent and former CNN chief media correspondent.

Brian, it's great to see you this morning.

BRIAN STELTER, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, VANITY FAIR AND AUTHOR, "NETWORK OF LIES": You too. Good morning.

WALKER: So, Brian, I mean, celebrities often align themselves with certain candidates, right? And this time, you know, we have Gen Z's Charli XCX, who affectionately called Kamala Harris brat. That's -- it's a compliment, if you don't know what it means. It spawned viral memes. We also have on Donald Trump's side, Hulk Hogan, who gave that enthusiastic intro to Trump at the RNC.

I mean, young people are traditionally not known for being reliable voters, right? But it seems like they're really paying attention to this election cycle. How crucial will it be to capture the Gen Z and the millennial vote?

STELTER: Right. I think it's one of the big changes in the past week. We've lived through a month of extraordinary change, and because of Kamala Harris and her ascension, a lot of that energy among young people has been unleashed. It's like a champagne bottle that was corked, and it's suddenly been popped open, and you're seeing that in a lot of the online reactions to the Harris news. [07:35:00]

There's definitely a little bit of that on the Trump side, as you said, with some of those celebrity endorsements. But Democrats historically have an advantage, a big advantage, when it comes to having Hollywood star power or star wattage. And we're definitely seeing that this week surrounding and centering around Harris.

WALKER: How much horsepower is behind the star power then? I mean, as you know, Brian George Clooney, he inserted himself into the 2024 race. You know, he was first a major Democratic fundraiser for Biden, and then he penned that "New York Times" op-ed urging President Biden to step down, which surprised a lot of people, a lot of Democrats.

STELTER: Yes.

WALKER: Are A-listers like Clooney having a bigger impact than we've seen in the past?

STELTER: I think maybe it's happening more visibly, right? Because someone like Clooney was holding a fundraiser for Biden. It was a behind the scenes event. There were only a few video clips from it. But then for him to go out so publicly, it did start to change the dynamic.

And I think people like Clooney actually can understand what's happening in politics in a unique vantage point. And I'll explain why I say that. And one of the other hats I wear is as a producer of a morning show called "The Morning Show" on Apple TV. And so, I know that the producers of a show like that, a drama sitcom, the worst thing you ever have to do is recast a character, recast an actor. You never want to do it, but sometimes it's necessary.

And you know what just happened in the Democratic Party? The ultimate example of recasting. You know, that's what happened, right? The producers, the funders, the donors, the voters, the activists, they didn't believe Biden could do it, so they recast him. They came up with Kamala Harris.

And, you know, I had that analogy shared with me by a Hollywood producer because they said to me, you know, this makes sense. We do this all the time. And so, there's sort of an interesting parallel between what happens on the West Coast in Hollywood and what happens in politics, at least this summer.

WALKER: Perhaps, you know, the politicians need to learn how to pivot quickly, like Hollywood knows how to do with recasting.

STELTER: Right.

WALKER: Jennifer Aniston, as you know, too, another Hollywood celebrity who doesn't often get involved in politics. She obviously magnified Republican J. D. Vance's comments from 2021, where he was insulting childless people. Let's listen to that comment that's gotten a lot of play lately.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I've got nothing against cats. The substance of what I said, Megan, I'm sorry, it's true. It is true that we've become anti-family. It is true that the left has become anti-child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I mean, so J. D. Vance is now on the defensive. I mean, and Aniston posted to her 44 million Instagram followers that she hoped Vance would didn't have a daughter who would be unable to conceive. You know, she's been open about her IVF journey. She also appeals a lot to, you know, the Gen Z and the millennial crowd and the Gen Xers who are siding with her on social media.

Do you think the Trump-Vancecampaign will now have to, I don't know, summon its Gen X celebrity supporters to counter the bad press or, you know, how are they going to fight this one?

STELTER: It would be tough. You know, Vance is on that kind of damage control tour and he's saying that -- you know, here's the thing about Vance, right? A great majority of Americans would support pro family policies, but that's not what Vance was talking about on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" three years ago. And the problem for Vance is that he went on that show a bunch of times.

You know, J. D. Vance loved to go on Tucker Carlson's show and say provocative things in order to get booked again and get millions of viewers. So, this is going to be a recurring problem for Vance and thus for the Trump campaign. And the Trump campaign just does not have as many levers to pull, when we talk about this cultural power, right, these celebrity endorsements. They have some, but they don't have nearly as many.

When you see stars like Jennifer Aniston or yesterday, Cardi B calling Trump a dictator on Twitter or on X, that sort of thing is going to keep happening every day. And I think it matters for the following reason. It becomes an entry point or a touch point for people who might not care as much about politics, who might not be paying attention every day, but when they see someone they trust, a big Hollywood celebrity talking about it, it becomes an entry point for them into politics for the first time.

WALKER: We have to go. So quick answer to this, please. Beyonce -- let's talk about major superstars like Beyonce and Taylor Swift.

STELTER: Yes.

WALKER: Perhaps an endorsement from them?

STELTER: Beyonce, yes. She endorsed Hillary Clinton wanting to have her daughter see a woman president. Taylor Swift, I think no. Taylor Swift doesn't need to. All she needs to say is go out there and vote, and her fans will. And frankly, Taylor's fans are already energized for Harris. They're already out there promoting her. That's another way this-- everything's changed in the past week now that all this energy's been uncorked.

WALKER: Brian Stelter, good to have you. Thanks.

BLACKWELL: A new blood test could be life-changing as it relates to a dangerous diagnosis. New this morning, how it could revolutionize the way we treat Alzheimer's patients.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00]

BLACKWELL: A new study out this morning shows that a blood test for Alzheimer's disease is outperforming doctors when it comes to early diagnosis.

WALKER: Here's CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on the findings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There have been so many exciting developments when it comes to the world of Alzheimer's, and this is another one. We're talking about a two-part blood test here to give you an idea of how much amyloid you likely have in your brain. It's an amyloid probability score.

[07:45:00]

Now, I want to be clear, this is not an Alzheimer's test per se. You can't take the blood test and say you have Alzheimer's or you don't, but it can provide a lot of information for people, especially those who are worried could the memory loss they're experiencing actually be due to Alzheimer's.

So, specifically, again, we're talking about two specific blood tests here. One is called P-Tau 217, that's measuring for tau protein, and something known as Beta Amyloid 42, that's another biomarker of Alzheimer's disease. Now, again, these are blood tests.

In the past, you had clinical exam where you had your doctors sort of examining you and trying to determine what your risk or your probability of Alzheimer's disease was, and/or you could do a lumbar puncture where they're actually taking fluid from your spine, from your cerebral spinal fluid and examining that. That's a much more invasive procedure. This would be a blood test specifically.

I actually had this done recently as part of a documentary that I was working on. And you can see it's -- I mean, it's a blood test, there's nothing more to it. They take the -- those samples, they send them off, and you get these results back.

The real question, I think, and part of the reason there's so much enthusiasm, is how predictive is it really? And how predictive is it against what is typically out there? And what you find is that the accuracy in determining if memory loss is likely due to Alzheimer's disease with this blood test, around 90 percent. Compare that to neurologist memory specialists around 73 percent, primary care doctors around 61 percent.

So, again, I want to be clear, this is an amyloid probability score. It's not an Alzheimer's test per se, saying either you have it or you don't. But it's another tool that doctors are likely to start using as part of a more complete evaluation.

There's also these new medications out there. With these new blood tests, you might be able to follow along how well those medications are working. Take the medication. Did the amyloid score start to improve as a result of that? You can do that in conjunction with actually looking at someone's real life functioning.

So, again, these are exciting days when it comes to Alzheimer's disease, a lot of progress being made and the idea of having a blood biomarker for the brain, that's another step towards all those advances.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: It's remarkable. Sanjay Gupta, thank you. So, is Simone Biles' shot at Olympic redemption at risk? The gymnastics star battles through an apparent injury that she suffered during qualify and the latest for Paris is next.

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[07:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Developing story at the Paris Olympics, Simone Biles appeared to suffer an injury to her leg or maybe her ankle during the qualifying of the women's gymnastics event.

WALKER: Now, let's get straight now to CNN International Sports Anchor Amanda Davies for the latest. What do we know? Potentially more heartbreak for Biles.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, the good news is that Simone Biles is back. You know, that was a sight we feared for such a long time, we wouldn't see again after the devastation of that departure, suffering the twisties in Tokyo. She's the most decorated gymnast of all time, but she has returned to the Olympic floor and she's done it in style.

But yes, we've had a scare. We, she, her teammates, and Simone Biles fans, perhaps a question mark for the next couple of days of competition. The likes of Ariana Grande, Tom Cruise, John Legend, they were all there watching on, Biles' every move inside the Bercy Arena, was greeted with huge cheers as Team USA began their qualification rounds.

She pulled off a spectacular beam routine, that was the first discipline. But as she was practicing her floor routine, she landed and landed really awkwardly. There was no disguising the pain. It was her left ankle. She left the arena for treatment and then came back but performed the next couple of disciplines with some really heavy strapping. And it was obviously impacting her on the floor and the vault.

But we are talking about Simone Biles. Being the superstar she is, she powered through. And while we have to wait to confirm, Biles and her teammates looking really good position for the finals, leading in qualifying as things stand.

I can tell you, my colleague -- our colleague Coy Wire has been there watching on whilst Biles and her teammates walked through the mix zone, not stopping officially to speak to the media. A question was thrown to Simone asking her how she was. The good news was she answered, I'm as good as can be. So, we take that as a thumbs up.

And that everybody I've been speaking here -- speaking to here today, there's such a feeling within the gymnastics community. They want her to have this moment. They are willing her to do well because of everything she has done, not only for gymnastics, but sports and the issues of mental health as a whole. And the USA are still very much favorites for gold in the women's team gymnastics.

And so, to the men's basketball team, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and co., they begin their campaign against Nikola Jokic in Serbia later on. It will be the first and only Olympics with James Durant and Steph Curry as teammates. Not a bad haul between them. A combined 10 NBA championships, seven MVPs and 44 All-Star appearances.

[07:55:00]

BLACKWELL: I mean, that's the best you can put together. I guess it'll work. I'm kidding. Of course. Amanda Davies, thanks so much.

WALKER: Fingers crossed, legs crossed, toes crossed, everyone, for Simone Biles.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, she could make history being the most decorated athlete at these games. So, all right. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

WALKER: "Inside Politics with Manu Raju" is next.

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