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CNN This Morning

Kamala Harris, Donald Trump Race To U.S. Election Photo Finish; RFK Jr. Ends U.S. Presidential Campaign, Endorses Trump; Tropical Storm Hone Threatens Hawaii With Fire And Floods; Manhunt in Germany After Three Killed At Festival. Zelenskyy Addresses Nation on Ukraine's Independence Day; NASA Expected to Announce Plan to Return Two Boeing Starliner Astronauts Home; Justin Bieber and Wife Welcome Their First Child. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired August 24, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:35]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning. Saturday, August 24. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker. I'm definitely feeling the fall vibes already. I'm so ready for it.

BLACKWELL: If you feel it -- this is Chai weather.

WALKER: Chai tea.

BLACKWELL: We're not in pumpkin spice, right?

WALKER: I just had a pumpkin spice coffee.

BLACKWELL: Summer iced tea. Already?

WALKER: Yes, already. It's out. Everything is out.

BLACKWELL: Yes, but there's --

WALKER: You see the stores. You see the Halloween stuff out. I mean, it's -- for there.

BLACKWELL: This is Chai time. Get into it.

WALKER: Chai time.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WALKER: Well, here's what we're working on for you this morning. I do like chai tea.

BLACKWELL: It's delicious.

WALKER: It's really good. I like the spice. It is the final sprint in the race for the White House, with both parties conventions behind U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are setting their sights on their first head to head debate in just more than two weeks.

BLACKWELL: And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is proven, if you can't beat him, join him, but apparently, only in the battleground states. He's still talking about if people vote for him. It's kind of bizarre. We'll break it down.

Just hours after Kennedy suspended his long shot third party presidential bid, he appeared on stage with former President Trump in Arizona. We're going in depth on what to expect, 73 days now until election day.

WALKER: That's it. And breaking news in Germany this morning, where police are looking for the attacker behind a stabbing spree that killed at least three people and wounded several others.

BLACKWELL: And tropical trouble in paradise, tropical storm Hone could hit Hawaii with life threatening flooding and dangerous winds. They'll increase the danger of fires too. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here to track it all.

Now, with the Democratic and Republican tickets locked now, they've had the balloon drops. They've made the speeches the unpredictable 2024 presidential race has entered the final stretch.

The Harris campaign is entering the next phase of the election with momentum and a mountain of cash. 26.2 million people watched the final night of the Democratic National Convention that surpassed the RNC closing night.

WALKER: And Democrats say they raised more than $7 million during the Vice President's acceptance speech, and more than $100 million over the entire week, after a busy week, Harris has no events planned for this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's next?

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We're going to walk up those stairs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, after that?

HARRIS: Win. We are going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Trump reclaimed the spotlight last night as he campaigned in Arizona alongside Robert F Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate, ended days of speculation, suspending his campaign for the White House and then endorsing Trump. What remains unclear is what kind of impact Kennedy's exit will have on the race.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Kristen Holmes was in Arizona for that rally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump making the stage here in Glendale, Arizona, a critical battle route, same for a generally traditional stop speed. Perhaps the most notable moment of the entire night was when he brought out RFK Jr., who had suspended his campaign earlier in the day and endorsed Donald Trump.

RFK Jr. talking about what it was that led him to lend his support to the former president.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The best way to build a safe America is to rebuild our industrial base and rebuild the middle class in this country. And don't you want a president who's going to get us out of the wars and who's going to rebuild the middle class in this country?

HOLMES: RFK endorsement of Donald Trump earlier in the day had come after weeks of high level conversations with Trump's team and RFK orbit that started just before the Republican National Convention, but it really escalated after Kamala Harris, who put at the top of the ticket, they became a belief among those supporters of Donald Trump that RFK would be siphoning votes from Donald Trump in battleground states, and not Kamala Harris.

That is something we actually heard from RFK Jr. when he suspended his campaign that he believed he'd be taking votes from Trump instead of from Democrats.

Now, just to give you an idea of why the Trump campaign thought this was so important, I want to point to the polls here in Arizona, the most recent poll in New York Times poll showing that RFK was polling at roughly 6 percent.

Now in that poll, Donald Trump was pulling around 42 percent. Kamala Harris around 45.

[06:05:05]

They understand, Donald Trump's campaign understands that not all that 6 percent is going to back Donald Trump. However, they believe that this race is going to be determined by razor thin margins, and anything could help.

So, if RFK drops out and endorses Donald Trump, they believe they will get at least some of that to boost Donald Trump up and could help him win in November. And I do want to know it's not just RK polling like that here in Arizona, it's like that in several battleground states. So they are hoping that this gives him, Donald Trump a competitive advantage.

Obviously, we'll see how this plays out as we get closer to November, but expect to see RFK on the campaign trail for and with the former president. Amara and Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Kristen Holmes, thank you for that. Joining me now is Mychael Schnell, congressional reporter at The Hill. Good morning to you, Mychael. You just heard there, Kristen Holmes, referencing these polls that showed RFK Jr. with 6 percent support, a recent CBS News poll had him at 2 percent of course, in a tight race, every single vote is going to count.

What do we know about Kennedy's supporters and who they might gravitate towards? What kind of indications have we seen?

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: This has sort of been, Amara, the question all election season is who was RFK Jr. peeling more votes off from was it Trump, or was it then-Biden now Vice President Kamala Harris?

That is still sort of in question, but I will tell you, there was a New York Times analysis that was quite interesting that said that if all of the Kennedy voters who are Republicans and independent leaning Republicans through their support behind Donald Trump, it would only gain Trump around 1 percent across all swing states, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it could be a big difference in some of these battleground states, because as we know, the swing district polls, the national surveys are so close, so any support is really going to matter in this election. So I think it's definitely something to keep an eye out on.

But another caveat here is that a lot of this polling was done when Biden was still in the race, and part of RFK's draw among voters was that voters were disillusioned with both candidates the rematch between Trump and Biden, I'm curious to see if some of those numbers have since moved with Kamala Harris in the race, jolting some excitement into it and giving candidates an option that is not a rematch from 2020 and something that they were not excited about.

WALKER: That's an important distinction that these are polls were done when Biden was in the race. Let's talk about, you know, the days now after the Democratic National Convention, we saw those last four days where it was just pure euphoria for the Democrats, with those rousing speeches, those viral and really moving moments.

There are a lot of warnings, though, from Democratic leaders to not get complacent, right, to not live in this bubble of a party convention.

SCHNELL: Yes, exactly. And look, Democrats right now are on a high. They've had a really strong four and a half weeks now, especially significant because I think about five weeks ago, nobody really thought this would be possible. We are still grappling. They were still grappling with what to do with President Biden. Nobody knew if the transition to Harris would be seamless, how the VP rollout would go and then the convention.

So Democrats are quite thrilled with how things have been going, but they are mentioning that they should not get complacent, and noting that they're still around 75 days left until this election, and I'll tell you, Amara, I talked to a lot of House Republicans who say that this is a honeymoon period for Kamala Harris, that Democrats are currently on a sugar high, and that they believe that around Labor Day, this is going to die down.

Polls are going to recalibrate, and we're going to have a real, true sense of the election. Should I think a lot of Democrats are trying to say, let's keep up this enthusiasm, keep up this momentum, because we want to deny the fact Republicans that this is just a phase.

WALKER: Yes. Well, so now the hard part begins, right? And as Harris gets into this new phase of her campaign, there's a few important events that are coming up, including what she is saying, a sit down interview, a national interview that she will have before the end of the month? Well, the month ends in about a week from now, but also looking forward to the September 10 debate, all of which could really change the trajectory of the of the race.

SCHNELL: Yes, absolutely going to be a high stakes few weeks for this election, but particularly for Kamala Harris, because, again, she still has a nascent campaign. It's still just about four and a half weeks old at this point. So once this, you know, the beginning period comes to an end. Now the convention is over. The lead up to the convention and all the things that had to happen, the rollout of her V.P. that is all officially in the rear view mirror.

So we are in this final stretch to election day, and one piece of anticipation has been when is she going to do this sit down interview? She's gotten some criticism from reporters, a lot of criticism for Republicans for not sitting down and taking questions head on, one to one in a sit down interview.

So her campaign, she herself, set this deadline for the end of August. So it's going to be really interesting to see when that happens and how it goes and of course, that's all in the lead up to the September 10 debate.

[06:10:00]

It's only the second debate in this general election season. Obviously, the first debate was monumental for this campaign, that being the catalyst that led to President Biden stepping down. So there's a lot to come in these next few weeks, and a lot of high stakes moments that could define the rest of the trajectory of this campaign.

And we could expect that she will have to answer some tough questions in that sit down interview, including her flip flops on certain issues, including Medicare for all and fracking.

We are now awaiting Mychael the next round of national and battleground polls following the Democratic National Convention. What would a traditional post-convention bump look like versus one that might show you know that moderates and independents were actually tuning in and were swayed by what they saw and heard?

SCHNELL: Yes. I mean, I think it's entirely possible, probably likely, that there will be this post-convention bump. Look, Republicans, maybe independently. I'm sorry, Democrats, independent leading Democrats are revved up right now. They're fired up. They were excited about the convention.

But let's also realize we are still in that sort of beginning period of the Harris campaign. Again, I keep saying it because it's so shocking that this campaign is only four and a half weeks old, which is such a small amount of time when you talk about a presidential election cycle.

So, I think the polls are a still recalibrating from the change at the top of the ticket voters getting to know who Kamala Harris is, deciding if they're going to support her. That was a big focus of the convention, trying to reintroduce and redefine Kamala Harris on the national stage.

Of course, she was known being that she was vice president and a senator, but this is in a new light. This is now with her as the presidential candidate, so it's a whole new introduction for her. So I think it's entirely likely that there will be a bump in the polls for Kamala Harris, perhaps down ballot Democrats in the days to come.

But again, Republicans are guaranteeing that this is what they call a sugar high, this is the honeymoon period, and that things will go back to normal and recalibrate and we'll have a stronger sense of the election. That's, of course, their prediction. You know that that's not based in fact, we'll have to see if that pans out.

WALKER: Yes.

SCHNELL: I think it's also hopeful that things will go down, but it's going to be really interesting to see how the polls shake out post- DNC, and then a few weeks later to see if Democrats keep up this momentum.

WALKER: Just ted weeks and some change left till Election Day. Mychael Schnell, good to see you. Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Tropical storm warning is in effect right now for Hawaii's Big Island Tropical Storm Hone, is forecast to pass about 150 miles off the south of the island. Let's get now to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar, how is Hone impacting Hawaii now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So we're starting to see it get awfully close to it. You can see it there, just to the south and east. But the key component here is look how there's not really anything else. I mean, Hawaii is really the only target. We'll see.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CHINCHAR: The thing is, when we talk about hurricanes in the Atlantic, regardless of where it forms, there's a bunch of Caribbean islands. There's a bunch of stuff where we can get real time ground observations. Here not so much. You've got Hawaii, and that's it.

BLACKWELL: Yes. CHINCHAR: So for these particular storms in the Central Pacific, missions like the hurricane hunters use become even more crucial, because it's the only way we can really get data. So when those hurricane hunter planes go out, they drop hundreds of these, Victor. This is called a drops on inside their sensors. It can measure moisture, wind speed, wind direction. The parachute that's on the inside this will come out to help it stabilize as it falls down through the storm.

This is how we collect the real time, really good data that we end up getting from these storms.

BLACKWELL: This is a sensible demonstration compared to what we saw last week. I just want to point it out. If you have not seen it.

CHINCHAR: Both great demonstrations.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

CHINCHAR: But yes, so for this particular storm, when we're seeing it, it's really not near anything in particular. So we kind of take a look at some of the measurements we have. Now we know the sustained winds are 60 miles per hour from data we got from those hurricane hunters yesterday, gusting up to 70 miles per hour.

The track, it is forecast to get to category one hurricane strength in about the next 24 to 48 hours. So you've got those Tropical Storm watches and warnings in effect for several of the islands there.

One of the key components here is going to be flooding. It may not make direct landfall in Hawaii, but it's going to get close enough that a lot of those outer bands are going to push a tremendous amount of moisture. And so you're talking six to 10 inches on the Big Island, especially if that comes in a short period of time there could lead to mudslides, landslides and not to mention just the flooding component.

Now, part of that is a good thing. We've got a lot of Hawaii that's experiencing drought right now. The other side to that is all of those winds could end up uptaking the potential for fires across several of the islands.

WALKER: Allison, I don't know what Victor's talking about. All weather measurement --

BLACKWELL: You know what I'm talking about.

WALKER: All weather measurement devices are all appropriate. So you know, he's in his own world. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Well, a manhunt is underway in Germany after an attacker armed with a knife killed three people and wounded several others at a festival. We're going to have a report from Berlin after this. Also, Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks are expected to resume in Egypt this weekend as negotiators ramp up the pressure to get a deal.

[06:15:00] We'll have the latest on the talks. And some potential good news on the economy. The Fed chair is indicating an interest rate cut may be on the horizon. What this means for your wallet?

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WALKER: Breaking news from Germany right now.

[06:20:00]

An attacker is still on the run after a deadly stabbing attack at a festival in Western Germany, three people have died. Many others are hurt.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is with us now from Berlin. Fred, what do we know?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Victor, yes, all this apparently happened at around 9:40 p.m. last night. There was a big festival going on in this fairly small town. It's called Solingen, and it's right between the towns of Cologne and Dusseldorf, with which is indeed in the west of Germany.

At this town festival, apparently, shortly 4:10 p.m. the attacker started stabbing people in the crowd near the stage where the festival was going on. The police had originally categorized all this as a rampage, but then later spoke of a terror attack, and then sort of downgraded that to just an attack, because they say that it appeared as though the attacker deliberately stabbed people into the neck area. So they don't believe that this was someone who was just on some sort of rampage. They believe that this person was specifically looking to kill people.

Now, so far, three people have been confirmed to have been killed, eight people wounded, some of them severely wounded, and it appears as though the perpetrator got away. But there is a big manhunt going on right now. There was one person taken into custody, but then released because he was obviously not the perpetrator.

Just a quick word and that area in Germany, manhunt could be pretty difficult, because it is the most populated area in all of Germany, the sort of Rhine-Ruhr area, and there's a lot of really good rail and automobile links. But it's also very close to the borders of Belgium and Holland, so quite easy to slip across the border there.

The Germans are saying that they're doing everything to try and get the perpetrator. The German chancellor has spoken about this, the German interior minister, both of them saying they're absolutely shocked or gave all the necessary aid to the local police.

As you can imagine, Germany very much up in arms about all this. The German police are saying that people in that immediate area should stay indoors, and they obviously say they're doing everything they can to apprehend the person who's behind these guys.

BLACKWELL: Fred Pleitgen following this breaking news for us. Thank you so much, Fred. WALKER: All right now ceasefire talks can continue in Cairo as

families of Israeli hostages are gathering in Tel Aviv to call for their release, and we just learned that a Hamas delegation is traveling to Cairo today for talks. President Biden called Egyptian and Qatari leaders Friday to discuss the ramifications of a possible ceasefire deal.

But we have learned a permanent ceasefire is unlikely to happen.

BLACKWELL: So phase one of this potential deal would involve a six- week break and then gives the option for attacks to resume. In phase two, Hamas would release all its hostages and Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza.

Phase three would focus on Reconstruction in Gaza and returning any remains of any other hostages. Any break, of course, would be welcome in Gaza, thousands were forced to evacuate one of the last remaining humanitarian zones this week, and Palestinians face a humanitarian crisis as they battle the extreme heat and drinking from puddles to get any water. And of course, all this happens as they're dodging attacks.

WALKER: One woman tells CNN's Jeremy Diamond, half of her family lost their lives to the very soldiers who saved hers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Five-year-old Sham's eyes are a portal to the past she cannot forget. There are the streets and homes scarred by war, this building where she recited her final prayers, and then there is the indelible sight of her father and sister shot dead before her eyes.

Sham's mother Sanaa, who suffered burns as a child, will never forget that day.

SANAA, ABU TABAQ SHAM ABU TABAQ'S MOTHER: I wish we hadn't returned. I lost the most precious people.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But there's more to their story than tragedy and loss in war torn Gaza. Sham's and Sanaa's story is unlike any other we have come across in 10 months of war. That's because Sanaa doesn't just accuse Israeli troops of killing her husband Akram and daughter Yasmeen, an Israeli soldier may also have saved her life.

On November 24 the week long truce between Israel and Hamas begins. Thousands of people begin heading back to their homes in northern Gaza. Sanaa and her family are among them. But as they approach the Salatene neighborhood where they lived, they find themselves walking alone, and then shots ring out.

TABAQ: My God bless her soul, Yasmeen. One bullet in her back and one in her shoulder. I was hit in my leg. And my husband was hit in his stomach.

[06:25:00] So we all sat on the ground. We couldn't move. And we were bleeding. Sham is the only one who wasn't hit.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Her husband soon decides to crawl away to try to find help, but moments later, he is shot again, fatally. Sanaa lies on the ground bleeding, cradling her eldest daughter, Yasmeen.

TABAQ: She was saying, Mom, did you die? Please don't die and leave us. I'm still alive. I held her and I told her, no my dear, we are not going to die. The ambulance is coming. I was trying to give her hope. Even though I knew there was no hope.

DIAMOND: As a mother, I mean, you must have felt absolutely helpless in that moment.

TABAQ: I wasn't able to do anything, and that was the hardest situation. I couldn't. She was even asking for water, and I couldn't give her water.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Yasmeen soon died in her mother's arms. For hours, Sanaa lies here with Sham unable to move until she finally finds the strength to crawl down the street and into this nearby home. We obtained footage from that house after our first interview with Sanaa. This is the first time she and Sham are seeing it.

TABAQ: This is the bathroom we hid in.

DIAMOND (voice-over): And Sham begins to tell my colleague Abeer Salman what happened to her.

ABEER SALMAN, CNN PRODUCER: What happened in the morning?

SHAM: The tanks came.

SALMAN: How do you know the tanks had come?

SHAM: I heard their sound.

TABAQ: I told her, they've reached us. We've recited the Shahada. She said, hide me so I don't see them when they shoot me.

DIAMOND (voice-over): An explosion then rocks the bathroom. Israeli soldiers enter the house and call out in Arabic. What happens next is captured on muted body camera footage provided by the Israeli Military two soldiers treating Sanaa's gunshot wounds.

TABAQ: I told him, Please have mercy. Didn't you see my daughter who was killed at the door? I beg you, please don't kill us, it's enough. He told me, it wasn't us who killed her. It was Sinwar. I told him, I have nothing to do with Sinwar, or anyone else. You took my daughter and you took everything.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The medic soon realizes her condition is serious. She needs to get to a hospital.

TABAQ: The one who spoke Arabic started to make his calls. Then he told me, we decided to help you and take you with us.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Israeli soldiers carry Sanaa out of the building on a stretcher, her hands clutching Sham. Nothing about this footage should be extraordinary. Militaries must protect and care for wounded civilians when possible under international law. But in this war, this site is exceedingly rare.

For eight months, Sanaa and Sham have lived in this Jerusalem hospital. Their journey here was no less traumatic. Interrogation and strip searches came before treatment at an Israeli hospital. Israeli authorities are now planning to send them back to Gaza next month, unless another country takes them in.

The Israeli military, for its part, told CNN in a statement that Sanaa and her family were caught in the crossfire. The IDF says its soldiers issued verbal warnings after the family stumbled upon a concealed military position drawing a militant attack, the four people who entered in the area were caught in the intense exchange of fire between the terrorists and our troops. The troops did not open fire at the four people, nor did they aim at them.

TABAQ: They are lying. There was nobody in that area.

DIAMOND: I wonder, what would you say to that one soldier, if you could see him again?

TABAQ: It's true he helped me. But he also took from me the most precious thing I had. I can't even thank him, because he had mercy for us by the will of God, not by his own will. Because if he had compassion, he wouldn't have deprived me of the dearest people to my heart.

DIAMOND: Sanaa's pain is as raw as ever, and seeing her home again in footage film this spring brings a flood of emotion.

TABAQ: These are Yasmeen and Sham's shoes. I bought these shoes for Eid.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Mundane objects are transformed into relics.

TABAQ: This is Yasmnee's dress and this is Sham's dress. She always loved pink. This is her dress.

DIAMOND: And Sanaa is taken. Back in time to the life she will never get back. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Headlines for you this morning. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked Ukraine's Independence Day with a video address to his nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT, UKRAINE (through translator): Nine

hundred and thirteen days ago, Russia unleashed war against us, including through the Sumy region. It violated not only our sovereign borders, but also the limits of cruelty and common sense. It was endlessly striving for one thing, to destroy us. Instead, today, we celebrate the 33rd Independence Day of Ukraine.

[06:35:00]

And whatever the enemy was bringing to our land has now returned to their home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: President Biden spoke with Zelenskyy Friday and reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine. He also announced a new aid package that includes air defense missiles and counter drone equipment. And we may learn more about the two NASA astronauts who are stuck at the International Space Station.

They have repeatedly extended their stay there because of problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. NASA will hold a press conference later today and are expected to announce how they plan to bring these stranded astronauts home safely. Whether they'll use the Boeing Starliner the astronauts arrived on or use seats on a SpaceX dragon.

And baby Bieber has arrived. Justin and Hailey Bieber welcomed their first child together, announcing on Instagram with a caption, "welcome home, Jack Blues Bieber", I like that. Jack Blue. The couple did not share any other details. The Biebers have been married for about six years, they announced they were expecting in May.

AMARA WALKER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: A.I. images of fake political endorsements are going viral across social media, sowing discord and misinformation. Images like this of Taylor Swift appearing to endorse Donald Trump was posted by Trump himself even though Swift hasn't endorsed Donald Trump or anyone else in the 2024 election.

New data into CNN shows fakes like that and more are exploding online right now. CNN's Marshall Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Good morning. The internet is swamped with these fake endorsements. They're spreading widely and sowing confusion on social media. So, researchers from the news literacy project, a non-partisan group, they analyze more than 500 unique examples of election misinformation.

They launched a searchable database a few days ago, hoping to raise awareness and combat the lies. We look through the data and found that about one in ten of their examples were fake endorsements like these. Take a look at this, just last weekend, Donald Trump shared these A.I.-generated images of Swifties for Trump. Many of these images simply aren't real. They were made by a computer

and designed to deceive the voters. But it's not just Trump. The misinformation is coming from all angles. Here's another viral post from earlier this year claiming that Taylor Swift endorsed Joe Biden.

So, she did support him in 2020, but she hasn't weighed in yet for 2024. And here's one more. Check out this photo-shopped image of actor Ryan Reynolds supposedly wearing a shirt supporting Kamala Harris. Some fakes like that are pretty easy to spot, they're pretty rudimentary.

Others are far more sophisticated with A.I. technology. Posts like these regularly rack up millions of views online including on Twitter, which is now called X. This is the first presidential election under its new owner, Elon Musk, who has dismantled many of the company's safeguards against disinformation.

The A.I. chatbot on that platform called Grok(ph) recently rolled out a new feature allowing users to generate their own A.I. images with just a few clicks, which is clearly making the problem worse. For their part, Facebook and Instagram say they are spending billions of dollars on election integrity, and they say they're cracking down on A.I. images appearing in political advertisements.

But ultimately, it comes down to us. If you see pictures of celebrities wearing a political shirt or holding a political sign or claims from some random Twitter user about a shocking new celebrity endorsement, you should probably take a closer look before you hit that share button. Marshall Cohen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, thanks Marshall. A twist in the criminal case related to the death of Tyre Nichols, the second former Memphis police officer charged in the killing, has now changed his plea. We have details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

WALKER: Another former Memphis police officer just changed his plea to guilty in the death of Tyre Nichols. Emmitt Martin III joined his colleague Desmond Mills and changing his plea.

BLACKWELL: They're among five former officers charged in the death of Nichols who died in 2023 just days after the officers were shown on camera beating him during a traffic stop. CNN's Nick Valencia explains what could happen next in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): An attorney for Emmitt Martin said that his client was finally willing to accept responsibility for his actions. Martin was facing a slew of charges from the Feds, but in his change of plea agreement, ultimately pleaded guilty to two of the counts, obstruction of justice and witness- tampering. After the hearing, Tyre Nichols' parents choked back emotion speaking to reporters.

ROWVAUGHN WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS' MOTHER: This is very difficult. I have four children, one of my kids is gone now because of the Memphis Police Department.

RODNEY WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS' FATHER: We still have three more officers that need to be convicted or turned themselves or change their plea.

[06:45:00]

Until then, we're still fighting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes sir.

ROD. WELLS: We will fight until we get all five of those officers --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

ROD. WELLS: Charged --

ROW. WELLS: And convicted --

ROD. WELLS: And convicted --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

ROD. WELLS: And sentenced --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

ROW. WELLS: And sentenced for the death of our son.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Martin joins his former colleague Desmond Mills who also entered a guilty plea, but in his plea, it was a global plea which affected his state charges as well. What's not clear at this point is whether Martin will enter a guilty plea and his state charges where he's facing second degree murder charges.

But after the hearing, we did reach out to the Shelby County district attorney, and this is what they told us, quote, "we expect that at the appropriate time, Martin will enter a similar plea in state court." Now, of course, Martin was one of the five former Memphis police officers involved in the violent arrest and beating death of Tyre Nichols back in January of 2023.

Those officers initially claimed that they pulled Nichols over for reckless driving. But in the 17 months since that incident occurred, that's not entirely clear. What is clear, however, is what was captured on police body camera, and it shows those former police officers repeatedly kicking and punching Nichols.

Now, we are still waiting to hear what happens with those three other officers involved in this case and whether or not they will change their pleas. The clock is ticking. This federal case is expected to begin on September 9th with jury selection. Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Nick, thank you. The Fed is sending a crucial message about its next move, signaling that lower interest rates may finally be in the cards. What this means for the economy.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: All right, so, we're already looking ahead to the Fed's mid-September meeting after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's strong signal yesterday that he finally maybe is ready to cut interest rates. Investors reacted positively to those words. The Dow finished the trading day up more than 450 points.

WALKER: CNN business reporter Matt Egan explains what all of these developments mean for the economy.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Victor and Amara, this is a big moment for the American economy. For the last two years, the Fed has been waging war on inflation with monster interest rate hikes. Now, Jerome Powell has all but declared victory in that war, saying he is more confident that inflation is going back to where it belongs, back to 2 percent.

And that the mission has shifted from fighting inflation to fighting unemployment, and that means a different strategy instead of interest rate hikes the Fed is preparing to halt interest rates. Take a listen to what Powell said at Jackson Hole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, CHAIR, FEDERAL RESERVE, UNITED STATES: The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, evolving outlook in the balance of risks. We will do everything we can to support a strong labor market as we make further progress towards price stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: So, Powell essentially pre-announced an interest rate cut at the next meeting in September, the final meeting before the election. This would be the first interest rate cut since COVID, and yet would mean lower borrowing costs for all Americans. So, if you're in the market for a house, mortgage rates have come down, they should go down even further.

If you're trying to pay off credit card debt where there's record high interest rates, this would mean you get a break there. Now, Powell also struck a cautiously optimistic tone about the prospects of a soft landing. He said that there is, quote, "good reason to believe that inflation will get back to 2 percent while the jobs market stays strong." So, that would essentially be the soft landing that we've all been

hoping for, and that looked elusive for the longest time. Powell signaled that the Fed is not looking to see any further weakness in the jobs market, and he suggested that they would be prepared to come to the rescue should it be needed.

He noted that interest rates are high and that gives the Fed a lot of firepower to lower them if that's what's needed. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Matt, thank you. So, every year, America's national parks have to deal with tourists to get just too close to wild animals like bison and bears. So, just how close is too close? CNN senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera took a four-day trip to Yellowstone; America's oldest national park, and found out the hard way. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The motel over there has a sign that says, "do not pet the fluffy cows". You constantly have to be reminded about this stuff because you're walking around town, and you think that they're just part of the atmosphere and that they're friendly.

And you have to remind yourself they're wild animals. Oh --

(LAUGHTER)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Friendly stranger reminds us of that in a loving way. This is "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS TOURISTS IN THE WILD". It didn't take us long to figure out what not to do. There is such a thing as getting too close to wildlife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go --

[06:55:00]

LAVANDERA: Wild animals don't want to take a selfie with you and they especially don't want to be held.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once she's holding you --

LAVANDERA: This scene was captured in North Carolina. These people pulled black bear cubs out of a tree, but because of this human interaction, at least one of the cubs could not be reunited with its mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wants to get back to its mother --

LAVANDERA: Wildlife refuge staff were unable to locate the second cub.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's insane.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WALKER: Just shocking to see some of this video. Be sure to tune in

to an all new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper, one whole hour, one whole story airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN. Another hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND kicks off after a quick break, we'll see you at the top of the hour.

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