Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Faces New Wave Of Democratic Defections; Trump Returns To Campaign Trail After Assassination Attempt; Israel Confirms It Struck Houthi Military Targets Inside Yemen; 1,800+ Flights Canceled Globally Today As Tech Outage Recovery Continues; Secret Service Ramped Up Security At Trump's First Rally Since Shooting & Around Mar-a-Lago; WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich Sentenced To 18 Years In Prison; Julia Ioffe, Puck News Washington Correspondent, Discusses Gershkovich Sentence. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired July 20, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "BREAKING NEWS".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:00:05]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. has a long and bloody history when it comes to political violence, but after the attempt on Donald Trump's life, where does America go from here?

This week, on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER", CNN's Sara Sidner examines the history of these attacks and the motivations behind them. The all-new episode airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

Hi, there. Thanks for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We do have breaking news at the top of this hour, Israel says it has struck Houthi military targets inside Yemen. That was earlier today. This is being confirmed by the Israelis.

The Houthis, meanwhile, say that Israel struck a -- an oil storage and power station in Yemen city of Hodeidah.

It comes a day after the Houthis claimed a drone attack on Tel Aviv. CNN's -- we will have much more in just a moment.

We are going to go to our CNN White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez, who is at the -- is with the president in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. President Biden is pressing ahead with his plans to return to the campaign trail next week, despite, Priscilla, these growing calls for him to end this reelection bid.

As you and others have reported, this growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers, 35, you can see them right there on the screen publicly urging him to step aside. There are a dozen new names, a dozen New Democrats on Friday alone. The latest announcement coming just the last hour. But Priscilla, Biden now insisting that he is staying in the race, and a source says that he is seething at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, since some of her closest allies are joining in these calls. What more are you learning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There is no doubt that it has been a challenging week for the president and his campaign as they continue to receive these incoming letters and messages from allies and Democratic lawmakers who say that he should step aside.

Now, the president, of course, had been preparing for a week on the campaign. Earlier this week, he was in Nevada, where he was working to shore up black support as well as Latino support.

And it was just before one of his events before a crowd of Latino voters that it was announced that he had tested positive for COVID, sidelining him at a time where Democratic lawmakers have implored his campaign that they want to see him out more often and see him engaging with voters, because there is so much concern about whether he has the bigger to be the Democratic candidate.

So, the president, over the course of the last several days, has been self-isolating here at his residence in Delaware. Now, he has been taking phone calls and he is engaged, according to campaign and White House officials, but it certainly has made it even more difficult at a time where the Republican Convention was ongoing and there have been more and more letters from Democratic lawmakers asking him to withdraw from the race. Now, we heard directly from the Biden campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon on the airwaves yesterday, where she said it has been a tough few weeks.

She acknowledged that in some cases, there was -- the former -- President Biden was slipping in the polls up against former President Donald Trump. But also acknowledged that youth have already been hardened among voters, and that was the case that she was making for why the president is staying in the race.

But again, he is here in Delaware, where he is with his closest inner circle as he continues to deliberate on the next steps. The campaign, saying that he will be back on the campaign trail this week, once he recovers from covid.

We should also note that the vice president has stayed behind the president, defending him at every turn, including on a phone call with donors yesterday. That is an area where the campaign has had some difficulty in raking in those big dollar checks.

Today, she is also going to be at a fundraiser in Massachusetts. Aides tell me that there is no daylight between the two this campaign is plowing ahead, even as they continue to face mounting pressure.

Alex?

MARQUARDT: Plowing ahead, that is certainly what we're hearing from the Biden campaign. Priscilla Alvarez, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with the president. Thanks very much.

Let's talk more about the state of the 2024 presidential race. I'm joined now by Brian Bennett, who is a senior White House correspondent for Time.

So, Brian, thank you so much for being with us.

What do you make of the president's apparent determination, as Priscilla was just saying, to really press forward with this reelection bid, get back on the campaign trail, despite these growing calls for him to step aside.

BRIAN BENNETT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, TIME: So, the president is dug in and has really been decided to stay in the race, and I've been talking to some of his close aides over the last 24 hours while he's spending the weekend in Rehoboth at his beach house.

He is reflecting on some of the criticism that's coming in and the calls for him to step aside, but really, watching president -- and watching former President Trump's speech on Thursday night has convinced him, and some of his closest campaign aides that even though the race is tight and the numbers are dug in and they are trailing, they think this is winnable because they felt like Trump's turn to vitriol at the end of his speech was an example of a lack of discipline that Trump has shown in the past, and they think that creates an opening for them going forward.

[13:05:18]

MARQUARDT: So, from the people you've been speaking with, they believe that this narrative that has taken hold since the CNN debate a couple weeks ago that he needs to step aside. They think that they can quash that narrative and turn it around?

BENNETT: They are going to try, and they're trying to now. He has sent out his close ally, Senator Chris Coons from Delaware, to talk to other senators to try to calm the waters. Jen O'Malley Dillon, senior campaign official, has been on the phone with people trying to convince them what the path is going forward.

One of the things that she points to is the tremendous union support and the face-to-face interactions that union members have with other union members as they get ready for mail in ballots to start in September.

MARQUARDT: What do you make of these Pelosi allies, acolytes, who have come out publicly, while she has remained rather quiet, calling for him to step down?

BENNETT: So, it's possible we could see even more people coming out over the next two weeks, which would put more pressure on President Biden to drop out. What I've been told is President Biden is going to be 100 percent in until he is out.

So, he is going to keep his apparatus going. He's going to try to keep his campaign motivated when it comes to Pelosi. I mean, he is frustrated because he thought he had tamped down the calls for him to step down in the July 4th weekend. Then, she came out and said his decision hadn't been made and kept the door open.

So, that is something that internally, they are trying to work on. But I'm told that this weekend, when he's spending time in Rehoboth, in his beach house, just off the Atlantic coast, a place where he goes for reflection and respite with his family, that he's going to be taking all this input coming in and reflecting on it and thinking about the path forward and what he needs to do.

MARQUARDT: You have a new piece in Time that I want to share with our viewers. It has a headline. "It's Trump's Race to Lose." The then go on to write that "If it's now Trump's race to lose, he is still perfectly capable of doing so. Polling shows that a significant section of America is dug in on their dislike for Trump."

So, do you think that that dislike for Trump is what's driving Biden's determination to stay in this race? Does this give Democrats hope that they can eventually win, whether Biden stays on the ticket or not?

BENNETT: So, it's given hope to Biden and a few senior campaign officials that he can still bring this out. A large number of Democrats doubt that. So, that's a major thing. But what they believe is that Trump has a lot of weaknesses, that a lot of opinions about Trump are dug in, and that they are going to be able to capitalize that in the next three months before voters go to the polls.

MARQUARDT: I'm asking about one more major player, former President Barack Obama, also silent. How much does that silence tell us? Because he is not saying Joe drop out, but nor is he saying Joe keep going.

BENNETT: So, Obama's role in this is important, and he was close to George Clooney, who wrote that op-ed in the New York Times that was really devastating for Biden's party support. And I think that's an open question.

We're looking at the timetable now. Joe Biden has about two weeks before he really has to make his decision if he's going to drop out, make his decision clear that he's going to do that. Because the week of August 1st to August 7th is when they are going to have to cement the delegate vote and get the formal nomination information to the -- to Ohio -- State of Ohio, so, the ballots can be printed.

So, I think, watching what President Obama does, both in public and behind the scenes over the next two weeks is going to be really important.

MARQUARDT: That calendar so critical. And now that the RNC is behind us, the eyes are back on the Biden campaign. Brian Bennett, thank for the time. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

BENNETT: Yes. Good to be with you.

MARQUARDT: Now, for the first time, former President Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, they're going to be taking their case directly to the voters together when they headline a rally later today in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and that's where we find CNN's Kristen Holmes.

So, Kristen, this is a big day in a state that is critical for both the Trump and the Biden campaigns. What are we expecting to see from this, this new ticket?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, we've already seen thousands of people in line outside waiting to get in. They just started letting in visitors, even though he's not going to speak for another couple of hours. But the big question is, what an actual Trump-Vance campaign looks like?

Remember, he just did this last-minute announcement on Monday. We have never seen them actually campaign together. In fact, all we've really seen is snippets of them together in the family box at the convention, kind of having interaction. We've seen them on stage, but not in a campaign sense, just supporting each other. We've never seen how they interact.

One of the things that we were told by people around Donald Trump is part of the reason he chose J.D. Vance was because they had better chemistry than he had with some of the other contenders.

We have yet to see that chemistry today is a really big day to see, one, how they interact with each other? And two, how they interact with the crowd? How they. Interact with voter?

[13:10:01]

Is because we still don't know. This is our first time actually seeing this ticket, Trump-Vance in action.

Now, the other thing we are obviously watching is the security. This is the first rally since that assassination attempt on Donald Trump last week in Butler, Pennsylvania. And obviously you'll notice the one big glaring thing that is different this week, which is that this rally is inside.

They believe that, moving forward, it is unlikely he's going to have these massive rallies outdoors, because they are just less secure. And I can tell you, Alex, now, being inside this venue, I can see so much ramped-up security. It is not just extra agents. I have seen agency leaders here who said they are based in Washington, D.C., but they came specifically. They raised their hand for this event.

I have seen local law enforcement. We know that the agency that secret service, requested an additional 50 to 60 officers. We've also seen more people on the ground, both outside. They are securing parking lots and inside.

One of the big things I've noticed here, there is really only one main entrance for people who are coming to support Donald Trump. Usually, it's kind of a free for all. They clearly are monitoring the situation very carefully today.

MARQUARDT: So much to watch for at that rally. Kristen Holmes, we're glad that you're going to be doing it for us. Thank you very much. We'll check back in with you later.

Let's get back to our breaking news this hour. Israel says that it has struck Houthi military targets inside Yemen earlier today. The Houthis saying that Israel struck oil storage and a power station in Hodeidah. That's the Yemeni city. It comes a day after the Houthis claimed their own drone attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Tel Aviv. Now, so, Jeremy, what's the IDF saying?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, this does indeed appear to be the first time that Israel has struck Houthi targets in Yemen. Certainly, it is the first time that they have done so, so very publicly. Not only was this attack carried out in broad daylight by Israeli fighter jets, but the Israeli military is also now confirming it, as well as Israel's senior political echelon.

The Israeli military says that they, "struck" military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the area of the Al Hudaydah port. I'm told by an Israeli military official that many of those targets were indeed dual use infrastructure targets, and there is indication that energy facilities, fuel depot was hit in this attack.

I also spoke with an Israeli defense official who tells me that this is a 100 percent Israeli strike. And that is notable, because not only does this appear to be the first time that they have actually struck Yemen. But so far, over the course of the last few months, it's the United States and the United Kingdom that have led on this issue of the Houthis and on responding to their attacks against shipping vessels in the Red Sea, as well as their attacks that they have carried out against Israel's southern city of Eilat.

But I'm told that things changed over the last 24 hours after Houthi rebels struck Tel Aviv with a drone. But it's not just that they struck Tel Aviv, it's that an Israeli citizen was killed. I'm told that, that is what changed the equation here for Israel, and that they decided that a message needed to be sent and that they needed to respond militarily.

I'm told that Israel has been preparing for this scenario for months now, which is why they were able to carry out the strike 2,000 kilometers away within about 24 hours after that, Yemeni -- Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv yesterday.

But certainly, this adds a new front to Israel's conflicts in the region. We know, of course, that they have the war in Gaza. They have been battling Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanese border. They have carried out strikes in Syria. And now, they are also confirming that they have carried out strikes in Yemen, hitting those Houthi rebels.

And also warning that should those rebels persist in their attacks against Israel, that more Israeli responses could be coming. Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes, this will further fuel fears of an expanding conflict.

Jeremy, this strike and then Counter Strike coming just days before Netanyahu is due to come here to Washington, the White House saying that their primary focus in speaking, in dealing with Netanyahu this week is going to be getting that ceasefire deal across the line. We've heard Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying that they're in the last 10 yards.

What is the sense from Israel about how likely a ceasefire deal could be?

DIAMOND: It's really hard to say, Alex. I mean, we know that these negotiators have now been engaged in these detailed negotiations over the course of the last couple of weeks, and it does appear like they are getting very, very close, certainly, if you listen to U.S. officials.

I think one of the key questions now is whether or not the Israeli prime minister actually wants a deal, and there is some reason to believe that he may not. You know, you look at the fact that over the last week or so, it appears that he is been throwing in some new demands, talking about maintaining control of the Philadelphia corridor between Gaza and Egypt, other key issues that he has been pulling back on like unrestricted access for Gazans to Northern Gaza, something that was not in the Israeli proposal recently.

[13:15:08]

So, there are some questions there.

At the same time, he and his negotiators have been part of these negotiating efforts that have brought these two sides so close, exchanging proposals with Hamas. But this week could certainly be critical. No doubt that President Biden and other U.S. officials will try and convince Netanyahu to actually strike a deal here.

There is some indication, I think, that the Israeli prime minister will likely meet with some of his top negotiators before he leaves for Washington tomorrow.

So, again, this will be a critical week as those negotiations, the detailed negotiations, stretch into their third week, coinciding with the Israeli prime minister in Washington.

MARQUARDT: Yes, U.S. official is saying that both Hamas and Israel have agreed to this framework, but caution that there are some very important details and technicalities to work out, that is the difficult part.

Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead. It could be the largest I.T. outage in history, and it's still impacting airports and businesses around the world. When systems could finally be restored? That is a big question.

Plus, how the Secret Service is ramping up security ahead of Donald Trump's first rally since last weekend's assassination attempt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:21:01]

MARQUARDT: We are learning new details today about the scramble to solve a global glitch which snarled tech systems on Friday and then into today. A software update from a single cybersecurity company, the U.S. based, CrowdStrike, that was the root of the chaos.

That mistake sent a wave of cascading issues to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, schools as well as hospitals -- and airports, who are seeing even more delays and cancelations today.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is at the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield- Jackson in Atlanta. So, Isabel, what are you seeing there now?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alex, yesterday, the chaos was across multiple carriers. But today, what we're seeing is that this mess is really centered around one carrier, Delta, through no fault of their own.

But take a look right over here, the screen's departures, red after red after red, of cancelations and delays over here, this long line. You see right back here? These are people waiting to speak to a customer service agent. These are people who have been delayed or canceled, and they need to figure out the next steps.

They need to figure out about luggage, about hotel vouchers, all of that.

And then, over here, yet another line. These are people who have been canceled, and now they need to get their luggage.

So, that continues all the way over there. Delta has the most cancelations out of any of the carrier, or carriers, over 600 cancelations so far.

And that also tracks because this is Delta's largest hub and headquarters right here at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport.

Let me introduce you to Richard and Johnny, passengers who have been essentially stuck here for 48 hours. Where were you supposed to be today?

RICHARD WHITFIELD, STUCK IN ATLANTA FOR 48 HOURS: Hi, Joanne (PH) Hi, Ronnie. Happy wedding day. I was supposed to be in California for my mom's wedding. So, Happy wedding day, Joe, Mama, and Ronnie (PH).

ROSALES: So, you're missing the wedding. I'm so sorry to hear that. Tell me about the steps you've taken, both of you, to try to get some answers out of Delta, figure out the next flight.

JONATHAN SHADE, STUCK IN ATLANTA FOR 48 HOURS: Well, he is been on hold for 24 hours, and when, when he eventually got his number in line, it was 2,001. So, they said 2,001 away from talking to someone. Two hours later, he checked again, it was about 2,300 in line. So, I don't know how he went up from there and not down.

But, and then, this morning, he was about 14, and now he's about 22 again.

So, we just --

(CROSSTALK)

ROSALES: Waiting for hours.

SHADE: Waiting for hours.

WHITFIELD: Yes, hours.

SHADE: And we have just been waiting here. And luckily, we got the pretty much the last hotel room last night that should not have been sold to any human being. But luckily for us, we -- it was better than being in the airport.

ROSALES: Hotels were also sold out. It was your experience.

SHADE: Hotels were all sold out. Cars were also -- you know, of course, they will only have a few one ways, because we don't need a round trip. We need to get to Tampa and just leave the rental car there.

So, the only option that we had was one, one company had a car, and they were charging us $600 for it.

ROSALES: So, price gouging is what you've sort of seen.

SHADE: Price gouging. Amtrak was $1,000. We even had your producer just recommend to us to check you off. He just checked and they're price gouging as well, even on there. So, all the companies they know. You know, they know.

ROSALES: Essentially, you can't get a car, the hotels are sold out.

SHADE: Yes.

ROSALES: You've been stuck here. Home is Tampa. What are you going to do next?

SHADE: Get a drink, a good stiff drink. And just, I mean, because really, you know, there's no point in getting frustrated. We're just, we're stuck the way it is. So, we're going to stay in the airport. We're going to see if we can get this flight to Tampa.

But they already told us, I think, two days ago, that there were no flights to Tampa until tomorrow, Sunday.

So, if we -- if we can't do the flight, we will try for the car. And if we -- if we can't do the car, it's just another night in a hotel, and we will see what happens. So, we are just -- we are just waiting here with our -- with our doggy Bernadette.

WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE).

SHADE: Yes -- ROSALES: So, you guys had to call it quits on the wedding, because

there is no way you're getting to California. You're stuck here, going to get a drink in good spirits.

SHADE: Yes.

ROSALES: I totally get it.

SHADE: Yes.

ROSALES: One final question, how would you describe the real-life consequences that this has had for customers everywhere. From one faulty system update from one company, implications across the world?

[13:25:05]

WHITFIELD: Well, what I have noticed is that it's been a domino effect. So, going online, looking for hotels, I literally saw hotels disappear out of my queue as soon as I was trying to actually book them.

So, for me, it's been the domino effect that it's affected so many people internationally and here. And I even met a couple this morning who has been on a cruise for the last week, and they had no luggage. So, they were on their Delta, lost their luggage, and that it affected them for a week, and now they are here, and they have spending three more days here.

So, for me, it's been the domino effect that it has on humanity and everything that we need to survive. food, sleep, water, housing, good energy.

SHADE: And we have a wedding, of course. There was a woman that missed a funeral, apparently.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SHADE: There was a woman -- another woman I saw yesterday that she was reading the eulogy and she would -- I don't know if she made her funeral or not, but yes, it's just everyone had -- everyone needs to get somewhere, and we are just all stuck in limbo, and there is nothing we can do about it right now. So --

ROSALES: I'm so sorry to meet you guys under these circumstances. Richard, Johnny, thank you so much.

Alex, clearly a nightmare scenario for so many travelers.

MARQUARDT: So, sad that they have to miss that wedding, but they're in remarkably good spirits, and I do hope that the airline pickup those drinks for them.

ROSALES: Yes.

MARQUARDT: Isabel Rosales, at Hartsfield-Jackson International. Thank you so much. For more, let's bring in Jordan Robertson. He is a security reporter, cyber security reporter, excuse me, for Bloomberg. So, Jordan, this was apparently an update that cyber strike was doing a seemingly small technical bug. How was it able to paralyze so many of the services that millions of people rely on.

JORDAN ROBERTSON, CYBERSECURITY REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Hey, thanks for having me. Yes, what you have here is a miniscule, small piece of code that has taken out a big majority of the world's computers. And today, we've learned how many computers that is. That's 8.5 million computers were taken out by this bug.

It's important to note that these are not just 8.5 million ordinary computers. These are some of the biggest -- the biggest companies in the world, most sensitive computers.

They install CrowdStrike software on these machines because they are -- they need to be protected. And what you have here is maybe a line, maybe two of code that was bad, that did something it wasn't supposed to, and it caused these computers to glitch, and it caused them to crash kind irreparably. And the reason this, this problem is likely to go on for weeks, if not months, is these machines, all 8.5 million of them, need to be fixed manually.

An I.T. technician needs to go out to each one of these machines and manually update them. There is no other way to do it, and in an era of remote work, that's going to take a long, long time.

MARQUARDT: So, what are cybersecurity experts now saying that these 8.5 million computers, all these different industries in different countries, were all reliant on a single company?

ROBERTSON: They were all reliant on a single company? A company that, you know, is a -- is a well-regarded cyber security company. Its product is widely used for a reason. It's really good at what it does.

However, what this highlights is that we're all dependent -- our entire digital ecosystem is dependent on these tiny little updates of code. And if one or two lines of code in those updates is bad, for some reason, just a simple mistake, it has the potential to crash everything. It's a -- it's a real wake up call, and it's kind of extraordinary, the degree to which we are dependent on these tiny little software updates. And coming from really just a handful of tech companies. Most of the time, they get it right. Most of the time we don't have these accidents.

However, when it goes wrong, the consolidation of power in the tech industry around just a handful of big tech companies, what it means is lots and lots and lots of products go down.

MARQUARDT: Jordan, I was speaking with a senior Biden administration official who told me that their biggest concern was the hospitals. What are you looking at? What gives you concern about how it may have a direct impact on people?

ROBERTSON: Yes. We've written a lot about the healthcare sector in recent years, especially with regard to ransomware. And, you know, you may see online that there are a lot of people calling this the malware of the year. It's kind of a jokey, you know, term, but there are -- there is some resonance with ransomware attacks, and the biggest one being this will take weeks or potentially months to resolve.

That's especially true for the healthcare sector. You know, hospitals, their purpose is not to provide a technology service. Their purpose is to treat patients. So, what that means is they don't have nearly the level of I.T. staff or cybersecurity staff that, let's say, a big tech company would to go fix these problems.

That's just not what they do. So, what you're -- what you're likely to see is even longer delays for those organizations to go fix those machines, because simply, they don't have the staff to physically go out and fix each and every machine that was supposed to be protected by the software. But in fact, what happened was attacked by the software, in essence.

MARQUARDT: All right. Jordan Peterson (PH), thank you so much for coming on at such an important story. Jordan Robertson, excuse me. Take care.

[13:30:04]

Coming up, new details on the shooter who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. What his interest -- Internet searches and purchases are revealing about hi plan. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: Happening now, the Secret Service is ramping up security for former President Donald Trump's first rally since that attempt on his life last weekend. And this rally today is happening later in Michigan.

Investigators are also looking into the security gaps at Trump's Pennsylvania rally where the assassination attempt unfolded in Butler, Pennsylvania.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand is joining me now.

[13:35:01]

So, Holmes, you spoke with a source familiar with the security planning. What did that source tell you?

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you're right. Secret Service is ramping up their security for this event in Michigan tonight.

But they're doing it not only through adding their own law enforcement agency officers, but they're also calling local law enforcement and asking for more officers.

I mean, this is happening as recently as Thursday. So it's a clear ramp up. They're also holding this rally indoors, which the Secret Service

prefers because it's just easier to control entrances, exits, and easier to protect Trump.

The entire security team around Trump is rethinking how they do rallies and whether or not they're going to hold future outdoor rallies, like the one we saw and Pennsylvania.

I mean, we're talking about these open fields. They're just not sure they want to do that going forward.

Part of this is because of the assassination attempt last weekend. But it's also because of new assessments that have warned of potential copycats.

And this security is not just limited to the campaign and the campaign rallies. It extends to his motorcade.

It also extends to Florida where, in Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service is closing down roads. They say that those roads are going to be closed down 24 hours a day, seven days a week, up until the election.

So it is clear Secret Service is ramping up security as the campaign itself ramps up.

MARQUARDT: Yes, they're coming under massive scrutiny.

And our colleague, Kristen Holmes, is at that rally and she described exactly what you said, greater Secret Service presence, greater local law enforcement presence, leaders of local and federal law enforcement.

And of course, all of it taking place inside in that arena in Michigan.

Holmes Lybrand, thank you so much for that reporting.

LYBRAND: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Appreciate it.

Coming up, American Journalist Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges that his employer, "The Wall Street Journal," say are trumped up. What his conviction could mean for other Americans still being held in Russia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:34]

MARQUARDT: Today marks the 55th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL ARMSTRONG, FORMER ASTRONAUT: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: More than half a billion people watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history back in 1969 as the first human beings to step foot on the moon.

The anniversary overlaps with another special lunar event this month called the Buck Moon. Stargazers will get a chance to see the full moon shine bright in the sky this weekend. It will reach its peak on Sunday around 6:00 a.m.

And the countdown is on in San Diego, where this dynamic panda duo will officially make their debut at the San Diego Zoo next month.

But we are getting a sneak peek today after the zoo released an official video of the pair, a male named Yun Chuan and a female named Xin Bao. That's them right there in their new habitat. And they're the first giant pandas to enter the United States in more than 20 years.

We also have a big congratulations for Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle. The WNBA star announced the birth of their son last night. He was born on July 8th.

Here's what Griner had to say about becoming a new parent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTNEY GRINER, WNBA STAR: You know, I guess I'll just drop it. He's here. So he's here. Yes, 7/8/24, yes, 7 pounds, 8 ounces? Yes, my man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love that.

GRINER: He is amazing. They say, you know, as soon as you see him, it's just like everything that you thought mattered just goes out the window. And that's literally what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Griner, who is a two-time gold medalist, will be flying to France to play for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Those kick off next week. Griner says that she hates that she has to leave her son, but says, quote, "He will understand."

I'm sure he will.

[13:43:31]

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:12]

MARQUARDT: "Wall Street Journal" Reporter Evan Gershkovich has been found guilty by a Russian court for spying. He was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.

The trial was closed off to the press and reached a verdict without showing any new evidence to the public.

President Joe Biden says that Gershkovich was targeted by the Russian government because he's an American journalist. Biden vowed to keep pushing for his release and for the release of all other wrongfully detained Americans.

"The Wall Street Journal," where Gershkovich works, also put out a statement saying, in part:

"This disgraceful sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist.

"We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan's release and to support his family. Journalism is not a crime and we will not rest until he is released. This must end now."

At this week's Aspen Security Forum, I sat down with Russia expert and Puck Washington correspondent, Julia Ioffe, to get her reaction to Gershkovich's sentencing and more.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: I just want to get your -- your first reaction to the news that Evan got this long sentence. I mean, it was -- it was almost a foregone conclusion. But how are you feeling?

JULIA IOFFE, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK NEWS": Well, on the one hand, it's less than we thought he would get. Right? It's less than the maximum, which was about 20 years.

But it's still such a long time. Sixteen years is basically the rest of Evan's youth. And when I saw the number, I -- I kind of gasped. It's a really long time. It's shocking.

MARQUARDT: We've seen other Americans come home, Trevor Reed, Brittney Griner. Paul Whelan has been languishing in a -- in a Russian penal colony for years now. So the hope will obviously be that Evan and Paul would get released together.

[13:50:02]

What do we know about what that trade could look like?

IOFFE: Well, we know that there was talk beginning earlier this year about doing a kind of package deal.

Could I speak of the FSB agent who assassinated a target in a Berlin park -- a Berlin park in broad daylight when people we're there. He's now serving life sentence in Germany. There was talk that the Germans might be open to trading him for

Alexei Navalny, who was alive at the time, Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. That deal never got off from the drawing board as far as I understand.

Will it be revived now? And will Bijan Mortazavi (ph), who got the Nobel Prize recently, be swapped in for Navalny? We don't know. But I think that the Germans still have to say yes. And they've been reluctant in the past, as you and I know.

MARQUARDT: So when you look at the efforts by the Russians to arrest journalists and opposition figures, how much -- how systemic do you think it is on -- on behalf of the Kremlin to create this system whereby they can then trade for people they want, not just in the U.S. but around the world?

IOFFE: I think it's very much part of a plan. It's what the administration here has called Hostage Banking. Now, people have pressed the Biden administration to go after Russian assets and spies in the U.S.

In the West, there have been arrests but, so far, they've been unwilling to do that because that would, of course, go against the rule of law. And we don't want to be like the Russians, in fighting the Russians.

There have been a lot of arrests in the last few weeks of Russian assets or accomplices who have been involved in these sabotage attacks across the West. But most of those people are not uniformed FSB officers, the way (INAUDIBLE).

And I think that, for Putin, it's very important. From what I understand, the FSB has been leading the negotiations for Evan's release or Evan's trade and they're looking to save one of their own. The assets are disposable. If you get caught, you get caught. We have nothing to do with you.

They're looking for -- for Putin to write its loyalty to the group, loyalty to the service, which he once led and which he was once a part of. And leaving no man behind.

So I think until we have those -- more of those people that Putin wants traded, it's going to be hard.

MARQUARDT: Bigger picture. How do you think Putin and the Kremlin are viewing this moment where we've just had this assassination attempt against the Republican nominee. There is a very vocal effort against the Democratic nominee to get President Biden to step down and not run again.

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUARDT: Are they relishing this? What do you think they're thinking?

IOFFE: Of course they are. I mean, it's -- it's the chaos they've always wanted, except it's now been jacked up to an unprecedented level, where Democrats are eating their own. The Republicans have been rallying around Trump, who is very unpredictable.

And on one hand, it's the candidate that the Kremlin prefers. On the other hand, they also know he is unpredictable. And he wasn't able to deliver in his first term a lot of the things they hoped he would be able to do, like sanctions relief, like not arming Ukraine.

So I know that Russians, for example, in the Kremlin elite are quite angry at Trump that he didn't do anything to get in the way of the $61 billion Ukraine supplemental that passed a few months ago.

So, but the more chaos, the more they think we discredit ourselves in the eyes of the world, discredit the idea of democracy, the better. And the more we're tied down in Ukraine, in the Middle East and at home, the less we can do to thwart their efforts abroad and to target them, frankly.

So I think -- I'm sure they're relishing this.

MARQUARDT: When Vance was named Trump's running mate, we heard praise from Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, because Vance has talked about cutting off aid for Ukraine.

Is that praise trolling of the U.S. and trying to deepen those divisions or do you think they truly would like to see Trump and Vance?

IOFFE: I think it's the latter. You know, when -- when Sergey Lavrov says we like J.D. Vance because he wants peace, they really -- they really believe that, that the only way to get to peace is to get to peace on Russia's terms, right?

That of course, Russia would like peace. Russia it doesn't want to give anything up. And Russia will gladly accept peace if it can swallow up Ukraine, put in a puppet regime.

Or at the very least, take the territories they've already captured, or the territories they've annexed but not yet captured, like the Kherson region, et cetera.

So I think they genuinely believe that. Yes, I mean, this is the candidate that fully lines up with their policy position, that the only thing standing in the way of peace in Ukraine is Ukraine fighting back, which is a pretty ludicrous position.

[13:55:01]

MARQUARDT: Julia, thank you so much for taking the time.

IOFFE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: And still ahead, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are hitting the campaign trail for the first time since the attempt on Trump's life last weekend. What they have planned in swing state, Michigan. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:02]

MARQUARDT: Hello, and thanks for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt.

The 2024 presidential race is about to enter a critical new phase for both of the leading candidates.