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Netanyahu Disbands Israeli War Cabinet; Trump Meets With House Speaker at Mar-a-Lago; Northeast, Midwest Bracing For Heat Wave. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 17, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:33]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The dangers of a warming planet will become real for millions of Americans this week, scorching temperatures across the Midwest, fires out -- or across the Midwest -- fires out West, and a storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, and it isn't even summer yet.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a critical meeting to tell you about in Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump sitting down with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republicans, focusing on November's election, how they can hold on to that teeny majority in the House and what they will prioritize if Trump wins.

And a temporary pause to fighting in one part of Gaza, but no break for Israel's offensive in Rafah. Meantime, new fears, as human rights groups describe -- quote -- "unspeakable living conditions."

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Record-breaking temperatures set to scorch a huge part of the U.S. just days before summer begins, parts of the Midwest and Northeast, places like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Boston all bracing for an extreme heat wave that is going to last days.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is in the CNN Weather Center with more on this really dangerous heat dome that we're seeing.

Chad, it's shaping up to be a pretty significant event. Tell us what we're expecting.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When you're talking about 15 to 20 degrees above normal -- yes, could we get hotter than this in the end of July? Sure.

But above normal, where we are, where we should be at this time of year, temperatures are now for 82 percent of the population going to be above 90 for the next couple of days and, for many of you in the Northeast, for the next week. This will be the coldest day. If you think this is hot, this is the coolest day really for the next seven.

Advisories are already here. Remember, heat is the biggest killer for U.S. fatalities from all the other things and really almost all the other things combined. So, temperatures will be warming up as we work into Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Everything needs more water. You need more water. The kids need more. The pets need more water outside, also the plants. My cilantro and my lettuce have just already said, call me in the fall, I'm done. We're not going to even grow in this stuff. This is how hot it's going to be for most of the country.

New York City, you're going to be 92. But that's on Long Island and Manhattan. If you get a little bit farther to the West into New Jersey, that's going to be 98. St. Louis, you're already there, 98 with humidity. So it's going to feel like 105 degrees in some of these places.

Yes, the heat is here. It's here for the next few days. But with that heat, the threat, as you talked about, the potential for even some tropical moisture, probably not a big spinning storm just yet. But, for you, Texas, there could be five to 10 inches of rainfall in places that have already seen a lot of rainfall this year south of San Antonio all the way down toward Houston.

So, yes, we do have those advisories already in effect there for -- waiting for the rain to come. And we will see what happens in the Atlantic too because there is a little storm that could sneak into the Carolinas by the end of the week, likely not going to get a name, but it's too early to tell, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, we will keep an eye on that. I will say I agree with you. No cilantro, that is a tragedy. And yet it is the least of our problems this week as we're watching this. Chad, thank you so much. We appreciate it -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Talking strategy while projecting unity. Right now, former President Donald Trump is at Mar-a-Lago huddling with two top Republican leaders.

He's meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Congressman Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. This comes just days after Trump held strategy sessions here in the nation's capital on Capitol Hill, the former president's first return trip to the Hill since the January 6 insurrection, a visit in which Trump was received not only with open arms, but applause.

CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now.

So, Alayna, what is Trump's team saying about today's meeting?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, you mentioned that Donald Trump came to D.C. last week. He met with House Republicans and Senate Republicans.

And part of that meeting was to talk about how Donald Trump could help get not only the people in the room reelected in the fall, but also the candidates that can help expand their majority. And that's really what the main focus of this meeting that is taking place right now at Mar-a-Lago is about.

And, remember, Donald Trump has really been a kingmaker when it comes to a lot of these elections. His endorsement carries a lot of weight, something that both Mike Johnson and Richard Hudson know. However, on the other side, we know that Donald Trump is actually endorsing less. He's been far less involved in many of these key races.

[13:05:16]

And, really, I'm told when I talk to his campaign, that it's because, if you look back at 2022, many of the people Donald Trump endorsed, they won their primaries, but then they ultimately lost when it counted on Election Day. And that's really why Donald Trump and his team have been wary of putting their support behind people that they're not sure could get elected.

But, right now, the main goal is they want to expand the majority. And it helps Trump as well, because, if Trump is elected in November, then he can hit the ground running with a bigger majority that can help pass a lot of the agenda items that he wants.

The other part of this, I'm told, is Donald Trump wants retribution a lot of Democrats for his guilty verdict and also all of the other legal battles that he is facing. We know, in the days after he was convicted in Manhattan on 34 counts of falsifying business records, he called up Mike Johnson and said, we need Republicans in Congress to do more to wage war on Democrats.

And I do think, I'm told, at least that that's expected to come up during today's conversation as well.

SANCHEZ: We look forward to getting some kind of readout of it soon.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much for that.

Let's get you the view from Capitol Hill now with CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox.

Lauren, what is Speaker Johnson hoping to get out of this meeting with Trump today?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the appearance of closeness to former President Donald Trump is something that can be a powerful tool for Mike Johnson.

You have to remember that, back on Capitol Hill, he still has such a narrow majority. Every single vote he has to get across the finish line honestly tests his ability to remain the speaker. And we saw that just a couple of weeks ago. After he passed that package to provide billions in additional funding for Ukraine, his speakership was challenged by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

A closeness to former President Trump is an important dynamic that he has to keep up in order to keep his own power on Capitol Hill. Obviously, the other dynamic at play here is that Donald Trump, whether or not he wins in November, if he wins, a big part of whether or not he's an effective president will be whether or not House Republicans maintain the majority in the House, whether or not the Senate Republicans can take back the majority in that chamber.

That is part of the strategy session here, making sure everyone is on the same page, making sure that they have a winning and unifying message going into November, because, if former President Donald Trump wins the White House, but then Democrats take back the House and perhaps keep the Senate, that puts him in a position where a lot of his legislative goals just cannot happen -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox, live for us on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

KEILAR: After weeks of silence during the Trump criminal trial, President Biden is now making his most aggressive move yet to use Trump's conviction to win over voters.

SANCHEZ: The Biden/Harris campaign rolling out this 30-second TV spot as part of a $50 million ad buy in battleground states. Here's part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with CNN's senior political analyst Mark Preston.

Mark, obviously, the CNN debate, if you have been looking at our screen all day, is just 10 days away.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Really?

SANCHEZ: How much does that have to do with the timing of this new ad? It's definitely much earlier in the campaign season than one would expect.

PRESTON: Sure.

It's called defining the candidate when you can. Look, there are -- we have been living in a world of white noise, right? This campaign has been going on. People are living their own lives. But there are moments in this year where people are going to be tuned in, and certainly tuned in before the summer.

And this is one of those moments. What Joe Biden's trying to do is to define Donald Trump before he even takes the stage, so that people have some doubt about him. But let's not forget, Donald Trump's doing the same thing with Joe Biden. He's just doing it a little bit differently.

SANCHEZ: Right. KEILAR: So, when you look at a new poll from Politico magazine and

Ipsos on Trump's conviction, it found 21 percent of independents who say the conviction is important to how they will vote are less likely to support Trump.

Are these the people that Biden is trying to get with this?

PRESTON: I mean, look, not necessarily good news if you believe in democracy, and you can say that a fifth of America believes in what Donald Trump did and what have you.

But, look, the reality is at this point is that we have a very divided nation at this point. We have always had concern and distrust in institutions. People would say, I hate Washington, I'm a Washington outsider.

Well, that has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, 20 years. And that's because of social media. People actually have a voice now, so they're expressing it. And they're not just yelling across their fence or the hedges at their neighbor about what's going on. They're able to express this right now.

[13:10:06]

And, again, it goes back to definition. When you look at 21 percent, this 21 percent right here could decide the election. And that's problematic for Donald Trump.

SANCHEZ: And with social media, they're better able to spread messages that are disconnected from the truth.

And, case in point, the same poll that you just mentioned found that 43 percent in total thought that the prosecution of Donald Trump was brought about to help Joe Biden.

PRESTON: Right.

SANCHEZ: There is no evidence of that, as we have reported over and over again.

The majority believe that the trial was valid, but you still have a sizable piece of the population, of the electorate that thinks it wasn't. How does that potentially harm Biden's effort to define Donald Trump, as you were describing?

PRESTON: Well, it certainly harms Joe Biden, the fact that he is the institution, right?

So, when people are angry at the institution, he may not be behind every reason why people are mad at the federal government, but he is the poster child, right? He is the face of it. So, that in itself is problematic for him. But it really is a problem when you're talking about institutions as a whole now.

I mean, you have almost half the country right now believes that this was done for political reasons. You have Donald Trump out there talking about how he's going to take retribution, perhaps, against those who have wronged him. I'm not surprised that we have seen that.

In fact, I'm not even surprised the number is not even higher by some measure.

KEILAR: If we can turn, there's a meeting that Trump is having with some important Republicans. What are you expecting to come out of this? What is this about?

PRESTON: A lot of kumbaya. A lot of kumbaya coming out of this meeting.

(LAUGHTER)

PRESTON: Look, yes, Speaker Johnson realizes, if he's going to hold on to control of the House of Representatives, then he's going to need Donald Trump as his ally. He's already made it clear that he's going to be his ally.

He went to New York and stood behind him, speaker of the House, while Donald Trump was on trial in New York City. No surprise that he's down there in Mar-a-Lago, and there's no surprise that we're seeing these two campaigns come together.

SANCHEZ: Something that caught my eye over the weekend, Donald Trump challenged Joe Biden to a cognitive test...

PRESTON: Right.

SANCHEZ: ... and during that challenge mixed up the actual doctor that gave him the test.

Does it surprise you that cognitive ability has become such a point of contention in this race?

PRESTON: No, not at all.

I mean, and let's go back to what we started off with the defining the character right now, defining the politician, in this case, defining Joe Biden. We have seen Donald Trump and his allies out there talking over and over again that Joe Biden is slipping, that Joe Biden perhaps isn't as sharp as he once he was.

I should take perhaps out. I mean, they're flat-out saying that he is not there all mentally cognitive. But, again, this is all setting it up as we head into this debate on June 27.

KEILAR: Is -- as we are heading into the debate, I mean, we -- it seems clear that the attack line for Biden is going to be, this is a convicted felon, and that you're going to have Donald Trump questioning the cognitive abilities of Joe Biden, even though he's up in years himself. These are two rather elderly candidates, both of them.

What -- I mean, there are some very important policy issues they have to get at too.

PRESTON: Right.

KEILAR: But there's going to be a lot of this kind of just punching at each other, like a race to the bottom.

PRESTON: So, this is what I was just going into the debate, because there's going to be a lot made up about what's going to happen. Is there going to be a food fight? Is it just going to be -- is it going to boring? Are they going to be talking over each other?

I would say this. The expectations that we all have going into the debate are probably not going to be met or expected, because we don't really know what's going to happen. But, to that point, try to go through the white noise. Try to follow what they're saying on policy. That's what you should be voting on.

SANCHEZ: It'll be something to watch, again, June 27 right here on CNN, moderated by our friends Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

Mark Preston, great to get your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

PRESTON: Appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolving his war cabinet. What this signals from him and the strategy for the war in Gaza.

KEILAR: Plus, intense winds threatening to fuel an already dangerous wildfire north of Los Angeles, one that has scorched nearly 15,000 acres and forced hundreds of people from their homes. We will be speaking with a first responder there.

And it was a weekend marred by violence. There were at least 14 mass shootings across the country, with one incident taking place at a community splash pad. We will have details ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:18:40]

SANCHEZ: After more than eight months of war in Gaza, today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly disbanded Israel's war cabinet.

It follows last week's resignation of opposition leader Benny Gantz, who stepped away from the cabinet after Netanyahu failed to meet a deadline to present a plan for what Gaza would look like after the war is over. Meanwhile, Israel has announced what it calls a daily tactical pause of military activity, opening a supply route for aid organizations starting at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us in Tel Aviv.

And, Paula, you get to speak with an IDF spokesperson about this so- called tactical pause. What did he share with you?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Boris, we were down at the Kerem Shalom crossing earlier today, and the military really wanted to show us where this tactical pause was going to be.

It's effectively from the crossing into Gaza, and then it joins up with the Salah al-Din Road, which is the north-south artery within Gaza. And as far as the military are concerned, they say they will not be carrying out attacks in that particular area from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., so that humanitarian aid groups can come and collect aid and distribute it around Gaza.

Now, of course, it's not quite that simple. The IDF says there's about 1,000-plus trucks on the Gaza side of that crossing that are still waiting to be picked up by the U.N., by other humanitarian aid groups.

[13:20:09]

But we spoke to some of those groups, and they said that it's not just the fighting that they have to be concerned about. There is the lack of police, for example, the lack of law and order. So that lawlessness really does make it extremely difficult for them to be able to distribute this aid.

Let's listen to a little bit of what the IDF spokesperson said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Are you going to escort these trucks? The military will escort them?

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: Well, this is a war zone. And we need to act inside a war zone and to find inside the complexity the way that finds solutions.

The first step is to make sure that the road is safe. The road will be safe. Military-wise, it will be safe in our planning, in our attacks, et cetera, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So, at this point, it doesn't appear as though there will be any kind of military escort for these humanitarian trucks.

We also know, from the Israeli military, that the fighting is continuing. This doesn't affect what is happening in Rafah at this point, which is right next to this route that they have said the road will be safe. We know that that intense fighting is ongoing between the Israeli military and Hamas.

We heard from the Gaza media office, saying that they see no pause whatsoever, no tactical pause. They call it -- quote -- "Israeli lies." But up until this point, humanitarian aid groups we have spoken to say they haven't seen a positive difference. They will always welcome any effort to try and get more aid in, but they haven't actually seen things change on the ground.

And we have heard from the U.N. Today, in fact, one of the group that looks after Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, saying that it is the most dangerous place on Earth to be a humanitarian aid worker. UNRWA itself has lost 193 workers since October 7.

SANCHEZ: Paula, what about the view from inside Israel of the war cabinet disbanding?

HANCOCKS: It's a very split opinion at this point, Boris. There are those who do not appreciate Benjamin Netanyahu who have been protesting, calling for him to step down. So they have said that they don't want to see the war cabinet disbanded. They want to see the government disbanded, fresh elections, so that they can get rid of Benjamin Netanyahu.

But he does still have support within Israel. There is still significant support certainly for the war that is ongoing at this point and Israel's stated goal of destroying Hamas.

So, at this point I think what we're hearing from officials within the prime minister's office is that -- or from experts, I should say, is, this potentially stops the far right element of Netanyahu's coalition from taking up the gap, the vacuum that Benny Gantz left when he resigned within that war cabinet.

So, by disbanding that war cabinet, Netanyahu doesn't have to agree or reject the far right's push to be part of the key military decisions on strategy in Gaza, something which, for example, the Biden administration would not support -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Paula Hancocks, live for us from Tel Aviv, thank you so much for the update -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And for more on this, let's bring in retired Army Major Mike Lyons to talk a little bit about what we're seeing.

What is the effect, Mike, of Netanyahu disbanding the war cabinet?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think everything through the perspective of an Israeli soldier on the ground.

So what are they thinking about this? From, I think, their perspective, they're going to see a lot more direct confrontation, for example, that's going to come from Tel Aviv, come from the politicians when it comes to the situation on the ground. And perhaps they will get a little more clarity.

We saw, for example, the other day that Netanyahu was not happy about this tactical pause that's taking place on the ground. So I think, from the Israeli soldier's perspective, they're just focused on the day-to-day right now. They're going to look to see who else he's getting this guidance from.

But I think you're going to see a lot more offensive operations potentially taking place if Netanyahu doesn't have the brakes, so to speak, of some of the people that have left that cabinet.

KEILAR: You mentioned he criticized the IDF for that tactical pause. No doubt, humanitarian aid needs to get into Gaza, right? This is a huge need. But you see Netanyahu criticizing the IDF. And I wonder what that

means that there appears to be this distance growing between the IDF and Netanyahu. How do you see it?

LYONS: Well, so, not like our country, where the head of state is the commander in chief of the military, in this situation, the military does make this decision.

[13:25:04]

But I think he's got to be talked off the ledge a little bit, because it makes a lot of sense, that this tactical pause doesn't mean they're stopping. They're collecting intelligence. They're doing military-type things. They're giving their soldiers a pause.

Look, eight IDF soldiers were killed the other day in a battle that took place there. Hundreds have been injured -- thousands have been have been injured in this conflict since it began. And that military pause is taking place during the day, when it's very hot, tough to fight. And the nighttime is where Israel has a tactical advantage because of its night-fighting capability.

So I think, if you kind of step back and think about it from a military perspective, it makes a lot of sense. Now, the war they're going to lose during the day is the P.R. war, is the public relations side, because you're -- hopefully, Israel steps back and you won't see them doing anything but supporting those convoys, which are coming from the Israeli side of the border into Gaza, not involved with Egypt or Jordan or any of those other countries.

So, again, it makes sense from their perspective to do this tactically. Again, looking through the eyes of the soldier on the ground, they think it's a good idea.

KEILAR: We really need to keep an eye on Northern Israel and this increased fighting that we have seen with Hezbollah. Do you think that Israel is headed toward a two-front war?

And if that ratchets up even more, what is that going to look like? Who has the advantage here?

LYONS: That's a real danger that they have is, they'd have to split their forces as they continue to fight not just in Rafah, but in Khan Yunis and other places, as they're destroying tunnels inside of Gaza.

So the military mission there is not going to be complete any time soon. You go up to the north, it becomes more of an indirect fire war, where Hezbollah has the capability to fire rockets, air defense capability that they have in order to take down Israeli planes.

I think -- I think, in some ways, the Iranians are dictating that situation. They're telling Hezbollah to roll it somewhat slow as they continue to develop their nuclear capability, as well as tactical capability, to potentially play the long game, so to speak.

But if that opens up a different front, Israel then is fully mobilized at that point. They're going to need help from the United States when it comes to just at least protecting their air skies from potential rockets that will come in from the north into their capital.

KEILAR: How would a cease-fire affect this? Would this calm what we're seeing in the north?

LYONS: I'm not sure. And I'm not sure a cease-fire will ever be accepted by Israel, frankly, because they're not stopping until Hamas is destroyed and until they can get a tactical victory, capture some leaders.

So a cease-fire just actually puts a disadvantage to the Israeli IDF. Again, looking through the eyes of that soldier, they don't want that to happen. They want to be able to continue these military operations. If they withdraw 20,000 troops from Gaza, for example, it'd be very difficult to put them back six, eight months from now if they had to do that.

So I don't think they want to -- quote -- "mow right lawn" this time. They're not stopping until they get a surrender from Hamas. And a cease-fire is not going to work and until they get all those hostages back. And if they trade one for the other, they're not stopping until Hamas surrenders.

KEILAR: It does not seem that Hamas has any intention of surrendering, certainly not at this point in time. So how do you see this playing out? How much time are we talking about? What does it look like then?

LYONS: I think Israel needs to secure some kind of tactical victory in the next six to eight weeks, let's say, for example, get more leadership of Hamas, kill and capture more of them, go for that strategy, because this kind of a war of attrition that they're taking place right now from night raids, looking for the leaders, destroying tunnels is not enough.

It doesn't seem to be tipping the balance in their favor. So I believe that's what they're going to have to do, get more help from, let's say, foreign services to capture some Hamas leaders that are not inside of Gaza as well. But they need to get some kind of tactical victory that they could show the world that it's moving forward and put some leverage on Hamas. Until they get that, I think Hamas has got tremendous longevity.

For example, they haven't accepted peace deals in the past anyway. They're not going to all of a sudden accept this one right now.

KEILAR: Yes, they do not seem inclined.

Major Mike Lyons, great to have you. Thank you.

LYONS: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: And still to come: unpredictable winds presenting huge hurdles, as firefighters are working to contain a wildfire just north of Los Angeles. We will speak with a first responder about those efforts next.

Plus: He was a spiritual adviser for former President Trump's 2016 campaign, but now a Dallas megachurch pastor is admitting to inappropriate sexual behavior after a woman accused him of molesting her as a child.

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