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Harris Preparing To Announce VP Pick Before Pennsylvania Rally Tuesday; Parts Of Florida Under Hurricane Watch As Tropical Storm Debbie Gains Strength; U.S. Boosting Military Assets In Middle East Amid Escalation Fears; Interview With U.S. Olympian Ryan Crouser; Freed U.S. Citizens In Post-Isolation Program. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired August 03, 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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[11:00:46]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Jim Sciutto, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

A pivotal moment in the race for the White House. This weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing to make her most important decision perhaps, since officially becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. Harris is now in the final stages of choosing her running mate.

Sources familiar with the process say she is meeting with the top candidates this weekend, job interviews, you might call them.

Just moments ago, CNN crews saw former attorney general Eric Holder entering the vice president's residence. Sources tell us he is handling the vetting process for the VP pick.

On Friday, Harris won enough delegates to become her party's nominee for president. And she will now become the first black woman, first Asian-American to lead a major party ticket.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with me.

Priscilla, it's a big decision for the campaign. I'll ask you, how close do you think it is but also how she's handling the process?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's also a big decision for the vice president herself as someone who also holds that position now.

Look, the vice president likes to take her time. This has been true over the course of her political career. She asks a lot of questions. She pours over data again and again, but she's on a truncated timeline this time.

So they have to make these decisions quite quickly. So that is how sources -- tell us she's approaching it the same way with the knowledge, of course, that she's going to have to also depend on the team around her going through vetting to come to this decision. Now as to who is on that shortlist, we have Pennsylvania Governor

Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Walz, Arizona Senator Kelly, see their photos there, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. So quite a few lined up there.

The vice president is expected to meet with them over the course of the weekend.

And one of the things that's under consideration as well is who helps her the most, whose strengthens her chances.

But also an awareness that whoever she picks is going to give us this early window into how she's thinking about the next few weeks and months, and what her policies may shape up to be.

So this is a massive decision and one that they want to roll out by Tuesday because she's going to have her rally in Philadelphia where they're going to unveil the running mate and then go on a blitz across battleground states.

Ao again, we've talked so much about how quick all of this has been since President Biden dropped out of the race. And this is just another example of that in this just probably unprecedented timeline.

SCIUTTO: And given that several of the candidates are from key swing states, that might also give an indication as to which of those swing states they're most focused on now.

Let me ask you about this because there are quite a public -- yet another debate brewing over -- a presidential debate.

Donald Trump said, I will debate but I'm going to do it on Fox. And by the way, I want an audience. Harris is saying, actually, we're going to stick to the original plan.

ALVAREZ: Right, that was a pivot from former president Donald Trump because there was that September debate hosted by ABC that had already been agreed to when President Biden was the candidate.

And now the Harris campaign is saying we're sticking to that September date that ABC is hosting while the former president is saying that he is backing out of that.

In a statement, the Harris campaign communications director said, quote, "Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out.

So there you get a tone from the Harris campaign as to how they're approaching this. ABC however would still to allow time and for the vice president to use that time.

ALVAREZ: So it could be also an opportunity for the vice president. She said she's still going to be there to talk herself about her policy.

SCIUTTO: So then that becomes a town hall in effect if he doesn't show up there.

And it was notable when it -- when I was watching the NABJ, for a number of reasons, the other day, his deliberate attack there on ABC. I wonder if that was part of a broader well, I can't debate on ABC because of -- anyway.

You know how his mind operates.

Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.

Well, Harris's is competitor on the campaign trail, the former president Donald Trump now says he is prepared as we were saying to debater for the first time. However, not by the terms and where he agreed to. This one has to be hosted by Fox News next month and with an audience.

[11:04:50]

SCIUTTO: If Harris accepts, it would be the first and perhaps only time the two would square off in this election. But as we just noted Harris is now saying she will show up for the debate they originally agreed to, which is on ABC News. That's coming up in September, no audience.

Today, Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, will rally supporters in Atlanta at the same venue where Harris just held her own quite well- attended event this week.

CNN's Alayna Treene -- Alayna Treene joins us now ahead of tonight's campaign stop.

So Alayna, we got a difference of opinion here. Trump agreed to the ABC debate. Now he is saying, nope, not going to do that. I want Fox, I want an audience. Harris saying I'm going to go by the debate we agreed to, and I'll show up regardless.

So how does this suss out now.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's unclear how this is going to be worked out, Jim. But this is what Donald Trump and his campaign have been saying for weeks now, ever since Joe Biden had ended his campaign.

They have argued that he is not bound by the same rules and the same agreements as before, meaning that he, you know, just because he had agreed to a debate with Joe Biden, doesn't necessarily means he had agreed to debate Kamala Harris.

Now we did hear Donald Trump say last night on Truth Social, his social media site that he does still want to debate her, but he wants to do it with Fox News and with a full audience. Again, very different from the original terms for that ABC debate on September 10.

I'm going to read for you some of what he wrote. He said, quote, "I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday September 4. The debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated, and that Biden will no longer be a participant."

He went on to say that that he was in litigation with ABC and that they will have different rules for that Fox News debate.

In a separate post, he continued to say, "I've spent hundreds of millions its of dollars time and effort fighting Joe. And when I won the debate, they threw a new candidate into the ring. Bot fair, but it is what it is. Nevertheless, different candidate or not, their bad policies are the same and this will be strongly revealed at the September 4 debate."

And again, as Priscilla just laid out to you Jim, Kamala Harris has not agreed to that debate. So it's very unclear what is going to happen here.

But I want to focus on that second post that I just -- that quote I just read for you because that is exactly how Donald Trump and his campaign are feeling about this.

They recognize that their entire campaign has been upended and they are still trying to figure out the best way to define Harris and to go after her.

And I do think that this change in venue this change of the host for this debate as part of them trying to reclaim control. And of course, I know that they also believe that perhaps Fox News may be friendlier toward Donald Trump.

So it's very unclear how this is going to move forward.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

TREENE: We know that Harris has said, anytime anywhere, any place barring the terms that Donald Trump has used and since walked away from.

And so I guess we'll have to wait and see how they ultimately work this out. And if there will even be a debate at all that they can agree to.

SCIUTTO: Alayna, can I ask you when you speak to the campaign, given the president's comments many of his surrogates, the former president's, the vice-presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, about falsely questioning Kamala Harris' race, is that going to remain a part of their campaign message?

TREENE: They're not walking away from it. Jim, and it's interesting. I can tell you. I know that when they had Donald Trump agree to participate at that NABJ panel, they weren't anticipating that he would make those remarks.

Actually, they had been really pushing the former president to focus on policy, focus on immigration, crime, inflation, all of the issues they believed that he runs better on.

Instead he delved into a racist attack and it's kind of reminiscent of his 2016 playbook. However, now that he has made those and that they are out there, I am told when I talked to his campaign, he is not going to run away from it and said he's going to continue those lines of attack. Weve seen him do so already.

And the messaging moving forward is going to try to be to paint Harris as quote, unquote "phony". And I think you will see that today in Georgia again, a place where Harris -- this exact same venue she was here earlier this week in a state that Donald Trump and his team believe they have to win this in November after losing it to Joe Biden in 2020, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we should note those claims about her race are false. Alayna Treene, thanks so much.

TREENE: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: There is breaking news. Parts of Florida are now under a hurricane watch as a tropical system is strengthening just off the coast. We're going to the latest on the track of that storm next.

And the U.S. Embassy in Beirut is now telling Americans to book any ticket available out, as the region braces for yet another potential escalation of hostilities.

We're going to go live to Lebanon just ahead.

[11:09:34]

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SCIUTTO: Florida is now on alert with parts of the state now under a hurricane watch. An intensifying tropical system heading for the Florida straits likely to develop into a tropical storm. Today, tropical storm Debby could reach hurricane status by tomorrow.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, she is tracking the latest from the CNN Weather Center. Allison, I just wonder how big and how soon do you expect it to hit Florida?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're already starting to see some of the impacts across the Florida keys. We just got the latest update in at the top of the hour and we have started to see it strengthen a little bit more. Winds now increasing up to 35 miles per hour.

[11:14:50]

CHINCHAR: So we're only five miles per hour off from tropical storm strength. That's why we anticipate that to happen a little bit later today.

It's about 40 miles north of Havana, Cuba. It's expected to continue to make its way up into the open, very warm, I might add, Gulf of Mexico. That's when we really expect this to strengthen and intensify.

And yes, perhaps getting all the way up to about 75 miles per hour, which would in fact be a category one hurricane. That's why they have hurricane watches in effect for portions of the Big Bend of Florida. And then a lot of tropical storm warnings along much of the western coastline that you can see here.

From there, then the storm kind of begins to push back out over open Atlantic. But as you'll notice it just kind of sits. It doesn't really move all that much.

And that's not just the National Hurricane Center's forecast. If you look at the models I mean, it looks like something a five-year-old withdraw. They're all over the place.

And there's a reason for that because you may look at it and say, ok, why? Well, there's a lot of steering factors involved here. Right now. Youve got this high-pressure system here that's starting to push it a little bit farther east, ok.

But you have this front right here that's blocking it from going too far north and also pushing it east. But then you have this high pressure that's saying hold up not too far east.

So it has this very narrow corridor here where it can end up going in a very slow period of time. So you're talking about a tremendous amount of rain, Jim. You're talking potentially a foot of rain for some of these areas over the next five to seven days.

SCIUTTO: You're right. That model did look a little bit like something my kids might draw. So we'll see where it goes.

CHINCHAR: Same.

SCIUTTO: Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

Well, as the Middle East braces for potential retaliation from Iran against Israel, the U.S. its boosting its military assets in the region which are already significant. We're going to have details ahead.

[11:16:33]

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SCIUTTO: The U.S. is now sending a carrier strike group warships and fighter squadron to the Middle East bracing for a potential escalation, a further one of hostilities as Iran vows retaliation over the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. It blames Israel for the attack. Israel has not commented.

Growing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and Iran are also prompting a new warning on Lebanon. The U.S. embassy in Beirut is warning Americans who want to get out of the country to book quote, "any ticket available". This as airlines begin canceling flights in and out of the country.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut and Ben, you've covered so many periods like this in Lebanon through the years. I wonder as you watch events there and reactions, are folks really bracing for something big.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are. The people are very worried that even though over the last ten months we've had periods if high tension followed by periods of relative calm, but now this one seems worse than anything before.

Now the U.S. Embassy in addition to telling people to book any ticket, you can, they warned that evacuations for U.S. nationals in the event things get even worse could be very difficult.

And back in 2006 when the airport was struck at the early days of the war by Israeli war planes, the U.S. did manage to evacuate some of the U.S. nationals out of here, but it was quite chaotic.

Now, for instance, Kuwaiti Airlines is the latest airline to announce that it's going to stop flying to Beirut. Tomorrow they said is their last flight? And it's not clear when they will resume flying to Beirut. That's just the latest airline to make such an announcement.

Today, we also heard from the Minister of Economy and Trade who warned people not to hoard food. He reassured the public that there is an adequate amount of food available.

At the moment, you don't really get the sense that there is panic but there is real fear that when Hezbollah, when Iran retaliate for these series of assassinations here in Beirut and in Tehran, that this time, it's not going to be like in April where it was a very orchestrated telegraphed strike by Iran 12 days after that Israeli strike on the diplomatic complex in Damascus.

This time it's widely believed that not only will Iran strike, but all of its allies in the region. Hezbollah, of course, and we've heard secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah say that's what they're going to do but also the Houthis in Yemen and various pro- Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq.

So the stage is set for perhaps a very dangerous period, not just here in Lebanon, but across the Middle East, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And listen, an attack like that would inevitably set up the conditions for a response against all of those parties and yet one more cycle of violence.

Ben Wedeman in Beirut. Thanks so much.

So let's break down some of these developments. With me here is Andrew Miller. He's a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli Palestinian affairs.

This is a really dicey time there, which I mean, we could say so many times in recent months and years, but particularly now. What is your expectation about the degree of Iran's response here? Because if that assessment is correct and it's going to be multi-pronged with Iran and its proxies. That's a major escalation.

ANDREW MILLER, FORMER DEPUTY ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ISRAELI- PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS: well, I think one thing to understand is that despite the successful interception of the April attack by the U.S., Israel and partners, that was very much a perfect storm. Everything went right --

[11:24:52]

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: -- which limited the damage and allowed the Biden administration to consequently limit Israel's response.

Even under the best of circumstances, there's no guarantee that it will play out as cleanly.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: Now, we have more actors involved. Hezbollah and Hamas in particular did not engage in April and that means rockets coming from different directions. The Israeli missile defense system is incredibly impressive, but it can be overwhelmed through saturation tactics. It's an extraordinarily dangerous moment in that regard.

And Iran arguably as a greater incentive to respond strongly, this time because of the degree to which they were embarrassed, frankly, by the Israeli attack in their capital against a senior Hamas leader.

SCIUTTO: I imagine that one focus of these U.S. assets going into the region is to add air defense to Israel, not just about potential retaliation.

MILLER: That's absolutely right. And there are two types of munitions that we're going to be concerned about. One of them are on UAVs and drones. They travel more slowly and that allows multiple interception points. They're often taken out by aircraft well before they reach Israeli borders.

Missiles are more difficult. And we were very fortunate that Israel's Arrow 3 system worked successfully in April and intercepted most of the incoming ballistic missiles. But some of the warships that are being deployed alongside the USS Lincoln have missile defense capabilities, including the Aegis system, which is our most advanced missile defense, ship-borne platform.

SCIUTTO: Well, yes, I think a lot of people are aware of the Iron Dome, but sometimes forget that there are multiple layers. With the Iron Dome, you get Arrow way up here for the ballistics and there's the David's sling in-between.

I wondered does the U.S. have any actual influence on Israel to pull back from what you can then expect would be another escalation because it does seem that the U.S. has repeatedly warned Israel or tried to pressure Israel not to -- not to be too aggressive in some of these strikes it's been carrying out prior.

MILLER: The U.S. certainly does have influence. The question is whether the administration is prepared to exercise all of it. SCIUTTO: Yes.

MILLER: The Israeli response in April was provocative, striking a facility outside of Qom near the Fordow enrichment plant, but it was relatively targeted. And that was probably a result of U.S. pressure to constrain, to circumscribe the response.

In this instance, though, it's not clear that any Israeli response, even if it is limited, will be met -- will be unmet by an Iranian counter response. So the United States, the administration will have to exert even more pressure to try to rein in the Israelis from responding.

But it will depend on the circumstances. It will depend on the damage. And if this doesn't go as well as it did in April, it's going to be much harder to exercise that restraint.

SCIUTTO: If one of those missiles gets through and it lands in an Israeli city, kills civilians, you can imagine the circumstances and the expected Israeli response.

I wonder, there are even some Israelis who question Netanyahu's intentions and his interests. And Benny Gantz himself has said he's putting his political interests above the national interests.

Does Netanyahu want a broader war.

MILLER: It's unclear if he wants a broader war. What is clear is that his risk tolerance for an expanded war is much higher than we had previously anticipated and that creates the risk of an unanticipated escalation if he does want a regional war and you can make the argument as Israelis have, that he has an incentive for one that makes it all the more explosive.

It's going to be difficult for that reason because his preferences, his interests may not perfectly align with either the United States or the Israeli people, which is a terrible combination.

SCIUTTO: During the last quite remarkable and broad Iranian attack on Israel when they sent weeks ago a number of missiles and drones at the same time, there was some discussion that is -- that Iran had communicated in advance we're going to do something and then we're going to stop. Do you expect any similar advance warning.

MILLER: It's possible, but there's no guarantee of it. There are other means through which the United States, Israel, our partner countries, can learn the intent of the Iranians, which would give us time to set up.

But another question that is unclear, at least to those of us on the outside, is will the regional countries that contributed to and facilitated the defense of Israel in April provide the same degree of support.

SCIUTTO: Yes. MILLER: Will Jordan, will Saudi Arabia permit use of their airspace? Will they deploy their own fighters and as you mentioned before, this multi-layered defense is the key to handling the situation.

[11:29:52]

MILLER: It may not be possible depending on the reaction of regional players who likely view Netanyahu's decision to target Haniyeh as gratuitous and unnecessarily provocative.

SCIUTTO: Yes. There were -- there were Arab participants in that last offense. They didn't necessarily advertise their participation but they were central to it.

Andrew Miller, thanks so much.

MILLER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well the acting director of the Secret Service reveals a critical communications breakdown during the attempted assassination of former president Trump. What we are now learning about the moments just before the gunman opened fire.

[11:30:26]

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SCIUTTO: Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe says the agency should have had eyes on the roof where the attempted assassin shot at former president Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Taking questions for the first time during a press conference, Rowe took responsibility for communication missteps between local law enforcement and the Secret Service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: I spent four years in local law enforcement before joining the Secret Service. I know the long hours these men and women put in and the professionalism they bring to this partnership.

And in that capacity, I was always proud to support the Secret Service's protective mission when called upon as a municipal police officer. In no way should any state or local agency supporting us in Butler on July 13th be held responsible for our Secret Service failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Danny Freeman joins me now. Danny, I know you went to Pennsylvania to speak with Beaver county officials. I wonder, given there was in the initial days after the shooting, some name calling and blame trading back and forth, how are they reacting to the acting Secret Service director's comments? DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not just in the days after the

shooting, Jim, but also just this past week. Listen when I spoke to some of these local law enforcement folks from western Pennsylvania, frankly, they were livid specifically because they felt that the Secret Service acting director, when he testified before Congress, was attacking their rank and file members and blaming them, at least in part for this assassination attempt happening.

So I want you to take a listen to our conversation specifically to understand why they were so upset, these local law enforcement leaders here, but also what led to the Secret Service changing their tune yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATHAN BIBLE, BEAVER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: it's extremely misleading to the American people when it makes our guys look incompetent.

FREEMAN: Tonight, local law enforcement from western Pennsylvania, pushing back hard against the U.S. Secret Service, who blamed them for not stopping a gunman from shooting Trump.

ROWE: We assumed that the state and locals had it. We made an assumption that there was going to be uniform presence out there, that there would be sufficient eyes to cover that, that there was going to be counter-sniper teams in the AGR building and I can assure you that we're not going to make that mistake again.

FREEMAN: Detective Pat Young leads the Beaver County emergency services unit, which had a sniper in the AGR$ building on July 13.

The acting Secret Service director essentially said we assumed that the local guys on the ground had control of this situation and we're not going to make that mistake again.

What do you hear when you hear that comment.

PAT YOUNG, CHIEF DETECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SERVICE UNIT COMMANDER, BEAVER COUNTY: I hear that the acting Secret Service director has no faith in local law enforcement and we have always considered ourselves partners in the mission of the Secret Service. However that statement really hurts those relationships.

FREEMAN: Detective Young and Beaver County district attorney Nate Bible, emphatic that their men followed Secret Service orders.

BIBLE: So to me, you're talking about a building that was 150 yards away with a clear line of sight to the stage. And for you to just say, well, the local guys have it. Everything that was done there by any of the local guys was done at the direction of the Secret Service.

FREEMAN: The two local law enforcement leaders specifically took offense when acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe suggested all the local snipers had to do was look out the window. ROWE: I'm not saying that they should have neutralized him but if they

had just held their post and looked left, maybe -- and it's a lot of maybes there, senator -- a lot of maybes but.

FREEMAN: what's your reaction to that? Should one of your snipers looked left, was it that simple?

YOUNG: It was absolutely not that simple. And the first thing that comes to mind is that we have not had any contact with Secret Service since -- actually since the last election cycle.

The acting director to say that this is where our guys were and this is what they've seen is a misrepresentation to the American people. We were never asked what we've seen or where we were from Secret Service.

FREEMAN: Detective Young and DA Bible says this image presented by the Secret Service to Congress is misleading. They say it reflects an angle their snipers did not have, and that their sniper was here at the far end of the AGR building looking straight out towards the crowd.

[11:39:51]

YOUNG: Their views in no way could have seen Crooks without pushing their heads outside the window and looking back. The videos and the exhibits presented to Congress are purely wrong.

FREEMAN: Now, the concern is looking forward as President Trump announced, he's planning another rally in Butler County.

Can you confidently say that something like this will not happen again, if that happens?

YOUNG: I cannot say that at this point me, along with the I'm sure the majority of the American people have many questions as to what and how the Secret Service does their job. For everything that they say that they did wrong there's a "but" and that "but" is usually assigning blame to the local law enforcement or state police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: So Jim you can really hear in those local law enforcements' voices basically the frustration that they had, that's in part what led to the acting director of the Secret Service really reversing course back on Friday.

And I should note one of the key points there, Jim, that the local law enforcement folks said to me was again, this discrepancy of if it was it as simple as turning left?

Well, as you heard in that piece, they said the Secret Service never asked us what our perspective was of the event that day. Well, the acting director said yesterday that they do plan on interviewing the local sniper teams that were on the ground as part of their review.

And last thing I'll say, Jim is these men, they said they're still going to help out with any event, any rally, if they are asked, but make no mistake. The trust and the confidence in this working relationship with their federal partners as the Secret Service, it's been fractured, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And that's a problem, right? And clearly the communication between the two of them was also an issue as well.

Danny freeman, thanks so much for following.

Well, some good news now, that'd be nice to have. A big day in Paris for Team U.S.A. and Simone Biles well, she just won gold again, look at that smile. We're going to be live in Paris next.

[11:42:10]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Well, we are a week into the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and we've already seen some incredible triumphs and performances by athletes such as, a few names might seem familiar, Simone Biles, swimmer Katie Ledecky, but the games are far from over with a week's worth of events to go.

CNN sports anchor Coy Wire joining us from Paris.

Coy, I got to say like watching Simone Biles perform today, which I did right before going on the air, I mean, we're definitely watching one of the greats perform on the world stage. But there's a lot more to come.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, viewers are probably wondering man, why does Jim has so much what's energy today. This gets you pumped up when you watch that great, isn't it. And her toes may have scraped the roof on that arena.

She reclaims her Olympic gold from the 2016 games. Her first vault, Jim, she did the Yurchenko double play. To put it simply, it's a vault that includes a full extra flip than any other gymnast there. She says every time she does it she's terrified, but she smiled and sighed after landing. Her mom was jumping.

Farrell, John Travolta, Allyson Felix (ph), other celebs there to witness greatness and after nailing her final vault, it was a wrap. She became just the second ever to win two Olympic vault titles. Rebecca Andrade of Brazil took Silver and Jade Carey of the U.S.A. took the bronze. She was all smiles, getting hugs from teammates afterwards.

Now Simone, seven Olympic gold, this more than any American gymnast. She now has three here in Paris with still a chance at two more.

And behind me, the U.S. women's soccer team, they're moving on. It was a packed house, loud at Parc des Princes, the home of Paris Saint- Germain for the U.S. versus Japan quarter final match.

Fans were chanting during the wave. Match was scoreless in through regulation time. But in the first half of extra time, the U.S.A. Trinity Rodman scored a phenomenal strike.

They hold on to earn their trip to the semifinals. The'll face the winner of Germany- Canada next.

Finally, humans who continue to defy the odds and gravity. One of them is Team U.S.A shot putter Ryan Crouser. He pushes the limits of strength of power repeatedly breaking his own world records.

I sat down with the gargantuan, two-time reigning Olympic champ, and quickly realized he's actually a gentle, cerebral giant. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CROUSER, TEAM U.S.A., SHOT PUTTER: A third gold for me would be so special simply because I'd be the first to do it.

No one has ever won three golds in the shot, let alone three consecutive golds. So just honored to have the opportunity and the chance to make history. And I'm going to go out there and do my best.

WIRE: In the chase for perfection as an elite athlete, how far down the rabbit hole have you gone?

CROUSER: Yes. It's real way down there. That's the thing about track and field, especially the shot. That's kind of an infinite rabbit hole. You're looking at centimeters by (INAUDIBLE) feel like, yes, if you get 1 percent better, 1 percent in the shot is like 23 centimeters.

[11:49:46]

CROUSER: You're almost -- that's groundbreaking. That's a year's worth of progress. So I'm chasing a tenth of a percent would be a good day.

WIRE: This is not just some rough, rugged athlete, dumb jock. You like to journal, right. What do you write about?

CROUSER: Setting goals, working towards those goals and then reflecting on like why I fell short or evaluating myself in regards to them in writing is such to the point (ph) way of doing that you can kind of bend the truth a little bit. If you use think about it like, oh, how was this train block? It was good.

If I wrote out these are the goals I wanted this block and I reflect on that. And here's where we fell short or anything like that.

And so as a self-coached athlete, taking the emotion out of it is the most difficult thing to do, but it's that one thing if you need to be successful? You have to find a way to be analytical.

Evaluating yourself is never easy, especially if you feel like things didn't go quite the way you wanted or the way you hope. So, it can be difficult. It can be frustrating, but at the end of the day I feel like that's what has helped make me better.

WIRE: Is it true that you bought a boat before you bought a couch for your place in Arkansas?

COURSER: Yes. So my girlfriend wasn't too happy about that. But fishing for me is a huge part of just what I do. I mean, bass fishing, fly fishing, and just getting out on the water.

And yes, I've been shopping on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace and I found a good deal on one and we got there and it's like the next day and they were like, yes. It was an older couple and they're looking to move it. I was like hey, babe, I found a good deal on a boat. I know we are moving into the house today.

So I'm going to grab it. I need -- I need to get it about and she's like, you don't even have a bed, you don't have any -- it had no furniture. But I did have a boat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: You see, Jim. He's not just a mountain of muscle and glorious facial hair like me. He's a playful (ph) guy, an awesome guy, chasing that -- another Olympic gold.

Also awesome Team U.S.A. soccer. I got to get in there and see if I can grab some of them, interview them, so we can get them on the show with you here Jim, as they --

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: Please do.

WIRE: -- the semis here from Paris.

SCIUTTO: Well, Ryan has enough here for himself and for you. So maybe you guys can work out a deal, you know.

WIRE: I like this. (INAUDIBLE)

SCIUTTO: I love that he's self-coached, by the way. That's another achievement.

Anyway, Coy Wire, get back in there. Go to talk those -- those fantastic U.S. women's national team players. And well talk again.

Well, the Americans freed from Russian prisons have a long path to recovery. How an army of doctors is now helping them adjust to their newfound freedom.

[11:52:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: After the fanfare, the warm welcomes subside, it will be a rough road ahead for the three Americans formerly detained in Russia they now face the challenge of acclimating back to a life outside of captivity. And they suffered a lot in there. They will have access to a post isolation program that supports both their physical and mental well-being. One former detainee held abroad tells CNN that the shift can feel

almost like you're coming back from the dead.

CNN's Rosa Flores has more from San Antonio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've probably seen the emotional videos of the freed Americans embracing their family members, sometimes for the first time in years.

[05:25:02]

And what you don't see is the trauma, the emotional scars from the detention and the isolation.

And that's one of the reasons why they're here in San Antonio, Texas.

And look, their treatment started shortly after they landed in Kelly Field. We were there, our cameras were rolling. We witnessed as the freed Americans exited the plane with their families.

And shortly thereafter, members of the State Department and the White House told them that they were handing them over to a U.S. Army colonel, who explained that they would be transported to the facility that you see behind me, which is Brooke Army Medical Center.

And there was also a group of psychologists that explained to them that their priority would be their well-being and process that with me for just a moment, because in some instances, these freed Americans had been detained for years in Russia. And the priority of Russian authorities was not the well-being of these Americans.

But this is how they were welcomed here in Texas, with that news that they were going to be taken care of.

The other thing that they learned is that that the time with their family was also going to be integrated in their treatments. So not only would they be evaluated medically but they would also have some family time.

We asked Paul Whelan about that family time and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN, FORMER RUSSIAN PRISONER: So looking forward to seeing my family down here and just recuperating from five years, seven months and five days of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES (voice-over): Take a look at this video. These freed Americans know that they're not alone. They held a hostage and wrongful detainee flag. And then at one point, Paul Whelan pointed to the last three bars on that flag and said, "Those are the three Americans that had just made it back on American soil."

Rosa Flores, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

--- you've probably seen the emotional videos of the freed Americans and bracing their family members sometimes for the first time in years.

And what you don't see is the trauma, the emotional scars from the detention and the isolation and that's one of the reasons why there here in San Antonio, Texas and look, their treatment started shortly after they landed in Kelly field. We were there. Are cameras were rolling. We witnessed as the freed Americans exited the plane with their families. And shortly thereafter members of the state department and the White House I was told them that they were handing them over to a us army colonel who explained that they would be transported to the facility that you see behind me, which is broken army medical center and there was also a group of psychologists that explained to them that their priority would be their well-being and process that with me he for just a moment because in some instances these freed Americans had been detained for years in Russia. And the priority of Russian authorities was not the well-being of these Americans. But this is how they were welcomed here in Texas with that news that they were going to be taken care of. The other thing that they learned is that that the time with their family was also going to be integrated in their tree so not only would they be evaluated medically, but they would also have some family time. We asked Paul Whelan about that family time, and here's what he said.

So looking forward to seeing my family down here and just recuperating from five years, seven months, and five days of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government.

Take a look at this this video. These freed Americans know that they're not alone. They held a hostage and wrongful detainee flag, and then at one point, Paul Whelan pointed to the last three bars on that flag and said, those are the three Americans that had just made it back on American soil. Rosa flores, CNN, San Antonio, Texas just so good to see them back with their families.

Well, tomorrow, the four-part CNN original series, 1968, well look back on a year marked by a seismic shift in American in politics. Social movements, global relations, and cultural icons, the changed the modern landscape using archival footage and contemporary interviews. The series maps the tumultuous events of the entire year. Here's a preview downtown Chicago at bow, bow and Michigan avenue.

There has been in progress for some peace demonstration. The police have come up, put it down. The national guard has