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Connect the World
VP Nominee Tim Walz Introduces Himself at DNC; Oprah Winfrey Says Choose Truth, Honor and Joy; Republicans Endorse Harris; Parents of American Israeli Hostage Become Emotional at DNC; Ceasefire-Hostage Talks Resume in Cairo; Israeli Strike on Northern Gaza Home; Celebs Show Up in Force at DNC; Maggots Found in DNC Breakfast; At Least 13 Killed by Floods in India and Bangladesh; Trump Visits U.S. Southern Border. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired August 22, 2024 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Your
headlines this hour:
The countdown to Kamala Harris' nomination acceptance speech is on after another energetic day at the DNC.
Twelve people reported to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in northern Gaza.
And a criminal investigation now underway after divers found nearly all of the missing bodies from a luxury yacht which sank off the coast of Sicily.
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HILL: Our top story this hour coming to you from Chicago. Kamala Harris' final hours now before what is arguably the biggest political speech of her
life. She's been spending a lot of that time we're told in a Chicago hotel suite where she's fine tuning the words, the speech she will deliver at the
Democratic National Convention tonight.
This is her chance to not only accept that nomination from her party but also, of course, to make her case to the millions of American voters who
will decide the next president.
You can expect a major focus on not only her achievements as a prosecutor and a senator but also a healthy dose of personal anecdotes, information
about her life as a stepmother, as the daughter of a single working mother. On Wednesday night, Harris' running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota,
took the stage to make his case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's the honor of my life to accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: For many Americans, he is largely unknown.
So this was his chance to introduce himself to voters. And in doing that, he included anecdotes about his 24 years serving in the Army National
Guard. He talked about being a father as well. Parts of his speech so moving, you see here has 17-year-old son, Gus, moved to tears, standing up
to cheer for his father, pointing at the stage, saying, "That's my dad."
Walz telling delegates this election in his view, he is all about freedom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor's office, corporations free to pollute
your air and water and banks free to take advantage of customers.
But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love, freedom to make your
own health care decisions and, yes, your kids' freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.
I believe in the Second Amendment but I also believe our first responsibility is to keep our kids safe.
HILL (voice-over): Wednesday also featuring a surprise appearance from Oprah Winfrey, who urged voters to choose common sense over nonsense.
Delegates also heard from former president Bill Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the current House Democratic leader, Hakeem
Jeffries.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, in 2024, we got a pretty clear choice, it seems to me. Kamala Harris for the people and the
other guy, who's proved even more than in the first go-around that he's about me, myself and I.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Kamala Harris and House Democrats will protect Social Security, protect Medicare, protect Medicaid,
protect the Affordable Care Act, protect working families, protect small businesses, protect the middle class.
Protect free enterprise, protect our children, protect our seniors, protect our veterans, protect our unions, protect our DREAMers and always protect a
woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions.
GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): You all have the power. So let's use that power. Let's do the hard work necessary to win this election and write the next
chapter in our American story.
So are you ready to protect our rights?
Are you ready to secure our freedoms?
Are you ready to defend our democracy?
And are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?
America, let's get to work.
OPRAH WINFREY, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: Soon and very soon, We're going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother
and a Jamaican father, two idealistic, energetic immigrants.
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WINFREY: Immigrants, how this child grew up to become the 47th President of the United States.
That is the best of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Stephen Collinson, back with us this hour.
So that was, you know, a short two minutes of several hours of speeches of what we saw last night. It's interesting. We didn't hear it in that
particular sound bite that we played from Oprah Winfrey.
But it really stood out that everybody including Oprah clearly got the message that this party and this ticket also wants to hear people talk
about joy.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. What has emerged from this convention, which I think is a really interesting
trend in this campaign, is that the Democratic Party is trying to vault (ph) from this sense of joy and relief that was evident when President
Biden stepped down and Kamala Harris took over.
And to make that a broader theme, what the vice president is offering is an America without the conspiracies, the anger, the insults, the threats of
autocracy from Donald Trump. She's saying to the country, we do not have to go forward with this. We can choose right now to have a different country.
There are going to be tens of millions of voters who are going to vote for Donald Trump in this election. They see him as the avatar of their concerns
and their fears. But Trump has never got to 50 percent in any election. He's never got to 50 percent in any of the battleground states in the two
general elections that he's taken part in.
So there are people out there who are an anti-Trump coalition. This is what Harris is trying to do and to play into America's capacity throughout its
history, to invent itself and to allow democracy to turn a new page in history.
So it's an interesting thematic argument.
The question is, over the next 70 odd days, can turn that into a grassroots campaign that gets people out to vote?
HILL: Certainly be interesting to see how that does play out.
Again, I believe it's 74 days but who's counting?
Stephen, appreciate it as always. Thank you.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
HILL: Former president Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, continuing their battleground blitz this week, heading west today after
campaigning in North Carolina on Wednesday, where Trump made clear he has been watching the DNC.
In fact, calling the event a charade, accusing Democrats of talking more about him than the economy or the southern border. This as a source tells
CNN that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to suspend his campaign on Friday and is reportedly in talks to
endorse Donald Trump.
As our own Alayna Treene reported, he will be in the same state as Donald Trump tomorrow. So we'll watch for that.
In Chicago, Democrats are hearing from plenty of Republicans who are not supporting their party and not supporting Donald Trump in 2024. Among them,
former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. She was the first senior White House staffer to resign from the Trump administration on
January 6th, 2021.
And has been a vocal critic of the former president over the last several years. Take a listen to some of what she said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.
When I was press secretary, I got skewered for never holding a White House briefing. It's because, unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that
podium and lie.
Now, here I am, behind a podium, advocating for a Democrat and that's because I love my country more than my party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, also taking the stage at the DNC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA), FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: If Republicans are being intellectually honest with ourselves, our party is not civil or
conservative. It's chaotic and crazy. And the only thing left to do is dump Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Going on to make the case that he sees voting for Kamala Harris as the patriotic thing to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUNCAN: Look, you don't have to agree with every policy position of Kamala Harris.
I don't. But you do have to recognize her prosecutor mindset, that understands right from wrong, good from evil. She's a steady hand. It will
bring leadership to the White House that Donald Trump could never do.
Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home watching. If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you're not a Democrat; you're a patriot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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Former Republican New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman, who also served as EPA administrator under George W. Bush, has also endorsed this
Democratic ticket.
She's also co-founder of the Forward Party.
Governor, good to see you. Thanks for joining me at this hour. You actually came out a couple of weeks ago as part of a large chunk of Republicans for
Harris to endorse the vice president in her bid. At the time, you know, that Donald Trump's policies don't make sense?
Are you seeing policies at this point from Vice President Harris that do make sense for you and why?
CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN (R-NJ), FORMER GOVERNOR: Well, because I'm seeing policies and drive and focus on the things that matter to people in their
homes.
It's recognizing the average person, it's talking about provided getting the kind of services they need, improving the economy, understanding that
there's still things that need to be done. I mean, this convention has been something that, to me, has reminded me of the old Republican Party.
We used to be the party of people. We used to be a party that wanted to keep government out of people's everyday lives. We used to be a party of
hope and talking about how great our country is.
And instead of what we're seeing from the current -- it's not a party. I do believe it's a cult of Trump -- it's not a Republican Party anymore. We're
hearing -- all we're hearing from them is, I'm going to take things away basically.
They try to pretend it's something else but it's not. It's I'm going to ensure that I'm going to be a dictator from day one or on day one; doesn't
matter. I mean, he's said he's not going to accept an election unless he wins.
The Republican Party used to be a party that respected the Constitution and upheld the rule of law.
HILL: You noted that this reminds me of your old Republican Party, the former Republican Party.
Is that what you're hearing from fellow Republicans who are not supporting Donald Trump, that they feel at home in this Democratic Party, that they're
seeing on their screen?
WHITMAN: I don't think any of us would say we're totally at home. We're not. I mean, we're not going to agree with everything. I don't agree with
everything that's going to be happening. But what I do agree with and what I think Republicans have always believed in is the rule of law and the
Constitution. That's what makes this country great.
And Donald Trump has no respect for either of those things. The Constitution's an inconvenient document and he can do anything he wants.
The rule of law does not apply to him.
That's wrong. That's not how our country functions. And it's not what we want in the White House.
HILL: Senator JD Vance spoke with my colleague, Jake Tapper, yesterday and was talking specifically about the record of Kamala Harris. Take a listen
to some of that moment if you would.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would love for Tim Walz or Kamala Harris or anybody else to say that, during the three-and-a-half
years that Kamala Harris was vice president, here is the thing that she did to make groceries more affordable.
Here's the thing that she did to make it possible to raise a family in this country or here's the thing that she did to secure rather than open up the
border because they can't talk about Kamala Harris' record. They're creating a phantom of Donald Trump's leadership.
The Donald Trump that I know and that the American people know I think produced really good results for the American people. It's a record to be
proud of and a record I'd like to get back to, frankly, because it was good for the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: I know you perhaps disagree with his assessment of Donald Trump's record there.
But in terms of the record of Kamala Harris, how effective do you think that messaging
is, especially for some Republicans and undecided voters at this point?
WHITMAN: Well, it's obviously going to appeal to some people even though it's wrong. I mean inflation is going down. Don't forget that the Biden
administration inherited a really tanking economy because of COVID, not all because of Trump but certainly Trump ran up our deficit numbers.
The economy was not doing that great. And now it's doing much better. She did negotiate the agreements with Mexico because -- she wasn't in charge of
the border but she was in charge of the long-term planning. And that's what she'd been doing. And she was successful in that.
In fact, border crossings now are lower than they were when Donald Trump left the White House. So, yes, they can say whatever they want, which
unfortunately they do. But don't always have any grounding in actual fact. But -- and it will resonate with some who don't bother to check a little
bit further.
It's -- and it's hard. It's not number one on everybody's list to be totally involved in a presidential campaign, which is what's so
frustrating, because Donald Trump and JD Vance say whatever they want to say. And they repeat it again and again. So people start to take it as
fact.
And then 99 percent of the time, it's just not.
HILL: As we heard from Stephanie Grisham last night, that's what she was told by the former president. If you keep repeating it, people will
eventually believe it. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Thank you for taking the time to join us today.
WHITMAN: My pleasure.
HILL: Just ahead here, as war rages in Gaza, talks over a ceasefire and the release of hostages now reaching a critical juncture.
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We are live in Cairo as a new round of discussion gets underway.
Plus, as the questions intensify, the search still continues for that last person still missing aboard the sunken yacht off the coast of Italy. We're
going to take you live to the scene just ahead.
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RACHEL GOLDBERG, HERSH'S MOTHER: (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice-over): The parents of an American Israeli hostage overcome with emotion when speaking at the Democratic National Convention amid
chants of, "Bring them home." They were there to speak about their son 23- year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was wounded and kidnapped by Hamas.
He was taken from the Nova music festival. His parents, you may notice, wear a piece of tape on their shirts. They do that every day. The number
320 on it marked the number of days since their son was taken hostage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON POLIN, HERSH'S FATHER: This is a political convention. But needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue.
There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners.
In an inflamed Middle East, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region: a deal that brings
this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza.
GOLDBERG: Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you. Stay strong, survive.
POLIN: Bring them home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Those talks over a ceasefire and hostage deal resume today in Egypt, though the U.S. is warning this could be the last opportunity to reach a
breakthrough. The U.S. president and vice president holding a phone call with Israel's prime minister on Wednesday to push for a diplomatic solution
-- resolution, rather.
And it follows a visit by the U.S. secretary of state to Israel this week. Antony Blinken, urging a deal on that visit be reached while there is still
a window of opportunity. One of the major sticking points is the Philadelphi corridor in southern Gaza.
Israel has said it will not leave that stretch of land, regardless of any pressure to do so. CNN's Nada Bashir joining me now from Cairo with the
very latest on these negotiations.
This is such a sticking point, such an important point there, too, of land, where do things stand today?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There certainly is a high level of pressure on all sides of the negotiating table for a deal to be struck.
[10:20:03]
But of course, as you mentioned, those sticking points continue to exist. We know that the Biden administration, U.S. officials have put forward
these so-called bridging proposal to try and narrow the gaps between Israel and Hamas and come to some sort of agreement.
The talks have been ongoing throughout the week at the technical level. We had been anticipating high level delegations in Cairo today and on Friday.
We're now hearing from sources that the CIA director, Bill Burns, and other crucial elements of this ongoing negotiation and help to mediate this is
expected to arrive in Cairo on Friday.
Tomorrow those talks are expected to take place now over the weekend and the focus really is trying to come to some agreement on these bridging
proposal. As you mentioned, the Philadelphi corridor, a crucial sticking point here.
There have been reports in Israeli media earlier in the week that the Israeli prime minister, Israeli delegation had a brutal withdrawal of
Israeli troops on that buffer zone separating the Egyptian border from Gaza. The Israeli prime minister's office now saying those reports in
their words were incorrect.
The Philadelphi corridor is a crucial element of Israel (INAUDIBLE) longstanding role (INAUDIBLE) Gaza and namely Hamas no longer poses a
threat to Israeli territory following the end of the war in Gaza. But Hamas has been clear, they want to see a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from
the Gaza Strip.
And of course, there are other sticking points that still continue to divide Israel and Hamas. One of those key sticking point is the towns
around the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as part of that ceasefire proposal currently on the table.
We know that Israel has been pushing for veto power over which Palestinian (INAUDIBLE) actually released. That is something that Hamas has outrightly
rejected. At this stage, there has been no explicit endorsement of this (INAUDIBLE) the table from Hamas officials.
They have said that they want to see the deal go back to the proposal put forward by President Biden in late May. They say they agreed broadly to the
terms of that agreement in early July. But they have accused the Biden administration of conforming to Israel's demands.
And have accused Israel or namely prime minister Netanyahu (INAUDIBLE) conditions to try and stall the ongoing negotiations. Probably heard from
Biden earlier in the week saying to reporters that it appeared as though Hamas was backing off from the agreement on the table rather the proposal
on the table.
That notion has also been rejected by Hamas officials who have said that mediators are well aware of their position, particularly in Qatar and
Egypt. They are still keen to see a proposal put forward. But again, reiterating they want to see the proposal that they agreed to in early
July, committed to by all sides and by all mediators.
At this stage, the talks are focused at the technical level on those final issues that they need to hammer out. There is an understanding that the
broader framework has been agreed upon. But again, it still feels as though we are a way off from the finish line as both sides continue.
To fail to agree to any of those bridging proposals as far as we understand it at this stage, (INAUDIBLE) by the U.S.
HILL: Nada, I really appreciate the update on the reporting. Thank you.
Well, amid all this talking about a ceasefire, it's important to note nothing has stopped in Gaza. A hospital official in northern Gaza says 12
people were killed in an Israeli airstrike, an Israeli strike, rather, on a house in the town of Beit Lahiya.
He said six children, including 16 month old twins, are among the dead. The Israeli military for its part says it is looking into that incident. Jeremy
Diamond joining me now from Tel Aviv with the latest as the fighting continues there.
What more do we know about this strike in particular?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, the Israeli military is continuing to conduct a series of airstrikes in southern
central and in northern Gaza. Dozens of people have been killed over the course of the last 24 hours.
There was a strike in central Gaza that killed six people from the same family, including two children and a woman; 16 people were killed in
Israeli operations in the southern Gaza City of Khan Yunis, according to Palestinian officials.
And then there is that strike in northern Gaza in the city of Beit Lahiya in the northernmost part of the Gaza Strip, where, which is perhaps the
most troubling one.
And that's because of the 12 people who were killed, six of them were children according to local officials but also according to video of that
we've seen from the aftermath of that strike, of six small bodies being pulled from the rubble, wrapped in cloth and prepared for burial.
This is not, of course, the first time that we have seen those kinds of levels of civilian casualties as this military campaign in Gaza continues.
The Israeli military, for its part, claims to have killed some 50 Palestinian militants over the past day.
They also say that they struck a weapons storage facility in Gaza City and recovered weapons in expanded Israeli military operations in Tel al-Sultan.
[10:25:03]
That's in southern Gaza in the Rafah governorate, where we have seen Israeli operations really focusing over the course of the last couple of
weeks.
Now of course, this fighting is continuing unabated even as those negotiations that Nada was just talking about are ongoing.
The question is, will those negotiations actually lead to the much needed ceasefire that we see these strikes call for?
As we see the toll that this ongoing war, now entering its 11th month, has caused for the civilians of Gaza, the Israeli prime minister speaking with
President Biden last night, with President Biden emphasizing the urgency of a cease-fire closing the deal.
And the hope from the U.S. side, at least, is that these, this meeting, which is expected to be in Cairo -- and we've now learned the CIA director
Bill Burns is indeed expected to travel there -- the hope is that that meeting can narrow the gaps between these two sides, eliminate any
remaining obstacles.
But for now, a ceasefire agreement seems very far away as both Israel and Hamas indicate that they are still far away from each other's negotiating
positions.
HILL: Yes, it certainly does. Jeremy, appreciate the updates. Thank you.
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HILL (voice-over): Want to get you up to speed on some of the other stories on our radar at this hour.
Narendra Modi has become the first Indian prime minister to visit Poland in 45 years. And that visit comes ahead of his trip to Ukraine on Friday. It's
been a month since Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Modi's visit to Russia where he was captured hugging president Vladimir
Putin.
Police in Romania raiding the home of Andrew Tate and his brother on Wednesday over new allegations of human trafficking and sex with a minor.
They were indicted on similar accusations you may recall letter last year. The brothers reportedly were questioned by an anti-organized crime agency
on Wednesday. They have denied any wrongdoing.
And in Italy, crews still searching for the last missing person from Monday's tragedy when a yacht sank off the coast of Sicily. Authorities
tell Reuters they're looking for, at this point, the teenage daughter -- we're told she is 18 years old -- of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
The prosecutor's office says it is also gathering evidence for a criminal investigation into the tragedy. This as a CNN team on the ground did see
emergency workers bringing a fifth body bag from the wreckage into the Sicilian port of Porticello earlier. That does bring the number of
confirmed deaths to six.
CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is there in Porticello for us at this hour.
What more do we know about both this investigation and where the search stands?
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we've just seen the divers come back and this is the third time today we've seen them come back
in after going out searching without what certainly is, as far as we can tell, having found that last victim, the, you know, the young and the 18-
year-old girl.
As this search continues, though, these divers come back and forth but there are still underwater activities going on. They have robots, they're
looking and monitoring the entire area to see if they can find this last missing person inside the vessel.
It is a very complicated procedure, though, because this is a very large luxury yacht and inside there are cables and electrical cords, also the
debris of what was in that yacht is now floating around.
They had to work very, very hard to try to get to the sleeping areas in order to retrieve the first five victims that they were able to find here.
And then the first one, they found Monday outside the boat.
In terms of the investigation, we know that that is ongoing. We know that they are interviewing survivors. We know that the local prosecutor here is
looking at criminal negligence. We know that he's talked to the captain.
We have been told he is a 51-year-old man from New Zealand. They talked to him for about two hours to try to determine what he knows. We've heard from
the maker of the yacht, who said that this was an unsinkable yacht, which is pointing to potential human error.
But we'll have to wait and see what the criminal investigation does lead to, as that goes, once they find this last body here in the debris field.
They will eventually have to raise this yacht and that will also be part of the investigation into potential criminal negligence.
HILL: Barbie, appreciate it. Thank you.
Just ahead here on CONNECT THE WORLD, Russia says Ukraine is launching yet another mass drone attack. A closer look at Ukraine's gains on the
battlefield as well. We'll get you up to speed on all of that just ahead.
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HILL: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Erica Hill.
In just a few hours, the Democratic National Convention will kick off its final night of festivities in Chicago, when Vice President Kamala Harris
will formally accept her party's presidential nomination.
Last night. It was her running mate's turn. Minnesota governor Tim Walz, introducing himself to voters as he accepted the vice presidential
nomination. The former public school teacher, highlighting his upbringing. Also, the struggles he and his wife faced with fertility.
And he took a moment to outline what a Harris presidency would look like.
It was also a bit of a star-studded affair. You saw Oprah there, John Legend, musicians, actors, celebrities all showing up to lend their support
to that Harris-Walz ticket. Here's some of the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please welcome Oprah Winfrey.
WINFREY: Let us choose truth, let us choose honor and let us choose joy.
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KEENAN THOMPSON, "SNL" COMEDIAN: Y'all remember this big ol' book from before?
Well, these are the terms and conditions of a second Trump presidency. You vote for him, you go for all of this. Let's take a look.
STEVIE WONDER, MUSIC CREATOR AND PRODUCER: Are y'all ready?
Are y'all ready to reach your higher ground?
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MINDY KALING, ACTOR: For those of you who don't know me I am incredibly famous Gen Z actress, who you might recognize from "The Office" -- thank
you "The Mindy Project" or as the woman who courageously outed Kamala Harris as Indian in an Instagram cooking video.
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WINFREY: Because that's the best of America. We're all Americans and, together, let's all choose Kamala Harris. Thank you, Chicago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So those are some of the real celebrity endorsements at the DNC this week. We are also, though, seeing a barrage of fake endorsements popping up
across social media. My colleague, Marshall Cohen, joining me now with those details.
So Marshall, in terms of -- we saw the fake, we talked about earlier this week, the Swifties for Trump, those fake AI images. You also have some new
research today about all of this misinformation.
What have you found?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hey, Erica. That was quite the montage there of the real endorsements. But the internet is swamped with
these fake endorsements. They're spreading wildly and sowing confusion on social media.
So researchers from the News Literacy Project, which is a nonpartisan group, they analyzed more than 500 unique examples of election
misinformation. And today, they launched a searchable database, hoping to raise awareness and combat the lies.
We got an early look at that data and found that about one in 10 of those 500 examples were fake endorsements like these. So you can pull up that
Swifties for Trump example, this is what Donald Trump shared last weekend.
These are AI generated images -- well, not this one. This one is Swifties for Biden, which also wasn't true. She endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 but has
not yet made an endorsement for the 2024 election.
Now you're seeing the Swifties for Trump post, which featured a bunch of AI generated content that is designed to deceive the voters. There also is a
photo, a Photoshopped image of the actor Ryan Reynolds, wearing a T-shirt that supposedly had a pro-Kamala Harris message.
You can see that here. It's not real. It's pretty easy to spot this one. It's Photoshopped clearly. But others are a lot more sophisticated, taking
advantage of the AI technology and, unfortunately, Erica photos like these and false claims like these are racking up millions and millions of views
on social media.
HILL: So is there anything that social media platforms are doing at this point to try to combat this spread of fake information?
COHEN: You know, it's sort of a mixed, mixed bag. There are a lot of these posts are spreading on Twitter, which is now called X. This is the first
presidential election with its new owner, Elon Musk, who has actually dismantled many of its safeguards against this disinformation.
The Twitter AI chatbot, which is called Grok, actually last week rolled out a new feature that allows users to generate their own AI images with a few
clicks and a simple prompt, which is exacerbating the problem.
I used it last week. It's fun. But if bad actors use it, then you can get photos like that Swifties for Trump image, which is clearly AI. And then
Facebook and Instagram for their part, they say they're spending billions of dollars on election integrity and are cracking down on AI images being
used in political ads.
But ultimately, Erica, it comes down to all of us, if you see pictures of celebrities wearing a political shirt or holding a political sign or claims
from some random Twitter user with a shocking new celebrity endorsement for this campaign, you should probably take a breath, take a closer look and
think twice before you hit that share button.
HILL: Yes. It's always the headlines that you won't believe that generally lead me to believe they're probably not true. Marshall, appreciate it as
always.
Well, Chicago police and the FBI, we're learning, are investigating a disturbing incident related to the DNC, maggots found in food during a DNC-
related breakfast. It happened on Wednesday morning. Officials say people entered the hotel where the breakfast was being held and then began to
place something on tables with food.
As for the hotel itself, a spokesperson saying that they maintain the highest standards of food safety, as you see there, and cleanliness
throughout the property. Pardon me.
That they have strict protocols in place to handle any disruptions. Whitney Wild is covering this from Chicago with more.
And your timing is perfect because I'm losing my voice, Whitney.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I will take over from here, Erica.
The law enforcement really believes at this point that those maggots were placed by activists but they're still trying to work through the rest of
the case, positively identify the people and then flush out this case.
Certainly Erica, law enforcement has been on alert for a range of different types of demonstrator tactics.
They say, so that would have they been preparing for is a creative range. And for example, Erica, over the last several months, they've had these
tabletop exercises where they've gamed out the different things that they might see from demonstrators.
[10:40:00]
I don't yet know if that included maggots but certainly we will ask. Last night was a good example of the types of protests that law enforcement does
want to see. There were peaceful protests. One was a pro-Palestinian protest, one was a pro-Israel protest. They were staggered timewise. They
didn't start it at exactly the same time.
And they didn't launch from the same location. But they had the opportunity at least that they could have collided. But law enforcement guided them in
such a way that they ended up not colliding on one another. And so that prevented any clashes.
Further, there were no clashes with police and that's really the thing that law enforcement is looking for as well. Last night, very calm, much
different than what we saw Tuesday, Erica, where dozens of people were arrested for clashing with law enforcement.
And then Monday, when we saw demonstrators break down the security gate outside the DNC, law enforcement, again, prepared for anything. And what
they're doing. Erica, is just frankly making sure they have enough bodies on the ground to jump on issues as they arise very quickly.
And make sure that they have a good chance to try to control and guide these crowds and make sure that, most importantly, that people were
protesting have the opportunity to do that in a safe and peaceful way.
Erica, tonight will be the last test. There is one more protest planned for this evening. This is another pro-Palestine protest. Organizers believe it
could be as big or bigger than the protests we saw Monday. That was around 3,500-4,000 people. So we'll see how big that protest gets tonight.
But certainly law enforcement and protesters looking to end on a high note with a peaceful protest that results in no arrests. Erica.
HILL: Whitney, appreciate it. Thank you.
Stay with us. CONNECT THE WORLD continues after this quick break.
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HILL: More than a dozen people are dead after flooding in Bangladesh and northeast India. Officials say tens of thousands are now seeking refuge in
shelters and relief camps. Some 300 medical teams have been deployed in Bangladesh where 3 million people are affected.
CNN's Anna Coren has more on what caused this disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: We are in Comilla in southeast Bangladesh on the border of India.
And this city, like much of the region, is now underwater. There's been heavy rains the past few days and it is the end of the monsoon season. But
locals say that last night without warning, suddenly everywhere was flooded.
Now there are claims that India opened the floodgates of one of its dams and that the water then surged down Gomti (ph) River into Bangladesh,
causing this flooding. Well, India denies it, saying the dam simply overflowed.
But it does admit that there was a power outage and it wasn't able to warn Bangladeshi authorities that the floodwaters were coming. Well, residents
are furious. They've come here.
[10:45:00]
Concerned that the levee is going to break and then flooded other parts of the city. They say they have never seen such extreme flooding in their
lifetime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's bad.
What will I do with my belongings and my children?
Where will I go?
Water is all around my house.
COREN (voice-over): Authorities say 3 million people have been affected by these floods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Tens of thousands have already been evacuated. And in the last few minutes, we have seen dozens of families take their belongings and leave.
Well Bangladesh, a country of more than 170 million people, is on the front line of climate change.
As flooding and cyclones become more extreme in recent years. And authorities say that conditions here will worsen with rain predicted in the
coming days -- Anna Coren, CNN, Kamila, Bangladesh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: In Ukraine, the country's military appears to be expanding its offensive inside Russia. Russian defense officials say Ukraine launched yet
another mass drone attack overnight. They said one of Kyiv's targets was a military airfield in Volgograd.
In this footage, you can see black smoke rising close to that airfield, Russia, for its part, says it shot down 28 Ukrainian drones over Russian
territory and also that it repelled a new attempt by Ukrainian forces to cross the border, this time in the region of Bryansk, which as you can see,
is just an extra course where Ukraine launched.
Of course that surprise incursion a little more than two weeks ago. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joining me now from London with more.
As Ukraine works to continue to push inside Russia, they are also, at the same time, working to defend their territory in Eastern Ukraine from
Russia, advancing any further. Bring us up to speed on where both efforts stand.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.
And there are very alarming scenes playing out in Eastern Ukraine. We understand from local authorities that families are hiding their children
from mandatory evacuation orders. Families have been given just two weeks to leave their homes. Already, hundreds are leaving per day.
That's because Ukrainian officials say Russia is advancing more quickly than they expected, particularly on Pokrovsk. I want you to take a listen
to how President Zelenskyy outlined this last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The front line, our positions, primarily in the Pokrovsk direction or Donetsk region,
we understand the enemy's moves and we are strengthening our defenses. A review of ammunition supplies has been conducted.
It's very important that our partners fully meet their commitments regarding every package and all our agreements. This is fundamental for
defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: What Ukrainian officials fear right now is that Russian troops are essentially trying to draw their attention away from that advance in
Kursk, which you mentioned, deep into Russian territory.
That surprise assault that began two weeks ago, that element of surprise now gone, Russian forces have very much been able to redeploy, rearm,
reconfigure themselves and are fighting back. Ukrainian officials saying they're facing fierce resistance in that area of Kursk.
That Russian troops are not surrendering in the manner that they were before. You also mentioned the possibility that Ukrainian forces have
expanded that offensive. Russia claiming that there was an attempt on Bryansk, the neighboring province. Ukraine has yet to comment on that.
But we do also know there were cross-border drone attacks overnight on a military airfield in Volgograd. There's footage that shows smoke billowing
over that airfield. And these drones go both ways, tit for tat here. So Moscow also firing on Kyiv.
Dozens of drones overnight, you have this multi-pronged front line, this multilayered conflict that continues to go on. And while Russian forces
redeploy, Moscow figures out where their priorities are. Ukrainian forces are also trying to respond and to continue that push deep into Russian
territory.
HILL: Salma, really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Stay tuned. More news for you but we're going to fit in a quick break right here.
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[10:50:00]
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HILL: The Democratic National Convention comes to a close tonight.
This will happen after Kamala Harris formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago and she'll do that while making her
pitch to the American people about who she is, what she stands for, what is undoubtedly the biggest political speech of her life.
All of this unfolding, of course. It's very clear that Republicans are paying attention. In fact, Republican vice presidential candidate senator
JD Vance actually sounding off about what he is seeing at the DNC.
Telling my colleague Jake Tapper on Wednesday that the warnings Democrats and some Republicans are sharing about a second Donald Trump presidency are
at odds with what he says are actually the Democrats' efforts to deliver a joyful convention message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: What you see from the Democrats is instead this argument that, if you want to vote for Donald Trump because you want to change the direction
of this country, you're somehow a bad person.
And I really think that that dark message really doesn't gel at all with the idea that somehow the Democrats are the joyful party. There's a lot of
attacks on Donald Trump, a lot of criticisms of what he's done and what he's said, not a whole lot of positive vision for how Kamala Harris is
going to fix the problems that plague the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Steve Contorno is covering the Trump campaign, joins me now from St. Petersburg, Florida.
They have clearly been paying attention too. We saw Donald Trump going on about how many times he was mentioned.
It's clear that that's part of the Democrats' strategy, right?
To paint this very stark difference between Trump and the Democrats. Interesting to see how it's being interpreted, though, on the Republican
side.
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Erica, and we've seen Donald Trump over the past week trying to shift some of the spotlight back to him
with one of the most active weeks on the campaign trail that we've seen from him really in months.
He had events in Pennsylvania, where he spoke about the economy; Michigan, where he discussed public safety; North Carolina, he was there yesterday
talking about national security today. He's at immigration talking about the border or at least that is how these events are being set up and billed
by his campaign.
But he has also been veering into these personal attacks and continuing to go off script into parts of that sort of dark rhetoric that his campaign
has been trying to urge him to get away from.
It's also very clear, as you said, that he has been paying close attention to what's happening in Chicago. Take a listen to what he had to say about
Barack Obama's speech the other night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night?
Taking little shots. He was taking shots at your president. And so was Michelle. You know, they always say, sure, please stick to policy, don't
get personal. And yet they are getting personal all night long, these people.
Do I still have to stick to policy?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CONTORNO: Trump also taking a shot overnight on Truth Social at Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, who spoke at the DNC as well, calling
Shapiro, quote, "a highly overrated Jewish governor."
Obviously that has been -- is quite a statement and has been getting a lot of outrage from Democrats in the last 24 hours.
HILL: It has been rightfully called out. It is fascinating to watch this, though, because, as we saw, even just in that clip that you showed, we know
these events and as you've been reporting, were smaller this week. They were to be focused on policy. They wanted to try to keep the candidate on
message.
This is all clearly, though, getting under Donald Trump's skin. He cannot help himself but talk about it and it's very obvious it bothers him.
CONTORNO: Absolutely. The fact that, just a few weeks ago, he was accusing and spreading online conspiracies that Vice President Harris was inflating
her crowd size, this is something that's really important to him.
And Democrats have clearly seized on the fact that they held an event in Milwaukee in the very arena where he had his convention and clearly
outperformed in terms of attendance.
Donald Trump going all the way back to his 2015-2016 campaign and his inauguration. He has always been infatuated with the size of his movement,
the size of his crowd size.
[10:55:03]
And going forward, it's going to be a challenge for his campaign because they do want him to stay on message. They want him to get out about the
country a lot more than we have seen from him lately.
And that means having to go into smaller venues because getting him into larger venues and holding his larger events takes time. It takes resources,
it takes money, it takes a few days of scheduling versus jumping around from battleground to battleground.
It requires you to be at these little smaller events and we'll see how Trump reacts to having to speak over and over again to these crowds that
are clearly going to be much smaller than some of these Democratic rallies.
HILL: And just real quickly before I let you go, there's a lot of speculation about what will or will not happen tomorrow with RFK Jr. Both
he and Donald Trump, as I understand, it, will be in Arizona.
Do we know any more about perhaps their schedules overlapping?
CONTORNO: Yes.
The hope within the Trump campaign is that RFK Jr. will endorse him for president and drop out of the race.
There are still some ongoing discussions over whether that happens, whether there will be some sort of joint events. It would obviously be beneficial
to Donald Trump because, in a lot of these swing states, some of the support for RFK Jr. has been coming directly from his base.
HILL: We will all be watching to see what happens tomorrow in Arizona. Steve, good to see you. Thank you so much.
Thanks to all of you for joining me these past two hours on CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Erica Hill. Be sure to stay with CNN. "NEWSROOM" with Rahel
Solomon is up next.
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END
