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U.S. Officials: Iran Has Not Yet Decided On Action Against Israel; Biden: "Concerned About Ceasefire Deal's Prospects Amid Iran Threat; Trump With Musk On X: Tw Hours Attacks, Falsehoods, Glitches; 2018 Video: Walz Praised Muslim Leader Who Shared Antisemitic Propaganda; Trump Campaign Shares Dehumanizing Anti-Migrant Meme; Russia Scrambling To Push Back Ukraine's Stunning Cross-Border Counteroffensive; New Evidence Points To Water Deep Below Surface Of Mars; Starbucks Names Fourth CEO In Two Years Amid Sales Struggles. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 13, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Moments ago, speaking in New Orleans about what he considers a legacy, defining issue his moon shot to cure cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's fair to say, one of the most devastating words anyone can hear, and it's not hyperbole, is cancer. Walk into a doc office with your child and or yourself, and you get a diagnosis of cancer. How many of you heard that when you walked in? It's frightening. It's frightening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Biden is speaking at Tulane University to highlight $150 million for new research. The News continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer live from Tel Aviv in "Situation Room."

[17:00:40]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news as Israel remains on very high alert U.S. officials say they believe Iran has not yet decided exactly how to follow through on its threat of retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran.

Also breaking President Biden says he's concerned, his word concerned about the prospects for a Gaza cease fire deal as Iran's threat to attack Israel looms. The United States dispatching key officials here to the Middle East just had a very high stakes negotiations on Thursday.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv, and you're in the Situation Room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We begin with the breaking news. President Biden speaking publicly about the threat of an Iranian attack on Israel as U.S. officials are sharing their insights into why Tehran has not yet moved ahead with a retaliatory strike. CNN's Nic Robertson is with me here in Tel Aviv, but first, let's go to CNN's MJ Lee, she's over at the White House for us.

MJ, what are you hearing from U.S. officials and from the president himself?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf this cease fire deal that has been elusive for so many months, clearly became even more complicated after the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. President Biden, who remember, until quite recently, had expressed real optimism about these talks, just told reporters in New Orleans that these talks had in fact, become more difficult. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think you can still get to a ceasefire deal, or is that starting to be a distant possibility?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's getting hard. We'll see what -- we'll see what Iran does, and we'll see what happens, if there's any attack, but I'm not giving up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are those two things tied together?

BIDEN: That's my expectation, but we'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: I am told, Wolf, by administration officials that, as of right now, the U.S. still does not believe that Iran has decided on a firm course of action against Israel, and there continue to be, of course, furious back channel negotiations and efforts made by the Biden administration to try to deter a wide scale attack on Israel and to deescalate what is an incredibly volatile situation. One official I was speaking to did say that the U.S. public warnings do seem to have had an effect on Iran's calculations, but it is clearly a waiting game right now for both the U.S. and Israel as they are waiting for and bracing for whatever actions Iran or Iran related groups might take against Israel. And it is very much worth noting that nobody here at the White House would deny that for President Biden, one of the biggest pieces of his lasting sort of foreign policy legacy that is really top of mind for him right now is getting the ceasefire deal. But again, as the President just said himself, those talks do appear to be back in limbo right now after so many months of U.S. officials trying to get this deal across the finish line, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, cease fire deal with the return of all the remaining hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, that would be huge, indeed. MJ, I want you to stand by. I want to bring in CNN's Nic Robertson, he's here with me in Tel Aviv.

You've got sources all over the place, Nic, I know that. What are you hearing about the prospect for these important negotiations actually to take place on Thursday? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLAMATIC EDITOR: It still seems that there's a track that they can take place by, because the diplomacy, to a degree, has been working. It could get completely derailed if Iran starts to strike. Those talks are less than 48 hours away. There's a huge amount of pressure being put on Hamas to engage, and there are mixed messages coming from them. Quite frankly, I've got sources saying that they will have a representative in Doha in a separate room.

These are not face to face negotiations involving Israel direct with Hamas in a separate room, who could get involved in conversations on the point that Hamas is making, that the negotiations are not negotiations. They are merely passing through what President Biden has already proposed, the framework that he has proposed. Hamas' position is that Prime Minister Netanyahu will put add on things that he wants on that deal. His office says that's not what they're doing. And clearly a degree of pressure from the United States on Prime Minister Netanyahu to send representatives who can go to those talks and engage and move this forward.

[17:05:22]

But I have to say, right now, I don't think anyone is remotely expecting anything significant to happen at these talks. Indeed, if they can happen, I think that at this point will be seen as a positive.

BLITZER: What do you make of the State Department announcement today? And it's significant, I think, that the Biden administration approves of an additional $20 billion in U.S., military assistance to Israel, including, for example, 50 additional F-15 fighter jets, a lot of ammunition, a lot of weapons. This was a public announcement.

ROBERTSON: It was and this is something that's been in the works for a long time, which therefore means the timing of it, on the eve of these talks when everyone in the region, diplomats in the region, are saying the United States needs to put pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu, when you put pressure to get a result, you sometimes offer carrots. Now is this intended to be the timing to show that this carrot of all this defense support, the ammunition for tanks, all of that, that this is now possible, this is possible, this is one step in the process, it's not a done deal. We've had a tweet today from Yoav Gallant, the defense minister here, saying, thank you to Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. Thank you to Secretary of State, Antony Blinken for advancing this process, saying that this will allow Israel to develop its military going forward.

And I think the line to me in his tweet, the defense minister, Israeli defense minister's tweet that was most significant, he said, this is a clear signal that the United States supports Israel. There's an element, given the tensions has had with Prime Minister Netanyahu this week, that that's also a message for his own Prime Minister, that the United States is sending a clear signal of support, some reciprocity could be in the offing. But look, this is a long, long, slow, tortured process. Don't expect anything fast.

BLITZER: Yes, an important signal to Israel and to Iran at this delicate, very delicate moment right now.

All right, Nic, thank you very much. MJ Lee, thanks to you at the White House as well.

Want to get some more on all of this. Joining us now, the former State Department Middle East Negotiator Aaron David Miller and Dana Stroul, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East.

Dana, why do you think Iran reportedly still hasn't decided on a course of action against Israel? They've been making threats and threats and threats. What's behind its delay?

DANA STROUL, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT OF DEFENSE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST: Well, it appears that Iran still hasn't decided if it's willing to risk escalation that could become full scale war. What's been interesting about all of the different exchanges we've seen the Iranian support to its proxies, from Hezbollah and Lebanon to the militias in Iraq and Syria to the Houthis in Yemen, is that all of this escalation since Hamas's October 7 attack has been designed to maintain pressure on Israel, maintain pressure on the United States, but not escalate to the full scale war. We also saw Iran launch that a direct attack in April, but it was actually quite easily defeated by Israel, the United States and a constellation of Arab and European allies. And so the question now, is there a sweet spot for Iran that's more than what we saw on April 13, but less than that big war. And the United States has put a lot of resources behind making it clear that it wants Iran to stand down.

Another aircraft carrier, more fighter jets, now, a guided missile submarine, all deployed to the region in less than a week to send really strong signals to Iran, and clearly they're reconsidering whether now is the moment for escalation.

BLITZER: Yes, important point.

Aaron, I know you just tweeted this, and I'll put it up on the screen. This is your tweet. "It's as a depressing a thought as one might imagine. The trajectory of this crisis and future of this region now rests in hands of Iran, Hezbollah, Sinwar and Benjamin Netanyahu. Break that down for us.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EASTNEGOTIATOR: Look, Wolf, you know, under normal circumstances, in a normal environment, Middle East negotiations have two speeds. We've talked about this slow and slower. You now have a situation where you have at least three clocks that are ticking at different speeds. You have the administration clock understandably, they see a hostage deal, frankly, as a key to deescalating on the northern border, freeing hostages maybe get a six week cease fire in which they can build.

The other two clocks are running slower. Yahya Sinwar, the principal Palestinian decision maker ensconced in a tunnel somewhere meters below ground, probably surrounded by hostages, really is in no hurry. He may be under pressure, but he needs stuff that the second master of the clock, Netanyahu, right now, is not prepared to give them. So you -- give him. So you've got no synchronization. [17:10:24]

And against the backdrop of all of it, if this wasn't bad enough, you've got the Iranians, as Dana had just suggested, still undecided, presumably, about how to inflict significant damage beyond what they did in April 13 on Israel without triggering a massive escalation, which he could easily given the amount of hardware in the region and the unpredictability of some of these strikes draw the U.S. in. So, I think right now, you know, you'd have to have access to the intelligence, and you'd have to somehow get in into the minds of the four principal decision makers that are now responsible for the lives of the hostages, the future the Palestinian people, stability and maybe at some point, Wolf, a better pathway for Israelis and Palestinians.

The situation here will is going to get worse, I suspect, and fear before it gets worse.

BLITZER: Dana, I noticed that the U.S. is notably absent from Aaron's list of top players, even as it's sending top US officials to the region for these negotiations on Thursday. What does that suggest about the U.S. leverage right now here in this crisis?

STROUL: Well, President Biden has been focused from day one after October 7 in preventing all out full scale regional war, and we've seen the playbook that his national security team has applied a few times now. It involves direct messaging, telling Iran the famous Biden contraction, don't. Don't escalate, and don't have your adversaries escalate at this moment in time. It's involved sending massive military force to the region. Public messaging, private messaging, some exceptionally coordinated diplomacy.

We've seen Secretary of State Blinken in the region multiple times, and now we actually have Brett McGurk from the National Security Council, Amos Hochstein, a presidential envoy, all parking themselves in the region working to deescalate at this moment. I would say President Biden's clock is pretty accelerated. He wants to get the hostages out of Gaza, out of -- out from under Hamas, and he wants to cease fire, as he believes that's the path, as Aaron said, to opening multiple opportunities for deescalation, searching humanitarian assistance into Gaza, getting Israel's northern border with Hezbollah to calm down, getting normalization, perhaps with Saudi Arabia back on the table, and even a political horizon for a future Palestinian state. Those are all key priorities of this administration. And their theory of the case is that they cannot move forward on any of those priorities until there's a cease fire in Gaza.

BLITZER: And I think it's very significant that the U.S. military commander of the central command, which is in charge of the entire Middle East region, General Eric Carrillo has been here in the region these past several days as well.

Dana Stroul, Aaron David Miller, to both of you, thank you very, very much for your analysis.

Coming up, the fallout from Donald Trump's two hour exchange with Elon Musk on X, filled with attacks, falsehoods and glitches. And later, Ukraine now says it's gaining ground inside of Russia. Stay with us. You're in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:57]

BLITZER: Tonight, President Biden is in New Orleans promoting an initiative very close to his heart, the so called Moonshot program to reduce deaths from cancer. CNN's Kayla Tausche is traveling with the President. She's joining us right now.

Kayla, what does this event say about President Biden's priorities?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is a cause and a backdrop that the President holds very near Tulane University, the alma mater of his daughter Ashley, in New Orleans, the hometown of many senior members of his administration, whom he thanked personally when they were in the audience this evening. But it was the death of his son, Beau, from brain cancer in 2015 that led him to start the Cancer Moonshot the following year and to revive it in the second year of his presidency. Since then, more than $400 million in awards have been dispersed, and President Biden today told the audience he's not losing hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's all part of our goal, of our Cancer Moonshot, to end cancer as we know it, even cure some cancers. We're mobilizing the whole country effort to cut American cancer deaths in half by 2020 and 2025, years and boost support for patients and their families. I'm confident in our capacity to do that. I know we can, but it's not just personal, it's about what's possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Now President Biden mentioned the Cancer Moonshot as one of the top priorities for him in his final months in office when he was delivering an address from the Oval Office to the American people. Aides say that short list also includes reforms on guns, climate and the Supreme Court, which the President unveiled just a couple of weeks ago, lowering costs for the American people, which continues to be a priority in the face of inflation that is still quite high compared to four years ago, and traveling overseas to bolster alliances that the President has worked over the last four years to strengthen.

On lowering costs, in particular, we expect President Biden to appear in an official capacity with Vice President Kamala Harris in Maryland on Thursday to talk about work being done to negotiate prices for prescription drugs that are under the Medicare program. We expect more details about exactly how that's going to work, and of course, that is ahead of Vice President Harris herself on the campaign trail on Friday, unveiling her own economic platform as President Biden tries to cement his own legacy while bolstering the candidacy of his number two. Wolf.

[17:20:27]

BLITZER: Kayla Tausche reporting from New Orleans for us. Kayla, thank you very, very much.

Also tonight, Donald Trump's campaign says it raised $1 million off the former president's conversation last night with Elon Musk on X, but privately, some Trump allies are questioning the wisdom of that conversation that took Trump off message in some very familiar ways. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're going to have the largest deportation in history of this country. The biggest threat is not global warming. The biggest threat is nuclear warming, because we have five countries now that have significant nuclear power.

Kamala wouldn't have this conversation. She can't, because she's not smart. I saw a picture of her on Time magazine today. She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. I-- it was a drawing, and actually she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania.

They go on strike, I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, that's OK, you're all gone. You're all gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes, who's covering Trump campaign for us. How is the campaign, the Trump campaign, spinning this?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS: Well, Wolf, there is a real belief, and it's not just with Donald Trump's campaign, but also with Kamala Harris's Harris, is that this is going to be a very tight race, and whoever wins is going to win by a small margin. If you talk to Donald Trump's team, that means reaching out to what they call persuadable voters. These are voters who don't usually tune into politics, or don't engage with politics. They don't necessarily watch the news, but they might watch an interview with Elon Musk, and as you saw Elon Musk saying that the conversation itself got more than a billion engagements, and Donald Trump himself, privately was thrilled about all of the viewers that were there. He was actually complimenting, or not complimenting, but saying behind closed doors, before it started that he was flattered that the internet had essentially shut down because so many people were interested in hearing him speak.

But that is the campaign, and they are trying to reach out to these voters, these non-traditional voters. On the other side, you have these allies who are concerned that something like this takes him off the campaign trail and also takes him off message. As you said, they want him to be focusing on things like immigration, like crime, like the economy, things that he pulled ahead of President Joe Biden on, things that they believe that he could pull ahead of Kamala Harris on, but we really have not seen him stick to that messaging, and that has become complicated for some of these allies who really want to see him in the White House in November, but don't believe these kind of off script conversations, particularly for two hours that dive into issues that could get Donald Trump in trouble, that's not what they want to see him doing.

BLITZER: So Kristen, what's next for Trump?

HOLMES: Well, we're going to see him on the campaign trail tomorrow, he's going to be in the battleground state of North Carolina. He's delivering a speech that's billed on the economy, and we're going to wait to see what his schedule is next week, they say he's going to be picking up his schedule, that he's going to be visiting more battleground states, but we have yet to see that. So far, it's been one event this week. Last week, the only event we saw him at was in Montana, and then he gave a press conference from his estate. Now, part of the narrative that we are hearing from Donald Trump's team is actually around Kamala Harris not taking questions from the press.

One of the statements they put out, they doing this daily, says day 23 and still no press conference or media interview for Kamala Harris, it's almost like she can't step out in public unless she is pre- programmed like a robot or has a teleprompter with her. Now that's part of the reason, again, why they are advocating for these interviews with Elon Musk or these press conferences like we saw last week, to kind of try and offset what they're saying about Kamala Harris. But again, this strategy unclear if it's going to work or if it is working, we won't know until closer to November.

BLITZER: All right, good. Kristen Holmes, reporting for us. Kristen, thank you very, very much.

I want to bring in our political experts to break all of this down.

And Lauren Tomlinson, let me start with you, was it a mistake for Trump to do this conversation with Elon Musk?

LAUREN TOMLINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think the biggest problem with Donald Trump is the length of time he devotes to some of these interviews. I agree with what the reporting was just saying that it's really important that you go reach voters where they are, and frankly, they're not on cable news anymore. They're on the streaming platforms, they're on the podcast, they're on some of these other channels. And it's important to diversify how you're reaching the masses. But he lets them go on too long, and then he diverges off message.

[17:25:05]

Two hours is much too long for any sort of interview to go. And I think that's. And I think that's the discipline aspect that we see that he was pretty good at keeping earlier in the campaign, and he's losing a little bit now that he has a new opponent, so hopefully he tightens this up going forward.

BLITZER: SE Cupp is with us as well.

SE, we also heard Trump attacking Kamala Harris as quote, not being smart, not smart his words. How does that play with Independent and women voters specifically?

SE CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, surprise, surprise, attacking a woman on her looks, litigating her race, telling people she's stupid or not smart, that doesn't win over women voters. And that's not a campaign strategy, that's a crisis of confidence. That is someone who doesn't yet know how to handle Kamala Harris, someone who doesn't know how to attack her on policy, he is still running, in his mind, against Joe Biden. And you heard that in that interview with Elon Musk, how he was almost pining for Biden to be back on the ticket. He cannot quit him.

And so for Kamala, he has not figured this out yet. And in these crucial swing states, these battleground states, where you have Isndependent voters, moderate voters, a lot of women voters, they are not interested in the petty personal attacks. They want solutions to problems, and he's not offering them.

BLITZER: Mike Hardaway is with us as well.

And, Mike, on another topic in a newly revealed video by the Washington Examiner, Tim Walz has heard praising a Muslim cleric back in 2018 who has spread antisemitic content on Facebook, calling him a master teacher, his words. In a statement to CNN, the Harris-Walz campaign responded to this report saying, and I'm quoting now, "The governor and he do not have a personal relationship. Governor Walz strongly condemns Hamas terrorism." That's a quote from the Harris campaign. What's your reaction to that?

MICHAEL HARDAWAY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: So I've not seen this video, but look, all elected officials go to local community events and otherwise, and they give remarks about the people there. And sometimes there are people they don't know very well. Sometimes they're people they do know very well. And so, I don't put any stock in this random video that seems have been released, possibly out of context. I think what we should do is have a real conversation about policy.

You're currently in Israel, there's a series of crises around the world happening. And I think voters want to know how will Donald Trump react to these situations, and how will Kamala Harris react to those situations. Those are the conversations voters want to have.

BLITZER: And Lauren, as you know, and a lot of our viewers know, Donald Trump actually hosted a well-known Holocaust denier at a Mar-a- Lago dinner back in 2022. So how do you see that with this report about Walz playing going into this campaign?

TOMLINSON: I think antisemitism during this campaign is going to be a huge issue, especially with Iran now launching attacks against Israel, and what we're seeing with the cease fire attacks. You know, it's my hope, you know, you saw JD Vance disavow Nick Fuentes earlier this week. It's my hope that the campaign continues to do that, because this type of rhetoric just can't stand in the campaign right now.

BLITZER: Yes, that's important point.

S.E., I want you to take a look at this meme the Trump campaign posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier today showing two photos captioned, your neighborhood under Trump with a photo of a house with an American flag, and then your neighborhood under Kamala with a photo of a crowd of dozens of migrants. Why is the Trump campaign releasing this sort of inflammatory meme right now?

CUPP: Because they're a little desperate and panicked. Listen, immigration is a top issue, but there's a good way and a bad way to say anything. And Trump and his campaign can't figure out how to say anything in the good way, in a way that's actually policy oriented instead, they always seem to choose the bad way, the inflammatory way, the insulting way, the way that angers a lot of Americans otherwise known as voters, and some people you might need to vote.

Like I said, immigration is important and should be litigated, and Kamala Harris and Tim Walz should have to sit down and answer questions about what they will do about a border crisis and a migrant crisis. But these kinds of things, these cheap shots for the base, for the basis of the base, I just don't think it's turning anyone out in the swing states that this campaign will need to win every vote they can.

BLITZER: Mike, as you know, Kamala Harris is seen by many folks out there as potentially being vulnerable on these sensitive immigration issues. But how should the Harris campaign respond to this inflammatory meme?

HARDAWAY: You know, look, we have to have perspective on the immigration conversation, because in reality, this is a 40 year conversation. Ronald Reagan tried and failed in the early 80s. McCain, Kennedy tried in a bipartisan way and failed in 2007 and 2008. And once again, we're having this conversation, and so what they should do is just ignore it, because it's childish and it does nothing to steer the conversation toward a solution which is a bipartisan solution that mirrors what President Biden led earlier this year that Donald Trump killed, which is something that shuts down the border and restores order. That's what we need.

BLITZER: That was a bipartisan compromise. You're absolutely right, all right, guys. Thank you very, very much. Will continue this conversation down the road.

Up next, the Ukrainian incursion inside Russia expands once again. We're going to bring you the latest on the stunning counter offensive that has Vladimir Putin's forces scrambling right now to try to reclaim their own territory.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:41]

BLITZER: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his military surprise cross-border counter-offensive into Russia now controls, he says, 74 Russian settlements. Our chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is joining us right now. Nick, how much is Ukraine digging into this assault on Russian soil? NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes. I mean, the extraordinary thing about this, Wolf, is despite last week, Vladimir Putin, being assured by his top brass that they halt -- they'd managed to halt the advance, today alone, Ukraine's top commander has said they've taken 40 square kilometers, adding to the 1,000 square kilometers they said they'd taken yesterday, and remarkably too, Zelenskyy coming up with that 74 settlements number, hugely larger than the 28 Russian officials admitted yesterday they had indeed lost control of, adding to the 2,000 people from those villages. Fate remained unknown.

This is a stark moment for Russian security, period. But I think the question is, Wolf, as you pointed out there, exactly whether Ukraine is digging in. Now, we heard from the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine the suggestion they have no intention of occupying this area, so it seems like we're seeing more of a hit and run here, potentially. Ukrainian forces moving around fast, according to Zelenskyy, taking quite a lot of prisoners as they move, we've seen images of that, significant numbers of prisoners, some of them marched basically back across the border to be used in exchanges, one of the points made by Ukraine's president today, but also slight hints of what may be the larger Ukrainian game plan here.

Russia has lacked the firepower, the manpower to put a stop to this advance. And so we're seeing hints, potentially, from Ukrainian officials there might be some relocation of Russian forces from hotspots around the front line inside occupied Ukraine. Maybe that's what Kyiv wants, to see Russia transfer troops, weaken up somewhere and then push somewhere else too, but ultimately, Wolf, we're a week in now, over a week in, and Ukraine's advance into areas of Russia which haven't seen an invasion since the Nazis is unimpeded.

They're really not being stopped. They continue to move onwards. Yes, they're losing troops, we've certainly seen some graphic video indeed of Ukrainian casualties, but it's quite extraordinary how this is continuing, and despite what the Kremlin say, they've been unable to stop it.

BLITZER: It's really a dramatic development indeed. I also want to bring in the executive director of the McCain Institute, Evelyn Farkas, for more analysis. Evelyn's also a former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russian and Ukrainian Affairs. Evelyn, this is a very brazen Ukrainian operation. How risky is this? And is this something the United States should support?

EVELYN FARKAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MCCAIN INSTITUTE: Wolf, it's incredibly risky for the Ukrainians because, as Nick mentioned, you know, the Ukrainians are spread out across a line that they have been defending, but, you know, not defending particularly well in every sector, and they've actually been losing ground to the Russians in the east and the south, so this is seen as a diversionary operation, but with some risk that the Russians would take advantage in those other parts that I just mentioned.

I think, however, the fact, as Nick said, that they've held onto it for a week puts it, I think, in a success category. Even if they get repelled back, they have demonstrated that they can take the initiative, and they've taken those prisoners. Today's media, print media, was writing a lot about the Ukrainian statement saying, we now have prisoners that we can swap with the prisoners the Russians are holding, so that's already a win for them. So I think it's risky, but so far, it looks like the risk has paid off.

BLITZER: So far, Nick, how is Russia scrambling right now to try to counter this Ukrainian attack?

WALSH: Yes, in a word, Wolf, really badly. I mean, we are not seeing what you would expect is the might of the Russian army stopping Ukraine from running, frankly, wherever it wants. And we've been seeing for days continued reports of yet another village, yet another Instagram or Telegram video being posted by a Ukrainian soldier popping up sometimes 30, 40, 50 miles inside of Russia. It's all quite startling.

Now, Putin has declared that the FSB, the security services that he used to run are in charge of the operation. It's being called a counter-terror operation, something normally they use against Islamist militants in Russia's south, and so an odd choice of mechanism when you're trying to stop Ukrainian armored tanks and columns, some of which seems to be Western supplied armor as well.

[17:40:16]

We're also seeing suggestions that some of the worst trained, less disciplined Chechen militants from the south are being used in some of the areas here too, and National Guard troops who are simply not up to the job, it seems, of stopping this Ukrainian advance. And that might be the reason why we're beginning to hear reports of transfers from Zaporizhzhia, another tense front line for Russia and Ukraine. But they haven't arrived yet, and this hasn't been stopped.

BLITZER: How embarrassing Evelyn is all of this for Putin?

FARKAS: It's incredibly embarrassing. And if you think back, Wolf, to yourself, you know standing in front of the camera about a year ago when Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was at one point very loyal to Putin, but basically marched up from Ukrainian territory, crossed the Russian border with armed forces, and marched very, you know, got almost into Moscow unimpeded.

And what he was doing was he was trying to, you know, he's challenging Putin's military command. Once he got up there and he realized he didn't have the full support, plus, he really probably didn't intend to launch a coup. He backed down, and we know Putin later took revenge and killed him. But that was -- that was a year ago. Putin is very weak internally.

So I think we -- it tells you that there's a lot we don't see. And there have been also reports coming out, of course, you know, over the last several months about changes in the Russian defense establishment, you know, he basically did a switcheroo and moved a lot of his people around. He said it was to clamp down in corruption. The economy is not doing terribly well. So there are a lot of weaknesses in the Russian system that we don't often see. The fact that average Russians can tell their neighbors and can tell other Russians that I had to flee my town is pretty -- is a pretty dramatic development for Vladimir Putin.

BLITZER: Very dramatic indeed. Evelyn Farkas, thank you. Nick Paton Walsh, thanks to you as well. We'll continue to stay on top of this story.

Just ahead, an incredible discovery on Mars could give scientists a new place to search for life on the Red Planet. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:35]

BLITZER: New evidence from a retired NASA mission suggests there may be -- may be a hidden reservoir of water deep beneath the surface of Mars. CNN, space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher is on the story for us tonight. Kristin, tell us about this new analysis.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Wolf, this is a big deal because on Earth, you've heard the saying where there's water, there's life. So scientists are really excited that the same might possibly hold true on Mars.

And so this was discovered by data that was collected by NASA's InSight Lander, which landed on the Red Planet back in 2018. And there's this idea that liquid water was buried deep within the Martian surface. That's an idea that's been around for decades. But now for the first time, there is some hard data to back up that idea. And so this is data that indicates that there is water that is trapped in the water, saturated fractured mid crust of the red planet.

So we're talking about seven to 12 miles down. You can see in blue right there, those little tiny cracks and fissures and pores and rocks. That's where scientists believe is enough water to cover the entire planet of Mars, a mile deep. So this is a significant amount of water. Now, you'll see on the right hand side of your screen there was something called InSight. That's the InSight Lander right there on the top of the surface of Mars.

And so you may be wondering, well, how did this little, tiny lander discover this water so far down? It didn't dig. It wasn't capable of doing that, but what it did have was a seismometer. And a seismometer is what's used to measure seismic waves here on Earth. We can also do it on other planets. That red thing right there, that's the seismometer. And so it detected the first ever Mars quakes, you know, earthquakes, but on Mars.

And so from that data, what it was able to do scientists back on Earth, years later, after it was collected, is it was able to look at the speed, the speed with which these seismic waves traveled through the core of the red planet. And it travels through these waves travel through different rocks at different speeds. And so they were able to match it with different rocks here on Earth, and they found that it matched the same kinds of volcanic rocks on Earth that are filled with liquid water. So some great insights and possibilities for scientists, Wolf, in terms of where they can search for life on the Red Planet.

[17:49:09]

BLITZER: All right. You know your stuff. Kristin Fisher, thank you very, very much. And we'll be right back with more news.

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BLITZER: Big change is brewing at the world's largest coffee house chain. The Starbucks CEO is stepping down immediately after only a year in the row. Chipotle's the CEO is now taking over. I want to go to CNN, consumer reporter, Nathaniel Myerson. Nathaniel, why is Starbucks making this change right now? What's going on?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: So Wolf, Starbucks is making this change because the business is really struggling. Starbucks is really kind of in crisis right now. One of the reasons for that, Wolf, is because of just how expensive coffee and iced coffee have gotten. I mean, here in New York, it's $5, $6 for an iced coffee, and that's really having an impact on sales. You look at Starbucks sales last quarter down 3 percent from a year ago.

And it's not just the higher prices, Wolf, that are turning away customers. You think, you know, 10, 15 years ago, everybody used to go to Starbucks and they would sit down and order. Now they're all ordering on their phones, and that's creating long lines, kind of a frustrating customer experience in stores right now for Starbucks.

BLITZER: So why go with the Chipotle CEO to turn things around at Starbucks?

MEYERSOHN: Yes, it does seem like kind of a surprise Chipotle and -- and Starbucks. But -- but, Wolf, the -- the guy from -- from Chipotle, Brian Niccol is really kind of considered a fast food genius. He has turned around Chipotle. When he took over, Chipotle was really struggling. They had this e-coli outbreak.

But if you look at the stock chart under Brian Niccol, the stocks boomed about 200 percent, you know, it's really kind of doing the opposite of what Starbucks is doing. So no burritos at Starbucks but could be some big changes on the way.

[17:55:09]

BLITZER: We'll see if, a venti skim latte that I like is going to be even more expensive. Nathaniel Meyersohn, thanks very much for that report. Appreciate it very much.

Coming up the race for the White House, Governor Tim Walz makes his first solo appearance since Vice President Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate. Walz defending himself against attacks on his military record, we'll have new information for you when we come back.

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[17:59:58]

BLITZER: Happening now, Democratic vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz, is defending his military record in the face of Republican attacks as he holds his first solo appearance since being tapped.