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Warning Signs For The Biden Campaign From Jewish American Voters; Interview With Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY); Deadly New Attacks In Dagestan, Russia; Key Issues For Biden And Trump In CNN Debate; Arkansas Mass Shooting Suspect Identified; Climate Protesters Disrupt Play At PGA Tournament; Cold War Nuclear Game Averted. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 23, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Their final destination, Valencia, Spain, where their caregivers are set to stay with Miranda and Plombir until they settle into their new home.

[18:00:01]

The Oceanographic de Valencia Facility, which is already home to another pair of belugas, even warming the temperature of their water to make it more comfortable for their new arrivals.

DENNIS CHRISTEN, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ZOOLOGICAL OPERATIONS/MAMMALS AND BIRDS, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: So anytime you're, you know, moving an animal from home, that it's comfortable, you know, it's adapted to into their new condition, you know, there's a lot that we have to take into consideration to really acclimate those animals. We're watching them all day today and through tonight. And so it's exciting to see how well they're doing.

ABDELAZIZ: The two celebrating their new waters with a spurt of excitement in a spark of curiosity as they begin to make new friends.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Omar Jimenez in Washington.

Tonight, no sign of President Joe Biden or his Republican challenger, former president Donald Trump. The two men are staying out of the public eye as they prepare for their first debate matchup of 2024, which is only four days away.

The candidates are taking a very different approach to how they prepare. Last night while Biden pored over research and discuss possible debate questions with a close team of advisers at Camp David, Trump was on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I look forward to Thursday. I know he's locked up in a log cabin some place. You can imagine what he's doing. There's a lot of interest, tremendous interest in the debate, and, you know, when you say prep, I think this is prepping. These people know better than anybody what they want, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And that's sort of indicative of what we've seen of the former president to this point as far as debate preparation goes. The Biden campaign, however, is hoping to reach new voters following the showdown with Trump, but a new wave of problems could threaten a key demographic Biden needs to win in several battleground states.

CNN senior reporter Isaac Dovere joins me now.

So, Isaac, can you -- what are you learning?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you look at the continuing fallout from what's going on in Gaza and the conflict there and feelings that are coming from that, it is creating a lot of problems among Jewish voters, as well as the pain and anxiety over the rise in antisemitic attacks that have been going on in the aftermath. Particularly on the left the rhetoric has been getting a lot of people upset.

That has led to some concerns that in these key battleground states where the Jewish population is larger than the margin of victory, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, that this could be yet another place where Joe Biden will have to work to pull together and hold together this very fragmented coalition that he has.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And we are showing some of the margins as compared to the Jewish population in some of those battleground states right now. On another issue, look, the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, has participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue. Obviously that horrific shooting took place years ago at this point. What more is the administration doing with the -- to connect with the Jewish community?

DOVERE: Well, look, Doug Emhoff has been a key part of this. He is the vice president's husband. He's also Jewish himself and he has been leading the efforts both on the government side with what he was doing today at the Tree of Life ceremony, but also in political outreach to other Jewish people.

I was two weeks ago in New York at a fundraiser he did at Russ and Daughters, the famous fish place in New York. And that was about reaching out to Jewish voters specifically and saying, I know there's a lot of pain. I feel it, too. That's the message that Emhoff was saying. But we need to be there for Joe Biden. He has been there for us, and making sure that he is doing all he can to try to bring people together and keep them there for Biden and Harris going into November.

JIMENEZ: And I think it's fair to say that some Republicans are sensing some blood in the water because we do have reporting that the Republican Jewish Coalition is planning to spend at least $15 million in swing states, so it'll be interesting to see if that actually translates to votes when the time comes.

But, Isaac Dovere, appreciate you being here. Thanks for bringing the reporting.

DOVERE: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right. We're following more news as well, but I also want to bring in Democratic congressman of New York, Gregory Meeks, who joins us now. He's a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and senior member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Thanks for being here. Now, look, it's no secret. I know you know Biden and Trump facing off Thursday in CNN's debate. I just want to start with President Biden. What are you looking for from him? What do you believe he needs to do to pull off a win here?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Well, look, all that President Biden has to do is to be himself, to talk about the accomplishments that he's made both domestically and internationally in a time of war and whether it's in Ukraine or over in the Gaza, what he's done and how he's brought countries together.

[18:05:04]

Talk about the way -- remind folks where we were four years ago when Trump was the president. Trump was known then, you know, prior, you know, as an individual who's a con artist, a pathological liar, and an unreliable Republican. And that's not the word that Biden has said but that's what the Republicans. That was from Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The only thing that has s changed from that, and I think that he'll point that out is that now he is a convicted con artist and a convicted pathological liar, and a convicted unreliable Republican.

And I think that that is something that is important to Americans. I think that something that will be pointed out. But he will also talk about his vision for the future, what he looks to do to make sure that the country is moving around and moving in a better way so that younger people, for example, don't have the student loans that they want to add and that we make sure that we are fixing the income of individuals moving forward. So you're talking about his accomplishment. He is talking about (INAUDIBLE) tomorrow.

JIMENEZ: And Congressman, I just want to ask, too, because I agree all of those are likely strategies he will lean into. But I also want to ask about the latest reporting from CNN's Isaac Dovere who we were just talking about here, that there are warning signs flashing over Jewish voters support for the president, which as we showed Jewish Americans make up enough of the population to be determinative in several tight battleground states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia.

I'm curious how big of a concern is this because I know it actually has split some within the Democratic Party over how they view this issue?

MEEKS: Well, I think nobody has done more for Israel during this time of crisis than Joe Biden. You know, when you look at the first president to visit Israel, doing a war time, it was Joe Biden. When you look at the attack that was hammered at Israel by first Hamas, or there's more weapons that was given to Israel for its defense. Moving forward to make sure that they were safe. When you look at the attack that was perpetrated by Iran, not only did they have the equipment necessary to knock down every, drone and missile that was sent.

But we also had some of our military folks and brought together Saudi Arabia, Jordan cooperated, Egypt, so he has clearly done and stood by Israel every step of the way.

JIMENEZ: Now, I want to shift to some of those countries you were talking about in the geopolitics realm, several sources told CNN last week that Ukraine for one has been moved to the top of the list to receive U.S. air defense capabilities, to ensure their survival. How significant and maybe even how unusual is this move by the Biden administration?

MEEKS: Well, it's very significant, you know, because of the Republican refusal to fund Ukraine over the last for about six months, Ukraine was put it into a very desperate situation. Finally, we pass the supplemental and now what Ukraine needs is air defense because we've seen during that six-month period of time the escalation by Russia, trying to destroy their infrastructure, trying to make sure that when winter comes up that the Ukrainians freeze. So they need these interceptors and they need them now.

And so he's just pushing it up so that things that are coming off the conveyor belt, it goes straight to Ukraine for their defense. And talking to those who might have been ahead on the line, that are not an immediate danger, that they will get what they have paid for, but just because of the urgency will go to Ukraine first. We must stop, you know, Russia from continuous aggression and doing what has been doing over the last two years.

And we know that it'll give the Ukrainians what they need. They will fight and they will win. And now that weapons are going back over there after that six months, we see that taking place.

JIMENEZ: And before we go, look, you are part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that just traveled to India for two days last tweak. I know you all met with Prime Minister Modi there, the Dalai Lama and others. Can you tell us just a little bit about the significance of your trip? I mean, how important are U.S.-India relations?

MEEKS: It's tremendously important, and the reason and you're talking about 1.3 billion people. But the ally that India is for the United States is absolutely important. When you look at what Joe Biden has done pulling people, pulling countries together, for example, India is an integral part of the Quad, our relationship with India, as well as South Korea and Japan, United States, and Australia.

[18:10:14]

Then you took about India also part of the trilateral agreement that's moving forward. You know, they have been key, but we have the trilateral with South Korea and Japan. But India is a key ally and key country as we make sure that we ward off the threats of China and the Indo-Pacific and working with the Philippines. That's important. So, you know, we've had that conversation and that dialogue with Prime Minister Modi, India being the world's largest democracy and the United States the oldest.

It's about democratic countries coming together and working collectively together against the autocratic countries like Russia, like China, like North Korea, like Iran. So it's the world coming together. India is a part of that and tremendously important as we move on and move together.

JIMENEZ: All right. Congressman Gregory Meeks, I appreciate you being here.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

JIMENEZ: All right. We're also following breaking news out of Russia. At least nine people had been killed and 25 injured in what appeared to be coordinated attacks by gunmen in Dagestan local authorities say. Now Russian authorities say they're starting a terror investment into what they called coordinated attacks by militants with automatic weapons. A priest was killed inside a church and a synagogue set on fire according to police.

Take a look at some of the video we've seen.

Now in a separate attack to the north, officials say gunmen fired on a police traffic post and a synagogue there was also targeted.

CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen joins me now. He's also the vice president for global studies and fellows at New America.

Peter, first, can I just get your reaction to these attacks and the nature of the information that's coming out so far.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the fact that two synagogues and a church were targeted simultaneously in different locations, I mean, I think sort of speaks for itself. Dagestan, Omar, as I'm sure, you know, is a predominantly Muslim republic of Russia. ISIS has recruited over the years thousands of Muslims from these Russian republics like Chechnya and Dagestan, which we're seeing on the map now here on screen.

You know, and also, we just saw in March that four Tajik recruits to ISIS carried out the attack on a Moscow concert venue that killed 145 people. Now, we don't know if this is ISIS. There has been no claim of responsibility so far. After the Moscow concert venue attack in which 145 people were killed, ISIS relatively quickly claimed responsibility on Telegram. That was ISIS-K which is the ISIS affiliate that's mostly based in Afghanistan, and it obviously has some freedom of movement in Afghanistan and elsewhere to carry out these kinds of attacks because of course the U.S. military presence is gone as of August 2021.

So, you know, we'll see, but I mean this appears to be a jihadist terrorist attack. There is a terrorist investigation ongoing. You know, if it's not ISIS that claims responsibility, it could be other similar Islamist groups that exist in Dagestan or Chechnya, or these other predominantly commonly Muslim republics in Russia.

JIMENEZ: Is there a reason that you may see here that why both synagogues and churches would be targeted here? Or do you see them as sort of similar targets to a particular cause?

BERGEN: Well, Omar, I would also add that it seems to me like the police was specifically targeted. So, you know, in the case of ISIS-K, you know, attacking the Moscow concert venue, why did they do that? They did that for a couple of reasons. One is Russia has long supported Syrian President Assad, who was a mortal enemy of ISIS, and Assad and ISIS have been fighting war for a long time.

And, you know, so, they -- and also Russia has, you know, of late have somewhat close relationships ironically with the Taliban which is in a war with ISIS. So there are a couple of potential reasons. So this may also not just be attacks on synagogues and churches, but also to some degree on the Russian state.

JIMENEZ: And along those lines, look, I think it's fair to say the Russian state has been under tremendous pressure for quite some time, even domestically, from not just Western sanctions, but also the war in Ukraine as well. Just do factors like that at a high level generally create an environment where we could see more internal attacks like this? I'm just curious how that might influence people who may be driven to extremist behavior.

[18:15:07]

BERGEN: Yes, I mean, Russia has been a target of Islamist terrorists for a longtime. I mean, back in 2004, Islamist terrorists killed more than 300 people at a school in Beslan in Russia. Russia has also fought two, you know, major wars in Chechnya before and after 9/11. There's a lot of animus against the Russian state by Islamist terrorists and Islamist insurgents. That's not going to go away.

And, you know, I think this is likely we still don't have a claim of responsibility. We don't know who did this, but, you know, I mean, this quacks like a duck and walks like a duck and may well be a duck, and so if it's not ISIS, or ISIS-K, it's a group very similar, likely.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Peter Bergen, really appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

BERGEN: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, we're still following a lot of other news, including a breakdown of what President Biden and former president Trump both have to do to match or exceed expectations during this week's consequential CNN presidential debate. And you won't believe how much people are paying to see another highly anticipated matchup. The next head to head between WNBA rookies Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:59]

JIMENEZ: All right, everyone, the countdown is on. Just four days to go before the first presidential debate of 2024. And right now each side calibrating expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But it's been reported that right now Crooked Joe has gone to a log cabin to study, prepare. I say he'll come out all jacked up, right?

MITCH LANDRIEU, BIDEN CAMPAIGN NATIONAL CO-CHAIR: Who knows what Donald Trump is going to do at any minute or anytime. I'm going to bet that he's going to talk over the microphone 100 times like he does because he's a bully. But the best way to fight a bully is to stand up to him and Joe Biden has done that before. He's going to do it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right. Joining me now to discuss is CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein.

Ron, good to see you. All right. First impressions, what do you think Thursday is going to look like? What are you watching for?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, we're going to hear a lot about different issues from the two candidates. I mean, Trump is certainly going to talk a lot about inflation, immigration and crime. Biden is going to talk a lot about abortion, democracy, and economic populism.

But I think the history of the debates is that the most consequential moments have not really been because one candidate bests another on a specific policy argument. It's about what the debate reveals about the character and competence of the candidates that I think has had the most impact on elections. And in this case, we have one candidate, Donald Trump, where people are going to be looking a lot about questions of character and one, in President Biden, that people are going to be looking a lot about questions of competence and capacity.

JIMENEZ: And of course, I mean, just the visual medium and the history of having televised debates as you mentioned, we've seen at points in history how it's shaped people's ideas of what a leader can be and what a leader looks like. And to your point, after months of attacking Biden's stamina and mental fitness, Trump has done a lot of that, they seem to be changing their tune in recent days. Even this morning here's one of Trump's VP contenders, Governor Doug Burgum, this morning on Biden's debate skills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DOUG BURGUM (R), NORTH DAKOTA: I have to look at the guy's run for office more than a dozen times. He's run for president four times. He's been campaigning since President Nixon was in office. This guy has got the ability and we've seen it. We've seen him in debate four years ago. We've seen him in the State of the Union this year that when he needs to he can step up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, look, I know they watch, they read. Clearly they seem to be worried that they may have lowered the bar too much and are trying to do some cleanup here. Is that your impression here? And what are the expectations you believe on both of these candidates?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I think they are -- you know, they do feel like they've gone too far, but I don't really think that's relevant. I mean, the most important thing in a debate is going to be voters' judgments about whether they think Biden is up to the job now, much less for four more years. I mean, he quelled a lot. He suppressed a lot of that concern with a strong State of the Union performance.

But that was really -- you know, that's somewhat tennis without a net, even though, I mean, there were some pushback from Republicans in the audience. I think political professionals in both parties believe the most important outcome of this debate is going to be the verdict that Americans make on Biden after watching him for 90 minutes. But Trump, you know, Trump faces, you know, serious challenges also.

He doesn't have the burden of convincing Americans to fire the incumbent. And that way he's kind of like Reagan in 1980 or Bill Clinton in 1992, where you have a majority disapproving of the incumbent president. And so it kind of -- it lessens the burden on the challenger to make a case against them. What the challenger has to do is convince voters that he is an acceptable alternative.

And on that front, Trump's challenge I think is greater than Reagan's and greater than Clinton's because voters have watched him for four years. And there are a lot of doubts about, you know, the kind of presidency that he would bring. And Trump can either alleviate those doubts or contribute to them by behaving in the way that he did in that first debate in 2020. Another performance like that I think would benefit Biden enormously.

JIMENEZ: It is interesting dynamic because it's not just an incumbent versus a challenger.

[18:25:03]

You have someone where we actually have a lot of data on how he performed in this exact job, which typically, well, it doesn't ever happen really. I want to put up the debate rules for folks so --

BROWNSTEIN: 1892.

JIMENEZ: 1892. All right. Sorry, I miss 1892. That's on me. That's on. But real quick, I want to look at the debate rules here. You know, some of the key things, no live audience, mic muted until candidate's turn to speak, obviously 90-minute debate with two commercial breaks. They're not able to bring up pre-written notes, anything like that. So look, I think the difference in dynamic here between maybe, you know, what they see when they're reading off a teleprompter or a campaign rally or an event.

How do you see the dynamic within this debate space sort of different from the way that maybe the voting population has seen them operate over the last year?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the key rule is the mic muted when you're not supposed to be talking. Now if that in fact works, and people in the -- you know, in the audience don't hear interruptions, to some extent it will protect Biden from Trump and it will protect Trump from himself because I think Trump's biggest challenge in this debate is feeding into the narrative from the Biden campaign that a second Trump term, whatever you think about the economy when he was president, would be chaos and division and confrontation and so forth.

And you know, left to his own devices, Trump might easily wander into performance that reinforces that narrative. Having the mic -- having his interruptions of Biden not heard by the audience, if Biden doesn't respond to them will allow Biden to make a more coherent argument, but will also in some ways, as I say, protect Trump from himself by preventing him from repeating the hectoring, belligerent, you know, almost unhinged performance in that first debate, which seems to encapsulate all the concerns about the chaos that swirls around him.

JIMENEZ: Yes, we will see. Ron Brownstein, thanks so much for being here. Always appreciate the time.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: Of course. Again, that's CNN presidential debate just four days away, you can watch it right here on Thursday night at 9:00 Eastern. You can also stream it on Max.

We're following a lot more stories for you tonight, though. In Saudi Arabia, the government says more than 1300 people died as millions of Muslims brave blazing temperatures for the sacred Hajj pilgrimage.

And a little bit of movement here in the United States for that heat dome smothering millions of Americans with record-breaking temperatures. We're going to tell you what to expect coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:59]

JIMENEZ: Tonight, the government of Saudi Arabia says at least 1300 people have died during this year's Hajj pilgrimage as travelers endure scorching temperatures. Every year, millions of Muslims traveled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of Islam's holy cities, but Mecca is seeing some of the hottest temperatures on record. To give you perspective, as high as 125 degrees Fahrenheit last week.

Many of those who have died were Egyptian and now the Egyptian government is moving to shut down Hajj tourism companies that are making illegal pilgrimages to Mecca and putting people at risk. We're obviously seeing the effects of heat in many places of the

world, including here in the United States. Millions of people up and down the East Coast are sweating it out under heat advisories as temperatures stay up in the red at record-breaking highs in some cases. The nation's capital was hit with triple-digit heat yesterday for the first time in eight years since 2016 and more severe weather is on the way.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa joins us now from the CNN Weather Center.

All right. So the heat is now driving dangerous thunderstorms. What are you seeing?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So that heat and humidity can fuel thunderstorms. You have that hot and humid air rises that creates tall thunderstorms. And this is what you've got. Look at all of these super cells, these little discrete storms that are cutting across Pennsylvania up in New England in this red area here. That's a tornado watch that goes until 8:00 this evening where we could find hail to the size of ping pong balls, winds up to 70 miles per hour and a couple of tornadoes.

Harford actually just got done with a tornado warning. I have family in the area. They were sending me videos of some of that -- the shelf cloud and the rotating clouds as they kind of drove past there. But again, you've got a couple of severe thunderstorm warnings up in New England. Now this firm will continue to progress east as we go through the evening and look at what it does to the temperatures.

You get a little bit of a break from the northeast to going into the Mid-Atlantic as we go into tomorrow, which is relief because right now you're still sitting at 95 degrees in D.C. It's 96 in Atlanta, 99 in Oklahoma City, it's 96 right now in Dallas. As we go into tomorrow, you can see these temperatures do start to take a break. You've got 80s from New York to Philly, to D.C. But look, that heat already creeps back in as we go into the middle of the week.

Temperatures back in the middle in upper 90s because this heat dome doesn't really go anywhere. We have the heat alerts already as we start out the work week, stretching from parts of Iowa, Nebraska, all the way down to the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida panhandle because this dome, again, just kind of nudges a little bit because of the front, but it's still kind of sitting there. So as we go through the workweek, we're still looking at 78 percent at a lower 48. That's 250 million people with high temperatures and 90 degrees or hotter.

More than 300 records could fall both daytime highs and overnight lows because you just don't get that relief at night. And you just continue to swelter. So as we start out the workweek, I mean, again, here we're back to the heat. 96 in D.C. already after only a day and a half of a break, upper 90s in Atlanta through the week, Dallas, too, temperatures in the middle and upper 90s in St. Louis. So try to stay cool and hydrated -- Omar.

[18:35:04] JIMENEZ: And I think showing the normals under what the temperatures are right now really give people some perspective on the threshold of temperatures we're looking at.

Elisa Raffa, thanks so much.

I want to go to new information in those deadly wildfires in New Mexico. The FBI is now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of, quote, "the person or persons responsible for starting the fires." Now officials say at least two people died and hundreds of homes were burned with thousands of people fleeing the flames.

You're seeing some of the video here. Governor Michelle Grisham, excuse me, spoke on CBS about the dangerous conditions. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D), NEW MEXICO: But it's been a hell of a weak here between dust, heat, flooding. These are not the only evacuations. We've got flooding evacuations in the north where the largest wildfire in the history of the United States, one of the largest wildfires in the history of the U.S. it's been really tough on the Mexicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And the mayor of Ruidoso says the town may find even more victims after the fires and the flooding that came after.

Want to bring you an update on another story we've been following. Another victim of Friday's mass shooting at an Arkansas grocery store has died as we learn new details about the gunman and why he may have carried out this attack. We're going to have more details on the story coming out after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:00]

JIMENEZ: New tonight we're learning a fourth victim has now died in that mass shooting at an Arkansas grocery store. Police say the suspect was armed with a shotgun with dozens of rounds, and that the shooting appears to be random.

CNN's Rafael Romo is following the latest developments.

Rafael, we're learning more about what happened to the victims as I understand. What's the latest?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Omar. Officials in Arkansas have published heart-wrenching details about the shooting during a press conference. Colonel Mike Hagar, secretary of Public Safety and director of the Arkansas State Police, said that the six officers who responded to the shooting were on scene less than three minutes from the time the first shot was fired and the time the suspect was down was less than five minutes after a shootout with police.

Hagar also said that the suspect identified as 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey showed up armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and a pistol and carried a bandolier with dozens of extra shotgun rounds. Colonel Hagar said that the assailant immediately began shooting victims upon arriving at the supermarket's parking lot and then proceeded into the store. Once inside the gunman fired indiscriminately at both customers and employees, according to police.

Hagar said that one of the four fatal victims identified as 23-year- old Callie Weems died after she began using her training as a nurse to render aid to a gunshot victim, and unfortunately and tragically became a victim herself. Among the four people killed is also Shirley Taylor. She would have turned 63 on July 1st. Her daughter, Angela, actually confirmed her identity to CNN and said that her mother, who loved her family and children, was the hardest working woman she knew and a great person, adding that her family is now completely lost.

In addition to Callie Weems and Shirley Taylor, 50-year-old Roy Sturgis and Ellen Shrum, who was 81, also died in the shooting according to the Arkansas State Police. A total of 13 people were injured by gunfire in the shooting Friday, including two law enforcement officers and 11 civilians.

Hagar also called the shooting a completely random, senseless act, and officials say Posey, the suspect, is expected to be charged with four counts of capital murder. He's expected to have his first court appearance on Monday.

It is unclear, Omar, if Posey has retained legal counsel at this point. Police also said that at this time the suspect's motives are unclear. Now back to you.

JIMENEZ: Some tragic updates there as well. Rafael Romo, really appreciate it.

All right. Also right now, police in Columbus, Ohio, are looking for this vehicle that they say was involved in an early morning shooting. You see it there. Ten people were shot and police say one is in critical condition. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Columbus Police.

All right, ahead climate protesters are chased down and arrested after disrupting the final play -- final round of play at PGA tournament. You could see some of it here. We're going to tell you what they yelled as they threw powder on the green.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:43]

JIMENEZ: A pretty wild seen today in the world of golf. Take a look, protesters ran out onto the 18th Green at PGA Tour Stop in Connecticut sprinkling red and white powder. The crowd cheered as security chase them down. But obviously, that's not what you typically see at these types of events.

CNN's Patrick Snell joins us now.

All right, Patrick, what do we know about what happened? What do we know about the protesters?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Yes. Hi there, Omar. Really concerning scenes. No question about that. This is a high profile PGA Tour event where video from the broadcast showing several of the five climate demonstrators wearing shirts reading "No Golf on a Dead Planet." This incident taking place at the very last hole of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.

The last three plays out on the course, including the world number one and back-to-back masters champ Scottie Scheffler. They were trying to finish off their final round, but before they could even putt out those protesters getting onto the green leaving a powdery substance on the potting surface, delaying play for several minutes as well. Police quickly removing the protesters.

Now, the PGA Tour telling us the protesters who were disrupting play were, quote, "immediately arrested." The Tour adding the powder on the green was removed, no damage to the 18th Green. They did have to move the whole for the sudden death playoff, which would follow a few minutes later between Scheffler and South Korea's Tom Kim. Scheffler going on to win the playoff sealing his sixth victory of the year.

[18:50:06]

Omar, just amazing from Scheffler, he's had 12 PGA Tour wins in his career, half of them are now coming this year alone. He's also the first player since a certain Tiger Woods, no less, to win six times in a single season, but really concerning scenes. No one wants to see those incidents. That video playing out at a very high profile golf tournament.

JIMENEZ: No doubt. I think it's safe to say Scheffler has had a very active non-golf related few months here that we've seen, this adding to that chapter.

Look, we also want to shift sports here because we also had another matchup between WNBA stars, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. It came down to the wire really. What do we know about this game? What did you see?

SNELL: Yes. Really did. Fair to say Reese and Clark had a really tense competitive rivalry when they were college players, but both have had such a powerful major impact on the sport, especially when it comes to the continued growth of women's basketball. And on Sunday, that rivalry will continue once again.

It was a week ago that Reese was called for a flagrant foul on Clark that led to much controversy, but nothing of the sort this time around. A great game. Reese putting the Sky ahead with a layup off the glass. In the final minutes, she had 25 points. Clark had 17, but passing up the shots in the closing set. Aliyah Boston missing it. Chicago comes back from 12 down with seven minutes left, and they win it 88 to 87. A highly dramatic and emotional finish.

You know, fans, Omar. have been thrilled seeing these two in action and I'm pretty sure there's going to, without question, be plenty more to come in the weeks and months ahead. And with that, I'll send it right back to you.

JIMENEZ: It's been incredible to watch both of them playing, just to see their competitive spirits from college now translating to the pros.

Patrick, thanks so much.

All right, ahead we are learning more about these specific issues President Biden plans to hammer during this week's CNN presidential debate.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:39]

JIMENEZ: CNN is delving into the shadowy world of 1980s Cold War espionage with the finale of "SECRETS AND SPIES, A NUCLEAR GAME." During a time when the world sat on the brink of nuclear disaster, this series uncovers the hidden spy wars that helped prevent catastrophe. And decades later with tensions between superpowers rising again, lessons from that era maybe just as relevant today.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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 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.

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, and 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 CNN's original series, "SECRETS AND SPIES, A NUCLEAR GAME," airs tonight at 10:00.

Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now. Let's go.