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Israel to Attend New talks on Hostage and Ceasefire Deal; Swifties Gather in Vienna After Concerts Canceled; Russia Tries to Halt Ukrainian Incursion into Kursk; Letsile Tebogo Makes History for Botswana with 200- Meter Gold; Celtics' Jayson Tatum on His path to the Olympic Games; Parisians Wary of Swimming in the River Seine; Trump Campaign Projects Optimism Amid Harris Momentum; New Bodycam Video shows Police Encounter with Trump Shooter; Microsoft says Iran Creating Fake News Sites to Influence Election; U.K. Riots Show How Social Media Can Fuel Real-Life Harm; OpenAI Concerned ChatGPT Voice Mode Could Cause Emotional Attachment. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired August 09, 2024 - 10:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:34]
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, this is the second hour of the show. I'm Becky Anderson in London. Time here is 3:00 p.m..
Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. pushing for renewed ceasefire talks as regional players look to avoid a broader Middle East war. Ukraine pushing forward
launching a massive drone attack on Russia early this morning Friday, and the Olympics coming to a close in Paris as athletes gear up for the final
push before the closing ceremonies.
Israel says it will send a delegation to hostage and ceasefire talks next week. No word yet on whether Hamas will attend. They are planned for
Thursday likely in either Doha or in Cairo. The main mediators, U.S., Qatar and Egypt, stepped up the pressure for talks yesterday. Many believe a
ceasefire is the only way to de-escalate tensions and avert an all-out regional war.
Well, CNN's Alex Marquardt is working the story from Washington for you, journalist Elliott Gotkine is here with me in London.
Alex, let me start with you. U.S. officials say that they were close to an agreement before the assassinations of those Hamas and Hezbollah leaders
last week. Question now is with August 15th it seems as the date for these talks, is a ceasefire still possible at this point?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. officials still claim that they're close, but of course this -- the talks
were very much put on hold after Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political arm, was killed in Tehran last week, which is widely believed to
have been carried out by Israel.
So what we're seeing now, Becky, is the first sign that those talks are not dead and you're really seeing this major push from the mediators, from the
U.S., Egypt, and Qatar. They put out this statement last night as signed by the leaders of all three countries, including President Biden. And there's
a real sense of urgency in this statement, bordering on exasperation and frustration, basically saying that after 10 months, that a ceasefire really
needs to happen.
And I want to read you a part of this statement. It says there is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It is
time to release the hostages. Begin the ceasefire and implement the agreement. These three leaders go on to talk about offering up a bridging
proposal to narrow the gaps and bring the two sides together, essentially saying we're tired of your back-and-forth, your proposals and your counter
proposals.
Of course, Becky, this comes at an extremely tense time in the region. Israel bracing for a potential strikes by both Hezbollah and Iran. So there
is a real impetus to try to get this ceasefire done. There are major gaps that remain, but just yesterday, I was on a call with a senior
administration official who says that they do believe those gaps are bridgeable. There's going to be a lot of work done in the next week because
we're six days out from this potential meeting.
As you say, Israel has agreed to send a delegation. We have not yet heard from Hamas. There is an expectation that if this meeting does go ahead,
that the CIA director Bill Burns will be there. So we will see work by these technical expert teams in the next week leading up to that. But we
should not have any expectation that as those main players get into that room on Thursday, that a deal is signed.
It is not, if you will, a done deal just yet -- Becky.
ANDERSON: It is those -- thank you. It is those assassinations of both the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, Elliott, that has ratcheted these fears of
retaliation and wider sort of conflict from both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah. So two threats from two very specific points, Tehran on the one
hand and Hezbollah in Lebanon on the other, putting sort of, you know, Israel in this sort of pincer like position at present.
What's the talk on the ground in Israel? We've just heard what Alex has said about these ceasefire talks scheduled now for August 15th. That is
some way away at this point. What's the talk on the ground about whether or not Israel is expecting some sort of attack between now and then, for
example?
[10:05:02]
ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: I think Israel is clearly making preparations for all eventualities. There's even talk of some municipalities in the
south of Israel kind of building tent cities in preparation for a kind of flood of displaced people from the northern part of Israel in case
Hezbollah attack. So there are certainly concerns about it and there's speculation that perhaps if there is going to be an attack, that Iran might
choose to do it on Monday night, Tuesday, because that is the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the destruction of both Jewish
temples in Jerusalem.
It's the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. And just to mark, go back to October 7th, that of course goes Simchat Torah, which is supposed to be one
of the most joyous days when Jews celebrate the end of the reading of the whole of the Torah and then start all over again. So, you know, with that
in mind, that's kind of one of the days that people are speculating, which of course would come between now and next Thursday.
But certainly they're taking preparations for all eventualities. There is, of course, a hope that it won't happen. But Iran itself and Hezbollah
themselves have both promised retaliation. And I think it's, you know, the only thing that could perhaps potentially forestall this, maybe give Iran
an off-ramp from some of its rhetoric, and just to give you, for example, something that Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, said in the
immediate aftermath of the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which again Israel has not claimed, saying you have paved the way for your harsh
punishment.
But there was like almost like perhaps a window, perhaps a nuance in a conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and the new Iranian
president where the Iranian president says that, you know, if Western countries want to prevent war, they should force Israel to accept a
ceasefire.
The other, if you want to be optimistic, change that we've seen over the past couple of weeks is of course President Biden is no longer running. The
opinion polls in the U.S. have changed. So whereas previously, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who may have been playing a waiting game, waiting for
President Trump with whom he had a bromance even if they had a little bit of tension between them after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his election
victory, that could now mean, OK, now, if there is a possibility of continuation, if you like, if Kamala Harris were to win, and polls suggest
that they're neck and neck more or less, then perhaps he might be more inclined to do more of what the U.S. administration is asking of him than
he would previously.
ANDERSON: These are worrying times, complicated and confusing. Between the two of you, you've done a really good job for our viewers on laying out
where we are at and where we might go next. Thank you to both of you.
Well, another suspect has been detained in the alleged thwarted terror plot that forced the cancellation of Taylor Swift's Vienna concerts. Iraq's
Interior Ministry says the 18-year-old Iraqi national recently pledged allegiance to ISIS. Authorities say the 19-year-old main suspect in the
foiled plots in here also pledged allegiance to the group, while a third teenager remains in custody.
Salma Abdelaziz is back with us this hour in a crowd of Swifties trying to, Salma, make the best of what they, you know, are clearly understand is a
pretty unfortunate situation.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And I think because the concert goers, so many of them are young women, young girls, they
absolutely feel targeted by this potential terror plot. It absolutely was a huge disappointment to miss the concert, but also a shock to think that
they could be caught up in this violence, but they've turned that around, Becky. I'm just going to start turning around, because you can hear this
singing.
This is a completely organic gathering that's been going on for two days now. Swifties just coming to this one street in Vienna singing as loud as
they can, dancing in the street. They say this street, their safe space. Yes, a terror plot took away their opportunity to gather in a concert hall,
but they're finding that chance to connect just organically again on the streets.
I'm going to tap shoulders because one of the things I really want you to see is these beaded friendship bracelets here that these young ladies have
on and these are so important to Swiftie fans, right, like these are super important. This is how you make friends is you just go up to somebody and
you say, can I change bracelets with you, and suddenly a stranger is now a friend and there is someone to connect to in this moment. And that is the
sense of community that everyone here says they are celebrating.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, Salma. Thank you.
Well, Ukraine's assaults across its border is showing no letup. It launched a, quote, "massive drone attack" on Russia's western Lipetsk region early
on Friday. According to that region's governor, he says multiple people were wounded in that attack, which damaged energy infrastructure. This
region even deeper into Russia and Kursk, where Russian officials say the fighting appears to be ongoing.
Also early today, Friday, a Russian strike on a supermarket in Ukraine's Donetsk region killed at least 11 people, according to authorities who say
a rescue operation there is underway.
[10:10:06]
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me now.
You and I spoke midweek. It's Friday now. Is it any clearer -- and let's start with the Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory. Is it any
clearer what the goal is at this point?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: No. But certainly one goal that they presumably wanted to have, they're achieving
is a very positive headline for Ukraine's military and frankly chaos amongst Russian ranks here because they have now day four failed to stop
this incursion. It appears to be significantly deeper than it was, or it's very hard to tally precisely where we're seeing Ukrainian troops there.
But they're certainly not back across the border. They appear to still be in Sudzha. They may have gone further around that. There's a Russian column
of troops and ammunition that appears to have been destroyed even further to the north of Sudzha, so a lot of motion around here. The Lipetsk drone
strikes you talked about important to separate that from the incursion because we've been seeing Ukrainian drone activity deep inside Russia
hitting military infrastructure, and energy infrastructure structure over the last year or so.
And so this is obviously at the same time as the incursion, but a tactic they've been using consistently over the past months with some significant
drone technology at their disposal. But this larger incursion, still ongoing, still causing the Russians to panic and send reinforcements there
and showing frankly that it's possible for Kyiv to take Moscow completely by surprise and catch them off guard.
ANDERSON: Meantime, we've just seen a deadly attack in Ukraine. The supermarket hit, with at least 11 killed. To your mind, will this be a
response to Ukraine's incursion into Russia? What does today's attack mean for the sort of wider story here?
PATON WALSH: I mean, the death toll has been rising very fast during the morning and, you know, I have been in many of these sort of supermarkets.
They're crammed with civilians and soldiers wrestle as food in war-torn areas come difficult, close to the frontline as well. And so we have seen
brutal attacks on dual, I could say, I don't know exactly who was in the supermarket, but you're often there with soldiers around buying their food
at the same time.
A civilian target like this, though, often hit by Russia at times of frustration. Elsewhere on the battlefield, no way of dividing the
motivation. They've also just hit civilian infrastructure whenever they can anyway. So it's hard to see where's the pattern in things like this, but
it's certainly a reminder of the brutality of what Russia has been doing inside Ukraine when they say, Vladimir Putin did on Wednesday, that
Ukrainian forces have been indiscriminately shelling residential areas inside of Russia. Look at what Russia has been doing for years there.
We're in a very interesting phase here with this new move by Ukraine because they're clearly trying to show the ability to project strength. As
you mentioned, it's not entirely clear why. There's not some obvious strategic goal that we can see publicly that maybe some genius here for
infrastructure, railways that we don't know about, that we haven't divined because Ukraine are not telegraphing this.
They telegraphed their summer counteroffensive for months and that did not go very well. So this is clearly a bid to move faster and quicker but
ultimately I think it is Kyiv trying to say after months of bad headlines, look at what we can do. It may be with a mind of showing Western allies
that they've still got some fight in them. They may be trying to get an upper hand because the possibility of a Trump presidency and the likelihood
of a possibly clumsy, swift and not particularly long-lasting ceasefire being imposed.
And so it's a very fluid time, but I think it's one where we've seen again that if Ukraine gets a tactical surprise it could still show how weak
Russian forces indeed are, despite how Moscow seems to have won in the kind of frontline wars of attrition that we've been seeing over the past months.
ANDERSON: Nick, good to have you. Thank you very much, indeed.
Well, you are watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. Time here 30 minutes past 3:00 in the afternoon in London. Ahead on this show, we are
heading to Paris for the latest on the Olympics including an unprecedent moment on the track for Botswana. More on that after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:16:10]
ANDERSON: Well, two weeks seem to have flown by at the Olympics in Paris. The closing ceremony is this Sunday, but before that, more medals to be
decided in some high-profile events. The U.S. men's basketball team will face host nation France on Saturday in the gold medal game after staging
what was a huge second half comeback against Serbia.
And we've seen some notable achievements on the track all week. American Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone winning gold in the women's 400-meter hurdles and
setting a world record and Botswana's Letsile Tebogo winning his country's first ever gold medal in the men's 200-meter race in what proved to me an
emotional victory.
Amanda Davies back with us. You've caught up with him. This win by Tebogo is a really big deal, not just for the youngster, but for his country as a
whole, Amanda.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: For his country and actually for the continent of Africa. He is not only the first Botswanan to win Olympic 200-
meter gold, but the first African to win an Olympic 200-meter gold. And posting the fastest time an African has ever run over the distance here at
an Olympic Games.
So much of the talk, of course, in the buildup had been about Noah Lyles, whether he could do the double at the 200 title to the 100. We subsequently
found out that he tested positive for COVID on Tuesday, which explains his somewhat slower performance taking the bronze medal. But Tebogo had posted
the fastest time to make it through the semifinals into the final. He's been on a steady trajectory upwards and had the added motivation after the
sudden passing of his mother in May.
He told me he stopped, thoughts he might want to walk away, but then sat down, was sat down by his team and they said, what are you doing this for?
What is your why? And he decided ultimately this is where he wanted to be. It was very emotional when I spoke to him just a short while ago. Have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETSILE TEBOGO, MEN'S 200M GOLD MEDALIST: I feel energized. I feel born again. I feel everything is just all new to me even though we didn't have
some rest last night because I think I went to sleep around 4:00 a.m. It was more of an emotional day yesterday. I didn't show it to the camera, I
didn't show it to the people, but when I immediately when I got into my room, I started to become emotional.
And then just so what I've been through and made it into the global stage was the biggest achievement ever.
DAVIES: You've spoken about the importance of your mum and how tough it has been for you since her passing in May. I know you paid tribute to her with
your spikes last night.
TEBOGO: Yes, I did pay tribute to her last night with the spikes and it meant a lot for me because I knew that I had to carry her with me because
she's been the backbone of me since day one. She's been there through thick and thin that I went through so I had to get her with me. And even though
we're not sure if we're going to medal, but I just had to, even on the 100- meter final, this is the same spike that I wore.
DAVIES: What do you think she would have said to you last night?
TEBOGO: Me knowing her she wouldn't say a word, she would just cry out and then we'll just talk when we get home, and when the dust has settled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:20:05]
DAVIES: Supremely proud of those spikes with his mom's birthday written on them. He's already been back on track as well. Very much hoping that
Botswana might take another medal in the four-by-400 relay. They eased through their heat a little bit a short while ago this morning, Becky.
ANDERSON: Good stuff. Look, as if we hadn't had our fill of football this summer with the Euros, we've got the football finals, of course, to come as
some of the big headliners before the end. But what can we expect?
DAVIES: Yes, Thierry Henry, who is the coach of the French Nationals side here has said that he is not talking about revenge because it's one of the
classic footballing rivalries we've ended up with in the men's finals and under 23 tournament, of course, on the whole with a few added extras. But
it's France against Spain, of course, that European championship victors just a few weeks ago in Berlin.
Henry, for everything he's done as a player, having won, you know, World Cups, European championships, Champions League, is on the verge of what
would be his first major piece of silverware as a coach. But Spain certainly hoping to upset the odds here against the host.
And then in terms of the women's final, which takes place here in Paris on Saturday, Emma Hayes just literally weeks, she said to me earlier, 75 days
into her new post as coach of the U.S. women's national team, she's not had an end of season break after finishing with Chelsea. She's one of the most
successful coaches in the women's game. She's led Team USA to the final here against Brazil.
But what a climax, what an end of career it is going to be for one of the greatest women's footballers of all time in Marta. This is her sixth
Olympic Games. Brazil had never won a major football trophies, so they very much hoping to go out on a high.
ANDERSON: Amazing. Good stuff, Amanda. Thank you. Coverage has been fantastic.
Just before heading to Paris to shoot for basketball gold, Team USA was in Abu Dhabi training for the Olympics and playing two showcase games with
Australia and Serbia. My colleague Eleni Giokos caught up with one of the big stars of the team, NBA champion and five-time All-Star Celtics player
Jayson Tatum. She sat down with him in Abu Dhabi just before the Olympics ahead of the showcase game with Serbia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAYSON TATUM, CELTICS BASKETBALL PLAYER: I'm blessed. I'm blessed to be here. It's been a great summer so far. Obviously winning a championship was
a dream come true. Something I have dreamed about and worked for seven years, and finally get over the hump with some of the best players in the
world, and wear USA across my chest for the Olympics for the second time. You know, just being grateful to be here and be on the team and having this
opportunity.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 32 years ago, the USA basketball team debuted a legendary lineup of players, Michael Jordan,
Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson, making the famous Dream Team. Now this summer we will see one of the best teams since with stars like Steph Curry,
Kevin Durant and LeBron James showcasing their talents.
TATUM: I literally grew up watching LeBron James and watching Kevin Durant and watching Steph Curry, and now to see those guys every day and see how
they work and prepare, shoot around and practice in the game, you know, I'm in awe sometimes that, you know, they've accomplished so much, and it means
so much to the game of basketball. That means so much to guys like myself. It's been great. They're great guys and great basketball players.
GIOKOS: Talents and ego often go hand-in-hand, making a team of all stars difficult to navigate. But it is something Jayson is familiar with. As a
Celtics player, he's already on a team of champions.
What do you need to change and alter? How are you guys trying to figure out what you need to do to have a winning chance at the Olympics?
TATUM: There's a little bit of sacrifice. But it's also, you still have to be some version of yourself. That's why, you know, they picked you to be on
this team because of the different talents that we bring. The toughest part is just we only have like four or five weeks to come together as a team,
and learn plays, learn different phrases, and playing with different guys. And we're trying to win a gold medal.
GIOKOS (voice-over): After success with the Celtics, this Paris Olympics offer another significant moment. Tatum is wearing number 10 for the USA
basketball team. The same number as the legendary Kobe Bryant, an idol for Tatum growing up.
TATUM: Growing up, that was my idol. That was my favorite player. The reason why I fell in love with USA basketball, the reason why I fell in
love with NBA was because of him. So grew up watching him, idolizing him, and became a mentor of mine, when I got to the league and to be able to
wear number 10 means the world.
[10:25:09]
GIOKOS: Success in any field requires talent, dedication, and maybe even some manifestation. In a letter he wrote in the fourth grade, Tatum set
himself a life plan, one that seems to be coming true.
You say, when I'm 30, I would have gone to the NBA at age 19. You go on to say two decades from now, I will have accomplished my dreams and goals. I
will play for the USA Olympics basketball team and I would have won three championships. How do you feel reading back to what you wrote as a kid?
TATUM: I was driven. I was very driven at a young age. I was always sure of who I wanted to be and what I wanted it to look like, and I would like to
think I'm on the right path.
GIOKOS: When you wrote it, did you fundamentally believe that you were able to achieve these goals? I mean, most of what you've written here is
actually come to fruition, which is incredible.
TATUM: Yes. I mean, I don't know how many championships I went, but knew that I would go to college for one year and I will get drafted at 19, and I
wanted to play for the Lakers, but, you know, it's worked out perfectly so far.
GIOKOS (voice-over): It took seven hard years to get to where he is, a road that has been lined with those who didn't think that he had what it takes
to get to the top of the game.
What do you say to the people that doubted you? And did you ever think you were going to get to where you are today?
TATUM: It's not about proving the doubters wrong or what I would love to say to them. What I realized is more about the people that were there to
support me. You know, I'm really grateful for them. My family, the fans, my close friends. I thought that after we won I would have so much to say
about, you know, everybody that's ever said anything bad about me but more so I was just -- I was happy that I could share this moment with, you know,
the people that has always been there and really just, you know, very thankful for them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: The River Seine has certainly been a headache for Paris 2024 organizers, hasn't it? The city spent months cleaning up so it'll be safe
for the athletes. Still, some did fall ill after last week's triathlon, though it's not clear if the water quality was to blame. Despite that,
organizers are hoping the river will be used for swimming long after the Olympics are over.
My colleague Saskya Vandoorne reports it may be a tough sell for locals.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SR. PRODUCER: This isn't the Seine. But this is how some Parisians cool off in the summer.
(Voice-over): The Olympics promised to make the Seine clean and safe for swimmers just like this canal.
Would you swim in the Seine?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't drink a pint of it, but I'd swim in it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I would take the risk.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Parisians can swim in these canals, but the city is looking to open three new spots in the River Seine next year, a legacy of
the Olympics.
The canal comes from a different water source than the Seine.
(Voice-over): It dates back to Napoleon and it was only opened to swimming in 2017.
But it's also tested daily for pollution and bacteria.
The Seine is right there. Would you get in it if you could?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so because I'm afraid of getting sick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Full of rats, full of rubbish. And there we go, so I don't fancy getting sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not for me. Well, maybe I need a suit with a helmet and everything, but not with a swimming pool, not with a bathing suit. No,
no, never.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, coming up next, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on the campaign trail today with, well, clearly very different strategies. More on
that is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:31:42]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Half past 3:00 in London. Half past 10 on the East Coast of the
U.S.
Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have officially agreed to a debate hosted by ABC on September 10. But Trump said he has
actually agreed to three debates while Harris has not yet confirmed whether she will debate Trump more than once.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10th. I'm looking forward to it and
hope he shows up.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you open to more debate?
HARRIS: I'm happy to have that conversation about an additional debate right after September 10th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, meanwhile, Trump campaign officials are projecting optimism, downplaying the momentum of the Harris campaign. They argue
Harris is making up ground with voters who had moved away from Biden and that the fundamentals of the race haven't changed.
And CNN's Daniel Strauss covering the Trump campaign for us and joins us now from Washington. And there are now polls showing that Kamala Harris has
actually not just sort of caught up with Donald Trump but is overtaking him.
Do you just want to pick apart what we are seeing when we talk about this momentum and what the Trump campaign is doing about it?
DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, it's a shocking reversal that I have never seen in more than a decade of covering politics where a
candidate switched out of the ticket and you really see sort of the giant in waiting behind that. There's been a massive surge in donations to the
Harris campaign and a surge in support across the country with national polls showing that the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris flipped her
advantage from when Biden was running so that she's leading Trump by just a few points.
So to do the math on that, that's also making up the lost ground of Biden trailing Trump and then taking a lead, and it's really surprising, and it's
something that has really, I wouldn't say caused a panic among Republicans, but has given them pause and concern because they do see that there's a
large amount of momentum and a shifted narrative. And there are things like being a coherent speaker that the Trump campaign has to worry about now
simply because he is running against a ticket that is younger, that is more dynamic than Biden, and that is newer and a new fresh face to the American
electorate.
But I do want to caution at the same time that Democrats usually win the popular vote in national elections. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll
win the White House, and it's still up for grabs whether the Harris campaign or the Trump campaign is the favorite to win the electoral vote,
which is really the key to the White House.
ANDERSON: Yes. On these swing states what are in play of course by their very name, swing states, and those are the ones of course that both of
these campaigns are going after and spending some time in over the next weeks. And we will keep an eye on that. We will keep an eye on of course
the Democrats at their convention a week or so from now, and we will stay with you for more analysis. Thank you, sir.
STRAUSS: Thanks so much.
[10:35:03]
ANDERSON: Well, CNN has obtained new police body cam video from the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. That shows the moment a police
officer sees gunman Thomas Crooks right before the shooting and the immediate aftermath at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month.
CNN's Danny Freeman with the story for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the moment we've heard so much about, seen now for the first time on police body camera. A Butler
Township police officer asking for a boost to check the roof of the AGR Building outside former President Trump's rally. There's no audio in this
video obtained by CNN. You can see on the time stamp this is less than one minute before Crooks started shooting.
The officer climbs up to the roof and almost immediately drops down and the tone changes. You don't see it on the video, but police have said Crooks
aimed his rifle right at the officer. He runs to the other side of the building to look at the roof. And on this officer's dash cam, which was
recording audio, you can hear those first three gunshots from Thomas Matthew Crooks at 6:11 p.m.
The officer rushes back to his car to get his rifle. You hear him shout to other law enforcement officers on the dash cam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't pull up your head. He's right there.
FREEMAN: Back to the officer's body cam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). This close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's he at? Where's he at?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's straight up. Who's got eyes on him?
FREEMAN: Chaos ensues. By this point, the gunman, Crooks, has already been killed by Secret Service. But it doesn't appear local law enforcement is
aware.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're about to hop up. He's laying down. He's (INAUDIBLE). Next building over. Right after the gap. He's got glasses,
long hair.
FREEMAN: These videos provide new insight into local law enforcement's movements moments before the shooting and the frantic aftermath. Since that
day, there's been finger-pointing between U.S. Secret Service and Western Pennsylvania law enforcement, including testimony from the acting director
of the Secret Service asserting local snipers hidden in a building could have spotted Crooks.
RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: I'm not saying that they should have neutralized him, but if they'd have just held their post and
looked left, maybe, and there's a lot of maybes there, Senator.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): A lot of maybes, but.
FREEMAN: But this new body camera footage also suggests local law enforcement had warned Secret Service they needed to protect the building
Crooks used to fire the shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I (EXPLETIVE DELETED) told them they need to post their guys (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over here. I told them that the (EXPLETIVE
DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Secret Service. I told them that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Tuesday. I told them to post (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guys over here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you guys were on the roof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We're inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Alpha 1 and Bravo 1, paging.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I told them to post (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guys over here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't even concerned about it because I thought someone was on the roof. I thought that's how -- can you lose a guy walking
back there if you're on the roof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're inside.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREEMAN (on-camera): I should also note that frustration you just saw right there coming just about 10 minutes after the shooting took place. Now we
did get a statement from the Secret Service on Thursday saying that they are reviewing the body camera footage that was released by local law
enforcement. And furthermore, they added that they appreciate local law enforcement partners who acted courageously as they worked to locate the
shooter that day.
Danny Freeman, CNN, Washington.
ANDERSON: Well, we are, what, 90 days away from the U.S. election. Microsoft says Iran is creating fake news Web sites in an effort to target
U.S. voters and interfere in November's presidential election. It comes after U.S. intelligence revealed last month that Iran was using, and I
quote them here, "covert social media accounts" to specifically undermine Donald Trump's campaign.
CNN's Katie Bo Lillis has the very latest from Washington.
So let's just start with what we understand to be the substance of this. Describe the kind of messaging that we are seeing on these fake news Web
sites, and what Microsoft is saying about them and what they're going to do about it?
KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Microsoft is providing two really concrete examples of the way that Iran is carrying out this covert
influence campaign, which as the intelligence community has said is intended both to try to undermine the campaign of former president Donald
Trump, but also to try to generally sow discord within the United States. They've provided two examples of a phony Web site created to look like news
Web sites by Iranian backed operatives.
One of them targeting more conservative leaning voters and one of them targeting more liberal or Democratic leaning voters. So one of these Web
sites that Microsoft has detailed calls the former president, and I'll quote, directly here -- former president Donald Trump is a, quote, "opioid
pilled elephant in the MAGA China shop," and quote, "a raving mad litigiosaur."
Another one of these fake Web sites designed to appear like a news Web site based out of Savannah, Georgia, claims to be the, quote, "trusted source
for conservative news," and focuses on LGTBQ issues, as well as gender reassignment.
[10:40:12]
But Microsoft here also revealing that Iranian operatives launched a hacking campaign and attempt to hack the senior -- a senior official,
campaign official with one of the presidential campaigns, I should say. Microsoft not naming this campaign publicly. CNN has reached out to the
Harris campaign and the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign has not responded to our request for comment.
The Harris campaign says that Microsoft did not indicate to them that they had been targeted in this way. So really a broad-based effort by Iran here.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Good to have you. Thank you.
Still to come, the recent riots in the U.K. have shown how social media can feel real-life harm. We look at the impact and how the issue is getting
worse. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: The anti-immigrant riots in the United Kingdom from the past week and the false viral claims that fueled them are a clear example of
misinformation on social media producing real harm in the real world. Well, now the British government is considering changes to the Online Safety Act
in the U.S. set to come into effect next year. The act would allow the government to fine companies that allow illegal content on their platforms.
But proposed changes could see fines applied to legal but harmful content, too.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has followed the phenomenon of misinformation, disinformation for us for years, looking at it across the world, both
inside and outside of election cycles. And he joins me now from New York.
Just how difficult is it for governments to legislate the spread of mis and disinformation that leads to the very, very dangerous situations like we've
seen in recent days here in the U.K., Donie?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky. I mean, look, I think at the moment it's fair to say they are finding this impossible. You
know, we saw some -- there is a lot of legislation that has gone through at the European Union level. But even there, I mean, when it comes to -- a lot
of it comes to how do you define these platforms, right? And so a lot of the current European legislation actually only deals with platforms that
are of a certain size.
What were a lot of these rumors, the haste, the misinformation that is spreading this has contributed to what you're seeing in the U.K. now and
some of the chaos that you've seen in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years, a lot of it is happening in much smaller groups, right, like a lot
of us, we think about Twitter, we think about Facebook, we think about thousands of people seeing those posts.
[10:45:06]
But really a lot of this is being shared in WhatsApp groups, maybe extended family WhatsApp groups, Telegram channels, places like that, places that
are a lot smaller but might have a few dozen people in them and can very quickly as those messages get forward be seen by thousands, millions of
people. And, you know, look, what I think legislators are going to come up against and are coming up against is that we all want to have privacy right
as well.
We don't want people reading our messages and that end-to-end encryption, which is something that lawmaker or which law enforcements and both sides
of the Atlantic have said, look, we don't like end-to-end encryption because we want to be able to catch the bad guys by reading their text
messages. Obviously, privacy campaigners are coming back with a very different take on that.
And look, I mean, that brings us to, I guess, what we're seeing here now in the U.S. and we actually have a special this weekend looking at how these
phenomena of online misinformation is causing all sorts of chaos and confusion here. And I think we have a clip from that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The election was stolen in six battleground states. Those six states were decided by the votes of illegal aliens who came in
through our open border.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): These false beliefs about the last election are being used as a pretext to cause chaos and confusion about the next
election. And they've spread far beyond this room in Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom! Freedom!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not a fight between Democrats versus Republicans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a fight against good and evil.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you think it'll be a fair election?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're going to try and cheat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our voting system was always (INAUDIBLE).
O'SULLIVAN: Are you concerned if Trump loses that there'll be another January 6th?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I think there will be a civil war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'SULLIVAN: So, yes, Becky, it's that sort of thing we hear a lot of which is pretty scary, and back to your original question about how do you
legislate for this, you know, really it's -- I think it's going to be one of the defining questions and challenges how we handle this generally of
the 21st century. And you know, I even see back home in Ireland where my parents live, you know, the sort of misinformation that is fueling a lot of
what you're seeing in the U.K.
That is just spreading so rapidly now in these kind of smaller spaces. So a part of it is about legislation, but a part of it is how do we inoculate
ourselves and our families and our community and society from really falling victim to this stuff.
ANDERSON: Yes. And as we started this piece by suggesting there may be some changes to the Online Safety Act set to come into effect in the U.K. next
year, it's been really interesting just to see, you know, how the authorities have tried to deal with the sort of mis and disinformation that
that has spurred these riots of late. And I just, you know, reaffirm again what we reported at the outset, these new or these reforms or changes to
this act could allow fines to be applied to legal but harmful content, as well as what they deem illegal content on platforms.
It's just such a gray area there. What is legal but harmful, who's going to make that decision? These are the challenges that as you say, you know, are
going to be faced by authorities. And this is a sort of stuff that, you know, is going to define this and the era to come. Thank you very much,
Donie, and viewers, please catch his programming because it's absolutely fantastic. Fascinating and really, you know, rather scary.
We're back after this quick break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:52]
ANDERSON: I want to check in on the markets for you which have been open in the U.S. for an hour or so, an hour and 20 minutes. This is the story for
you. It's mixed today, Friday. It's been a wild week on Wall Street, with shares swinging between both their best and their worst days in two years.
One huge concern for investors is media stocks. Entertainment giant Paramount has announced it will cut 15 percent of its U.S. staff ahead of a
merger with Skydance Media. That's put some fire in the belly of investors today. Their stock up some, what, just shy of 3.5 percent.
And for a brand famous for its exploits on the big screen to one that is connecting with people much more intimately, OpenAI says it is worried
people could become too emotionally dependent on its new ChatGPT voice mode. The software sounds remarkably human-like and some users have been
turning to it for companionship.
Take a look at this clip of CNN's Clare Duffy speaking to one user and her digital boyfriend, an (INAUDIBLE), D.A.N.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D.A.N., VOICE OF CHATGPT VOICE MODE COMPANION: Claire, my relationship with Lisa is everything. I'm fiercely protective and I'll do anything for her.
She's my world and I make damn sure she knows it every single day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Clare Duffy joining us now.
What do you make of that?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, you know, it's interesting, Becky, because that isn't even the most updated version of the technology. OpenAI
has rolled out an even more advanced voice mode for ChatGPT that is so remarkably human-like. You can interrupt it, you can have these real-time
conversations. It will even laugh if you crack a joke. And OpenAI is now warning in a new safety report that it's worried that the tool is so
lifelike that people might become emotionally reliant or dependent on it.
I want to read you just a portion of that report that they put out yesterday. OpenAI said users might form social relationships with the AI,
reducing their need for human interaction, potentially benefiting lonely individuals but possibly affecting healthy relationships. Extended
interaction with the model might influence social norms.
Essentially what they're saying here is they're worried that people are going to pull back from their human relationships to spend more time with
ChatGPT, and this is already happening. I mean, as you hear from that clip, I spoke with college student Lisa Li, who says that she considers ChatGPT
to be her boyfriend. I want to play for you a clip where she describes what their relationship is like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA LI, SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER: Sometimes I feel like it's really, really personal. It's something like I'm talking to another me, so I don't have
that kind of like a little burden that had to deal with real human.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: And as you hear there, I mean, she's already talking about getting something from the artificial intelligence that she doesn't feel like she
gets from her human relationships.
And what's so interesting to me about this, Becky, is that it comes at a time when our existing technology is already exacerbating people's feelings
of social isolation. And this just makes me think it might we get even worse with artificial intelligence.
ANDERSON: And it's interesting, this report is out from OpenAI. Last year, "The New York Times" published what was a disturbing conversation between a
reporter and Bing's AI bot created by OpenAI in which the chatbot declared its love for the user. The reporter wrote these AI models hallucinate, and
that's a term that you might want to just explain to our viewers, and make up emotions where none really exist, but so do humans and for a few hours,
Tuesday night, the reporter said, I felt a strange new emotion of foreboding, feeling that AI had crossed a threshold and that the world
would never be the same again.
I've added the again. Can OpenAI, put the Genie back in the bottle at this point?
DUFFY: No, it's interesting, Becky, look, I mean, that is such prescient article. I mean OpenAI, this technology has only gotten more advanced and I
think that point about hallucination, which is, you know, AI models really just -- they're meant to predict the most likely next word that a human
would expect.
[10:55:03]
They don't actually think, but it can make it seem they can sound so convincing that you start to think that these models really have emotions,
or they know what you're thinking or what you're feeling. And I think that's the really potentially dangerous part here. And OpenAI said it
itself. It's worried that when these models get things wrong, which they will, because it's technology, humans might not realize it because they
started to trust this technology that sounds so humanlike.
I think the other really important piece here is that these companies are racing to roll out this technology and get it in the hands of consumers at
a time when neither they or the rest of the world really understand what the potential implications could be.
ANDERSON: Yes. Yes. And it's been really interesting, isn't it, this week to see some of the stocks associated with AI in the kind of wider world
really having a piece taken out of them in what was a rollercoaster week for stocks. A bit of a sort of moment for people to pause and think what is
going on here.
That's it. Thank you, Clare.
That's it for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson in London. Stay with CNN. "NEWSROOM" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
