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Trump, Biden Exchange Campaign Blows Ahead of the CNN-organized Presidential Debate; Russian President to Meet NoKor Leader in a Landmark Visit to Deepen Ties; Israeli PM Dissolves War Cabinet as Israelis Protest on Calling for an Election; U.S. Surgeon General Urges U.S. Congress to Put Warning Labels on Social Media Apps; Boston Celtics Seals 18th NBA Championship Title After Demolishing Dallas Mavericks in Five Games. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster.

Just ahead, U.S. President Joe Biden slams Donald Trump as a convicted criminal as tensions ramp up ahead of the highly-anticipated presidential debate.

Millions across the U.S. are suffering under record heat. It's only going to get worse throughout the week.

And Vladimir Putin is making a landmark trip to North Korea, deepening ties with Kim Jong-un.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Max Foster.

FOSTER: We are now just nine days away from the first presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. election season and tensions are already ramping up ahead of that showdown between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Monday. The Biden campaign debuted a new ad that will air in battleground states, blasting Trump as a felon who only cares about himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. 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)

FOSTER: Well, Trump's campaign was quick to respond, calling the hush money trial election interference and pointing to polls showing the former president's strength in swing states. Trump still maintains a close connection to his former advisor and longtime ally, Steve Bannon, who answered his call during a live broadcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, HOST, "WAR ROOM" AND FORMER TRUMP ADVISER: Carrie, hang on for one second. I got a call from someone I got to take just to hang on.

UNKNOWN: OK.

BANNON: Hey, Mr. President, I'm alive on TV. Back. Call you back, sir. Thank you. Carrie, go ahead. Continue on your favorite person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: And at a conservative gathering over the weekend, Bannon vowed that Trump's political opponents would face blowback if Trump wins a second term as president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BANNON: November 5th is Judgment Day. January 20th, 2025 is Accountability Day. Going to get every single receipt into the fullest extension of the law. You are going to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated. Ladies and gentlemen, it's very simple. Victory or death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Trump is also finding support from House Speaker Mike Johnson and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Richard Hudson, who met with the former president at Mar-a- Lago on Monday. CNN's Alayna Treene has more details from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump on Monday met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as Richard Hudson, the chairman of the House GOP's campaign arm. And I'm told that they walked Donald Trump through some of the critical House races that they think he could be helpful in come November.

Now, remember, Donald Trump last week traveled to Washington, D.C., where he met with House and Senate Republicans, and he promised them that he would do more: more tele town halls, more messages of support to try and get these people not only reelected, but to also try to expand their majorities, both in the House and the Senate.

And that's really important, not just to lawmakers and Congress, but also to Donald Trump, because if he were to reclaim the White House in November, he's going to need a lot of Republicans to pass his legislative priorities. And so that was the key focus. They said that they wanted to talk about a unified message about how they can all be on the same page in the next stretch looking forward to Election Day. Now, I also think it's important to note that Donald Trump has been

far more hands-off this election cycle than he has been in the past. And that's because, in 2022, he endorsed several candidates that went on to win their primaries, only to lose on the day that it counted, which was Election Day in the midterms.

And so, according to my conversations with Donald Trump's campaign, they tell me that they don't want to get involved in races where they don't think the candidate can actually win. And so they're going to be mapping out where Donald Trump can be lending his support and which races it will really matter.

Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Be sure to watch as CNN hosts the U.S. presidential debate next week. It is on Thursday, June 27th, 9 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. That is 9 a.m. on Friday in Hong Kong.

[03:05:01]

Police in California are looking for an armed robber who targeted someone on President Biden's security detail. The president was in Los Angeles for a star-studded campaign fundraiser on Saturday night. The U.S. Secret Service says one of their members was robbed at gunpoint after leaving work and had their bag stolen. The victim fired their service weapon during that incident, but it's unclear if the suspect was hit. Police say they did find some of the Secret Service's service members' missing belongings.

Now, a long-lasting heat wave is bringing miserable weather to some 270 million Americans. The Midwest and the Northeast could see record- breaking temperatures last for days. Heat alerts are in place for 19 states, from the Great Lakes to New England. CNN's Chad Myers has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACH ISCOL, COMMISSIONER, NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: We are in the path of extreme heat, bringing along potential health risks in the forthcoming days.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Summer officially arrives in the Northern Hemisphere this week, and with it, a heat wave not seen in decades. From the Midwest and Great Lakes to the Northeast, more than 260 million Americans, or roughly 82 percent of the U.S. population, could see temperatures above 90 degrees.

Nearly 200 daily high-temperature records could be tied or broken in major cities, including Boston, D.C., Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City.

And little relief is expected even at night, with low temperatures not dropping below the middle 70s. ISCOL: Extreme heat is the most dangerous weather phenomenon we have

in New York City. We lose over 350 New Yorkers a year on average to heat.

MYERS (voice-over): Caribou, Maine, which prides itself as the most northeastern city in the U.S., could hit their hottest temperature ever Wednesday, with a forecast of 99. That's three degrees higher than their all-time hottest high temperature on record.

Boston is forecast to be nearly 100 degrees on Thursday, which would be their earliest 100 degree day in 99 years. And it's not just the high temperatures causing concern, but how long they're expected to stick around.

Pittsburgh, which hasn't seen a single day go over 95 degrees in more than a decade, is forecast to see six consecutive days above 95 degrees.

And Philadelphia is expected to see five straight days at or above 95. If it seems like these scorching heat waves are happening more and more each year, it's not your imagination.

DR. ASHWIN VASAN, COMMISSIONER, NYC DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE: While very hot days are, of course, normal, the number and the duration of these hot days we are seeing each and every year is not. The risk to our planet presents risks to our health. And heat is, of course, the deadliest of all extreme weather events here in New York City and across the United States.

MYERS (voice-over): Chad Myers, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: As the Atlantic hurricane season kicks off, two potential tropical systems are threatening parts of the U.S. and Mexico this week. One potential tropical cyclone is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. A tropical storm watch has been issued for parts of Texas and Mexico. If it picks up steam, the system will be called Tropical Storm Alberto. The other potential storm system is stirring in the Atlantic. If it develops, it'll produce thunderstorms near the Bahamas before moving towards the southeast United States.

Now, thousands have been ordered to evacuate from the village of Ruidoso in New Mexico due to the fast-moving wildfire. It started on Monday as it burned at least 3,000 acres or 1,200 hectares, fueled in part by high temperatures and low humidity. A fire warning is in place for Lincoln County, where the village is located. And air quality alerts have also been issued for some areas.

Wildfires also raging across California. A fast-moving fire near Sacramento known as the Aero Fire has burned more than 5,000 acres or 2,000 hectares since Monday. It prompted evacuations and there's no containment thus far.

Another fire in northern California called the Sites Fire is also burning out of control. Similar scenes in Los Angeles County, where crews are battling the so-called Post Fire. It's burned more than 15,000 acres and is about 20 percent contained after breaking out on Saturday. CNN's Camila Bernal has been following the Post Fire and she has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Firefighters are describing this fire as creeping underground, moving slowly, and they say that at any moment things can change. And that's why they're so concerned about the wind. And they expect these winds to remain high through Tuesday.

So firefighters are saying that they have been able to keep the fire lines, but that it is still very challenging work because of the high speeds of the wind gusts in this area. You're seeing some of the crews here on the ground attempting to put out any hot spots so that you don't get those new fires because of the wind in this area.

[03:10:07]

You're also seeing some of the crews in the sky using these helicopters to do water drops. So it is a joint effort between the different crews in this area to try to gain some containment. Here is what officials are saying about this fire.

FLEMMING BERTELSEN, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: It means we're going to be tested, especially tonight. Ridgetop winds are going to, they're calling for 50 mile an hour winds on ridgetops and during the day valley winds 25 plus. So we're augured in and we're making a stand.

BERNAL: And climate change also greatly impacting the way these fires are spreading. You know, firefighters telling me that because of the rain that we got here in California over the last couple of days, you have a lot of vegetation and in particular you have a lot of grass and that is what firefighters call fuel to this fire.

In particular, they say that it spreads quickly. And so you add in the wind, the low humidity, the high temperatures, and that's what makes this a fire just so dangerous and so tough for these firefighters that are working around the clock.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Lebec, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Let's go back to our top story now. President Joe Biden, former president Donald Trump trading barbs ahead of CNN's presidential debate. Joining me from Oxford, England is Richard Johnson, lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University in London. Thank you so much for joining us.

I just wanted to ask you about Steve Bannon because he's obviously been speaking, you know, he's obviously got close contacts with president Trump still very much coming into the fore again. And speaking of how there'll be blowback for anyone that opposes president Trump right now, it's quite a threatening message, but do you think it'll be effective?

RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, it'd be effective with a subsection of Trump voters. I guess what we have to think about is when the different campaigns are putting out their surrogates, the surrogates are not talking necessarily to the same people. So Steve Bannon is not someone that the Trump campaign is putting out to talk to swing voters or people who voted Joe Biden at the last election. Bannon is trying to talk to those people who have stuck with Trump from 2016 to 2020 to now.

And in a sense, Bannon's message is one of trying to raise the stakes of the election to mobilize the kind of core MAGA base of Trump voters.

FOSTER: And with this latest ad from the Biden campaign, we've got a sense of his strategy as well going ahead, which is very focused on Donald Trump's criminal record. Who's that going to appeal to? Because there's been lots of polling to suggest that none of these trials have affected his base. But I guess we're talking about people that may be swinging in either direction right now.

JOHNSON: When I look at this ad, I see a classic example of what we call in political science negative partisanship.

So what we have in this election is we have two candidates who both have high unfavorable ratings. Joe Biden's unfavorable rating, historically speaking, would not be the kind of rating that would see you get re-elected, except that Donald Trump also has extremely high unfavorable ratings.

And I think what this ad is trying to do, in effect, is for the Biden campaign to say to voters, OK, you may not love Joe Biden, but you really don't like Donald Trump. This is not an election where it's both are equally bad. One might be bad, but one is even worse. And negative partisanship is when you vote to stop another candidate from winning.

And in effect, that's the message they're saying. If you want to stop Donald Trump from being re-elected, you're going to have to hold your nose and vote for Joe Biden. Don't stay at home. Don't vote for a third party candidate. Come out and vote for Joe Biden. And they realize that those voters ultimately, I think, will decide the election.

FOSTER: And I guess they're the ones that will go into the voting booth. And even if they've decided to vote for Donald Trump, there might be some hesitancy and actually ticking a box next to someone that they feel may not have faith in the legal system.

JOHNSON: The two criminal convictions of the past weeks have been very interesting, how the campaigns have handled them. So Trump's message has been that the system is rigged, the system is illegitimate. This is a witch hunt. It's the familiar line from Trump.

Joe Biden with his son's Hunter's criminal conviction with regard to drug and gun use.

Biden has taken a very different line. Biden has effectively said, I love my son. It's a personal tragedy for me, but I respect the system and I will abide by the system. Trump says he'll pardon the people who stormed the Capitol on 6th of January. Biden says he won't even pardon his own son.

[03:15:01]

And so I think what Biden is trying to do in thinking of the politics of this is to say that he is someone who will uphold the rules.

For some people who vote for Trump, they vote for Trump because he's a rule breaker. But those aren't the people that Biden's really trying to speak to. He's trying to speak to the people who might not like him, Joe Biden, but don't like the chaos that they might have associated with certain elements of the Trump presidency.

FOSTER: Richard Johnson, as ever, appreciate your time. Thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

FOSTER: Russian President Vladimir Putin on his way to North Korea. What the visit says to Western allies about the fighting in Ukraine after the break.

Plus why NATO Secretary General says it might be time to start putting more pressure on China. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Vladimir Putin heading to North Korea for a two-day visit to deepen ties between the countries. But the Russian president and his trip is raising major concerns for the U.S. and its European allies about Ukraine.

Satellite images show preparations are underway for a large parade in central Pyongyang, including construction of a grandstand on Kim Il- sung Square.

[03:20:05]

And the new video shows Russian flags and banners of the Russian president lining the streets of the North Korean capital. Mr. Putin has written an article for a North Korean newspaper praising Pyongyang for its unwavering support on Ukraine. The White House accuses North Korea of sending weapons to Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON: What we are concerned about, Trevor, is the deepening relationship between these two countries, not just because of the impacts it's going to have on the Ukrainian people, because we know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian target but because there could be reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Clare Sebastian are with me here in London. But first, let's go to Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. I mean, just ahead of that, he said he's not concerned about the actual visit, it's what it means for Ukraine. Can you just explain what's happening here?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, I mean, what I think is important to seek from the point of view of context is that Vladimir Putin has not been to North Korea since 2000. Right? So that's nearly a quarter century. And so much has changed since then. He had only just become appointed president then. The ruler of North Korea at that time was Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il.

And North Korea was still at that time one of the most isolated places in the world. Russia was not. Well, fast forward 24 years, Russia is now very, very isolated, certainly from the West.

And there is a need for Vladimir Putin to reach out to North Korea. He's been accused of acquiring conventional weapons from the North Koreans to use on the Ukrainian battlefield.

And look at one of the top lines of his open letter to North Korea. He says quote, "we highly appreciate the DPRK's unwavering support for Russia's special military operation in Ukraine", special military operation, Max, "not a war more than two and a half years into this war". And then Putin goes on to write "Pyongyang was and remains our staunch like-minded ally and supporter, ready to resolutely resist the desire of the collective West to prevent the formation of a multipolar world order based on justice".

At this point, Moscow is very much an antagonist and rival of the U.S. and its Western allies. And it is aligning itself very much alongside, again, one of the most isolated dictatorships in the world, North Korea, which has a proven track record of creating trouble for, for example, the close U.S. ally, South Korea and other countries in the region, Japan. And now what we see is that the Kremlin is saying that it is planning to sign a new strategic partnership with North Korea.

So they'll be watching closely to see how could there be more weapons transfers, more technology transfers between these two countries that appear to be growing closer together.

FOSTER: And, Clare, this increases the sphere of influence for both countries, doesn't it?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, Max. And I think there's another line from that open letter that President Putin wrote to the North Korean people that really reinforces that. He says that North Korea is committed, a committed and like-minded supporter, ready to confront the ambition of the collective West.

Look, yes, this is a visit, I think, that will be in part about the war in Ukraine, but also motivated by some of the same impulses that provoked that war in the first place, which is Putin's desire for the so-called multipolar world, these new spheres of influence and to counter Western dominance.

I think also the Kremlin likes symmetry. And yes, although this visit was sort of preplanned and quite heavily trailed, there is a sense to which that coming off the back of that sort of major Western diplomatic spree last week with the reconstruction conference for Ukraine, the G7, and finally the Ukrainian peace summit in that this is a chance, even though to the rest of us, you know, North Korea looks like one of the most isolated countries on earth.

This is a chance for Russia to show that Putin is not isolated by the war in Ukraine, that he does have other options. And those optics of seeing his photo lining the streets of Pyongyang will help push that message across to the Russian people. I think in terms of the war in Ukraine, this also reinforces the strategy that we are seeing play out in real time on the front lines, that attrition is key.

Putin wants to exhaust and destroy Ukraine into surrender and, you know, obtaining, as the U.S. and South Korea have suggested, artillery shells, ballistic missiles from North Korea will help prolong that effort. So that certainly is the context, I think, in which to view this meeting. Although, of course, North Korea has denied weapons transfers to Russia.

FOSTER: Claire, Ivan, thank you both so much ahead of that trip.

[03:25:04]

FOSTER: Now, in central Ukraine, at least 22 civilians, including three children, were wounded by a Russian missile attack on Monday. Local officials say a Russian cruise missile struck the Poltava region, damaging apartment buildings and a kindergarten and knocking out power for several hours.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it's important for Ukraine to strengthen its air defense systems to respond to Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, NATO celebrating what it calls good news for the alliance, for the U.S. and for Europe. But it certainly won't make Moscow happy. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Biden at the White House on Monday. He announced that more NATO member countries than ever have reached target defense spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Across Europe and Canada, NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18 percent. That's the biggest increase in decades. And 23 allies are going to spend 2 percent of GDP or more on defense this year. That's more than twice as many as four years ago, and demonstrates that European allies and Canada are really stepping up and taking their share of the common responsibility to protect all of us in the NATO alliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Stoltenberg and President Biden also spoke about Beijing's support for Moscow. The NATO chief saying China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, whilst trying to maintain good relations with the West. Stoltenberg says Ukraine's allies may need to, quote, "impose a cost on China to show Xi Jinping that he can't play both sides".

Still to come, a water war is brewing between the U.S. and Mexico. We'll see how it's taking a toll on farmers in Texas. Details ahead.

Plus, now that Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved his war cabinet, a look at who he'll consult on Israel's war with Hamas, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Max Foster.

Checking today's top stories, U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump's campaigns are ramping up to buy ads as the two gear up for the first presidential debate taking place next week here on CNN. Mr. Biden is already running an ad in every swing state calling Trump a convicted criminal and Trump's campaign is reserving TV ad time around the CNN debate.

And now the official start of the Northern Summer is days away but much of the U.S. is already baking under a brutal heat wave and it's expected to increase as the week progresses. More than 260 million people could see record high temperatures as the heat sweeps from the Midwest into the Northeast.

The head of Boeing plans to apologize for the company's recent safety issues in a U.S. Senate testimony later today. According to prepared remarks released by Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will say the company's culture has been quote "far from perfect" but he plans to push back on claims the plane manufacturer has retaliated against whistleblowers.

Tensions rising between the U.S. and Mexico over a decades-old agreement to share water from the Colorado River and the Rio Grande. Mexico has fallen behind in sending water to the US because a severe drought is gripping the country. CNN's Rosa Flores has more on how it's impacting farmers in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSE SILVA, CITRUS GROWER: Just turned 71 and growing citrus that's always been my passion.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jose Silva, a citrus grower in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, takes us to a grove he hasn't irrigated since January.

SILVA: Well this grove is about 25 years old.

FLORES (voice-over): To show us how his life's work could be in peril due to lack of water.

SILVA: As you can see the leaves folding and the fruit how small it is because we haven't been able to irrigate like we should.

FLORES (voice-over): The culprits he says are both natural and man- made.

There's the years-long drought that has reservoirs along the Rio Grande at all-time lows according to Texas water authorities and a dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over an 80-year-old water treaty that has Silva and many Texas farmers blaming Mexico for their misfortunes.

SILVA: If we had water from Mexico this this grove would be irrigating right now.

FLORES: I'm in South Texas under the 1944 treaty Mexico which you see over my shoulder across the Rio Grande owes the U.S. about 390,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water so far this five-year cycle which ends October 2025.

FLORES (voice-over): When Mexico released water to the U.S. in 2020 it sparked violent protests from Mexican farmers. Currently about 90 percent of the country is enduring its most expansive drought since 2011.

Mexico's foreign ministry points to that years-long severe drought and says it plans to meet its treaty obligations by the October 2025 deadline.

But it's too late for some farmers not only have some citrus growers pulled and burned their wilted groves.

SILVA: When you see this it's just heartbreaking it just breaks your heart.

FLORES (voice-over): The entire South Texas sugarcane industry is dead forcing the state's only sugar mill a $100 million business that employed more than 500 people to close in April according to this man.

FLORES: Do you blame Mexico?

TUDOR UHLHORN, CHAIRMAN, RIO GRANDE VALLEY SUGAR GROWERS: Yes I mean this is not an act of God this is a man-made situation.

FLORES (voice-over): Tudor Uhlhorn is a chairman of the Rio Grande Valley sugar growers.

FLORES: So is this equipment going to be sold?

UHLHORN: Yes.

FLORES (voice-over): And says a group of 90 farmers went from harvesting 35,000 acres of sugarcane and churning giant piles of sugar like this one to producing less than 10,000 acres in February.

FLORES: Do you in part blame the State Department for not forcing Mexico to provide the water?

UHLHORN: It's definitely the fault of the State Department because this has occurred under Republican administrations and it's recurring now under a Democratic administration. You start to feel like maybe the State Department doesn't care about you very much.

FLORES (voice-over): The State Department tells CNN that the agency continues to urge Mexico to make water deliveries and continues to work with Congress to resolve the issue.

[03:35:03]

SILVA: We have to check with the water districts.

FLORES (voice-over): It's at meetings like these that Jose Silva advocates for the water he needs to save his wilting groves.

But after much discussion, the outcome was there's no water.

FLORES: Could this mean that some of your groves die?

SILVA: There's a -- there's a good chance, yes. It's really heartbreaking. It really hurts. It really does.

FLORES: At this point Texas farmers are praying for rain. They are praying for a miracle. They are praying for a hurricane. Anything that will save the citrus industry. Right now they're keeping their eye on the weather system that's in the Gulf.

Now I checked according to the National Weather Service the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas could get between four to six inches of rain. So this could help the citrus farmers. But the citrus farmers are also hoping that it rains in Mexico. Why? Because they're hoping that the reservoirs in Mexico fill up so that Mexico can pay up its water debt.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: We have new details on the Israel-Hamas war and a massive anti-government protests in Jerusalem. Israeli police say they've arrested at least nine people after thousands gathered outside the Knesset and then marched to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home calling for new elections. Authorities say those detained were arrested on suspicion of attacking police and trying to set a fire.

Meanwhile, there appears to be deepening political rifts within the Israeli government. Benjamin Netanyahu disbanded his war cabinet announcing the security cabinet will now decide matters regarding the conflict. This comes more than a week after opposition leader Benny Gantz withdrew from the war cabinet.

CNN's Scott McLean joins us live in Istanbul with more on all of this. It is looking pretty shaky at the top isn't it right now?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So Max, look the dissolution of the war cabinet was always going to mean that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was certainly more beholden to the far-right more extremist elements of his own coalition government but rather than allowing those elements like the finance minister, the national security minister into that war cabinet, he simply dissolved the body altogether.

And what is important to note is that Benny Gantz that sparked all of this by leaving the war cabinet is one of Netanyahu's most formidable opposition figures and so his exit and the dissolution of this body really also in some ways dissolved some of what was left of this show of national unity that has been on display since the outset of the war.

Gantz has now called for an election. He's accused the prime minister of putting his own political interest ahead of the country and a plan for Gaza post-war and in polls at least one published on Friday it showed that more Israelis would prefer Gantz to lead the country right now than Netanyahu.

Netanyahu will undoubtedly find it difficult, Max, to agree to anything resembling an end to the war without toppling his own government. The far-right has already threatened to do exactly that and so he's in this very awkward position right now when it comes to the peace deal that's on the table. Hamas coming back with changes to that deal or proposed changes to that deal seems to have kicked it down the road to some extent.

But also this tactical pause that we've been talking about the also perhaps demonstrates the odd position in the contortions that the prime minister is having to put himself through in order to satisfy all of the pressures he's under not only at home but of course from the international community as well that wants to see more aid get in either way.

UNICEF made very clear yesterday that this pause that's been announced for 11 hours a day so far hasn't shown any signs of actually working. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICARDO PIRES, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: Any decision to drop less bombs and have less violence on the ground affecting killing injuring children on a daily basis across the Gaza Strip is welcomed by UNICEF we need to be very aware that there's no evidence yet that these processes will work and from what we're hearing on hearing on the ground nothing has really changed so we're welcoming it it's a small step but it certainly won't be the full solution to the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Now Max, remember that Netanyahu was not the one to sign off on this tactical pause and his reaction to it was quite odd saying that he was unhappy with it asking who approved this. Yesterday we got some answers from the Israeli government as to how this all unfolded.

Kogut the agency that approves what's going into Gaza in terms of aid, ultimately requested this it was run up the chain all the way to the defense minister Yoav Galant, but the IDF says that this was not a decision that needed to be approved by the prime minister or by the cabinet. Max.

FOSTER: Scott, thank you.

[03:40:02]

The U.S. trying to prevent an escalation in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah along Israel's border with Lebanon. U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein met with President -- or rather Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders on Monday. The fighting has driven many people from their homes along that border. Our Oren Liebermann has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the main drag in the city of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, Amatsya Dahary works alone, taking orders from customers who won't come in person.

AMATSYA DAHARY, NORTHERN ISRAEL RESIDENT: There is no people here in in the city and my customer don't come to my gallery and I feel they alone here.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The stores and restaurants near his frame shop are closed, the city is nearly empty under constant threat of rocket attack from Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. But Dahary shows up to work here every day.

DAHARY: I think it's wrong to leave a Kiryat Shmona. I think everybody had to be here.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The first launches fell in this city soon after October 7th.

LIEBERMANN: This was the safety room, the security room and the mortar tore right through it.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The city was evacuated two weeks later, the charred remnants of a life hastily abandoned visible inside. Mayor Avichai Stern says less than 10 percent of the people here have stayed.

Since the 8th of October we've been attacked every day, Stern says, I don't think there's any nation in the world that would be prepared for its citizens to be fired upon every day.

At a nearby location the mayor shows us a much larger rocket that hit the street, its shrapnel tearing into nearby homes.

Also this, Stern says, this is shrapnel look and hear you'll find them in every place.

Along Israel's northern border once thriving villages have become ghost towns. In Shlomi the spirit of the country may be strong, but its people have left. Approximately 60,000 people have been evacuated from the north to hotels across the country.

According to Israel Hezbollah has fired more than 5,000 rockets and drones since the start of the war. Israel has carried out strikes against Hezbollah targets and commanders amid fear of a simmering conflict boiling over into a war.

We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, says chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and the IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision.

In recent weeks the north isn't just under fire but on fire sparked by Hezbollah attacks and missile intercepts. Locals caught this video of an interceptor explosion which rained burning shrapnel on the area.

Firefighters are still coping with smoldering embers that reignite in the dry conditions a fire that keeps burning on a border that threatens to do the same.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in northern Israel

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FOSTER: An Ivy League university set up a task force to tackle anti- Semitism on campus. Coming up, what the group's findings have since revealed about the tensions students say they're facing.

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[03:45:00]

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FOSTER: Authorities have cleared out a protest encampment at California State University in Los Angeles, officials say seven people were in the encampment on Monday when law enforcement cleared it out but no one was arrested. The encampment was in place for more than 40 days, it was taken down after protesters moved to occupy several floors of a campus building last week. The university's president said the occupation put staff and students inside the building at risk.

Now, a task force at Columbia University, one of America's most prestigious schools has real disturbing instances of anti-Semitism and a hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty on campus. The task force was created months before the pro-Palestinian protests that rocked the campus earlier this year. CNN's Omar Jimenez reports on the group's findings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ESTER FUCHS, CO-CHAIR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TASK FORCE ON ANTISEMITISM: Many things are broken at Columbia, deeply broken.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Professor Esther Fuchs is among the co-chairs of Columbia University's task force on anti- Semitism. The task force was formed in November 2023 to quote "foster a community" as Columbia University President Manoush Shafiq put it where debates and disagreements are rooted in academic rigor and civil discourse.

JIMENEZ: Where are you right now in the process?

FUCHS: Questions of harassment, intimidation, hate, just pain, isolation, discrimination, every word you could think of came out from students' experiences. Jewish students' experiences at Columbia making it very clear to us that a lot of systems in place are not working for Jewish students. What we found in the listening sessions were essentially students who felt like the burden was on them to resolve it.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Professor Fuchs says they found that one professor came across what may have been a Jewish sounding name before an exam and asked that student to explain their views on the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, also that another professor told their class to avoid reading mainstream media declaring quote "it is owned by the Jews".

FUCHS: To ask a student to defend the policies of a government in Israel because they're Jewish is, I don't even have words to say how ridiculous that is but also how intimidating that is.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): For weeks Columbia University was at the focal point of nationwide protests on college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war. Some of those nationwide protests got violent, in and around Columbia's campus there were similar dynamics especially just outside campus, but at the very least there was palpable tension. Some Jewish students felt unsafe to the point they chose to leave campus in the lead up to graduation.

JIMENEZ: We also heard from Jewish students who did not feel that way who said they did feel safe on campus and we also heard from -- from Muslim and Arab students who also felt unsafe.

I know this is an anti-Semitism task force but --

FUCHS: No, no, no. This is perfectly appropriate question.

JIMENEZ: But, but how -- how do you deal with that dynamic?

FUCHES: So you know we are hoping that our recommendations will be relevant and be used to deal with all students who are feeling unsafe or discriminated against. We were asked to be the anti-Semitism task force to do the work around that.

[03:50:00]

The president tried to constitute an Islamophobia task force and could not find faculty to be on it. We would have preferred to have an Islamophobia task force right next to us doing the work with us because this is a broader issue.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): A university official told CNN they didn't get enough professor buy-in that for the administration there was a will but no willingness from those who were calling for it. FUCHS: The university has to do better, you know, if we're -- if we're

about educating which is our primary mission education and research are our primary missions, we have to do better.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Omar Jimenez, CNN, New York.

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FOSTER: The U.S. Surgeon General sounds the alarm about children's mental health and the threat posed by social media. How he wants Congress to address the issue, just ahead.

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FOSTER: The U.S. Surgeon General is urging Congress to put a warning label on social media apps much like the ones you see for cigarettes and alcohol. In the "New York Times" op-ed, Dr. Vivek Murthy argues that social media platforms are a key contributor to the mental health crisis amongst young people with teens spending several hours a day on the apps. Here's what Murthy told CNN about his push.

[03:55:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: This warning label is part of a broader strategy to help address the harms that we are seeing associated with social media for our kids. And last year, I issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health where I called for a series of measures that Congress can put in place to actually establish safety standards and require data transparency to make social media safer,

There's actually a lot that Congress can do, Congress can put in place the kind of safety standards that will protect our kids from harmful content like violence and sexual content and protect their privacy and protect them from bullying and harassment online.

Congress can also protect kids from the kind of features that would seek to manipulate their developing brains into excessive use, and these are all things that Congress can do right now. I've been encouraged by the fact that there's bipartisan interest in making social media safer and in taking action. But the bottom line is that until Congress actually does act and implement those solutions, life has not changed for kids and life has not changed for their parents.

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FOSTER: Now the Boston Celtics have written another page in the NBA record book with their 18th league championship, they beat the Dallas Mavericks 106 to 88 to win the series in five games. Jason Tatum led all scorers with 31 points, Jalen Brown added 21 points, he was named the Most Valuable Player in the finals. The Celtics finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA, they lost only three games throughout the entire playoffs

Thanks for joining me on this hour. I'm Max Foster. I'll be back though with another hour of Newsroom after the break

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