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U.S. Defense Secretary Orders Guided-Missile Submarine to Region; Russia Expands Evacuations Amid Ukrainian Offensive; Harris Supercharges Democrats ahead of Party Convention; Elon Musk to Interview Donald Trump on X; What's it all about, Bansky? London Wants to Know. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired August 12, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Welcome to "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson, 02:00 p.m. here in London, your headlines this

hour. The latest Gaza ceasefire talks are set to start this week amid the prospect of a wider Middle East conflict and outrage over a strike on a

Gaza school.

An order from Vladimir Putin to his troops, to quote, knock out Ukrainian forces from Russian territory is Kyiv's unprecedented incursion into Russia

goes into its seventh day. And new polling shows Kamala Harris is super charging Democrats ahead of the party's convention next week.

And the stock market in New York will open about 30 minutes from now, you will get -- we will get you to those markets on the opening ahead of that

the futures indicating a slightly better start to the trading week. We start this hour with what could be a crucial week in determining the future

of the Israel Hamas war in Gaza and the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East.

Ceasefire negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar are scheduled to resume on Thursday. Ahead of that, an Israeli source saying that the Hamas Leader

Yahya Sinwar wants a deal. Hamas says any truce reached should be based on the framework of the plan proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden in July.

Now it's unknown if Israel's Prime Minister, facing intense opposition to a cease fire from his hard right ministers will actually go along with that,

or even if these talks will happen. Well, this uncertainty follows another deadly weekend in Gaza with an attack on a school housing, displaced

Palestinians, killing nearly 100 people.

The death toll in Gaza since October 7th is now approaching 40,000 according to Gaza's Health Ministry. And amid growing expectations that

Iran will stage a large-scale attack on Israel, the U.S. Defense Secretary has ordered a nuclear-powered submarine into Middle East waters. There is a

lot to unpack here.

We've got Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv for you today. Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon in Washington. And let's start

with you. We've seen Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary posting today on X reiterating to Yoav Gallant the Defense Secretary in Israel that the U.S.

is committed to Israel's defense.

This, as concerns continue amidst much sort of speculation about whether Iran and Hezbollah may attack Israel, and if so, when? What are the

circumstances of a U.S. sub moving into the region? How unusual is it to reveal a location like this? This is what we're getting from the U.S.

Secretary of Defense, of course, at this point.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the key, Becky, is that it is extremely rare for the U.S. to reveal the

location or the deployment of a nuclear-powered guided missile submarine. Usually, these operate in complete secrecy.

And so, the fact that they are telegraphing to the world, and specifically, of course, to Iran and its proxies, that this submarine is moving into the

area. Is a really clear sign here that the U.S. and Israel are very concerned that Iran and or Hezbollah and the proxy militias, of course, in

Iraq and Syria may be poised to carry out some kind of coordinated or large-scale attack on Israel and, of course, on the many U.S. forces that

remain in the region.

And so, what we're seeing now, of course, is the U.S. continuing to place all of these very strategic assets in the region to prepare for the

possibility that this happens. And all of this was announced last night following Secretary Austin's call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav

Gallant.

He is also, according to that read out there, ordered the speeding up the acceleration of the transit of that carrier strike group, the USS Lincoln

to the region which is going to be replacing the Roosevelt, which is an aircraft carrier that has currently been operating, kind of in the Gulf of

Oman area.

Also indicating, of course, that this needs to get there quickly, because they are anticipating something possibly happening within the next few days

here. And this is not only a message of deterrence, of course, saying, look, we have all of this hardware, all of these troops in this region, in

case you do try something.

But it's also, of course, a message of, hey, we're here. We're ready to defend Israel if need be. And look what happened last time when Iran

attacked Israel, most of those 300 plus ballistic missiles and drones were ultimately shot down by the U.S. and its allies.

[09:05:00]

And so, preparing for the worst here, but of course, still hoping that diplomacy is going to win the day.

ANDERSON: OK. The region extremely tense at this point. Thank you. Let me bring in Nic. The U.S., Egypt and Qatar appealing for talks on a ceasefire

and hostage deal to begin again on August the 15th, that is this Thursday. The hopes were that that would, at least in principle, postpone any

threatened action by Iran on one hand, and Hezbollah from Lebanon on the other.

And yet it does seem that there are real concerns that there is an attack could be imminent at any time. So firstly, what do we know about these

ceasefire hostage talks Thursday? Who is attending, who is not? And secondly, what chance in region -- in Israel talking to sources there, what

chance that there will be some sort of retaliatory attack by Iran and Hezbollah before those talks on Thursday, if indeed they happen?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, they're very crucial talks, as you say, Becky. And it is important that the mood music

in advance of those talks is positive. A to make the talks happen. B, to deter Iran.

Because, as you rightly say, it was these talks being brought into being that was going to offer Iran a potential off ramp from striking back at

Israel for the killing of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran just about a week and a half ago. So where do things stand?

Well, we know that Hamas, late yesterday, had signalled that they wanted a deal based on President Biden's framework that he had laid out that had

fallen, essentially fallen by the wayside previously, because of what Hamas and others had described as additional measures put in place, additional

requests at those negotiations by the Israeli side, by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

So the question talking to sources at the moment is, what sort of pressure is the United States putting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have

to take a more moderate position on the talks? And therefore, what's the assessment that he will?

And I think in the last few minutes, we've really got an understanding of where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mind is on this, and that's

because of an internal dispute in Israel between the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the prime minister's office.

Now Yoav Gallant was quoted in some Israeli media again, repeating a line he is said before that there is no absolute victory over Hamas. People who

believe that are mistaken, and that's been the prime minister's message about Gaza.

Now the prime minister's office responded to that just a few minutes ago, saying that Yoav Gallant should focus on criticizing Hamas and Yahya Sinwar

its leader for saying that they won't send representatives to those talks on Thursday, that that it is Hamas that's the obstacle here.

So, the indications are that Prime Minister Netanyahu is still, for internal domestic reasons, sticking to that very strong position. We don't

know precisely what he'll bring to the table. But it's going to grow those concerns that he is going to come with what are seen by many as additional

demands that will mean the talks won't go ahead.

And any narrative like that will dissuade Iran from holding back, and might persuade it that it needs to take a more maximalist, less a minimalist type

of response, a minimalist response that doesn't incur a response by Israel. So, it's very tenuous trying to read the two leads at the moment Becky.

ANDERSON: Tough times. Ben, let me bring you in. Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets towards Northern Israel overnight. From your perspective there,

what's the view on the possibility at this point of some sort of serious escalation anytime soon?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is profound fear about a possible escalation, not just an escalation between

Hezbollah and Israel, but a regional escalation. Now my diplomatic sources are telling me the problem is that Hezbollah has sort of its rhetoric --

it's talked itself into a corner.

Now we heard twice in the last 10 days, Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, saying that Hezbollah is going to respond. There was no

conditional clause about it. It will respond to the killing 13 days ago of Fuad Shukr, that senior Hezbollah commander. But the problem is, if the

response is too strong, and Israel strikes back even stronger then, there is the very real possibility that we could be on a slippery slope to a

regional war.

[09:10:00]

Diplomatic sources say Hezbollah does not want that. Iran does want -- not want that. Keep in mind, of course, that Iran it's a little harder for Iran

to hit Israel than Hezbollah, which is just right across the border here. If you fire a drone from Iran, it takes hours to get to Israel and

inevitably, will be shot down.

But both Lebanon and Iran have a fundamental problem. Their economies are in shambles. They really can't afford to engage in a full-scale war with

Israel. Israel, even though Hezbollah, we speak a lot about its significant military capabilities, they're nothing compared to what Israel can unleash.

And therefore, Hezbollah has to respond according to sort of the logic of the Axis of Resistance that its credibility is on the line. But at the same

time, its domestic standing here in Lebanon could be seriously damaged. Keep in mind, it's also a political party has members in Parliament,

representatives in the government.

Its political standing could be demolished if there is a full-scale war with Israel. So, there's many reasons why one might think there's a could

be a full-scale regional war, but here in Lebanon, there aren't many good reasons, Becky.

ANDERSON: Ben, it's good to have you and to you, Nic and Natasha, thank you. And you can follow developments in the region in our "Meanwhile in the

Middle East" Newsletter, there is extensive coverage of the Israel Hamas war amid fears of a wider conflict and other news. You can access the

newsletter and sign up by scanning that QR code on the bottom of your screen.

Well, Russia is evacuating thousands of civilians from more areas along the Ukrainian border. It comes a week into what's been Kyiv's surprise cross

border attack into Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Ukrainian offensive is designed to improve Ukraine's negotiating

position, and he's telling his military, to quote, squeeze out the invaders.

Meantime, Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for starting a fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in southern Ukraine. Ukraine's President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared this video showing smoke coming out of one of the towers at the plant on Sunday. He blamed Russia for using the nuclear

plant black-mail Ukraine, Europe and the world.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is extensively covered the war for CNN joining us today from Berlin. Let's start with this Ukrainian incursion onto Russian

soil a week into this. How badly was the Kremlin caught off guard. What's the goal here? What's it's goal and strategy and what's being gained?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the Ukrainians, Becky, I think they gain several things from this. On the one

hand, I think that they believe that they can stretch some of those Russian forces that are putting the Ukrainians under pressure in the east of

Ukraine, on the eastern front there in towns called Toretsk for instance, but also in the Pokrovsk area, putting the Ukrainians under pressure there.

They're hoping that the Russians are going to have to divert some of those forces to try and come to terms with that Ukrainian incursion. And we see a

really good map on our screens now to see just some of those areas where the Ukrainians have gone into on Russian territory, which really was an

unprecedented thing.

The Ukrainians, of course, also boosting their own morale by being able to say that they have territorial gains. And you know, you just asked about

how off guard the Kremlin appears to have been caught by all this. One appears as though it was pretty off guard. In fact, Vladimir Putin has just

had a meeting with some of his security officials.

And the numbers that we're getting out of that are that apparently 28 settlements in the Kursk region are under control of the Ukrainians. And

the other number is really staggering, and that is about 120,000 people have been evacuated Russians in the Kursk region alone.

Now we know that people are also being evacuated in a region south of that, the Belgorod region. But both of these areas, Becky, of course, right on

the border with the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians making the incursion there. But they are also big military areas for Russia as well.

Kursk is certainly one of the main points, logistical points for the Russians for their invasion of Ukraine and Belgorod, for a very long time,

has essentially been a military and -- city. In fact, when the war kicked off, I was in Belgorod, and there's a lot of Russian military, that is

stationed there.

So, it certainly appears as though the Russians have been caught off guard. One of the other things that Vladimir Putin said at that meeting is he also

said that the goal is to squeeze the Ukrainians out of Russian territory. Well, it seems as though, right now, the Russians still pretty far away

from doing that.

[09:15:00]

Again, it's unclear whether or not the Ukrainians are going to be able to hold any of that territory. This seems to be an expeditionary force, but

also one that is regular Ukrainian units, and ones that are well versed in taking territory very quickly Becky.

ANDERSON: This is fascinating. What more do we know about what happened at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant over the weekend?

PLEITGEN: Yeah, they're very difficult, very difficult to tell who exactly is behind that. We also saw that video of that smoke coming off or out of

one of the cooling towers. Of course, many of us have seen that vantage point from the other side of the Dnipro River, those two cooling towers of

what is one of the largest power -- nuclear power plants in all of Europe.

The Ukrainians are saying that the Russians started the fire. They say that it might have been tires that were burned by the Russians around that

cooling tower. The Ukrainians obviously saying this is a major incident, and this is the Russians trying to destabilize Europe. They say, even more

than they already have been.

The Russians, for their part, are blaming the Ukrainians. They say that this was a Ukrainian drone attack that took place in the International

Atomic Energy Agency, of course, Becky. They have some observers in that nuclear power plant.

They're not saying who might be behind all of this, but they have put out a very short statement where they said that the local staff at the nuclear

power plant told the observers that apparently there was some sort of explosion after what they say was a drone attack as well.

But right now, the finger pointing goes back and forth. One of the things that we have been able to ascertain, though, and this is probably the most

important thing, is that apparently radiation levels around that area have not spiked, have not gone up.

Nevertheless, of course, another major security incident at that very large nuclear power plant, which, of course, for a very long time already has

been essentially right on the front lines between the Russians and the Ukrainians Becky.

ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is on the story for you today, Fred, thank you. Well, Donald Trump's running mate goes one-on-one with CNN. What he had to

say about Tim Walz, including those comments calling him weird. We are live from Washington with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Let's get you caught up with the presidential elections in the United States showing Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the trail

today, while Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance is raising money in Texas right now. He's at the first of two fundraisers planned for this

Monday.

Handshakes kisses and which vice-presidential candidate is really the weird one? Well, J.D. Vance got into some of that with CNN's Dana Bash in an

interview on State of the Union on CNN on Sunday. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to move on to something that Governor Walz has called you and Donald Trump and that is weird.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sure.

BASH: And it is taken off.

[09:20:00]

VANCE: Well, certainly they've levied that charge against me more than anybody else, but I think that it drives home how they're trying to

distract from their own policy failures. I mean, look, this is fundamentally school yard bully stuff. They can accuse me of whatever they

want to accuse me of.

As Harris Truman once said, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. And I'm doing this because I think that me being vice president

will help improve people's lives. So, I accept their attacks, but I think that it is a little bit of projection. Dana, if you think about, you know,

just take a couple of days ago, Tim Walz gives this big speech.

He's been announced as the VP nominee. And I remember when I had just been announced as the VP nominee, I gave my big speech and I saw my wife, and I

gave her a big hug and a kiss, because I love my wife, and I think that's what a normal person does. Tim Walz gave his wife a nice, firm Midwestern

handshake, and then tried to sort of awkwardly correct for it.

So, I think that what it is two people, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who aren't comfortable in their own skin, because they are uncomfortable with

their policy positions for the American people, and so they're name calling instead of actually telling the American people how they're going to make

their lives better. I think that's weird, Dana, but look, they can call me whatever they want to.

BASH: You're saying Tim Walz doesn't have affection for his wife. I don't even understand that.

VANCE: I said that he acted weird, which he did on a national stage, in front of his wife and in front of millions of Americans who presumably were

watching at home, and I think that this projection, Dana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Alayna Treene across all of these developments. He joins us from Washington. I mean, at some point, I hope, will the benefit

of everybody get beyond, you know what we mean by weird and who's throwing you know what weird term at whom? At this point, it does seem like J.D.

Vance is taking on a more prominent role, though. What's the thinking behind that?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, I've reported extensively on this Becky. I've talked to a lot of people, both in Vance's team, but also on Donald

Trump's team, and they really are trying. I mean, you've seen this over the past week. They are trying to roll him out. He has been the messenger.

Last week, it was J.D. Vance who was hitting the campaign trail hard, going to all of the different states and cities that the Harris campaign and, you

know, subsequently the Harris, Walz campaign were hitting, he went to the Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, kind of mirroring the different stops

that they were doing.

That wasn't Donald Trump doing that. That was J.D. Vance. And when I talk to both of their teams, they say Vance is the person that they want to be

delivering the more diligent and scripted in some ways, response for the ticket, which is that focus on the policy.

This is something that they have been wanting Donald Trump to do himself for several months, but he's kind of been unable to, as we know when you

watch Donald Trump at his different rallies, he can be scatter shot. He riffs, he goes off script. He and we've seen this explicitly over the last

week, and really this weekend, goes into more personal attacks against his opponents.

We are seeing Vance do that as well. But overall, his main message, and what he has been tasked to do, is to focus on the policy, to go after

Harris on crime, immigration, inflation, the three policy areas that they really believe Republicans win on, that people will come out to vote for

Donald Trump, if they can talk about the areas and the policy that they believe is stronger and where they pull higher.

And it's very different from what we've actually seen Donald Trump. Do I do. Just want to give you a little sense of what we saw from the former

president this weekend. He really bought into these right wing and wildly untrue conspiracy theories about there being a fake crowd at Harris's

events, particularly the one over the weekend, which is just completely false.

We have several people from, you know, thousands -- really, hundreds of people have witnessed this, including CNN that she has thousands of people

showing up to her events, and it's something that's really gotten under Donald Trump's skin, because he is obsessed with crowd size.

And it's really, again, this isn't happening in a vacuum for Donald Trump. It's him buying into this conspiracy online. And honestly, it's not

something I've seen him really do as deeply since the aftermath of the 2020 election and the conspiracy around January 6, but to go back to Vance and

just the difference, they are trying to put him out in front of the media.

His team has told me that he's going to be doing more interviews. He's going to be holding press conferences. He's doing these long form podcast

interviews geared toward younger audiences. They are really trying to deploy him to make the case for the Trump campaign on the policy and really

focus in on messaging that they know Donald Trump sometimes struggle with delivering, Becky.

ANDERSON: Well, whether or not he's landing the punches will remains to be seen in the polling, at least in principle, will help us out with that. We

got the convention, of course, coming next week. We are within 90 days, of course, of this election, it's always good to have you. Thank you very much

indeed.

Well, it's just a week to go until that convention for the Democrats and their nominee, Kamala Harris does appear to be super charging the party at

least a new poll by the "New York Times" and Siena College shows Harris leading Donald Trump by four points in the crucial States of Pennsylvania,

Wisconsin and Michigan.

[09:25:00]

It also shows a closer presidential race overall than when Biden topped the ticket and with no clear leader. Now, CNN's Harry Enten here to break down

the numbers for us. Good to have you, mate. Kamala Harris on the time cover this week. Let's have a look at that.

She's taken this election by the scruff of the neck, as it were, who could have predicted that a month ago? So just walk us through what we've got

here. As far as polling is concerned, what's it indicating?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah, I just want to also note that there's nothing wrong with being weird. I don't know why it's pejorative.

I'm pretty weird. I think it's pretty decent. Anyway, we'll talk about this polling. You mentioned those New York Times/Siena College polls.

And I just want to sort of note the trend line here, because I think this is what's so important. What's going on, right? This is the Democrat versus

Donald Trump Margin. You go back to May; you look at Biden versus Trump. You look at Pennsylvania. You saw Trump up by three.

Wisconsin, Trump up by one. Michigan, Biden up by one. But in all three of these great lake battle ground states, what we saw was Joe Biden

underperforming how well he did four years ago. Now you jump ahead here to August, and what do you see? You mentioned it. Look at this.

In all three of these states, we have Harris advantages of four points, a seven point move in Pennsylvania, her direction, a five point move in

Wisconsin, her direction, a three point move in Michigan in her direction, so the momentum is on her side. But you know, we talk about these great

lake battle ground states, these Midwest battle ground states.

Why are we so focusing in on these. Here is the reason why. It's all about the race to 270 electoral votes. And so, what I've done in this map here is

pretty simple. I've given Harris Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and then I've subtracted from her three states that Joe Biden won four years

ago in which Joe Biden wasn't doing particularly well in the polling, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia.

And what happens when we give Harris these three great lake battle ground states, while subtracting these three Sun Belt battleground states. Well,

it's all about a race to 270 electoral votes. And get this, if Harris wins in those great lake battle ground states, she gets to exactly 270 electoral

votes, she would win just by the virtue of winning in these three states.

But here's the question, Becky, with still many of days to go in this election, how far off were the polls in these three states compared to the

final margin, 2016, 2020, 9 points in 2016, 5 points in 2020, we still have a boatload of time to go. We still have the Democratic Convention, and

we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

ANDERSON: Let me ask you, then, who is Kamala Harris appealing to, that Biden didn't.

ENTEN: Two groups. Number one, she's getting a larger share of the Democratic vote those 2020 Biden voters, she's getting 93 percent of them.

Joe Biden was getting only 90 percent of them in the last New York Times/Siena College Poll, and the other group, people who didn't vote in

2020 she's getting 43 percent of those voters.

Joe Biden was getting just 28 percent of those voters. Donald Trump has made his campaign about appealing to untraditional voters, and Kamala

Harris is going and saying, wait a minute, you're not the only one who can compete among untraditional voters. I can as well.

She's getting voters off the sideline. She's getting people of color off the sideline. She's getting younger voters off the sideline, and those are

the folks who are super charging her campaign at this particular point and turning what was a deficit in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, a close race to

Michigan now to clear advantages, although, again, with no clear leader in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

ANDERSON: You're not weird. You're kooky. But you're not weird.

ENTEN: I'm a little kooky, but I also think I'd like to think I'm a little smart too.

ANDERSON: You absolutely! Absolutely not a shadow of -- about that. It's always good to have you, mate. Thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Next up, X marks the spot. The social media platform is where you will find Donald Trump later today. He is in interview one on one fireside,

whatever you want to call it, with Elon Musk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson, you're watching "Connect the World". A new week is a new beginning on Wall Street. Of course, this is

how the markets are doing a minute and a half into the trading week that, of course, is a much quieter picture than that, which we started with.

Last Monday, a tumultuous week for investors. Last week with stocks swinging between their highs and lows, last week's trading driven by new

data on the U.S. labor market and concerns about the health of America's economy. In other business news, Donald Trump social media company has

reported a loss of more than $16 million for the past financial quarter.

Trump Media and Technology Group brought in less than a million dollars in revenue, a 30 percent drop from the same period last year. And it comes as

the group rolls out a new video streaming platform known as Truth, plus it's claiming the platform will be quote, un cancellable, if that is a

word.

Donald Trump is preparing to give an interview on another social media platform later today. X formerly known as Twitter, of course, Trump will be

in conversation with the owner of X, Elon Musk, who is promising entertainment guaranteed. X has recently come under fire for failing to

rein in misinformation and hate speech, particularly around the riots here in Britain.

Well, for more, let's bring Clare Duffy from New York. So firstly, what can we expect from this interview, Clare?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah, Becky, Elon Musk has said this is going to be an unscripted conversation with no limits on the subject

matter, so we could see any number of things, but this is almost certainly going to be a friendly conversation. Elon Musk has endorsed Donald Trump.

He's encouraged his followers on X to support the former president's bid for the White House this year. I think there's a couple of things we could

potentially hear them talk about. One of them is immigration, which is obviously a frequent talking point for Trump, and something that Musk has

been increasingly vocal about.

In some cases, Elon Musk has actually shared racist conspiracy theories about immigration in the U.S. The other is electric vehicles and climate

policy, obviously something that's really important to Musk as CEO of Tesla, and it's something that actually Donald Trump and Elon Musk kind of

clash on during Trump's last administration.

Elon Musk left a White House advisory group after Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord. So, we could get a sense of whether they're a bit

more in alignment on that issue now, but I think stepping back a little bit, this is a really notable conversation, because never have we seen the

CEO of a social media platform take such a direct role in trying to sway the outcome of an election.

Certainly, we've seen social media platforms play a role in elections. I mean, you think about 2016 you think about what happened on January 6, 2021

but this is a really unique position for Elon Musk to be taking to try to leverage the power of his platform to take a really direct role in swaying

the outcome of this election, Becky.

ANDERSON: -- let's just remind ourselves, he's got 193.8 million viewers. I'm just looking at it now, just in advertising, the fact that he's live in

conversation with Donald Trump tomorrow -- today.

[09:35:00]

This was yesterday he was advertising the fact about 12 hours ago that has had 29 million views in and of itself. So, let's not underestimate the

power of that platform when it comes to an interview with Donald Trump and Elon Musk. It's good to get some insight into what you believe will be

discussed.

And I think you spot on there will be really interesting see what comes out of it. Thank you. Well, coming up next, the countdown to the Olympics in

Los Angeles is on after the Paris Olympics officially ended last night in what was a dazzling closing ceremony. Details on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, it is anyone's guess how many new pieces by the elusive artist Banksy will pop up around London. People are reacting to the latest

in a series of animal themed works that the artist has placed throughout the city and speculating about what they mean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Banksy strikes again. An ordinary glass police box on a street in London has been re imagined as a tank full of

toothy fish that look like piranhas. The fish follow a stream of animal themed murals confirmed to be the handiwork of the infamous street artist

that have popped up in London in the past week, drawing crowds, but in a good way.

The fish are painted in translucent aquatic colors, a departure from the other works in the series that were done in black silhouettes, including a

black cat stretching on a billboard which has since been removed, two pelicans perched over a fish and chip shop, a Howling Wolf on a satellite

dish which was quickly stolen, three monkeys swinging on a railway bridge, two elephants giving each other trunks up, and a goat on a precarious

perch.

It's been a guessing game for Londoners to try and figure out what might appear next and what message Banksy might be sending.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possibly linked to all the riots in the U.K. recently.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, the Olympics going on at the moment, lots of people talking about goats, greatest of all time. Maybe it's symbolic of

that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Even an expert on world affairs who regularly appears on CNN, is weighing in.

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: What Banksy is trying to do is to really get us to think and

reflect about the ecological crisis that really threatens humanity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Or maybe, like all art, the meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, I think he just painted animals. It doesn't have to be a meaningful, you know? It doesn't have to be

meaningful. It's just animals.

[09:40:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): There is speculation the murals are just a way to cheer people up, and Sunday's edition was just that, with people

taking photos in and around the artwork until contractors place plastic barriers around the box, while the City of London says it's looking for

options to preserve it a fleeting and fun distraction from an artist who's not really known for explaining himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who knows you have to be Banksy to know that, but it's very nice to have it in this particular week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: -- following that report, after much speculation Banksy actually posted on Instagram recently to say, the new works of street are his doing?

Just in case we were confused. Well, McDonald's France has an Olympic beef with Team U.S.A. Steph Curry after France lost to the Americans in the

men's basketball final on Saturday

Curry was key to that wind sinking eight 3-pointers to help lead the U.S. to gold in a 98, 87 wins. McDonald's France shared this post online

featuring its classic curry dipping sauce and saying that, for obvious reasons, we are considering removing this source. Well, it is all in good

fun, of course.

No response yet on social media from the NBA superstar, whose nickname is Chef Curry. And of course, the Olympic flame was officially extinguished on

Sunday during an elaborate closing ceremony bringing the 2024 Paris games to a close. The countdown to Los Angeles, 2028 begins. Patrick Snell

joining me now, and so it goes on.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, Becky, what are we going to do for the next four years? It feels like I wanted these games to continue. Yes,

we have the Winter Games, of course, in 2026 but it was a spectacular and very powerful closing ceremony. No question about that. Images for me, the

key ones for me. I was thinking of Leon Marchand France's Super Star Swimmer.

No one more, one more gold medal at these games than him. He won four. He played a starring role, very, featuring very prominently in the closing

summary, as did that guy right there, Tom Cruise, the iconic actor who basically, pretty much abseil down from the top of the Stade de France and

then mingled and posed with the fans there for the selfies, and grabbed the Olympic flame and got on a motorbike and then just left the arena.

It was all very impressive. And of course, it paves the way very nicely indeed for the LA games four years from now, where we're told we're going

to be getting a car free. That's the goal, to get a car free Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Becky.

ANDERSON: Wow.

SNELL: And if you've ever been to that city, you will know that is going to be an almighty challenge given the sheer volume of traffic there in the

Southern California city. Back to you.

ANDERSON: Wow, what a promise.

SNELL: Yeah.

ANDERSON: We'll hold them to that. Thank you, Patrick, it's good to have you, mate, and that's it from us for the time being. "World Sport" is up

next. We are though back top of the hour 15 minutes time with the second hour of "Connect the World". Stay with us.

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[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END