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Harris Meeting with VP Vetting Team for Preservations on Finalists; Trump Rallies in Battleground Georgia; U.S. Sends More Military Assets to Middle East; Ukraine Says It Sunk Russian Submarine in Crimea; Whelan Says Detention by Russia was "Absolute Nonsense"; Big Wins for Team USA in Paris. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 03, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: And it's a mortgage loan, you're locked in with low interest rate. The stock market was down on Friday but it's up an awfully lot in the past several years, so they're much wealthier. Most people who own a home, two-thirds of Americans own their own home, they're sitting pretty because their house prices are up. So you kind of mix that all up and look that, you say consumers are going to hang tough. If they hang tough, the economy will be just fine.

And so, you know, despite the mistakes and judgment that the Fed is making here, I think we should be good. But having said all of that, the Fed got to start cutting interest rates and start moving here quickly.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll see how that all unfolds for us.

Mark Zandi, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And tonight Vice President Kamala Harris preparing to make one of the most important decisions of her political career. That is choosing a running mate. A source telling CNN Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be one of the finalists Harris interviews tomorrow as the campaign renews its focus on, quote, "competence, chemistry, and core values." Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro remaining a favorite as the campaign weighs whether he can help deliver a Democratic victory in his critical battleground state.

CNN senior reporter Isaac Dovere joining us now.

Isaac, good to see you. This campaign has been moving very quickly. It's had to, in this very unconventional way that it has come to be. We know Harris is tonight meeting with her vetting team, going through all of these reports.

What are your sources telling you about her mindset as she enters these final hours of choosing a running mate?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Jessica, let's remember, first of all, that two weeks ago right now, Joe Biden was still in the race. Kamala Harris was running mate. This is a process. And that itself is having a determinative effect on what's going on. There's a piece up on our site right now that I write that leaps of faith are not Kamala Harris' style, but she is going to have to make one at least to a certain extent in this decision. She's looking into who can help her win. She's thinking about a governing partner. She's thinking about what kind of rapport she'll have with the person. But all of that needs to be done along with all the vetting about all the past business transactions, all the personal affairs, anything that they've ever done in their lives, all in a period of just a couple of days here, right? And in maybe one or two meetings that Harris herself will have with the final picks.

And importantly, she does not know any of the picks that well, and the one that she does know, has spent the most time with, Pete Buttigieg, that relationship has been a little troubled over the years, but it's gotten a lot better lately. So she's having to do this all very quickly and figure out where she is.

DEAN: And Isaac, you've also reported that one thing they really are keeping an eye on and are focused on, no surprises, they want to keep this honeymoon going on as long as possible. And yet, this vet something that typically can take months. It takes even just get all the information gathered, to have somebody go through it, et cetera, et cetera, has really been compressed. So they really are, to your point, trying to -- she really has to take a leap of faith here.

DOVERE: Yes. Look, this is not something that ever is done over a two- week period and even for the people who have been trying to put together the documents on the side of the potential running mates, that takes a long time, go get all your financial records for the last 10 years or 20 years, or 30 years, see how quickly you can do it, right? And that's just one piece of it. So it's a lot of the information that needs to be compiled quickly, gone through quickly, trying to not have anything that blows up on them.

There's a feeling that if you look at J.D. Vance's rollout and some of the trouble that he's had on the Republican side, that is the kind of thing, and sort of best-case scenario when not enough has done. But obviously we've seen in the past sometimes when running mates are picked that there can be bigger things that aren't caught in the vetting process. That's why usually this is a fine tooth comb that they go through.

Months of questions, of interviewing lots of people than anybody who has ever had any contact with the potential running mates. That is not what they have the option of doing here.

DEAN: And Isaac, I also want to ask you about some new reporting CNN has about Harris' husband, second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, after a tabloid report of an affair during his first marriage. What is he saying in response to that? DOVERE: Yes, that's right, Jessica, a statement first to me from Doug

Emhoff, the second gentleman, earlier today. He said, during my first marriage, Kirsten, that's his first wife, and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility and in the years since we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.

That is following, as you say, this tabloid report, in "The Daily Mail," that there was an affair that Doug Emhoff had with a teacher who at the time was the teacher at the school where his daughter Ella was attending when she was a child. She's an adult now.

[19:05:06]

But the ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, who has been very supportive of both Emhoff and Harris as through the years and including the last two weeks since Harris has been running for president, put out a statement as well to me, Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons many years ago. He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me, and I'm really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala and I have all built together.

Now, it's important to note here, Jessica, that I am told that this was a factor that was both known to Kamala Harris before they got married, that the affair happened years before they started dating, and also that it was known to the Biden vetting committee four years ago when they were considering Harris for the nomination as running mate. Obviously, they picked her. Part of the thinking that seems to have gone on here is that this is not related to Kamala Harris. This is something that happened with Doug Emhoff in his first marriage years before Kamala Harris was in the picture for him.

DEAN: All right. Isaac Dovere with his latest reporting as we close in on these final hours before Vice President Harris picks her running mate. Thank you so much for that, Isaac. We appreciate it.

While Harris focuses on choosing a running mate, her Republican challenger, former president Donald Trump is campaigning in Atlanta, where moments ago he attacked Georgia's Republican governor Brian Kemp. Kemp notably not supporting Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Under these kinds of woke radical left policies, Atlanta is like a killing field and your governor ought to get off his ass and do something about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: All right. Let's go straight to CNN's Alayna Treene, who is there at the rally.

The president is still speaking behind you, Alayna. We listened to some of his message last hour. What more can you tell us about what he's saying tonight? ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a classic Donald Trump

speech, so, Jessica, very reminiscent of 2016 and his old playbook. He's attacking his political enemies. He's, you know, using very aggressive rhetoric to go after Kamala Harris. He's also attacking President Joe Biden.

I do want to mention, as you noted, that he just spent the last several minutes going after Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican. Kemp has actually said that even though he didn't support Donald Trump in the primary, he would vote for him in November, but Donald Trump is really trying to eviscerate him on stage right now.

He's also been attacking Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensberger, again, noteworthy because both of them have been very involved in the Georgia election case involving Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

But I want to go back to the main parts of his speech, which is where he's really trying to define Kamala Harris, something we know from our reporting and from my conversations with several of Donald Trump's senior advisers that they have struggled to do so far. They are trying to workshop the best lines of attack against her. And we have heard some new ones here tonight. Take a listen to some of what he said.

I want to point out those first sound you're going to hear is about the prisoner swap. And then he goes back into attacking Harris. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'd like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal. Did you see the deal we've made? Now, look, we want to get people in, you know, we got 59 hostages. I never paid anything. They released some of the greatest killers anywhere in the world. Well, some of the most evil killers they got and we got our people back. But boy, we make some horrible, horrible deals. And it's nice to say we got them back. But does that set a bad precedent?

You have a candidate who is fake, fake, fake. On the other hand, you have a president who will fight, fight, fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Jessica, like I said, I mean, both of those two different bytes there are very reminiscent of the old Donald Trump and the Donald Trump we all know very well. He was praising and congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he said was a good deal, or actually a great deal for Russia.

And I just want to be clear here. We know that Donald Trump, when he was president, while he was in the White House, he engaged in several prisoner swaps himself, many of which included releasing prisoners from the U.S. including a 2019 deal, releasing some prisoners back to Afghanistan, members of the Taliban.

But then the second part of that that you heard was him going after Harris as a phony and that is something I am told is going to continue to be a crucial line for him as they look ahead to November of trying to paint Harris as someone who is fake. He also used the exact word phony when talking about her own rally in this exact same venue earlier this week, where she had some entertainers including Megan Thee Stallion perform at that event.

[19:10:02]

Donald Trump said he didn't like that. He dismissed the singers and argued that the whole event was phony. He then went on to argue that it reminded him of Hillary Clinton having Bruce Springsteen performed for her back in the lead up to 2016, and he then went on to say that he doesn't like people who don't like him, and again, trying to really frame Harris, compare her to Clinton tried to tie her to people that he knows his base do not like.

And so I think, you know, we're still listening to what he says, but this speech has kind of been all over the place. He's tried to talk about policy. He veers off script. He's been riffing and it really is kind of the classic Donald Trump that we've come to know -- Jessica.

DEAN: And Alayna, just quickly, I do want to ask you about him backing out of that planned debate with Vice President Harris that was set to take place next month. He wants -- he doesn't want to do that one. He wants to set terms for a new debate on FOX News. What more are you learning?

TREENE: Well, it's very unclear whether or not we're actually going to see Trump and Harris debate because they have not come to agreement as of today. It is very clear that they are in two very different pages when it comes so this debate. Trump has said that he has agreed to a September 4th FOX News debate in Pennsylvania. That is not something that the Harris campaign has agreed to.

And he said, if Harris does not go to that debate then he has no plans to debate her at all. On Harris' part, however, she said she's still sticking by that September 10th ABC News debate that Donald Trump himself had previously agreed to when he was still debating or facing off, I should say, against President Joe Biden. And look, from my conversations with Trump's team, their argument is that they had an agreement to debate Biden for that and that they no longer have an obligation given that Biden has ended his campaign.

All of this, though, has now been turned into a way to attack their opposing candidate. We've seen Donald Trump tried to claim that Harris is afraid to debate him. Harris claiming that Donald Trump, his line of anytime, any place, anywhere doesn't apply to her because he's afraid of her. So we really are kind of seeing this become nasty and it's very unclear whether or not we'll actually have a resolution and get a debate that I know millions of Americans are eager to have before they start casting their votes as early as mid-September -- Jessica.

DEAN: Alayna Treene in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much for that reporting. We're going to continue to monitor the former president's remarks down there tonight. Also this evening, we have breaking news, hurricane warnings now in

place for parts of Florida's Gulf Coast as the newly named Tropical Storm Debby heads toward land.

Meteorologist Elisa Rafah in the CNN Weather Center with the latest.

We've had some developments, Elisa, since we last saw you.

ELISA RAFAH, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Continuing to watch this tropical storm that is now sitting just off the coast of Cuba. As it emerges over water that's why it's getting a little bit more organized, sitting over some very warm water. We have had some bands of tropical storm force conditions lashing the Keys all day.

Here are those new warnings. You see that big red area, that's where we've got hurricane warnings in effect for that big bend of Florida. Tropical storm warnings stretch from Tampa down to the Keys as this storm kind of rides the west coast of Florida. As it starts to move in, though, it's gotten really nothing in its way to slow it down. Wind shear, we don't have any of that. That would kill the hurricane. We don't have that.

We do have incredibly warm ocean temperatures. Ocean temperatures below 80 degrees would weaken a tropical system. We have ocean temperatures in the low 90s, so incredibly warm. Record warm ocean temperatures that will fuel some of that intensification. With the uptick in intensity, we are increasing the storm surge forecast, looking at some four to seven feet of storm surge in that big bend of Florida near Cedar Key.

As you get down towards Tampa Bay, two to four feet of storm surge, one to three in southwest Florida. It looks like it makes that turn again, could make landfall as a category one hurricane as we go into Monday morning and then look here what happens to the rest of the track. A big bubble just kind of sits and spins and meanders the spaghetti plots, again, all over the place and it's not because we don't know where it's going. It's because it has nowhere to go.

When you look at the steering currents, you have these two big areas of high pressure and a stationary front park to the north. So there's really just nowhere for this to go. It kind of gets squeezed in one spot. That is incredibly important because for a tropical system it is piled in with moistures. So we're talking about possibly prolific amounts of heavy rain. We've got a footprint of six to 12 inches of rain from northern Florida up through the Carolinas.

And increasingly worried about the low country of Georgia and South Carolina where we could be measuring rain in feet, easily over a foot, possibly approaching two feet. Really need to watch that closely. Urban flash flooding will be a problem as we go into the work week. We have multiple days of moderate risk for heavy rain along the southeast coast through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and even going into Wednesday as this thing just is incredibly slow. It will bring that heavy rain for days on end -- Jessica

[19:15:06] DEAN: All right. Elisa Rafah, with the latest. Thank you very much for that.

The U.S. is sending an aircraft carrier, warships and fighter squadron to the Middle East as the region braces for a possible attack on Israel launched by Iran. Also, we have breaking news as Ukraine strikes a major blow on Russia's Navy after sinking one of its submarines. Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton is standing by with his analysis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:08]

DEAN: The U.S. is sending additional military assets to the Middle East, including a carrier strike group, warships and a fighter squadron. This as the Middle East is bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. The group blaming Israel for that attack.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine is joining us now from London.

Elliott, Iran is warning of retaliation. What more do we know? What indications are we seeing of where they are in that process?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Jessica, just about the only thing we do know is that there will be an Iranian response to the assassination of the head of Hamas' political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, in an apartment block in Tehran. That's about all we do know. We don't know when this attack, when this response is going to happen.

Iran telegraphed its previous barrage of missiles and drones on Israel back in April, quite a lot in advance. This time they don't seem to be giving that away. We don't know where the attack is going to come from. Will it come directly from Iran, from its main proxy Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which by the way in the early hours of Sunday morning fired more than 30 projectiles the northern Israel?

According to the IDF, there were no reports of injuries or damage. Will it come from the Houthis? Will it come from other Iranian backed groups in Iraq? Could it be a combination or could it happen somewhere else not inside of Israel? But I think the most important question is what exactly is this response going to look like? And will it cross any red lines which are, let's say, more immovable red lines than some of the ones that we thought were already laid down and which have been breached many times already by all sides?

So, for example, if there were an attack on Tel Aviv that might be seen as a red line and a reason for Israel to escalate things further and for things to descend into all-out war. So Iran will probably right now be thinking very hard about how it can respond in a way that saves face a bit for having its esteemed guest Ismail Haniyeh assassinated on its soil. I should say that Israel hasn't claimed responsibility.

How it can restore a modicum of deterrence and yet at the same time ensure that whatever response it does decide to do doesn't push sides whether it's Iran and Hezbollah or just Hezbollah and Israel into all- out war -- Jessica.

DEAN: And Elliott, how are people and the government officials in Israel reacting to all of this?

GOTKINE: So Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just the other day he warned of, in his words, challenging days ahead for the country and we know from Victory Supermarket, which is one of the smallest supermarket chains in Israel, they were telling CNN about a spike in sales of basic goods like cereal, canned goods, bottled water, and pasta and toilet paper, things like that. Something like 30 percent increase in sales in some cases.

We've also seen the Jerusalem municipality telling residents what it ought to do, that it should stock up on things like water and batteries and food, to give them enough like three days' worth in the event of a wider attack. And also directed them to public shelters. But beyond that, and we have seen more protests in Tel Aviv against the government trying to get it to do everything it can to bring the hostages home, something it feels is now going to be even harder after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who, although not part of the negotiating team, was still one of the decision-makers in Hamas.

But by and large, Jessica, I think life is just continuing as normal relatively in Israel.

DEAN: Elliott Gotkine for us from London. Thank you for that reporting.

We are also following breaking news in Russia's war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian military today saying it has sunk a Russian submarine and struck an S-400 anti-aircraft missile system in Russian occupied Crimea. Ukrainian official saying the submarine sunk, quote, "on the spot." They say the same submarine was severely damaged in a Ukrainian missile attack last September.

Now this attack is Ukraine's latest blow to Russia's Navy, which Kyiv claims has already lost a third of its Black Sea fleet. Russia has yet to comment on that attack.

And joining me now, CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Cedric, good to have you on as always. Let's talk first about Ukraine and what I was just describing, what's your reaction to this move by the Ukrainians?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Jessica, it's great to be with you again. It's very clear that the Ukrainians have a strategy that has hit the big stuff that Russia has and hit it hard. And there's a lot of stuff moving, military equipment. It is dangerous to Ukraine from a military perspective that is based in Crimea.

[19:25:01] And, of course, the Ukrainians consider Crimea to be Ukrainian territory and the fact that they have been able to hit targets such as the submarine, this Kilo-class submarine. It's called the Rostov-na- Donu. That really means something because this submarine and types like it are capable of carrying what are known as Kalibr missiles. The Kalibr missile is a -- some variants are subsonic, others are supersonic. But these are missiles that are used to attack the Ukrainian infrastructure.

All the energy plants that the Ukrainians have lost during these two years of war, they've been attacked in the most part through missiles like the Kalibr. So hitting this submarine is a big, big deal. And the other thing hitting that S-400 site, that helps with the air defense system for the Russians. And if you knock out the air defense system, that means that you can start flying against Russian targets that you're going after. So this could potentially give the F-16s that Ukraine has just received a role in taking care of targets in Crimea as well.

DEAN: I also want to talk to you about what's going on in the Middle East, which we were just reporting on. We heard that reporting from Elliott Gotkine. The U.S. we know is sending an aircraft carrier warships, a fighter squadron to the region amid this potential retaliation from Iran over the killing of the senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.

What do you make of these moves by the American military? Will Iran be factoring that in to their decision as they tried to figure out how they will retaliate? They have promised retaliation.

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's right. They have promised retaliation and basically what the U.S. move is, with all the -- with the aircraft carrier going in there and another aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Oman, the idea here is to present the Iranian with a fait accompli that the U.S. is going to be there and will knock out a lot of Iranian missiles if they choose to go that route. A lot of Iranian missiles that could be lodged against Israel.

If that happens, if the Iranians do what they did in April or something similar to that, then the U.S. is prepared, along with other allies, to in essence bolster Israeli's air defense system, and that's really what this is. This is in essence a move of deterrence. And the capability exists among the U.S. coupled with the Israeli capabilities to protect a large portion of Israel, whether or not they're as effective as they were in April remains to be seen, of course.

DEAN: Right. And we will see how that plays out.

All right, Cedric Leighton, always great to have you on. Thanks for your analysis. We appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jessica, anytime.

DEAN: All right. We're going to take I believe a quick break right now and we're going to come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:17]

DEAN: After spending nearly six years jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan, one of the three Americans freed this week is now speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN, FREED AMERICAN: I went on a two-week vacation, you know. The FSB grabbed me, said I was a spy, I am apparently a general in the Army, a secret agent for DIA, this is the nonsense narrative they came up with and they just -- they wouldn't let it go.

So, yes. This is how Putin runs his government. This is how Putin runs his country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Let's bring in Mickey Bergman. He helped negotiate WNBA star Brittney Griner's release from Russia. He also has written the book "In The Shadows: True Stories of High Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad." He is also the vice president of the Governor Richardson Center in Texas.

Mickey, thanks so much for joining us, we appreciate it. I first want to get your thoughts.

MICKEY BERGMAN, AUTHOR "IN THE SHADOWS": Hello.

DEAN: Yes, I'm happy to have you -- get your thoughts on this historic prisoner swap that we saw that was so complicated and took the buy-in of many US allies to get this done.

BERGMAN: Yes, I think it is a tremendous feat. Look, I've been -- in my organization, I have been working with a lot of the families of Americans that have been held in Russia and those who still remain held in Russia. But this was a US government operation. It was negotiated and executed by the government.

I commend the White House, the State Department, the CIA. This took so much coordination and such careful choreography to pull. We should all be very, very proud of what was done. And as we all know and as we all see, these deals are never good, they never feel good, but sometimes they're the only way to bring our innocent Americans back home.

DEAN: I want to talk more about that point in just a second, but first, I want to talk about, it does seem like, look, as Evan Gershkovich, just over there, being a journalist, doing his job, journalism is not a crime, get scooped up, held wrongfully.

How does the White House, how does the US deter this from happening in the future, deter Putin from scooping Americans and trying to hold them for these negotiations?

BERGMAN: Well, I think it's a very, very important, difficult question and there are a few efforts that are ongoing commissions out of government and with coordination of the government of working on what are the possible policy solutions to deter. But one of the things that is so important, Jessica, to realize is that we cannot do the deterrence on the back of the Americans that are actually held, whether it's in Russia, whether it's in Afghanistan, whether it's in other countries that we're still working in getting these Americans back home.

It is extremely important that first, we do everything we can to bring these Americans, these innocent Americans, back home and then there are possibilities. There are policies within our toolbox that can be deployed in order to try and deter. We won't be able to stop it, but we might be able to mitigate the risk.

[19:35:22]

DEAN: And then I want to get to your other point that you made about, there aren't great options here and John Kirby, the NSC spokesperson, had said that he's not thrilled about some of these guys being let out, but you have to make tough calls. I'm paraphrasing what he said there, but that was kind of it. Do you agree with that assessment?

BERGMAN: Yes. Look, I have been doing this for 18 years. We have brought countless of Americans home. Some of them through the US government, some of them we are able to bring home ourselves.

Maybe it is something for Bibi Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. You talked about it in your show just a little while ago to take a lesson from President Biden. That's what leadership does. You do whatever it takes to bring your people home.

You are strong enough to do this, and then you figure out how to mitigate and live with the consequences. But, Jessica, one of the things that is important, especially in the case of Russia, is that we're very, very excited and I have failed to bring Paul Whelan back home four times before he came home this week and I'm extremely excited to see him home. But we do have Americans that are still there.

I've spent the last couple of days talking to devastated families, families that we work with. Robert Gilman and Andre Khachaturian, David Barnes, Ksenia Karelina, these people -- these families have watched this deal unfold thinking whether their loved ones are included, finding out that they're not -- Paul Whelan's family is all too familiar with how that feels.

We need to make sure that we bring them home and there are more deals to be made, and the Russians they're not irrational, they are not crazy. We can communicate with them. We do communicate with them. We continue -- I was with my Russian colleagues just this week discussing these things. We can bring the rest of the Americans home as well, and we should.

DEAN: One critic has been former President Donald Trump, who praised Putin for getting a good deal. He was saying this at his rally. This idea that this somehow incentivizes Putin but others to take Americans or in Trump's case, the argument that it was -- that America gave away too much. What do you say to that criticism?

BERGMAN: So, first of all, I think this is campaign language and we need to take it with a grain of salt because when President Trump was actually president, I worked with his administration. We brought Americans home and we made deals and we made exchanges. Every president, Democrat, Republican does those because sometimes it's the only way to bring innocent Americans home.

Now, as for the criticism of incentivizing, it is really, really important to note two points, Jessica, on this. The first one, data, the data doesn't support all the research that has been done. The numbers show that there is complete ambiguity, there's absolutely no correlation between the way these deals, these cases are resolved, whether its deals or not, and whether there are more Americans that are actually being taken. That's number one.

And number two, is an ethical and moral thing. We cannot try to build the terms on the back of our innocent Americans. First, we need to bring them home then we can do deterrence. otherwise, we are using them ourselves as hostages to our own policy.

DEAN: All right, Mickey Bergman, thank you for the context there, and the analysis, we really appreciate it.

BERGMAN: Anytime. Thank you.

DEAN: Thank you.

A new autopsy report is shedding light on the homicide of the Black man who died after hotel security officers pinned him to the ground. What the DA is saying about the possibility of charges in that case, that's next on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:26]

DEAN: Tonight, a new autopsy report is shedding light on the death of D'Vontaye Mitchell, the 43-year-old was pinned to the ground by security guards outside a hotel in Milwaukee back in June. His death is now being ruled a homicide. CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now.

Camila, we're also getting disturbing new surveillance video showing those moments around the fatal encounter. What more are you reporting today?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jess. And I first want to warn that these videos may be graphic for some and difficult to watch. But look, the family of D'Vontaye Mitchell and their attorneys, they were waiting for this autopsy report and it shows now the death as a homicide. And so, what they're hoping for and what they're demanding is criminal charges in this case.

But the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office is still telling CNN that they have no comment. Now, Mitchell died on June 30th. This was after he was pinned to the ground by these security officers outside of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee and the incident was partially caught on video. The investigation report from the medical examiner's office said that Mitchell was restrained by four people after being combative and he went unresponsive as the hotel staff waited for police officers to arrive. It also said that they found drug paraphernalia.

Now, yesterday, one of the family attorneys also released several videos and these are the ones I warned about being graphic and according to the ME report, he entered this hotel and he appeared to be frantic and panting and it says that at some point he went into the women's restroom and he attempted to lock himself inside with other people that were there using the restroom, so they started screaming and then you had two hotel security guards come inside the bathroom and physically drag him out of the hotel. And when he was outside, then that's when four people held him face down on the concrete.

[19:45:32]

Now, the attorney yesterday also pointing out that at no time in those videos you see Mitchell punching anyone or kicking anyone. So, the attorney said he was just trying to get up. The video shows as his pants are falling down at some point and there's a man punching him in the face, multiple times while he's being dragged on the floor and then outside by the sidewalk by hotel guests and employees.

And then there's another video that shows an employee kicking him in the face while Mitchell was on the ground. So, the family attorney just describing it as a beat down. The company said that several of these employees were fired after the incident.

But again, the family is calling for criminal charges and look, this for some people brings a lot of memories of George Floyd and there's a lot of questions about the use of force, particularly against people of color. But bottom line is that this is a family asking for explanations. They're asking for accountability in the form of charges and in the media in time, we are just waiting to hear from the district attorney -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Camila Bernal, with that reporting. thank you very much. We will be right back.

BERNAL: Thank you.

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[19:51:18]

DEAN: Ahead of his 100th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter telling his family he's hanging on so he could vote in the presidential election saying, "I'm only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris." That's according to Carter's grandson who was relaying a conversation the former president had with his son, Chip, this week first reported by "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." Carter has been in hospice for more than a year. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. Turning now to a huge day for Team USA in Paris. Simone Biles soaring to victory in the vault final, her third gold medal for these Games. She's not done yet.

Katie Ledecky continuing to dominate in the pool. She now holds more gold medals than any other American woman, and Sha'Carri Richardson getting a surprise silver in the 100-meter dash.

CNN's Coy Wire is in Paris with more on this.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: We have a new fastest woman on the planet. It was pouring down rain in Stade de France. There were puddles on the track. Crowd was hype, no Jamaican sprint queen Shelly- Ann Fraser-Pryce though, she was a late scratch from the event, it was Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia shocking the world making history in the 100-meter dash. She beat out American star, Sha'Carri Richardson, to take the gold. It's the first ever Olympic medal of any kind for Saint Lucia in any sport. It is an island nation of just about 180,000 people.

The reigning world champion, Richardson, on a redemption tour after missing the Tokyo games due to testing positive for THC, was clapping afterwards showing great sportsmanship. Her teammate, Melissa Jefferson, took the bronze.

Drama in the 400-meter mixed relay. Americans had an enormous lead at the final tournament. The Netherlands' Femke Bol was behind by about 12 meters, but apparently for the Dutch, that ain't much.

On the final stretch, the defending world 400-meter hurdle champ came out of nowhere to take the lead and the gold. The Americans just set the world record yesterday in qualifiers. That stays intact by just two one-hundredths of a second. Team GB took the bronze.

More history, Team USA's two-time defending Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser has done it again. Gold for a third straight Olympics. Nobody has ever done that before. He self-coached, practices on his property back home at 31-years-old. He battled back, right back to the top of the mountain. American Joe Kovacs took the silver and how about Jamaica's Rajindra Campbell taking bronze.

Katie Ledecky, the stuff of legend, winning her fourth straight Olympic gold in the 800-meter free. She beat out her rival, Ariarne Titmus of Australia by more than a second, American, Paige Madden, took the bronze. Ledecky, the fastest swimmer in the world in her event over a span of 12 years. She's 27-years-old, most decorated female, American Olympian of all time, 14 medals in all. Four of them coming here in Paris and she's never ruled out going for more in LA in 2028.

The Canadian teen sensation,Summer McIntosh has done it again, beating out American's Kate Douglass and Australia's Kaylee McKeown on to win another gold at just 17 years old. She already set a new Olympic record in the 200-fly. She's the first Canadian to win three gold medals in a game. Simone Biles, another gold, reclaiming her Olympic title in vault from 2016. She did the Yurchenko double pike, a vault that includes a full extra flip, one more than any other gymnast there. She says she's terrified every time she does it. After landing she smiled inside. Simone became just the second ever to win two Olympic vault titles. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil took the silver. Jade Carey took the bronze.

Here is Simone smiling still after the big moment.

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SIMONE BILES, TEAM USA GYMNAST: I'm really excited to be competing again and obviously, the negative comments, they're painful after a certain point, they hurt but I'm still in therapy working on all that stuff to just make sure my mental health as well, but they're really quiet now. So, that's strange.

But no, after all these years of putting the mental work in it has paid off. So, I'm super excited to be on this stage again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:55:25]

WIRE: Simone Biles, now has three golds at this Paris Olympics with a chance at two more and the way things are going, maybe we can count on it.

DEAN: All right, Coy Wire, thank you for that.

Look now at the medal count. You see America in the lead overall, winning 61 medals: That's 14 gold, 24 silver, and 23 bronze. Host country, France has 41 medals, China is in the gold medal lead with 16, only 37th overall.

Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I'm going to see you again tomorrow night starting at five PM Eastern.

After this break, "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper is going to take a look back at Vice President Harris' rise to the top of the Democratic ticket. Have a great night. We will see you tomorrow.

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