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Lebanon Warning Israel of Potential Regional War; Trump and Harris Meet with Netanyahu; Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is Interviewed about Harris' Run For President. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is an area that's going to see the potential at least for triple digits, if not upper 90s, above average temperatures for many. So, if it's not over the west, it's over the central and eastern parts of the country, right? Even Atlanta is starting to see an increase in temperatures well above average. And there's a lot of humidity associated with this as well.

Heads up today, we have the potential for some stronger storms across the upper Midwest and across even the Tennessee River Valley. So, we'll keep an eye on that, with a potential of a flood threat.

The reason we have a diminishing wildfire threat across the Pacific Northwest is because of a cold front that's kind of the catalyst to cool things down throughout the Pacific Northwest. That'll be short- lived because the heat builds in for the second half of the week. You can already see red flag warnings and watches in place for portions of the west.

Now, I want to give you a quick heads because the National Hurricane Center is monitoring a disturbance that is well off shore from the Windward Islands, but this could potentially develop. It's about a 50 percent chance. And this is about seven days from now. So, something we'll monitor here across the tropics.

Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.

Ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, new concerns in the Middle East about the possibility of a widening regional war.

Plus, how the U.S. election could shape Israel's war with Hamas heading into the year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:24]

SCIUTTO: Lebanon is warning Israel about the threat of a broader regional war in the Mideast after Israel's retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah overnight, deep inside Lebanon. The Israelis blame the militant group for a deadly rocket attack that killed 12 children on a soccer field in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel. This was on Saturday, Hezbollah is denying responsibility. The U.S. is trying to calm up growing fears of a wider war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: One of the reasons that we're continuing to work so hard for a ceasefire in Gaza is not just for Gaza but also so that we can really unlock an opportunity to bring calm, lasting calm across the blue line between Israel and Lebanon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Ben Wedeman is live for us in Beirut.

And, Ben, you know, the read going back to just after October 7th has been that, as far as a broader regional war, the players don't really want it. Hezbollah doesn't want it. They fear the reaction of the Lebanese population. Israel focusing its military attention on Gaza for now. I wonder, do you see this as a spark that could disrupt that?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly this, Jim, is the biggest spark so far. And definitely the jitters in Beirut and across Lebanon are more intense than I've seen in quite some time. We've seen, for instance, that Lufthansa, the German airline, has canceled all flights to Lebanon until the 5th of August. And Air France is suspending flights of today and tomorrow into Beirut.

Now, but what we've seen on the ground actually has been pretty much within sort of the boundaries of the routine. Now, there was an Israeli drone - double drone strike in the south that killed at least two people, wounding three, including a - one child.

Now, Hezbollah has conceded that one of their fighters was killed today, but didn't go into the details of whether he was part of that - he was a victim of that Israeli drone attack. But certainly what we're seeing is that rising concern that this time we are getting very close to what could possibly deteriorate into much - something much more serious.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to speak with Lebanon's caretaker foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who definitely is concerned about the possibility of a regional war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDALLAH BOU HABIB, LEBANESE FOREIGN MINISTER: You know, not because of conviction, but because of any attack on our country. We support Hezbollah (INAUDIBLE). That is not (INAUDIBLE) Hezbollah, nor as I mentioned. Iran foreign minister said it yesterday. It will be Hezbollah alone. And you have the (INAUDIBLE) You have the Iraqi militias. You have militias in Syria (ph) who are not serious (ph). Pakistani-Afghani militias.

WEDEMAN: And we also know that the U.S. assistant secretary of state for consular affairs is in Lebanon at the moment. She put out a video message on X, or Twitter, basically telling people to be vigilant, to leave before there is - leave Lebanon before there is a crisis. She went on to say that, for those who - U.S. nationals who decided to stay in Lebanon, they should be prepared, she said, to shelter in place for a long period of time.

[06:40:08]

Now, the summer is a period when many Lebanese from the diaspora, many of them Americans, have come to spend the summer, catch up with relatives, enjoy the beautiful scenery and the nightlife here. So, there are many U.S. nationals in the country at the time.

Now, I arrived in Beirut yesterday. At the airport there was a very long line of people at passport control, many of them with American passports.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thanks so much.

Well, here at home, Vice President Harris and Donald Trump are coming off high-profile meetings with the Israeli prime minister. Listen to the former president offering up this doomsday prediction if Harris wins in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win, it will be very simple. It's all going to work out, and very quickly. If we don't, you're going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war. You are closer to a third world war right now than at any time since the second world war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Matt, what does Donald Trump base that statement on, how all the wars are going to disappear if he's elected president?

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, TIM SCOTT FOR AMERICA: I mean it's the same sort of puffery we see when -

SCIUTTO: Right.

GORMAN: Suddenly democracy is going to end if he's re-elected president. I think it's this kind of like overheated hyperbolic rhetoric.

Look, I think he has -

SCIUTTO: Except he did try to overturn an election, but, you know, that's a - that's four years ago.

GORMAN: But - but - but - but that - OK, democracy is really going to end if he's - if he's elected president? Come on. But like I think the other thing is - I do think there's the fact that we are, you know, engaged in a lot of conflicts and we're at the precipice of things no matter who's president. What - what - what the world looks like is at a very dangerous point. Whether it's the Middle East, China, and Taiwan. Like, we are - the next president's going to come - have to face a lot of crises. And - and, obviously, a lot that we don't know and it's not unheard of that we're, you know, engaged in maybe not a world war, hopefully not, but, my gosh, some intense global conflicts the next four years.

SCIUTTO: Well, yes, I mean this is - the largest war in Europe still underway. Largest war in Europe since World War II.

I want to play, Elaina, what both Harris and Trump said about a ceasefire deal in Israel, because despite their differences, when I listen to these two statements, they sound quite similar.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. So to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want him to finish up and get it done quickly. You got to get it done quickly because they are getting decimated with this publicity. And, you know, Israel is not very good at public relations, I'll tell you that. Israel, for whatever reason, you have Jewish people out there wearing yamakas is they're, you know, pro-Palestine. You've never seen anything - people have never seen anything like this. Their public relations are not good and they've got to get this done fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Both Trump and Harris are saying Israel needs to get a ceasefire deal. That's notable.

ELAINA PLOTT CALABRO, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Maybe the motivations would seem to be a bit different based on what we just heard. But I - I also think that - so for Trump in particular this does not feel especially new to me in terms of his posture toward foreign entanglements from the outset of his presidential campaign in 2016.

What I think is interesting in following Vice President Harris right now, now that she's the nominee, she is in this really delicate position of trying to balance her loyalty to the Biden-Harris administration, the posture they've events (ph), versus ways in which maybe she can stake out a bit more of an independent identity on this issue and hopefully bring back in some of those voters that Biden himself may have alienated. SCIUTTO: So, Meghan, I mean - and we heard some of that following the

meeting where Harris focused more than you might have heard from Biden, although Biden did criticize Israel for the number of civilian casualties. She pushed a little bit more in that direction, which - which a lot of Democrats do want to hear. How - it's a tough balance, though, to strike. So, how is she going to manage that?

MEGHAN HAYES, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: I think she can continue to push - push the - the envelope here and to get that balance. But I do think she is saying the same thing that the president was saying. She's actually saying the same thing Trump was saying. I think the tactics are just different in how they want to do it. But I don't think anyone in this country disagrees that we need to have a ceasefire and bring the rest of the hostages home. So, I just - I don't think she's saying anything abnormal, but I do think she's able to go further because we are in a different spot politically than we were three, four weeks ago, and what the president was going to say.

SCIUTTO: No question. Well, we'll continue to watch it. Thanks so much, guys. Coming up next, the U.S. raising serious concerns now about Venezuela's presidential election results.

Plus, Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, he's going to join me live to talk about the state of the race for the White House, where it's going from here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:21]

SCIUTTO: Forty-eight minutes past the hour and here is your morning roundup.

After a year tied up in the courts, Iowa's heartbeat abortion bill goes into effect today. The law bans most abortions after cardiac activity is detected. That's usually just about six weeks into a pregnancy.

Mark Meadows is now appealing to the Supreme Court to get his Georgia election interference charges moved the federal court. The former Trump White House chief of staff claims the recent presidential immunity ruling by the Supreme Court means his case should be thrown out entirely.

And this -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:50:03] SCIUTTO: The U.S. and other nations are questioning the re-election of Venezuela's strong man, President Nicolas Maduro. The opposition is demanding election authorities present all the voting tallies to verify the results.

The alleged co-founders of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel are now under arrest in El Paso, Texas. Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of "El Chapo," face multiple criminal charges now. A lawyer for Zambada claims his client was duped and kidnapped.

Turning back now to the 2024 race and the early polling showing Vice President Kamala Harris making inroads with her new campaign. Harris' net favorability is now up to plus one. That's a 12 point jump from just a little over a week ago. Things are moving fast. Trump is actually down there. The race is essentially tide in a number of key battleground states.

On the campaign trail this weekend, Harris cast herself as the scrappy underdog, while acknowledging the work she will have to do in the next three months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let us be clear eyed, we have a fight ahead of us. We've got a fight ahead of us. And we are the underdogs in this race, OK. Level set (ph). We're the underdogs in this race.

But this is a people-powered campaign. And we have moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now, Democratic congressman from California, Eric Swalwell.

Good to have you on. Thanks for waking up early with us.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Of course. My pleasure.

SCIUTTO: So, I'm sure you've been following the polling numbers as closely as us, probably even more closely. I mean the favorability numbers have moved really well for Harris just in the last week-and-a- half or so. Certainly the state-by-state races are tighter than they were with Biden as the candidate, and also at the national level.

Is she winning the race today, do you think, or does she still has ground - have ground to make up?

SWALWELL: She's on a momentum run right now. It doesn't surprise me though I mean if you look at the contrast. You have in Donald Trump someone who represents the past and not just because he's nearly 80, but because his policies are so creepy, they're so weird. They take us back in time, especially as it relates to women. I mean 24 karat creep like ideas of forced marriage and bans on IVF and bans on abortion. Who wants to go back to that? So, she represents the future. And also she's tough. And you see there's challenges in the world. You

just set it up with, you know, election issues in Venezuela, what's happening in Israel. So, she can lead the country.

And, Jim, she's also just fun. I've known her for 20 years. We come from the same prosecutor's office in Oakland. And you can see, she's fun. And I think it's refreshing to see somebody, unlike Donald Trump, who knows how to smile and who knows how to be serious but not take themselves so serious.

SCIUTTO: Do you have a favorite vice presidential pick for her or vice president - presidential pick among the several names being disgusted you think would be the smartest pick for the Democrats?

SWALWELL: You know, when it comes to the vice presidential sweepstakes, there's one name that I keep focusing on, J.D. Vance. He absolutely cannot be the vice president of the United States. And so anyone she picks will be eminently more qualified than a guy who thinks that if you're a single, hard working woman in America, you should have to pay more in taxes.

Again, this is just bizarre. Doesn't make any sense. And by the way, if you are single and you meet someone and you want to start a family, J.D. Vance doesn't support you using IVF to start that family. And say, unfortunately, you start a family and your spouse becomes violent, he has said that he thinks that you should be forced to stay in a violent marriage.

So, I don't think Kamala Harris is going to pick anyone as weird and creepy as J.D. Vance. She has, you know, a blessing of talented candidates to choose from. And I look forward to hearing from that selection committee soon.

SCIUTTO: I want to talk about young voters, because "The Wall Street Journal" has some interesting polling this weekend, which - which has been discussed before, but the numbers seem to back it here, about how among young voters, typically a strength for Democrats, that you have a gender split here with men skewing Republican, women skewing Democrat. You know, women have for some time, but in effect danger for Democrats among young male voters.

One, do you see that? And what is the Democratic solution for that problem?

SWALWELL: Well, freedom. You know, freedom on the horizon for your financial freedom, you know, bringing down the cost of college, health care. But freedom from violence.

[06:55:03]

And this is a former prosecutor. Someone who started in Oakland and then worked in San Francisco. She made it her priority to make sure that children under the age of 25, so young people 25, and, of course, children, you know, would die at lower rates from gun violence. And I think she - both candidates have to answer what a substitute teacher told me a couple weeks ago. And this woman told me she teaches middle schools. She fills in when the, you know, teacher's sick or on a vacation. She said, the first question she's asked when she walks into a classroom to start the week is, do you know where to put me. As she's taken aback by it. And the kid says, no, do you know where to put me if there's a shooting in our classroom because our regular teacher knows and I want to make sure that you know.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SWALWELL: That's what kids are asking right now is, are we safe in our classroom? Who's going to protect them?

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SWALWELL: I know Kamala Harris is tough and has led policies that can protect kids. And every parent in America right now is wondering who's going to protect their kids. So, it won't surprise me at all that she's going to do a lot better with the young people in America, because she will protect hem.

SCIUTTO: I hear that same question from my own kids.

But before we go, you're on the Judiciary Committee.

SWALWELL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: President Biden announcing new proposed reforms, including term limits for justices, an ethics code. Is this realistic at all? Get - you know the legislative barriers to making reforms such as this in the near term or even, I mean, even arguably in the long term.

SWALWELL: I support fixing the court. For too long we've counted on the court to police and fix itself. And most recently we saw, you know, two justices who had spouses, one who flew a pro-insurrection flag and the other who went to Donald Trump's, you know, insurrection rally. And those justices did not recuse themselves. One justice has millions and millions of dollars of undisclosed gifts. And people are starting to wonder, you know, is our court truly independent?

And so, if they're not going to do it themselves, than we're going to have to do it for them. And I support, you know, efforts to fix the court to make our democracy much, much stronger.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Eric Swalwell of California, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

SWALWELL: My pleasure.

SCIUTTO: Well, Kamala Harris' search for a running mate is picking up steam. Former Attorney General Eric Holder is leading the Harris campaign teams, scouring the battlegrounds of potential picks, including North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Others include Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, giving us a look at how they might perform on the campaign trail through multiple V appearances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Listen to the guy. He's talking about Hannibal Lecter and, you know, shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind. And I thought we just give him way too much credit. And I think one of the things is, is when you just ratchet down some of the, you know, the scariness or whatever and just name it what it is, I got to tell you, my observation on this is, have you ever seen the guy laugh? That seems very weird to me that an adult can go through six and a half years of being in the public eye - if he has laughed, it's at someone, not with someone. That - that is weird behavior. And I - I don't think you call it anything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The weird attack continues.

My panel is back.

So, Elaina Plott, what factor do you think will be decisive in Harris' vice presidential pick?

CALABRO: So, she has already come out with statements, or rather her spokespeople have, saying that what she is considering is somebody who has had experienced governing at the highest level, which my response was, well, why not -- why not Joe Biden. You know, this switch (ph). Anyway, I think - so, it's not at all surprising that you're seeing governors kind of at the forefront of who she's looking at, governors in swing states in particular, but I - the approach she's taking seems to be quite pragmatic. This is not - she's not looking for somebody who can gin up the base in the way that Donald Trump was trying to do with J.D. Vance. She's looking for somebody to actually round out that ticket. And I think any - you know, anybody among that list can certainly help get her there.

SCIUTTO: Meghan, historically, vice presidential picks do not bring new states despite all the talk of, you know, picking someone who's from a swing state. They more reflect - give an impression of how a presidential candidate decides, right? If you look back to say the Sarah Palin pick, you know, you could argue that seriously damage McCain. So - so - given that kind of framing, do you have a favorite?

HAYES: You know, I like all the people that are out there. I think all of them will be really helpful. I think that she's probably looking for someone who's going to treat - that she wants to treat equally as a partner. I know that, you know, just like President Biden and President Obama had such a great relationship and her and the president have a great relationship. So, I think that is super important for them as she's looking to see who she's going to pick.

SCIUTTO: Matt, do you have a vice presidential pick on the Democratic side that would make you the most nervous?

GORMAN: I (INAUDIBLE) the most nervous, but I've been banging the Mark Kelly drum for a little while, right? I think he's not a governors, so that might have some points against him, but at least he's running some top tier Senate races. He, obviously, brings the kind of the Gabby Giffords angles, so we can talk about, you know, guns, which, obviously, Swalwell wanted to do there.

SCIUTTO: I'm sure.

[07:00:05]

Military background.

GORMAN: Military background, right. Like, there's a little - like, the tough part is, being from - I did this a little bit on the Romney side, there's a small window to vet. So, somebody who was an astronaut and has run two tough Senate races -

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GORMAN: This - the vetting cliff is a little bit less steep.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Matt, Meghan Elaina, great to have you with me this morning. Thanks so much to all of you. And thanks so much to all of you for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.