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One World with Zain Asher

Biden Delivers Forceful Speech On Day One Of DNC; Police Adding More Fencing, Security Around DNC Location; IDF: Bodies Of Six Israeli Hostages Recovered In Gaza; Divers Continue Search For Six Missing From Sunken Yacht; FBI: Iran Behind Hacking Attempts On Trump, Harris Campaigns; Blinken Pushing For Ceasefire Deal In Israel, Egypt And Qatar; Russian Forces Advancing Toward City of Pokrovsk; Aired 12-1p ET

Aired August 20, 2024 - 12:00:00   ET

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

[12:00:07]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching ONE WORLD.

The second day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago gets underway in a matter of hours.

GOLODRYGA: And another round of political heavy hitters is set to take the stage. Former President Barack Obama will headline the prime time speakers

from his own hometown. And former First Lady Michelle Obama will address the convention as well.

ASHER: Yes, you've also got second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, and Illinois Governor, J.B. Pritzker, also being among the featured speakers as well. It

follows a powerful opening night and an emotional and really fiery farewell of sorts from Joe Biden.

GOLODRYGA: The U.S. president spoke about his commitment to his country, his unwavering belief in Kamala Harris, and the one issue that finally

ended his reelection campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.

For 50 years, like many of you, I've given my heart and soul to our nation. And I've been blessed a million times in return the support of the American

people.

I've really been too young to be in the Senate because I wasn't 30 yet and too old to stay as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Well, let's go now to CNN's Kevin Liptak, joining us live now from Chicago.

So, Kevin, it was really touching to see the party honor Biden in that way. That standing ovation went on for quite a while. Partly because people were

thanking him for his service, but probably more thanking him for stepping aside too.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, yes. And when he was looking out at those signs in the crowd that had, I Heart Joe, on them, I

think this is someone who's been in politics long enough that that was a two meaning sign.

It was thanking him for his legislative accomplishments, but also thanking him for stepping aside and making room for a democratic ticket that was

going to be more competitive, but that I don't think diminished the raucous reception that he received in this arena last night.

And when he walked out, he was really overcome by what he saw in the crowd. And we were saying yesterday that this was not the speech that he wanted to

give. I think I would revise that today by saying it was not the night that he wanted to give it.

When you were listening to it, he was saying, it was easy to imagine that speech being delivered in an alternate universe where President Biden was

still the democratic nominee just with the last 10 minutes chopped off.

You know, it wasn't an extensive testimony about Kamala Harris, who is now the democratic nominee. It was really a lengthy recitation of his

accomplishments in the Oval Office. It was talking about Donald Trump as a threat to democracy. That is the campaign that Joe Biden wanted to run.

A lot of Democrats didn't think that was going to work. And obviously he's no longer the democratic nominee. But I don't think you'll hear any

Democrats here in Chicago begrudging him that. They're willing to indulge President Biden in this very long speech that he delivered because they're

very just happy with how all of this ended up turning out.

President Biden, in that speech, did try and insist that he wasn't angry with anyone who tried to push him off the ticket. But, you know, there's no

questioning that this was an unhappy experience for him.

And as he was leaving Chicago, he said that he still hasn't spoken with Nancy Pelosi, who is one of those people who was trying to push him off,

you know, at least obliquely.

President Biden and his wife are now in Santa Ynez, California. We won't see them here in Chicago for the rest of the week. They've essentially

turned the keys of this convention over to Kamala Harris.

And I think the task going forward is to really kind of introduce her to the American people, starting with President Obama this evening. And I

don't think there's any question about why they've delivered this task to Obama to make this affirmative case for Kamala Harris. He's the party's

most gifted orator.

[12:05:07]

And he also has this relationship with Kamala Harris going back 20 year. You know, of all of the national politicians that will hear from this week,

he and Kamala Harris have actually known each other for quite a long time.

She was actually at the convention in 2004 when Barack Obama delivered that keynote speech that thrust him in to national politics. Back then, he

described himself as the skinny kid with a funny name. Now he's something of an elder statesman coming onto the stage tonight to do what his advisors

say is make the case for Harris in an affirmative way.

He'll have to separate her some way from the unpopular aspects of the Biden record. And he'll also, you know, deliver those warnings about Donald

Trump. And, of course, he's delivered so many convention speeches over the year.

And I'm reminded of the one he delivered in 2016 when he warned about Trump and said he was peddling a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we

turn against each other and turn away from the rest of the world.

It's hard to say that much has changed in the last eight years. And certainly those themes will be ones that he'll want to deliver this

evening.

You know, according to a senior Obama advisor, he thinks this is an all hands-on-deck moment. He's willing to do anything that's asked of him to

try and get Kamala Harris elected in November.

In some ways, he's returning the favor. Back in 2008, Kamala Harris made the trek to Iowa in the very cold winter months before the caucus there.

She knocked on doors for him. She handed out pizzas to people waiting in line.

I don't think Obama will be handing out pizzas this fall, but certainly he's willing to do whatever it takes to get her to the White House.

GOLODRYGA: I don't know. You don't envision him handing out deep-dish pizzas trying to convince those people who came all the way to Chicago.

LIPTAK: Yes. Maybe here in Chicago.

GOLODRYGA: That's the best pizza in town, in the country.

LIPTAK: I don't know. Maybe here in Chicago. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes, I guess.

ASHER: Kevin Liptak, always good to see, my friend. Thank you.

All right. Outside the convention, Chicago police are beefing up security today after a disturbing incident that took place on Monday.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. At least four people were arrested after they broke through security fencing around the convention site. They were part of a group

protesting the war in Gaza and apparently had little difficulty toppling the fence.

The protests Monday were smaller than expected with only a few thousand people showing up, not the 20,000 that organizers had thought they would

see.

CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild is in Chicago and joins us now.

So, what more can we expect to hear from law enforcement in terms of the rest of the week? This goes on for another three days.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: They're giving an update at this moment, Bianna, and there are really big questions about how

protesters were even allowed to get that close and then what is going to be the plan moving forward.

So as you mentioned, this was a smaller than anticipated group, but it was plenty to try to topple areas of this fence around the United Center.

This is the outer security layer. This is really the first stop between the general public and this protected zone and that -- you know, the fence is

something that security forces had told us over and over and over was a really critical part of the plan. They have many redundancies.

And so when that fence was breached, you saw law enforcement get on that situation very quickly. It was just a handful of protesters, but it was

enough to basically lift out these panels of the fencing.

So if you can see, they're hooked in to these areas down here. And so what the protesters did was it kind of just wiggled them out of that spot and

then they hoisted them over.

So now what you see is a higher panel up here. So this top panel was not here the last few days that we were here. So that's an added layer.

And then in addition, you can see that they fortified parts of the fencing here. And this goes on for several blocks.

Finally, Bianna, what you see too is this extra fence here. So before, it was just this black fence and then this much thinner red fence. Now there's

another iron fence in between that, so they're adding a layer of this physical security.

This is not a great start to what could be a very long week of protests here. Law enforcement has made clear though that they want to try to

protect the rights of citizens to exercise their First Amendment. They want to be able to do that with the space that they're looking for, with the

amount of time that they're looking for.

But what law enforcement made very clear was they were not going to tolerate any criminal activity. That is why those four protesters were

arrested so quickly moving forward. There are again big questions about how it got to that point. Questions of Chicago police should have intervened

earlier to keep those protesters away from this area. So we'll see what the police presence looks like moving forward, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Keep us posted. Whitney Wild, thank you.

ASHER: Thank you, Whitney.

All right. Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic strategist and joins us live now from Chicago.

So, Antjuan, you've got a handful of Republicans speaking and taking part in the Democratic National Convention. You've got Ana Navarro, obviously,

well known for hosting "The View."

[12:10:07]

But you've also got people like Stephanie Grisham, former Trump White House press secretary. And she actually said, listen, I never thought that I

would ever be speaking at a Democratic National Convention, but after seeing who Donald Trump is firsthand, I have to speak out.

Just walk us through what the impact will be of having these Republican voices present this week.

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: On one, that speaks volumes to who Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz are as individuals, as

policymakers, but as leaders in this country, but it also says a lot about the framing of the journey ahead.

The journey we have ahead of us, whether it's from a policy perspective, a political perspective, or whether it's not for just getting closer towards

progress, not necessarily --

ASHER: Antjuan, can you hear us?

GOLODRYGA: Looks like we lost the connection at this time.

ASHER: We lost the connection. He was speaking to us just there about the fact that we have several Republican voices attending the convention this

week.

We'll hopefully try to get him back a little bit later on in the show.

SEAWRIGHT: I hear you. I hear you.

ASHER: Oh, Antjuan can hear us.

SEAWRIGHT: I hear you. I'm right here.

ASHER: OK.

GOLODRYGA: Good.

ASHER: Can you -- your shot froze, actually. Can you continue?

SEAWRIGHT: Yes. I was just saying, the journey ahead of us is framed by the bipartisan participation, not just what we have on stage this week, but

also in the organic organizing and coalition.

You see happening outside of the convention. We saw 70,000 Republicans on a Zoom, organizing in the name of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, but also the

issues they stand upon, the things they stand for, they're not Republican issues. They're not Democratic issues. They're not geographic or Democratic

or the demographic issues, they're American issues.

And people understand the existential threat that Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Trump's Project 2025 present going forward. That's why you see one of

the most unique and diverse coalition, perhaps, in this nation's history, coming together, organizing in the name of making America, not what she

was, not what she is, but what America can be.

GOLODRYGA: Antjuan, in terms of the issues, the Trump campaign has responded to what we saw last night at the convention. Here's what they

said. They said there were 147 mentions of Donald Trump during the first day of the DNC, only eight mentions of the southern border and three on

inflation.

Quote, obviously, their convention is about who they are running against, rather than what they are running for.

What is your response to that statement? And can we expect to hear more specifics on what they are running for in the days to come?

SEAWRIGHT: Well, the global issue of inflation as they summarized in a couple ways. Number one, we brought inflation down to its lowest level

since April of 2021. That's been proven.

Number two, I would say when it comes to inflation, it was the once-in-a- century pandemic that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came to do American Rescue to us just through.

In relation to the border --

GOLODRYGA: Antjuan, Antjuan, I don't mean to - I don't mean to interrupt you. I'm asking if what you are saying now is what we're expected to hear

from speakers in the days to come.

SEAWRIGHT: And what -- and what I'm saying to you is we've heard a flirtation of that last night, but we're going to continue to hear that not

just this week, but as we get deeper and wider into the campaign trail, particularly as we barrel towards November.

And quite frankly, I think the record speaks for itself. And what the conviction is all about is reminding folks both of the record, but also

what the muscle mass and muscle memory of a Trump presidency and what a potential Trump-Vance presidency looks like.

ASHER: A lot of people, last night, referenced January 6th, the fact that they believe that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and existential

threat to the future of this country and America's institutions.

Just this idea that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. I mean, we've heard it obviously so many times. It's something that Biden referenced a

lot when he was at the top of the ticket.

Do you think that actually still will work come November in terms of moving the needle, especially among undecideds and independents?

SEAWRIGHT: Well, I do because I think we all believe in freedom and democracy. We also believe that the basic fundamental freedoms that so many

of us have been recently able to unlock and enjoy are on the table.

They hang in the balance with this election. Quite frankly, all you have to do is point back to January 6th, where we came very close to not having the

people's voices counted. That's something Democrats and Republicans have always agreed upon.

And if you look at the things that Donald Trump stand for, the people he stands with, and the things he's already threatened to do in his -- in his

Project 2025, that says everything about the fight and the journey ahead. And that's why this election has been deemed the most consequential of our

lifetime.

[12:15:06]

GOLODRYGA: No doubt there was a lot of enthusiasm last night in that room, but we also know that that and perhaps just bad planning on the part of

some of the speakers led the night to go extremely long.

Some of the speakers actually had to be cut last night before we heard from the president himself at 11.30 P.M. Eastern Time.

I'm wondering if things are looking different tonight, as far as when the event's going to begin, how tight event organizers are going to be with

regards to times to speeches.

I know that the Obamas will not be cut from tonight, but is there a plan in place perhaps that make sure we don't see a repeat of last night?

SEAWRIGHT: Well, I could tell you this, conventions are much like celebrations, as well as a chance for education.

And so when it comes to celebrations, particularly as me as an African- American who grew up in the south and we find Sundays as the day of celebration and jubilation. There's no time tamed to what that looks like.

And unfortunately for some that the night went long for many, there was joy in that arena. I think there will be joy in the arena tonight. And I think

that there will be joy post the next three or four days going as we barrel towards the weather.

GOLODRYGA: All right, Antjuan Seawright, thank you so much.

ASHER: Thank you, Antjuan.

SEAWRIGHT: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: We turn now to the Israel-Hamas war where a deadly Israeli strike targeted a school west of Gaza City, which was sheltering thousands

of displaced people. Gaza civil defense says at least 12 people were killed, mostly women and children.

Israel says that it conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were inside the school. Listen to one eyewitness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We were sitting safely. We did not see the explosion. The people are gone. They're dead. They're under the

rubble, people. God is efficient and the best disposer of our affairs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: In a separate development, the Israeli defense forces say the bodies of six Israeli hostages were retrieved from Gaza during an operation

overnight, after its soldiers entered Hamas tunnels in Khan Yunis.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. It comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Egyptian leaders to try and step up the pressure on Hamas to accept a

deal on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages. His next stop is in Qatar. Egypt and Qatar have acted as mediators between Israel and Hamas.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now live from Tel Aviv.

And, Jeremy, very somber morning there in Israel today on news and confirmation that these bodies had been retrieved. The IDF had announced

earlier that they believed that these hostages had been killed, but now their bodies had been returned back to their families in Israel.

And once again, it really is a reminder of time being of the essence in terms of the 105 remaining hostages currently being held in Gaza.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. And, listen, I've spoken with the families of hostages in the past who have had

their loved ones bodies recovered in Gaza. And it is a bittersweet moment because on the one hand, there is closure in this instance for many of them

who did not know -- who knew that their loved ones were deceased.

But then, of course, there are also the cases of those who are finding out at the very same time that their loved ones who they had hoped, who they

had prayed were alive, are now confirmed to be dead and their bodies recovered.

That was the case of one of the six hostages in this instance whose bodies were recovered. Avraham Munder, his family did not know until today that he

was actually confirmed dead, but his body was among the six bodies recovered by the Israeli military in an overnight operation in tunnels in

the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

And now leaves us with 105 hostages who are believed to still be held in Gaza, 35 -- 34 of whom are believed to be dead. But we know, of course,

that beyond those who have been confirmed dead, there are many others who likely are as well.

The bar is very high for the Israeli military to actually declare that a hostage has been killed in Gaza. But, of course, we know that there are

fears of many more potentially already being dead in Gaza.

The hostage families in the wake of this news are renewing their call for the Israeli government to sign on to the ceasefire deal currently on the

table. They are pointing out that the time is running out. And we have also heard anger, frankly, from the families of some of these hostages saying

that they believe that their loved ones could have been returned alive, had the Israeli government, had Hamas reached a deal sooner.

But, of course, it is, as you said, a reminder of how little time there is left for so many of these hostages and of the urgency of this matter.

Bianna.

ASHER: And, Jeremy, just in terms of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, obviously in the region, was in Egypt, heading to Doha, what sort of

difference do we actually expect this latest visit to make?

[12:20:07]

I mean, he's made over nine trips roughly around to the regions at the start of the war on October last year. What difference do you think this

visit will make in terms of negotiations?

DIAMOND: Well, his visit is certainly part of a full core press that the U.S. administration is currently engaged in. They truly believe this is

potentially the last best opportunity for a ceasefire deal to be reached, for hostages to be returned to Israel alive. And that is very much the

context of Secretary Blinken's visit.

Yesterday, while he was in Israel, he said that the Israeli government, that the Israeli Prime Minister had told him that he signed on to this

bridging proposal that the United States has offered to bridge the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas, so far, has indicated that they believe that proposal effectively caves into a number of Israeli demands and does not appear to be something

that they can support. But that has not slowed the U.S.'s efforts to try and push these negotiations further.

And after being in Cairo, Secretary Blinken is expected to arrive in Doha, Qatar. And that is where he will get the best sense of the temperature of

Hamas. The Qataris are the key interlocutors with Hamas, and they will have the best sense of what Hamas is thinking is behind the scenes.

It is clear that even if they can get agreement on this bridging proposal, that there are a number of technical details that are still being worked

out. And the Israeli Prime Minister himself today, a day after indicating to the Secretary of State that he is on board with this proposal, he even

said he's not sure that there will be a deal and continue to point to the insistence that he has that Israel preserves some of the strategic security

assets it has gained over the course of these 10 months of war.

One of those key security assets we know is Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor, that strip of land in Gaza along the Egypt-Gaza

border, which the Israeli government very much wants to retain security control of, whereas Hamas has very much said they think Israeli troops

should be pulling out from there, as well as the rest of Gaza.

ASHER: Jeremy Diamond live for us there. Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: By air and by sea, the desperate search for survivors continues more than a day after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily.

Coming up, we'll tell you what they found so far.

ASHER: Plus, the Ukraine's president says his military forces are gaining more ground inside Russia since their incursion began two weeks ago. More

on that, later on in this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:15]

ASHER: All right. Welcome back. You are looking at some pictures just coming into us here at CNN.

Specialized divers continuing to search for victims on that luxury yacht that sank during really violent weather of Sicily early Monday.

GOLODRYGA: And sadly, one person is confirmed dead and 15 people, including a one-year-old girl, were rescued.

Earlier, a maritime historian shared with Erica Hill what may have happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAL MERCOGLIANO, MARITIME HISTORIAN, CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: This vessel got hit by that tornado at sea. And what probably happened is because of that

type of wind, a very hard burst of water and wind at the same time, probably placed the vessel on its beam and basically pushed it over on its

side.

And unless all the hatches had been secured and everything had been battened down, the vessel would have flooded.

And based on that report, indicates the vessel probably took on a lot of water very quick and went down to the bottom. And that is nightmaric for

the crew on board, being asleep, and then all of a sudden waking up to a ship in the room you're in, being on its side and flooding with water,

heading down to the bottom.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Yes. It's just -- it's horrific to think of what people were going through.

This area too, of the Western Mediterranean, you said this can actually be more prone to rough seas that I think probably a lot of people imagine.

MERCOGLIANO: Yes, Bailen (ph) operated in the Mediterranean and spent its time mainly in between Spain and Italy.

And while we tend to think of the Mediterranean as, you know, kind of flat and glassy and a beautiful kind of enclosed sea, it can be very rough. And

it is susceptible to storms like we saw took place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: CNN's Barbie Nadeau has been following this story from Italy. She has more now on the disaster and the people who are on board.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A dream Mediterranean holiday turned deadly when a luxury yacht carrying VIPs was hit by a water spout

early Monday morning off the coast of Sicily.

Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, at least 15 people survived. Divers searched through the night to recover those trapped in the sunken vessel.

On board, tech Titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, Morgan Stanley, chairman, Jonathan Blumer. And prominent attorney Chris

Morvillo and their wives, an official told CNN.

Lynch's wife whose company owned the 56-meter yacht survived. All the passengers were guests of Lynch, who was acquitted of fraud charges in the

U.S. over the sale of his company.

A local fisherman who was waiting out the storm saw the ill-fated yacht.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We waited about 10 minutes to see the intensity of the tornado and we went out to sea. We were first to give

rescue, but we found no one at sea. We only found cushions and the remains of the boat.

NADEAU (voice-over): The luxury yacht, 72-meter, 236-foot aluminum mast snapped in the storm, sending 15 people into the sea, including a one-year-

old girl whose mother carried her above her head in the waves, she told reporters.

The survivors, including all 10 crew members, were rescued by a nearby sailboat who found them in a lifeboat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was 15 people inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, 15 people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Fifteen people inside. Four people injured. Three heavy injured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we brought them to our ship and then we communicated with the Coast Guard. And after some time, the Coast Guard came and later

they picked injured people. And when we went two hours later, they picked up the other people.

NADEAU (voice-over): The local prosecutor has opened an investigation to determine whether the tragedy could have been averted or if circumstances

were beyond anyone's control.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Well, Iran's U.N. mission rejected what it called unsubstantiated claims that tried to hack the Trump and Harris campaigns.

ASHER: And the FBI says it briefed Donald Trump off the documents surface that they believe came from a Trump campaign official.

The intelligence community believed Iran used social engineering and other methods to get access to both campaigns.

Iran says it has neither the intention or motive to interfere with the U.S. election.

GOLODRYGA: Zach Cohen joins us from Washington with the latest. And, obviously, Zach, this has the hallmarks of what we saw in 2016 with Russia

campaign interference.

What more do we know about the level of sophistication from Iran on this issue?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, guys. According to the FBI and various U.S. intelligence agencies, this hacking operation being

carried out by Iran is very sophisticated and it is part of this increasingly aggressive activity that U.S. officials say that they're

observing from Iran targeting the 2024 presidential election.

[12:30:12]

They say that the Iranians are specifically very interested and very motivated to try to shape the outcome of the 2024 election because they

perceive it to have carrying added significance to their future national security interests.

So they are trying, through various means, including influence campaigns targeting the American public and cyber operations, targeting the

presidential campaigns to shape that outcome.

Look, in this joint statement yesterday, the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are pointing the finger at Iran and saying that they were

responsible for both a hack and leak operation targeting Donald Trump's campaign and attempts to hack Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign.

I want to read part of the statement from yesterday, it says, the intelligence community is confident that the Iranians have, through social

engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties such

activity including thefts and disclosures are intended to influence the U.S. election process.

Kamala Harris' campaign has said that they don't believe attempts to infiltrate their campaign accounts were successful. But as you mentioned,

we do know Donald Trump was briefed by the FBI on the apparent successful hacking attempt to gain access to a senior campaign official's e-mail

account. And that really started when these Iranian hackers apparently got access to longtime Trump-ally, Roger Stone's, personal e-mail account.

They then used that e-mail account to gain access to the senior campaign officials ultimately obtaining campaign documents, sensitive campaign

documents in an attempt to try to leak those and undermine the credibility of the democratic process here in the U.S.

That's part of the broader warning we're hearing from U.S. officials and we have been hearing from U.S. officials in the past several months, but those

warnings are going to become more frequent as the election, as November approaches.

There -- the U.S. officials and the intelligence community is very, very keenly watching to see if, not only Iran, but if Russia and other nation

states continue to try to influence and potentially interfere in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

ASHER: And, Zach, obviously 2016 was when we all first got a taste of what foreign election interference looks like in the United States. Just walk us

through what's changed since then in terms of making sure the election systems in this country are robust enough to withstand attempts to

interfere with them.

COHEN: I think the biggest change you're seeing is actually the U.S. intelligence community and the FBI coming out publicly and publicly

condemning or blaming countries like Iran for attempting to interfere.

They are trying to really be forthcoming with the American public and also remind government agencies, remind presidential campaigns that they need to

be vigilant about their cybersecurity, about not clicking on suspicious e- mails that might lead to a fishing -- a spear fishing link type situation and allowing hackers to gain access to documents that could be weaponized

against them and against the democratic process overall.

We're seeing that still being carried out by Russia and Iran, obviously, looking back at this most recent warning. The Iranians have become more

sophisticated year-by-year in their own cyber operations.

The Russians are continuing to carry out influence operations and potentially other sort of election interference oriented operations.

We all with -- so the U.S. officials are really finding this a multi-front war, but at the end of the day, this is really bubbling under the surface.

We haven't seen any sort of overt action of the sanctions being taken to respond.

So we'll have to wait and see does Iran sort of escalate its threshold for actually interfering in the U.S. democratic process or do they walk right

up to that line for ultimately pulling back as they have in years past.

ASHER: All right. Zach Cohen live for us. Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks, Zach.

Well, still to come for us. Intense diplomacy is underway to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. But are the

two sides' own leaders standing in the way of an agreement?

We'll talk to an Israeli journalist, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:37]

ASHER: All right. Welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

We want to take a closer look at efforts to get a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza after 10 months of war.

ASHER: Yes. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region once again trying to drum up support for the latest proposal that aims to bridge

the gaps between Israel and Hamas. He met with Egypt's president in Cairo today after visiting Israel. His next stop is Doha in Qatar.

GOLODRYGA: But initial optimism about clenching in agreement soon is giving way to cold reality. When asked about the talks, U.S. President Joe Biden

said the deal is still in play. But take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Israel says they can work it out. They're prepared. But I was told Hamas was now backing off. It remains to be seen. We're going to keep

pushing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Hamas is already responding to Mr. Biden's comments there. The group says his comments, Hamas is backing off are misleading.

GOLODRYGA: Time now for The Exchange. Our next guest says neither the Israeli Prime Minister, nor the Hamas leader is ready for a truce.

Amir Tibon is a diplomatic correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. And he joins us now from Haifa, Israel.

Amir, it is good to see you in news today about the bodies recovered. The six Israelis who were taken hostage on October 7th. Just more salt on a

wounded country knowing that perhaps they could have been saved, at least some of them, months ago.

Again, the onus is on Hamas. They can release the hostages and they should release the hostages now. And this would end.

But to the point that you're making, I'm just reminded of something that Prime Minister Netanyahu said and that others in the government responded

with, with a lot of concern and criticism. And that is that these hostages are suffering, but they're not dying. And some in his own government said

no, they're not suffering, they are dying.

And when you hear the news that these families received today, the nephew of one of these hostages, Avraham Munder, his nephew said, I don't want

more bodies. Body retrievals don't impress me. There are live people for whom Israel isn't doing the maximum it can to rescue them, to put it

lightly. Why should more families get the same news as I did? It's incomprehensible. There are people alive there now.

[12:40:05]

Amir, just walk us through the tension now internally within the country and within its own government about the urgency of reaching a deal now.

AMIR TIBON, DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, HAARETZ: Well, I will start by saying that, for me, this is a very personal issue, because I -- my community that

I'm a member of, a small community located on the border with Gaza. We still have two of our neighbors held by Hamas who were kidnapped in front

of their families on October 7th. Omri Miran and Tsachi Idan, both of them fathers of young children who saw them being taken away by the terrorists

on October 7. And now 10 and a half months we're waiting.

And, of course, the news today is terrible because all of the six bodies that were returned to Israel today by the IDF, these are the bodies of

people who were taken into Gaza by Hamas alive on October 7.

These are not people who were murdered and then kidnapped as dead bodies. These are people who were alive October 7, and were alive in November when

the first hostage release deal happened. And some of them were alive this late, it's January, February and March.

According to information that Israel has, they could have been saved. There could have been a deal to bring them back alive, and instead, they are

coming back in caskets. So, just to frame the urgency of doing a deal right now.

Now, this urgency is very clear to the majority of the Israeli public. We've seen public opinion polls that most Israelis want to deal with them

because they understand it's the only way we can get people back alive.

Make their operations have brought us until now seven living hostages and more than 20 dead bodies. We want more living hostages and less dead

bodies. We need a deal.

And we also know that most of the Palestinians in Gaza will support the deal that is being discussed right now because it would lead to an end of

the hostilities or at least a very long break in weeks, months without fighting and everybody's suffering.

Now, we have a problem with two people who are not as eager and don't feel the urgency. First one is Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas. We're talking here

about an ultra-religious, messianic religious fanatic. And he's waiting for a regional war to break out.

He believes that just around the corner is another escalation in which Iran and Hezbollah will rain thousands of missiles and rockets on Israel. And

what he began on October 7, the massacre that his men conducted in Southern Israel will become an all-out regional war that will put basically the

entire Middle East in flames. That's his vision. He's waiting for it to happen.

It is very important that the Biden administration is trying to deescalate that Israel running Hezbollah. Because every passing day, without an Iran

or Hezbollah massive attack on Israel, Sinwar's fantasy gets pushed back a little bit.

The other actor who's problematic is Prime Minister Netanyahu. And what he's doing is his classic move of double speech. And he's been doing this

for years. He says one thing in English, American audience says and American diplomats and to President Biden and Secretary Blinken. And then

he says the opposite in Hebrew to his cabinets, including the far-right ultra-religious elements that he relies on to hold the war and to his

supporters.

And he tells Blinken the other day, we're really ready to make a deal. And then he meets with some of his supporters and says, actually, we're not

going to give up A, B, C, and D, basically making a deal impossible.

And between Sinwar's ultra-religious messianic fantasies and Netanyahu's political interest, we are stuck and lives are hanging in the balance.

ASHER: I mean, there's a lot to digest in terms of what you just said there. But I think I want to start by saying, thank you so much for keeping

the memories of the two neighbors that you had on your kibbutz alive.

I remember what you went through on October 7th and what you lived through and the horrors that you saw. And I -- it just -- it gives me nightmares

reliving it for me. And I didn't even experience it. I only heard about it secondhand through you.

Just in terms of, you know, the ceasefire negotiations, I mean, as much as we talk about the incremental advancements and movements in terms of the

ceasefire, we, of course, do have to remember that there are real people, real hostages and real lives at stake in all of this.

You talk about the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been caught double speak, talking to the American audience and saying one thing in

English, another thing in Hebrew.

Just walk us through how Israelis are putting pressure on him. I mean, obviously a lot of people have said, listen, at the end of the day, they do

not believe that Netanyahu deeply and truly actually wants to deal.

So, how are people putting pressure on him? And what do you think the right way is for them to put pressure on him?

TIBON: First of all, I will add another sentence about Sinwar. The most effective pressure on him is that Israel is getting closer to him

militarily. The IDF is in Gaza and some of his comrades have been assassinated and he knows he's next.

[12:45:11]

And at the same time, it's very important that the Biden administration, like I said, in keeping his fantasy about an all-out regional war from

actually becoming true.

With regards to Netanyahu, there is internal pressure here with demonstrations, and the families of the hostages are leading those

demonstrations, and are demanding him a deal. But he doesn't need the families of the hostages to stay in power.

In order to stay in power, he needs his far-right ultra nationalist allies. They are against a deal right now. And as long as he needs them and they

give him their support and they're against the deal, he's choosing his coalition time and again.

And he -- and he has great excuse system because he says, how can we make a deal with Hamas after what they did? How can we give up any of the military

achievements that we acquired during the war? These are not things that should be completely ignored. I don't think it's that simple, you know, one

or zero.

But at the end of the day, Israeli (INAUDIBLE). And the hostages are dying there. We are losing them every passing day. And if there are not hard

choices and hard compromises made, they will keep dying there. And also the suffering of people in Gaza will continue.

And right now, like I said, we have these two. I don't want to call them leaders, because they're not showing leadership, but people in positions of

power who are not leading us in that direction.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And it's really telling now in the past few weeks what's come to light where you have the defense and security establishment saying

now is the time for a deal and that they will continue.

Israel is ready to continue to put military pressure on Hamas and the U.S. also putting pressure on Hamas, on Sinwar, as you just noted, while also

being able, right now, to focus on bringing these hostages home and putting a ceasefire in place.

Amir Tibon, thank you. Yes.

TIBON: If I can -- if I can add one sentence, you know. As a journalist, I understand that the chances are extremely low. And at the same time as

someone who's personally connected, I do want to ask President Biden and Secretary Blinken not to give up. Keep pushing to keep trying. Because

without them, we don't have anyone pushing for this right now.

GOLODRYGA: President Biden has said he is committed. He is committed. This is one of his top priorities in the five months that he has remaining in

office to getting this deal done to seeing that the war come to an end. And these hostages come home alive.

A reminder that five of them are American citizens as well.

Amir Tibon, thank you so much.

ASHER: Thank you, Amir.

TIBON: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still to come for us, two weeks after Kyiv's cross-border incursion, Russian troops are on the move again inside Ukraine. And they're

setting their sights on a key eastern city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:32]

GOLODRYGA: Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his military forces now control more than 1,200 square kilometers and 92 settlements in

Russia's Kursk Region since their incursion began two weeks ago.

ASHER: But Ukraine is still facing a lot of pressure on its eastern front as Russian forces advance, so is the city of Pokrovsk.

Our CNN's Clare Sebastian has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as of now, the most visible Russian response to Ukraine's invasion of the Kursk Region has been to push

harder in Donetsk. Ukraine is now urgently trying to evacuate thousands of civilians out of the town of Pokrovsk, as Russia claims more gains in the

east.

Now, Pokrovsk is strategic. Six highways converge on the town, roads which if Russia took the city would open the way to other strongholds and bring

Russia closer to controlling the whole of Donetsk.

So if the core objective of the Kursk incursion was to stretch Russia so thin, it couldn't advance in Ukraine, well, it hasn't worked.

But Ukraine has more than one goal here. Right now, they still seem to be advancing slowly in Kursk. A new video Ukraine released Tuesday showing

intense fighting still ongoing.

They're also consolidating, blowing up bridges on a critical Russian supply route, setting up a military office to handle law and order in the town of

Sudzha. All of that fits with the goal of holding on to a buffer zone to prevent cross-border shelling.

And beyond the military goals, we also see a messaging strategy, one, President Zelensky made it very clear on Monday it's targeted in part at

the West.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are now witnessing a significant ideological shift, namely the whole naive illusory

concept of so-called red lines regarding Russia, which dominated the assessment of the war by some partners, has crumbled these days somewhere

near Sudzha.

SEBASTIAN: That's some pretty strong words there. And his point is that the fear in the West that a nuclear armed Russia could interpret Western arms

supplies as an escalation has not materialized, even after Ukraine literally invaded its territory.

While Ukraine is clearly hoping, and we don't see this happening yet, that this will lead to more long-range weapons supplies and fewer restrictions

on using them.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right. Coming up, they're shiny, yellow and certainly worth a lot of money. Can you guess the record-breaking price for a single bar of

gold these days? The answer will surprise you. We'll have more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:36]

GOLODRYGA: Well, if you want to know what it would be like to hold a million dollars in your hand, just pick up a gold bar, Zain. You keep

asking me.

ASHER: Going to do it right after the show, actually.

The average bar of gold weighs 400 ounces, troy ounces. And with gold hitting $2,500 an ounce, that means that a bar of gold is worth a cool $1

million.

Gold prices have been soaring recently because precious metals are seen as a good thing to invest in when you have inflation so high right now.

GOLODRYGA: Well, there's a way to end a show. That does it for this hour of ONE WORLD.

You're worth more than a million bucks.

ASHER: So as our friendship, yes?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Priceless.

I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thanks so much for watching.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate it. "AMANPOUR" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END