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Israeli Officials Accuse Hezbollah Of Deadly Rocket Strike; Harris, Harris, Trump Hit Campaign Trail In 100 Plus Day Sprint To Election; New Polls Show Harris, Trump Locked In Tight Race With No Clear Leader; California's Park Fire Now 7th Largest In State History; Sources: Harris Plans To Pick A Running Mate by August 7. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 27, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

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

Israeli officials accusing Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group based in Southern Lebanon of carrying out a deadly rocket attack back in the Golan Heights just over that border, at least 11 people were reportedly killed that includes children. Officials saying that makes it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attacks of October 7.

Journalist, Elliott Gotkine is joining us now.

And Elliott, what more are you hearing about how Israel plans to respond to this attack?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: We don't have specifics, Jessica, but I think it's safe to assume that the response will be swift and pretty heavy and don't just take my word for it because we've heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said he was shocked at what he described as a murderous attack and said that it was an attack that the state of Israel would not be silent about.

We also heard from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying that we will hit back at the enemy harshly, and rattling his saber even more loudly was Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz saying that, "We are approaching the moment of an all-out war against Hezbollah."

Now for anyone who is hoping that that doesn't come to pass, may take a modicum of reassurance from the fact that Israeli officials have been saying that on and off for the best part of the almost 10 months during which it has been exchanging fire with Hezbollah, which of course started firing on Israel on October 8th in solidarity with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks a day earlier.

But certainly this will ratchet up tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. They still remain on the cusp of all-out war, but still seems like perhaps we are not there just yet and there is a very simple reason for that and that is because Israel doesn't want all-out war with Hezbollah. Hezbollah doesn't want all-out war with Israel and it would seem that its main backer, its benefactor back in Tehran doesn't the ceremony want all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel either because at the very least, Hezbollah keeping its powder dry should dissuade Israel from ever thinking about taking out Iran's nuclear facilities.

So make no mistake. This is certainly ratcheting up tensions. We are perhaps closer, the tensions are perhaps higher than they have been in the past what -- nine-and-a-half months of daily and sometimes deadly fire.

We are not at all-out war just yet, but certainly there will be concerns that we are closer to it than we have been at any point in those past few months -- Jessica.

DEAN: Elliott Gotkine for us, thank you for that latest reporting.

And former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is joining us now to talk more about this.

Thank you so much for being here with us tonight. We appreciate it.

I was just looking, you posted on X, essentially the time for action is now is what you were saying in a post What does that mean for you?

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, I send my deepest condolences to the 12 families of the 12 young boys and girls who were playing soccer and were murdered by Hezbollah This is the worst attack since October 7th in terms of -- on Israel, in terms of the kids being murdered. This is unacceptable.

It's a beautiful community of Israeli Druze, which is a small sect in Israel and they are our brothers and sisters and it's just a terrible murder attack.

Enough is enough.

Hezbollah has absolutely no basis to be fighting with Israel. There is no territorial dispute, there is none of the nonsense of occupation or anything. They have started war on Israel.

And you know, it has been now 10 months and I hear all the rhetoric, all the lofty speeches and words. We are fed up with lofty rhetoric and the hollow words and accompanied by feeble action. It is time for action.

And you asked what it is? What it is, is the state of Lebanon which Hezbollah is parcel of has started war with Israel and we will no longer make the distinction between Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is part of Lebanon.

So the state of Lebanon essentially shot rocket made in Iran. We know the name of the guy who shot it, his name is Ali Muhammad Yahya. These rockets were made in Iran, Iranian rockets, 50 kilograms of a warhead and it is time that we hit back.

DEAN: And we are still trying to confirm all of that information just to be clear with our viewers, but I certainly hear you.

You say that they started a --

BENNETT: The 12 -- there is one thing that you don't need to confirm. There are 12 boys and girls that were murdered by a rocket shot from Lebanon on us and we did forensic work. We know it is Iranian rocket that could only be in the hands of Hezbollah.

DEAN: We do know, unfortunately, that those children were killed, which is simply horrific.

[18:05:18]

You said that they've started a war with Israel. There has been a lot of concern especially by US officials that this could escalate into war with Hezbollah -- between Israel and Hezbollah. What -- is that what you're advocating for? Is that what you think is the only acceptable response at this point?

BENNETT: You can't escalate more than murdering 12 boys and girls in their young teens. I have four children that age exactly. Imagine if it was your kids. My kids are the viewers' kids.

This was totally unprovoked, absolutely no reason and this is a result of a feeble weak policy of many words and speeches, but not enough action.

The only way to stop all of this, the only way to deter our enemies from hitting us day and night from Yemen, from Iran, from Iraq, from Lebanon, is to fight back and to hit them. There is no other way.

I hate war. I lost my best friend in war. We hate war.

But when someone in unprovoked action kills our children, then make no mistake, those Druze Israeli kids are my children, we have to hit back. We can't have any more speeches, it is time for action.

DEAN: And so we know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was here in the US has cut that short. He is headed back to Israel now. He will meet with his War Cabinet.

What do you want to hear from them when they meet? What do you want the outcome of that meeting to be?

BENNETT: The fundamental duty of a government is to provide security to its people. That's it. It is time to provide security to the Israeli people. If we can't do it, let someone else do it.

And how to do it? I just explained, Hezbollah equals Lebanon We should make no more distinction between the two

And I will tell you, if Nasrallah wants to understand what he is causing the state of Lebanon, he can look down in Gaza and see what happened in Gaza. You see he says that he is the defender of Lebanon, but in fact, by doing what he did this night, last night, and during the past 10 months, and having 80,000 Israelis evacuated from our homes, he effectively is bringing destruction on the state of Lebanon.

And let all the people of Lebanon know that Hezbollah and Nasrallah is playing games as a proxy of Iran and it is destroying Lebanon. But we are not going to tweezer our way through and look for Hezbollah amid Lebanon. Hezbollah is part of the government, Hezbollah is part of Lebanon and what Lebanon needs to do tonight is move all of Hezbollah away from the border, all the way up to the River of Litani and stop everything they are doing. That is the only way they can prevent an all-out war.

DEAN: And I want to ask you, too, because these, these negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage deal are supposed to resume in Rome tomorrow. Israel just sharing its latest proposal for that deal.

What kind of impact do you think that this attack is going to have on those talks?

BENNETT: When someone kills our children, we cannot talk, we have to act with -- this is such a horrendous murder attack because they shot a rocket, not on a military base, not against fighters They shot it on a quiet, peaceful Druze village in the Golan Heights called Majdal Shams. Beautiful people and kids who were playing on a soccer field, and these are very accurate rockets.

THE guy who did it, right? We said Ali Mohammed Yahya, he is a commander in the Hezbollah. Now, Nasrallah denied that it is Hezbollah. He is a coward, right? He shoots rockets and murders kids and then he claims it is not him, but we have the forensics. No one else in Lebanon has Iranian rockets with 50 kilograms of a warhead. No one else.

DEAN: And so I just want to be clear though, and underscore, you would not support a ceasefire and hostage deal at this point. Is that what you're saying? You don't think that is the way forward?

BENNETT: Down in Gaza, I'll support whatever the government does. I am supportive of the government even when I think they are not doing the best of things, I have to be supportive of my own government.

But up in the north, it is a different war right? And we have Hezbollah just shooting us unprovoked and they can't get away with this.

[18:10:15]

SO there is a way to reach a ceasefire up north, and the only way is for Hezbollah to move far away from our border. We have agreed upon a location in Israel. It is called the Litani River. If they push away, if they stop all of the hostilities, then they can avert all-out destruction of Lebanon.

DEAN: All right, Naftali Bennett, thank you for your time tonight. We appreciate it.

BENNETT: Thank you, Jessica. DEAN: And I want to bring in CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton and former State Department Middle East negotiator, Aaron David Miller.

Thank you to both of you to be here to kind of talk through and analyze what we are hearing, what we are learning.

Colonel Leighton, let's start with you.

There has been concern militarily that this could -- this exact thing could play out. And we just heard from the former prime minister there, obviously he is one voice. Israel's government is going to act in the way that the government wants to.

But he -- you heard him there saying that for him and for other Israelis, that the only way forward is to strike back, that in his opinion, war That's what he said. They've started a war with Israel.

What do you make of this happening today? And what is your level of concern that we are headed toward this escalation?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Jessica, it is very concerning and in fact, one of the elements here is one that we were trying, as you mentioned, to avoid and as prime minister -- former Prime Minister Bennett was talking, it struck me that this is exactly the scenario that Hezbollah and its masters in Iran really want to see. They want this chaos going in Israel.

On the one hand, you have that southern front in Gaza; on the other hand, you have that northern front that has been affected by this attack on the Druze children. So this is exactly the conundrum that Iran wants to put Israel in to, where they have a two-front war and they have to make a choice which front they're going to prosecute first.

So, this is basically something that was to be expected, but it is still a very big challenge for Israel and quite frankly for the United States as well.

DEAN: And Aaron, I am curious what you think of how this is all unfolding, what you're making of the former Israeli prime minister's comments to us just now; and of course, just reminding everyone that this is all unfolding the day before these talks are supposed to pick back up in Rome as the secretary of State, the US Secretary of State has said, not too long ago that he thought they were inside the 10- yard line, with a lot of work to do, but getting closer to a deal.

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, thanks for having me, Jessica. It is great to be here with Cedric.

Look, the Middle East wars don't happen by accident. They are either well-planned, 1956, 1973, where they are preceded by a long fuse of tensions and they're triggered usually by an event and/or a miscalculation.

What you see now over the last 10 months is literally a mini war, although it is controlled escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.

I think that if Naftali Bennett is reflecting even 30 percent of what the IDF is thinking, then this attack on Majdal Shams, a predominantly Druze town is going to prompt a -- how can I describe -- this a massive response by the Israelis. I'm not sure.

I think that the Israelis, some Israeli planners believe that there is a middle option, a major incursion, air and ground into Southern Lebanon essentially to try to do what Naftali Bennett suggests, to push the Redwan Brigades and Hezbollah's forces anywhere from seven to 15 miles north of the blue line, it is a UN line signaling or identifying the border between Israel and Lebanon.

The question is, if the Israelis undertakes such a move, can it still be controlled? I still believe given the stakes involved and the reality that this will be a war against civilians on both sides and a war against infrastructure on both sides. And it has the potential clearly not just of involving Israel and Iran, but drawing the US in.

In fact, it has the potential of creating a situation that we have never seen in this region, a major regional war, which could draw in the Gulf, and again a major US-Iranian confrontation.

[18:15:10]

I still believe that the Iranians don't want this. That Hezbollah doesn't want it. The only party, I think this serves frankly is Hamas. They wanted this from the beginning.

They thought the October 7 attack would or should trigger the kind of regional escalation that I fear we may well be approaching and what this will do with respect to any hostage deal, I think it will fundamentally undermine it, and you're going to end up essentially with two or three fronts and now, extremely worrisome to say the least.

DEAN: And let's not forget that there are dozens of hostages still being held against their will, to your point, and that deal still hasn't happened. and they remain in captivity.

Colonel Cedric Leighton and Aaron David Miller, thank you to both of you. We appreciate it.

MILLER: Thanks.

DEAN: Vice President Harris says she knows full well that it's going to be an uphill battle to win the White House as Donald Trump tries new lines of attack against her.

And it just a few days, a California fire has exploded into one of the biggest in that state's history. We are live from Butte County ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:59] DEAN: We are now about a hundred days from the election and major new polls showing former President Trump's lead against Biden has evaporated. Now that Vice President Harris has entered the race as the candidate, it is now a statistical tie.

Both Harris and Trump are out on the campaign trail today. Trump speaking to a crypto convention earlier, now headed to Minnesota for a joint rally with his running mate, Senator JD Vance.

CNN's Alayna Treene is in Minnesota.

Alayna, we heard from the president earlier today at that crypto convention. What are we expecting from tonight's rally?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Oh, well, Jessica, I will get to that in a moment. Actually, we do have a pre-program going on behind me as you can see, Mike Lindell is actually speaking right now. We will not hear from Donald Trump or JD Vance for another few hours.

But first I do just want to talk about some of what he said at that Nashville conference, that Bitcoin convention that you were mentioning. He really ramped up his attacks on Vice President Harris.

He called her far worse than President Joe Biden, more radical and more liberal than the president. He also test drove some new lines of attack. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This room is amazing. The people in this room, high IQ individuals. I'm running against a low IQ individual -- her. I am not even talking about him. Her -- I've got a low IQ individual.

We have a country to run. The problem is that Kamala is worse than Joe, she is worse. She is a radical left lunatic, defund the police, all of the different things. And so far we are doing -- she got a little honeymoon going on right now, but when people hear about her and she's against crypto, by the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Jessica, that last line there where he talked about Harris being a little bit of a honeymoon phase, I found that really interesting because I know from my conversations with Donald Trump's advisers that his team, as well as his internal poster have been telling him this exact thing, that in the short term after her announcement that she would likely see a bit of a boost. They wanted to prepare the former president for that. But this was the first time we actually heard him say that himself.

Now also just to briefly explain why he was at that crypto conference, I have to tell you, I have covered Donald Trump ever since he first entered the White House and went to Washington, DC, and it was pretty remarkable to see the 180 he has done on crypto. Back when he was president, he actually called crypto a scam. He said it wasn't real money, but now we're seeing him say that he wants America to lead the way on crypto. And part of that is because many wealthy donors within the crypto community have been courting him over last year or so, and you're kind of seeing that result with him traveling there to speak today.

Now, to give you that preview of what we will hear in Minnesota tonight, you're going to continue to hear the attacks on Kamala Harris, but what I find really interesting is that Donald Trump is even coming to Minnesota himself at all.

You know, this is a state that Democrats have won. Republicans haven't won for more than 50 years since Richard Nixon won it back in 1972. But Donald Trump really does believe and his team believes that he may have a pathway here.

They also believe that JD Vance, who is also from a midwestern Rust Belt city where he grew up, could appeal to some of these voters. So you'll hear some of those themes this evening -- Jessica

DEAN: Alayna Treene reporting for us in Minnesota. Thanks so much for that. We appreciate it.

And we have a lot to unpack with our political panel as we approach the 100-day mark until the election including the latest on who Vice President Kamala Harris is considering as a running mate. Can a VP pick make, or break a campaign? We are going to talk all about it on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:02]

DEAN: With about a hundred days until election day, some major new polls showing the race has gotten much tighter.

Joining us now, CNN senior political commentator, Ana Navarro; CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona; and senior political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings.

I am so happy to have all of you guys. We've got -- this is quite a panel and we have much to talk about. I will have no time -- we will have no problem getting through all this time.

Ana, let's start first with you. One of the new polls out this week shows Harris closing this gap with Trump in some key battleground states, which will likely decide the outcome of this election and we are showing people right now some of that polling.

Do you think this is just new enthusiasm or a sugar high as the Trump campaign pollster has called it? Or is this an actual real momentum that could be dangerous to Trump?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Both. Look, I think there is sustained support. I think the people who were supporting Joe Biden have united very quickly and are behind Kamala Harris. But there is also a bunch of new people.

[18:30:09]

There's also a new universe of voters. There were a lot of people who before were voting against Trump. A lot of those people are now voting proactively, happy, enthusiastically for Kamala Harris.

I was at her residence on Thursday with a group of Latino leaders. You can see the energy. You can feel it, you can hear it. And I'll say, I give a lot of credit to this campaign because they have gone from practically being parched to drinking out of a water hose and they have been able to do it very effectively in a matter of five or six days. I've seen a lot of campaigns die and turn on a dime for the worst. This campaign has risen from the ashes.

And what I'm seeing is it's going from a traditional campaign to a movement. It's very organic. Young people are - on TikTok doing their own thing. This isn't a campaign. Kamala Harris wasn't on TikTok until five minutes ago. It's these young people, it's this new universe of voters. It is so much fun.

DEAN: I can't believe it's only been six days, Scott. We've lived a lifetime since last weekend. How much do you think this - with a whole six days now to take this all in, but it has - a lot has transpired - how much do you think that this switch with Harris now at the top of the ticket has upended --

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, actual campaign - I'm sorry, go ahead. Didn't mean to interrupt.

DEAN: No, no, no, it has just changed the Trump playbook. What are you seeing kind of unfold as they're reacting to this?

JENNINGS: Yes, I mean, campaign operatives who've been on campaigns and seen dramatic things happen or dramatic things in the news will give it a little more time than six days. So I'm sort of in a wait and see mode, honestly. There's been some polling in the immediate aftermath. I'll probably get another seven to 10 days to find out where we really are.

But there's no question that Joe Biden was struggling, dropping, you know, falling off the map. The country was leaving him behind, and so was Donald Trump. So Harris has certainly changed the trajectory of that to some degree for Democrats.

I think what they're not pricing into her candidacy is that she is now the most liberal candidate the Democrats have ever nominated in the history of the Democratic Party. And she is a treasure trove of positions from her time in the Senate, from her short-lived presidential campaign in 2019, she never made it to 2020 and from her time as vice president.

So in terms of the playbook, I don't think they have to change much. They were already arguing that a vote for Biden was a vote for Harris anyway because they didn't expect Biden to last. But she's been right there next to Joe Biden in the administration that 65 percent of the country disapproves of, and you throw on top of it all kinds of positions like defund the police, eliminate fracking and you can see how easy it would be for the Trump campaign to find a vector that will work and allow them to stay ahead.

DEAN: And Maria, by all accounts, and even what Scott is saying, look, it's been a big start to her campaign. She's had a lot of fundraising success, historic fundraising success. She has the Gen Z on TikTok, as Ana was saying, and yet even her - she herself today or in the last day or so, said to supporters, she's the underdog in this race. This is going to be really hard. This is a very tight race. How do you think the campaign can best harness this moment in time that they have and carry it out through the long haul of - for what is going to be a really hard race?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's no question about that, Jessica. She is the underdog. This is going to be a really, really tough race. And I think it's really smart of her campaign and of the vice president herself to acknowledge that. But look, the momentum is real.

You know, this past week, she raised $200 million off of that energy that we've all been talking about. The calls of the black women, the Latina women, the white women, the LGBTQ community, the white men, I mean, everyone is kind of joining in here.

They recruited 170,000 new volunteers across the swing states just in these last couple of days. And to your point, they're not taking anything for granted. They are embarking on a slew of events across those battleground states, 2,300 events where they're going to continue to make the argument that she is going to be the one that is going to be fighting for families the way that she and President Biden have for the last three and a half years, that we're not going back, that this is about a fight for our democracy, a fight for our rights and freedoms, a fight for the future.

And look, I do think it will be difficult. The other side, I think, has become completely unhinged and discombobulated. They don't know how to run against her.

[18:34:57]

But what I do know, and why I think this is going to be so difficult, is that they will throw everything at her, no matter how dark, no matter how demeaning, no matter how degrading, no matter how degenerate. We have already seen it.

So I think it's smart of her to not take anything for granted, to continue this momentum, to give all of her energized, new, mobilized voters and supporters something to fight for, for the next hundred days. This is a sprint. And I think that the people that have surrounded her with that kind of support and the new voters she is bringing into the fold are going to have the energy to pull her through until she gets elected in November. DEAN: Ana, I want to play a soundbite from former President Trump from last night. He was talking to a Christian group. Let's just play that clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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 a 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)

DEAN: Ana, our colleague, Steve Contorno, had reached out to the Trump campaign. They said, in trying to explain that, that he was talking about prosperity for all Americans, that that was the point of that. What do you think he's trying to say there?

NAVARRO: You know, whenever he says something like that, he - they always have to interpret and decipher what he said and say that it's different than what most people heard him plainly say. Look, this is a man who is clearly a threat to democracy. He has shown us this before. He showed it to us on January 6th.

This is a man who just a few days ago, less than a month ago, just a couple of weeks ago, got shot, okay, got shot. We saw the blood, we saw all of this, and not even that has changed him. I mean, if there's anything that should be a life-changing experience, is the idea that you could have lost it in one moment. That hasn't changed him.

And so here you've got gloom and doom and hominem attacks, all sorts of things going on. And on the other side, you've got Kamala Harris, who has stepped up to the plate. She has gone and she's taken the spotlight and she's doing great. She's bringing people along, talking about freedom.

There's, you know, Kamala Harris' song, her speech, her life is talking about freedom, where you've got Donald Trump talking about, don't vote. You're not going to have to vote again. We're going to fix it and there's going to be no more need to vote. I came from - I fled one of those countries, Nicaragua, where that happens. So I take it seriously when I hear it.

DEAN: Yes. Scott, what do you think when you hear him saying that? Like, help us understand.

JENNINGS: Yes. I mean, he's saying he's going to do an excellent job. And by the way, he can't even run again. So there won't be any need for anybody to vote for Donald Trump again, because this is the last time he can run. So I think it's pretty simple. He's promising his people that he's going to do a great job and fix the problems in the country and they can move on after that.

So I mean, the interpretations of this comment today have been absolutely wild, but - I mean, I don't know how else you can read it.

DEAN: I know and - but it is kind of weird. It is kind of weird to hear him say, like, you won't have to vote again, Christians. I think that's why I'm just - I - you know, I hear what you're saying. You're saying that he's saying I'll fix it so, you know, everything will be okay kind of thing.

JENNINGS: Yes. I mean, he is saying that the country is in the ditch. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden drove us off in the ditch and he's going to do a better job. I don't know - I'm struggling with the controversy today. I'm happy to answer it, but that's how I interpreted it.

DEAN: Yes, I know. I just think - yes, it's - as you - as Ana was getting to, it's like you hear him say, like, dictator on day one and you won't have to vote and it's - you kind of, I think, it's the context of it all. But I appreciate you walking us ...

CARDONA: But you know what, Jessica, it's not just that. It's not just what he just said and it's not that he said he wants to be a dictator on day one. And Scott, I don't think it should be so hard for you to struggle to understand that because he already tried to do it, he already tried to inspire an insurrection. He already tried to destroy our democracy, destroy our constitution by telling his followers, both in Congress and the ones who were here in the Capitol, to attack the Capitol so that we would not - the - our legislators would not be able to effectively certify a free and fair election.

That's why when he says things like that, people interpret it exactly how he means them because he's already shown us what he is capable of doing. And the threat is that that time was a practice run, because he wasn't successful.

[18:39:59]

He now knows what he did wrong, who he needs to put in place, i.e. JD Vance, his VP ...

DEAN: Maria?

CARDONA: ... who said he wouldn't certify the election.

That's why people are so concerned.

DEAN: I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we - I'm being told we must, must go. But thank you to all three of you. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

CARDONA: Thanks, Jessica.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

DEAN: Up next, a California wildfire bigger than the city of Los Angeles. We'll have a live report. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:45:03]

DEAN: Tonight, firefighters are racing to contain a massive wildfire in Northern California. The Park Fire exploding to 350,000 acres. That is larger than the entire city of Los Angeles.

It was allegedly sparked by an arsonist and the fire has now doubled in size over the last 24 hours. CNN's Camila Bernal is on the ground in Butte County, California with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): California's largest wildfire of the year is on the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CPT. DAN COLLINS, CAL FIRE BUTTE UNIT: This year, we're kind of starting off with a bang.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL (voice over): Scorching hillsides, decimating homes and buildings, forcing residents to flee. Firefighters battling the fast- moving flames in rugged, remote terrain amid wind gusts of 20 to 30 miles an hour in what officials call critically low humidities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: It is concerning that we're having these larger fires earlier in the season. If we're having big fires like this in July and August, we may have bigger fires come the fall as the fuels get drier and the winds start to pick up.

JULIA YARBOUGH, LOST HOME IN PARK FIRE: Our house gone, their house okay, house next to it, you can see it's gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL (voice over): Flames flattened Julia Yarbough's home. She called the experience surreal as she walked through the rubble, surveying the destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YARBOUGH: It puts a finality to it of just going, wow, this chapter over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go again, yep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL (voice over): The Park Fire brings back haunting memories for residents in Butte County. It's the same county where the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed thousands of homes. It remains the deadliest wildfire in California history. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is painful. I lost my dad in the Camp Fire. We've got our home and we've been working on it a lot lately, fixing it up and it's just - we're at the verge of maybe losing all that.

COLLINS: Talking to some of the evacuees yesterday, there's a big concern. This county has been tested time and time again. Unfortunately, you know, some of our folks that are evacuated now from these fires lost their home during the Camp Fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL (voice over): And with the state's wildfire season already underway, it's a test this community may be forced to live with for months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERNAL (on camera): And I was told that there were three homes in this area, three families that will come back to all of their belongings reduced to ash. It is not easy for this community and this fire continues to just explode. It's moving between 4- and 5,000 acres, burning them every single hour. It's been described to me as explosive, aggressive, challenging for these firefighters. And despite their efforts around the clock, we're at zero percent containment.

Jessica, this fire is uncontrollable.

DEAN: All right. Camila Bernal for us, thank you so much.

Vice President Kamala Harris putting her foot on the gas as the presumptive Democratic nominee, but she's doing so without a running mate just yet. Ahead, a look at her potential shortlist and what each option could mean for her campaign. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:52:50]

DEAN: It has been just a few days since Vice President Kamala Harris has become the presumptive Democratic nominee, and that means the vice president now searching for her own pick for vice president. Sources telling CNN that decision could come within the next two weeks. CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports on the vetting and polling underway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we fight, we win.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORREPONDENT (voice over): The first big solo decision of Kamala Harris' new campaign could be less than two weeks away. It's one of the most accelerated vice presidential searches in modern American history. With Harris racing to round out her ticket well before the Democratic Convention opens in Chicago on August 19th. Top contenders hail from some of the biggest battlegrounds, like Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former astronaut, and navy pilot; Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a former attorney general, elected six times statewide; and Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, another former attorney general, who has won statewide three times.

Also on the list, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 rival, who now calls Michigan home. Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, a veteran and former teacher who served more than a decade in Congress; and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, a rare Democrat, elected in a deep red state.

The search is well underway through private vetting and somewhat public auditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER (D) NORTH CAROLINA: This is the vice president's 15th trip to the most military and veteran friendly state in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): Harris has a long relationship with Cooper, feasibly praising him just last week in Fayetteville.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: My dear friend, Roy Cooper. You know, Roy and I served together when I was attorney general at California, and he was attorney general in North Carolina. I've known him for almost two decades and he is an extraordinary leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): But the vice president is not tipping her hand to any favorites among the contenders, all of whom rushed to endorse her after President Biden stepped aside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D) PENNSYLVANIA: We've been friends for 20 years. She's an outstanding vice president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): Shapiro has drawn even more attention, considering Pennsylvania is at the heart of any winning White House bid, a point he downplays in choosing a running mate.

[18:55:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAPIRO: That is a deeply personal decision that should be made free from any political pressure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Only Harris can say how geography, biography or other personal factors weigh up her decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So help you God.

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): I do.

HARRIS: Congratulations (INAUDIBLE) ...

KELLY: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): On Capitol Hill this week, Kelly was not eager to talk about any vice presidential shortlist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: Again, this is not about me. This is about the future of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): Buttigieg, less so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I think anybody would be flattered to be mentioned in that context, no matter what, I'm going to be doing everything in my power to make sure that she's our next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): For Harris, it's all part of her whirlwind and a bookend moment. Four years after answering the call from Biden to be his running mate ...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You ready to go to work?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voice over): She's getting ready to make a call of her own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): So this is a vice presidential search at warp speed, time, of course, of the essence, because this weekend marks 100 days until Election Day. Early voting starts much sooner in some states. Vice President Harris eager to get a running mate out there on the campaign trail.

I'm told even as this vetting is underway, she's likely to begin having face-to-face interviews with at least some of these candidates. Again, that decision, we're told, will come before August 7th. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much for that reporting.

And we are following breaking news out of the Middle East, where Israel is vowing to respond to a rocket attack in the Golan Heights that killed close to a dozen people, including children. And what Israel's calling the deadliest day for its citizens since October 7th. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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