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One World with Zain Asher
White House Touts Legislative Wins as it Marks Six Months; Ukraine: Russia Launches New Wave of Missile Attacks; 4 of 5 Suspects in UC Berkely Professor Murder Plead Guilty; Multiple Nations Condemn Israel's Expansion of Military Operations in Gaza; CNN Tours Flooded Ruins of Camp La Junta in Central Texas; Oldest Antarctic Ice Sample Used to Study Climate Trends. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 21, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello, everyone. Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". Donald Trump is marking six months in office, six months that have
transformed the United States in many, many ways.
GOLODRYGA: That's right. His massive federal cutbacks have remade the government. His relentless tariff threats have rattled international trade,
and he has gone to war with the media, higher education, immigrants, the courts and others, and has forever changed America's relationship with its
closest allies.
ASHER: But despite the president's claim that he is sailing along with nothing but success, he has perhaps never faced more pushback from his own
base than he does right now. Many in the MAGA Movement remain frustrated. The White House has not released more information about the Jeffrey Epstein
case despite Trump's repeated pledges, pledges rather to do so.
GOLODRYGA: However, the criticism of Trump himself seems to have calmed a bit in recent days after the president began lashing out at the media and
Democrats blaming them for the Epstein controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): So, the president blaming Democrats for this disaster, Jake is like that CEO that got caught on camera blaming Coldplay,
OK. Like this is his making.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Coldplay reference by Amy Klobuchar.
GOLODRYGA: That was a -- that was a zinger from Klobuchar.
ASHER: Totally. Let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene. So, Alayna, just in terms of how this version of Trump 2.0 this presidency six months in, how
it compares to the first time we had Donald Trump in the White House? Walk us through that. And what the differences are when you look at his approval
ratings this time around?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. I mean, this administration is very different. I think when you take a step back and I covered the
president's first term as well. I mean, he was in a completely different state of mind and place during his first term. He was new to Washington. He
was really new to politics.
And he had a lot of people who had surrounded him who were more of the -- you know, typical Republican establishment, many of the -- you know, for
example, General Jim Mattis, some of the other people who were in high levels, his Chief of Staff and whatnot? And many of them also were trying
to get him to move away from some of what they considered were his worst impulses, particularly when it came to foreign policy.
This time around and I know this from my extensive conversations with people here at the White House and in the broader Trump Administration,
those guardrails are kind of gone, and that was partly because we've seen the president now publicly and privately talk repeatedly about believing he
has a mandate to come to Washington.
But it's also given it's his second term, he really feels unleashed to do what he wants to do, and he surrounded himself with so called loyalists
that are helping him carry out those types of policies. And we've really seen him move into that very quickly with what he's done in these first six
months.
For example, tariffs a very controversial move by this administration, but one that the president believes heavily in. He tried to do tariffs to a
similar extent in his first term, but wasn't as successful. Now we're really seeing that, of course, be the one of the most important and major
impacts on the economy this time around.
Yes, he -- you know, moved forward with them, then he pulled back, and now we're waiting to see how they'll actually come into fruition and if they'll
ultimately impose them, as he's promised to do on August 1st? But that's one big part of this, of course, is immigration plans ramping up this
sweeping deportation of illegal migrants in this country.
Undocumented immigrants in this country is another example of that as well. I remember, really, during his first term, him wanting to do more, and some
of the people around him pulling him back. Of course, the courts and the legal questions of that still an issue today, but really impacted what he
was doing during his first term.
We're seeing that ramped up in a way, really, that we hadn't seen before. On the polling, on those numbers, I do think it's important to note,
because we know that the president has -- when he talked about this on the campaign trail, he said it was the most important issue immigration, even
more than he the economy, he argued.
But now we're actually seeing some of the polling numbers from a recent CNN poll show that people believe he's going too far in that. Actually, 55
percent say that he's going too far in that, compared to 45 percent in February. Of course, we also saw him move on his domestic agenda, passing
what he refers to as the one big beautiful bill, the repercussions of that will, you know what?
It will take a while to see what that actually looks like, good and bad, of course, but something that he was very much trying to tout on, the six-day,
six-month mark in office. But then I also want to get to the Epstein controversy, which you of course, mentioned and played that clip from the
Senator Amy Klobuchar on here.
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I mean, that is something that is really, I think, unlike any other point in time has shown Trump on the other side of his supporters. We've really
never seen his base fray in a way that we have, as it has over this Epstein controversy.
And even though, and you mentioned this correctly, I think you know that "Wall Street Journal" story last week where they had written about an
alleged letter that Donald Trump had sent to Jeffrey Epstein back in the early 2000s that did go -- you know pretty far in the ways of trying to
have him deflect on this with some of his closest supporters.
But I asked many of them, including people like Steve Bannon, you know, is it enough not only to have this be something that is distracting from the
broader case, but then also the president's calls to have the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, unseal some of the grand jury testimony in the case.
Is that enough to quell? Really, that desire by so many of his fiercest supporters to have these Epstein files, or so-called files, published and
revealed. They say it's a good start, and that's about it. They still want to see more, and I will. I want to point you to something we heard from
Alan Dershowitz yesterday. He was on Fox News.
He's one of Epstein's former lawyers, and he essentially said that grand jury testimony was unlikely to contain the information that had most
interested many of the president's supporters and those among his base. So, we're still seeing, really the fallout of this, more than two weeks now
after this, we learned of this memo from the Justice Department, which really is what put everyone into a frenzy in the first place.
All to say, six months in, he's obviously done a lot, done a lot more at this point in his second term than he had in his first term, but still
seeing kind of the overshadowing of all of it with this Epstein fallout continuing to be one of the biggest stories that many of his fiercest
supporters are not really willing to let go, despite the president's best efforts.
ASHER: All right Alayna Treene, live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Well, a critical hearing is taking place right now that's being closely watched by colleges and universities throughout the country.
ASHER: And it could determine just how much control President Trump has over higher education in the United States. Lawyers for Harvard University
are in federal court trying to get the government's freeze on $2 billion in federal funding restored.
GOLODRYGA: They say the move is illegal, unconstitutional, and an attempt to get the private institution to comply with Trump's political agenda. But
the administration argues the freeze is justified after accusing the university of failing to address anti-Semitism on campus. CNN's Gloria
Pazmino joins us now live in New York.
Gloria, I know you are watching these opening statements closely from our sources and reporters in the courtroom. What are we hearing thus far?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, my colleague Betsy Klein is in the room, and as I've been watching how these oral arguments unfold?
It's very clear that this is a major clash between really you have the nation's oldest university, the richest university, and you have the Trump
Administration trying to assert its power.
And trying to pull back funding from the university if the university does not comply with its demands. That's what's at the core of this legal
argument. Today we are hearing from lawyers for Trump's Department of Justice, as well as lawyers representing Harvard, who went into today's
hearing very confident believing that they are on solid legal ground, because they say that the freezing of these funds is unconstitutional.
They say it's a violation of Harvard's First Amendment Rights, and that it's in violation of their academic freedom. Now, all of this fight started
back in April, and several months before that, the president signed an executive order directing his administration to enforce campuses who were
not doing enough about anti-Semitism, as you said at the beginning.
But Harvard, unlike many other universities that were targeted, responded forcefully, and we're seeing that play out in court today. I want to give
you just an idea of what's been going on inside this courtroom, part of what Harvard's attorney said just a few moments ago to this judge.
He called it, quote, arbitrary and capricious to wholesale cut funding. Then he talked about the government's approach. He said it's like Alice in
Wonderland sentence first verdict later. He's referring to the fact that there are actually laws in place here in the United States that would allow
an administration to cut back funding if an educational institution is in fact engaging in some of the allegations like anti-Semitism and
discrimination that the administration has accused Harvard of.
But Harvard says they have not gone through that legal process. Now, there's a critical deadline ahead. Harvard has asked a judge to issue a
decision by September, that is when Harvard would have to submit much of its paperwork to close out grants and funding on the line here.
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Medical research, scientific research, and more than 900 projects and research projects that were underway and have had to be stopped as a result
of the freeze.
ASHER: All right. Gloria Pazmino, you'll keep following this for us. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you, Gloria.
ASHER: The White House is preparing to shell out a historic amount of cash in President Trump's sweeping mass deportations campaign.
GOLODRYGA: ICE is set to receive $75 billion in funding from Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts bill. All of this comes as the agency
continues to face intense scrutiny over some of its practices and ramped up arrests. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The administration is planning to supercharge their immigration enforcement operations with this new money.
To give you a point of context, ICE will be the most well-funded police force in the federal government for the next four years.
Now, when you break that down in the numbers, that's $45 billion for detention centers and $30 billion for enforcement and removals. And this
comes at a critical time for the administration, because ICE has historically been underfunded and has had limited personnel.
And when I spoke to White House Border Czar Tom Homan about this, he said that they are trying to solve for that. He has daily calls about setting up
contracts for ramping up detention, both with ICE and Customs and Border Protection, that he also has calls about ramping up the ICE Academy.
So, when they recruit officers, they can also quickly train them and get out classes faster. And already, people who have been former officials, who
have already retired from the agency, are getting emails with financial incentives to come back and join ICE.
So, there is a ramp up that is currently happening for the next six months of this administration to be more of these immigration enforcement
operations, but they are also contending with the reality, according to current and former officials that I've spoken with about the frustration
that is building at ICE.
Because there has been this immense pressure to reach these 3000 daily arrests, a number that they haven't met yet, and that they are consistently
reminded of, and that has influenced the way that they are carrying out immigration enforcement operations. And that is where this poll is telling.
What this poll tells us is that the public is paying attention to the way the administration is carrying out its immigration crackdown. They may be
on board with what the president is doing, but it's the how he does it that really matters. You mentioned, for example, the 55 percent of people who
think he's going too far.
Well, that has grown since February and then since April to now, and what that tells us is that people are watching the various ways that the
administration is ramping up. The different points of controversy being sending hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious mega prison in El
Salvador, or sending migrants to far flung countries like South Sudan.
So, as they get these funds, the administration will also have to contend with the way in which they provide this cash infusion, the way people start
to perceive it, and that is what ultimately, they will have to grapple with as they move forward for the next six months.
But still, the administration sees us at their as theirs -- as their winning issue, and one that as the White House Border Czar told me they are
doubling down on.
GOLODRYGA: OK. Thanks to Priscilla Alvarez for that report. Meantime, NATO is promising a spending blitz to protect Ukraine. But will it be too
little, too late as Russia continues its summer offensive, we'll take a look.
ASHER: Plus, an American murdered in Greece. His ex-wife is among the suspects. How prosecutors believe a custody dispute turned deadly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:15:00]
GOLODRYGA: Russia is continuing to intensify its strikes on Ukraine and target cities far from the front line. Explosions lit up the sky over Kyiv
overnight as Moscow unleashed a barrage of drones and hypersonic missiles.
ASHER: Air raid warnings were issued in all but three regions nationwide, and authorities say at least two people were killed in the capital. Many
took refuge in the city's metro stations as the bombs fell outside. Here's how one man described it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a fire on the balcony smoldering from the neighbor's balcony. I ran to the front door, but it was blocked. I realized
that this was death. I ran back to the front door, and probably fueled by adrenaline, managed to break it down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: All this comes as Moscow says it's ready to talk peace, but only after its goals have been achieved. Let's bring in CNN National Security
Analyst, Beth Sanner, Former Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Beth, thank you so much for being with us.
We have a situation here whereby President Zelenskyy is calling for more talks with Russia to take place. But to what end? I mean, Zelenskyy has
made it clear that he does not trust Putin. He does not trust the Russians at all. So, from his perspective, what good could come out of more
negotiations?
BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think the main point here is to reinforce for Zelenskyy, to reinforce to Trump that this is
about Ukraine being interested in peace, and keeping the Trump Administration on sides with Ukraine and following through on that 50-day
threat to Moscow.
And so, I think this is really about, you know -- although there certainly are some benefits from the prisoner exchanges that were accomplished during
the last round, but it looks like these are likely to happen because Moscow kind of wants the same thing. They want to keep Trump from actually
implementing those secondary tariffs in 50 days?
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, well, they have 50 days to unleash the terror that they have continued to week after week after week on far away from the front
lines, as we've noted in major cities like the capital. We spent a lot of time Beth talking about the effectiveness and the nimbleness of Ukraine's
manufacturing of its own drones, and how they've added to its combat weaponry here in this war.
But Moscow has also been much more innovative in the use of drones, and this sort of swarm tactic that they've been using has really pressured, put
a lot of pressure on Ukraine's air defense systems in a way that many of these drones have come through over the past few months, double, sometimes
triple, the amount that they were able to just a few months ago, and earlier this year.
Talk about the impact that that has, and I guess, the crucial need for these patriot defensive systems that the U.S. says are on their way?
SANNER: Right. So, you know -- as you know, the patriot systems are not used against drones. They're not effective against drones. They're not
designed to do that. They're really against ballistic missiles. So, these are -- these are to prevent this kind of massive impact that would destroy
something major or create widespread destruction.
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But the drones themselves, while they can't produce the -- you know, degree of damage, they're having a toll on Ukrainians. So, you know, they were
saying last night that in Kyiv, the sound of the drone engines you could hear from midnight until dawn. And this is really affecting the lives of
Ukrainians.
And it makes me think a lot about what was happening in Israel. And you know, we paid a lot of attention to that, and just -- you know over a few
weeks period, how disruptive that was to Israeli lives, very true. But here we've been having this for weeks and weeks on end, and so, you know, it's
having a huge impact on productivity, on morale and on -- you know, the war plans.
And I think this is exactly what Russia intends. They want to coerce Ukrainians to capitulate. It won't work. It's very painful.
ASHER: Just in terms of this 50-day deadline. I mean, obviously a lot of people have talked about the fact that, you know, Russia has a window to
essentially -- you know for free reign. They are going to continue to bomb Ukraine in this 50-days.
But even once the 50-days expires, even when those secondary sanctions are put into place, even when there's threats against, you know, India and
China that they're going to be sanctions against them for buying Russian oil and gas. Can you see a situation where Vladimir Putin, where the
Kremlin slows down its attacks on Ukraine?
SANNER: So, Russia is counting on this actually not happening, that there will not be a real penalty against them. So yes, they have free reign
during the height of the summer fighting seasons, where they have optimal conditions to wreak havoc on Ukraine. And then come 50-days what these are
about?
And I want to be very clear about this, because it's so confusing, is that these are secondary tariffs, in other words, a tax on imports into the
United States paid for by the U.S. taxpayer for any goods coming from a country that continues to import Russian oil and gas and is not at the same
time supporting Ukraine's war effort.
So that leaves us with China, India, Brazil. And what Trump's plan is 100 percent tariffs. So that's basically an embargo on all goods coming into
the United States from those countries. And this is why people say, I think rightfully with the likelihood of Trump doing this is so low.
He is in the midst of a China trade negotiation right now, and India is an ally. You know, partner. I think it's very unlikely for him to actually do
this, because it's going to conflict with his broader geopolitical interests. And so, this is why Russia is quite confident this isn't going
to happen.
GOLODRYGA: Because --
SANNER: -- I mean --
GOLODRYGA: Right the impact to America, if these tariffs are unleashed, would be reciprocal tariffs, likely that we would see imposed on the United
States, additionally, by China, by India and even Brazil. We'll see what happens. Beth Sanner, thank you so much for joining us.
ASHER: Thank you. Beth, appreciate it. I want to turn now to Greece, where five suspects are in court over the murder of a UC Berkeley Professor.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, the American Professor was gunned down in Athens while on his way to pick up his children. One of the accused is his ex-wife's
partner, who says he did it all to stop a custody battle. Lawyers for the ex-wife say she denies any involvement in his murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDROS PATSIAS, LAWYER FOR EX-WIFE OF MURDER VICTIM: We continue to maintain her innocence based on the case file and what we will present,
both in our written submission and during the oral proceedings, we will highlight the key points that prove she had absolutely no involvement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Journalist Elinda Labropoulou has more on today's court hearing.
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: So far, we had four out of the five people who are accused of involvement in this murder, they have pled guilty, all
four of them. One of them has pled guilty to being the murderer, and now we're waiting for the ex-wife of the professor to see how she's going to
plead.
We understand from her lawyer, we spoke to him earlier on, that she plans on pleading not guilty, and then it will remain to the authorities to
decide whether any of the four will be remanded in custody pending trial, or if any of them will be acquitted.
And this is really critical at this point, particularly in the case of the ex-wife, because at the heart of all this, there's really a big custody
battle between the couple, a Greek national, the ex-wife, and the American Polish Professor, having dual nationality, much like his kids.
[11:25:00]
Who has been having visitation rights while his wife has had custody over their children for several years.
Now, the current partner of the wife has confessed to murdering the professor because he said he was afraid that he would take the children
away from them, away from Greece, and that he had not told his partner about this, that it was just his sole decision. We heard him testify this
today.
So, we're waiting to see now how today's decision will impact what the wife custody case is going to be like in future. The Polish family of the
professor has already applied for custody of the children. So really at the core of this right now is what happens to the children next.
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ASHER: Elinda Labropoulou reporting there in Greece. All right still to come, humanitarian officials are warning of new levels of desperation in
Gaza as the hunger crisis deepens/
GOLODRYGA: Plus, hundreds of civilians are fleeing Central Gaza as Israel expands its military operations there yet again the latest on the situation
when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Here are some international headlines we're watching today.
ASHER: The Trump Administration is preparing to give immigration and customs enforcement a hefty backing $75 billion in funding. The money
coming out of Trump's massive tax and spending cuts bill will allow the president to dramatically expand his immigration crackdown.
GOLODRYGA: A growing number of lawmakers are demanding action on a bipartisan resolution calling for the disclosure of the Epstein files. It's
co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna over the weekend. Donald Trump called the case a hoax and blame
Democrats and quote troublemakers for the controversy.
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ASHER: An exodus of civilians underway in Central Gaza after Israel ordered yet new evacuations. The IDF says it's launching ground operations in Dier
Al-Balah for the first time since its war with Hamas began. The U.N. says new displacements will deal a devastating blow to an already fragile
situation.
GOLODRYGA: Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones on Ukraine overnight. The Capital Kyiv and the Northeastern City of Kharkiv were among
the targets. Now it happened just hours after Moscow said it was ready to talk peace, but only if its objectives were achieved.
Well, it's been a devastating weekend for people seeking aid across Gaza. Palestinian officials and witnesses say more than 100 people were killed by
Israeli fire Saturday and Sunday when they were trying to collect food.
ASHER: Humanitarian officials are warning of new levels of desperation in the Enclave. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more on the dire situation there. I
want to warn you that the images you're about to see here are indeed, very disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 4-year-old Razan Abu Saher (ph) was hospitalized with malnutrition more than one month ago.
Malnutrition has caused her to suffer from a mobility disability her mother says. Her health was good before the war, but there is nothing to
strengthen her no milk in the hospitals or pharmacies.
Sunday, Razan became the latest child in Gaza to die of hunger. Her skeletal body laid out on a slab of stone, painful proof of the famine the
U.N. and others have long warned about. It is shocking, but should not be surprising. In the space of 24 hours, 18 deaths were caused by famine,
according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Yasser Ahmed (ph) was waiting at this soup kitchen since 06:00 a.m. desperate to take something home to his family of 12. Flour is expensive he
says, everything is expensive. Where can we get food from? We don't know what we'll do in the end, eat each other. When his turn comes, the amount
poured into his bowl is minimal. He walks the four kilometers back home. When his wife sees how little is in the pot she starts crying.
Is this enough for 12 people she asks? Is it enough for a woman who is seven months pregnant, even a one-year-old child wouldn't be satisfied by
this. Pouring the watery soup into one bowl, the family eats together. The father allows himself just one spoonful, leaving the rest for his children
and grandchildren.
After this, he says he will go to another soup kitchen to see if he can keep starvation at bay for one more day. Israel says the military is
working to allow and facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food, adding there are trucks yet to be picked up by aid groups.
The U.N. says Israel often denies permission to move aid or approves routes too dangerous to travel. Thousands across Gaza risk their lives every day
in the search for food. At least 73 people were killed Sunday by Israeli gunfire or trying to access aid according to the Palestinian health
ministry.
The IDF says it quote, fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them. It cast doubt on the death toll. The U.N. says
accessing aid has become a death trap. The U.N. World Food Programme says Gaza's hunger crisis has now reached new levels of desperation.
Hospital officials say they're seeing an unprecedented number of starving citizens arriving at emergency departments, a man-made catastrophe that has
been continuously warned about. No one can say they didn't see this coming. Paula Hancocks CNN Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Incredibly painful to watch that piece by Paula Hancocks there. Civilians are leaving parts of Central Gaza by the hundreds today. Israel
says it launched, or it is launching, rather a new ground offensive there against Hamas, and it's issued evacuation orders for large areas of Dier
Al-Balah for the first time in the conflict.
GOLODRYGA: Meanwhile, the U.N. says new displacements will deal a devastating blow to an already fragile situation, and a number of
countries, including the UK, Canada and France, issued a statement on Monday condemning Israel's killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.
Jonathan Conricus is a Former IDF Spokesperson, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. he joins us now live from Tel
Aviv. Jonathan, it is good to see you. We are hearing reports from both Israeli officials and the Trump Administration that while they have slowed,
peace talks are moving ahead for at least a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of at least 10 live hostages.
[11:35:00]
And now we hear that for the first time, Israel is entering another section since this war began, Dier Al-Balah in Gaza. What can you tell us about the
calculus behind this incursion? Is it based on intelligence, or is this Israel trying to inflict even more pressure on Hamas? How does that factor
into peace talks?
LT. COL. (RET.) JONATHAN CONRICUS, FORMER IDF SPOKESPERSON: Yes, hi. Thank you for having me on. It's good to see you. It's a sad thing that what the
topic that we're discussing. But I would say this, I think Israel has done two things parallel.
On one hand, Israel has basically walked back significant claims, and it has changed its position in negotiations, and it has agreed to things that
previously it didn't agree to, specifically the location of Israeli troops during a ceasefire and at the possible end of a ceasefire, and showing lots
of flexibility towards Hamas' position.
Parallel to that what Israel is doing on the ground, and I think you're right, what Israel is doing is indeed signaling to Hamas that, if it isn't
enough, that Israel shows willingness to believe to be flexible in negotiations and really wants a deal in order to get 10 live hostages home
and get a ceasefire, then what the IDF is ready to do is to escalate operations and to expand both military operations in areas that so far the
IDF didn't operate.
And perhaps more importantly, for Hamas allow the American Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to expand its operations into new parts of Gaza,
which I think is a significant threat towards Hamas, and that they're really deterred by that. So, we'll see how Hamas responds.
I think we can agree the people who suffer the consequences of Hamas' refusal to end the war are people in Israel and people in Gaza. The
pictures that you show are very sad, and the situation on the ground is horrible, but at the end of the day, Israel does a lot in order to try to
be flexible, but Israel cannot be much more flexible than it already has been.
ASHER: Jonathan, as you point out, the piece that we had our reporter cover just there, that aired a second ago, is incredibly painful to watch. I
mean, people in Gaza are literally starving to death. And I think the saddest thing is that not only are people starving to death, but you have
people on their way, going to get aid, as I'm sure you know, being killed.
And people sort of make the calculation that it is worth they are so hungry, Jonathan, that they have decided that it is worth risking their
lives to get a tiny bowl of soup to feed a family of 12 or 15 people. What do you think Israel should be doing at this point to ensure the safety and
the protection of a lot of civilians, especially the children.
That is what pains me the most, the children who are on their way to seek aid. What should Israel be doing if it's perhaps, you know, for example,
not --
CONRICUS: Yeah, definitely, women and children --
ASHER: -- crowd control. Give us some --
(CROSSTALK)
CONRICUS: -- they are affected by the war. But before I tell you what I think Israel should be doing, I'll say that the responsible party for
everything happening in Gaza is Hamas. The war could have ended a long, long time ago. The war that Hamas started on October 7th, it could have
ended many, many months ago by Hamas surrendering, handing over the hostages and finishing the war.
They're refusing to do it, and they continue to refuse to end the war, despite the fact that Israel is constantly moving towards Hamas' demands.
What I think should be done is to defeat Hamas. It is to crush Hamas.
It is to implement a situation in Gaza where humanitarian aid is provided even in greater numbers than what is currently provided by Israel, really
by Israel, not only by interlocutors, but really by Israel and with the help of interlocutors in order to apply significant pressure on Hamas and
to make them understand that this isn't going to go anyway, but their surrender and the handover of hostages.
And only after that happens can anything positive happen in Gaza. As long as Hamas can enjoy the illusion that they can both stay in power, have a
ceasefire and dictate terms to Israel and hold on to hostages, the people that will continue to pay the consequences for that are the -- is the
population in Gaza.
And I agree with you they are suffering, not at all at their own fault, but the organization that should be held accountable is Hamas for starting the
war, for refusing to end it, for refusing to share the aid that they are taking into Gaza. I can assure you that Hamas fighters are not hungry.
[11:40:00]
Hamas senior commanders are not hungry. And Hamas affiliated families are not hungry. The common Palestinians in Gaza may be hungry, and women and
children who are not affiliated and who are not from the right clans and who don't have clout with Hamas, they may go hungry because Hamas uses them
and doesn't care. And it's sad that they are suffering indeed.
GOLODRYGA: All right. We will be right back after this short break. Thank you, Jonathan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: State lawmakers in Texas are on day one of a special session, and much of the agenda is focused on the recent flooding there. They'll
consider legislation to improve early warning systems, emergency communications and funding for those affected by the floods. Flooding
around July 4th claimed at least 135 lives in Central Texas. Three people remain missing.
ASHER: Those killed in the Texas flooding, 27 were campers and counselors at Camp Mystic, nearly 100 -- a nearly 100-year-old summer camp for girls.
GOLODRYGA: Nearby at Camp La Junta, there were no casualties, but campers still endured a nightmare. For the first time, the owners are sharing what
the aftermath there looks like. CNN's Pamela Brown reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE FINESKE, OWNER AND DIRECTOR, CAMP LA JUNTA: To see the growth and the giggles and the fun and the friendships that form here. That's what this is
supposed to be. This is not supposed to look like this. This is not what we're supposed to be filled with.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Almost two weeks after catastrophic flooding hit Central Texas, the owners of Camp La Junta, Scott
and Katie Fineske are opening up for the first time to CNN and reflecting on how quickly deadly waters overran their idyllic campground full of
campers on July 4th.
SCOTT FINESKE, OWNER AND DIRECTOR, CAMP LA JUNTA: This was our dining hall. So, this was a walled building. It had all of our tables. We had 35 giant
wooden tables.
BROWN (voice-over): Awakened by the thunder in the overnight hours, the Fineske started planning for rainy 4th of July activities, until Katie
looked out the window.
S. FINESKE: A lightning bolt came across the sky and lit up the athletic fields, and she looked at me and said, I think I see our dining hall table
floating across the athletic field.
K. FINESKE: Water does not raise this fast here. And it is something that was beyond belief.
[11:45:00]
BROWN (voice-over): So, the Fineskes jumped into action, splitting up and going to each of the 18 cabins on the main grounds, because there was no
other way to communicate.
K. FINESKE: We've got speakers all through camp. We also have our own radio station that we broadcast announcements. But all that stuff washed away.
S. FINESKE: Evacuation is one of those things that's on that emergency plan. And so, when the counselors got the directive to pull the kids out of
the cabin to go to the maintenance road, they knew exactly what to do. They knew how to do it. They knew the path that they were going to go.
BROWN (voice-over): One of the counselors helped campers climb onto wooden rafters to escape the rising waters in their cabin, as you see in this
picture, shared with CNN.
K. FINESKE: Water was rushing by with huge force, and was about chest deep on Scott when we came down. We were on the high ground screaming at the
counselors to get their kids in the rafters.
BROWN (voice-over): As the water rushed through the camp, one of the cabins for adult staff was ripped from its foundation and began drifting away.
S. FINESKE: Never made it down to the river. It just floated down the back sidewalk and stopped at the tree right there.
BROWN (voice-over): The Fineskes emphasized the bravery and heroism of the counselors, mostly teenagers.
S. FINESKE: We were very fortunate in the fact that all of our kids were able to get out safely, and it's without them and without the way that they
reacted it could be a completely different story.
BROWN (voice-over): That reality of a different story becoming abundantly clear to them once the sun rose on July 4th, when they say a little girl
from Camp Mystic was found alive next door after floating five miles in the torrent.
S. FINESKE: It was very shocking that she was there. It was very shocking that she was in good spirits, and it was very shocking that she wasn't
injured.
BROWN (voice-over): Now they're grappling with the loss of friends from nearby camps, Jane Ragsdale from heart of the hills and Dick Eastland from
Camp Mystic, along with 27 campers and counselors.
K. FINESKE: It's a really strong community, so losing Dick and losing Jane is just we have. It's unthinkable.
S. FINESKE: Our heart goes out to everybody at Mystic, everybody in the community. This is a disaster that's hitting a whole lot of people.
BROWN (voice-over): Despite the physical toll of the storm, they say the camp's spirit of grit and resilience is unchanged since its founding nearly
100 years ago.
K. FINESKE: We plan to be back in 2026. We like the work we do here is too important to miss, and that's just not an option for us to not rebuild and
be back for the kids next year.
S. FINESKE: It's not camp right now. It will be -- it will be, but it's hard at this moment to see and to know what it has been for so many years,
and it's difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right still to come, can artificial intelligence wipe out white collar jobs in the future? CNN talks to industry leaders about their
concerns. We'll have that story just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
ASHER: All right, now to the tech industry and the very real concerns that artificial intelligence could wipe out white collar jobs. I think I'm so
nervous --
GOLODRYGA: You're fine.
ASHERL Don't take my job please.
GOLODRYGA: No one could replace you.
ASHER: CNN spoke to tech insiders to get their thinking, and for the most part, the beliefs are split.
GOLODRYGA: Your voice is so much better to hear, too than some of these automated voices Zain. I got your back. So, some say that will only happen
if the world runs out of ideas. Others warn that human involvement the workforce will likely shrink 20 percent over the next five years.
ASHER: Joining us live now is CNN's Tech Reporter Clare Duffy. So, you spoke with a number of industry insiders about this exact issue. Clare,
what did you learn? What do they have to say?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah, Zain and Bianna I was also worried about this after we heard this warning from Dario Amodei that the AI could
cause up to 20 percent unemployment in the next one to five years. I wanted to get a sense of how other tech industry insiders were thinking about
this.
And what I learned is that if you ask a dozen people working in Silicon Valley, what they think AI's impact on the workforce is going to be, you're
probably going to get nearly as many different opinions on how this is going to play out, and insiders are really split on what this is going to
mean for the workforce.
But here's what we do know, there are certain categories of work, things like coding, software development or data analysis, that AI is really good
at, and those types of jobs are likely to be done more and more by AI and less by humans. But if you have a job that requires creativity or
interacting with other people, your job might change.
You might start to use AI to do some of the repetitive, rote tasks that you would rather not spend a lot of time doing. But those types of jobs are
probably not going to be eliminated altogether. I spoke with Gaurav Bansal. He is the Executive Director of Responsible Innovation Labs. This is a
nonprofit that consults with tech startups on how to build ethical technology.
Here's how he described the situation to me. He said, I think there will be some displacement. I think there will be new job categories that emerge,
but I think we're entering a decade-ish, maybe more period of uncertainty, and I think that's really the core here, is that there is so much
uncertainty about how this is going to play out?
And a lot of these leaders are really calling on policymakers to start thinking about and addressing this, because the transition could be
uncomfortable. We could, for example, see company leaders laying off human workers because they think that AI is going to save them money, only to
realize that technology isn't quite there and they have to bring human workers back.
We could see lower wages as more humans turn to the really human centric jobs and there's more competition. Those are the kinds of things that these
tech leaders are really hoping policymakers will start to think about and start to address here.
GOLODRYGA: See the adaptation of new jobs every time we have more innovation, more technological advancements, we moved more to automated
jobs. But this is really one of those issues where you're hearing people concerned about white collar jobs for their kids. I mean, they're saying,
what should they be studying in school? What jobs will be available for them?
ASHER: It's all about the creativity, right? The more creative you are, the more human interaction you have in your job, then the more likely you are
to survive, right Clare?
DUFFY: That's exactly it. And especially the human interaction part that is something I mean, as you said Bianna, hearing AI systems talk, it's just
not something that they're she
ASHER: She prefers my voice, darling, she prefers my voice.
GOLODRYGA: Always.
(CROSSTALK)
DUFFY: -- I think that is really the question.
GOLODRYGA: I heard serious people say, you know, we'll always need plumbers. I don't mean that that's the only job that's going to be
available for human beings, but there are some skill sets in whether it's interacting, whether it's just manual labor, where you are going to need
humans. I am firmly of the belief that AI should be used more as a tool --
ASHER: Or robots.
GOLODRYGA: Robot plumber. That day coming soon. All right, Clare Duffy, thank you.
ASHER: Thank you, Clare.
DUFFY: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, researchers in Antarctica have recovered an ice core sample that's over one and a half million years old. It's some of the
oldest ice on record and is now being examined by climate analysts in the UK.
ASHER: Yeah, they believe it could hold crucial details about a previously uncharted period in the history of earth's atmosphere.
[11:55:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. LIZ THOMAS, BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY: We are standing in our cold laboratory in the British Antarctic Survey. We keep this laboratory at
minus 25 degrees, and that's because we've got very, very precious ice in here. And we have the ice here to analyze it, to unlock some of those
secrets about the climate in the past.
So, in Antarctica, when the snow falls, it doesn't melt, so it accumulates and it forms layer upon layer over millions of years. So, what we can do is
go and drill down through that ice sheet, so much in the same way as an apple core, you just core down and retrieve the sections of ice from in
between.
So, what we end up with is cylinders of ice that go all the way down through the ice sheet, and in this case, 2.8 kilometers. So, the current
oldest ice -- that we have goes back 800,000 years, and that's a fantastic record. But actually, we're interested in that period prior to a million
years ago.
Because during that time, there's evidence to suggest that the ice sheets were actually smaller, sea levels were potentially higher, and CO2 similar
to today. So, it's a really interesting potential analog for our future climate. So, this is a really exciting project to work on, because we
really are exploring a completely unknown time in our history, and what we're hoping is we're going to unlock all these amazing secrets.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRGA: All right, and stay with us. We'll have more "One World" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
