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CNN International: Acting Head Of Secret Service Testifies On Capitol Hill; Hearing On Investigation Into Trump Assassination Attempt; Harris To Hold Rally In Battleground State Of Georgia Today. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 30, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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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, lawmakers are grilling the new acting head of the Secret Service today on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Plus, Vice President Harris preparing to head south for her first visit to battleground Georgia as the presumptive Democratic nominee. And all eyes are on the women's gymnastics team with Team USA favored to take gold. We'll see if it happens. We're live in Paris with a look at when Simone Biles will compete today.
All right, everyone. Less than 100 days to go to the U.S. presidential election, the question of the presidential candidates' safety, though, remains in the spotlight. Right now, as I mentioned, the acting head of the Secret Service is in the hot seat. You're looking at live images from Capitol Hill where Ronald Rowe is testifying about security failures on the day a gunman tried to assassinate Donald Trump. Now, Rowe says the Secret Service is shaking up its procedure for making security plans. Let's take a listen to some of what we've heard so far.
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RONALD L. ROWE, JR., U.S. SECRET SERVICE ACTING DIRECTOR: A critical part of the Secret Service mission is protecting our nation's current and former government leaders. The attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a failure on multiple levels. Since my appointment as the acting director one week ago, I identified gaps in our security on July 13th, and have implemented corrective actions.
One of my first actions as acting director was traveling to the Butler Farm Show site to better understand how our protection failed. I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots, and I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.
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JIMENEZ: Now, the former director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned last week. She had refused to provide clear answers to lawmakers when they questioned her over the same security lapses. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI, a routine situation here, to offer his view of the failed assassination attempt.
Katelyn Polantz is tracking this hearing, and she joins us live from our Washington, D.C. bureau. Katelyn, obviously, the tone of this obviously very different than when we heard from Kimberly Cheatle last week. What is the latest so far from the hearing? What has the Secret Service changed about the way it protects people and events, if anything at this point?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yeah. Well, this is very intense hearing already, because there was a lot that the acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. is saying now to Congress. He is saying that he is implementing the use of drone or unmanned aerial surveillance on sites that the Secret Service is protecting. So, that's something new, since this attempted assassination failed to spot that shooter quickly or even until he fired a shot. And then, on top of that, he is also saying that there is a disciplinary review that is going to be taking place within the agency to look at the personnel of the Secret Service, if they took the correct steps.
But, Omar, one of the things it's so jarring about this particular hearing that is still ongoing is that Rowe is defending his agents within the Secret Service and showing pictures, saying about how he even himself went to the site in Butler County and laid down on the roof to look and see what could be seen by the Secret Service agents there, and it was so small what they may have been able to see that they didn't even see the shooter laying on that roof until after he was firing the shots at Donald Trump. But, it was local law enforcement that Ronald Rowe is now pointing the finger at and saying that they had a much clearer view of that rooftop and did not respond.
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So, as this hearing is ongoing, it really is a forceful defense of the Secret Service and more answers that Congress is getting that they didn't have just a week ago when (ph) it was still Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service Director, that resigned in that chair.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. And for those watching here, we've been watching the testimony ongoing. That's Ronald Rowe, Jr. speaking. We've also been seeing testimony from the FBI Deputy Director as well. And, Katelyn, I'm going to ask you about that because the FBI is leading the investigation into what happened here. And we learned Donald Trump is going to sit down for his victim interview with the FBI. When is that expected to happen? What is expected to happen there?
POLANTZ: Yeah, Omar. That is expected to take place on Thursday. The FBI will go and visit Donald Trump. That's what Trump has said. It would be voluntary and it would be a very standard thing that the FBI would do in interviewing victims of a situation like this.
But, one thing I want to point out that the FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said today, already in this hearing this morning, is that the FBI has uncovered, they haven't verified it yet, but they believe they may have located a social media account of the shooter that has more than 700 comments of political violence remarks that are antisemitic, anti-immigration. These would be comments online that that he may have been making in 2019-2020. The FBI is still looking at that and pursuing answers there. They are searching for a motive for this shooting. And so, it does appear now, just as we were learning this morning, that they may have a lead on that.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. And that social media account, as you mentioned, it could be very critical and piecing together what may have motivated him to do this.
Katelyn Polantz, I really appreciate. Thanks for the reporting.
I want to go live to Capitol Hill, as we've been talking about, the Senate hearing into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The acting Secret Service Director is among those testifying. This is Ronald Rowe's first testimony, who you're seeing on the screen right there, is an FBI Deputy Director who has been testifying alongside acting Director Rowe. But, let's listen in to a little bit of this hearing.
SEN. TOM CARPER (D-DE): Thanks very much, both of you.
SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Next on the Senate Judiciary Committee is Senator Grassley.
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): Mr. Chairman, I'd like to introduce my oversight letters and investigating documents into the record. This is the information I've already made public.
PETERS: Without objection.
GRASSLEY: OK. Thank you. I'd also like to call my colleagues' attention to a legislation that Senator Cortez Masto and I've introduced. It would require Senate confirmation of the Director of the Secret Service. I think this is very important because no other agency has a no-fail mission.
Mr. Rowe, in your written testimony, you stated that you -- to prevent similar lapses like the one on July 13th from happening again, you will ensure every event site security plan is certainly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it's implemented. Based on your testimony, the security plan for the Butler event deviated from the Social Security standards. How would vetting by multiple experienced supervisors fix that?
ROWE, JR.: So, Senator, I think having many eyes on a particular problem set helps. That way, you're not -- you don't have tunnel vision. You just focus in on one thing. And so, that's why I think it's important not only at the field office level, but also at the detail level. And part of what we had started doing with the former President's detail is having them send outside agents, having them send out supervisors. And I think having that collaboration and having additional eyes to examine the problem, we'll make sure that we're not missing anything. And I think I want that surety for myself. And I think --
GRASSLEY: I think you've answered my question.
ROWE, JR.: Yes, sir.
GRASSLEY: Let me go on. Also to you, in your written testimony, you stated that you quote, "regret that information wasn't passed to Congress and the public sooner and with greater frequency." What's your communication plan going forward to ensure that the American people in Congress are fully informed?
ROWE, JR.: So, Senator, we just started a rolling production that is bicameral. So, we made our first rolling production last week. We made one yesterday. We will continue to do that. And my view is that sunshine is the best disinfectant and we intend to prevail information to Congress as it carries out its oversight function.
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GRASSLEY: OK. And also, do you -- I made public documents that show Secret Service deployed a counter unmanned aerial system operator on July the 13th. According to the Secret Service, the drone system was supposed to be operational at 03:00 p.m. that day. However, we've been told by Secret Service that because of the cellular bandwidth problems, it wasn't operational until about 5:20 of that day. If the system was operational, Secret Service would have had the ability to detect the shooter and his own drone use. Why is the Secret Service dependent upon local cellular network? Does the Secret Service have a backup plan in place?
ROWE, JR.: Yes. Thank you, Senator. And that is something that I briefed in the closed door, and again, something that has cost me a lot of sleep because of the eventual outcome of the assailant. That, what if we had geo-located him because that counter UAS platform had been up? It is something that I have struggled with to understand, and I have no explanation for it.
GRASSLEY: OK.
ROWE, JR.: It is something that I feel as though we could have perhaps found him. We could have maybe stopped him. Maybe on that particular day, he would have decided this isn't the day to do it, because law enforcement just found me flying my drone. People fly drones all the time on the peripheries of our sites. And we go out and we talk to them, and we ascertain what their intentions are. On this day, in particular, because of the connectivity challenge, as you noted, there was a delay, and he flew his drone at 3:51 approximately.
So, moving forward, we are leveraging resources from the Department of Homeland Security and others to make sure that we have dedicated connectivity so that we're not reliant on public domain so that we can ensure that whatever assets we have in place, those assets are operational. And that is my commitment to you that we are going to make sure we're going to do that, and that is something we are moving out on.
GRASSLEY: Thank you. And I hope that you will answer some of my other questions in writing.
PETERS: Senator Johnson, you're recognized for your questions.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Thank you, Chairman. Acting Director Roland --
JIMENEZ: All right. We've been listening in on this ongoing Senate hearing with the acting Director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, as he has been explaining and testifying about the Secret Service's response to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
We've heard a number of things to this point, including, as you just heard, that they are going to be leveraging resources from the Department of Homeland Security to have dedicated connectivity, talking signal-wise, internet-wise, and not to be reliant on public domain. But, there are a lot more that they've talked about over the course of this, including finding pieces of a social media account that may have belonged to this shooter that is filled with antisemitic and anti-immigration posts online, of course, critical to the investigation into what may have prompted this.
I want to bring in Charles Marino into this conversation, who has served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Secret Service under three U.S. presidents. I'm not sure how much you've been able to listen so far --
CHARLES MARINO, FMR. DHS ADVISOR, FMR. SECRET SERVICE SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Yeah.
JIMENEZ: -- to this hearing here. But, I just want to get your reaction to, one, just the tone that we're hearing from Ronald Rowe, the seriousness of this, and maybe how it has deferred this hearing from when we heard from Kimberly Cheatle last week.
MARINO: Absolutely. They are certainly striking a different tone built on accountability and transparency. And look, that should have been the play by the Secret Service from the very start. Maybe the previous director wouldn't have been forced to resign. The public interest in this type of situation, you heard the Deputy Director of the FBI refer to it that the public interest demands updates more frequently based on the nature of this incident. It was an attempted assassination of not just a former President, but the Republican nominee going forward. So, it's an important issue. This is not going to change the answers that we're getting. It's not going to make them any better coming from the Secret Service.
This was a catastrophic security failure in Butler, Pennsylvania, and it needs to be fixed. It's not going to be a problem that solved throwing more money at it. It's a problem that needs to be managed, as you heard the acting director talk about, and it needs to be fixed. [11:15:00]
And I think in the interim, the American public need to know that going forward those protect by the Secret Service are going to be kept safe and that the necessary resources are going to match the threat level, not just the threat level in the United States, which is off the charts, but also the specific threat level per the person they're protecting, and that's not something that happened in Butler, Pennsylvania.
JIMENEZ: And look, for those that haven't been to events like these, I mean, it takes a large number of coordination across multiple levels of law enforcement, obviously, the Secret Service leads. But, you worked with local law enforcement. You worked with others, sort of within this team here. And one of the things that the acting Secret Service Director talked about was that the -- that critical information about the shooter and being seen before the shooting actually happened was, quote, "stuck in a local law enforcement channel, a local law enforcement loop of conversation", essentially, and didn't make it, I guess, as directly as that should have been to the main channels of the Secret Service here.
And from your perspective, how much of an issue has that been in coordinating events like this, just trying to maintain communication among agencies over what one person is seeing here versus what one person is seeing on another side of the security setup?
MARINO: Yeah. It's interesting, because I -- the majority of my time in the Secret Service was spent within the major protection details, and I've never seen it as a problem, because the Secret Service successfully utilizes the counterpart system. So, the command post is staffed by Secret Service and state and local law enforcement that are participating in the overall security plan.
So, to see that this information was especially siloed tells me that there were big problems, not just on the communication side of getting the information to the right people at the right time, but giving the communication, the effective communication needed to let everybody know what their roles were and what they were supposed to do in the event that something like this was discovered, a suspicious person in this case, how -- what process should have been filed and followed to be reported to the Secret Service, and that it shouldn't have stayed within just that local police group.
So, along with any significant failure, and here, the significant failure was not posting that roof on the AGR building with a direct line of sight to the stage, it's going to expose other cracks in the system and --
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
MARINO: -- the first crack that got exposed was the communication.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. And just to bring up the quote, this was from the deputy FBI Director Paul Abbate saying, quote, "There was about 30 seconds between them when the local law enforcement reported that there was a man on the roof with a gun and when the shooter fired and Rowe responded. If we'd had that information, the Secret Service counter snipers would have been able to address it more quickly. It appears that that information was stuck or siloed in that local channel." I really appreciate the insight on this. We got to leave that conversation there. Thanks for being here.
MARINO: You're welcome. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: All right. Meanwhile, a key battleground state many Democrats had little hope of winning just a short time ago maybe now back in play. We're going to tell you what's at stake as Vice President Kamala Harris visits Georgia. Plus, quote, "childless sociopaths", quote, "mentally unstable", that's just a sampling of how Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance has described people without kids. We have new reporting today from CNN's K-File.
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JIMENEZ: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will bring out the star power when she visits the battleground state of Georgia today. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion will join Harris on stage in Atlanta, and the rally is part of the Harris's campaign, their campaign's renewed push for a state Democrats now believe is in play. A new Harris campaign memo says they're feeling the energy needed to win Georgia and 2024.
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VOICE OF MICHAEL TYLER, HARRIS CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The Vice President will continue to lay out her vision for an America where we move forward not backwards. She will prosecute the case against Trump and his Project 2025 agenda. And she'll on Georgians to take action to make their voices heard in November.
VOICE OF DAN KANNINEN, HARRIS CAMPAIGN BATTLEGROUND STATES DIRECTOR: We have multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes. The Vice President is strong in both the Blue Wall and in the Sun Belt and we are running hard in both.
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JIMENEZ: A senior Democratic strategist describes Harris's candidacy as a defibrillator because it's giving the party a much needed jolt.
Let's bring in Priscilla Alvarez, who is live at the White House with more. I mean, Priscilla, the campaign has launched significant ad buys. They are clearly, as you heard from the battleground state director there, they're clearly pushing hard in both the Blue Wall and Sun Belt, critical portions of the country here. What is the latest that you're hearing?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly want to build on the surge of enthusiasm that they've experienced over the last week, and they want to do that in the critical state of Georgia. Remember, President Biden only narrowly won that state in 2020. And when he did, it marked the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate had won in nearly 30 years. So, that is why it is being paid much attention right now, as Democrats see an opportunity here to put it in play again.
Now, the reason for that is because not that long ago, President Biden himself visited the state, and when I was talking to Democratic strategists then, they said there was quite a bit of apathy among voters. It was two unpopular candidates, former President Donald Trump and President Biden, and there just wasn't a whole lot of energy to go out to the polls later this year. Well, now, those same strategists say that they are observing that enthusiasm on the ground as well. And people who perhaps are more -- less interested in voting are now open to it and are looking at the Vice President as someone who may earn their vote. So, that is something that they hope the Vice President and the campaign capitalize on in their rally in Atlanta tonight.
Now, of course, the campaign is also engaged in a massive media buy, $50 million paid media campaign that they announced today, and that includes an ad that sort of gives us a glimpse of what our argument is going to be in the next few weeks. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a prosecutor, she put murderers and abusers behind bars. As California's Attorney General, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners. And as Vice President, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors, because Kamala Harris has always known who she represents.
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ALVAREZ: So, you can expect to hear a lot of that from the Vice President herself tonight. Now, of course, she will be joined by Democratic lawmakers and Democratic officials, and she brings the star power with Megan Thee Stallion also joining her for her rally tonight, and the campaign hoping that it has the turnout that they want and also that it brings the energy that they need.
JIMENEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance is still facing backlash over his comments about people who don't have children.
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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies.
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JIMENEZ: Now, Vance said that was a one-off and that Democrats took it out of context. But, new reporting from CNN's K-File indicates that he has a history of making disparaging remarks about people without children, including this comment in a 2020 interview.
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VANCE: There are just these basic cadences of life that I think are really powerful and really valuable when you have kids in your life. And the fact that so many people, especially in America's leadership class, just don't have that in their lives. I worry that it makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less, less mentally stable. And of course, you talk about going on Twitter.
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Final point I'll make is, you go on Twitter and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don't have kids at home.
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JIMENEZ: A lot to unpack there. CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now with the details. All right. Well, Alayna, I just want to start with this. The fact that Trump tried to clean up Vance's cat lady comments and potentially even others moving forward indicate how worried the campaign actually is here?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I don't know if I would frame it like that in the sense that the campaign -- or Donald Trump going on TV and defending Vance shows how worried they are, but they are worried, of course, Omar. I mean, look, this was supposed to be J.D. Vance's first week on the trail as Donald Trump's running mate. And instead of all of this great coverage, kind of the coverage that we actually saw Kamala Harris get, Vance, instead, was very much plagued by these past comments, by other memes, everyone seen the couch memes, things like that. And of course, the campaign does not like it. They do not want that to be the narrative right now.
Now, when I talked to Donald Trump's team as well as Vance's team, they say they are very happy with the way that Vance has been in his public speeches last week and the amount he has been fundraising. But, they do want to move away from these comments, which is difficult to do, when not only he keeps getting asked about it, but also more and more reporting, like K-File's reporting is coming out about it. Now, I do want you to just take a listen to what exactly Donald Trump said as he was defending Vance against this.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He made a statement having to do with families. That doesn't mean that people that aren't a member of a big and beautiful family with 400 children around and everything else, it doesn't mean that a person doesn't have -- he is not against anything. But, he loves family. It's very important to him. All he said is, he does like -- I mean, for him, he likes family.
(END VIDEO CLIP) TREENE: Well, Omar, it's not all he said. But, to that point, I do
think, when I've talked to Trump's team about this, they say that Trump honestly isn't that worried about this or even angry at J.D. Vance or having said these comments in the past. Instead, he believes that this is the media kind of blowing it out of proportion. But, again, you never want this bad coverage coming out, especially right after you announced your running mate. And so, that's where some of this is coming from.
I will argue as well, though, that there has been some speculation and rumors going around that perhaps Trump has been reconsidering Vance as his running mate. I can tell you that those aren't true. Like I said, they are unhappy with this coming to light. But, at the same time, they are not completely unhappy with Vance, and I know that Donald Trump is not reconsidering him, at least at this time. Omar.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. Yeah. No. Appreciate the reporting, as always. And yes, those rumors have been going around. Glad we could clear that up. Appreciate it.
All right. I want to bring in our panel now, Republican Strategist Evan Siegfried, the author of "GOP GPS", and Meghan Hays, a former Special Assistant to President Biden. Welcome to you both.
Meghan, I want to start with you, because it seems like from Democrats' perspective that everything is back in play. Kamala Harris is in Atlanta tonight. And prior to her entering the race, I think there was some thinking that maybe Georgia wasn't as much in play as Democrats might have hoped. Does that change now with her? And I guess more broadly, how does the Kamala Harris map look different than the Joe Biden map?
MEGHAN HAYS, DNC CONVENTION CONSULTANT, & FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGING PLANNING: Look, I think the whole map is back in play now in all the battleground states. I think that she is able to shore up the coalition and some of these constituency groups that the President was losing to Donald Trump and to the Republicans. And I think that that's -- it's the enthusiasm and the money that's being raised and all the volunteers that are signing up, and the organizing abilities have really changed now with the change at the top of the ticket. So, it does make the whole map back in play and makes Georgia back in play. Arizona is much more gettable now.
So, I do think that the Democrats have a much broader -- as you heard earlier in the earlier segment, they have many different paths to 270 now.
JIMENEZ: And Evan, before I let you respond, I want you to listen to this audio obtained by The Washington Post showing J.D. Vance talking to a private audience this past Saturday about Vice President Harris entering the race.
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VOICE OF VANCE: All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch. The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden, because whatever we might say, Kamala Harris is a lot younger. And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did.
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JIMENEZ: So, Evan, I guess my question is, do you agree with Vance's comments? And I don't know that you would describe it as a sucker punch. But, how, as a Republican, like, how do you change the strategy when all of a sudden Kamala Harris has switched for Joe Biden?
EVAN SIEGFRIED, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think Senator Vance has analyzed this race and his analysis was spot on. What you really need -- what he means by a sucker punch is really that you had a campaign that was built for taking on Joe Biden, from all of the issues and whatever, the attacks that you were going to release, and now you have to change it because the candidate is different. That's just -- if you're a staffer who has been doing this for months and gearing up for this, you're obviously disappointed that you now have to throw all your work in the trash.
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When it comes to the Vice President, and how are they going to take Kamala Harris on? Yes, they are going after two things, the border and tying her to Joe Biden as much as possible. In the Vice President's ad that was just released this morning, there were two things that she really didn't say. She talked about her time as a prosecutor and Attorney General, but never about what she did in the Senate, and she only mentioned one achievement as Vice President in all four years. She needs to expand on that if she wants to keep the energy and enthusiasm there.
JIMENEZ: And Meghan, curious your take on Evan's response there.
HAYS: Yeah. No. I agree. I do think, though, that it's interesting that the Trump campaign really only had one argument towards -- that their whole campaign was structured on one argument against Joe Biden, and that was that he was old, and it hasn't. It seems they've been able to their get their footing here on the Vice President being at the top of the ticket. And I do think she will expand on her policies and her accomplishments as the Vice President and in the Senate.
When you're a Senator, you're part of a governing body. When you're the Vice President, you're the second to the President. So, it's -- she does have accomplishment there. So, I do think she'll expand there. But, I do also think they're really leaning into that she is a prosecutor and that she will prosecute Donald Trump and as a prosecutor versus a convicted felon. So, I think that they are trying to draw that contrast right out the gate.
JIMENEZ: And we have seen them lean into that framing pretty heavily, to start here. Meghan, you mentioned earlier about coalition. But, I want to talk about this with everyone because -- I want to talk about white dudes, specifically white dudes for Harris. They just had that Zoom fundraiser. Take a listen to Minnesota Governor and potential VP pick, maybe, last night. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM WALZ, MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: -- hammering on these guys. This idea of calling them out for who they are, shrink them. Is he a danger to society? Yes. Is he a danger to women's health? Yes. Is he a danger to world peace? Yes. But, don't give him more credit than he needs. He is just a strange, weird dude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: So, look, we've already seen in previous zooms for black women, Hispanic women, black men, Asian Americans, in more. And Evan, I'm just curious, from your perspective, when you see that, what is your initial reaction to that? Do you think it's been effective?
SIEGFRIED: I think it's certainly changed how we're talking about Donald Trump. We've been saying since 2015, Donald Trump doesn't respect the rule of law. He admires dictators and despots. And everybody has just sort of gotten numb to it. Weird and just strange is a new line. And people for the last 10 days have been talking about, well, what ways is Donald Trump weird? And that might actually pierce through because it is new and it is fresh.
At the same time, I think that it was interesting that Republicans are responding by saying Democrats by having white men for Trump or having segregated calls and -- or pro-segregation in the party, I don't think that really lands. I think they need to find a new tone in trying to blunt the coalitions that are being formed here. But, at the same time, we've seen the Trump campaign has been on it. It's back of its heels for the last 10 days.
JIMENEZ: And Meghan, look, I think it's fair to say the Harris campaign has had a huge amount of momentum, just from the $200 million fundraising haul, I reported over last week, obviously, the amount of money that was raised over these various zoom calls that have happened. And I'm curious, one, for your reaction to these Zoom calls that have happened. But also, how do you maintain the momentum of what I think many have described as a sugar high or sort of honeymoon period that we've seen in these first two weeks? Where do you start there?
HAYS: Yeah. I think it's -- this is happening at a really great time for her and then we're going to go into the convention. She'll name a VP pick. Then she'll go into the convention. So, the momentum is building in her favor. But, I don't think that we should be like dissuaded here. The fall is going to be a slog. The fall is going to be a knife fight, just like -- sorry, this fall, I -- excuse my language there, the fall will be a hard fought battle for everyone. But, I do think that the polls are starting to even out right where they should be worth, and there is just a point between the two. But, it's going to be a tough fall. It is going to be a hard fall.
So, it's great that we're building the momentum. We're raising a lot of money. So, we will continue to be able to organize. We will continue to be able to go up on air in the fall. But, I don't think that Democrats should be anywhere measuring the drapes by any stretch of the imagination. This is going to be down to the last possible day in all these battleground states, and they are going to have to work very hard in their organizing to get these people to vote and to get people out to vote. So, I do think that we're going to crash a little bit, but it's great that the momentum is building. So, we do have that foundation moving into the fall.
JIMENEZ: And we're just under 100 days to the election at this point. And to your point. I mean, Joe Biden was in the race two weeks ago, and here we are at this point, and just to think about how much has changed over in just that short period, and you put that in perspective to how much we have to go until the election. Anything can happen.
Evan Siegfried, Meghan Hays, really appreciate you being here.
All right. Still ahead, protests erupt in Venezuela after Nicolas Maduro is declared the winner of Sunday's election.
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We are live in Caracas with the latest.
Plus, protesters clash with police outside an Israeli military base and Israeli far-right lawmakers as they break into a detention camp for Palestinians. CNN reporting from Matthew Chance led to the investigation in that camp. Matthew is going to join us live after the break.
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JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.
A third child has died in northern England following a horrific knife attack Monday. It happened at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town of Southport. Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy and say the motive for the attack remains unclear. Earlier today, the Home Secretary visited the scene of the attack. Eight other children and two adults were injured.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is monitoring the story for us. Now, Jomana, there has been an outpouring of emotion over this. Correct? What have you been seeing?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, this is a country that is in shock following this incident, and more devastating news coming in the last few hours. As you mentioned, police announcing that a third child has died as a result of her injuries, a nine-year-old girl. Police also saying that two -- the two other little girls who were killed in this stabbing attack yesterday were a six and seven- year-old. You also have eight other children who were wounded in this attack. Five of them remain in critical condition. There are also two adults who are in a critical state.
And according to police, they were trying to protect the children during the stabbing that took place in the town of Southport, that is in northern England, not far from Liverpool, happening at around midday, and it targeted a dance and yoga studio where they were holding a dance class for children aged between six and 11, and it was a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Now, police say they arrested a 17- year-old boy and that he had entered the premises carrying a knife. The motives remain unclear, but police have said that this is not terror-related at this point, although the counterterrorism police, they say have offered their support. This is an investigation that's ongoing. They say it is in the early stages, and also keeping in mind, Omar, that the suspect, who is being held, accused of murder and attempted murder, is a 17-year-old minor.
[11:40:00]
So, you would expect police are dealing with this very, very delicately right now.
But, as you mentioned, this is an incident that is very unusual in this country, and this is why you are seeing this shocking. We're hearing from witnesses who are on the scene, describing it as a horror movie. And one eyewitness there saying, from this town, saying it's like something from America. It's not like sunny Southport. This is a country where gun ownership is heavily restricted, but it does have a knife crime problem that has reached a national crisis level and is being described here.
And we've had the statements coming, in pouring in from the royal family, the political leadership in the country, the Prime Minister and others, as well as Taylor Swift, who posted on her Instagram and saying that the horror of yesterday's attack in Southport is washing over me continuously, and I am just completely in shock, the loss of life and innocence and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families, the first responders. These were just little kids at a dance class. I'm at complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families. And this is something that many people in this country are feeling right now. Omar.
JIMENEZ: And that one line puts it all in perspective. No matter what motivation comes out of this, these were just little kids at a dance class.
Jomana Karadsheh, really appreciate the reporting.
Now, look, we're also following growing unrest in Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner in Sunday's election. Protests erupted in several cities after the National Electoral Council claimed Maduro won reelection with more than 51 percent of the vote. You're looking at live pictures in Caracas where the opposition rejected the claims that Maduro won, saying their candidate Edmundo Gonzalez actually won, according to their vote tallies.
Joining us from Caracas is Stefano Pozzebon. Now, Stefano, we've just learned the opposition is saying their leader has been kidnapped. What more can you tell us?
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, you're correct, Omar. Just a couple of hours ago, the opposition has announced that one of its best-known leader Freddy Superlano had been kidnapped by masked men. This is a pattern of some -- in some cases, the repression of the Maduro government. We don't know any information, any further information about it. We have verified at CNN, thanks to our fact-checking team, we have verified the video and we can confirm that the video is authentic. And we have asked for a reaction to the Venezuelan Attorney General.
But, you can tell, Omar, that there is more alarm and more urgency from the opposition's rank. The candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, was meant to come here today to speak to these supporters, has also denounced several deaths that have occurred in the last few hours in the protests. So, the protests have, in some cases, spiraled into violence, and deaths and casualties have occurred.
Talking about where I am right now, I'm in one of the main avenues of Caracas. I am surrounded by, I think it's fair to say, hundreds of opposition supporters. I've spoken with several of them, and most of them had been telling me that they feel cheated on. They feel that the electoral results that the National Electoral Council has given out are fraudulent and that they want a full audit and a full accountability.
One more thing, Omar, the opposition has deployed in the election on Sunday, has deployed a network of tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor the vote counting operations and take force (ph) of the ballot paper that people -- that they received from the electronic voting machines. It's the same machine or very similar machines to the Smartmatic ones that you in the United States are so familiar with (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY) last news about the election in 2020. Well, here the machine printouts, a ballot paper. The opposition is uploading all of the ballot papers they had on a website that they say gave them an advantage of about 70 percent of the vote to their candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
So, many people here have been able to verify what they say is the ballot paper in the voting center where they voted and to realize whether (inaudible) Edmundo Gonzalez or Maduro won.
JIMENEZ: And this, of course, what you're seeing these live pictures is a swell of support and protest for the opposition that has only grown after this election, at least after Maduro declared victory in this election. And Stefano Pozzebon has been following it live for us over the course of these past days.
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Really appreciate the reporting. We'll keep you -- or you'll keep us updated. We'll continue to follow your reporting. Thanks for being here.
We're also hearing from Israel's military. The IDF says it's withdrawing from eastern Khan Younis in Gaza after a ground incursion that killed dozens of Palestinians. Thousands more have been forced to flee once again, after the IDF issued evacuation orders in parts of the city a week ago. Now, this as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises a severe response to Saturday's rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which killed 12 children. Israel is blaming the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for this strike. But, Hezbollah denies responsibility. And U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, is quick to say, he still believes war between the two can be avoided.
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LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I don't believe that -- while we've seen a lot of activity on Israel's northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don't believe that a fight is inevitable. I think that we'd like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.
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JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, right-wing Israeli protesters, including members of parliament, broke into two military compounds Monday. This is after Israeli military confirmed it was investigating some of its own soldiers over the alleged abuse of a prisoner. It's the same detention camp that was investigated following reporting by my colleague Matthew Chance, and Matthew joins us live now. Now, Matthew, look, you spoke with Israeli whistleblowers who used to work at this camp. Can you tell us why it's so controversial? And why are -- what are these IDF soldiers accused of doing to that Palestinian prisoner?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, this is a camp that has become notorious for the detention of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza, people who are suspected of being members of Hamas and other militant groups. Most of them are later set free when it's found they've got no connection. But, it's notorious because of the treatment of those Palestinians behind the barbed wire fences in that location, in the deserts, very close to the frontier with Gaza.
We spoke to whistleblowers about the treatment of people that they'd seen in there. Remember, the people we spoke to are Israeli soldiers who have no sympathies whatsoever for Hamas and for Palestinians generally, actually. But, we're appalled at the way these people were being treated.
Take a listen to what some of those people, at least one of those whistleblowers said to us in May when we interviewed them.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Interpreted): We were told they are not allowed to move and must sit up right. They are not allowed to talk or peek under their blindfolds.
CHANCE: And what happened if they did do that? What kind of punishments were meted out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Interpreted): We were allowed to pick out problematic people and punish them, having them stand with their hands above their heads for an unlimited time. If they didn't keep their hands up, we could zip tie them to the fence. CHANCE (voice-over): The Israeli military says detainees a handcuffed based on their risk level and health status. But the account tallies with photographic evidence obtained by CNN of Palestinian detainees inside Sde Teiman, and with hand and wrist injuries shown to CNN by dozens of Palestinians released back into Gaza. I was zip-tied and blindfolded, says this former detainee, and tortured in a way I never imagined. One source telling us the restraints were so tight they had to amputate a man's hand.
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CHANCE: Right. Well, Omar, the allegations now are that a Palestinian prisoner suffered much more serious abuse than that, in fact, sexual abuse, and he was hospitalized because he couldn't walk after that sexual abuse. And the Israeli military are investigating several Israeli soldiers for complicity in that, and that's why those right- wing protesters broke into the Sde Teiman base to express their sympathy for those soldiers, and it just highlights the divisions in Israeli society right now.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. Matthew Chance, you've been on it for a while now, and thank you for bringing us this update on the reporting. Really appreciate it.
All right. Meanwhile, women's gymnastics teams are preparing for a stiff competition today at the Olympics. Superstar Simone Biles will be back in action. Our Coy Wire will have a preview from Paris straight ahead. Stay with us.
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JIMENEZ: All right. Less than 30 minutes from now, sports fans across the world will be tuning in for one of the most anticipated, I should say, competitions at the Paris Olympics, the women's gymnastics team final, a chance for Simone Biles and Team USA to win gold again. They're going to have to be at the top of their game, though, on a day when top temperatures descend on Paris. It's the city's hottest day of the year so far, as France undergoes its first major heatwave of 2024. Events are taking place today in over two dozen sports, and medals are up for grabs in eight of them.
World Sport's Coy Wire joins us from outside the gymnastics venue. Coy, who is competing there later today and what other Olympic events stand out to you, as you cover to the games.
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, first of all, the biggest thing standing out right now is that heat that you mentioned, the hottest day officially here in Paris of the year, 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It's fitting because Simone Biles is about to turn up the heat even higher in here in Paris, Omar, her gritty performance, powering through injury, catapulted the U.S. into tonight's team competition final. Biles will be competing in all four events, vault, uneven bars, beam and floor. Her 37 medals at Worlds and Olympics are more than any gymnast, male or female ever. Now, 27-years-old, she is the oldest American gymnast to compete at the Olympics since 1952. But, no matter her age or injuries, there is one mantra, now a tattoo that keeps her flying high, Maya Angelou's famous poem and "Still I Rise". Listen.
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SIMONE BILES, 4X OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: -- that's kind of the epitome of my career and life story, because I always rise to the occasion, and even after all of the traumas and the downfalls, I've always risen. No matter what happens, I still come back and still tried to do everything like full force, full difficulty, like, even after Tokyo, come back, and I'm here still. Still I rise.
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WIRE: Awesome stuff, Omar. Biles and the U.S. women are heavy favorites, ahead of Italy, who is next, Brazil, Great Britain, then China. With a medal of any color tonight, Simone Biles will surpass Shannon Miller as the most decorated American gymnast of all time. Omar, there are people been buzzing by but they've been lining up. They finally opened the doors a bit ago. They were lined up more than two hours before waiting to get in, and they have assigned seating. There really was no need for them to get here early. But, it just gives you a sense of the excitement to see the GOAT in action again in the team final, and again, she'll have an opportunity to medal more in the individual events later to come in these games.
JIMENEZ: So much excitement to look forward to. I'd be waiting in one of those lines even if I had an assigned seat.
Coy Wire, it's hot out there. Keep that dome safe, man. Good to see you.
WIRE: You got to stay cool. Good to see you, man. Thanks.
JIMENEZ: All right. One more thing before we go, and it is a memorable picture from the Olympics. Olympic surfer Gabriel Medina leapt from his board just after scoring a near perfect 9.90. Look at that. Beautiful. An AFP photographer covering the event snapped this picture of Medina mid leap with his board flying parallel to him.
[11:55:00]
The Brazilian surfer's score was the highest in Olympic surfing history. If you could score a picture, this would be a perfect picture. Medina says when he put the picture on Instagram, it went viral. You can see why. I just switched for a picture happy school (inaudible).
Meanwhile, thanks for spending part of your day with us. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is up next. Lot more news ahead. See you.
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