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CNN International: Trump Falsely Claims Kamala Harris "Turned Black"; Israel PM Netanyahu Speaks After Hamas Leader Killed; Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady As Inflation Continues To Cool; Olympians Compete In Seine River Amid Water Quality Concerns. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 31, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:40]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It's 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:30 p.m. in Tehran, 2:00 p.m. in Chicago, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. And let's get right to the news.

Former President Donald Trump, current GOP nominee for president, just wrapped up live questions at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference in Chicago. It got off to a contentious start to say the least.

Trump denigrated the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris, questioning whether she is Black -- you heard that right. And in just the very first question-and-answer accused the moderator, one of the moderators, ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, of being very rude and fake news after she asked him about his long history of perceived racist attacks on political rivals.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL SCOTT, ABC NEWS REPORTER: Why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked a question so in such a horrible manner, first question. You don't even say hello. How are you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss, Democratic strategist Keith Boykin.

And, Keith, that was one of many exchanges and I want to play the one now that is getting the most attention and that is the one I referred to just a moment ago. Donald Trump questioning the race of the sitting vice president and current candidate for President Kamala Harris. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT: Do you believe that Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman?

TRUMP: Well, I can say, no. I think it's maybe a little bit different, so I've known her a long time indirectly, not directly, very much, and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black.

So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black? But you know what?

SCOTT: She has always identified as a Black woman. She went to a historically Black college.

TRUMP: I respect either one -- I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't because she was Indian all the way and then, all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went -- she became a Black person.

SCOTT: Just to be clear, sir, do you believe that she is a --

TRUMP: And I think -- I think somebody should look into that, too, when you ask a continuing a very hostile nasty tone.

SCOTT: Is that --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That is quite an exchange from a former U.S. president and candidate for president.

Also joining us now, Larry Sabato from the UVA Center for Politics.

Keith, I do want to begin with you to just respond to Trump there questioning whether Kamala Harris is Black.

KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yeah, Jim, I thought it was very rude and disrespectful for Donald Trump to suggest that. I think the idea that somehow the president of the United States, or former president of the United States gets to dictate the determination someone else's race is an outrageous falsehoods, not to mention the fact that Kamala Harris is always identified as a Black woman. She went to Howard University, historically Black college, is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, a Black sorority. She campaigned as a Black woman. She's repeatedly said that she's proud to be a Black woman.

And so, Donald Trump saying that it's -- who is he to even make that accusation, and it comes on the heels of his attacks on two -- at least two of the Black women who were on the stage today, consistent with his attacks on Abby Philip and April Ryan and Yamiche Alcindor and Don Lemon and other -- other Black journalists, who he has repeatedly criticized.

So, you know, my initial impression, Jim, was I didn't think that the NABJ should allow him this platform to be there to spew lies in his information, but now I've seen it. I feel like I'm glad in some way they did allow him to see to do this because lets America see just what a racist person he actually is.

SCIUTTO: Larry, some polling had indicated that Donald Trump was winning new support particularly among Black men. As a pollster who studied these issues and the data for months, and in this race for years and other races, did he win over any Black voters with those comments? Should we expect him to lose some given the offensiveness of what he said?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, he certainly didn't win any. And I don't ever think he was where some of the poll suggested.

[15:05:02]

They had him winning as much as a quarter of the Black vote, and that is absolutely absurd. And it was an artifact of the methodology of the polling.

But I don't want to get into that. I'll simply tell you that he wasn't going to do that well against Joe Biden, the problem was Black turnout. Biden wasn't turning on Black voters or for that matter, white voters and mixed race voters.

But that has been solved by Kamala Harris. The energy level, not just in the minority community, among many other communities, including Democrats, generally, has ensured a better turnout and I'll flatly predict to you that Donald Trump will end up where Republican presidential candidates always end up, somewhere, but 10, 11, 12 percent of the Black vote.

The Democratic nominee will end up getting a minimum of 85 percent since you've got some independents in there. But I think 85 to 90 percent is very reasonable in a good turnout for Kamala Harris.

So if that was his objective, he utterly miserably failed. You just wonder what was the discussion in the Trump headquarters that said, gee, you really have to do this event. Well, it's probably Trump himself.

SCIUTTO: Well, I mean, he often has quite a lot of confidence in himself.

In the span of the last week, Keith, you've had the Republican vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance provide what can only be described as campaign gold to the Harris campaign by dismissing people who don't have children and now, you have the man at the top of the ticket saying something quite offensive about the Black woman that he is running against in this race.

I have to think that these are going to be two quotes that end up frequently in Democratic campaign ads going forward.

BOYKIN: And you would be thinking correctly because when most candidates do, especially when they get to the general election stage, is that they pivot. During the primaries, you usually trying to get your base in line. And then when you get to the general election, tried to appeal to a broader group of people. So you can get independent voters to vote for you.

Trump seems to be doing the exact opposite. He seems to be doubling down. He and J.D. Vance, he doesn't seem to be distancing himself from the remarks that J.D. Vance said.

You know, his comments about childless cat ladies was horrible and offensive, and even when he was asked about that at NABJ today, Trump didn't really answer the question. He just talked about how Vance respects families, but that wasn't really what Vance was saying when he was saying that there are people who don't have children should have fewer votes than people who do have children.

I mean that's -- that's an un-American thing to say. Even Republicans have said that it's un-American. So, I'm surprise that Trump didn't use this opportunity to respond to though distance himself from himself from that. But part of it is, I think this goes back to what you're asking to Larry earlier.

Part of the reason why Trump chose to come, I think, is not because he went to appeal to Black voters because instead he wanted to appeal to white suburban voters. He wanted to show to them, I think that because he could go to a Black audience, that means he's not racist and therefore they can feel comfortable voting for him.

So I think there's always an underlying strategy in what he's doing, I just think it's a simplistic strategies based on these sort of -- these racist ideas about what will make people vote for them and Black people aren't going to vote for you, Donald Trump, just because you sell gold sneakers or because you happen to have a criminal record?

SCIUTTO: Yeah. To that point, as you said, he was pressed repeatedly on that J.D. Vance comment and he his only answer really was that somehow this shows that J.D. Vance supports families he did not answer directly or denounced those comments, for instance.

Larry, just on the broader race, Republican pollsters have been saying those with the Trump campaign that actually the Harris candidacy has not fundamentally changed the nature of the race, that Donald Trump is still ahead, and that the main issues driving voters remain things like inflation and immigration at the border.

You look at the data, you studied the data, and this is what you do every day, is that true?

SABATO: No, it's not true. It has fundamentally changed the race because yes, we were very polarized and you can predict most people's votes without talking to them very long. That's just the way it is in America today.

But the one thing that is a variable that matters probably above all, is the degree of energy and enthusiasm in a party. Well, the Republicans had it in then some at an after their convention. They didn't expect what was happening, the sucker punch as J.D. Vance called it of Kamala Harris replacing Joe Biden and that has energized the Democrats beyond what the Republicans were at.

And so, some of the polls are coming out now, others will come out shortly, not national polls because they don't matter.

[15:10:01]

It's the swing states as always. And the swing states have already gotten tighter than they have been since early this year when Biden was still riding relatively high.

SCIUTTO: No question. Well, good to have you both on, on quite another day of news.

Larry Sabato, Keith Boykin, thanks so much.

I do want to go to the White House now where CNN senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche is.

And, Kayla, I have to imagine the White House is now responding to these comments from Trump regarding Harris.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, these comments were made as the White House briefing was going on, where a Black press secretary was delivering remarks from the official podium there.

And when asked to respond to but those comments that were coming in live from the former president at that time, Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, calling them repulsive and insulting and saying this about them, saying, as a Black woman who is in this position officials standing before you at this podium, what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive. It's insulting and no one has any right to tell someone who they are and how they identify.

Karine Jean-Pierre going on to say that she's the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name, period.

Now, as for the vice president herself, she is currently on the road today. She is making several stops in Houston, Texas. She'll be paying her respects for the family of a woman who died in Houston before delivering public remarks at a sorority function down in Houston.

And so, we expect to see her on camera later today and you can imagine the pool that is traveling with her will be asking her to respond to these comments directly. But, Jim, last night at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia. She essentially said to Trump that if you were going to criticize her immigration record, say it to my face. You came out swinging to some of the criticism that he had had against her on policy. So you can imagine that she's calibrating a sharp response toward the former president on this particularly personal line of attack, Jim. SCIUTTO: No question, Kayla Tausche, and we should just perhaps note the facts here given the former president questioning her race, her father, Donald Harris, African-American, Jamaican background, and her mother Shyamala Harris of Indian background, remarkable.

We have to say those things in the year 2024, but we do.

Kayla Tausche at the White House, thanks so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Two very public assassinations in 24 hours are pushing the Middle East to the brink. Any hopes for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza hanging by a thread at best. In the last two hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has delivered crushing blows to its enemies in the last few days, but did not mention the death of Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas says Haniyeh who was in Iran for the new president's inauguration was killed by a rocket in the room where he was staying. The group was quick to blame Israel, calling the killing a Zionist strike. Iran is already promising a harsh response to the assassination on Iranian soil. Flying a red flag of revenge above Iran's holy city of Qom.

Israel is yet to confirm or deny any involvement in that assassination, which is par for the course. But did confirm it was behind the drone strike that killed Hezbollah's most senior military commander. This one in Beirut, Lebanon, just hours earlier.

That strike Israel said was in retaliation for Saturday's deadly rocket attack in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children. Netanyahu says Israel is ready for any response from Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): These are challenging days, from Beirut, there are threats, we are ready for any scenario. We are prepared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is in Beirut for us now.

Ivan, I suppose the question now is how Hezbollah responds in the midst of this, prior to this attack, the foreign minister had told Ben Wedeman that an attack on the airport or inside Beirut will be seen as a red line. Of course, we've now had the strike. So, what does Hezbollah do? IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first and foremost, they need to bury this senior official, Fu'ad Shukr, whose body was just confirmed discovered in the rubble of this building that was hit by the Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Dahieh, yesterday evening. It was just announced just in the last few hours.

His funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. We're expecting to hear from the leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, at that time and maybe we'll learn more about what Hezbollah plans to do in the aftermath. Today, there were funerals for some of the civilians killed by the Israeli airstrike. Among them, a 10-year-old boy, a six-year- old sister, who were killed in at least two women were also killed in that strike that sheared off the side of a five story building.

Then there are the bigger concerns about what Iran may do after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, which Iran is vowing retribution, vowing vengeance as well. And that is linked to militant groups like Hezbollah here these are close allies that worked closely together, militias in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen, as well, who have all taken pot shots at Israel in the past.

So everybody here is, is on edge, knew that Israel was going to -- was vowing retaliation for the death of those 12 children in the occupied Golan Heights over the weekend, saw the response here in Beirut, also purportedly an Israeli attack in Tehran. And now, the question is, how will this so-called axis of resistance respond?

And there is an enormous concern here in cities like Beirut that have seen the -- that are still scarred by the civil war, have experienced enormous economic downturn. And, of course, of the past couple of years and still remember the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel and have been watching the border conflict that has gone on for months now, Jim, wondering how this axis of resistance will respond to these two assassinations in Beirut and Tehran that took place just within hours of each other, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, when both sides are promising retaliation, you're in truly dangerous territory. Ivan Watson in Beirut, thanks so much.

Well, Israel's stunning strike against Hamas in Tehran puts tenuous negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of remaining Israeli hostages and further jeopardy, gutting news for the hostage families.

[15:20:04]

One of those still believed to be held in captivity is 35-year-old Israeli American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen. He's a father from kibbutz Nir Oz who still hasn't met his third child who was just born in December, joining me now is as father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen.

Jonathan, I really do appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for joining.

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, FATHER OF U.S.-ISRAELI HOSTAGE: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: So first I want to ask how you and your family are doing.

I can only imagine this strike against the Hamas leader was startling for you and your family as you wait and hope for, I imagined progress in those negotiations.

DEKEL-CHEN: Look, this is a war. Whatever we call it, in fact, this is a war. These men who have been purportedly assassinated by Israel, these are evil men. There's no question about it. They're mass murders.

And that being said, of course, this is very destabilizing for all of us and not only just in terms of the fate of our hostages who remain in there, still 115 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas. But also what it means for our country as a whole. Iran, as we've seen, will not hesitate if it believes that it's the right thing to do, to shoot a hundreds of missiles simultaneously or drones towards Israel, towards civilian targets.

So, it is -- these are as our prime minister said, challenging times, no doubt about that.

SCIUTTO: You met with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week to push for a deal, to get your son and the rest of the 116 hostages taken on October 7, home. What did he tell you then? And do you believe he's doing everything he can to get your son home?

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, I'll put it this way. First of all, the meeting -- we had two meetings with him. The second one was in the White House with President Biden right across the table and at that time, the prime minister committed to us the families again, to the United States, and that no less important, and the commitment that this is going to get done, and it's going to get done quickly with no more obstacles from Israel's part being thrown up in terms of completing this three-stage deal that would rescue the people of Gaza, millions of people who've been suffering since October 7th in this horrible conflict that was set off by Hamas's massacre of nearly 1,500 people.

So, there's that. There's his commitment to overall not to speed up the cycles of negotiation and so, we want to believe that his heart is in it. And I guess the proof will be in the pudding. We've been waiting almost 300 days now well loved ones to come home. They are dying in captivity in the meantime, both from Hamas executions and from friendly fire unfortunately.

And if nothing else, these assassinations that have taken place, whomever committed them, whoever directed them shows that there really is no time to waste because our region is powder keg. And if we diffuse it by way of a ceasefire and a hostage exchange, it's not just the hostage families that are going to be suffering here. It's an entire region that unfortunately in our family is there could go up in flames if this doesn't stop quickly.

SCIUTTO: Benny Gantz has accused Netanyahu of putting his own personal political interests, Netanyahu, that is, above getting to an agreement here. And I wonder if you share that fear.

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, I've been outspoken in previous weeks, certainly, along those same lines, that I could find no legitimate reason other than to satisfy his domestic political partners to delaying any kind of progress, real progress.

I think there are two things at work. I think, first of all, we have an impossible partner. Hamas could have ended this on October 8th by releasing the hostages they brutally ripped from their homes, some from an outdoor concert in Israel. Well, barring that, the negotiation process is difficult.

I have said and I don't take anything back. And until this conversation with the prime minister and the president, I have serious doubts whether our prime minister was serious enough about getting the hostages home and ending this madness. I want to believe, given the stage that we were on, all of us together in the cabinet room in the White House. That what he said is true, and that is from this point onward, he absolutely is doing everything in his power to get this done.

[15:25:02]

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Well, listen, I know these days, these weeks, these months for you to have been extremely difficult. I just wanted, you know, we hope you get some good news soon and were certainly rooting for you and your son.

DEKEL-CHEN: I appreciate that. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Jonathan Dekel-Chen, thanks for joining.

Here to discuss now the broader issues, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former Middle East negotiator for the State Department, Aaron David Miller, and CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson.

Good to have you both on here given both your experience.

Aaron David Miller, I want to ask you the same question I asked Jonathan Dekel-Chen, do you believe that Netanyahu is putting his personal politics above making a deal and that the strike -- these strikes I should say in Beirut and Tehran, that within hours of each other demonstrate that.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: First of all, Jim, thanks for having me. It's great to be here with Nic.

So, look, the organizing principle of Benjamin Netanyahu's world is staying power. On trial for bribery, fraud, breach of trust in a Jerusalem district court three years running, I think he's obligated to justify in December.

If he loses power, there are only two options for him -- out of the prime ministry. Number one, a possible conviction. There's plenty of precedent for that.

Ehud Olmert was charged with even one of the charges that's directed at a prime minister and he served I think anywhere from 14 to 16 months in prison, or cutting a plea deal that will drive him out of power.

So, yeah, I think the prime minister's definition of success and victory, is this probably -- these are the priorities. Number one, ensuring that October 7 cannot happen again by destroying or fundamentally weakening Hamas as an organized military force. Number two, killing top leaders.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MILLER: That to me has emerged as a -- as a standard of victory, something concrete. They killed in Beirut, January, they killed them, Mohammed Deif, maybe, Marwan Issa is now dead. You've got Ismail Haniyeh and then the key architect, Yahya Sinwar.

And then third is the hostages. Urgency, Jim, and governments are about choosing, and I think the prime minister has made his choice. The hostages are number three. It's not that he -- it is not, he doesn't want to see them come back --

SCIUTTO: Right.

MILLER: But not his top priority.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Which is a remarkable thing to say in here.

Nic Robertson, I know the case of Jonathan Dekel-Chen's son quite well. You trace the steps of his hostage-taking there.

Can you give us a sense of where the Israeli public is right now, not just on a hostage deal, but also just on these strikes which are -- listen, you very much can understand Israel's security interests in taking out leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, but you also already have a volatile mix in the region that could spark a larger war. Is the Israeli public ready for that?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, I think Jonathan Dekel-Chen there admirably and so well encapsulates the feeling of so many Israelis, this wonderment and always wanted to be optimistic and not overly negative about the prime minister, but having a gut reality check, being pragmatic about what's happening, hoping for the best, but absolutely being worn down by that.

And why do I say that? I sat with Jonathan November, just a few months after -- after the terrible attack and retraces that to Nir Oz where Sagui, his son, was repairing buses. He put buses together for young disadvantaged kids.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

ROBERTSON: And he was doing so much for the community. He was a real positive effect. And I was with Jonathan as well in April again this year when he was holding his -- his grandchild, the third child of Sagui, who has never seen. I'm privileged to meet Sagui's wife, to see the other children, and just a feel that pain of that family.

So to me at the moment, he embodies where a lot of the Israeli population is still today. They are in pain. For us outside, it's hard to get that, but this weariness with the war, the need for certainty, the need for security. They're all competing feelings at the moment. And the prime minister is making time a -- time and again clear, it's his priorities first.

That was his speech today in essence, be patient. I'm getting this right. They're tough decisions, but they come good. And that's his message to.

So the people are worn down by this.

SCIUTTO: There's quite a bit to me.

Aaron David Miller, you've suggested something and I wonder if you could put a finer point on it. Is it possible that by having strikes against this Hezbollah leader in Beirut, Haniyeh in Tehran, that Netanyahu might begin to claim victory in the military operations against Hamas post October 7, and that, therefore, find -- and by the way, set aside how Iran and Hezbollah react.

[15:30:10]

He can't control that, but that might be his calculation here?

MILLER: You know, if the prime minister is interested in a deal and it still friends, a big if, close friends, now is the time to do it. And that's just out of session is almost, it's not impossible, very hard to introduce -- I don't have confidence (INAUDIBLE) to bring down the government with the Knesset in recess, which means that the two ministers, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, the prime minister has a certain degree of immunity.

If he wanted to do this deal, the Haniyeh killing would provide him with more cover and perhaps even some additional flexibility in wanting to do it. But that's the real question. These negotiations have two speeds.

I made this point to you before, slow and slower. And Mr. Netanyahu I think has added a third slow-ish. That's the real problem here. The urgency on his part and of course on Hamas as part.

SCIUTTO: Well, the slow and slower and then there's reverse, too. It's a gear too.

Nic, I wonder if you can read here in these decisions by the Israeli prime minister, including it's CNN's reporting that there was no heads up given to the U.S. prior to the strike in Tehran that Netanyahu perceives that Joe Biden is a lame duck, Kamala Harris is focused on getting elected, that he has -- I don't know if free pass is the right word, but that he has greater leeway and less oversight from the U.S. president. ROBERTSON: It's certainly the view in the region that has been

playing that game all along, they're just kicking the can down the road. Look, when you assassinate Ismail Haniyeh, who was, you know, in parentheses, the moderate face or voice of Hamas --

SCIUTTO: Relative, right?

ROBERTON: All relative, of course. And the interlocutor that's doing the talking, where as you know, in negotiations, trust gets built up, conversations go both ways. You kind of, you look the guy in the eye and you know, you know, a little bit about what you're saying.

Well, guess what? You're not going to be looking in those eyes again. You have no idea about the next guy whenever that may be, sits in the chair in front of you. Really what he is representing.

So, the reality of talked being in play -- no. The reality is the Saudis making a deal for normalization with Israel when Netanyahu is still in power without this irreversible path to a two-state solution, why would they put those chips on the table when there could be a new president in the United States, they're dealing with in a few months? None of that is conducive.

So everything appears to be Netanyahu, at least this is a strong perception in the region, Netanyahu playing down the clock on a lame duck administration. There are no secrets that region, for many in that region to also, it has to be said, would like to see a Republican administration because they think Republican administration will be tougher on Iran.

And I think everyone recognizes that when the war in Gaza is over, Iran remains a question, its proxies remain a question. How do you deal with that?

SCIUTTO: Tougher on Iran, maybe easier on Israel, free rein there.

But in one sort of lesson in recent history is when a Hamas leader is taken out, there will be another Hamas leader. I shook Rantisi's hand few days before he was taken out and someone else followed. I can't even count the number of leaders in the meantime, but that's a sad fact of this.

Aaron David Miller, Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

Still ahead, the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates level for now. Richard Quest is with me next to explain what this means for your wallet, what they might be planning next time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:03]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

The much watched Federal Reserve announced today it's holding interest rates steady, where they have been for a year now. But the Fed Chair Jerome Powell says a cut could be on the table at their next meeting in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: The economy is moving closer to the point at which it will be appropriate to reduce our policy rate. In that, we will be data dependent, but not data point dependent. So it will not be a question of responding specifically to one or two data releases. The question will be whether the totality of the data, the evolving outlook in the balance of risks are consistent with rising confidence on inflation and maintaining a solid labor market. If that test is met, a reduction in our policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: All right. Let's bring in CNN's business editor at large and host of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" for interpretation, translation of the Fed remarks, Richard Quest.

Listening to him there, it seems like he's saying -- we're not going to look -- we just want inflation report. We're going to look at trend lines, kind of put the whole picture together and then decide, but does it -- do you hear them leaning towards a cut in September?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: They are going to cut in September.

SCIUTTO: There you have it.

QUEST: In the absence of any other exogenous event, that this is all about communication. The one thing if you are the Fed, you do not want to do is take the market by surprise. And so, you build your case.

Now, if we look at this statement, the last one versus this one, they have strengthened all those words, instead of forward, it's now some. They've had silly, they've really put meat on the bones of things are getting better, we're almost ready to cut.

And then that last comment, he just basically said, you don't tell the market it could be on the table in September. If you don't have a really strong chance that you're going to do it. I will bet you a decent cup of coffee, a coffee shop of your choice.

Well, that's a lot of money these days.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

QUEST: That they cut in September.

SCIUTTO: Okay. So, September, I guess most likely looking at 25 basis points, quarter point.

QUEST: Yeah, yeah.

SCIUTTO: For consumers, listen with mortgage rates where they are other whole host rates that are based on this, based on prime, would consumers notice that?

QUEST: Not much. No, because they -- because of the U.S. basis of fixed costs, mortgages over 20, 30 years. No, they wouldn't.

But the important point, Jim, is credit cards, bank loans, overdrafts all the other things that are immediately related to, and we know that Americans have been spending very heavily on credit, borrowing money in some shape or form. That will be affected. And I think what's in crucially important is once you start cutting the trend is beginning, the cycle has begun.

[15:40:03]

And so, you would look for maybe two, possibly three cuts before the end of the year. That's when the significance comes into play.

SCIUTTO: So we have a little election coming up in November.

QUEST: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: If you start in September, is that the kind of thing that can have a political effect?

QUEST: We see no politics, we hear no politics. We are not political.

That is essentially what Jerome Powell said today. He said, look, we don't look at the political agenda. We don't look at the calendar. We don't --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

QUEST: We do what we think is best for our duly mandate of the economy. Now, you and I can cynically and skeptically say, oh, yeah, tell that to somebody else, but they do actually as best they can, and if you look at history on both sides, Republican and Democrat, they've shafted both parties at some point, either by cutting or by not cutting rates at a crucially moment. So they just get on with their job.

SCIUTTO: As they should.

Richard Quest --

QUEST: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: -- thanks so much.

Please be sure to join Richard next hour on "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS".

Coming up this hour, where the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations stand right now with not one but two deadly strikes on militant leaders -- one Hamas, one Hezbollah happening within just hours of each other, and Israel being blamed for both of them.

Clarissa Ward is live in Tel Aviv next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Well, the news is moving fast in the Middle East after the top Hamas leader is Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran. Israel has yet to comment directly on this attack, but Iran supreme leader is vowing revenge.

The U.S. says it will defend Israel if it is attacked. It remains hopeful the tension will dissolve.

CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Tel Aviv with more.

And, Clarissa, that is the White House view here. John Kirby has said it quite publicly that they do not believe war is inevitable and they do not believe a wider regional war is imminent at this point.

[15:45:06]

I wonder what the feeling is in Tel Aviv.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's somewhat surreal, Jim, I have to say because the Israeli government has not told people to change their daily lives in any way, shape, or form.

We arrived at the airport this afternoon. It was crowded. It was bustling. People were not even specifically fixated or focused on this issue.

But when you scratch beneath the surface a little bit and engage in more substantive conversations, there is clearly a degree of trepidation as to what these two major assassinations portend in terms of what shape they will take in terms of a retaliation.

I spoke to one reservist, Major Brigadier General Assaf Orion. He talked about a very strong expectation of a forceful response from Hezbollah and he emphasized the difference in weaponry that you're talking about with Hezbollah as compared to Hamas, for example, the precision and of those weapons, the range of those weapons. He talked about a potential attack on Tel Aviv, on Ben-Gurion airport, on Haifa.

And even the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his statement earlier underscore that there are threats from Beirut, that the Israeli people must remain patient. What he didn't talk about though, Jim, was the sort of elephant if you in the room, if you will, which is the assassination of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh, as you mentioned, which is a huge deal because it took place on Iranian soil the day of the new president's inauguration.

As you mentioned, Iran has already made it abundantly clear that they will be looking to exact a harsh punishment, its revenge for that attack. What that will look like, what the timeline is for that remains to be seen, and whether those external actors such as the U.S. who are deeply involved can in a sort of last-ditch flurry of diplomatic work, tried to pull everybody back from the brink, remains to be seen. I think overall, there's a sense that nobody regionally believes are

very few people believe that there is anything to be gained from an all-out regional war. But once you reach this point, all it takes is one miscalculation, one thing going not quite according to plan. And before you know it, you have crossed the Rubicon.

And this very much feels like the moment where we are once again and in a more dramatic way than we have been at any stage, I would say during this conflict in danger of reaching that tipping point.

SCIUTTO: Listen, each side can't be fully confident they know exactly what the other side's red lines are. I mean, that's always a danger.

That I wonder more immediately, does this effectively kill the ongoing ceasefire hostage release negotiations?

WARD: That's the real fear, of course, Jim, because regardless of what your feelings are about Ismail Haniyeh, he was the central interlocutor for Hamas in terms of these negotiations, he is or was, I should say, within the context of Hamas seen as a relatively moderate voice.

Now we know Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been furiously trying to talk to all the parties who have been involved in those talks, tried to push to get everybody back to the negotiating table, but make no mistake, the Qataris, for example, have been very vocal about the fact that they are horrified and outraged.

And so, it is now going to be an incredibly difficult piece of diplomacy to try to bring people back from the brink, put them down at the negotiating table, and hammer out some kind of a deal without a sense yet as to what the real term fallout will be from this latest significant and provocative escalation, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Clarissa Ward in Tel Aviv, thanks so much for joining.

Well, after the break, we will be live in Paris where after years of will they or won't they, Olympic athletes finally dove headfirst into the River Seine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:53]

SCIUTTO: The River Seine has been a hot topic of conversation for this year's Olympic Games for all the wrong reasons. France spent 1.4 billion euros to clean the water for the competition, but recent water quality test showed a spike in E. coli levels, and overall poor water quality, not good. As a result, training sessions were canceled. The men's triathlon postponed.

However, it did go ahead today, along with the women's event after the river was retested and deemed safe enough for competition.

French President Emmanuel Macron praised the cleanup effort, writing on X: We have achieved in just four years what was impossible 100 years ago, the Seine is swimmable.

CNN's Coy Wire has been following the Olympics for, us over in Paris.

Coy, first, tell us where you are because it's a really cool place to be.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: This is, Jim, is incredible. Welcome to Palais Brongniart, the official Team USA house for these 2024 Paris Olympics. It's the former original French stock exchange built in 1808.

But for the first time ever, Jim, they have allowed fans to join in where the Olympians and former Olympians can go to celebrate Team USA. Incredible energy here as they have just witnessed, one of the most dominant swimmers the world has ever seen, 27-year-old Katie Ledecky winning another Olympic gold in the 1,500-meter free, Jim. The world and Olympic record holder hasn't lost a race in this event in more than 14 years, and she extends her streak here at these Paris Olympics.

She's now tied with Jenny Thompson, with an eighth career Olympic gold, further cementing her legacy as the greatest female swimmer of all time in his party time in Paris.

Now, earlier, Jim, as you were mentioning, the Olympic triathlon, finally happened after three straight days of cancellation, and postponement of practice and competition due to the unsafe water levels in the River Seine, hometown France's Cassandre Beaugrand took gold for the women and Great Britain's Alex Yee took the men's gold. He commented, Jim, on performing on the biggest stage of his sport despite the uncertainty. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX YEE, TRIATHLON GOLD MEDALIST: For us, you know up to have probably the most peaceful venue of any race in the Olympics. And I guess that came with a small penalty of the risk of the Seine being dirty but I think, you know, the big difference between, you know, a lot of the challenges that we've had before is that, you know, the governments been proactive in trying to clean the water rather than in other countries where were seeing the opposite happened.

And so I think, you know, fair play to France and the government that yeah, we're, able to hopefully create legacy and for that to live on, you know, post our race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, Jim, and in just moments ago, an extremely close battle in the men's gymnastics all around final. It's Japan's Shinnosuke Oka taking home gold. It's Oka san's second Olympic title in three days, having won, team competition as well.

Japan stacking them up. This is the fourth straight Olympic Games that a man from Japan has won the event.

[15:55:03]

And that, Jim, was just a primer in the gym because on Thursday, the women's final where the U.S. against the world. Suni Lee, Simone Biles headlining the first ever Olympic all around final where two former all-around champs are going to go toe to toe here in Paris.

SCIUTTO: Coy Wire, enjoy it, get us some autographs. Thanks for joining.

WIRE: You got it, brother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYA RUDOLPH AS VP KAMALA HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Well, I'm just trying --

RUDOLPH: I'm speaking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but I --

RUDOLPH: Yeah, but I'm speaking. See, I'm speaking right now. Estoy hablando Nevada, Arizona, some parts of Texas. I'm speaking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand that. I understand.

RUDOLPH: Yeah, I don't think you do --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.

RUDOLPH: -- because you're talking and I'm speaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: She's back. Maya Rudolph is returning to "Saturday Night Live" to reprise her famous role as Vice President Kamala Harris through the presidential election, or as she calls her, the fun end of politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDOLPH: The fun is back, baby. America's fun end. I'm also America's cool end. The cut -- you know what, let's not do that.

Tonight, I'm not going to worry about the polling numbers. I'm just going to have fun and see if I can get some viral moments. Mama needs a gif.

I'm going to tell my kids, this was Michelle Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The 50th season of "SNL" premieres September 28. That's going to be fun to see.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.