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Lavrov: Russia Must be Included in Security Talks; The Afghans Left Behind after U.S. Withdrawal; Former Israeli Hostage Reflects on Life after Captivity; White House Joins TikTok as Deadline to Ban App Approaches; Mixed Reviews on New Mixed Doubles. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired August 20, 2025 - 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)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene at the White House where President Trump will swear in the new U.S. Ambassador to the
EU, Andrew Puzder, this afternoon. It's 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It's 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the
World".
Also coming up, NATO military leaders are meeting today after a week of diplomacy over the Russia, Ukraine war. Meanwhile, the Israeli military is
calling up 60,000 more reservists ahead of the planned Gaza City takeover. And a bus carrying Afghans deported from Iran has crashed, killing dozens.
All right time now to take a look at the stock markets in New York. It opens in around 30 minutes from now, and the futures are pointing down. The
DOW is down only so slightly, S&P 500 as well, and you've got the NASDAQ down around two tenths of a percent will be delving into market moves in
about 30 minutes from now.
Meantime, NATO military leaders are meeting today via video conference to discuss next steps for Ukraine after whirlwind weekend of diplomacy.
They're talking about security guarantees a major topic at the White House Monday, when U.S. President Donald Trump hosted his Ukrainian counterpart
and a host of European Leaders.
Meantime, U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff, who was part of the Trump Putin Summit in Alaska, says Russian officials made concessions almost immediately,
leading President Trump to pursue a comprehensive peace deal, as opposed to a ceasefire that Ukraine and Europe say is needed first.
Now, one big question, will President Zelenskyy and Putin sit down face-to- face? The White House says preparations for such a meeting are underway, but Russia has not committed to it happening. And the attacks continue,
Ukraine says a massive Russian drone strike hits a fuel facility in Odessa, injuring one person and 14 others were injured in another drone attack in
Northern Ukraine.
Clare Sebastian is following developments for us from London. And Clare, we're seeing these attacks and this offensive, the summer offensive,
continuing, and while military NATO military chiefs are talking, Russia's foreign minister is also speaking out today. What is Sergei Lavrov saying?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And what Lavrov has done over the past few days, and including in the comments that we heard from him today,
is essentially pour cold water on the key points of progress that the White House has spent most of this week talking up.
Number one, of course, we heard from Trump on Monday that he was pushing for the next step, being a bilateral meeting, perhaps the trilateral
meeting, but he settled on the idea of a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. And we've had Russian officials, including Lavrov --
on this. He did it again today.
He said that, you know, yes, Putin would of course, be willing, but Europe would have to not use this meeting to essentially drag the U.S. into what
he called its aggressive war, like campaign, to use Ukraine as an instrument to contain Russia.
And then he confirmed again what we heard from a Kremlin aid on Monday, that in that phone call between Trump and Putin, Putin did not actually
agree to direct talks with Zelenskyy, but instead agreed to raise the level of the Russian delegation involved in the next round of direct talks.
Of course, we've seen several rounds so far in Istanbul. So that's point number one. On the issue of security guarantees, where we see that the U.S.
commitment to be involved in post war security arrangements for Ukraine has now supercharged work among officials from NATO and Defense Chiefs to try
to put meat on the bones of that, to try to come up with the details of what that would look like. Now we see Lavrov coming in and saying this.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Now, it is proposed to resolve security issues collective security without the Russian Federation. This
will not work. We've already explained more than once that Russia does not inflate its interests. We will firmly and harshly ensure our legitimate
interests.
I'm confident that in the West, and above all, in the U.S., they understand perfectly well that seriously discussing security issues without the
Russian Federation is a utopia and a path to nowhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: So. remember that the Trump team namely, of course, Steve Witkoff came out of that Alaska meeting touting the idea that Russia had
signed off on U.S. involvement in Ukrainian security guarantees after the war as a major point of progress.
[09:05:00]
I think that reveals that Russia does not see it in quite the same way. And look, they are not seeing any reason to back down. As of yet, Russia has
seen a number of wins this week, and I think the comments that we get -- got today from Lavrov and over the past few days are really also signaling
to Trump that if Putin is to sit down with Zelenskyy, they need to see more progress, more pressure on Ukraine to get the demands that they have put
forward to be met.
GIOKOS: Yeah. All right. Clare, thank you so much for that report. Clare Sebastian for us in London. Now, Israel is preparing to call up 60,000 more
reservists for a takeover of Gaza City, a plan that entails the forced displacement of up to a million Palestinians to Southern Gaza.
Now the Israeli military made the announcement as mediators sit waiting for the country's response to the latest ceasefire hostage release proposal,
which Hamas has already agreed to. CNN's Paula Hancocks is here with me in studio to discuss this further, calling up 60,000 reservists. I mean, give
us a sense of whether this is actually being approved, and what we know the plan actually will be?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Eleni, at this point, we know that the Israeli military has said that they will call these extra 60,000
reservists up, which means they will have a total of 120,000 reservists at the end of it. And that's on top, of course, of the active-duty soldiers
that are operating at this point as well.
Now we understand from a military official that this is a new phase of combat. That's how they're seeing it, that the letters will start to go out
and in the coming days, so it is imminent at this point, the pinning down the Israeli military as to when this will happen, though, is difficult.
They have just said soon at this point.
We know that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wants to take over Gaza City. He has said that he believes this is the way to end the war
quicker. This is the best way to end the war, but it has come under huge international condemnation there. The condemnation is widespread against
this.
It has come under criticism from humanitarian aid groups as well from the United Nations, saying that to move hundreds of thousands of people
forcibly from this area of Gaza City, many of them have been displaced many times already, would create another calamity in Gaza and pushing them into
an ever-shrinking area in the South and in the West.
So, there is a lot of controversy about this. Netanyahu, though, is pushing ahead. We know tomorrow he'll have a security cabinet meeting where they
are expected to give the green light, the final green light to occupy Gaza City. We've spoken to Palestinians in Gaza City who are already leaving
because they're scared.
We have seen some displaced pulling down their tents, their makeshift shelters, and trying to get to an area where they believe that they will be
safer because they believe that the evacuation order is coming, they just don't know when. And as one Palestinian said to us, why is Israel doing
this again? There's nothing left to occupy in Gaza City. Gaza City is effectively, in some parts, a tent city at this point, but there is a lot
of fear in Gaza City at this point.
GIOKOS: All right, Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for that update. And we're also following news out of Afghanistan, where a bus crash killed more
than 70 people, including at least 17 children. The bus burst into flames after being involved in a collision on a highway on the way to the capital
city Kabul.
Those on board were Afghans recently deported from Iran as part of the ongoing program to remove undocumented migrants from the country. For more
on this, I want to bring in our Correspondent, Isobel Yeung, who's been tracking the story for us.
Isabel, this is absolutely devastating. The visuals, the images that we're getting on this bus, crash very harrowing. This bus was filled with Afghan
refugees. What do we know so far? And how did this play out? I mean, it's really one of these devastating stories coming through today.
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, really heartbreaking images. You know, these are just some of the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who
are being deported and have been deported from Iran into Afghanistan over the last few months as part of this deportation drive.
You know, so many people on there. We've been speaking to NGOs who are along that border, and saying that the humanitarian needs are absolutely
huge along there, just because of the sheer number of people coming across. You know, obviously, the humanitarian situation is dire.
The human rights situation is deteriorating there, and a lot of these Afghans could remember coming back to a country that they haven't lived in
for years, sometimes even decades, and they're now trying to find their feet, and clearly their fate is just not in their hands.
GIOKOS: And this month, of course, marks four years, since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan. What is life like for those living there today?
[09:10:00]
We've been tracking the stories. We've been covering, as you say, the humanitarian situation for many people there, and frankly, it's
heartbreaking again to see the reality there. You've been on the ground, you've taken a look at it, give me a sense.
YEUNG: Yeah, well, it's been four years since the U.S. withdrawal, obviously, four years since the Taliban takeover. You'll probably remember
those heartbreaking images of Afghans desperately trying to flee the country, trying to hold on to those last U.S. evacuation flights.
That also means four years of waiting for many people, and four years of being stuck in an Afghanistan where the economic situation is
deteriorating, where the human rights situation is deteriorating, particularly for women. We have spent some time in Afghanistan speaking to
some of these people who are stuck there in extremely precarious situations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YEUNG (voice-over): Here in Afghanistan, the remnants of war are everywhere.
YEUNG: These guys are trying to clear this whole field of land mines that have been left by decades of war. Just got to watch where we're stepping,
because anywhere beyond these red flags is still potentially contaminated and could have unexploded ordnance.
YEUNG (voice-over): Deminers work around the clock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was key accidents, an accident in this happen in the past.
YEUNG: Oh, wow. And how often are civilian accidents happening in Afghanistan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A monthly basis, we have witnessed more than 110 people, most of them as children, involved with the accident unfortunately.
YEUNG: So, over 100 civilian accidents every month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Monthly basis, yes.
YEUNG: Wow. It must be dangerous work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. This is the reality of Afghanistan.
YEUNG: This guy's hair has just found some sign of metal, so they're digging a little further to try and find out whether that's a mine or not.
Very hot, dangerous work up here.
YEUNG (voice-over): Every week, the deminers collect unexploded ordnance and explode them. But invading countries have left more than just bombs in
their wake here. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans worked with the U.S. government during their 20-year war here as translators, drivers, civil
society, workers and doctors.
Following America's chaotic withdrawal under the Biden Administration in 2021 the U.S. set up a refugee program that would provide a path for
Afghans to move to the U.S., a lightning rod for many Republicans.
STEPHEN MILLER, NOW-WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: The United States of America never, ever made a promise, written or unwritten, to the people of
Afghanistan, that if, after 20 years, they were unable to secure their own country, that we would take them to ours.
YEUNG (voice-over): When Trump returned to power this year, he canceled refugee programs, dismantled the office dedicated to helping Afghans
relocate and barred them from entering the U.S. altogether.
YEUNG: We've been speaking to a lot of those individuals across the country, but sadly, because of security concerns, most of them we're having
to speak to on the phone.
YEUNG (voice-over): On paper, the U.S. says they are still processing caters for people who worked with the U.S. military directly, but many,
like this man are stuck in Afghanistan, living in fear. We've disguised his voice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that the Taliban is searching for me. I'm hiding I can't go outside freely. If they find me, I'm confident that he will
imprison me. They will torture me. They will kill me. Donald Trump become U.S. President. He signed the executor order and all cases dropped. We
stood within his forces side by side for a long term, but now it banned us, why? Where is the justice?
YEUNG: So, we've been in touch with one woman who has agreed to meet with us. She says that it's very risky that she risks running into the Taliban,
she risks traveling by herself, and she's very scared. But she says it's worth it, because she really needs to share her story.
YEUNG (voice-over): As a doctor, this woman worked for American charities with recent U.S. aid cuts she lost her job. She now feels that her
relationship with U.S. organizations has put her and her family's life in danger.
YEUNG: You're clearly terrified. You came here. You were shaking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: During the way I saw Taliban and I'm very afraid of them.
YEUNG: What is it like as a woman living in Afghanistan right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The situation is very bad for the Afghan woman, and we don't -- I don't have any job going to the bazaar, not going to the
shopping. We can't everything, just we are in whom and we are afraid from every second of the life we are spent is very dangerous.
[09:15:00]
YEUNG (voice-over): Her communication with the State Department has stopped. The last email she got was in January, just days before Trump
returned to the White House.
YEUNG: How did you feel when you saw the news that Trump was canceling these programs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the night we are crying. It was very difficult to accept. Like this.
YEUNG: You felt like this was your lifeline.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. It broke our head.
YEUNG: President Trump has said that he needs to protect the borders that he needs this America First policy to ensure that it's not dangerous and no
one dangerous enters the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I'm not agree with this. They broke his promise to Afghan woman and Afghan girls.
YEUNG: What does it feel like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're feeling bad because we trust on him, and we working with them as 20 years and they promised us to we -- must be moved
from here to America.
YEUNG: What is your message to President Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, please, please, please start the cases again, and also please support the Afghani girls or women, because now it was very
difficult for us. It was very danger, and I'm not feeling safe in here.
YEUNG (voice-over): The U.S. State Department told us they're unable to comment on individual cases or internal operations of refugee processing,
and that the president is, quote, committed to helping those who helped us, but that their first priority is always the safety and security of the
American people. Isobel Yeung, CNN, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YEUNG (on camera): Yeah, well, she is just one of many thousands of individuals who are just really stuck in limbo, desperate for these
policies to change.
GIOKOS: Yeah, Isobel, I have to say, very moving story, and thank you so much for that. reporting. Much appreciate it. And still to come, 500 days
after being snatched from a musical festival, a former Hamas hostage tells the harrowing story he never thought he had survived. That interview is
coming up next. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. Eliya Cohen endured Hamas captivity for more than 500 days after he was taken hostage from the Nova Music Festival on October
7th, 2023. In his first interview with foreign media since his release earlier this year, Cohen details the harrowing experience to CNN's Clarissa
Ward. And warning there are graphic images and descriptions in this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIYA COHEN, FORMER ISRAELI HOSTAGE: I feel guilty. I feel guilty by myself. When I eat, I feel guilty. When I get travel, I feel guilty. When I
go to the hospital to check something I feel guilty because I know what they -- what they go through right now.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eliya Cohen has been free for six months, but he's still imprisoned by the
knowledge that his fellow hostages are not.
[09:20:00]
Eliya and his Girlfriend Ziv Abud were at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th, 2023 when rockets started raining down. They ran to a shelter,
only to come under attack by Hamas militants.
COHEN: In this row, the first grenade inside, the grenade explode and killed the most people at the entrance. At that moment, I jumped on Ziv and
I told Ziv, I love you. I took dead bodies, and they cover me and Ziv to survive. And they came inside, and they start to shoot. And then I got
shoot in my leg.
WARD: What's going through your mind in this moment?
COHEN: I really start to pray to God, to tell him, God, I love you. Please keep me alive. And they came inside. And when I opened my -- when I opened
my eyes, I saw them film us with big smile, and when I came out of the shelter. So, I saw so many people with RPG, with grenade, with Kalashnikov,
with a lot of tools to kill people. They were so high for me, I saw them. They laugh; they sing like a crazy people.
WARD (voice-over): Eliya was bundled onto the back of a truck and taken to Gaza, also on that truck, Israeli American Hersh Goldberg Poland, his hand
blown off trying to throw a grenade out of the shelter. The pair would later be held together for a short time.
COHEN: We took -- we took a lot for three days. After three days, they told him that, Hersch, wake up, you go to your mother. It's happy day. You go to
your mother. Be happy. And he gave me his book he got -- he got some book in English. I didn't know to speak English before.
WARD: You didn't know how to speak in English before?
COHEN: Yeah, I've not spoken English before. He told me, take it from me, because I go home. Keep it. Keep it for you. So, it's really gave me power
to continue. Because I said to myself that Hersch came back home, may he will come to my mother and to my father to tell him that I am alive and I
will be OK.
WARD (voice-over): But Hersch never came back home. He was executed by Hamas, along with five other hostages.
COHEN: So, for me, it was difficult, because I really love him. We were for three days, but it felt like we were friends for 10 years.
WARD: I'd love to get a sense from you of the bond between hostages.
COHEN: The experience there, and the connection of us. You know, the situation made us really connected. We really love each other.
WARD (voice-over): Most of Eliya's captivity was spent deep in tunnels alongside fellow hostages, Or Levy Alain Au Hail and Eli Sharabi. He says
he went an entire year without brushing his teeth, at one point, surviving on a single can of beans shared between them each day.
COHEN: I can tell you about a lot of situations that they came and really tried to do any turtle to laugh on us. Like --
WARD: Mind games.
COHEN: Yeah, like mind games. You can call it mind games. After something like eight, eight months without mattress, without nothing. We slept on the
floor. They came with big smile, and he told us, we have big good news for you. We gave you a -- we gave you mattress, but we have bad news. We gave
you just three.
So, check, check who slept on the floor and who will -- who will sleep on the floor and who will sleep on the mattress. And we look to each other.
You know, nobody want to continue to sleep on the floor after so many days, retired one of the hostages. His name is Alan -- and that's still there. He
came and told to the terrorist, give them their mattress for them. I will sleep on the floor.
WARD (voice-over): After 505 days, Eliya was finally released, reunited with his parents and his girlfriend, Ziv, he had assumed was killed in the
shelter.
COHEN: And then I made Ziv, and it was like -- it was like dream for four weeks, it felt like dream. I look at her, and I told her, Ziv, I can -- I
can't believe you, you're here because I saw she survived.
WARD: And now you guys are getting married. Is that right?
COHEN: I can tell you this in -- years.
WARD (voice-over) Since his release, Ziv is always by his side.
COHEN: She wants to join us.
WARD: She wants to join us. OK, let's put a microphone on you.
[09:25:00]
I mean, Ziv, did you ever let yourself imagine that moment while you were waiting for Eliya?
ZIV ABUD, ELIYA'S GIRLFRIEND: No, not really, because I was scared. I never let myself to imagine this moment, because I don't want. I didn't want to
fall, you know, I thought to myself, I believe just when I see the Eliya across the border to Israel, with, you know, with soldier. And this is the
moment that I look and told myself, OK. Now you can breathe.
WARD (voice-over): In an interview with Israeli media during the ceasefire, Eliya said that he worried that if the fighting continued, it would be
quote, a death sentence for the hostages in our conversation. He was very careful not to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu or his plan to occupy the
whole of Gaza. But other hostage families have been more outspoken about their fears. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, there's more news ahead right after the short break, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines. NATO Leaders are meeting
virtually today discussing security guarantees for Ukraine. Two days after that topic was front and center at the White House meeting involving the
U.S. Ukrainian and European Leaders.
Russia's Foreign Minister today said any discussion without Moscow's participation is quote, path to nowhere. The Israeli military says it will
be recalling and calling up to 60,000 more reservist troops in the coming days ahead of its planned takeover of Gaza City. Meantime, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu still hasn't responded to the latest ceasefire hostage release proposal after Hamas agreed to it on Monday.
At least 76 people are dead after a bus crash in Afghanistan. The bus was carrying Afghans recently deported from Iran. It was heading to Gabor when
it was involved in a collision and burst into flames. At least 17 children are among the dead. All right the markets in the U.S. are about to open.
We're seconds away.
[09:30:00]
And that is the start of the trading day in New York. Let's check in on those opening prices. We did have futures showing to sort of a negative
start, but only so slightly. Market participants trying to find their grounding on all the news that's coming through today, but also focusing on
tariffs, what it means down the line? What it means for tech stocks and, of course, what it means for retail stocks as well.
The DOW, however, recovering slightly, up slightly at 0.12 percent to the good the S&P and NASDAQ with a bit of a negative bias there. Now President
Donald Trump is no stranger to social media, and on Tuesday, he went after a new audience, targeting TikTok's 170 million American users with the
launch of an official White House account.
It comes with less than a month to go before the latest deadline approaches for TikTok's Chinese parent company, to sell the app or face a ban in the
United States, President Trump has repeatedly extended that deadline, which is now set for September 17th. It was imposed after legislation passed last
year over concerns that TikTok's Chinese ownership, poses a threat to U.S. national security.
I want to discuss this further with CNN's Chief Brian -- Chief and Media Analyst rather Brian Stelter, he joins me now. Brian, I know that you were
covering the story. I was covering the story when President Trump was trying to ban TikTok outright you know, around a few years ago.
And things have changed now. The White House is on TikTok. I want you to give me a sense of where we stand right now and how important and what kind
of messaging, frankly, President Trump and the White House is sending by starting a TikTok account?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Eleni, number one Trump is reacting to the fact that many, many American voters use and love TikTok. They're
addicted to the platform. He recognizes that, and he now portrays himself as the savior of TikTok.
This is something he views as politically expedient, politically popular, given the usage of TikTok in the United States. But it was his idea five
years ago. He gets a lot of credit for all the talk in the U.S. about banning TikTok, because that was a priority of his five years ago. It was a
big talking point.
So he is, of course, completely evolved on this topic. But I do think it's important to put front and center what Congress concluded last year, right?
Congress, Republicans and Democrats concluded that TikTok was a national security risk in the U.S. and wanted it to be banned. That was, of course,
signed the law by Joe Biden in the waning days of his presidency, before Trump started to delay the law.
There are a number of legal experts who have said that Trump's delay of the law may be illegal, that he is flouting this law, that he is very much
trying to exploit his own power and basically expand the executive branch power in a way that is unprecedented.
But for now, there does not seem to be significant pushback to his continued delays. So yes, he keeps delaying this ban from going into
effect, and now the Trump White House actually launching a TikTok account. It shows exactly how he is prioritizing the use of the platform, and
frankly, in the grand scheme of things, this might be a sign to China and to negotiators in China that it has a whole lot of leverage when it comes
to TikTok.
GIOKOS: Yeah, really interesting. I mean, this is a big question of whether TikTok is here to stay. Where the ByteDance does sell? You know -- exit the
United States, how analysts reading into this? Because I think everyone's going to be looking at, what do we do with this stock? You know, who's
going to be the buyer? What is ByteDance going to finally do with this?
STELTER: Right. It's a sign that President Trump will probably continue to put these delays into effect, delaying the enforcement, even though the
actual law passed by Congress only allowed for 190-day delay. Right now, there isn't energy in the U.S. to force Trump to actually put this law into
effect.
The energy doesn't seem to be there for any number of reasons, and so he seems to be able to continue to allow TikTok to remain online. Even as we
saw another U.S. state yesterday, Minnesota go ahead and sue TikTok, alleging that it preys on young people with addictive algorithms.
The concerns about TikTok that were true a year ago are still true today, but President Trump wants to be on what he believes is the popular side of
this issue, and launching an official TikTok account does show where he stands.
GIOKOS: Yeah. So, Brian, I mean, you know, we're of the generation where we would still rely on official press releases from government, you know,
websites and so forth, and that would come into our inbox. Things then dramatically change.
We were getting -- we were getting information on X well, then as Twitter. And I -- you know and I remember the moment. It was President Trump who
kind of normalized it. You've got other government officials. You've got so many other people going to the social media platforms for big news and for
the disseminating important news.
[09:35:00]
STELTER: Yes, absolutely. And we're seeing that from figures like California Governor Gavin Newsom. He has been on an absolute tear recently,
trying to parrot, trying to mimic President Trump in a way that's getting a lot of attention. He is posting all caps rants, basically mimicking Trump's
Truth Social posts.
And it is driving some conservatives crazy. There's all sorts of commentary about Newsom's strategy here. What is he doing? Why is he doing this? He's
basically trying to say, hey, the president is juvenile. He's unpresidential in his Truth Social posts, in his memes, in his rants. So,
Newsom is trying to point that out, trying to parody it and getting a lot of attention.
And I think attention is the key word. What we are seeing in American politics right now is an attention war. Trump is the expert at getting
attention both good and bad, right? And we're seeing Democrats who want to challenge him for the presidency try to learn from Trump, try to use his
playbook. Figures like Newsom certainly doing that on a daily basis now.
GIOKOS: Yeah. I mean, think about it, the new generation are going to be shocked that social media didn't always exist, and that's not how we got
our news. I mean, you and I yeah, we're legacy, I guess Brian. All right. Brian Salter, thank you so much.
I want to get you now up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. Hurricane Erin is bringing life threatening rip currents
to the United States East Coast, triggering a state of emergency in North Carolina and beach closures across multiple states just shy of category
three, the hurricane is not expected to make landfall, but it will bring dangerous waves and a storm surge in the coming hours.
The Texas State House is expected to take up its bill today on restricting -- redistricting by redrawing Congressional maps, the Trump backed proposal
could add as many as five Republican leaning Congressional districts before next year's midterm election to help Republicans hold on to power.
President Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks against Smithsonian Museums in a social media post, Trump called the Smithsonian out of
control, adding that it is too focused on how bad slavery was. He's directing his lawyers to conduct a review of the museums. All right and
still to come on CNN, why the new mixed doubles format underway at the U.S. Open has stirred controversy among Tennis purists. We'll explain that story
right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
GIOKOS: Right now, one of Sweden's most historic buildings is on the final leg of its two-day move to a new home. The 113-year-old Kiruna Church was
lifted from its foundation early Tuesday for a five-kilometer journey down a winding road. It's often voted the most beautiful wooden structure in
Sweden and one of its largest.
The move is part of a 30-year project to relocate the church and about 3000 homes in Sweden's North most city, where the ground is sinking due to the
expansion of the world's largest underground iron mine. And of course, that story playing out incredible images there.
And a new win for Liverpool's forward Mo Salah, the 33-year-old snatched the Professional Footballers Association, Player of the Year. Listen to
what the Egyptian King said after topping the six-man shortlist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED SALAH, LIVERPOOL FORWARD: A guy coming from Egypt and make it to the top level. Make a history today. So, it's something make me so proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Salah is the first player chosen by his peers to receive the award three times. The much talked about pair of Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu
was ousted early in the revamped mixed doubles at the U.S. Open. Now they lost their match to top seeds Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula.
Mixed doubles at this year's Open has a new shortened format. And of course, we've got Amanda Davies standing by for us. And despite the added
star power and bigger prize money, the makeover is stirring controversy. And of course, Amanda is going to tell us all about it. What's going on?
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: I've got to tell you, Eleni, this is like saying, Wimbledon, we're going to get rid of their tennis whites. I mean,
the controversy and the discussion around it is incredible. Mixed Doubles usually an event that runs concurrently to the main singles draws and
doubles tournaments.
Towards the end, the specific doubles players, the rules have been ripped up. This is a two-day event happening before the singles. It's the world's
best players being paired with each other playing four game sets, first to four, rather than four to six. The fans are loving it. Some of the
traditionalists aren't coming up in just a couple of minutes on "World Sport". We've got the view of the most successful men's pair of all time,
the Bryan Brothers. So, hope people can stay with us to find out their views.
GIOKOS: All right, we'll catch up with you after this break. And of course, we'll be back at the top of the hour with more "Connect the World". Stay
with CNN.
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[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
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