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Biden And Trump To Face Off In CNN Debate On June 27th; Detained American Paul Whelan Surpasses 2,000 Days in Russian Prison; More Than 100 Million Under Heat Alerts Across The U.S.; U.S. Assures Israel Of Its Support In Case Of War With Hezbollah; Seine River Unsafe For Olympic Swimmers; Cold War Spy Games. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 22, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:12]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Omar Jimenez.

We are now just five days away from the CNN presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump. Both candidates are getting ready in their own ways. For Biden, he's holding intensive discussions and preparations with trusted aides at Camp David all weekend. Meanwhile, Trump is skipping the traditional debate prep for now and spending his Saturday on the campaign trail. Moments ago, he spoke to a gathering of Christian conservatives in Washington before traveling to a Philadelphia rally tonight, which is what we are expecting.

Now, Thursday's debate could be a pivotal moment for both campaigns as the latest FOX News poll shows a neck and neck race too close to call.

We have team coverage. Eva McKend is at the Faith and Freedom Conference where Trump just spoke. But I want to start with Kevin Liptak, who's got a little bit more on how President Biden is preparing for the debate.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are now on day two of debate camp out in Camp David, the presidential retreat in Western Maryland, and certainly President Biden is expecting an intensive couple of days. We really don't expect to see him before Thursday when he heads down to Atlanta for that debate.

And I think that does show you the stakes that the Biden team really views behind this debate. They know that they can afford an underwhelming performance and certainly President Biden is ready to go into these preparations sessions eager to certainly hold Trump accountable for some of the things that he's said over the last several months on the campaign trail.

But I think he also really feels the need to put in a punchy performance, to show an aggressive side of himself, to go after some of these attacks that the Biden team are expecting certainly on President Biden's record, but also on his fitness for office, on members of his family. And so you do sort of see in the preparations this expectation that this will be sort of a high-stakes moment for the campaign.

Now the way we understand it is that these preparations will begin somewhat informally. The president has been going through binders that his aides have prepared that sort of contrast his position with Trump's positions, some potential questions, some potential answers. And so they'll be discussing those batting around ideas for retorts, for zingers. Eventually this will all culminate in mock debates that the president will engage in before he heads down there to Atlanta.

I think if you boil it down, the goal for this debate is to really provide a contrast for viewers who may not necessarily have been engaging on this election until Thursday night. They really do want to point out this contrast that this is a choice between President Trump and President Biden to make that contrast very clear, but I do think it's also interesting to look at what President Biden plans to do after the debate.

He's planning to head directly from Atlanta to Raleigh, North Carolina. He'll hold a campaign event there on Friday. North Carolina is the state that Biden lost by the narrowest margin in 2020 and it's certainly a state his campaign wants to put in his category this time around. Then he'll head to New York for a series of fundraisers. We did get fundraising numbers for May yesterday. The Trump team out- fundraised President Biden for the second month in a row but -- and certainly they do want to pick up that campaign cash advantage that they have been enjoying for so long in this race -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Both campaigns raising tens of millions of dollars and it's not really even close at this point.

Eva McKend, I want to bring you in because you're in D.C. at the gathering of Christian conservatives where Trumped just spoke. So what are the former president have to say?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, Omar, he's still up on stage right now behind me. I would say the most significant takeaway thus far for this particular crowd is how he talked about abortion. He essentially is reminding them of his record. He noted that it was under his presidency, he called the Supreme Court justices he appointed the three, said that they had courage when they overturned Roe versus Wade.

We know that that is a critical issue for this evangelical crowd. Some of whom were not so supportive of the former president initially, but supported him really as a strategic choice, and they were richly rewarded. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, thanks to these justices, we have also achieved what the pro-life movement fought to get for 49 years and we've gotten abortion out of the federal government and back to the states, the way everybody and all legal scholars always said it should be. Nobody thought that would happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [15:05:10]

MCKEND: Now we know that the former president is also thinking about the CNN debate next week. He joked with this crowd asking them how many of them would be watching next week. He is sort of trying to suggest, I mean through his team that he is not really engaged in debate prep. They don't use the debate prep phrase what happened.

But he is in fact preparing, Omar. We know that he has held over a dozen policy discussions with many of the people that he is considering as his vice president. We know that he is expected to emphasize this issue of inflation, the economy and the cost of living as he attacks President Biden on the debate stage next week -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Eva McKend, thank you. Kevin Liptak, thank you as well.

Let's talk more about this with Alan Schroeder. He's a professor emeritus at the Northeastern University School of Journalism and the author of "Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail."

So, Alan, welcome. Based on the title of your book, "Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail," how do you see that in application to these two candidates that we're expecting to see this week?

ALAN SCHROEDER, AUTHOR, "PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: RISKY BUSINESS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL": Well, you know, everything in a presidential campaign is so under the control of the campaigns. And when you get to a debate, they don't control it. It's a live television event. You have no idea what's going to happen. You may have a plan, but you don't know what the other guy is going to do. So it really is a moment when they kind of, you know, have to freelance a little bit here and get away from their script.

JIMENEZ: And you put it perfectly that obviously they're working within a framework of rules and some notable changes to the rules of this debate. No live audience, mics turned off if it's not their turn to speak, there will be two commercial breaks. I mean, basically no props or pre-written notes, you're seeing some of the graphics on the screen there.

How do you see those rules actually shaping the dynamics of this matchup? Because you're right, this is not a campaign rally.

SCHROEDER: Yes, only in 1960 where presidential debates minus a live audience, ever since they've had a live audience, you know, I don't think it's going to make too much difference to people watching. I think the visuals of this debate will look pretty familiar and in comparable to past debates. But I think it gives Biden certainly, he's the one that didn't want the live audience that gives him a kind of a comfort factor in knowing that he doesn't have to worry about, you know, Trump enthusiasts sort of interrupting or being too boisterous for his liking.

But yes, definitely the mic being off when that person is not speaking, that's something new. And of course that's an outgrowth of the 2022 debates when Trump really was speaking over the moderators, over Biden. And so it's an attempt to really control that.

JIMENEZ: And let's talk about that a little bit because I think one of the things that people are looking for in this moment is that President Trump, I think it's no secret, has been known to go off script, has been known to at times go down -- go on tangents. Do you use see the rules that are in place right now affecting him maybe a little bit more significantly than President Biden or do you think it will affect both in a similar way?

SCHROEDER: I think it affects both of them in a very similar way. You know, they both have negative perceptions that they're going to attempt to overcome in the debate. And, you know, each one is going to try to bring those negative perceptions about the other to the forefront during the program. But, you know, it's really a great opportunity. It's really a great chance before tens of millions of viewers to kind of give people a chance to look at you freshly and a chance to look at you in a new light. And particularly those voters who don't pay regular daily attention to politics. That's who this debate is really aimed at on the part of the candidates.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and that's been what -- part of what the Biden campaign has talked about to this point that they were hoping that as people pay attention more, they might be able to pick up a little bit more momentum in the polls and all things considered, we know a majority of voters don't typically pay attention until we're in the final stretch. But of course, this is a really big moment. As you mentioned this sort of draw people in.

I want to talk about the game before the game essentially because, look, Trump has called -- is now calling Biden a worthy debate opponent, promised not to underestimate him. This, of course, comes after months of really railing against Biden's mental fitness for the job. Do you think Trump and his allies have set the bar too low for Biden and they're trying to clean this up?

[15:10:01]

Like what are the dangers in doing so? And do you think those dangers are founded?

SCHROEDER: Yes. They've set a very low bar and of course, if you're a debater, that's what you want. You want to go in with the lowest of expectations so that all you have to do is slightly better than, you know, what the negative wrap was. So I think it was kind of a weird way to do pre-debate spin. There's kind of a formula that candidates and campaigns typically follow. The Trump people are very unorthodox in every respect including pre-debates spin.

So they may be trying to walk it back now, but this comes after literally years of creating a stereotype of Biden. We'll see if that's the Biden that shows up for the debate, but, you know, if it isn't, then Biden is going to look pretty good by comparison.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Look, this is on television and as you know better than anyone, the dynamics of a television debate, it can come down to simply how someone appears and how someone answers a question almost just as much as the actual substance of the answer that they're giving. And so I want to get into a little bit of the visual here because after a coin flip, President Biden's campaign chose for him to be at the right podium position. I'm talking left, right, right podium position.

What is the strategy there as opposed to wanting to get the final word?

SCHROEDER: You know, I'm not sure there's a visual strategy as much as there is a strategy of that's where Biden is more comfortable, and that's where he was in the 2020 debates. And so I think it's just a question of he's been there before. You know, you just don't want any element of surprise in a debate. And so anything they can do to protect him or to minimize that surprise, even if it's something as simple as which side of the stage do you stand on, that's what they want to do. And so I think it's just a question of he's there because that's where he feels more comfortable.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And as we talk about those impressions, obviously the other literal side of the coin is that Trump is able to have the last word as part of this debate and we'll see if that has an impact over people's impressions of how the debate goes.

Alan Schroeder, really appreciate you being here. Thanks for your time and insight.

SCHROEDER: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right. And for everyone else, if you haven't heard, you're hearing it now, tune in to see the CNN presidential debate right here on CNN, June 27th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and streaming on Max.

Still ahead today, CNN's exclusive interview with an American who has been wrongfully detained in Russia for more than 2,000 days. What Paul Whelan is demanding of the White House to secure his release. Plus feeling the heat, I'm sure you all are feeling it. More than 100 million Americans under extreme heat alerts today. The cities that could see record-breaking highs.

And a party for our prince. Prince William caught shaking it off -- how could you not -- at Taylor Swift's Eras concert in London. Her royal shout-out celebrating the prince's 42nd birthday. We'll show you what we got.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:40]

JIMENEZ: Welcome back. In an exclusive interview with CNN, detained American Paul Whelan is demanding action from the White House as he marked another grim milestone in Russian custody. 2,000 days for espionage charges he denies. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN, AMERICAN DETAINED IN RUSSIA: The U.S. needs to go out and do something. You know, fill up Guantanamo Bay with Russian officials, arrest Russian spies, do something that makes the Kremlin sit up and take notice and say, OK, yes, right, now it's time that we are going to get Evan and Paul back and then we want back what you've got, you know, of hours. And we'll call it a day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now he referred to Evan, that's Evan Gershkovich. But that's Paul Whelan on your screen there. He was arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Since his arrest, Whelan has been declared wrongfully detained by the United States State Department. The State Department issued a statement on Whelan saying 2,000 days is far too long for Paul to be wrongfully detained in Russia. Our hearts go out to Paul and his family who feel the pain of separation in a way that very few people have experienced.

CNN's Jenny Hansler joins me now.

So, Jenny, what else did Paul Whelan have to say?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, he seemed incredibly disheartened and in disbelief over the amount of time that he has now spent in Russian custody. He noted that when you're in high school that's four years, you're in college, that's four years, and these five and a half years in Russian detention have far surpassed those kind of big life milestones.

The other thing he told me about was just the grim, grim conditions that he is being forced to live in in this remote prison camp out in Mordovia. It's about a day's drive from Moscow. He works there at a clothing factory that is inside of this prison. This is what else he told me about that camp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHELAN: Everything is dusty and dirty and nasty. And, you know, you do everything you can just to stay cool and just to stay clean. The food we're served is horrible. You know, we really do rely on personal purchases to stay healthy. You know, medical cares is nil. There's no dental care at all. It's -- you know, it's the worst environment you can imagine. I mean, it's unbelievable that anyone could even consider this human rights. It's nothing that you can get used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:20:07]

HANSLER: So Paul is really calling the U.S. to do everything they can to end this plight of his and to bring him and Evan Gershkovich home. You heard him suggesting some ideas for these tough things that they could do to make the Russians pay attention. Here's what we know the U.S. is doing. We know that they have put

sanctions on some Russian officials who have been involved in the wrongful detention of Americans. They have also put forward what they described as a serious and substantial proposal to the Russians to bring Paul and Evan home. To this date the Russians have not accepted that proposal. We don't even know if they've seriously considered it, but the U.S. government says they are working every day to try to bring these Americans back home -- Omar,

JIMENEZ: And Jenny, just before you go, I want to ask because, I mean, you've spoken to Paul Whelan before and obviously we're marking this milestone 2,000 days. Have you noticed any changes in his demeanor over the time he's been jailed and at the different points that you've spoken to him?

HANSLER: It's a great question, Omar. Most of the time he is in surprisingly strong spirits. There was a point when we spoke right around the five-year anniversary of his detention, where he seemed incredibly depressed and downtrodden. And he did acknowledge he was in a really dark headspace in conversations that we've had after that. But it is really remarkable because he does say he tries to stay positive every day.

He says he wakes up and just tells himself it's another day. He'll sing the national anthems of his four countries that he's from. So he really tries to keep his spirits up throughout this ordeal --Omar.

JIMENEZ: Really appreciate you bringing us this exclusive reporting, but also just to hear his voice in that perspective. Really powerful. Appreciate it.

All right. Coming up more than 1,000 Muslims are feared dead from heat exhaustion while making their Hajj pilgrimage in scorching temperatures. And then here in the United States, we're going to tell you how you can stay safe here in the heat as millions of Americans brace for record-breaking highs. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:29]

JIMENEZ: New today, Iowa's governor issuing a disaster proclamation in response to severe flooding in 21 counties. Strong storms brought excessive rain starting Friday night and a flash flood emergency was put in place after a levee failure on the Rock River. Now, the city of Rock Valley is evacuating some residents, including a nursing home over flood concerns. And it's not over yet. More heavy rain is expected to hit Iowa later today.

And also staying within the weather world, we're also following a dangerous heat wave that's been growing across the United States, leaving more than 100 million Americans under heat alerts this weekend. You see the temperatures here. Some soaring into the upper 90s, even triple-digits there. And for the first time this year, the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for New York City, which is where we find CNN correspondent Polo Sandoval from Brooklyn. All right. Polo, what are New York officials doing to help? I see

people taking advantage of the water behind you.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You mentioned close to 100 million people that are affected by these heat advisories, Omar. Behind me, the tiniest of them. This is how they stay as cool as they can with the threat of triple-digit temperatures around the northeast throughout different parts of the country. We've seen people of all ages coming here and just trying to find a way to stay cool.

Really the best place to be. If you're not in the water, it might be on the water, right, because you mentioned those advisories are in place and in terms of what we've seen just yesterday alone nearby Newark Airport, hitting triple-digits, hitting hundred degrees for the first time this year, just yesterday. We're going to have to see if that happens today. Potentially again tomorrow as well.

In terms of what officials are doing, they are opening up those cooling centers in cities like New York and other parts of the region, basically offering people, especially those without air conditioning, a cool place to actually be able to be comfortable because it's a horrible combination of not just high heat, but also of high humidity as well, that it's really a big concern, right, especially for the elderly, especially for those people that are most vulnerable.

Washington, D.C. today, inching closer to triple digits and because of that, the mayor intentionally extending that heat emergency the rest of the weekend and potentially into next week as well -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Polo, stay dry out there. That water is awfully close to you so keep an eye out there. Appreciate you being on. Of course.

All right, I want to get a wider look at this with meteorologists Elisa Raffa who's been tracking all of it from the CNN Weather Center.

All right. Elisa, obviously we know it's hot, but could this break heat records?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've seen daily records falling over the last couple of days. It looks like we could find some of the earliest 100-degree temperatures. That was the case in Newark yesterday, like Polo was mentioning. I mean, look at the heat alerts. You've got New York, Philadelphia, all included in these heat alerts, down to D.C., Cleveland, and over in -- toward Chicago as well.

When you look at the heat alerts over the last month, you could see how they really ramp up from the middle of June showing where we have this heatwave really start and it is early in the season for this. You can see that it is above average from where we were last summer as far as number of people in heat alerts. Just the other day we had almost 120 million people under the threat of some of this excessive heat.

As we go through the next couple of days, we're looking at more than 80 percent of the lower 48 still with sweltering temperatures over 90 degrees. More than 250 record warm temperatures could fall. That's daytime highs. And overnight lows most of which are overnight low temperatures. We just don't get that relief at night.

[15:30:06]

Here's a look at some of the highest for today. 95 in Nashville, 95 in St. Louis, 91 up in Detroit. Temperatures in the 90s stretching down to Atlanta, temperatures up near 100 degrees in Washington, D.C. That would be the first time that D.C. hits a triple-digit since 2016. It has been 2,860 days since Washington, D.C. has had a 100 degree temperature. They can hit that today, maybe even again tomorrow.

Look at the temperatures up near 100 in D. C. Richmond, Virginia, even Philadelphia temperatures in the upper 90s through Saturday and Sunday. Notice the temperatures do start to come down as we go into Monday we'll have a cold front come through that takes these temperatures back down into the 80s. So some relief from the heat there. But again, we're not really seeing the relief at night.

Overnight low temperatures, middle and upper 70s, could be looking at an overnight low of 80 degrees in Washington, D.C. That's really problematic for people that don't have access to air conditioning. We've got the excessive heat risk really lingering as we go into Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. You can see it really focusing for parts of the Central Plains as we start out the workweek -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Elisa Raffa, thanks for getting all that together for us. Appreciate it.

Meanwhile, scorching heat is also producing profoundly tragic conditions at this year's Hajj pilgrimage with nearly 500 deaths confirmed. CNN has learned two Americans are among those who have died amid temperatures that soared to 120 degrees. An estimated 1.8 million Muslim worshippers are journeying to the holy city for Hajj this year, an annual pilgrimage.

Earlier, my colleague Fredricka Whitfield spoke with the daughter of two Americans who passed away while on their pilgrimage to Mecca. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAIDA WURIE, PARENTS DIED IN HAJJ PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA: Someone from the U.S. embassy did advise that natural causes could have been due to a heat stroke which based on the temperature people were saying it was over 110 degrees. There are millions of people. They have to walk long hours. So it was more than likely a heat stroke for both of my parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And the Saudi government says more than 2700 people were treated for heat stroke and advised pilgrims against those -- making the pilgrimage against performing the Stoning of the Devil ritual between certain hours.

Now, look, this intense heat is extremely dangerous and can be especially in prolonged periods but many suffering from heat-related illnesses may not even realize it until it's too late.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has more on what to watch for when the temperatures rise.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, simply put, we're starting to talk about temperatures that for a lot of people are just outside of human survivability. I mean, it's hard to sort of comprehend, but the body can keep up to a certain point. Then after that, especially if you have underlying illness, it can be a real problem.

There are three main things that sort of happen as the body is trying to keep up. You're starting to divert blood towards the skin to try and cool that blood. But as that happens, you're taking blood away from other organs in the body, including the gut. It's part of the reason you start to feel nauseated when it's really hot outside and eventually that your gut can start to leak toxins into your body, which can cause organ failure.

Simply being dehydrated from siphoning that blood to the skin, losing your fluids through sweat, that can put a significant strain on your heart, especially if you have underlying heart disease. And you can also get bad enough dehydration to cause kidney failure as well. So all these things are sort of happening simultaneously in an effort to cool you down. But if they can't keep up, ultimately they can make you very sick or even die.

Keep in mind when you sweat, if it's very humid outside, your sweat is not going to be as effective at cooling the body. Also, people start to get very confused when it gets hot outside as a result of the dehydration. So you may start to make poor decisions as well. One thing to keep in mind is that typically at nighttime, the temperatures will drop and the body can get some reprieve.

But when you look at some of the temperatures over there, you're talking 93 degrees possibly even at night. So there really is no rest for people. Even here in the States, obviously we're talking about significant heat and there's all sorts of advice on what you should do when it gets really hot outside. Try and get inside obviously. Try and get into air-conditioning.

One of the biggest things that people don't do a good job of is simply staying hydrated. You need to be drinking about a cup of water every 20 minutes and really that consistent water drinking is important as opposed to chugging a lot of water and then not drinking for a long period of time. Try and keep up with your electrolytes as well. That doesn't necessarily mean salt tablets, but try and keep up with your electrolytes in general.

Two more things I want to point out. Heat stroke versus heat exhaustion. These terms get thrown around a lot. Heat exhaustion is less severe. Skin is typically cool and clammy, person is heavily sweating, the pulse is typically a little weak.

[15:35:06] Heat stroke is worse and basically you stopped sweating. The body is starting to shut down. The heart is really pumping hard so someone may have actually a strong pulse when they're in the throes of heat stroke.

Finally, just look at what has happened over the nearly past 40 years, 36 years. The number of heat-related deaths have gone up 74 percent. So it's getting hotter. People are paying the price more and more. So please pay attention, get inside as much as you can, and take care of yourself.

JIMENEZ: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you as always.

All right. Coming up, despite growing tensions over the war in Gaza, new details on how the Biden administration plans to fully support Israel if war breaks out on their northern border. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:30

JIMENEZ: At least 52 people are killed or missing following two airstrikes in Central Gaza today. That's according to Palestinian officials. Now the Israeli military says its fighter jets targeted Hamas military infrastructure in the area around Gaza City. And just as Israel has increasingly been at odds with the U.S. over the war in Gaza, the Biden administration is now offering reassurances in the event of a full-blown war with Hezbollah on Israel's northern border.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem.

So, Paula, why was the show of support so important especially at this time?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, this has come to us from senior U.S. official saying that if there is this all-out war then there would be security assurances from the U.S. towards Israel with that war.

Now it's significant because over recent days there has been a fairly public spat between the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Biden administration officials. Just on Tuesday, Netanyahu said it was inconceivable that the Biden administration was withholding weapons to Israel, which Biden and officials immediately rebuffed saying they didn't know what he was talking about.

He doubled down on Friday and said it once again that only a trickle of weapons was coming through. So there has been this very public showing of disagreement between the two sides. But the U.S., there was an Israeli delegation in the U.S. this week and U.S. officials have said that if it does come to an all-out war, then they will fully support their ally, pointing out there won't be U.S. boots on the ground. They will not be deploying U.S. troops, but that they will be supporting Israel in what it needs -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, and Paula, I also want to ask about Israel today also dropped flyers across Gaza with pictures of hostages on them in an attempt really to try and gather more information on their whereabouts. We haven't seen this this tactic before, I don't believe. What more do we know about this?

HANCOCKS: So this is a new tactic. I mean, we have seen Israel dropped flyers over Gaza, but it's always been as a warning, telling people to move from a certain area because there was going to be a military operation in that area. This is more intelligence gathering, information gathering. The flyers themselves have pictures of a number of the hostages. And in Arabic it says, if you have any information effectively, tell us, saying there could be a hostage right next to you. Look around you carefully.

So it is a new tactic. The IDF says it's part of their intelligence gathering and their intelligence efforts when it comes to trying to find out where the hostages are, really encouraging Palestinians on the ground in Gaza to give any information that they have saying that if you want your families to be safe, then you should pass information on to the Israeli military.

Now it's unknown how successful or not it will be, but it is a new tactic that Israel is trying to get any more information on where its hostages may be held at this point. Clearly, trying different tactics at a time when the ceasefire-hostage deal really does appear to be in complete limbo -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Paula Hancocks, thank you so much.

Coming up, it is a murky question for the Paris Olympics. Will the Seine River be clean enough to swim in? Contamination levels show e. Coli levels are more than three times higher. What's needed for good water quality?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you swim in that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not a chance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that's a hard pass?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a hard pass. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:54]

JIMENEZ: Cue the dad dance, people.

(MUSIC)

He may be turning 42 but he's clearly going to shake it off. His Royal Highness Prince William cutting a rug at the Taylor Swift concert. How could you not? Some would say she was cheer captain, he was on the bleachers. And if you were thinking they were never, ever, ever, getting back together, you're wrong. Prince William and two of his children, Princess Charlotte and Prince George, grabbed a selfie with Taylor back stage. And I don't know about you, but I bet he was feeling 22.

Swift's Eras Tours is at Wembley Stadium in London. And she posted the photos with a caption for William's birthday, "Happy Birthday, mate. London shows are off to a splendid start." And you can see Travis Kelce there sneaking in on the selfie love in the back. I would do the same thing. You got to get in that selfie if you're in that room. So much fun.

We're also following some other stuff across Europe, including the Seine River in Paris, France. It might be a beautiful tourist attraction, but swimming inside the river has been banned for more than 100 years due to its high levels of e. Coli bacteria.

[15:50:09]

Now French officials are now scrambling to ensure the water is safe enough to swim in before the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. The clock is ticking.

CNN's Derek Van Dam has more.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The race is on to clean up the crown jewel of the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games. We're talking about the River Seine where this iconic river will host the swimming portion of the triathlon and also the opening ceremonies. Of course, this is the first time that opening ceremonies in Olympic history have ever taken place outside of an Olympic stadium. So that's saying something.

But this isn't a race that has to do with sports. It actually has to do with cleaning up pollution levels, namely e. Coli, which have been to dangerously high for the athletes to actually swim in the river. We know that this has a lot to do with the rain that has fallen in France. In fact, anywhere across the country of France, we've had roughly between 120 percent to 200 percent above-average rainfall over the past three months.

And of course, that seeps down into the local streams and eventually into the River Seine, and that can bring along certain pollutants with it as well. Now, despite authorities' best efforts, they've thrown $1.5 billion U.S. to help clean the River Seine for the upcoming Olympic Games. But there are still reports of dangerously high e. Coli levels.

Now, I asked some of the local residents and tourists on the street, this is in the Trocadero leading up to the Eiffel Tower, whether or not they would swim in the river themselves. Have a listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: Some of the swimming events actually occur on the River Seine. Would you swim in that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not a chance. No.

VAN DAM: So that's a hard pass?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a hard pass. I'm not doing it. Not doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: Now swimming has been banned on the River Seine for over 100 years. So it's going to be nothing short of a miracle for the river to be cleaned up enough to where it is considered safe for these athletes to compete.

Well, time will tell and we're on bated breath whether or not this will happen. Of course, the clock is ticking and we are quickly approaching the games. So we certainly see that the race is on to clean up the River Seine.

JIMENEZ: We will see. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

And as spies worked in the shadows and world's leaders dealt with tensions on the global stage, the paranoia of the Cold War brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. Now, decades later, the lessons learned from the Cold War are still playing a role in the current state of geopolitics.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fall of 1983 was a particularly tense moment in U.S.-Soviet relations. Hardliner and former KGB chief Yuri Andropov was wrapping up his first year in office while Ronald Reagan delivered his famous speech describing the USSR as an evil empire just months prior.

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: To ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding, and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

GOLODRYGA: In September, the Kremlin would face global condemnation after shooting down a South Korean civilian airliner. And by November, the West was preparing to deploy cruise missiles in Europe. All of this culminating in an annual NATO nuclear exercise known as Able Archer. The exercise fed into Andropov's offs paranoia that the Reagan administration was actively preparing for war. Potentially even using nuclear weapons in a first strike scenario.

NINA KHRUSHCHEVA, PROFESSOR, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT THE NEW SCHOOL: His idea is that the West is out to get us.

GOLODRYGA: That paranoia disclosed to the West by Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer who was an agent for British intelligence. KHRUSHCHEVA: Both sides were very, very afraid that the nuclear war

they've been warning about for decades now is almost there coming to fruition.

GOLODRYGA: Now, more than three decades after the Cold War ended, another former KGB agent, driven in part by that same paranoia over Western intentions and perceived threats, launched an unprovoked and devastating hot war in Ukraine. And once again, like his Soviet predecessors Vladimir Putin has amped up his nuclear threats against the West.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Putin has made over nuclear threats against Europe.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through text translation): This is not a bluff.

GOLODRYGA: The Able Archer exercises would go forward that November but were quickly followed by a ratcheting down of any perceived provocations and threats from the U.S. Thanks in part to Gordievsky's valuable warnings and intel.

[15:55:02]

KHRUSHCHEVA: They may be Gordievsky's existing or maybe not.

GOLODRYGA: The appointment in 1985 of Mikhail Gorbachev as the new secretary of the Soviet Union would later lead to continued de- escalation in tensions between the USSR and the U.S.

KHRUSHCHEVA: A nuclear confrontation is a very, very real threat because if both sides think that the other side is willing and ready to do anything that's one step away from a disaster.

GOLODRYGA: Nuclear war was ultimately averted in 1983. The hope is that the same can happen in 2024.

Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: And the finale of the CNN Original Series, "SECRETS AND SPIES, A NUCLEAR GAME" airs tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

All right. Still to come, the historic CNN presidential debate just five days away. How both President Biden and Donald Trump are preparing for it, next.

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