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Congressional Lawmakers Visit Site of Trump Rally Shooting; Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Attacks in Major Escalation; DOJ Seeks to Revive Trump Documents Case; France Confirms Arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov; AAA and TSA Predict Record Labor Day Weekend Travel. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 26, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: ... We want to know where those breakdowns were as well. So, there's a lot to do in a very short amount of time, but I do appreciate the bipartisan nature and the tone, really, you know, reinforcing that political activity cannot be suppressed by violence.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And Jonathan, we expect that their report is going to be out by December. What questions do you hope that they ultimately answer and how far can the recommendations go in ensuring that something like this doesn't repeat itself?

WACKROW: Well, listen, we want to make sure that the recommendations are actually actionable by the Secret Service, right? And you know, sort of there's the so what and the now what. The findings of this report are going to answer the so what, but it's the now what that I'm really focused on.

Are members of Congress going to, you know, fund the Secret Service to enact those recommendations, right? Especially when we start talking about new communications technology and drone technology, that comes at a price, both, you know, from a financial standpoint, but also from a staffing standpoint. So, we need to make sure that, you know, these recommendations that are made can be actioned and implemented all to the betterment of the United States Secret Service.

SANCHEZ: Jonathan Wackrow, always great to get your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

WACKROW: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We're going to keep monitoring the remarks from lawmakers in Butler, Pennsylvania. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Stay with us.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: So, Hezbollah's long-threatened retaliatory strike on Israel finally happened, but it appears that for now, all-out war has been avoided. The two sides exchanging an intense barrage across the border of Lebanon early Sunday, Israel launching preemptive strikes after learning of an imminent Hezbollah attack. The Iran-backed group says that they targeted Israel's military infrastructure with more than 300 rockets. Retaliation, they say, for Israel killing a top military commander in Beirut last month.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Both sides are hinting that more strikes may happen in the future. Despite those attacks, ceasefire and hostage- release negotiations for Gaza, they continued as planned in Cairo.

We have CNN's Jeremy Diamond live for us in Haifa in northern Israel. Jeremy, these strikes have not seemed to disrupt those negotiations. What do we know about the deal that's currently being worked on, and what are the sticking points?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna, and the fact that those negotiations were still ongoing hours after these cross-border attacks happened between Israel and Hezbollah, some of the most significant that we have seen since the beginning of the war, that may be the most positive sign so far about the fact that these negotiations are real and they are ongoing. Whether or not they're actually going to lead to a deal, though, is another question entirely.

U.S. officials have consistently projected optimism about these talks, and they are doing so once again, saying that progress was made over the weekend to bring Israel and Hamas's positions closer together. But we don't know how substantive that progress actually was. And yesterday, those meetings in Cairo ended with senior officials leaving Cairo, leaving lower-level delegations to continue the work, but no deal still in sight. We know that those negotiations are going to be continuing over the next several days.

They are working on the details, the implementation details of these talks. But we also know that big sticking points still remain, including over major issues like Israeli troop presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border. What is clear, though, is that for now, this region has headed off a potentially major escalation, and it is remarkable how quickly all of that happened.

Yesterday early morning, we saw over 100 Israeli fighter jets in the skies over southern Lebanon, striking dozens of Hezbollah rocket launcher sites. Hezbollah, about an hour and a half later, firing hundreds of rockets and drones into northern Israel. No Israeli military bases were hit, according to the Israeli military.

And the Israeli -- both sides are basically claiming success at this point. Hezbollah saying they were successful in their attack. Israel saying they were successful in fending off that attack. And for now, that sense of victory from both sides is what is de-escalating the situation for now. But again, there is still that possibility of Iranian retaliation that is still very much looming over this region -- Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond, live for us in Israel. Thank you so much. We have some breaking news into CNN.

The Justice Department in a filing earlier today is arguing it should revive the classified documents case against former President Trump. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is following this development for us. Katelyn, walk us through this filing. It's the first one since Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case altogether.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: That's right. The first filing from the Justice Department trying to bring that case back against Donald Trump and two other co-defendants in Florida, the classified documents case, retention of documents, obstruction of justice.

Right now, that case is not ongoing at all. It's closed. But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, so the court that sits over the federal trial court in Florida, has the ability to bring it back if they think that the decision from Judge Aileen Cannon down there in Florida was wrong.

[15:40:00]

What she had decided was that special counsels shouldn't exist, that they shouldn't be funded the way that they are funded by the department giving them money, and they shouldn't be able to exist with the attorney general appointing them.

Today, the Justice Department is coming out very strongly in an 81- page filing, so quite long, and arguing that not only should this case against Donald Trump and his two co-defendants go on, but this special counsel's office and other special counsels should be able to continue their work. And the decision from Judge Cannon, if it is allowed to stand in this court, and even potentially in further after further appellate proceedings, if the special counsel's office can't continue on or work like this, that sort of decision could have implications across the federal government and cut out the ability of all kinds of leaders to appoint inferior officers -- Boris, Brianna.

KEILAR: Such a good point of the wide-ranging effects potentially of this. Katelyn, thank you for that report. We'll have much more ahead. We'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: New today, French officials confirming the arrest of billionaire tech mogul Pavel Durov, a.k.a. the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia. Durov is the founder of the encrypted messaging app Telegram, which is known for its unfiltered content. His arrest is renewing the ongoing debate over free speech on social media.

CNN business writer Clare Duffy is following the latest. Clare, a lot of folks in the United States may not be familiar with Telegram, but it is one of the most popular apps in the world. Why was this guy arrested? CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Well, Boris, for some background, as you said there, Pavel Durov is the billionaire founder of Telegram, and he's a really interesting character. He was born in Russia but exiled in 2014. He now lives in Dubai and also is a citizen of France.

And he likes to post pictures of his world travels, lots of shirtless selfies on Instagram. He claims to have more than 100 biological children after he donated his sperm over a decade ago. And he's also grown Telegram into one of the most popular and important messaging apps in the world, 950 million users around the world.

And Telegram is encrypted, which means that the company doesn't actually have a lot of oversight or control in terms of how people are using it. And that's by design. Durov has become a sort of champion for free speech.

And it's made Telegram a really important tool in places like Russia and Iran where free speech is curtailed. It's also been used in Ukraine among citizens to warn each other about air raids. But that privacy also means that the app has become really popular among terrorist groups, extremist groups, drug traffickers, and other types of criminal groups.

And French prosecutors are now saying that they've arrested Durov on charges of conspiring to aid, being complicit in aiding fraudsters, money launderers, drug traffickers, and people spreading child sexual abuse content.

And as you said there, what's really interesting is that this case gets at the heart of a debate that cuts across the entire social media ecosystem. How do you balance protecting free speech with protecting the safety of the users on this platform?

So it'll be interesting, Boris, to see how this plays out and what more we hear from French prosecutors.

SANCHEZ: Yes, fascinating legal theory, if nothing else. Clare Duffy, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we are watching.

The husband of a missing Virginia mother has been denied bond today as authorities continue searching for her remains. Officials are accusing Naresh Bhatt of killing his wife, but so far he's only charged with concealment of a body. Investigators say evidence inside the couple's home shows Bhatt murdered his wife before dragging her outside.

Also, Red Lobster says it is closing another two dozen locations as part of its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Once finished, the chain will have around 500 stores left, a sharp drop from the 650 that it had just last year. You can find a full list of the latest locations being shuttered on CNN.com.

And MLB History is being made right now at Fenway Park. For the first time ever, a player is competing for both teams in the same game. Back in June, catcher Danny Jansen was at bat for the Blue Jays when the game was suddenly suspended due to weather. About a month later, he was traded to the Red Sox, and that's who he is playing for today in the makeup game. Pretty cool.

We'll be right back.

[15:50:00]

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KEILAR: If you're thinking of traveling this Labor Day weekend, it could get a little bumpy, so don't forget to --

SANCHEZ: Pack your patience.

KEILAR: That, of course, is Boris' favorite travel tagline, pack your patience. We have CNN's Tom Foreman here with us. He's packed his patience.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you kids make me turn this car around, it's going to be --

KEILAR: That's about right, Tom. How busy is it going to be this week?

FOREMAN: Busy. It's going to be very busy. AAA has looked at bookings out there, and their data says about a 9 percent increase over last year.

Partially because it's cheaper. A little bit easier to get gas. Some of the places that people are looking at out there, there's some top cities that people are going to. Among them are going to be some places in the northeast. Seattle is getting a boost. San Francisco is getting a boost.

Anchorage and Juneau are both popping up as very popular locations for people to go to. So if you're at the airport and it looks like a lot of people are lining up for those places, not your imagination. They are.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. OK, so you want to make sure you have time at the airport. You want to give yourself that time.

What if you're driving?

FOREMAN: If you're driving. This is something my wife and I discuss all the time. She's a big believer in this.

And AAA is, too. They're saying there are specific times that you don't want to leave if you can avoid it. Thursday between 1 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., that's when they think the roads will be the busiest. Friday between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Those are really the hot spots. There's some return hot spots, too, but let's start with getting you there. If you look at those, they say it's a little bit better if you can go earlier or if you can go later than that.

Although, I'm going to say, you know this, are you in a travel battleground, right? Because there are certain places where this is a deal. You know, L.A. to San Diego, tough, tough, tough. D.C., a lot of places you have to go. There are many places. Cross Bronx Expressway. There are all sorts of places that will be very tough.

But if you do, as our friend Boris said a short while ago, pack your patience and plan a little bit, you can get there. Just be cool.

And by the way, international travel is down. So if you decide you want to jump on a plane to go over there, you'll still be crowded, but you'll say at least I'm not sitting in traffic.

KEILAR: That's right. You still need to pack your patience. Always helpful. Tom Foreman, thank you so much for that.

[15:55:00]

You might want to print out this next story, leave it around your office. I don't know, maybe somewhere that your boss might see it. We'll tell you which country just gave workers the right to disconnect after hours. Boss might see it. We'll tell you which country just gave workers the right to disconnect after hours.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This next story may have some folks on our staff and maybe you at home looking up visa requirements. Australia has just passed a federal law guaranteeing workers the right to disconnect. Starting today, workers can refuse to monitor, read or respond to unreasonable business calls or emails after work hours. And they can't be disciplined or let go for doing so.

[16:00:00]

KEILAR: So the key word here, of course, you're onto it, unreasonable. Industry groups say there isn't enough clarification about what is considered reasonable or unreasonable. And they are expecting plenty of lawsuits because of this. A lot of workers, I'm sure, thrilled about it. But if you're not fooled, double wears Prada. Where's the middle ground?

SANCHEZ: Meryl Streep movie?

KEILAR: Yes, that's right.

SANCHEZ: Not quite as familiar with it.

KEILAR: She was a rough boss. I'll tell you that.

SANCHEZ: I would argue that generally being approached on a weekend is unreasonable, isn't it?

KEILAR: It happens all the time, though.

SANCHEZ: For us, but not for other folks.

KEILAR: That's true.

SANCHEZ: Just trying to stand up for workers. Thanks so much for watching.

END