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CNN International: At Least Eight People Stabbed In Attack In northern England; Trump: Harris "Worse Than Biden," Would Destroy Country; Harris: Trump And Vance "Just Plain Weird". Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired July 29, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OMAR JIMENEZ, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

Just ahead on CNN Newsroom, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are trying out new lines of attack. But, who has got the key to swinging U.S. voters? I'll discuss with my panel. Plus, President Biden is set to unveil plans to reform the Supreme Court. We'll take a look at why he is coming out with them now. And Israel is vowing retribution. That's after a rocket attack kills 12 children in the Golan Heights. We're live in London and Beirut with the latest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JIMENEZ: We're going to get to those stories in a moment. But, we want to turn now to a violent incident in northwest England. The Ambulance Service there says eight people are being treated for stab injuries. Some have been transferred to a children's hospital, and this is happening in the town of Southport.

Anna Stewart has been tracking the story for us. She joins us live from London now. What's the latest? What do we know?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has been a major incident and it all really started about 11:50 when police were called to reports of a stabbing in this town called Southport. It's a seaside town in the northwest of England where many children, of course, would have been excited about the start of the summer holidays.

Unfortunately, a terrible incident has occurred, a stabbing, which involved an ambulance, dispatching 13 different ambulances, including air ambulances and specialized doctors to the scene. Eight patients were taken to three different hospitals. That does include, as you say, a children's hospital called Alder Hey Children's Hospital. That hospital has now itself declared a major incident, and is urging people not to bring their children there unless they absolutely need sort of immediate and urgent attention. A local business owner spoke to PA Media. They say they witnessed the scene. They said it was something like from a horror movie. They said multiple young girls had been stabbed and that mothers had arrived on the scene and were screaming. Events are still very much unfolding at this stage. We do know a man

was arrested at the scene, a knife, has been seized, and that there is no broader risk to the public right now. This is, of course, being taken very seriously right through to the British Prime Minister, who spoke about this in Parliament just recently. He also tweeted to say "Horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from Southport. My thoughts are with all those affected. I would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. I am being kept updated as the situation develops." And we will bring you more news as and when we get it.

JIMENEZ: Some disturbing details. Anna Stewart, thank you for joining us, and keep us posted.

Turning now to U.S. politics, buckle up if you're having buckled up already, a presidential election that once featured what many might describe as a boring rematch that lots of voters said they didn't want, has now been supercharged. We are now less than 100 days from a critical showdown between former U.S. President Donald Trump and the presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Both candidates were on the campaign trail this weekend, testing out new lines of attack against each other. Harris' fundraising war chest has also grown very quickly, raking in more than $200 million since President Biden dropped out of the race. Remember, that was essentially a week ago. And she and her allies are trying to cast Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance as just "weird".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some of what he and his running mate are saying, it's just plain weird. I mean, that's the box you put that in, right?

TIM WALZ, MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: These guys are just weird. That's what they are. So, it didn't much helped. But, we're not afraid of weird people. We are a little bit creeped out, but we're not afraid.

DOUG EMHOFF, KAMALA HARRIS' HUSBAND: It's not about her or her opponent, really, and it's no matter what kind of weird stuff they keep saying.

JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: It's the weirdest thing. He'll go in like literally hugging American flag. Now, I love the flag. But, I mean, it's like weird what he does, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, Donald Trump is trying to paint Harris as worse than President Biden, while promising to step up his attacks on the Vice President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to be nice. They all say I think he has changed. I think he has changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him. No, I haven't changed. Maybe I've gotten worse actually, because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right. We're following both campaigns closely with Priscilla Alvarez at the White House and Steve Contorno in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Priscilla, I want to go to you first. So, Democrats clearly got the memo, I guess, cast Trump and Vance as weird. We've seen the words pop up in some of her releases or campaign releases. We're seeing them being spoken on the campaign trail. What's the thinking behind that strategy there?

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're certainly leaning in and also fine tuning their messaging, as they go into the weeks and months to come. Of course, this has been a momentous week for the now- Harris campaign. They raked in $200 million, which is important for any campaign to pay for fundraising, to also build out their apparatus. But, they also brought in a lot more, thousands more volunteers. So, the campaign itself is feeling pretty good. And the fundraiser -- at the fundraiser over the weekend, the Vice President also trying out these new lines of attacks, calling the words and statements from the former President and his Vice Presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, wild lies, and also going with that, quote, "plain weird" when describing the Vice Presidential nominee. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You may have noticed, Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record, and some of what he and his running mate are saying, let's -- it's just plain weird.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the Vice President and her campaign are pivoting now to a new phase, as they look ahead to the Democratic National Convention, and that phase includes picking who is going to be her running mate. So, on that front, they are looking at J.D. Vance as an opportunity. Before she was picked to lead the party's ticket, they were already looking at his accolades and trying to decipher and determine what her lines of attack were going to be against him, as also the running mate at the time. And on that front, they were going to paint her as the "yes" man and another MAGA man basically, putting the stamp of approval on anything that former President Donald Trump does. And a lot of that is going to spill into how they attack him now, especially in choosing who her running is going to be.

They also think that they can go after him for being underqualified, so, essentially saying that he does not have enough experience to govern, and using the former President's advanced age to make that point. Essentially, J.D. Vance could be the President, if the former President couldn't fulfill another four years. So, all of this is coming together as they look ahead to the Democratic National Convention, and as the Vice President tries to pick her running mate before August 7. Omar.

JIMENEZ: We will see. We'll be here before we know it. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Steve Contorno now who is covering the Trump campaign. And Steve, look, we saw Trump launch into pretty highly personal attacks on Kamala Harris over the weekend. I mean, is his -- is there a sense that his campaign is worried at all that these kinds of things could actually turn off moderate voters, those types of personal attacks like this?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, they believe that they are in a race to define Vice President Harris before she can define herself. They know that she is well recognized, but they don't believe that she is well known. So, all these negative attacks are an attempt to paint a picture of her as ultra-liberal, as incompetent, as someone who adopts all the policies that the Biden administration put out there.

But look, at the end of the day, this campaign that the -- President Trump is running has never been a bit of much about winning the middle. They have been trying to target low propensity voters, especially people who may not have voted in previous elections but consider themselves Trump supporters. They've been also trying to take advantage of demographic shifts that we've seen in recent years, black voters, Hispanic voters, union households. They have been trending more and more conservative, still overwhelmingly Democratic, but inching more Republican.

So, the Trump campaign has sort of acknowledged for some time now that there are people who voted for him in 2016 but didn't vote for him in 2020, and never will again, and those individuals are a lost cause. So, they're trying to find new voters to reach out to. So, keep that in mind, as you sort of take in how Trump and his campaign are responding to this new opponent that they have at the top of the Democratic ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's a dangerous and terrible time for the world, and it's almost the entire fault of incompetent Biden-Harris administration. She is terrible. She is worse. She is worse than he is, I'll tell you right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: I think they just put some audio of Trump's speaking from over the weekend, and you get a sense of just sort of where these attacks have been. He had three different groups of audiences he worked -- he appeared in front of this weekend. To Christian groups, he was attacking Senator -- excuse me, Vice President Harris as extreme on abortion. They also -- he also said that she is quote, "doesn't like Jewish people", which is a remarkable statement given that her husband is Jewish. He then went before a pro-Bitcoin crowd and claimed that President Harris would be anti-cryptocurrency. And then at his most recent rally in Minnesota, he attacked her, saying that if Harris wins, quote, "The American dream is" quote, "dead".

JIMENEZ: And as you mentioned, it's been interesting to watch to see them try to define her before she is able to define herself. So, that'll be an interesting dynamic to keep an eye on as we move forward here.

Steve Contorno, really appreciate it.

[11:10:00]

I want to bring in Republican Strategist and CNN Political Commentator, Shermichael Singleton, and Democratic Strategist Chuck Rocha, who is also President of Solidarity Strategies, both joining us from Washington, D.C. All right, gentlemen, let's get weird to start. Specifically, of course, let's talk about what the messaging has been to this point. Take a quick listen to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: These guys are just weird. That's who they are. So, it didn't much help. Don't give them the power. Don't lift these guys up like they're sometimes they are heroes. Everybody in this room knows, I know it as a teacher, a bully has no self-confidence. A bully has no strength. They have nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And I should mention, Governor Tim Walz, widely reported as the Vice Presidential candidate potentially for Harris. But, I want to get both of your insights to this, because obviously, look, it's not an election that's going to be decided on whether someone is branded as weird or not at this point.

But, Chuck, I want to start with you. Do you see this as an effective, I guess you could call it comm strategy to start out and sort of testing out messaging that they believe might be effective against the former President here?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, & PRESIDENT, SOLIDARITY STRATEGIES: Yeah, and I think because most of America kind of sees Washington politicians and those are -- as those people, weird people, put whatever kind of label you want on it, and I think that what they're trying to do is align with regular folks who are not weird. And what they're really trying to do is identify and highlight each other as we move into the last 100 days here. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Everybody knew who Joe Biden was. And so, what the Democrats are doing now is not trying to make this a much about don't vote against Donald Trump, but now you have something to vote for, which is the Vice President. So, you're going to see both sides trying to identify the other side, as we're in a sprint till about the last 80 days when folks actually start voting via mail and early voting.

JIMENEZ: And Shermichael, I just want to get your take on this as well, because again, it seems like a concerted strategy across multiple levels of some key figureheads of their campaign to this point, the fray not just Trump, but J.D. Vance as weird as well. Effective or not, if you're a Republican, how do you counter that as well?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, & REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Like, I think if you're a Republican, you pivot to the issues, which are what most voters are principally concerned with. You go to inflation. You go to the economy. You talk about the cost of living. You speak about immigration. And you attach all of those things in terms of the Biden-Harris record directly to Vice President Harris, and you also make the delineation between what Republicans would argue are the failures of Vice President Harris in terms of what she was previously tasked with and her portfolio in her current role.

And so, I think for Republicans, it is important not to get sidetracked, I guess, Omar, and into the name calling and go back to those kitchen table issues, which I'm convinced, based on historic presidential data, are the things that actually mobilize and ultimately move voters.

JIMENEZ: And look, you said don't get distracted right now. It does seem at least for the moment that Trump and some of what Vance is saying as well, they do seem to be in that food fight a little bit right now. Take a listen to some of what Trump and Vance have had to say on the Vice President so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She will be the worst President we've ever had. She will be worse than crooked Joe Biden.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got to give some credit to our Democrat friends because they were right in 2020. The American people are never going to elect a wacky out-of- touch San Francisco liberal like Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: OK. Wacky, not weird. But, Chuck, I want to start with you that, look, to piggyback off of some of what Shermichael was saying, there is momentum right now. You look to the fundraising numbers. It's no secret that she has been all over the internet. The momentum is behind her right now. But, how do you maintain that momentum? Where do you even start to maintain that momentum, when this period is sort of, I don't want to say dies down, but slows down a little bit more and things might turn a little bit more to the policy side of things?

ROCHA: I'm honored to be one of the few people in America who has actually ran a presidential campaign. And these things are measured in minutes. And there is one thing you can't get back in a presidential campaign, and that is time. We're 100 days before election. We're probably less than 65 from when people actually start voting. So, we're here now. All this nonsense about we're too early, a lot of things could happen, which is both true, but now we're here. We're going to be in convention in three weeks. We are here.

And presidential campaigns are much different than Senate races that I work on and House races that I work on. It's a popularity contest that you have to win every single day. You're going to win a couple of days. You're going to lose a couple of days. And between now and the election, the way to win a presidential race is to win more days than you lose because only a small group of people in only six states are actually going to decide who wins this thing. So, they will micro target down to just those people to win a presidential campaign.

[11:15:00]

JIMENEZ: And I guess, Shermichael, as we close out here, where do you start as a Republican to, OK, look, the momentum is here at this point, with Kamala Harris right now, as things sort of change in the race shifts, and maybe things do shift a little bit more to policy back and forth, maybe in the form of a debate. We'll see. But, where do you start as a Republican? What do you think is the issue she is most vulnerable on?

SINGLETON: I mean, I think it is immigration and the cost of living, and I'm looking at two particular groups, Omar, to try to penetrate that message with. I'm looking at working class white voters, where Democrats have struggled with for the most part. However, in 2020, we saw President Biden improve upon the 2016 numbers of Hillary Clinton. And I'm also looking at men, broadly speaking. In 2016, Donald Trump had an 11-point lead over Hillary Clinton with men. In 2020, President Biden closed that gap. It was nearly even. And so, those are two groups that I think could potentially make a difference in a place like Georgia, 10,000 to 11,000 votes. I'm looking at a state like Wisconsin, a lot of working class white voters, a 22,000 vote difference.

So again, I'm looking for penetration among particularly persuadable voters, also lower propensity voters, which is where Donald Trump appears to do well.

JIMENEZ: All right. Less than 100 days out. We're going to have a lot of these conversations. Shermichael Singleton and Chuck Rocha, thanks for being here today, though. Really appreciate the insight.

SINGLETON: Of course.

JIMENEZ: All right. Coming up, Lebanon prepares for an Israeli response to this past weekend's deadly attack in the Golan Heights. Ben Wedeman will have the latest from Beirut, just ahead. Plus, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set for a third term in office following a highly contentious election. But, the opposition is crying foul. We're live in Caracas with the latest developments.

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JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone.

Several European countries are urging their citizens in Lebanon to get out of the country right away. Israel is expected to respond with force to Saturday's deadly rocket attack in the Golan Heights. On Sunday, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu met with his security cabinet. It authorized the Prime Minister and his Defense Minister to decide how to hit back at Hezbollah. The Lebanese militant group is, however, is rejecting the accusation that it was behind the strike that killed 12 children and teenagers.

But, on Sunday, Israel said it targeted Hezbollah with a series of airstrikes deep inside Lebanon. And Lebanese media said earlier Monday, two people were killed in the southern part of the country near the border with Israel. A Lebanese security source tells CNN it was an Israeli drone strike, and the tit-for-tat violence is stoking fears now that an all-out war is growing more likely.

Our team is covering this developing news from all angles. Ben Wedeman is standing by in Beirut for us. But first, let's hear from journalist Elliott Gotkine, who joins us from our London bureau. So, Elliott, can you tell us a little bit more about that strike? What further steps is Israel planning to take here?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Hi Omar. I think it's pretty clear that what happened earlier today was not the main event.

[11:20:00]

This is not the response that we are expecting Israel to have in response to the strike on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights which killed 12 Druze children on Saturday. What we understand from the drone strike in southern Lebanon from the Lebanese state news agency is that one drone struck a car, wounding two of the occupants, and that a motorcycle then came along and the people on the motorcycle were killed by a second drone strike.

But, as I say, this is unlikely and is certainly not the main event. Just earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Majdal Shams, where I should note that he wasn't universally welcome. He was heckled by some of the people there. He said to those people there, he said these children, referring to the 12 children killed on Saturday, are our children. They are the children of our soul. The state of Israel will not and cannot ignore this. Our response will come and it will be severe.

Now, I guess we will know what that response is when we see it. But, I think it's important to note that Israel doesn't want an all-out war right now, not least because, of course, it's still engaged in that war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that one won't happen, as President Biden's Special Envoy, Amos Hochstein, remarked in May, wars have started historically around the world, even when leaders didn't want them because they had no choice.

Now, interestingly, just as all of this is happening, of course, we saw ceasefire negotiations, talks resume in Rome on Sunday. Now, there weren't any breakthroughs. And indeed, Hamas is saying that the Israelis have presented 11th hour demands, which are kind of on top of the plan that President Biden outlined, what, a month or two ago. But, that said, the prospects of war between Israel -- an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah may in themselves, if you're an optimistic bent, encourage or make more likely a deal between Israel and Hamas to release a number of hostages, release a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, and of course, give a six-week ceasefire at the same time. But, of course, those talks, as I say, they have stopped for now. They

did resume on Sunday. There were no breakthroughs. They are still ongoing. And so, for now, tensions remain incredibly high between Israel and Hezbollah. As I say, it's a war that no one seems to want, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't. Omar.

JIMENEZ: And we've seen some of -- little bit of the tit-for-stats play out over the course of the Israel-Hamas war as well, and this potentially could be a disturbing next chapter. Really appreciate the reporting, Elliott Gotkine.

But, for some of that perspective on what's ahead, I want to bring in CNN's Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman, who joins us live from Beirut. Ben, can you just talk to us about Hezbollah and Lebanon's fear of a spreading conflicts? Obviously, that fear not just with Lebanon as well.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Lebanon, obviously, tensions, worries are very high that what has been going on since October of last year, a sort of daily back and forth strikes could become something much worse after that strike on Majdal Shams on Saturday.

Now, I did speak this afternoon with the Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who told me that, through diplomatic contacts, Lebanon had been reassured that the Israeli response to that strike on Majdal Shams will be limited. He said that Lebanon had interpreted that as meaning that Israel would not strike the Beirut airport. It would not strike Beirut, and particularly the southern suburbs of Beirut, which are home to many of the leaders of Hezbollah.

Now, because of these concerns, we have seen several countries, including Germany and Italy, telling their nationals in Lebanon to leave as quickly as possible. Other countries have reiterated their advisories, to their nationals to leave Lebanon or avoid travel to it. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs put out a video message on X or what we used to call Twitter, telling people to leave, telling U.S. s nationals to leave Lebanon before the crisis begins. You might argue that the crisis has already begun. She said, those U.S. nationals who don't leave Lebanon should be prepared, in her words, to shelter in place for a very long time.

[11:25:00]

Now, getting out of Lebanon may prove to be difficult in the coming days, because we've seen, for instance, Lufthansa, the German Airlines, has cancelled all flights in and from Lebanon until the fifth of August. Air France has suspended its flights for at least the next day or two to Lebanon as well. So, concern is rising. But, the hope is that indeed the Israeli response will be limited, and Lebanon, which is already suffering from an economic crisis, the likes of which the country has never seen, will be spared a full-scale war that many fear could turn into a regional war. Omar.

JIMENEZ: Obviously, dynamics that no one wants to see at this point. Ben Wedeman in Beirut, really appreciate the reporting. Now, bringing you some other stories. Law enforcement on the scene of

that Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump rally had their sights on the would- be assassin a full 90 minutes before the attack. So, why wasn't he stopped sooner? We're going to have new details ahead. Plus, President Biden is about to make a major announcement on Supreme Court reform in the United States. What he is seeking and can he get it done? We will explain. Stay with us.

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JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

Here are some international headlines we are watching today. French officials say they have identified several people who may have carried out Friday's attacks on the railway network. The Interior Minister says the attackers' methods resembled those used previously by far- left militants. And an intelligence source told CNN, the security services are fully mobilized to find those responsible, but no evidence had been found to the tie -- to tie the attacks to the far left, I should say.

Meanwhile, China has accused the alliance known as the Quad, the U.S. Australia, India and Japan, of inciting confrontation in the Indo- Pacific region. Now, it was in response to comments by the foreign ministers of the four countries after their meeting in Tokyo Monday. They expressed concern about what they called corrosive and intimidating acts in the South China Sea, although there was no explicit reference to China.

And Russia and China, though, have congratulated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on winning reelection. The authoritarian leader was declared the winner of Sunday's vote by the government-controlled Electoral Council. However, the opposition is claiming its candidate was the true winner, and is accusing the government of a fix. The U.S. has expressed concerns about the accuracy of the official results, while some South American leaders are calling for full transparency around the vote count.

And that's where I want to stick with right now, because Stefano Pozzebon is in Caracas for us. And Stefano, there was a lot of concern, I should say, that these would not be free and fair elections.

[11:30:00]

Can you tell us more about how the international community is reacting, including in the region?

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Omar. I think concern is just a very polite word to say. Actually, there is a lot of (inaudible). But, first of all, I want to show you the reaction right here from Caracas. I don't know if you can hear it.

But, what we are hearing now is a massive cacerolazos. So, cacerolazos is a form of protest in South America, when people just spontaneously bang their pots to express with this noise, there anger at something. And right now, people are banging on their pots all across the city. And according to social media or video that we're receiving, all according -- all across Venezuela, we're hearing that this is happening in the slums. It's happening in the city and the center of Caracas where the CNN Bureau is located. And you can tell why those results proclaimed yesterday were not being

-- are not being well received here on the ground in Venezuela.

Many countries in the region are expressing a lot of skepticism. Some of them like Chile and Costa Rica already saying that they will not recognize that the results as proclaimed by the Electoral Authority. Others like Brazil, which is the largest country in South America, and perhaps the most geopolitical -- most powerful geopolitical force in this region, they said that they demand to see all the data out of the electoral authorities.

Now, on the other side is Nicolas Maduro, President, who he claims, has just won his third consecutive election. He will serve a full mandate in the next six years. We don't know that yet. But, if he does, he will become the longest-serving President in Venezuelan history. And this is what he said yesterday, as he celebrated his victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (Interpreted): We are the guarantee of peace in this country, tranquility and stability in this historical moment, July 28, 2024. We are the guarantors of peace. What's more, the only guarantors of peace and tranquility that this country has to enable it to continue building in the near and late future, to be able to see the emergence of a more democratic Venezuela.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: And Omar, statements like that are a classic from Nicolas Maduro playbook. It's the carrot and stick strategy. On one side, he says that he is the guarantor of peace and tranquility for the nation. On the other, he says that he will defend and he will make people respect the results of an electoral. Authorities, many here, just see as corrupted and colluded with the government. Just again, take a listen to the sound of protests out of Caracas. I hope you can. You can hear it.

JIMENEZ: Right. We can hear it. I mean, it's so incredibly loud there, and thank you for pointing that out, because I would have just thought people were -- I don't know what I thought people would be doing. So, it's really interesting on the ground reporting there.

Before you go, I want to ask you, I mean, where do things go from here? I mean, can the opposition actually do anything about the situation that they're in right now?

POZZEBON: Well, it seems like these show you that there is an appetite for protests, perhaps not the type of widespread mass protests that we've seen here in Venezuela in 2014, 2017, or 2019. But, you can feel from these noise that the people in this city are angry and they're not ready to accept these results. The opposition has so far set short of calling for mass protests, and they are instead appealing to the international community. And that's why statements like that of Brazil, and perhaps in the next few hours, Colombia, which is another geopolitical powerhouse around here. Those are statements that will be carefully watched.

Another statement they carefully watch, tomorrow morning, the Carter Center in Atlanta-based international organization that is widely respected for their job in monitoring, observing elections here in South America and the rest of the southern world out of the global south, they will hold a presser at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday in Caracas to deliver their preliminary reports. And many people will see that as the real thermometer of whether yesterday's election was, it was never going to be free or fair, but whether it was competitive and whether those results actually stick. Omar.

JIMENEZ: And I think you put it best or does seem to be an appetite again, just based on what I'm hearing behind you in Caracas there. Really appreciate it. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you for your reporting, as always.

[11:35:00]

All right. We're also following news out of the former President. For example, Donald Trump will meet with the FBI for a victim's interview to discuss the attempt on his life earlier this month. That as new details emerge about the actions of local law enforcement on that fateful day. More than 90 minutes before shots rang out at that Trump rally, local law enforcement sent text about the presence of a man who would later turn out to be the shooter. Now, according to those messages, officers later took a picture of the man, not the pictures that you're seeing on screen right now, but pictures that we now know to be Thomas Crooks.

Now, the text messages were obtained by U.S. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. The New York Times first reported the story, and members of the Beaver County SWAT team told ABC News that a planned face-to-face meeting with the Secret Service never happened. So, that's a lot.

We want to bring in CNN National Security reporter Zach Cohen for the latest, who joins us from Washington, D.C. So, let's just start with the Secret Service. What are they saying about all of this new reporting that we've seen so far?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Omar. The Secret Service really just reiterating that they're committed to identify and fixing. The issue is the security failures that took place on July 13th at Donald Trump's rally. They are also saying they continue to cooperate with the various investigations around the attempted assassination of Donald Trump without really addressing the reporting or these allegations from local law enforcement directly.

As you mentioned too, we do know now that Donald Trump will separately sit for a voluntary victim interview with the FBI. This is a very routine part of any criminal investigation, but obviously notable, given Donald Trump's tense relationship with the FBI writ large. Look, this is very much evidence that law enforcement and the Secret Service are still looking into what happened, both from the perspective of the security failures and also from the perspective of the shooter himself trying to identify a motive for the attack.

I want to go to the local -- the interview with the local SWAT team there, because they are speaking out for the first time and really highlighting what they describe as a communication breakdown. They say that not only did this briefing with the Secret Service that was supposed to happen before the rally started, not happened, but they're also saying that they had no communication with the Secret Service, the leading agency in charge of securing this rally, on the day that Donald Trump was shot at. Now, take a listen to how these local SWAT officers described the communication between their team and the U.S. Secret Service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK YOUNG, CHIEF DETECTIVE, BEAVER COUNTY EMS: Multiple agencies working together is always taxing no matter what the problem. I know that we could not communicate with Secret Service or Pennsylvania State Police, or really in effort, the patrol directly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, why is this a problem? Those text messages that you mentioned really raising concerns 90 minutes before the rally started about this suspicious individual. Just in a group chat of the local SWAT team members, they passed that information along to a central command post of sorts that was supposed to share that information more widely with the Secret Service. It's unclear if that ever happened. But, obviously, the Secret Service was not alerted to this suspicious individual until the shots themselves were fired. So, a lot of questions remaining. The acting deputy -- acting Director of the Secret Service, the newly minted Acting Director, will appear on Capitol Hill for two Senate hearings this week, and I'm sure he will be pressed for answers.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, and I'm sure some of those senators are hoping for more information than they got from what is now the previous head of the Secret Service. Zach Cohen, really appreciate it.

I want to stay in presidential politics, in this case, I guess policy. President Joe Biden has plans for major reforms at the U.S. Supreme Court. He plans to propose term limits for Supreme Court justices who currently have lifetime appointments. Now, he also wants a binding code of conduct for the court and is calling for a constitutional amendment that would strip presidents of broad immunity for crimes committed while in office, which, of course, is even more relevant, given recent Supreme Court rulings. Now, Biden will unveil his proposals during an event commemorating the Civil Rights Act later today in Austin, Texas.

But, for more on this, I want to bring in CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid, who joins us from Washington, D.C. All right, Paula. So, these major, major potentially policies and at least proposals for now that are expected to be announced later today, what is he proposing? Why now?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You just did a good job of laying out the highlights here. He is offering these proposals at a time that the High Court is increasingly under scrutiny, questions about their ethics, their decisions like overturning Roe v. Wade, or their recent presidential immunity decision related to former President Trump. But, remember, then-candidate Biden campaigned with a promise to try to change and reform the High Court. So, he did actually have a Commission that looked at this, submitted a report a few years ago, but then he didn't really do anything. So, we're seeing almost exactly 100 days out from the election him putting forth these proposals.

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But, Omar, these are likely to just remain proposals or ideas, because what he is proposing here, right, term limits for Supreme Court justices, a binding code of ethics for justices, they have a code of ethics, but there is no enforcement mechanism, and then a potential constitution amendment to prohibit blanket immunity. I mean, these are things that require congressional action. When it comes to amending the Constitution, that would even require participation from the states. Omar, safe to say, that is not going to happen. Trying to get Congress to legislate even when there is some agreement across the aisle is difficult.

But, Supreme Court reform is increasingly a partisan issue, which is why we do not expect that any of this will actually succeed. These are more ideas or more of a platform for the Vice President to carry on.

JIMENEZ: And to your point, I mean, literally, while you were talking and I just -- the benefit of I'm able to look at my email while you were talking is how Speaker Johnson just said it would be dead on arrival, based on these types of reforms. So, your reporting is spot on, as usual. Paula Reid, really appreciate it.

All right. Ahead on the show, the Park Fire in Northern California has burned an area bigger than the city of Phoenix. We will be live from California with the latest on how firefighters are getting on. Plus, CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the impact of the weather on the fires. Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. There is still over 100 active large wildfires over the western U.S., but conditions are slowly starting to improve. I will give all the details coming up after the break.

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JIMENEZ: A man accused of starting the massive Park Fire in northern California is set to appear in court today for the first time. The 42- year-old has been held without bail since his arrest on Thursday. And while conditions are slowly improving for firefighters, the flames are still spreading and the fire is only partly contained. We're tracking weather conditions around the fires. The good news is that they appear to be improving. We're going to have more on that in a moment with Meteorologist Derek

Van Dam. But first, I want to go to CNN's Camila Bernal near Chico, California. Camila, now, are authorities making progress in containing the fire, and what are the residents on the ground there that you're talking to and seeing having to say about all this?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN U.S NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are making progress and it's finally the first essentially 24 hours where I hear optimism from fire officials, Omar, and people here on the ground sadly having to see the devastation. When you look around, you have to think that thousands and thousands of acres look sort of like what you're seeing here behind me. And so, fire officials saying that the center of the fire is still very active. It's still in areas where it's really difficult to get to, very steep terrain, but they are making some progress, and that is thanks to better weather conditions over the weekend, but also more resources on the ground.

[11:45:00]

You have nearly 5,000 firefighters now assessing the damage. So, part of that is going to these areas where the fire already came through. And they now say about 100 structures have been destroyed after that ground assessment. But, they also told me that they were able to essentially have a direct attack on the fire, an aggressive attack, and that really helped that containment go from zero percent to 12 percent. And it may seem like it's just a bit, but it does make a difference in terms of getting a handle on this. It had been zero percent for days now.

Now, another priority that fire officials told me they have is getting people back into their homes, especially the people of Butte County, because Butte County has seen the deadliest fire in California history back in 2018. So, they're very conscious of like the way that these people feel and the trauma that they're feeling after living this over and over again. So, they're trying to get information out to them.

And just anecdotally, I can tell you that the people in this county are taking evacuation orders and warnings very seriously because of what they've already lived through. So, they're paying attention to see what happens next. They're hopeful for more progress. But, the reality is that there is still thousands and thousands of acres that are actively burning right now. So, really a lot of work to be done here, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And Camila, before you go. I mean, look, this isn't the first wildfire you've covered in the recent weeks at this point, in different parts of the state. Can you just give our viewers a sense of sort of the conditions that you're seeing? You've seen multiple scenes now that have either aided some of these fires to spread much more quickly, or have aided firefighters and being able to get these things -- these fires under control.

BERNAL: So, look, Omar, over the last couple of years, we've had a lot of rain, specifically here in California. So, that contributed to a lot of the grass and brush and trees to grow significantly. Then you have another year of dry weather and more heat. So, that really dries up all of that fuel for the fires. So, when something ignites, and in this case, when a person pushes a burning car into an embarkment, all of that brush is really easily ignited and it moves extremely fast because the temperatures were very high. It was very dry here a couple of days ago when this 42-year-old man pushed the car. So, it moves really, really fast, and that really was what caused the explosion of this fire, and it's concerning because it's very early in the fire season.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. And as we had been talking, that man accused of starting the Park Fire is expected to appear in court. Camila Bernal, really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

I want to pick up on some of what Camila was saying with CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, because obviously, we've been monitoring heat in all of this. How will the heat factor into what Camila was dealing with on the ground there?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, that's one of the key factors in this explosive fire growth that she mentioned the firefighters have to deal with, and what is happening and what happened, I should say, with the Park Fire in its initial stages and how rapidly it grew from such a small fire to such a large expensive fire. Right now, 12 percent containment. So, as Camilla mentioned, that is some very good progress. But still, we're getting our new numbers in, over 350,000 acres that have been burned. There are other fires across California as well.

But, the temperature and the wind profile is going to change, and it's all because of this catalyst right here, it's tough to see, but it is a cold front. And there is some precipitation associated with it, mainly to the north and west of Butte County, where the fire is currently located. But, there are other fires that this is going to help contain as well, mainly across portions of Oregon. You can see Spokane, Washington, expecting temperatures in the lower 80s. That's a far cry from the 90s and triple digit heat that some locations across the Northwest have experienced lately.

Nonetheless, there still is fire, red flag warnings in place for places in advance of that approaching cold front. So, in advance of that, we still have the dry air, but behind it, things change still unless there is 102 active large wildfires emitting a lot of smoke into the atmosphere. So, this is degrading the quality of the air. It's kind of the combo effect here, not only the fire on the ground, but the bad quality of the air because of the smoke that billows from fires, just like the Park Fire in Butte County. Omar.

JIMENEZ: Derek Van Dam, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead, CNN World Sport's Coy Wire will be joining us live from Paris. He will have the latest on today's events and the medal count.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JIMENEZ: All right. An exciting day of competition is in full swing at

the Olympics in Paris today. 19 more gold medals up for grabs. Today's big events include swimming, diving and tennis. Serbia's Novak Djokovic just beat Spain's Rafael Nadal in a really hotly anticipated clash on the tennis court. China now leads the gold medal count with five. South Korea also has five, Australia and Japan, four, and the U.S. has three golds but the most medals overall.

Joining us now from Paris with the latest is CNN World Sport's Coy Wire. All right. Coy, tell us more. What are we looking at?

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, the big buzz around Paris today is this triathlon, Omar. French authorities, right, they invested $1.4 billion over the last decade. According to some locals that I've spoken to, they even pulled entire vehicles out of the River Seine to prepare this river for the moment.

But, here we are a day before the first triathlon, and competition organizers, reps of World Triathlon, they met. They canceled today's swimming practice for a second straight day after they met. The water quality test showed that the bacteria levels were just too high. Two straight days of rain pummeling Paris, overwhelming the city's sewage system, sending untreated water with E. coli there into the river. Organizers say that with higher temperatures and more sunshine that they are confident that these events will be able to go on. Now, if they do have to cancel tomorrow's triathlon, the swim portion, they're going to go run cycle run for the triathlon. So that, we will keep our eye on that and let you know here in the coming hours.

Bur, we will now go to swimming. France's Leon Marchand has broken Michael Phelps' Olympic record, crushing the field in a 400-meter individual relay. The host nation's speedboat, Omar, leaving the competition in the whitewater, finishing about five, six seconds ahead of the competition. He'd already beaten Phelps' world record. The host nation's fans made that atmosphere in the arena absolutely electric. More swimming tonight, five swimming medals up for grabs today with America's Emma Weyant and Katie Grimes in the 400 IM, Luke Hobson in the 200 free, Ryan Murphy in the 100 backstroke, Lily King, 100 breast, and Claire Weinstein in the 200 free.

Now, in one of the greatest rivalries in all of the sports, the 65th installment of Nadal-Djokovic in Roland Garros, it is Nadal taking the winning in the best of three sets match. Djokovic has the slight edge, 31 to 29 in this rivalry with that last win, sending him through to the third round here of these Paris Olympics. He is chasing his first ever Olympic goal.

Now, so many of the Olympic dreams for these athletes starts when they're just a young kid, right, Omar. I asked Team USA fencer Lee Kiefer, what would you go back and tell your younger self?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE KIEFER, TEAM USA FENCER: I would tell my younger self that I'm awesome then and I'm going to be more awesome in the future, and to just like keep at it. You're all friends. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Well, how awesome. Lee Kiefer goes on to become the first American to ever repeat as is champion in fencing's women's foil competition. She is from Lexington, Kentucky, defending her gold from the Tokyo Games. She told me she is in medical school and she is part of a power couple top, Omar. Her husband, Gerek Meinhardt, is a fencer in these Olympics as well. Kiefer defeated 21-year-old Lauren Scruggs from Queens. So, more history there. This was the first time that Team USA won multiple medals in women's foil since 1904. Lauren Scruggs, by the way, a Harvard student, the first black female fencer from the U.S. there to ever win an Olympic medal. Inspiration abound, Omar. As you know, it takes so much dedication and discipline for these athletes to get this moment and they're fully taking advantage of it here in Paris.

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JIMENEZ: I watched these Olympics play out and I think to myself, I should have trained a little harder. I said, where did I go wrong to not --

WIRE: (Inaudible).

JIMENEZ: But, it's not basketball next to LeBron and KD. So, there is levels. There is levels.

Coy Wire, really appreciate it, as always.

WIRE: Thank you so much.

JIMENEZ: All right. Before we go, one more thing. Taylor Swift fans took tailgating or we'll call it Taylor-gating, as it has become known, to the next level in Munich, Germany. Those on the hill, look at that, outside the open roof stadium were able to hear Swift's performance per free. Police estimate 40,000 people camped there on Saturday. That's in addition to the 75,000 fans inside the arena already. Swift is on the European leg of her Eras Tour. After two nights in Munich, she is heading to the Polish capital of Warsaw for three concerts. Wow. Just seeing the people on the crowd. Most people would want to have that crowd inside the stadium. She gets it on the hill.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is up next.

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