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Israeli Officials Accuse Hezbollah Of Deadly Rocket Strike; Polls Show Harris, Trump Locked In Tight Race With No Clear Leader; Interview With Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY) About Israel Attack And U.S. Presidential Elections; California's Park Fire Now 7th Largest In State History; U.S. Arrests Alleged Leaders Of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel; CNN's KFILE Unearths Clip Of Harris Supporting "Defund the Police in 2020; Vance Said He "Would Like Abortion To Be Illegal Nationally" In 2022; First Full Day Of Competition Underway In Paris. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 27, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:46]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York and we begin with breaking news out of the Middle East.

The Israeli army calling it the deadliest strike on Israeli civilians since October 7th. Officials say at least 10 people were killed by rockets fired from Lebanon. It's the biggest escalation yet in what has been a simmering conflict across Israel's northern border. Officials say the rockets struck a football pitch in the Golan Heights, a contested territory going back several decades now.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine is joining us now, and Elliott, Hezbollah has denied anything to do with this attack, which did kill children. Israel not convinced by that. What more are you learning?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Jessica, since Hezbollah started firing on Israel in solidarity with Hamas on October 8th, Israel says that it's fired more than 5,000 projectiles towards Israel. And so it's supposed understandable that Israel would make Hezbollah the prime suspect. Indeed, Israel says that the rocket that killed the teens and young adults, and the death toll now seems to be 11 according to Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, that that came from a village called Chebaa in southern Lebanon.

It's about a couple of kilometers north of the border. And according to what Israel describes as reliable intelligence information, Hezbollah was behind it. And as you say, this was, according to Israel, the deadliest strike on innocent civilians inside of Israel since October 7th. And I suppose the big question now is what will the response from Israel be? And then what would Hezbollah's response be to that?

We've already heard from Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, saying in his words that we are approaching the moment of all-out war in the north against Hezbollah. And certainly there are some of the more right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition demanding that Israel now go to all-out war with Hezbollah. But certainly that has not happened thus far.

It's been almost 10 months and counting and it's clear if this is what is going to move what's been a simmering conflict into one that boils over. So certainly we will now be awaiting the response from Israel to this attack -- Jessica.

DEAN: And as we await that, Elliott, what kind of effect might this have on these ceasefire and hostage deal talks with Hamas that are supposed to resume tomorrow?

GOTKINE: I suppose I fit the question in the sense that it seems that perhaps that in the short term at least the best way to get some kind of calm and for the guns to fall silent in the north would be to get a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. And as you say, talks set to resume on Sunday. I don't think this attack on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights is going to impact those talks.

They're due to resume in Rome with Bill Burns, the CIA director, and his counterparts from Israel, Qatar, and Egypt, attending as well. It seems there are still a number of issues that need to be resolved. Everything from the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be freed from Israeli jails in relation to the number of hostages being freed by Hamas, to the kinds of prisoners that Israel would release, whether Israel would have some kind of a veto on those particular prisoners, and also whether Israel would still be able to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which is the border between Rafah and Egypt, which Israel has thus far been insisting, it must control to prevent weapons from being smuggled from Egypt towards Hamas.

So there are still a number of issues to be resolved. And I was just checking back on my notes before and I see that as long as it was February when if you recall President Biden in Michigan when he was campaigning chomping on an ice cream and saying, he hoped for a hostage deal to be done by that weekend. We are now several months further down the line, still no sign of that deal being done.

There is some optimism that we are inching closer, but we've been here so many times before it's I'm afraid pays to be cautious and certainly a lot more things need to be resolved before that deal can get over the line -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Elliott Gotkine for us in London tonight. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Back here domestically, we are just 100 days now until the election and fresh polling showing Vice President Kamala Harris' sudden entrance to that race has upended it and changed the dynamic into a tie for now.

[16:05:05]

Harris has essentially erased Trump's lead. He's now leading by just three percentage points. That is within the margin of error in the latest CNN polling. And new polls from the "Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" this week showing the same thing, a statistical dead heat. This weekend, Vice President Harris is crisscrossing the country and CNN's Eva McKend joins us now.

Eva, what more can you tell us about this weekend of action as they're calling. It's calling it. It's including a new massive Zoom call push.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Jess, the massive Zoom calls it kind of came organically a rallying in support of Harris over the past week. It began with Win with Black Women and Win with Black Men followed soon after several other coalitions, including Asian-Americans, queer men of color, white women, and now White Dudes for Harris, that's what they're calling themselves. They've got 25,000 people signed up to join their call next week.

Meanwhile, it was a busy day for the vice president. She spoke at a fundraiser in Massachusetts and is giving virtual remarks to the youth group Voters of Tomorrow. Despite the momentum that she's enjoying, though, she's cautioning supporters that she still faces an uphill battle in this race. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let us be clear- eyed. We have a fight ahead of us. We've got a fight ahead of us. And we are the underdogs in this race. OK? Remember I said. We're the underdogs in this race. But this is a people-powered campaign and we have momentum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now many of the governors that she's reportedly considering to be her running mate are out on the trail as well. Governor Waltz, Governor Beshear, and Governor Shapiro all out on the circuit this weekend -- Jess.

DEAN: And Eva, you mentioned some of those governors she is reportedly considering to be her running mate. This is a very condensed situation that she is picking a VP candidate to run alongside her. It's a very high-stakes decision. How's that going right now?

MCKEND: Well, she -- we know that Eric Holder, the former attorney general, is involved in the process as well as other team of Democratic lawyers but ultimately, Jess, what this is going to boil down to is someone that she can trust. That is what we hear time and time again from people in her orbit.

DEAN: All right. Eva McKend for us. Thanks so much for that reporting out of Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is speaking to a crypto conference in Nashville before heading north to a rally in Minnesota.

CNN's Steve Contorno is in Nashville.

Steve, tell us more, Trump and his team still trying to figure out how they're going to message against Vice President Harris when they've really built their campaign to run against Joe Biden? STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Jessica, and you're going

to see him today convince this crowd of crypto entrepreneurs and enthusiasts that he is someone who will embrace cryptocurrency as president while Biden and Harris have been against cryptocurrency and have been trying to regulate it during the last four years. And it's an interesting argument because he is someone who's actually been very critical of cryptocurrency in the past.

He has likened it to a scam. He has said it was not money. He said that the dollar is the actual currency of the world, not cryptocurrency. And yet he has just taken the stage here behind me where he is trying to convince this crowd, trying to win over this audience.

He is also coming here, coming off some controversial remarks he made yesterday, telling Christians that they won't have to vote in four years. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It'll be fixed, it'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians. I'm not Christian. I love you. Get out. You got to get out and vote. In four years you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now we asked the Trump campaign for clarification about what he meant about when he said that. And here's the response we got. They said, quote, "President Trump was talking about uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt."

But the Harris campaign, though, seizing on these comments saying, quote, "When Vice President Harris says this election is about freedom, she means it" -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, it's interesting. I didn't hear the word prosperity in those comments and he seemed to be talking to one religious group, but Steve Contorno, thank you very much for that reporting from Tennessee. We appreciate it.

Coming up, we are talking with Congressman Gregory Meeks about Kamala Harris' first full week as the Democratic candidate, as well as the deadly rocket attack in the Golan Heights.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:14:37]

DEAN: And we are following breaking news out of Israel. The IDF calling it the deadliest day against Israeli citizens since October 7th. The former president Donald Trump addressing this just moments ago in Nashville. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Israel was just attacked or severely attacked. And Hezbollah looks like, and this is things that won't happen. I mean, this just can't -- they have to respect us.

[16:15:03]

They have to respect. They cannot do this. They cannot do this. What they did just now with that attack is terrible. Just happened. And so to all, God bless, everybody. This is so serious. They have to respect our country. This would never have happened with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now Congressman Gregory Meeks, Democrat of New York. He represents Queens. He's also the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us on a Saturday and we have a lot to get to, but I do want to start first with that breaking news out of Israel. We were just talking about, just to remind people, at least 10 people, including children, are dead after a rocket strike from Lebanon into the Golan Heights. It is the deadliest day in Israel since October 7th. Israel saying this is Hezbollah. Hezbollah has denied this.

I just want to know first what your reaction is to this.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Very concerning. It really is. And, you know, absolutely Israel has the right to defend itself. But, you know, I've always been worried. This is what I've been worried about and why I thought that we needed to get a ceasefire as quickly as possible in Gaza because the biggest headache was in with Lebanon in the northern border of Israel.

I'm very concerned about a war escalating there, which would lead to thousands of innocent Israeli and Lebanese citizens dying possibly in another war there. I've been trying to know that the United States had several individuals over and tried to try to negotiate to prevent any escalation from there. Brett McGurk, (INAUDIBLE), as well as Secretary Burns of the CIA, I hope that they could intertwine and there's some kind of negotiations to take place. But it's very concerning and very upsetting.

DEAN: Yes, and you mentioned the U.S. officials, they're going to be in Rome tomorrow as they try to get this deal done. Do you think that this attack will have any impact on those discussions tomorrow?

MEEKS: It very well could. I hope not. That's why we will try to get as much done and wanted to get this deal done. That's why I think the chief heard both President Biden and Vice President Harris say we need to get a ceasefire so that we could cool things down and try to prevent any escalation taking place. As I said, I hope that we can. I hope the sides do have some dialogue and conversation.

I always worry about innocent deaths and if an all-out war breaks in that region there will be a lot more innocent deaths from the Lebanese people as well as from the Israeli side. And that concerned me. It's always concerned me. I was asked by several people what woke me up at night is that.

DEAN: The innocent civilians that are caught up in all of this.

MEEKS: An escalation of war in the northern part of Israel.

DEAN: Yes.

MEEKS: Between Hezbollah and Israel.

DEAN: Yes. And now we have at least 10 people dead including children. They were just playing soccer today.

Congressman --

MEEKS: Yes, that's hard on me.

DEAN: I know. I do want to ask you about politics for a second because we've just had such a monumental shift in this presidential race just in the last -- it's barely been a week. And now we have new polling showing that Vice President Harris has essentially erased former president Trump's lead, kind of pulling it within two a margin of error race nationally. The former president's pollster has called this sugar high, that it can't keep going.

I'm curious. How do you think Democrats keep this momentum?

MEEKS: Well, look, I think this is a real momentum that Donald Trump is really worried about. And I think that you see that and you know that, how you keep it going, we're going to have a great convention starting in August, August 18th, that's going to build even more momentum. You see that the vice president is working hard all over the place. I think either Donald Trump will debate her on September 10th or pull out. Each, which would bring more momentum as we move into the elections in November.

I just think that his lies will be exposed more and she will hold them accountable. It is basically, you know, if anyone knows how to hold someone like him accountable, it is the vice president and I think that that will fire up individuals even more. This is absolutely amazing what we're seeing right now, and I'm predicting that you will probably see it. I never thought I would say this, but I've said it before that this turnout in November may exceed the turnout of folks that came out for Barack Obama in 2008.

[16:20:08]

What you're seeing so far is just absolutely never have happened before.

DEAN: And what makes you say that? Because I hear the enthusiasm in your voice. What makes you think that this could be a bigger turnout for her even beyond what Barack Obama saw?

MEEKS: It's two reasons. One is she's such a dynamite candidate. She is the new, you know, leadership. The baton has been passed so people are excited about her and her vision for America moving forward. And they also know that this is the most consequential election of their lifetime. They know what the alternative would be in regards to Donald Trump. That's why you heard many Americans say before that they did not want a match-up between Trump and Joe Biden.

They wanted an alternative. So she becomes that alternative for those individuals who did not want to vote for Trump in the first place nor Biden. That's not an alternative. As well as the fact you'll see overwhelmingly women coming out to vote because this election is consequential to a woman's freedom to choose and to have control of her body. It's essential and consequential because you'll see African Americans and Latinos coming out because they know that voting rights are at stake and the Supreme Court is at stake.

There's two -- the next president may be able to put in two additional Supreme Court nominees. So the American people are now focused and everyone getting focused on his race, and as they get focused Vice President Harris gets the energy. You know, people are calling me every day saying, I want to sign up, I want to organize. I'll bus, I'll pay my own way to go to the eight battleground states. It is really exciting out there. And I think that that excitement, we've got 101 days ago. It's just going to continually build.

DEAN: And the race is on now to define her to voters. They know who she is. But there is a chance to essentially re-introduce her to voters. And of course, the Trump campaign is really trying to lean on some of these positions, far-left positions she took during that 2020 primary, some of which she or spokespeople of hers have said she no longer agrees with.

The Harris campaign is out with its first ad. It's all about freedom. We saw the super PAC supporting her campaign, introducing her with her biography, prosecutor, attorney general, senator, vice president. How do you think the Democrats effectively re-introduce her to American voters some of whom may be concerned that she's too left for them?

MEEKS: Because what you just have to look at her work. You know, she's the best prepared person to take on Donald Trump. Actually, she's the, you know, former prosecutor so she knows how to take on him and his kind. She can -- she can talk about because she was a partner with Joe Biden when we got out of one of the worst pandemics of our lifetime, of the century, with COVID. You look at the returning of jobs, job creations in America right now coming back because of the IRA and the infrastructure bill.

So all of that was part Biden-Harris teamwork, working together. Baton has passed to her. It's the same race. This is not to -- you pass the baton. People loved the work of Joe Biden, but he ran his part of the race to his credit then he decided to pass it on to the next person who will take those issues and run it a little faster. And that's what she's going to do and I think that when you look at her, she has the ability to articulate and talk to individuals no matter where they are in America, whether it's in middle America, whether it's in southern America, northern, east, west, northwest southwest.

She will be the great communicator and that's why you see that the number of states that are now closing in as far as the polls are concerned, where it wants, was looking at Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Now you also have to look at Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia. All of these now are states that are excited about the candidacy of Vice President Harris. They will continue to do that and that's what's going to lead her to victory.

They want someone that has common sense. They don't want to go back to -- and when you talk about MAGA, that's make America great again, nobody knows what they talking about because I don't surely and I know individuals in my district don't want to go back to Jim Crow. They don't want to go back to, you know, when you have colored and white. They want to be more inclusive. They want women to be involved and you can hear the thoughts of what Trump and Vance have in regards to how they degrade women.

[16:25:05]

And so women are going to come out in great numbers also. And it's only appropriate that it's going to take a woman who happens to be of color to defeat Donald Trump, who has been the one you've heard. His words, in his own words, what he thought about women. He's been one that has to pay now because he lost a suit for assault of a woman in civil court. And he's a convicted felon.

I don't think America wants a leader like that. They want a leader like the Vice President Kamala Harris.

DEAN: All right. Congressman Gregory Meeks, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

DEAN: Up next, we're going to take you to California where firefighters are struggling to contain a wildfire that's already scorched an area bigger than Los Angeles. Zero percent of that fire is contained so far.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM/

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:19]

DEAN: Right now, the largest wildfire in California so far this year, the seventh largest in the state's history, is zero percent contained and ferociously tearing across northern California.

That fast-moving Park Fire has now scorched 350,000 acres. Just to give you an idea, that's about the size of Los Angeles, in just three days. Thousands of people have fled as the fire started by an alleged arsonist now ripped through homes and buildings and cars.

CNN's Camila Bernal is on the front lines in Forest Ranch, California. And, Camila, this fire showing no signs of slowing down and we see

just the destruction behind you.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jess. Yes, firefighters describing it as uncontrollable. They've told me this is a challenging fire, a very active and aggressive fire.

And what they're saying is that this fire is in an area that's very difficult to get to. It's in very steep terrain. And so without that access, it creates that space for this fire to grow so quickly.

It's burning between 4,000 and 5,000 acres every single hour and leaving so much destruction in its path. You know, already more than 100 structures have been destroyed.

And just in this area where I am right now, there were three homes. These are three families that will get to this neighborhood and find all of their belongings reduced to ash.

I spoke to one of the neighbors here who told me that the firefighters got to his home just in time. Take a listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brutal. The wind shifted everything came this way in a big swoosh. Like anyone else, I'm hoping they could stop it, but they had planes going up down and helicopters and they did a great job saving houses here. It was amazing.

Oh, I'm grateful. The firemen left a note. They said, "We got here just in time." And the deck was burned and the back of the house was scorched. So the house is there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And there are more than 2,000 firefighters working really around the clock. I was told that some of them were working 48-hour shifts. Another group, I was told, were woken up in the middle of the night because how fast these flames were spreading.

They are expecting more resources. But unfortunately, as you mentioned, Jess, this fight started by what authorities believe was a man who was pushing a burning car down an embankment. He is in custody and is expected to appear in court on Monday.

Now, another thing to point out here is that we are in Butte County. This is a county that already lived through the deadliest fire in California history. Eighty-five people died in 2018.

And we spoke to one family who lived through that fire and is living all of this all over again. They describe just smelling the smoke and that trauma that it brings back.

They described how emotionally difficult it is to have these evacuation warnings in place because the city of Paradise, all of it is actually right now under an evacuation warning.

So they described just how difficult it is to relive all of this, but also how grateful they are to be alive, comparing it to that 2018 fire with so many people that lost their lives -- Jess?

DEAN: We were just looking at aerial pictures while you're talking, Camila. It is devastating.

All right, thanks so much for that reporting. We appreciate it.

And were learning new details today about the arrest of two alleged drug cartel leaders. The son of the infamous kingpin, El Chapo, has been moved to a federal prison in Chicago, while Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia were taken into custody Thursday.

And officials saying Guzman Lopez actually organized their arrest by luring Zambada onto a flight that was met by federal agents in El Paso, Texas.

CNN's Rafael Romo is joining us now with the latest.

This is quite an operation, Rafael. What more are you learning about?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, quite an operation, indeed, Jessica. And we now know that Joaquin Guzman Lopez's son, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, has been transported to Chicago and is in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. That's a prison for both male and female offenders with the capacity for 490 inmates.

Regarding Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, he is expected to also be transported to Chicago in the coming days. A U.S. law enforcement source told CNN one of the alleged drug lords was lured with the help of the other.

While the Mexican government says -- and there's a difference here -- they don't know whether that was the case or if they turn themselves in.

A U.S. official familiar with the investigation told CNN that Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Joaquin Guzman, lured Zambada on a flight to examine a piece of land he thought was in Mexico.

But the plane flew straight into the U.S., landing near El Paso, Texas, were federal agents, including from Homeland Security Investigations, arrested the two alleged cartel bosses.

[16:35:07]

But the top Mexican security secretary said on Friday that they don't know if Zambada was captured or turned himself in. And they're waiting to hear more from U.S. officials.

Meanwhile, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that, regardless of whether somebody turned himself in or was captured, the fact that he's now in custody is an important step forward in the fight against drug trafficking. In a new development, Mexico sent 200 members of its elite Special Forces Corps, part of the Mexican army, to the state of Sinaloa on Friday to reinforce security.

And analysts fear that, regardless of how "El Mayo" Zambada ended up in U.S. custody, there's a potential for bloodshed and Sinaloa and elsewhere in Mexico.

Let's take a listen to what one of them had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE VIGIL, FORMER DEA AGENT: Normally, when you take out a drug capo or a drug leader, you're going to have infighting because a lot of individuals are going to want to control the cartel.

And many times, these cartels will splinter. And then, all of a sudden, you have all these different groups fighting again for territory and drug routes. And that can translate into a very bloody war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And we've seen that before.

And in a statement, President Biden commended the work of U.S. law enforcement who arrested Zambada and Guzman Lopez, whom he called two of the most notorious leader -- leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the deadliest enterprises in the world.

The president also added that too many of our citizens have lost their lives through the scourge of Fentanyl, one of the illegal drugs, officials say, the Sinaloa Cartel is known to smuggle into the United States -- Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Rafael Romo, thank you very much.

Still ahead. CNN's "KFILE" uncovering previous comments from Vice President Harris from more than four years ago supporting the movement to Defund the Police, something the Biden-Harris campaign later said she did not support. We'll talk more about it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:52]

DEAN: The Trump campaign has already attacking Vice President Harris over a liberal position she embraced during the 2020 presidential primary.

And KFILE's Andrew Kaczynski is joining us now with one set of comments that could make Vice President Harris vulnerable to some of that criticism.

Andrew, what did you find?

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: So in the summer of 2020, when there were protests all across the country after a police officer murdered George Floyd, many progressives and liberals were talking about defunding police departments nationwide.

One local radio show asked then-Senator Kamala Harris where she stood on the Defund Police movement. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Defund the Police, the issue behind it is that we need to re-imagine how we are creating safety.

And when you have many cities that have moved one-third of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way and the best way or the right way to achieve safety.

This whole movement is about rightly saying we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.

For too long, the status-quo thinking has been, you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that's wrong.

(END AUDIO FEED)

KACZYNSKI: Now, in another interview that same week, Harris praised then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for removing $150 million from their police budget and investing that in social services.

Listen to those comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That's a legitimate conversation. And it requires a critical - a really critical evaluation. I applaud Eric Garcetti for doing what he's done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KACZYNSKI: Now some important context here is that, even in 2020, polling showed that reducing police budgets was not popular. A Pew Research poll that year found just 25 percent of adults supporting reducing police budgets. And by 2021 ,that support had decreased to 15 percent.

It is also important to note that the Biden administration, which, of course, included Vice President Harris did pass the American Rescue Plan and that did put billions of dollars to cities to boost budgets for local police.

Still, as Harris tries to run on that history as a prosecutor, Republicans are going to use a lot of these remarks to try to portray her as someone who is soft on crime.

DEAN: And Andrew, how is the campaign responding, the Harris campaign?

KACZYNSKI: So after Harris was selected by Biden to be V.P., we didn't see her mention support for the Defund the Police movement, really at all. And the campaign actually explicitly went out there and said that she did not support defunding the police. They said it was a lie to suggest that she did.

So we've reached out to the Harris campaign. We asked them, how do you square what she said then versus what they're saying now?

And they said, "Whether as a district attorney, Senator, or as vice president, Kamala Harris has led the way to keep our communities safe, take on violent crime and help lead the nation to a historic drop in violent crime to a 50-year low."

[16:45:00]

DEAN: And, Andrew, you've also reported recently about a backpedal on the Republican ticket. More than two years ago, Senator J.D. Vance said he was open to a national abortion ban. What more do you know about that?

KACZYNSKI: Yes, that's right. And abortion has really become such a losing issue for Republicans. Every time that abortion has been on the ballot, Republicans have lost.

Now J.D. Vance is saying that he agrees with what Donald Trump is saying, that it is a state issue, but that's not what he was saying just a couple of years ago.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On a fundamental level, this is sort of a "he said, she said," right? And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump, who always tells the truth -- just kidding -- or do you believe that woman on that tape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KACZYNSKI: Sorry, that was actually the wrong clip. That was Trump. J.D. Vance talking about Trump's sexual assault accuser.

What Vance said in that clip was he said, "I would like abortion to be illegal nationally."

And Vance is now backtracking on that. He said he didn't want a -- he didn't want women to have to go to other states to get abortions. So he said, it should be illegal.

And we have really not seen language that harsh from Vance. So that is going to be something that we see playing out through this whole campaign.

DEAN: All right, Andrew Kaczynski, thanks so much for that reporting. We appreciate it.

We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:04]

DEAN: Just moments ago, American swimming legend, Katie Ledecky, won her first medal of the Paris Olympic Games, taking the bronze in the 400-meter freestyle. Right now, Australia is up in the medal count, with China and the U.S. close behind.

CNN's Coy Wire is in Paris with the latest.

And, Coy, an exciting day. A big win from the men's swim relay team. Give us the highlights.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Team USA winning their first gold medal of these games, winning the men's four-by-100-meter freestyle. It's their third-straight Olympic gold in the events.

Jack Alexey, Chris Giuliano, Hunter Armstrong, anchored by Caeleb Dressel, they beat out the Australians. And Dressel is now going to be taken home his eighth Olympic gold of his career. He's never won any other color of medal and will have more opportunities to do so.

Snoop Dogg was in the stands alongside Dressel's wife, Meghan, and their baby boy, August. Now that is a memory of a lifetime.

Also, in one of the most-highly anticipated events of these games, the women's 400-meter freestyle, featuring seven-time Olympic gold medalist, American Katie Ledecky, Canadian teen sensation, Summer McIntosh.

And the defending Olympic champ, Australian Ariarne Titmus, the so- called Terminator from Australia, ending her crown in dominant fashion, winning gold by about a full bodies length in a time of 3:57.49 seconds. McIntosh took the silver, Ledecky, the bronze.

Team USA snagged their first medal of these games earlier in the day, thanks to Sarah Bacon and Cassidy Cook, who won silver in the women's diving synchronized three-meter springboard competition.

It's the first Olympic medals for both divers and the first American medal won in the event since 2012.

Cassidy Cook, Sarah Bacon, longtime friends. Their nickname is Cooking Bacon. I mean, what's not to like about that.

I caught up with earlier just a bit ago to ask about this incredible moment.

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KASSIDY COOK, TEAM USA OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST: Growing up, we competed against one another in junior diving. So that's kind of where we would always go 1-2 at like the junior nationals.

So that's kind of where the Cooking Bacon started as like a little joke, like, oh, who's going to win? Cook or Bacon. But ever since then, when we started doing sinker, I was like, it's -- it seems meant to be. It's a great -- a great little tool. Very American.

And just got to say, shout out to my -- to our dads for the last names because lots of opportunities have come our way because of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: But then those medals, they were hanging around their neck there, have a piece of the original Eiffel Tower in them. They were heavy and they were making those big smiles that we saw.

Lok, the fun has begun. The pool party has begun here in Paris. And there'll be more fun to come tomorrow. And the forecast says that the rain is going away in this sun will be shining again, too. So look out.

DEAN: Ah, it's going to be so nice, Coy. And it's so -- so great to see people who've worked so hard and trained so long to achieve their goals. Those smiles were megawatt. Great to see.

WIRE: Thanks. All right, well see you soon.

DEAN: Thanks, Coy.

Still ahead, this weekend marks the 100-day sprint to the finish line as both Trump and Harris hit the campaign trail tonight. We'll have live reports for you.

We're also following breaking news out of the Middle East with the IDF calling a strike from Hezbollah the deadliest attack against Israel citizens since October 7th. How Israel is vowing to respond.

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You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we are just 100 days until the election for the White House. And fresh polling showing Vice President Harris' sudden entrance has upended that race and shifted the dynamic into a tie for now.

Harris has essentially erased former President Donald Trump's lead. He's now leading by three percentage points -- that is within the margin of error -- in the latest CNN poll. Other major polls have similar findings.

[16:59:48] This weekend, Harris and Trump are crisscrossing the country. Trump just finished speaking at a crypto convention in Nashville. He went after Harris as he sharpens his message against her.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very smart people, too. Congratulations at all that you've accomplished. This room is amazing. The people in this room. High-I.Q. individuals.