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CNN This Morning
Terror Plot Targeting Taylor Swift Concerts Foiled; Trump Holds First Rally Since Walz Joined Race; 61 People Dead After Passenger Plane Crashed In Brazil; Debby Slams Northeast With Floods, Kills At Least Seven In Southeast; Third Suspect Arrested In Taylor Swift Terror Plot; Microsoft: Iran Using Fake News Sites To Influence Voters. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired August 10, 2024 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:01:28]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Top of the hour here on CNN this morning, 7:00 a.m. Eastern. You are looking at a live picture from New Orleans. I've never been to New Orleans for pleasure before.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: That's some good evening in New Orleans. My God, today.
WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Amara Walker alongside Victor Blackwell and Allison Chinchar. Have you spent a lot of time in New Orleans?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I've only ever been there for tropical systems.
WALKER: I've only been there to cover weather as well.
BLACKWELL: Go back get you some good food, meet some good people.
WALKER: Yes.
BLACKWELL: It's a good time.
WALKER: I need to go. All right. Here's what we are watching for you this morning. Vice President Harris and Donald Trump were on the campaign trail Friday, pushing two very different messages to supporters. How Harris is addressing questions about how she would handle the border and why Trump spent his time rallying in a state that he's almost guaranteed to win.
BLACKWELL: New details this morning about that deadly plane crash in Brazil. What we know about the moments leading up to the crash and what we're hearing from witnesses who saw it happen.
WALKER: Three people have been detained in the investigation to that foiled plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Austria. The concerns for upcoming shows and how terror groups are increasingly targeting young people. CHINCHAR: And Debbie is finally done, but that doesn't mean hurricane
season is over. We're already watching what could become the next tropical system. We'll detail where it's headed coming up.
WALKER: Allison, embrace those tropical systems. I'm Amanda Davis, live in Paris here, where the tears were flowing for Sha'Carri last night, finally getting that long-awaited gold medal around her neck on another huge night for Team USA on the track.
BLACKWELL: So happy for her. So, the Swing State Blitz Week is wrapping up. Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Tim Walz, doubled down on border security in Arizona, while Donald Trump and J.D. Vance stumped for Senate races in Montana. Trump's rally was his first since Harris officially secured the Democratic ticket and picked a running mate, and he wasted no time attacking them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: Tim Walz is the man who's very freakish. He's very freakish. If Comrade Walz and Comrade Harris win this November, the people cheering will be the pink-haired Marxists, the looters, the perverts, the flag burners, Hamas supporters, drug dealers, gun grabbers, and human traffickers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Trump also doubled down on criticism of Harris's border policies. An attack the Harris campaign was prepared for. The campaign released a border-focused ad zeroing in on her commitment to border security, something she stressed during her visit to Glendale, Arizona on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We know our immigration system is broken and we know what it takes to fix it.
Comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship. But Donald Trump does not want to fix this problem, be clear about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Harris also reiterated her pledge to sign the bipartisan border security bill that failed to pass Congress earlier this year. Now, Harris and her running mate are riding the momentum that is fueling their first swing of rallies across the country.
BLACKWELL: Walz also attacked the former president by making fun of Trump's obsession with crowd size.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:05:10] GOV. TOM WALZ (D-MN): On Wednesday, the largest crowd of the campaign showed up in Detroit, Michigan. But Arizona just couldn't leave it alone, could you? It's not as if anybody cares about crowd sizes or anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN's Eva McKend is in Glendale, Arizona with more. Eva?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Harris campaign continuing to enjoy a surge of momentum. This arena packed to the rafters. The vice president addressing ceasefire protesters directly, saying that she too wants a ceasefire and the hostages to be returned home, and that she's working in concert with President Biden towards that effort.
HARRIS: So, let me say, I have been clear now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done. Now is the time. And the president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home.
MCKEND: She also addressed immigration in this border state, saying that if elected president, she would be tough on the border, but she also wants comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Eva McKend, CNN, Glendale, Arizona.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Eva, thank you very much. Let's get you more about what happened in Montana with Donald Trump back on the campaign trail, this first appearance since Harris announced Tim Walz as a running mate.
WALKER: Yes, Trump went after Walz, as well as Harris and Montana Senator Jon Tester. CNN's Alayna Treene is in Bozeman, Montana, with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Amara, Donald Trump traveled to Bozeman, Montana on Friday. And it's interesting, it was actually his first rally since the weekend, and the first since Vice President Kamala Harris had finalized the Democratic ticket. And Montana, of course, is a reliably red state. When I talk to Donald Trump's senior advisors, they tell me there are no concerns about his chances of winning it come November.
But he instead chose to come here instead of a battleground because he was stomping for Tim Sheehy, the Republican Senate candidate. Now, he is locked in a tight Senate race with the longtime Democrat, Jon Tester, and it's really considered one of the hardest fought battles for control of the Senate majority come the fall.
Now, Senator Steve Daines of Montana, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was also at that rally on Friday, and I caught up with him beforehand off stage and he told me that he was the one who privately encouraged Trump to come and support Sheehy so publicly. He said, really, that he reminded Donald Trump of the importance of having Republicans control the Senate particularly when it would come to potentially confirming his nominees.
Now Donald Trump did give Sheehy and other Montana lawmakers a shout out while on stage but really his speech is very similar to what we heard at that press conference he held in Florida on Thursday. He ran through a laundry list of familiar attacks against Harris. He attacked her intelligence. He attacked her positions on the border, on the economy. He also described her running mate Tim Walz as someone who is radically liberal. But one thing that was new that we saw on Friday was that he actually stopped at two separate points to show videos going after Harris. I want you to take a look at what he did.
TRUMP: So, don't take my word for it listen Kamala Harris's agenda straight from her own mouth. Would anybody like to see her? Let's do it for a couple of seconds. Go ahead.
HARRIS: Yes, I am radical. He means to get radical about what we are doing and take it seriously.
TRUMP: So, you know, we have this great system. I want to show you just one other thing, please. Do you mind putting it up, please? Thank you.
HARRIS: We've been to the border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've entered into the border.
HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. I don't understand the point that you're making.
TREENE: No, Victor and Amara, I think it's very clear that we have entered a new phase of this election campaign. The attacks from Donald Trump, but also from the Harris campaign, have become increasingly nasty and ugly. And we saw that on display in Bozeman. Donald Trump repeatedly trying to undermine both Harris and her running mate's credibility, mock her intelligence, call her dumber than Joe Biden.
That is where the campaign is right now. And I think part of it, I can tell you from my conversations with Trump's team, is that He has been increasingly frustrated with the Democratic enthusiasm surrounding Harris and that she's been able to sustain it for several weeks now. And so, that's where some of this was coming from. Victor, Amara.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right, Alayna, thanks so much. Joining us now, New York Times congressional correspondent Luke Broadwater. Luke, good morning to you. Let's start here with this, as Alayna calls it, this new phase of the Trump campaign against Harris. Here's more of what we saw in Bozeman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Kamala is grossly incompetent and in my opinion, has a very low
IQ, but we'll find out about her IQ during the debate, OK, let's find out about her IQ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[07:10:35]
BLACKWELL: I think Trump calls most of his opponents stupid or dumb or low IQ individual, but does this show that he's still three weeks in now struggling to find what works against Harris?
LUKE BROADWATER, NEW YORK TIMES CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's no secret that the Trump campaign was caught somewhat flat-footed with the change of candidates on the Democratic side. The campaign had been built to take on Joe Biden, and they felt that they were easily defeating Joe Biden, so much so that Republicans were making plans for their agenda for next year when they control both chambers of Congress and the presidency. But what we've seen is since the change of candidates, Democrats have surged. And Donald Trump is starting to figure out what works and what doesn't against Kamala Harris.
His initial attempts have been to sort of divide the electorate along race and gender and say things that many Democrats perceive as sexist or racist against her. But the polls don't really show that those are landing so far. We're seeing Kamala Harris surge in swing states. And our latest poll from The New York Times shows her ahead in Pennsylvania, which really could decide the election. So, I think that probably the Trump campaign is a lot more worried right now than they were a month ago.
BLACKWELL: Yes, the most crucial brick in the blue wall, Pennsylvania, if the Democrats can hold on to that. Before we leave Montana, the president was there not for himself, he's very likely going to win Montana in November, but for the Republican candidate for Senate, Sheehy. The Trump backing didn't help Mehmet Oz, it didn't help Kari Lake, it didn't help, you know, Mastriano, a long list in 2022. Does it help here more than it would in other places? What do you think?
BROADWATER: Yes, Donald Trump's very popular in Montana. He won the state by, I believe, 19 points four years ago. John Tester, the Democratic nominee, or the Democratic Senator in the Senate, has been able to defy the political trends in that state, in part because of his personal brand. He's a farmer. He's an every man. He's one of the more conservative Democrats in the Senate. But it's going to be very difficult for him to survive this election.
The way the parties have divided and the way America has divided over the past decade makes split ticket voting less likely. Donald Trump is expected to win Montana. His support there will be helpful for the Republicans. So, it will be a great feat for the Democrats if Kester can hold on, but he's really behind in the polls and it's going to be a tough battle for him.
BLACKWELL: You talked a little bit about this in your response to my first question, but your latest piece for the Times reports on how the Republicans in the House now have to shift from their investigations of Biden to focusing on Harris, and they also have been found flat- footed. What does that refocus look like practically now?
BROADWATER: Right. It's not just the Trump campaign, as you point out. For the last 18 months, 20 months, House Republicans and their using their investigative powers have thrown everything they have at Joe Biden. And for the most part, Kamala Harris has been left unscathed. They're trying to pivot now. They're trying to launch an investigation into whether or not she did enough to control migration at the border. But it's August.
Congress is on recess until September, many people are out campaigning. It's hard to see how they will be able to really dig up much dirt or opposition research against her, given the short time until the election. So, some people I talked to believe this was strategic error, that they should have been investigating Harris earlier, but it does seem like they're trying to at the last-minute and they may be out of time.
BLACKWELL: Luke Broadwater, thank you.
[07:10:00]
WALKER: Right now, investigators are working to determine the cause of a plane crash in Brazil that killed all 61 people on board. We want to warn you the video we're about to show you may be disturbing. Videos posted on social media show the plane's final moments spiraling out of the sky and crashing to the ground.
[07:15:20]
More video shows the wreckage of the plane in a residential area. City officials say no one on the ground was hurt. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon joining us now live from Valinhos, Brazil. Stefano, tell us more on what's going on where you are and what you're hearing about the latest on the investigation?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Amara, actually to bring you the latest, we're here with Captain Maicon Cristo who is a captain of the firefighters here in, in Valinhos, and he's leading the research. You're just going to ask him how are they finding the bodies because some of the details are important.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is part of the system, if they don't have enough, he has own (INAUDIBLE) -- I'm just going to ask how you are finding our bodies that were still sitting -- These bodies are inside the aircraft due to the dynamics of the accident The force it hit the ground. The aircraft is quite deformed but the bodies are inside as if they were sitting (INAUDIBLE) --
POZZEBON: What Captain Cristo has just saw me Amara is that because if how violent the crash has been. Some of the corpses are still just sitting on their chairs. He said that the plane has been very affected by the crash. Think about 17,000 feet in less than a minute. That's how violent the crash is.
But the bodies, they're still all in their chairs, in their seats. And they're finding it increasingly difficult to identify them. The captain before has talked to the press. They told us that so far, they've collected 12 corpses. They're on their way to Sao Paulo, the capital of the state, which is about 100 kilometers from here. And they have only identified two of them, 59 still need to be identified. Victor, Amara?
WALKER: Just horrific. Thank you so much, Stefano Pozzebon, live there near the scene for us.
BLACKWELL: Still to come, an Israeli airstrike hits a school in Gaza. We'll take a look at the scale of the destruction and why Israel says they targeted the site.
Also, another suspect arrested in a foiled attack at a Taylor Swift concert. The latest on that investigation. And only two days left in the Paris games. Yesterday, historic moments and the 39 gold medals that are up for grabs today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:22:10]
BLACKWELL: Breaking news overnight, an Israeli strike on a Gaza school and mosque compound has killed at least 93 people. That's the latest number, according to Gaza's civil defense. We have to warn you that some of the images you're about to see are disturbing. CNN cannot independently confirm these figures because we have no access to Gaza.
WALKER: Israel's military intelligence service says Hamas ran a command center from the compound with 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihadist militants operating inside the structure. But Israel has not provided CNN any evidence to back up the claim.
CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward has been following this breaking development. Clarissa, what more do we know?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara, a truly horrific attack. These people were gathered for the dawn prayer, the Fajr prayer. Approximately, according to the Gaza Civil Defense, 200 of them gathered in a sort of prayer room to carry out that prayer when an airstrike hit the building and according to the Gaza Civil Defense as you said, at least 90 people were killed.
This is the fifth strike on a school in just the last week, the 17th strike on a school in the last month. These schools obviously are not in session, but they are being used to house the many, many displaced. Almost everyone in Gaza is displaced at this stage or has been displaced, many on multiple occasions. The scenes of the aftermath are just horrifying.
We have been sifting through some of the most disturbing video I have ever seen. Among the dead, clearly evidence of women, of many children, even of a baby. And so, there is a real fear that this could call into question all these efforts that are being made by the U.S., by the Qataris, by the Egyptians to try to broker a ceasefire because of the level of violence still going on inside Gaza.
Now, the IDF, as you mentioned, is saying they are disputing the death toll, they are saying they believe 20 to 30 militants were killed, they are saying this was a Hamas command and control center, they are saying that there were Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants gathered here. But really, when you're looking through that footage, it is very clear that there were many civilians sheltering here and just truly a gruesome, gruesome morning for the people of Gaza. Amara.
WALKER: Clarissa Ward, thank you for your reporting. From bookie to booked into jail, the man accused of running bets for baseball star Shohei Ohtani's interpreter just took a plea deal.
[07:25:10]
We'll learn his fate just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Let's take a look at other stories making headlines for you this morning.
The U.S. released $3.5 billion in military funding to Israel this past week. The aid was approved by Congress in April.
WALKER: The funding package does not provide Israel with weapons immediately. Instead, the aid allows Israel to order advanced weapons systems and other military equipment from the U.S. for future delivery.
[07:30:00]
This comes as Israel braces for a possible retaliatory attack from Iran for Israel's assassination of Iran's political leader -- x' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
The bookie for the former interpreter of L.A. Dodgers star player, Shohei Ohtani, will be sentenced next February, following a plea deal. 49-year-old Matthew Bowyer pleaded guilty yesterday to running an illegal sports gambling operation and other charges.
This is the latest plea deal following the sports betting scandal that enveloped Otani's ex interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts.
BLACKWELL: Well, what used to be Debby has now moved out of the Northeast, but not before pounding the region with some pretty severe weather.
At least seven people have died from the storm in the Northeast. The remnants of Debby brought some heavy downpours, flooded neighborhoods, brought the threat of tornadoes. WALKER: And take a look at how it thrashed Hammondsport, New York, pushing one body of water into another. Wow. CNN, meteorologist Allison Chinchar is joining us now. Where is the greatest threat today?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So, we still have the flooding potential up and down the eastern seaboard. The main system itself is out, but you've also got still some moisture.
Remember, at this point, even if you get an inch of rain on top of where some of these places have had 610, even two feet of rain, an inch can do a lot of damage. So, that's the big concern. We're not talking a tremendous amount of rain, but really anything at this point.
And you can see from the map, you still have rain in Maine, portions of Massachusetts, and then, still down across some of the southeastern states as well.
That's where the greatest threat for flooding exists. So, the Carolinas and even portions of southeastern Virginia, you've got that flash flood threat for today. You've got a couple showers and thunderstorms popping up around Charlotte, even around the outer banks, and this is going to continue throughout the day.
Another concern too is the river flooding. Because remember, that takes time. That's a delayed effect. A lot of these rivers, creeks, and streams throughout here actually don't even peak in their crest until Sunday, Monday, and in some cases, Tuesday. So, you're still going to have some flooding concerns in a lot of these areas, just from the rivers, creeks and streams, let alone any additional rainfall that comes in.
And another thing. For all those folks trying to clean up from the damage, you've got intense heat and that humidity mixed with it. Some areas that heat index level will be around 105, to 110 today. So, not very good news.
And yes, Debbie moves out, and it's still hurricane season, though. So, we're keeping eye on the next system.
Right now, just this cluster of thunderstorms here in the Atlantic, but it has an 80 percent chance of becoming the next name storm here in about the next five to seven days.
So, the question becomes, OK, where is it going to go? What is it going to impact? Most of the spaghetti plots have it kind of heading towards the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico by the middle portion of this week, and then, from there, starts to turn but we just don't know at what point or what impact it may have to the mainland U.S.
But in the short term, if you've got some travel plans to the Caribbean, you may need to keep a very close eye on this. If it does get named, which it is expected to the next name on the list is Ernesto. That would be the system that we are talking about there. And one thing to note too, is it has the potential to, once it really gets going to start to intensify very quickly, because of how warm this water is here. It's about three to five degrees above average.
So, this could be another one of those storms where it gets named and then it intensifies very, very quickly after that.
BLACKWELL: All right.
WALKER: All right. Thank you so much, Allison.
Still to come, another arrest in an alleged terror plot targeting Taylor Swift's Austria concerts. National security experts weigh-in on the gravity of this foiled attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:38:16]
WALKER: A third teenager has been arrested in connection to the foil terror attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria, authorities arrested an 18-year-old, Iraqi citizen, after he had allegedly been in contact with the main suspect, a 19-year-old, Austrian citizen, a 17-year-old was also arrested as a suspect on Wednesday.
Investigators say both the 18 and 19-year-old suspects had radicalized themselves online, and then, pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State last month.
Joining me now is CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.
Peter, let's talk about this investigation as we learn more about these teenagers who have been arrested. Could there have been another suspect involved, and when they talk about the main suspect, do investigators believe that he had help in planning this foil terror attack?
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I mean, it is interesting, this Iraqi national has been arrested. However, according to CNN reporting, it doesn't seem to be directly linked to this actual attack, although, of course, you know, ISIS was, you know, basically founded in Iraq, so, it might tie this alleged plot more directly to Iraq itself.
What's interesting about the plot is, you know, how far advanced it was. I mean, this guy, the main suspect, had a police light that he was apparently going to use to kind of get close to the concert venue. He had explosive precursors, he had knives. He had a 21,000 in counterfeit cash. He had, you know, he had all the makings of a plot that was pretty far advanced.
And also, he didn't, Amara, have to get into the concert venue to do a lot of damage.
[07:40:03] There would be thousands of fans outside the concert venue. He could have used his vehicle as a weapon in addition to the other weapons that he had. So, I think it was a, you know, the Austrians moved very quickly to arrest a pretty advanced plot.
WALKER: And tell us about the Intel, and how -- I mean, because it was -- from what I understand, and according to our reporting, it was U.S. authorities that alerted authorities in Vienna. Is that correct?
BERGEN: That is correct. And, you know, we also know that they radicalized online. That people can radicalize online very quickly. You know, these kids -- I mean, both are teenagers, and not kids, necessarily. But, I mean, these are very young people, and you can radicalize very quickly online. You can kind of go down a particular ISIS rabbit hole. They pledged their allegiance to ISIS relatively recently.
WALKER: Yes.
BERGEN: You know, this -- it's -- I think the Austrian authorities acted in a very proper way.
WALKER: How widespread is the impact of the ISIS ideology? We know that territorially, they were defeated back in 2019. I think some would be surprised that youngsters are still being radicalized online.
BERGEN: Yes. I mean, they took it as, you know, they -- in 2017, 2018, they lost, you know, their caliphate in Syria and Iraq, which was the size of Great Britain, had a population of Bulgaria at one point.
At that point, I think they lost a lot of their appeal. However, there -- they haven't gone away. And, you know, there are affiliates of ISIS in places like Afghanistan, ISIS-K. That group carried out the attack against a concert venue in Moscow in March to kill the 145 people.
So, it's not -- this group hasn't disappeared. Their appeal apparently has not disappeared completely. They are not what they once were, but they certainly seem to have come back a bit in recent months.
WALKER: So, the Austrian leg of the tour, obviously, has been canceled, but several days from now, Taylor Swift will hold several concerts in five nights in London. At London's Wembley Stadium. It begins next Thursday.
London's mayors has said that they will carry on, that the concert will take place safely. Does it -- but, I mean, I would imagine this is going to be on the minds of lots of people, and of course, you know security officials. Will it be safe?
BERGEN: You know, hard to tell. But I mean, as you may recall, Amara, there was an attack on a Taylor Swift theme dance party just on July 29, in which three girls were killed by a teenage attacker. His motivations aren't, I think, completely clear, but that is surely on the mind of a lot of people in the U.K. There have been riots all around the U.K. as a result of that attack, because he was wrongly described as an illegal immigrant. In fact, he was born in Britain. This teenager who carried out the attack.
And if you look at the U.K. government web site, sort of terrorism, it's the -- right now, the level is a substantial likelihood of a terrorist attack. That's lower than a severe or critical likelihood. But clearly, there is -- you know, there is a general concern about terrorism in Britain that goes beyond the Taylor Swift concert. And so, I mean, we can just only hope for the best.
WALKER: It is concerning. Peter Bergen, great to have you this morning. Thanks for joining us.
BLACKWELL: Still to come, Iran is attempting to interfere in this year's presidential election. The tactics they are using to potentially sway American voters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:48:07]
BLACKWELL: Iran is accelerating efforts to interfere with the November election. According to Microsoft, Iranian operatives are creating fake online news sites and impersonating activists.
WALKER: The goal to stoke division and influence voters, especially in swing states. We get more now from CNN's Zachary Cohen,
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: U.S. intelligence officials warned last month that Iran is trying to run a covert influence campaign to target the 2024 presidential election, with two main goals in mind. The first is to undermine Donald Trump's campaign for president. And the second is to sow discord more generally, within the United States.
Now, Microsoft is providing concrete examples of how Iran is allegedly doing it. The new report from Microsoft says Iranian operatives are using fake news web sites to target American voters, both conservative and more liberal leaning.
Now, one of the fake news sites allegedly created by Iranian operatives called Trump an opioid filled elephant in the MAGA China shop, and also referred to him as raving mad.
Now, another phony site targeting conservative voters claims to be a trusted source of news based in Savannah, Georgia, and it focuses on issues like LGBTQ issues and gender reassignment, both polarizing in today's political climate.
Now, according to Microsoft, Iranian operatives also attempted to hack into an e-mail account belonging to a senior official for an unnamed U.S. presidential campaign.
Overall, the report offers some of the clearest examples of how Iran, along with Russia and China, is working to influence or undermine confidence in the upcoming U.S. election by exploiting existing political divisions and an already fraud domestic environment in which many Americans believe lies about voter fraud. And while U.S. officials have detailed efforts by Iran, Russia and China to influence previous elections, they are now bracing for a range of foreign intelligence services that are ramping up to target the 2024 race in a new and sophisticated ways. Victor, Amara?
[07:50:02]
BLACKWELL: All right. Zachary, thanks. Conspiracy theories about the 2020 election led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol. And now, four years later, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan looks at how chaos agents are looking to undermine American democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Mike Lindell is an American success story.
MIKE LINDELL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MY PILLOW: Fitting you with the My Pillow is very important so that you get the right amount of fill for you as an individual.
O'SULLIVAN (voice over): He went from crack addict.
LINDELL: Now, that hologram, that picture there is where the drug dealers did an intervention on me in 2008.
O'SULLIVAN: Your drug dealers --
(CROSSTALK)
LINDELL: They did an intervention.
O'SULLIVAN: To CEO.
LINDELL: Hello, hello, hello. Hello, hello.
So, when they stack these up and she's looking for any flaws, this is the first part of customer of making sure everything is perfect. Because they are accusing the bar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
LINDELL: Dexie (PH) and (INAUDIBLE) they want to interview you.
O'SULLIVAN: He's giving jobs to people who have suffered from addiction like he did.
LINDELL: He was my -- he was my kind of hope that she had been clean and sober for three years when he came to me the month before I quit everything.
Here is my original invention. You see this thing with the round holes?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes.
LINDELL: I had to change that out three times to get the different sizes I needed when I met in my pillow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Tomorrow, Donie dives back into the world of misinformation. A new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. on CNN.
WALKER: After missing out on the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Sha'Carri Richardson liked to say, she is not back, she is better.
Last night, she showed just that, and she has the gold to prove it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:56:02]
WALKER: Team USA track star, Sha'Carri Richardson, finally got her gold. And this one, she will get to share with some of her closest friends.
BLACKWELL: CNN international sports anchor Amanda Davies is live from Paris.
Amanda, the space and that she had to make up when she got that baton, it's remarkable that came out on top.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORT ANCHOR: Yes, there was no doubting how much she wanted it. And was that -- it has been such a long wait. But Sha'Carri finally got what she came here to for the Olympics, a gold medal. Might not have been in the hundreds, as should have been hoping, she took silver there, you might remember.
But with her USA teammates, 200-meter champion, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry. She put in a sensational ankle like she plays past Germany, France, and Team G.B. to take the win, and you saw exactly what it meant to her. Not only when she crossed the line, but on the top step of the podium, where the tears were flowing elsewhere.
We've had one of those generations of stars in the men's 400 hurdles that we've really been lucky to witness. But it was one that the U.S. record holder, Rai Benjamin had feared he was going to leave him without the medal he deserved.
Last night though, he finally got his hands on Olympic gold, his first individual title, after beating world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway and Brazil's Alison dos Santos.
The script writers have got the basketball finals. They were hoping for in both the men's and women's competitions. Hosts France against the might of the USA.
The women beat Australia, 85 points to 64 in the semifinal, Breanna Stewart scoring 16 points to help her side to their sixth year straight Olympic victory. Yes, 60th. And it's their eight straight Olympic gold medal game, which will take place on Sunday. But ahead of that, the U.S. men are getting ready to feel the heat of the home crowd this evening, as LeBron and covid square up against a couple of familiar faces in Victor Wembanyama and Ruby Gobert, and France.
And the U.S. women's football coach Emma Hayes has said leading her team into Saturday's gold medal final against Brazil, just three months after taking charge of the team. Is the staff that dreams are made of. And I caught up with her ahead of our team's final training session.
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EMMA HAYES, HEAD COACH, UNITED STATES WOMEN'S SOCCER: It's been unbelievable. I mean, other than the fact they got to travel around France with this incredible team, being here in Paris, been to the Olympic Village yesterday, is honestly much better than I thought it would ever be. And I just, I still can't quite believe that we're in a gold medal final, but one that I'm very excited for.
DAVIES: Have you allowed yourself to -- I know you pictured yourself kind of walking out at an opening ceremony. Have you allowed yourself to picture standing on the top of an Olympic podium with a medal around your neck?
HAYES: I mean --
DAVIES: A gold medal on your neck.
HAYES: Yes. I mean, we can dream. Of course, I'm dreaming about those things.
Of course, there is something to aspire to, and the fact that we're in the position we're in, no, we're guaranteed a medal, but, of course, we're going for gold.
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DAVIES: A Massive final game, a repeat of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic finals. Both occasions, the USA have beaten Brazil. It's going to be an incredible farewell for Marta.
And my goodness, are you guys lucky to have Emma Hayes in your corner. It's very odd for me to see her in that U.S. kit, but you got a good one there.
WALKER: We sure do. Amanda Davies, thank you so much, live for us there in Paris.
All right. It's that time of the morning again. "FIRST OF ALL", with Victor is coming up.
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BLACKWELL: Yes, it is.
WALKER: What do you have?
BLACKWELL: Packed show.
So, this morning, former President Trump trying to rewrite the history of the 2020 George Floyd protest. We'll talk about what that means and how it matters for the 2024 race.
And the new way the Vice President Harris is responding to some anti- war protesters, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupting her rallies.
Also, we'll speak to the mother of a U.S. Army veteran who died in. Jail, why she says the true story of what happened to her son, Christon Collins is not being told by officials.
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Also, maybe you saw the video online.
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