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Explosions in Gaza City After Takeover Plan Approved; Protests Erupt Across Israel Against Gaza Occupation; Texas House Again Fails to Reach Quorum, Will Try Again Monday; Sources: Trump Removes IRS Commissioner After Just Two Months; DOJ Investigates NY Attorney General Who Beat Trump in Court; Trump Increases Federal Law Enforcement Presence in D.C.. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 08, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:22]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Growing backlash to Israel's new plan, an operation to seize control of Gaza City, Israel pushing ahead anyway despite the condemnation inside and out of Israel, and despite the fear that the new strategy could cause an even worse disaster for Palestinians.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And a punishing heat wave of - bakes the West and is fueling dangerous fire conditions. One fire is close to reaching the dreaded mega fire status, as cities like Phoenix see temperatures as high as 118 degrees.

And frustration and disgust on and off the court of the WNBA. The league's commissioner calls a new trend, quote, "totally unacceptable."

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

KEILAR: We do start with breaking news, explosions shaking Gaza as Israeli forces launch a controversial plan to seize control of the enclave's largest city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he has no intention to fully occupy the whole territory after his security council approved the takeover of Gaza City. According to sources familiar with the plan, Israel is aiming to evacuate, though, around one million people from Gaza City by October 7th. But it's being met with international backlash and internal criticism.

A short time ago, a spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary General said he's gravely alarmed by what he called a dangerous escalation. And in Israel, hostage families are fearing that the plan is going to put their loved ones at even more risk. Today, they held a Sabbath dinner outside the Israeli defense minister's home in protest. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Jerusalem.

And Matthew, it doesn't appear Netanyahu has, you know, broad support at home or internationally to conduct this operation. Why is he pushing forward? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean,

it's much less than broad support. I mean, certainly internationally, this move to occupy Gaza City, that densely populated area in the middle of the Gaza Strip, comes at a time when there's enormous international pressure on Israel to step back from its war in Gaza and to, you know, try to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, the hunger, the starvation that's been unfolding there over the past several weeks.

Countries like Germany, that have been strong supporters of Israel over virtually every issue, have been criticizing the country as well. Today, the German chancellor basically saying he won't sell arms to Israel anymore if they're going to be used in Gaza. But, of course, President Trump has taken a much more hands-off approach, basically, you know, saying it's up to Israel to decide whether they want to occupy the Gaza Strip or not. And that's been very much seen as a green light by the Israeli leadership.

In terms of domestic opinion, you're right. The vast majority of Israelis are completely against the extension of the conflict in Gaza. They're, you know, exhausted by nearly two years of war, not just in Gaza, but with Syria and Lebanon and with Iran more recently. And they want their country to return to some sort of normality. There's a great deal of concern that a military operation now in Gaza could jeopardize the lives of the surviving hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip, and there are believed to be about 20 people who are still believed to be alive.

[15:05:06]

There's 50 in total hostages, but 20 who are still believed to be alive inside the Gaza Strip.

The only body or constituency of people in Israel that are supportive of this. essentially the hard right wing, essential members of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister's fragile political coalition. He needs their support to maintain his authority and his power and his government. And so, there are lots of allegations and criticisms in Israel that he is doing this to keep their support for political reasons, not for the greater good of the country, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, a lot of claims of that.

Matthew Chance, thank you very much for the report. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brianna, with us now to talk about all this, former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Secretary, good to see you.

So, what's your reaction to Israel's planned takeover of Gaza City?

LEON PANETTA, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, CLINTON ADMINISTRATION: Well, it raises incredible concerns about what will happen here. This is a tragic war that has gone on for almost two years. And a lot of people have died as a result of that, 1,200 Israelis, almost 60,000 Palestinians. And I think everybody concerned is ready to have this war come to an end.

And the choice here is, I think, pretty simple. Either there's an effort at a real ceasefire, a temporary halt that allows for the hostages to be released, that allows for humanitarian aid to be provided, and that allows for Israel to be able to negotiate what happens in Gaza in terms of both governing and security. That's what everybody really wants.

But instead, the decision here is, frankly, for more war and more deaths and, frankly, jeopardizing the lives of the hostages as well. So, there's a lot of concern about whether or not this war will turn even worse.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And in fact, the support on this is very fractured. The Israel Defense Forces and Israel don't even appear to be seeing eye to eye on this. The IDF's chief of staff warning of the danger of worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the international implications as well. I mean, this is not receiving international support. So, where do you think it is going from here?

PANETTA: Well, I - you know, the history here is not good in terms of Israel being able to occupy Gaza. It didn't work before. It's not going to work now. And so ultimately, we're going to continue to get headlines of people getting killed, of innocent people getting destroyed in the process. It's going to turn very ugly again. And ultimately, they're going to have to go back to where they have to be, which is to agree to a ceasefire, sit down and negotiate a temporary ceasefire, whatever it takes, deal with the hostages, deal with the humanitarian problems, and really try to negotiate a more permanent solution. That really is the course of action that ought to be decided not after more war, but right now.

WHITFIELD: In the meantime, Germany will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used by Israel in Gaza. Is it your expectation other countries will follow? And then on the issue of ongoing negotiations, you said you would encourage Israel to be a part of. Qatar has been instrumental in negotiations. Do you think this will now lead them to impetus to say, we really can't talk anymore?

PANETTA: Well, there are going to be a lot of countries that basically pull back on any kind of support for Israel. And, you know, I think Netanyahu has to recognize that ultimately, his ability to succeed here is going to depend on whether or not he gets support and continues to get support. And if countries like Germany pull back, if other countries, Great Britain and others, begin to pull back from any kind of support, and if the Arab countries, which are critical to developing a negotiated settlement here, decide to pull back as well, then we're just going to see this war get worse.

[15:10:00]

So, I think ultimately, after two years of war and a lot of exhaustion, and the fact that Israel obviously did a pretty good job, going after Hamas leadership, did a good job going after proxies like Hezbollah and Iran and others, that the time has come now to achieve some kind of peaceful solution. That's what they ought to be working on, not more war.

WHITFIELD: All right, Secretary Leon Panetta, thank you so much. Brianna.

KEILAR: We have breaking news in the Texas redistricting fight. Just last hour, Republicans failed to get to that quorum again, enough Democrats refusing to show up, many of them still out of state as they're trying to block Republicans from changing the state's congressional map. The Texas House Speaker taking new action against them. Here it is.

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REP. DUSTIN BURROWS (R-TX): The FBI's assistant has reportedly been enlisted, and their powers are not confined to any singular state's boundaries. Thirty percent of each quorum breaking members monthly operating budget will be reserved and made unavailable for expenditure. Failure to appear in person will result in the cancellation of your newsletters and the encumbered funds.

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KEILAR: CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Austin. This is where, you know, I think we had a question, Ed, they were saying that they were not going to do direct deposits of their paychecks, but in fairness for people being, you know, allowing themselves to be fined $500 a day, $600 a month in their paychecks wasn't all that much. Now they're talking about holding onto their funds. Where's this going to go from here?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it sounds like the Republicans who are here in Austin very much approve and are enjoying the kind of like day-by-day escalation of the punishment for Democrats who are not here. So, we anticipate that that will continue, even as we're hearing from Democrats talk about how they are willing to stay away from this special session until the very end. And right now, it's scheduled to end on August 19th. So, a little bit more than a week once the House tries to reconvene or will try to reconvene again on Monday afternoon.

But this escalation continues. The saga here continues. And, but, you know, the bottom line is here more than 51 Democrats have once again stayed away, which grinds everything to a halt and Democrats trying desperately to focus the attention on what they believe is the wrongness of pushing for this redistricting plan here in Texas. Here's some of the back and forth we heard from representatives here just a short while ago.

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BURROWS: We have all hands-on deck. We are continuing to explore new avenues to compel a quorum and we'll keep pressing forward until the job is done.

REP. RICHARD PENA RAYMOND (D-TX): Every single Democrat, 62 here in the House of Representatives and everyone in the state Senate and probably Americans all over this country are united and saying, we do not think you should be redistricting every two years.

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LAVANDERA: And Brianna, I spoke with a couple of Republicans after today's session. They're convinced that not all of the Democrats are out of the state and that there are some who are around here that can be brought back. In fact, there was one Democratic representative who posted on social media a short while ago saying that she had let everyone know that she was dealing with a health issue and that she was offended that DPS officers have gone to her house asking for her, trying to track her down. And she says that everyone was aware of her particular situation. But beyond that, there are Republicans who think that there are Democrats elsewhere that could be brought back here to the state Capitol and that a quorum could be met. Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, very interesting to see how far they will go. Ed Lavandera, thank you.

And still to come, the Justice Department is investigating Letitia James, the New York Attorney General who led and won a fraud investigation against the Trump organization.

Plus, President Trump says he's increasing the federal law enforcement presence here in Washington, D.C., despite the fact that violent crime is down in the city. And later, the WNBA commissioner says sex toys being thrown at players is totally unacceptable as the league moves to crack down on those who are involved in these stunts. Well, that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:18:54]

KEILAR: We do have some breaking news. President Trump has removed the commissioner of the IRS, Billy Long, a former Republican congressman. And staunch Trump ally had been on the job for just about two months. So, let's go straight to CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes.

Kristen, what are you learning about this?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, I mean, first of all, one of those notable things that we saw Long do in his very short stint as head of the IRS was call for a need to purge the workforce. Now, we are being told that he is being removed from this position and instead is likely to be nominated for an ambassadorship.

Now, the big question, of course, is who is going to lead the IRS permanently. We don't have any answers on that yet, but we are told that Scott Bessent, the secretary of the Treasury, will be leading the department in the interim. Of course, it has been a very turbulent time for the IRS. Long before he was actually put in this position had called for a complete removal of the agency. Now we are seeing even more turbulence as they are waiting to have a permanent head of this agency. [15:20:02]

We are still trying to get more details on what exactly led up to Long's removal, but we still don't have that quite yet.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be looking for more answers there. We know you're working on it, this just coming out.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And the Justice Department is opening an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James' office. This is part of a criminal investigation into the President's longtime adversary, and it's the latest example of the administration targeting the President's perceived enemies. CNN Correspondent Brynn Gingras is joining us right now with the very latest on this.

Brynn, what have you heard from James' office?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Fred, they're saying this is political retribution. And you said this isn't the first time that James' office is - James herself, is seeing something coming from the Trump administration. Just in May, we have learned from the FBI that they're investigating James and some of her real estate transactions. And now we're hearing, sources are telling our Kara Scannell that there is a grand jury convened in Albany, and subpoenas have been issued. And what we're told they're looking for is to see if there was any criminality done by James or her office when she was investigated prior to filing that civil lawsuit against Trump and his business and his sons.

We're told through sources that essentially they're trying to see if during that investigation Trump's, his rights - his constitutional rights were violated. So, that sounds to be somewhat of the nature of what this grand jury is looking into, like I said, has been convened in Albany. And we did get a little bit more of a statement from James' own attorney. And Abbe Lowell says this: "Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an act on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration."

Now, of course, we know that Letitia James' office is the one who brought forward that civil fraud lawsuit and won against Trump, who now has to pay nearly a half a billion dollars at this point. He's still in an appeals process for that. And we do know that during that trial, just a couple of years ago, that went on for several months where Trump took the stand himself. I mean, pretty much any time Trump or his children could leave the courthouse, they were, you know, having some sort of attack on James. And James would have to sort of come out and give a rebuttal.

So, there's certainly political adversaries here. And this is exactly what James' office is saying. This is attack for those reasons.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much. Brianna. KEILAR: The White House is saying it has increased the federal law

enforcement presence in Washington, D.C. for at least a week after President Trump ordered the crackdown overnight to combat crime. The ATF's Washington Field Division posting photos on social media this morning showing some of its agents on the streets.

The President has said that D.C. crime is, quote, "totally out of control" while threatening to take over the D.C. Police Department and deploy the National Guard. The numbers, however, don't back up the President's claims. According to the D.C. Police Department, violent crime, including robberies, homicide, aggravated assault and sexual abuse, are all trending down from recent years.

We have Donnell Harvin with us now. He's previously served as the chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the government of D.C.

Donnell, is this federal intervention needed right now?

DONNELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: Absolutely not. And as your graphic showed, not only is crime down, but let's talk about how we got here. This became an issue for the Trump administration when a former DOGE employee known Big Balls was nearly carjacked a week ago. Carjackings themselves last year were down by 50 percent, an almost all-time low in D.C., and this year they're on track of beating that by 20 percent. So, this is clearly politics.

KEILAR: I do think any resident who lives here - I live here - is aware of crime trends, right? And I think it has felt encouraging. Violent crime is down, as you mentioned. The city has recently had success addressing specifically youth crime, so crime by juveniles and teens with curfews seven days a week. And yet there is still crime in D.C. Certainly we know that. Is there a need to address that with boosted law enforcement?

HARVIN: I think not, and I was on the front lines of this for many years. Juvenile crime specifically is a very complex issue that not only requires law enforcement, it also requires legislation, but really human services, right? So, I actually spearheaded the mayor's anti-gun initiative back in 2021, and it was layered off the top of a layer (ph) of wraparound services to support the youth who are at risk.

And so, having more armed law enforcement out there isn't necessarily the answer. It's what are these kids doing in lieu of being in the streets, and that's where the money and the efforts need to be spent.

KEILAR: Could the administration, I mean, if we're talking just sort of logistically how this would work, could they take over the police department the way the President suggested this week?

[15:25:07]

HARVIN: Yes, you're giving me palpitations now because I'm having deja vu because these were the conversations we were having in 2020 during the civil unrest that happened in the aftermath of the George Floyd killings. They - that - at that time, Trump threatened to take over the D.C. Police Department. We didn't know if he can do it. The lawyers came back and said he actually does have that ability.

Specifically, D.C. is vulnerable to that type of federal government takeover because D.C. is not a state. And so, if Donald Trump wanted to take over the D.C. Police Department, he could. Now, I'm sure there'd be legal battles about that, but the Home Rule law that established D.C. in 1973 lays out a path for POTUS to do so.

KEILAR: Depending on how the administration addresses this, what's the risk of instigating a confrontation rather than doing what Trump says this is about, which is addressing crime?

HARVIN: Well, there's a whole slew of things that can happen as externalities from taking over the D.C. Police or having - just having an increased police presence from the federal standpoint. Our concern when this happened in 2020 was what we call de-confliction. If these federal agents are not coordinating with the local police, then there can be redundancy of services. There can be gaps in services.

But the public may have a backlash on this, and I wouldn't be surprised if this goes longer to see demonstrations and civil unrest.

KEILAR: One city council member, Christina Henderson, actually attributes crime in the city to the Trump and Biden administrations, both of them not nominating enough judges to deal with the local caseload. It's a persistent problem that has spanned years.

As of July, the D.C. Court of Appeals is down two judges. The D.C. Superior Court is down 12. How much does a shortage of judges, that's a lot of judges - how much does that contribute to crime rates?

HARVIN: It contributes a huge amount. I can't tell you how much. I can tell you anecdotally at the time when I was patrolling D.C. in a D.C. police uniform and I took a perpetrator off the street who had an illegal gun. The next day, the next shift, we arrested that same person. He was in and out of the system in less than 12 hours, and that's because of a lot of - a shortage of not only judges but also attorneys.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. So, D.C., of course, is in this unique position. Congress reviews all the legislation before it comes into law. How would you say that Mayor Bowser is sort of approaching this? We just had a council member on. The - when you look at how they're talking, they're not poking the eye of the administration. Is there a fear that doing so or maybe speaking their mind about this is something that could actually bring a reaction from the Trump administration they don't want?

HARVIN: Well, I'm not a comms person, and I'm certainly not here to speak on behalf of D.C. government, but I will tell you that this current mayor administration, Mayor Bowser's administration, has worked really collaboratively with the current Trump administration. And things that you saw three or four years ago as a D.C. resident, you don't see anymore. Just on my way here to the studio, there were encampments four or five years ago with homeless people and crime that when I drove by today, they weren't there.

And so, I know the mayor's office has been diligent in working with the Trump administration to clean up the streets and do the things he's wanted, and I'm sure they don't want to poke that bear.

KEILAR: Really interesting. Donnell, great perspective. Thank you so much for being with us.

And ahead, intense wildfires are ravaging Southern California. They're forcing thousands to evacuate. We'll have the very latest on those.

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