Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Trump, Harris Campaigns Head To Head Battleground State Of Pennsylvania; House GOP Opens Probe Into Walz's Connections To China; Russia "Rapidly Approaching" Key Ukrainian City Despite Kursk Setback; Ukraine Presses Ahad With Incursion Into Russia; Harris Plan Would Lower Housing And Rent Costs; Harris Rolls Out Plan To Ban Price Gouging In Food Industry; A.I. Disinformation And The 2024 Election; New COVID Vaccine Approval May Come As Soon As Next Week. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 17, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- in human years, that's equivalent to 57 years old. She's the oldest known first time panda mother. It wasn't easy. She suffered a series of miscarriages in the past and the five-month pregnancy wasn't easy. Efforts were underway for years for Yingying and her partner, Le-Le, to mate. The bears were gifted to the city in 2007 by the Chinese government, the cubs are the first giant pandas born in Hong Kong.

And if you're curious to see the pandas for yourself, it will be a few months before they are on display as they need to get stronger. Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: They're much cuter when they've got all the fur.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Give it a little time. Our next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

WALKER: All right, top of the hour on CNN THIS MORNING. Good morning to you. Live pictures here in Pittsburgh. It's going to be a busy weekend with both the Pirates and the Steelers playing at home today, and tomorrow both Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will be there. I'm sure you'll be watching for the bus tour, the political bus tour in Pennsylvania, not the game.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: I can't wait. That's what I was looking for.

BLACKWELL: That turn, Andy, is like, what?

WALKER: What bus tour? What team is on a bus tour?

SCHOLES: I was just wondering, I was going to say Russell Wilson or Justin Fields for the Steelers, but you went with the bus. I was like, what?

BLACKWELL: Political bus tour. Welcome back. Here's what we're working on for you this morning. Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out her economic plan Friday in what was her first major policy proposal as a Democratic nominee. The proposal she's laying out and how her Republican rivals are responding.

WALKER: U.S. officials are watching closely as Ukrainian soldiers push deeper into Russian territory with U.S. provided weapons. We are live along the Ukrainian-Russian border.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And it may be hundreds of miles away, but Hurricane Ernesto is likely to cause some big impacts up and down the East Coast. We'll talk about that coming up.

SCHOLES: Yes, and other than that big day in Pittsburgh, Kayleen Clark, back from the Olympic break, picked up right where she left off. We're going to show you how she's had yet another record in the fever wind.

WALKER: Former President Trump returns to the campaign trail today while Vice President Harris courts voters ahead of the Democratic National Convention. The Republican presidential nominee is set to hold a rally this afternoon in Pennsylvania, which is a critical battleground state. It marks his second visit to the commonwealth state, commonwealth since surviving a July 13th assassination attempt in Butler.

BLACKWELL: And tomorrow, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will roll through western Pennsylvania on that bus tour. The tour will be the first time that Harris, Walz, and their spouses will appear on the campaign trail together since they shared the stage in Philadelphia. They'll make four stops before traveling to Chicago to be in place for the Democratic National Convention. The bus tour will give Harris the opportunity to sell the economic proposals that she laid out yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are more than 100 million Americans who will get a tax cut. We will end America's housing shortage by building three million new homes and rentals.

I'll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone with your support -- not only our seniors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Joining me now, Brakkton Booker, National Reporter for Politico; and Mario Parker, Politics Team Leader at Bloomberg. Gentleman, welcome to you. Mario, let me start with you, because we've got the former president in (INAUDIBLE) today, and Harris and Walz and their spouses on his bus tour tomorrow, crucial block in the blue wall for Democrats but one of the resources, what's the investment from each campaign there. How do they compare?

MARIO PARKER, BLOOMBERG POLITICS TEAM LEADER: Yes, well the Harris campaign says that they had about 43,000 some volunteers sign up for the campaign just since she's essentially taken over Biden's place at the top of the Democratic ticket, field offices, et cetera, community organizations. The Trump campaign, from what we understand, doesn't have as large of a ground game there. They're relying a lot on Super PACs, but also to your point, his name I.D., right? The fact that he's coming into the state with his signature rallies, for example.

BLACKWELL: Brakkton, former President Trump will start traditional debate preps. We know that former Democrat, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard will be part of those. He didn't prep this way for former President Biden. What do you glean from now this shift in preparation as he prepares for the debate with Vice President Harris?

BRAKKTON BOOKER, POLITICO NATIONAL REPORTER: Yes, look, I think it's a politically screwed maneuver, right? Like he understands that this Yes, look, I think it's a politically screwed maneuver, right? Like he understands that this is a different ballgame with Vice President Harris now going to be opposite him on the debate stage.

And he has a prosecutor that's going to take the case to him, right? She has said that from day one when she first ascended to the top of the ticket. But what I think the Tulsi Gabbard move for Trump really represents is like he understands that he's got to land an attack on her. And Tulsi Gabbard was successful doing that back in 2020.

It was one of her most successful attack lines during a debate, calling her out, calling Vice President, or at the time, Senator Harris, out for her stance on criminal justice. And you know, locking folks up for weed possession. And holding people in jail for longer will pass the sentence, right?

[07:05:52]

Now, these attacks seem to have kind of lingered and really damaged Kamala Harris, and some of the quarters and they're certainly being fanned by Trump and his allies. So, I think it was a really smart move on his part if he wants to like even the play the playing field there.

BLACKWELL: All right. Mario, let me ask you about this new house oversight accountability committee investigation into Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic soon-to-be nominee for vice president. This from Chairman Comer, Americans should be deeply concerned that Governor Walz, Kamala Harris's vice-presidential running mate, has a long- standing and cozy relationship with China. House Republicans spent two years investigating President Biden, expecting he in 2024, how have they navigated this shift in the last month? Obviously, now they're going after the current ticket.

PARKER: Well, there's a couple of things at play right now. First and foremost is the fact that the Republican Party, writ-large, was largely caught off guard and flat-footed by the replacement of Joe Biden on the ticket with Kamala Harris, as much as they essentially teased Joe Biden in the lead up to the debate, after, in the aftermath of the debate, etc. saying that Kamala Harris will be the heir apparent.

They seem to have no answer. And what you say now essentially is the House acting as an extension of the Trump campaign in ways that we've seen over the last couple of years. Comer, for example, went after Biden. He threatened an impeachment as well. They largely went nowhere, an investigation into Hunter Biden as well.

And now we see him leading the charge for Trump and the Republicans going after Walz. Walz has spent a considerable amount of time over the last few decades in China, but there's no evidence of any type of malfeasance at all. This is again, they're trying to find something to stick on the Harris-Walz ticket and they just haven't been able to do so yet.

BLACKWELL: Brakkton, the VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars, they've now responded to former President Trump saying this on Thursday. Let's put up the sound bite now instead of the statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: Miriam, I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That's the highest award you can get as a civilian. It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version. It's actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor that soldiers, they're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they're dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: VFW released a statement. Here's part of it. These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of the nation's highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty. Trump has disparaged military service before, did in his first run for president and won. What's the significance of this controversy now?

BOOKER: Well, look, I think it's significant because the more time we're talking about these perceived missteps, right? The election talking about whether or not he's actually putting forth a campaign that can actually win in November. We started off this conversation talking about his campaign stops in Pennsylvania. We've also touched on Vice President Kamala Harris rolling out an economic plan.

Trump has teased he's going to reveal his economic plan, but he seems to get sidetracked with some of these comments because he keeps going off the script that his advisors keep putting in front of him. So, the more we're talking about this, the less we're talking about whether or not he is actually fit to lead the country. So, I think this is a distraction, but if you are already in the Trump camp, I don't see this being a defining factor. I don't think you're going to leave because he's making these misstatements, but it is another unforced error. BLACKWELL: Brakkton Booker, Mario Parker, thank you both.

[07:10:00]

And for a preview of the Democratic National Convention, tune in to CNN tomorrow. Our special live coverage will kick off at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

WALKER: All right, happening now, Hurricane Ernesto is directly over Bermuda as a Category 1 storm. It is expected to bring dangerous rip current threats from Florida all the way up to Maine. Here's what it looked like as Ernesto moved close to the island. You can see the heavy rain and strong waves there in the background. CNN's Allison Chinchar is here with us now.

I mean, it's a strong storm. It's impacting basically the entire East Coast.

CHINCHAR: Yes, and it's because of the sheer size. I mean, you kind of lose perspective because Bermuda itself is so small, but the size of this storm is very big. And what that means is it's taking all of that water and pushing it towards the US coast, even from hundreds of miles away.

Now, right now, Hurricane Ernesto sustained winds of 85 miles per hour, gusting up to 105. So, it is still a category one storm. Here's the thing, though. That storm is actually going to weaken a little bit more before rebounding and then strengthening back up again as it moves out over open water.

But so far, the airport location in Bermuda has picked up a wind gust of 84 miles per hour, rainfall already six-and-a-half inches. The forecast called for 6:00 to 9:00. They're likely going to end on the high end of that particular range here.

Here's a look at the storm as it continues to go forward. We'll get down to about 80 then back up to 90 very early Monday morning. Then it continues its track either going over or very close to (INAUDIBLE) and Labrador and Atlantic Canada there before it continues to make its way out.

Here we've talked about the wave heights again obviously the most significant ones are going to be closest to Bermuda. But you see all of that green and how close it gets to pretty much, much of the East Coast.

Look at this, from Stewart, Florida, basically up through Massachusetts and Maine, you have that high rip current risk today. Looking at some of these breaking waves heights in areas of South Carolina, you're talking four to six feet.

Areas of North Carolina could get all the way up to five to eight feet. And we talked about this, guys. There's some schools in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, that go back this week.

A lot of families, what they do that last official weekend of summer, they'll go out to the beach. So please be careful if you do have plans to the beach. Pay attention to the signs, listen to the lifeguards, make sure you stay safe with conditions like this.

WALKER: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that. Still to come, we're going to take you to the Ukrainian border, the city of Sumy for a live report on Ukraine's counteroffensive into Russia.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the Supreme Court has turned down a request from the Biden administration to enforce parts of a new federal rule meant to protect LGBTQ-plus students from discrimination. What this means for those students, that's ahead.

WALKER: Plus, the FDA made green light, updated COVID-19 vaccines as soon as next week as the U.S. experiences its largest summer COVID wave in two years. The details are ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:29]

BLACKWELL: Russian forces are rapidly approaching a key military hub in Eastern Ukraine. Moscow is continuing its advances inside Ukraine despite the Ukrainian forces surpassing gains in Russia's Kursk region.

WALKER: Yes, Russian forces are nearing the city of Pokrovsk, which serves as a key hub for Ukraine's military. The city is used to channel supplies to the front lines and evacuate injured troops. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live in Ukraine now with the latest, Nic.

NIC PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, pressure growing on Pokrovsk, which has been under pressure for months now as Russia inched forward on the front lines in the east. And so many were thinking that this surprise, very successful Ukrainian incursion into Kursk region Russia proper was designed to relieve pressure on places like Pokrovsk where Ukraine has been losing for months.

But that clearly is not happening. In fact, the opposite is still the case. Moscow able to continue to move forwards. But we gained some of the first access into Ukrainian held parts of Russia. We have to say that we were with the Ukrainian military at all times who reviewed our video without audio for operational security reasons, but had no editorial control over what we said. Here's what we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: All around us the signs of the intense fight that's been raging inside here. It's very surreal to be inside Russia again with Ukrainian forces leading the way.

Well, not even the statue of Lenin is unscathed here. This Ukrainian assault, so persistent, and Russia, despite its sense of history, its sort of past as being so impregnable, completely unable to push the Ukrainians out here. A sound of small arms fire we can still hear, so clearly there is a

bid for the Russians to push back, but it simply isn't working, and humiliation for Putin endures.

You can see the damage that's been done to this street here, from the intense fight that raged. Still, clearly, active fighting happening here. And still, the question is where are the drones? Where are the Russian drones that have made Ukraine's life hell on the front lines for months?

Simply nowhere to be seen. There's constant artillery as well. Clearly, a fight still on the way for this, which has become deeply symbolic for Ukraine's totally surprise assault into Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: Two things that stood out really that we've seen scenes like that inside of such a Ukrainian-held Russia play out across occupied parts of Ukraine or more I should say more places that Russian forces are trying to take and get into.

People sheltering underground, the destruction like that and it is bizarre to see that kind of situation visited upon a Russian town like that with the utter absence of Russian forces within it, it's extraordinary how limited their presence was.

As too, was extraordinary to see the volume of Western supplied equipment, of the best equipment Ukraine has, being funneled into that area. There is no sign that this offensive is slowing down, that they are not willing to commit more resources to it.

Initially, the thought had been this might be something brief that would give Putin a bloody nose and everybody would pull back, but they seem to be pushing further forwards again and again, saying yesterday they took one to three kilometres, about two miles maximum, more territory.

It's clear they feel they have the momentum here. Russia itself, its foreign ministry, accusing Ukraine of using Western-supplied HIMARS missiles to take out a bridge inside of Russia, and there appears to be growing interest and scrutiny as to what exactly Western-supplied weaponry is being used for in this.

But cast your mind back to February 2022 when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, potentially thinking it would take a matter of days and here we are seeing Ukraine invading Russia, a startling chapter that upends, I think, all the norms we thought about Russia's security in this war.

WALKER: It really does, it takes some getting used to, to hear that phrase, Ukrainian held Russia. Nick Paton Walsh, good to have you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, Purdue is recalling thousands of pounds of frozen chicken nuggets and tenders. We'll tell you what to look for and what they believe is in those products. [07:21:50]

Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris has a plan to fix America's housing crisis. We'll take a look at what this could mean.

SCHOLES: And Carlos Alvarez has already won two Grand Slams this year, but he was big mad yesterday. We'll show you what had him so upset coming up in sports.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: We now have more details and a more concrete economic plan from the Democratic ticket. Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her plans on Friday in North Carolina, which include making housing, groceries, health care, and child care more affordable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: In more than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut. We will end America's housing shortage by building three million new homes and rentals.

I'll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone with your support, not only our seniors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:27:09]

WALKER: But of course, there are a lot of questions about how Harris will pay for this and could it even get through Congress in the first place.

Joining me now is Ken Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard. Ken, good to see you this morning.

KEN ROGOFF, HARVARD ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY PROFESSOR: Good to see you.

WALKER: Was there anything that you heard in that speech laying out our economic policy that made you say, wow, this could really help Americans who are struggling with these high prices?

ROGOFF: Well, there are definitely a few things. I mean, certainly the child tax credit is a great idea. I mean, both parties have endorsed it now. Families need help. There's an earned income tax credit for people who don't have children. I thought the housing was pointed in the right direction. Every young person I know is just so anxious about this and trying to look for a solution.

I mean, it is true that this would encourage local governments who really control the zoning to maybe loosen up and build some of these smaller houses. That said, the exact details might bid up the price of everything. I would like to see more done with converting office buildings to apartments. We have a lot of empty office buildings in our cities. WALKER: So, you're saying that her housing policy could actually

backfire?

ROGOFF: Well, I'm saying it's not perfect. You know, it's very hard to craft something that gets it exactly right. So, I think the big thing that it would do would be encourage changes in zoning laws so that local governments would see this and try to pick up these subsidies. But obviously, you're bidding up the price. So, it's not perfect.

WALKER: You know, Vice President Harris also talked about the high grocery costs and how she would bring it down. And she called for a federal ban on price gouging. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So, believe me, as president, I will go after the bad actors.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: And I will work to pass the first ever federal ban on price gauging on food.

(CHEERING):

HARRIS: My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules, and we will support smaller food businesses that are trying to play by the rules and get ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: So, Ken, I mean, I'm sure this message of blaming corporations for inflation, taking advantage of shortages to raise prices that resonates with people, especially those who go to the store every day and are just upset about, you know, how much it costs to buy milk and eggs. How much did corporate price gouging -- does corporate price gouging actually impact inflation? And is there evidence of this happening a lot?

ROGOFF: First, let me say, as someone who goes to the supermarket regularly, I haven't gotten used to the prices, and I understand wanting to speak about it. But no, I don't think corporate price gouging has all that much to do with that.

She had a lot of proposals. This was one of them. I thought it was absolutely the weakest. I thought, hope she'll walk it back by just saying, what I meant was, I want to enforce antitrust the way we used to.

We used to do that on serial companies, et cetera. But this isn't going to solve problems. We need to think about our deficit, monetary policy. I mean, those may be boring and hard to understand, but I hope she walks this one back. She had some good ideas, some mixed ideas. This was a horrible idea.

WALKER: You know, Trump this week, I think it was at a rally in North Carolina. Wednesday, he was calling for more tariffs if he returns to the White House. I think those tariffs would be 10 to 20 percent on imports from foreign countries.

So, Trump is claiming that these new tariffs would bring new jobs back to the U.S. Harris is calling it a national sales tax. Who do you agree with?

ROGOFF: I think Harris was great on this. And when, general, when she talks about Trump's policy, she is great. It's going to bid up the price for Americans. That's what happened with Trump's other tariffs.

And no, I don't think manufacturing is going to come back in a big way, not the jobs may be automated plants. I think it's very misguided.

Unfortunately, it's very politically successful. But I thought Vice President Harris was very effective when she really went into this.

WALKER: What do you say to the critics then, you know, who say, look, there's a lot of the sounds great in theory, when it comes to, you know, increasing the Child Tax Credit, incentivizing people buying the first homes, $10,000 credit, you know, for first time tax -- first time homebuyers, $25,000 in down payment assistance for first time homebuyers. But of course, how do you pay for all of it? This will add to the federal deficit?

ROGOFF: Well, first of all, the primary objective here is to win the election, and Donald Trump's talking about getting rid of taxes on Social Security, which is just nuts. It obviously benefits the high- income earners more. And there are other things.

You aren't going to win the election by, you know, telling people how you're going to raise taxes. But there is a -- there is certainly a lot of scope to raise taxes. I think it's not really true that you can just raise it on people earning over $400,000 eventually, it has to come down.

But I think there are a lot of things when the policies are laid out that Americans will support. But I don't criticize her at all for that. I mean, what else is she to do? She is campaigning against Donald Trump, who is throwing out tax cuts, throwing deficits left and right. She is not going to lose on that.

WALKER: Yes, she's got a clear economic message at this point edge. And yes, they do got to win the election first.

Ken Rogoff, good to have you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, a new A.I. tool will allow people to create and share fake political themed images.

We'll explore what this could mean for November's presidential race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:38:13]

BLACKWELL: In headlines this morning, an Israeli air strike has killed at least -- at least 15 people from one family, including nine children. That's according to a Gaza civil defense spokesman.

New Video shows civilians digging through the rubble to try and find and free those trapped underneath. A Palestinian man told CNN the strike happened a little before 1:00 a.m. with three rockets hitting the building without prior warning.

The Israeli military says that they are reviewing reports that civilians were injured because of the strike, and later said in a statement they had killed several militants in central Gaza, including one who had launched rockets toward Israeli troops.

Disgraced former New York congressman George Santos is expected to plead guilty on Monday to federal charges related to fraud committed during his 2022 midterm campaign.

Santos said initially pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, including campaign fund misuse and falsifying personal financial information. The Supreme Court has refused the Biden administration's request to enforce parts of a new rule aimed at protecting LGBTQ plus and pregnant students from discrimination.

This ruling is the latest setback for the Biden administration. It's faced a series of challenges in federal courts, blocking the rule intended to protect transgender students.

Perdue Foods is voluntarily recalling more than 167,000 pounds of frozen chicken nuggets and tenders, because they might be contaminated with a thin metal wire. The products were made on March 23rd, sent to stores across the country and sold online. They have a best by date of March 23rd, 2025.

But so far, there are no reports of anyone having adverse side effects.

[07:40:03]

WALKER: Misused headlines and faked pictures have long been a problem in politics. But the widespread availability of photo and video editing apps, and the rise of A.I. tools are making the situation worse.

Combine that with a candidate who constantly spreads conspiracy theories, and we have an especially challenging campaign season. This week, the tech company X A.I. released Grok, a tool that lets users generate A.I. created photo realistic images from text prompts, then post them to X. Both companies are owned by Trump ally Elon Musk.

Now, for his part, former President Trump has claimed that the Harris campaign is using A.I. to fake images of crowds at her events. He appears to be spreading a far-right conspiracy theory that the vice president's campaign faked an image of a large crowd at her rally in Michigan last week.

Well, that's easily disproved by photos and videos taken by attendees and media, showing thousands of supporters at the rally.

The Harris campaign said there were 15,000 people there.

My next guest has been warning about disinformation and artificial intelligence for years. Darrell M. West is a senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation and the Douglas Dillon Chair in governmental studies at the Brookings Institution.

Darrell, thank you for your time. So, now, we're talking about Elon Musk's Grok. How does this A.I. tool differ from the others out there, and how does it work in terms of its ease of use?

DARRELL WEST, SENIOR FELLOW OF THE CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, Amara, you are right. This is a huge problem. And in that particular tool, Twitter/X has not imposed very many human guardrails on the use of this. Some of the other large media platforms also have photo creation tools, but they already have put in place policies that you cannot manipulate the image of well- known figures such as Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, all these companies have policies that you can't use these tools to deceive people who see them and lead to harms for the election process.

But Twitter/X is not enforcing its very own policies, and Elon Musk has actually circulated a false information himself. So, he is actually part of the problem.

WALKER: Yes, he has absolutely circulated some of these conspiracy theories. Can you talk to us about the dangers that you have been warning people about, you know, regarding these A.I. generated images.

How are they being used today, and how do you see it impacting our upcoming presidential election?

WEST: Well, we have a new book out entitled, "Lies that Kill: A Citizen's Guide to Disinformation". And in this election, we're just seeing so many fake pictures and videos.

I've seen pictures of Kamala Harris in a swimming suit hugging convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That picture never took place. There are images of Trump being dragged away by the police that never happened. There is false information about the voting process, where to vote, when to vote, and who can vote.

We are seeing disinformation on steroids this year, and it's very risky for our election process, and it's probably going to get worse as we get closer to election day. I think everybody is anticipating this will be a very close election. And the question is, if it comes down to 50,000 votes in two or three states, are people going to be making up their minds based on false narratives?

WALKER: Then, what can we as consumers do to make sure that we are getting real and not fake information or being swayed by fake pictures?

WEST: I mean, in our book, we present a lot of information about what citizens can do to protect themselves. There are simple things, like on these fake images, count the number of fingers. If they are six fingers, not five fingers, we know that's a problem. You can look at how the head is placed on the neck of the individual. There are particular problems facing female politicians. Oftentimes their heads are being placed on the naked bodies of other women, but doing so in a way to humiliate and shame them.

A lot of companies are starting to watermark images and videos so that the creator of that content is identified. And if there are any problems, we can go back and hold that individual accountable for problems that take place.

We also really need to keep track of the possible foreign influence campaigns. Like we've already seen, Iran, Russia, and China, engage in nefarious tactics, hacking e-mails, setting up fake news sites, and using that to circulate false information. So, there are lots of things people need to do to protect themselves in this election season.

WALKER: It's so scary because the very existence of this kind of technology allows people just to deny reality period. Darrell West, we're going to leave it there. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Team USA says it will not give up the fight to restore gymnast Jordan Chiles' disputed bronze medal. But in the meantime, that bronze has been officially awarded now to her Romanian competitor.

[07:45:03]

Andy Scholes will be here to explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu has now officially been awarded the Olympic bronze medal. You know, there is been this ongoing controversy. The medal was first awarded to American Jordan Chiles.

WALKER: Yes. I think, CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes is quite aware of this controversy, because you've been on this for days now.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes.

WALKER: Is there any end in sight to the saga.

SCHOLES: Talk about all week, it doesn't look like there is any into it, guys, because the U.S. has said they are going to take this all the way that they can, all the way to the Swiss tribunal trying to get Jordan Chiles to keep that bronze medal. You know, will that be successful? You know, we'll have to wait and see.

[07:50:02]

But in the meantime, Ana Barbosu officially given the bronze medal for that four routine in Paris by an official from the International Olympic Committee in a reallocation ceremony that they had Romania yesterday.

The 18-year-old also given flowers by the prime minister. So, it was pretty big ceremony.

The medal, Barbosu received not the one that was given to Jordan Chiles in Paris nearly two weeks ago.

Chiles reportedly still has her bronze, and she said in a social media post this week she hopes the people in charge will make the right decision in the end.

After receiving her medal though, Barbosu said, she is looking forward to turning the page on the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANA BARBOSU, FLOOR EXERCISE BRONZE MEDALIST (through translator): The resolution of the case was possible. Thanks to the Federation and the law firm that did not give up on us, the sports women.

I'm very happy to have this medal, and I hope to continue to represent Romania at the highest level and bring back as many medals as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, elsewhere, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever returning for the Olympic break, taking on the mercury and look like the break certainly agreed with Clark. She came out on fire, scored 13 over 29 points in the first quarter.

Clark also dishing out pin assists in this one. Clark is the first rookie in league history to have 450 points and 200 assists in the 27- game span.

Fever to win that 98-89. Afterwards, Clark talked about getting back in the swing of things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, GUARD, INDIANA FEVER: I called for a sub, six minutes in. (INAUDIBLE), like, holy cow. I think it was like around seven minutes, and I called for, so, I was like, I need a quick minute here, because we were playing fast, and that, you know, that my defense isn't as good, so, it's kind of a liability for my team. So, just got to get a second to breathe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. Baseball, another day, another home run from Aaron Judge. He gets a hold of this one in the eighth inning against the Tigers last night. His league leading 44th homer of this season.

Yankees would win three to nothing. Right now, Judge, on pace to hit 50 homers -- 58 homers this season.

And finally, rough day at the office. Carlos Alcaraz in Cincinnati open in the third set. He doesn't get to this ball from Gael Monfils, and he just loses it. Starts destroying his racket. Alcaraz lost in three sets. He called this guy's the worst match he's ever played his entire career. He's got a week to regroup now, and I guess, become friends with his rackets again.

The U.S. Open starts August 26th in New York. By -- Victor, I guess if your job, you're holding something all day, chances are you break it sometimes, right?

BLACKWELL: You get it out.

WALKER: Slash it on the ground.

BLACKWELL: Get it out.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: If you need to break the racket, you got a bag full.

(CROSSTALK)

WALKER: Makes it feel --

BLACKWELL: That's all right.

SCHOLES: Yes.

WALKER: You just have a bag full.

BLACKWELL: Get a bag full.

WALKER: I am sure there are fans who want that broken racket too.

BLACKWELL: OK.

WALKER: Andy.

SCHOLES: Are we closing here? Yes, I take it.

WALKER: Thanks, Andy, good to see you.

BLACKWELL: All right.

WALKER: Still to come, the FDA could approve an updated COVID-19 vaccine as a summer Covid Wave grips the country. We'll have more on what you should know about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:57:17]

BLACKWELL: Health news now, CNN has learned that the FDA is expected to approve new COVID booster shots as soon as next week.

WALKER: Yes, this comes as the CDC says summer covid activity is at its highest level in two years.

CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell has more on what you need to know about this latest troubling summer surge.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the CDC monitors levels of the COVID virus using wastewater. It's a passive way of monitoring how much virus is out there, now that fewer people are testing and reporting the results of those tests.

And right now, those viral wastewater levels are suggesting we are in the biggest summer peak of COVID Since 2022.

We had actually expected potentially to surpass 2022 levels, but the most recent update from the CDC shows were just about the same and really approaching where we were in that summer wave.

Of course, the winter waves are always a lot bigger, at least as we have seen over the few years of this pandemic. Now, this is not evenly distributed. The highest levels of the virus in wastewater are in the West.

You can see in particular states like California are seeing particularly high levels of the COVID virus right now.

We are also seeing upticks in indicators like emergency room visits, hospitalization rates, and death rates, although these are coming off of the lowest levels we have seen through the pandemic -- off of a low that we saw in May.

Now, what is causing this? Well, we see this in typically, four-to- six-month cycles of us losing immunity, either from infection or from vaccines, and also new variants that are emerging. We are seeing that right now.

Currently, the most prevalent variant that's in circulation is called KP.3.1.1. According to the CDC's most recent data, it's about 37 percent of cases. That has tripled over the last month. So, this is a more transmissible version of this virus.

In terms of updated vaccines, we are expecting those to come this fall, and perhaps even relatively soon.

So, folks who are concerned about COVID are anticipating those.

We can also say, experts say masks are still helpful, and testing, staying home when you're sick.

And if you do get infected, using Paxlovid, the antiviral drug, those are all recommended, particularly for people who are at high risk. So, we are in this covid wave, we are seeing less severe disease, so that's a good thing, but there is still a lot of covid around.

WALKER: There still is. All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you. Now to Victor with what's coming up on "FIRST OF ALL".

BLACKWELL: Yes, there is outrage over decision a judge made to handcuff a teen for sleeping in his courtroom.

She was there on a field trip. Even had to put in a jail jumpsuit. Now, the chief judge who has now removed the judge who made that decision, Kenneth King, from cases temporarily over this. He is here.

[08:00:04]

Plus, the son of singer Isaac Hayes will be here with us. He says, former President Trump is now using a song that his father wrote without the family's permission.