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Harris Says, Will Be Laser-Focused On Building An Opportunity Economy; How Doctors And A Ketamine Queen Took Advantage Of Matthew Perry; Biden Says, Closer Than We've Ever Been To Gaza Ceasefire; Inside Trump's Finances: Mar-a-Lago, Other Resorts His Top Moneymakers; Residents Return To Kibbutz Near Gaza Border For First Time Since October 7 Hamas Attack. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 16, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Kamala Harris promises North Carolina voters she will be, quote, laser-focused on building an opportunity economy. Will her newly unveiled plan boost her chances in key battleground states? I'll ask North Carolina's Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

Also this hour, Donald Trump's new financial disclosure forms reveal a lucrative Bible endorsement deal, a stash of cryptocurrency, and big debt from civil judgments against him. We're following the money, including the millions Trump is making off of Mar-a-Lago.

And with five people now charged in the death of Matthew Perry, prosecutors are accusing multiple doctors of fraud and a so-called ketamine queen of taking advantage of the friend star and playing a role in his death.

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.

This hour, let's go right to one of the battlegrounds where the 2024 presidential race will be won or lost. We're talking about North Carolina. That's where Kamala Harris delivered her first major policy speech since rising to the top of the Democratic ticket, zeroing in on the U.S. economy.

CNN's Eva McKend is joining us live from Raleigh right now. Eva, Harris laid out her economic agenda and drew clear contrasts with Donald Trump.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: She did, Wolf. This was the first time that we heard this concrete policy speech from the vice president, and she's really trying to differ herself from former President Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKEND (voice over): Vice President Kamala Harris unveiling a populist economic agenda in her first major policy speech since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As president, I will be laser focused on creating opportunities for the middle class. Together, we will build what I call an opportunity economy.

MCKEND: Speaking Friday in battleground North Carolina, Harris outlined a series of proposals, including expanding the child tax credit to as much as $3,600, up from $2,000, adding a new child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns, expanding the earned income tax credit for lower income workers without children, and help lowering housing costs, including an offer of $25,000 in down payment assistance for first time homebuyers.

HARRIS: As president, I will work in partnership with the industry to build the housing we need both to rent and to buy. By the end of my first term, we will end America's housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals.

MCKEND: As polls show, the vice president narrowing Donald Trump's advantage on the economy, Harris drawing a contrast with the vision put forward by her Republican rival.

HARRIS: Compare my plan with what Donald Trump intends to do. He plans to give billionaires massive tax cuts year after year. And he plans to cut corporate taxes by over a $1 trillion, even as they pull in record profits.

MCKEND: Another element of Harris' agenda, a federal ban on price gouging to lower grocery prices and other everyday costs.

HARRIS: My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules.

MCKEND: Trump criticizing that approach during an event Thursday in New Jersey.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala is reportedly proposing communist price controls.

The Maduro plan, like something straight out of Venezuela that you're all going to be thrown into a communist system.

MCKEND: But Harris supporters say her plans make sense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People may call it overstepping, but at the end of the day, the government's role is to protect its citizens. And if companies are overcharging and price gouging, then something that should be taken on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKEND (on camera): And tonight, CNN is learning that the vice president engaged in a debate prep session earlier this week at Howard University in Washington. That is, of course, where she attended college nearly four decades ago. Wolf?

BLITZER: Eva McKend in Raleigh, North Carolina, for us, Eva, thank you for that report. I want to bring in our political experts to break all of this down right now.

[18:05:00]

And, Isaac Dovere, your Harris is leaning into what's being described as a more populist agenda. How much of what we heard was a departure from President Biden's policies?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, look, she's not running for Joe Biden's second term. She's running for her own first term. That said, she is doing some things that build on what Biden has been doing over the last three and a half years, the child tax credit, for example, she wants to bring back and expand it. The number of homes being built, that's something that Biden got going. She wants to expand that into higher numbers, into millions now. So, that is expanding and building on the Biden record. And then there's some stuff that she's going further on, like this idea to go after price gouging.

That gets into a place where Joe Biden has always been a little uncomfortable, taking on corporations, going after them in that way. Even over the last couple of years, there have been a couple moments when Biden has done a little bit of that, talked about it, but it's never been where he's comfortable. And Harris clearly feels like she is comfortable there and feels like that is the right way to talk about the pain that people are still feeling in making their dollars stretch amid what is overall a strong economy by all the measures that Joe Biden often likes to talk about himself.

BLITZER: It's interesting, Van Jones. A recent New York Times/Siena poll showed 53 percent of Americans say Trump would do a better job with the economy compared to just 44 percent for Harris. Do you think Harris' newly unveiled policies will help her with voters?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think so. And honestly, I think, you know, thank goodness we're finally hearing from a Democrat aggressively on the price gouging. It's made no sense to me, the past four years, Democrats have no problem dragging in technology CEOs, grilling them, you know, going after them, you guys got to do better, but most Americans don't have a problem with technology CEOs, it's these grocery stores ripping people off.

The big grocers, there's no reason in the world for food prices to be this high. All the supply chain stuff has worked itself out long ago. They are just ripping people off every day. And the Biden administration did put together a task force of the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to look into it. But to your point earlier, Biden never felt comfortable talking about the fact that he was going after this price gouging. Kamala feels comfortable.

And, you know, you talk about her strength, you talk about this kind of politics of joy. She's also tough. And she knows that Americans are getting ripped off. She wants to do something about it, and I say, thank goodness we finally got somebody willing to do this, to talk about it as boldly as she is.

BLITZER: Let me get Lauren Tomlinson's reaction as well. Lauren, the Trump campaign says Harris went, and I'm quoting now, a full communist with the agenda she laid out today. At the same time, J.D. Vance is accusing Harris of copying Trump's ideas. So, which one is it?

LAUREN TOMLINSON, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY: I think from what strikes me the most about this is that we're finally have a very easy comparison of Republican and Democratic policies and approach to the economy. You have free market principles where we want to increase supply, lower the cost of businesses, doing business so they can lower prices and pass that on to the consumers, versus government insertion and artificial stimulation into the economy, which is where we are now, where we flooded the market with all of this artificial stimulus. Harris' plan sounds great, but it's kind of like crack. It's going to feel good for a little bit, but it's still going to result in high inflation in all of these issues that we have right now with the economy.

And so, you know, I lean towards, you know, Trump's communist leanings on his framing, but like a lot of these populist ideas, they end up in a big circle where far left and far right end up meeting in the middle, so it's a little bit of both.

JONES: But I see it differently in that both of them --

BLITZER: Isaac -- go ahead.

JONES: I was going to say, both of them want tax cuts, it's just that Trump wants tax cuts for the billionaires and Kamala wants tax cuts for working folks, but that's a very different economic agenda.

BLITZER: Isaac, you're reporting that Harris is ramping up debate preparations right now as Trump is bringing one of Harris' former Democratic primary rivals, Tulsi Gabbard, into the mix for his prep. How much of a contrast is there between how these two candidates are preparing for their debate?

DOVERE: Well, Harris has been preparing for her debate, actually, since before the Biden-Trump debate, and obviously before then she knew that she would be having a presidential debate. This has been getting her ramped up, prepared to what was supposed to be a sort of new look in the eyes of American voters as the running mate, now with much higher stakes on her.

And as she's been developing things like these economic plans that she rolled out today, and as she was going through the running mate vetting process to get Tim Walz to be her choice, she has also continued to meet with advisers.

[18:10:10]

And now they've moved into the sort of mock debate phase of this where they've got Philippe Reines, who is a Hillary Clinton aide, who played Donald Trump in the mock debates in 2016, now back in action doing that, and really starting to run through what this would look like all leading up to that September 10th debate that we know we're going to have over on ABC.

On the Trump side, it's always a little bit with him, a question of how much he prepared. They like to say he doesn't prepare, but he does prepare and he does do some -- it's not as much of the traditional way of going about it. But now he's got Tulsi Gabbard in there, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii should say, even though she is a former Democrat, she has been moving further and further to the Trump wing of politics over the last couple of years and gotten tight with him. If you remember five years ago in that CNN's debate in Detroit in July of 2019, she went after Harris very effectively going on her attorney general record in a way that rattled Harris. And I remember that night, Harris advisers telling me that they were shocked by how much Gabbard managed to get under Harris' skin.

A lot has happened since then, and Gabbard won't be on the stage herself, and the dynamics will be totally different, obviously. But Trump drawing Gabbard in and going for the -- trying to go for that same kind of response seems like a key way that he's hoping to affect the dynamics himself as this goes forward.

BLITZER: All right, guys, very much, excellent analysis, as usual.

And just ahead, I'll talk to North Carolina's top Democrat about what he heard from Kamala Harris on the economy. Governor Roy Cooper joins us next.

And later, what's next in the urgent push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal here in the Middle East and how that may be impacting Iran's threat to attack Israel? We'll have a live report from Tehran.

Stay with us.

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[18:15:00]

BLITZER: We're getting new reaction now to the economic speech delivered today by Vice President Kamala Harris from someone who was there, the Democratic governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper. The governor is joining us right now. Governor, thanks so much for joining us.

This is some of what Vice President Harris proposed today, a ban on price gouging for groceries and food, a $25,000 subsidy for first time homebuyers and expanding the child tax credit. Governor, is it a wise move from the Harris campaign to embrace these sort of economic populism ideas? And do you worry about The unintended consequences?

GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): It's absolutely a good idea. And, in fact, Wolf, the vice president deserves some credit for the fact that the United States has the strongest economy in the world. Unemployment is low, the stock market is high, record job growth, inflation is now cooling. She also gets credit for the generational investments that this administration has made to connect people to high speed internet and to repair our infrastructure and to lower prescription drug prices. But she is well aware that everyday families are paying too much for both groceries and for housing and that they're frustrated with the cost of living.

I think this is her effort to move forward with the plan here. And instead of Donald Trump's tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, we're going to provide some tax credits, bringing back the very popular child tax credit, because diapers cost money and food cost money.

And I think this price gouging idea, for the fact that it can serve as a real deterrent for high prices, we've seen price gouging laws work during disasters. She and I both served as attorney general. We find that when we have these laws in place, companies are afraid to charge excessively high prices.

So, you can be a capitalist and still work to prevent people from getting ripped off. I think those were common sense proposals that she made today.

BLITZER: The Trump campaign immediately reacted saying that Vice President Harris went, and I'm quoting them now, full communist with this economic agenda. The economic columnist, Catherine Rampell, writing in an op-ed for The Washington Post this, and I'm quoting, if your opponent claims you're a communist, maybe don't start with an economic agenda that can accurately be labeled as federal price controls. We already have plenty of economic gibberish coming from the Republican presidential ticket. Do we really need more from the other side too, end quote. How do you respond to that, Governor?

COOPER: J.D. Vance complained that Kamala Harris was copying Donald Trump here. Look, this is about being fair to working people. They have concentrated so much on trying to help the wealthy. What Kamala Harris is trying to do is to pull it back to the center. Those are ridiculous charges. She believes in developing business. Look at the job growth. Look at the companies that are expanding all across this country creating American jobs. What she's trying to do is to make things more fair for everyday working people.

I think these are common sense proposals. Obviously, when you work through Congress, you make compromises here and there.

[18:20:02]

You can end up with a good product if you go in strong with something like this. And I believe that when she becomes president of the United States, she could do that.

BLITZER: One political question. I'm just curious. You actually pulled out of consideration to become a Kamala Harris' vice presidential running mate before she made her selection. Here's the question. Why? Wouldn't you have given Democrats a better chance to win North Carolina if you were on the ticket?

COOPER: Tim Walz is the perfect vice presidential nominee for Kamala Harris and for this country. He's a smart, strong leader. He says what he thinks. People like to be around him. He has helped generate a lot of excitement for this ticket. Look, it just wasn't the right time for me or my state, but I am full 100 percent in for Kamala Harris. Already, the polls are very tight in North Carolina.

I said earlier today, I have that 2008 feeling, and people in North Carolina know what that means. That's the last time we voted for a Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama. I have that same feeling now. I'm getting that vibe from voters that they want to make history again.

So, we're excited here in North Carolina to be able to give her those 16 electoral votes. If Kamala Harris wins North Carolina, she is the next president of the United States. And I believe we have everything in place where we can make that happen.

BLITZER: We shall see. Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, thank you so much for joining us.

COOPER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, new details about the suspects charged in Matthew Perry's death.

But, first, news just coming in from the U.S. Supreme Court on a key priority for the Biden administration.

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[18:25:00]

BLITZER: There's some news just coming in right now from the U.S. Supreme Court on a big priority for the Biden administration.

CNN's Senior Crime and Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz is joining us right now. What do we know, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, earlier this year, the Biden administration did lay out some new rules on how schools that receive federal funding should be implementing Title IX, that protection in education against sex discrimination. And what some of those new rules said was that school districts should not be able to discriminate on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy-related conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity, so topics that are much discussed in politics and have caused great divides across the country.

What happened then is several conservative-leaning states sued wanting to stop the Biden administration from putting this rule in place, and then courts agreed with them. What the Supreme Court is doing today is they're saying, yes, we're not going to let the Justice Department go forward or the Biden administration go forward with implementing this rule that they want to while this is still being worked out in the lower courts.

The court is making a decision that's very legal here, but it was a split decision by the Supreme Court, 5-4. There were four justices writing in dissent today, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson in the liberal wing of the court and Justice Gorsuch. And what they're saying is that because of what the Supreme Court is doing here is depriving schools of guidance, depriving people of the ability to file complaints and have protections if they file complaints related to sex discrimination.

And so this case is just one of many that is thrusting the Supreme Court right into the middle of the politics around gender and the language around sex, sex discrimination and sexual identity in this country. But it is a moment where the conservative-leaning states that don't want the Biden administration to define things more where they are getting what they want, and they're not allowing things to move forward. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Katelyn Polantz reporting for us, thank you very much.

There's also some new developments tonight in the investigation into the death of Friends actor Matthew Perry. We're learning more about the five suspects charged in the actor's fatal overdose.

I want to bring in CNN's Camila Bernal and Meg Tirrell, as well as entertainment attorney Lisa Bonner to discuss.

First, let's go to Camila. Camila, give us the latest. What's the latest you're hearing about the investigation?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDEONT: Hey, Wolf. So, prosecutors are saying that these five people took advantage of Matthew Perry, who had been very public about his struggles with addiction. And according to authorities, Perry fell back into that addiction last fall. And they say that between September and October of 2023, he was given about 20 vials of ketamine that cost him about $55,000.

Now, prosecutors are saying that these people cared more about making money than his well being, and among them is Eric Fleming who supplied the drugs. He has entered a guilty plea and he told authorities that he got the drugs from Jasveen Sangha. Now, that's the woman known as the ketamine queen that authorities say ran a drug selling emporium in her home. And prosecutors believe that the doses that ended up killing Perry came from her and she entered a not guilty plea and is one of the lead defendants in this case, along with Dr. Salvador Plasencia.

[18:30:00]

Now, prosecutors say they have a text message from Plasencia that says something like I wonder how much this moron will pay.

Now, he has entered a not guilty plea and I want you to listen to what his attorney is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEFAN SACKS, DR. SALVADOR PLASENCIA'S ATTORNEY: There was nothing criminal at the time, and more importantly, the ketamine that was involved in Mr. Perry's passing was not related to Dr. Plasencia. It was provided by another party sometime later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: The other doctor, Mark Chavez, he entered a guilty plea.

And then there's Perry's live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. According to court documents, during those final days, the final week of Perry's life, Iwamasa injected him with at least 21 shots of ketamine. And this is a man who was not medically trained for this. On the day that Perry died, he actually gave him multiple shots and injected him after Perry asked for a big one. He entered a guilty plea.

And I do want to mention that Keith Morrison, Perry's stepfather, he released a statement from the family saying that they were and they still are heartbroken, but they say that it has helped to know that law enforcement has taken this very seriously. They're hoping, Wolf, for justice and they're hoping that the suppliers get the message. Wolf?

BLITZER: Lisa, based on the allegations in the indictments, do you think prosecutors have a solid case?

LISA BONNER, ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY: Yes, I do think that they have a solid case. The interesting thing here is that they charged all the defendants with conspiracy. And that is a really good prosecutorial move, because in that instance, you are basically trying to get all of the defendants pick them off one by one and have them turn evidence so you can build a better case and then bring the case and then have people give you evidence and plead guilty and then really build your case and go from there.

BLITZER: And, Meg, you're our medical correspondent here at CNN. Ketamine, as you well know, is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat mental health disorders. That's right, right?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is correct. It's actually a very interesting drug. It's been around since the 1960s when it was developed to be used as an anesthetic on the battlefield in the Vietnam War. And it is approved as an anesthetic both for humans and for animals.

There's another version of ketamine called esketamine or the brand name Spravato, which is sold by Johnson and Johnson and FDA approved for treatment resistant depression. But there has been this whole what experts say Wild West of ketamine treatment that has popped up through mainly cash-based clinics that offer to use ketamine for everything, from depression to anxiety, PTSD, and chronic pain. Researchers who study this say that this can be very risky because often there is not enough medical supervision involved.

BLITZER: What are the risks, Meg, of taking ketamine without medical supervision?

TIRRELL: Yes. So, the FDA-approved version, esketamine requires two hours of monitoring by a health care professional after you take the dose, because it can cause slowed breathing, for example. And they also say you shouldn't drive until the next day, until you've had a good night's rest after getting the dose of this. Other risks to using this without medical supervision are sedation, dissociation and psychiatric events. This is a powerful drug, a powerful substance, and doctors say it should be done under supervision.

BLITZER: Meg Tirrell, Lisa Bonner and Camila Bernal, thanks to all of you. I appreciate it very much.

Just ahead, news from here in the Middle East, where I am, the latest on the Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks, why President Biden is now saying the two sides could be closer than ever to a deal.

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[18:35:00]

BLITZER: Here in the Middle East, we're tracking the anxious wait for news on the Gaza ceasefire talks, which President Biden now says are closer than ever to producing a deal.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us from Haifa, Israel, and Fred Pleitgen is in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

First to you, Jeremy, what happened in the talks today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, all parties at the negotiating table are reporting that there was significant progress that was made over the course of the last 48 hours, with one senior U.S. official even saying that they are now in the endgame phase of negotiations. But still the question remains of whether it will be enough to get these two parties to an agreement, to get Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to actually sign on to a deal.

The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar today putting on the table a new proposal that they believe will bridge the gaps between Hamas and Israel. The negotiations focus on narrowing the gaps on a number of issues, the control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between Egypt and Gaza, the Palestinian prisoners that would be exchanged for Israeli hostages, as well as a mechanism for civilians to go from Southern to Northern Gaza.

Now, the mediators say that this agreement will allow for its swift implementation. And now there are working level delegations working in Doha, Qatar, to try and work through the technical details. Another delegation is going to head to Cairo, Egypt, this weekend to continue working through other technical details. And at some point, mid to late next week, there will once again be all of those senior officials reconvening. The U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken, he is heading to the region, expected to meet with Israeli officials on on Monday.

I did speak with an Israeli source familiar with the talks, Wolf, who also told me that there was a sense from the Israeli delegation, which returns late tonight to Israel from these talks, that a lot of progress had been made, that these talks were very productive.

[18:40:07]

But one thing remains, and that is the fact that while this proposal has been transmitted to the Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, it hasn't yet been shared with Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader, who remains in a tunnel beneath the Gaza strip. That proposal is expected to be sent to him this weekend. And so his reaction to all of this will certainly be critical, as will the Israeli prime minister's be.

One thing that is clear, enormous pressure is going to be brought to bear on both parties. The Egyptians and the Qataris are going to bring a lot of pressure to bear on Hamas and the Israeli prime minister is going to come under significant pressure from the United States, including from Secretary Blinken during his visit next week. Wolf?

BLITZER: And, Fred, you're in Tehran for us. How is Iran perceiving these talks as the threat of Iranian retaliation against Israel clearly looms?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And that threat of retaliation is still very real. And the Iranians are saying that it is still very much on the table. And the Iranians certainly, Wolf, are watching these talks very closely, but I also think that they are quite skeptical of them.

One of the interesting things about the talks is that while Iran, of course, is not party to these talks and certainly isn't sitting at a table, they still are a major factor in these talks. And I think one of the things that really shows that is the fact that the Qatari prime minister on the two days and talks took place, each of those days, then had a phone conversation afterwards with the foreign minister, the acting foreign minister of Iran, to brief the Iranians on the progress that the talks were making.

Now, it's quite interesting because the foreign minister of Iran, he came out tonight with a statement where he said that he had that phone call with the prime minister of Qatar, but he said that he had warned the Qataris of what he called deceit on the part of the Israelis, potentially. And the Iranians also are saying that they do not view the United States as an objective mediator in all this, but rather, as they put it, an accomplice to the Israelis.

So, the Iranians, obviously, still a lot of bad blood that is there, and after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, of course, here in Tehran on July 31st, the Iranians did vow that there would be strong retaliation. One of the interesting things that you see here on the ground in Tehran when you're here is that there's actually posters that have been put up in public places with pictures of Ismail Haniyeh and a writing that says, revenging him is our duty.

Now, the Iranians have not exactly said what that revenge is going to look like and certainly haven't said when that could take place. But one of the things that the Iranians have said is while they want a strong response, they also do not want a wider conflict here that could destabilize, of course, this entire region, Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly could. Our Fred Pleitgen in Tehran, Jeremy Diamond in Haifa, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

Also tonight, CNN has gained access to part of Russia, now under Ukrainian control. Our Nick Paton Walsh is on the border, in one of the border towns, where he witnessed some of the fighting and the aftermath. CNN was accompanied by the Ukrainian military who reviewed the video without sound prior to release for operational security reasons, yet had no editorial control.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: All around us the signs of the intense fight that's been raging inside here. It's very surreal to be inside Russia again with Ukrainian forces leading the way.

Well, not even the statue of Lenin is unscathed here. This Ukrainian assault, so persistent, and Russia, despite its sense of history, it's sort of passed as being so impregnable, completely unable to push the Ukrainians out here. The sound of small arms fire we can still hear, so clearly there is a bid for the Russians to push back, but it simply isn't working, and the humiliation for Putin endures.

You can see the damage that's been done to this street here from the intense fight that raged, still clearly active fighting happening here.

And still the question is, where are the drones? Where are the Russian drones that have made Ukraine's life hell on the frontlines for months? Simply nowhere to be seen.

Well, there's constant artillery as well. Clearly a fight still underway for this, which has become deeply symbolic for Ukraine's totally surprise assault into Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Our special thanks to Nick Payton Walsh for that report.

Coming up, we're going to take you inside Donald Trump's finances, new information right now on how he's making millions, even as civil lawsuits have cost him big time.

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[18:48:54]

BLITZER: We're getting a new window into how Donald Trump is earning millions of dollars and where he owes billions of dollars.

CNN's Brian Todd has been going through Trump's newly released financial disclosure forms.

Brian, what are the top takeaways?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The takeaways, Wolf, are that Donald Trump's resorts remain a goldmine for him, but he's also got a huge financial albatross to deal with in one aspect of his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a lot of money. I have a lot -- I built a great company.

TODD (voice-over): And newly revealed documents showed Donald Trump made a lot of money over the past several months from a lot of different sources. The former president's latest financial disclosure put out by the Federal Election Commission covers all of last year and part of this year and shows that among his biggest sources of income earning hundreds of millions of dollars or his resort properties like the Bedminster Club in New Jersey, the Trump tower near Las Vegas, and Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida resort earned him about $57 million. How?

MARC FISHER, CO-AUTHOR, "TRUMP REVEALED": Mar-a-Lago is it operates as essentially a country club and a meeting space. It is a place where all of the MAGA world, or at least the richer members of the MAGA world, come together and it's a place where they can show their support for Donald Trump by renting space, thereby having meetings there and so on.

[18:50:11]

TODD: But Trump also had other interesting sources of income, despite once calling bitcoin a scam, he held more than $1 million in cryptocurrency, has a six-figure investment in gold bars. He reported making more than $5 million largely in royalties from his books, "Letters to Trump", and "Our Journey Together". And he made $300,000 for endorsing a Bible with country singer Lee Greenwood.

FISHER: Amazon, everything and Trump realized early on in his life that if he could attach his name to lots of different products, get his name out there, people would see that as impressive.

TODD: But there's one enormous financial albatross for Trump that's also reflected in this report.

JEFFREY JACOBOVITZ, WHITE COLLAR CRIMINAL ATTORNEY, ARNALL GOLDEN GREGORY LLP: This income is weighed down by legal debt. He owes E. Jean Carroll money. He owes the court for the fraud case in New York. Those are up on appeal. He's unlikely to prevail on appeal.

TODD: Those judgments against Trump for defamation in the case of columnist E. Jean Carroll, and a civil fraud case in New York amount to more than $100 million in financial liabilities according to this disclosure. That doesn't count legal fees he owes his attorneys and possible other cases on the horizon.

JACOBOVITZ: And so the mountain of a money owed will increase if he's not elected.

TODD: And Trump's actual overall wealth, including over $2 billion worth of shares in his social media platform, Truth Social, is a bit of a House of Cards according to one biographer. PROF. DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: Donald has always been desperate for cash because he's not a wealth builder. He is a wealth extractor.

TODD: Will this financial disclosure hurt Trump politically as his race against Kamala Harris, tightens?

FISHER: Anytime we discussion is about how rich Donald Trump is, it probably helps him with his base. It gives them the idea that this is a man who knows how to one thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): These filings also showed that former first lady, Melania Trump, earned significant income of her own in 2023 and part of this year, she took in more than $230,000 for one speaking engagement with the Log Cabin Republicans and more than $330,000 for a licensing agreement for the sale of trail -- of digital trading cards.

CNN reached out to the Trump campaign same for comment on this overall financial disclosure report. And we've not heard back -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Brian Todd reporting for us, Brian, thank you very much.

Coming up, my report from an Israeli kibbutz near the Gaza border as residents finally return more than 10 months after the Hamas attack. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:09]

BLITZER: It's been more than 300 days since the Hamas attack on Israel devastated communities near the Gaza border. Many survivors still haven't returned. But for those who have homecoming is often a bittersweet experience.

Today, I met with residents of one kibbutz who finally got the chance to come home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IFAT PORAT, JUST RETURNED TO KIBBUTZ MEFALSIM: For me, it feels good, feels home.

BLITZER (voice-over): For Ifat and Shaked Porat coming home brings mixed emotions.

Are you scared? Because you're very close to Gaza.

SHAKED PORAT, FIRST RESPONDER, KIBBUTZ MEFALSIM: May be small -- dangerous, that's home.

BLITZER: For the first time in ten months, they are now living in their own home with their three kids in the Mefalsim kibbutz, less than a mile away on the other side of an eight-foot tall razor wire fence lies the Gaza border. It's a constant reminder of the Hamas terror attack.

On October 7, Hamas targeted and attacked their kibbutz. Shaked Porat is a member of the security team for the kibbutz, getting into an hours-long firefight with the terrorists. No one from the kibbutz was killed.

I. PORAT: He went to the gate and he was guarding it for the rest of the day.

BLITZER: He's a hero.

I. PORAT: He is, yeah.

S. PORAT: No, she's the hero.

BLITZER: Now, after more than 300 days living in the Dan Hotel in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, the Porats are just one of 310 kibbutz families who have returned home.

LORIN BITON, JUST RETURNED TO KIBBUTZ MEFALSIM: It's weird yesterday was our first night after ten months. It was hard to go to sleep.

BLITZER: Lorin Biton and her husband Regev, also just moved back to the kibbutz where their two daughters and their three-month-old son, who has named Dan partly after the hotel.

The Bitons have mixed feelings about returning to kibbutz.

L. BITON: Your smile, but you're not exactly smiling. You always like you're worried all the time.

REGEV BITON, JUST RETURNED TO KIBBUTZ MEFALSIM: In the beginning, I said is no chance going to come back. And this time went by in we decided that we just wanted to come back home to Mefalsim and that's the right thing for our kids and for us.

BLITZER: Living in the hotel north of Tel Aviv may have been safer, but had its own challenges days.

L. BITON: There is no privacy, nothing.

I. PORAT: We are family of five members and we got one room, with mattresses on the floor for our children, it was very crowded.

BLITZER: Both families question if moving back was the right decision.

L. BITON: I don't know if it's a good decision. There is no good or bad decision. We don't know what will happen.

BLITZER: At the end of the day, the Porats and the Bitons decided that the future was brighter with their friends and neighbors living in the kibbutz.

I. PORAT: We were a strong community and now we are stronger and we want to build a good and beautiful here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. You'll see me Monday in Chicago for our special coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.