Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Israel Claims Responsibility For Strike On Gaza School; White House "Deeply Concerned" About Strike On Facility In Gaza; Air Strikes, Artillery Shelling Hit Southern Lebanon; Harris And Walz Head To Nevada; American Gymnast Jordan Chiles' Bronze Medal In Doubt; New Video Shows Moment Police Officer Saw Trump Shooter On Roof; Damage Cleanup Begins In New York And Pennsylvania After Storm Debby. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 10, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Thanks so much, Elisa. Appreciate it.

All right, tomorrow Donie O'Sullivan dives back into the world of misinformation. Will it cause chaos in November's election? A new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv.

To you, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right, Fred, thank you very much. We're staying on top of major new developments as tensions are rising across the Middle East where we are after a deadly Israeli attack on a school and mosque compound in Gaza. And a warning to our viewers, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing. Officials in Gaza say that Israeli airstrike killed more than 90 Palestinians.

And according to the Gaza medical officials the victims, including children and elderly, were sheltering at that school and mosque when the strike hit overnight. The IDF claims without providing proof that the compound was being used by Hamas terrorists. Now there is growing international outrage.

We have our teams around the world monitoring all of these very disturbing developments. First, I want to bring in our Clarissa Ward. She's here with me in Tel Aviv.

Clarissa, what more are we learning about what happened in Gaza?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So this strike took place just after or during the Fajr prayer, that is the dawn prayer. According to Gaza Civil Defense, there were roughly 200 people who were gathered in the room. At least 93 had been killed. They're saying 11 of them were children, six of them were women. I can tell you, Wolf, we have been going through this footage for the

better part of the day. It is extremely disturbing. Looks like a scene from a horror movie honestly. Fires were still going when rescue workers arrived on the scene. Just absolutely gruesome scenes.

Now the IDF has said that there were Islamic jihad militants and also Hamas commanders who were present. They dispute Gaza Civil Defense's casualty figures. They say they believe that 20 to 25 militants were killed. I will say they haven't provided proof to show us that. CNN has obviously not able -- we're not able to work independently on the ground in Gaza and we're not able to verify the casualty rate or to ascertain whether there were combatants among the dead.

What we did notice, though, when we were looking through the footage, is the munition or one of the munitions that was used. It's a U.S. made GBU-39 small diameter bomb. It's produced by Boeing. It's been used many times in Gaza. And this is significant because obviously this has been a point of real contention politically in the U.S. and around the world.

And it was just yesterday, Wolf, that the U.S. finally acquiesce and said that they would release a further U.S. $3.5 billion in military aid to Israel. We are seeing a lot of international condemnation. It's coming in thick and fast, and really a sense that this is just underscoring the urgency to get that ceasefire agreement across the line, although I will say that to the people of Gaza those words are starting to feel increasingly hollow -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, $3 billion in additional U.S. military aid to Israel, that's already been passed and appropriated and authorized in the Senate and the House and the president has decided to go ahead and send it off to Israel right now.

WARD: Exactly.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Clarissa Ward reporting.

I want to go to Kevin Liptack. He's joining us from Washington right now.

Kevin, how is the White House responding to this latest Israeli attack in Gaza?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, they are voicing some serious consternation at this Israeli attack and also saying that it makes more urgent than necessity for this ceasefire and hostage deal that President Biden has been pushing for. National Security Council spokesman saying in a statement, we are deeply concerned about reports of civilian casualties in Gaza following a strike by the Israel Defense Forces on a compound that included a school.

The spokesman went on to say, we are in touch with our Israeli counterparts who have said they targeted senior Hamas officials. And we are asking for further details. Now the spokesman says in this statement and points out that Hamas does have a history of using these types of facilities to gather and to operate out of, but he does say that Israel must take measures to minimize civilian harm.

Of course, that has been the message from the White House and from President Biden toward Israel for the last several months. It's far from clear whether Israel is taking any of that into account as it operates in Gaza. This has caused an enormous amount of tension between President Biden and the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it has not caused President Biden to change his strategy or change his approach to Israel.

He has not cut off arms sales, for instance. What he has done is tried to apply more pressure on all of the sides to come together, to come to some sort of ceasefire agreement.

[15:05:03]

And we just saw last week, President Biden released a statement with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt calling on all of these sides to come together and come to some sort of ceasefire deal. When you talk to American officials, they say on paper the sides are not actually that far apart. I think in reality there are some huge hurdles that these sides will have to come to or have to overcome if they are to reach some kind of agreement.

President Biden, now that he is not running for president anymore, has made this one of the top objectives for the remainder of his term. The White House saying today that this strike in Gaza only underscores the urgency of the ceasefire deal, which they say they're working tirelessly sleet to achieve -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And I just want to be precise, Kevin, there's no indication, at least not yet, that the Biden administration is going to hold back or suspend delivery of military equipment or military aid to Israel.

LIPTAK: No, that's not something that President Biden at this point is putting on the table. You will remember some months ago, President Biden did put a pause on heavy bombs delivered to Israel when they were undertaking an operation in the southern city of Rafah, those bombs have since been released. And so far, President Biden is making no bones about it. He's continuing to support Israel's right to defend themselves.

He does not say that a further stalling or further withholding of arms is on the table at this point -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. All right, thanks, Kevin Liptak. We'll get back to you.

I want to go to Ben Wedeman. He's in Beirut for us.

Ben, we are hearing there's been some airstrikes in southern Lebanon today. What are you learning?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there has been a series of Israeli air strikes and drone strikes along the border on the Lebanese side by Israeli forces. That comes at the same time that Hezbollah so far has claimed nine separate strikes on Israeli positions. The latest one, the ninth one, appears -- Hezbollah says it was a swarm of attack drones that were aimed at military bases.

Well within Israel, some of them very close to Lake Tiberius. And what we've seen recently is that Hezbollah drones have succeeded at evading Israeli anti-drone and anti-aircraft defenses and reach fairly well into Israel. Just the other day they were flying right over the city of Nahariya which is about 10 kilometers south of the border. So definitely tensions are rising. Of course, I was telling you in the last hour at 5:30 in the afternoon local time, Israeli jets flew over Beirut for the third time in five days breaking the sound barrier.

Now, that's a normal occurrence in southern Lebanon, but really it's only been happening for the last five days. The first time they broke the sound barrier six times was just minutes before the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was making a speech. And these breaking of the sound barriers are being interpreted by people here as a message, not just for Hezbollah not to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander last week in southern Beirut, but also a warning to Lebanon as a whole that perhaps if Hezbollah responds, the consequences will be very serious -- Wolf.

WALLACE: And very quickly, Ben, when those Israeli jets fly over Beirut, do the sirens go off, telling everyone to go down their shelters or bunkers or whatever?

WEDEMAN: Well, Wolf, there are no sirens here in Beirut, and for most of us, there are no shelters as well. People -- just basically what they did, they have a lot of experience from the civil war in 1975 to 1990 they know where to hide and how to hide. But in terms of sort of municipal bomb shelters along the lines of what you have in Israel they simply do not exist.

They probably exist for Hezbollah, for instance. We know that obviously underneath their areas, they do have very deep tunnels or whatever system underground. But in all my years here in Lebanon going back to 1974, I have never heard an air raid siren -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, that's disturbing in and of itself. Here in Tel Aviv, if there's any suspicious hostile activity overhead immediately the sirens go off and everyone is told to go down to the shelters and protect themselves. Let's see what happens. Let's hope it stays quiet.

All right. Ben, thank you very, very much. To everyone, thanks very much. We're going to stay of course on top of this developing story.

[15:10:03]

In the meantime, Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, all.

All right. Turning now to the state of the 2024 presidential race and the focus for both campaigns this weekend, western voters. Tonight, Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will wrap up their five-day battleground state tour in Las Vegas. Former President Trump is also back on the campaign trail today holding fundraisers in Wyoming and Colorado. Joining me right now is Dominico Montanaro, a senior political editor

and correspondent at NPR.

Great to see you, Dominico.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT, NPR: Hey, thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. So we've got new polling from "The New York Times" and Sienna College showing a very tight race between Harris and Trump in the three battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. So what do you think will motivate voters to turn out in these three swing states?

MONTANARO: Well, if you notice, though, they're Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, you have Harris in the lead. You know, Harris has really made up a lot of grounds since she's gotten into this race three weeks ago. The blue wall states that we're looking at right there are essentially up for grabs and tied. And the other four sunbelt states you essentially have a margin of error race. So right now couldn't be any closer than we have it right now.

And really a critical next week for the Harris-Walz ticket as they head into the Democratic convention. And she's of course facing some of these questions of why she hasn't done an interview yet or if she will do an interview. I think we understand why she maybe hasn't done one quite yet considering she just rolled out her vice presidential ticket, but that's going to be something that she's going to be facing some pressure to do.

And then after former President Trump's press conference that he gave, which, you know, honestly, in years past, if this was anyone other than Donald Trump, considering the number of lies and misrepresentations that he put forward, over 130 or so by our count and not even done with that quite yet, more than two a minute that he gave, that would be something that a lot of Republicans in previous years would have said, you know, this might be a five-alarm fire to the level of where Democrats felt about Joe Biden's dismal debate performance on June 27th.

WHITFIELD: Right. Well, reportedly there were Republicans who are very concerned about the kind of meandering. There were concerned about the incoherence, yet you're not hearing too much out loud particularly from the elected Republicans. Why not?

MONTANARO: Well, it's surprising, right? We've seen that over the years when it comes to Donald Trump. We always hear, you know, on Capitol Hill in private, Republicans tell us that they are concerned about his tweets or they're concerned about how he presents himself. But what's happened to so many of those Republicans who've stuck their necks out politically, they've been chopped off.

I mean, think about the Republicans who opposed him for his -- voted for his impeachment. Many of whom are now no longer serving in Congress. There are real consequences because of just how much Donald Trump has been able to have this very strong love with his base, despite what many Republicans see with their own eyes and know is just not the way that they would comport themselves. And they certain, you know, wouldn't think that this is something that they would want from their standard bearer.

WHITFIELD: Republicans have been vocal about, you know, criticizing Governor Tim Walz for his language and that newly resurfaced video from 2018 in which he said he handled assault weapons in war. While Walz served 24 years in the Minnesota Army National Guard, he did not get deployed to a combat zone. The Harris campaign today said he misspoke and we talked to a Republican strategist earlier who said, oh, this is an indication that the honeymoon is over.

So what do you think this statement indicates, this acknowledgement indicates? Was it, you know, misspeak, simple as that?

MONTANARO: Well, I mean, I think that is something that that campaign clearly had to clean up. I mean, anytime that you have a new ticket and you have new presidential candidate and new vice presidential candidate, they're going to face fresh scrutiny and they're going to have to watch how they speak, the things that they say and people are going to be digging into everybody's biography.

And if you slightly exaggerate things, you're going to be called out on it. Now what the expectation is, is that a candidate takes it seriously what the truth is, and then fixes that as the days and weeks go on and it's going to be up to voters to decide to see who they trust more on that kind of thing.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there. Dominica Montanaro, great to see you.

MONTANARO: Great to see you, too. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right. Still to come, our breaking news out of the Olympics. American gymnast Jordan Chiles could lose her bronze medal? What? We'll tell you why. Plus, a new bodycam footage shows the moment a police officer spotted the gunman who tried to kill former president Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:32]

WHITFIELD: All right. We're following breaking news out of Paris and a stunning moment for the U.S. gymnastics team. Jordan Chiles may soon have to return the bronze medal that she won for her floor exercise following a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"CNN WORLD SPORT" anchor Patrick Snell is here with more on this.

Oh my gosh, no.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Fred, what is going on here? Yikes. WHITFIELD: This is going to be a horrible mess if this is the case.

SNELL: It's already been a highly intense week to say the least.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

[15:20:00]

SNELL: Really controversial talking points all week long from the French capital. Remember, the bronze medal, just for context to remind our viewers here, originally awarded to the Romanian teenager Ana Barbosu, the 2020 European junior team and all-around champ, 18 years of age. She thought she'd seal third place, posting a score of 13.700.

Chiles had posted a score of 13.666 and was in fifth place originally, but then successfully challenged she thought the difficulty score, which added 0.1 to her tally and the American was then moved up to third behind compatriot Simone Biles and Brazilian Rebeca Andrade who gold.

Now Barbosu was dropped down to fourth. She was left absolutely distraught and in tears at missing out on a podium finish. But now we're just learning on this very eventful Saturday, Fred, we're learning that Chiles may, she may have to return the bronze medal after all this that she won in the women's floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport or CAST, if you prefer, rule the initial inquiry made by the United States was filed after the one- minute deadline.

That's what's key here. The court adding that the International Gymnastics Federation will determine the ranking of the final. So nothing is absolutely determined at this point. What do we have in terms of reaction? Well, in a joint statement, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee saying they're, quote, "devastated" by the ruling and that the inquiry into Chiles' routine was, quote, "filed in good faith," and we believed in accordance with FIG rules. They added that Chiles has been, quote, "subject to consistent."

This is what's really concerning, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SNELL: Consistent and utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media which they condemned. Also, and a reminder what happened earlier, we reported on our "WORLD SPORT" shows this past week, the Romanian prime minister saying he's going to be boycotting Sunday's closing ceremony at the games in protest at the decision to take the bronze of Barbosu.

There is a lot more to run around on this story. We're following it very closely indeed.

WHITFIELD: It seems like so much time, though, has elapsed.

SNELL: I know. Days have elapsed. WHITFIELD: From awarding her the bronze after, you know, reviewing

things and now. It just doesn't seem right, and they're talking about a one-minute deadline. I mean, what was the deadline of this?

SNELL: There are no winners here.

WHITFIELD: No.

SNELL: There was just no winners here. And we're seeking answers, we want everyone, everyone involved wants answers as quickly as possible.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SNELL: Because emotions are already running extremely high.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SNELL: When you see images of teenage athletes as we saw with Barbosu earlier in the week and floods of tears, it's just so painful to look at.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. And then flip side of that tears of joy. USA women's soccer, what?

SNELL: Yes. Yes. Look what happens when you hire an English head coach Emma Hayes? Sorry, I had to get that in.

WHITFIELD: Get that in there. I got you.

SNELL: My British credentials, I'm sorry.

WHITFIELD: I know.

SNELL: You know, look, you go back to the 2023 women's World Cup down under. By U.S. standards, that was a tournament of huge under achievement because they, you know, they went into that tournament as defending champs and now it had been 12 long years since America had won their last Olympics, London 2012. Then they hire all-conquering former Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes.

A star-studded affair earlier at the Parc des Princes, Fred, for Brazil-USA, and that gold medal showdown. A wonder moment for Mallory Swanson finding the back of the net for our country. And that would be the game win. It was a terrific team move as well.

At the USC, the game out there, Olympic champs. Their fifth title in the eight edition of this tour, of this event, talk about a country that dominate -- lovely images there as well.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SNELL: And what a moment for Swanson as well, because she missed last year's World Cup with a knee injury. She was also fighting back the tears. Emma Hayes as USA win it. And meantime, the U.S. men's basketball team is about to tip off their gold medal match against the host nation France. WHITFIELD: Come on.

SNELL: Remember LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant sparking a stunning fourth quarter comeback against the Serbians in the semis. Now they're facing a French team with a whole host of NBA stars. I'm thinking Victor Wembanyama for one and home advantage. It could get really interesting. The French fans --

WHITFIELD: I bet it will.

SNELL: They are so passionate.

WHITFIELD: I know.

SNELL: "Allez Les Bleus" will be ringing out throughout that one. So we'll stay across it.

WHITFIELD: I thought every member of the French having so many exceptional teams and outcomes in any Olympic Games.

SNELL: We haven't even spoken about Leon Marchand the all-conquering swimmer.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my -- he was, he's incredible.

SNELL: Four gold medals, age 22.

WHITFIELD: (Speaking in foreign language).

SNELL: And (Speaking in foreign language). Yes. The man from Toulouse that does not know how to lose. I'm telling you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: No, he doesn't. He is incredible. It's been so funny to watch.

SNELL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Fun to have you.

SNELL: Lots of (INAUDIBLE), stay across and we will have updates.

WHITFIELD: All right.

SNELL: OK.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. Good to see you. Thank you. (Speaking in foreign language) for now.

SNELL: (Speaking in foreign language)

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back. (Speaking in foreign language).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:07] WHITFIELD: Gripping new video obtained by CNN offers a new look and new vantage point at the moment a Pennsylvania police officer spotted Donald Trump's would-be assassin on a rooftop overlooking the former president's rally. The footage was taken right before the shooter opened fire. You can see the police officer being hoisted up onto the roof of the building. The officer sees the shooter and then drops back down. 40 seconds later the shooting begins.

CNN's Danny Freeman has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the moment we've heard so much about, seen now for the first time on police body camera. A Butler Township police officer asking for a boost to check the roof of the AGR Building outside former President Trump's rally. There's no audio in this video obtained by CNN. You can see on the time stamp this is less than one minute before Crooks started shooting.

[15:30:00]

The officer climbs up to the roof and almost immediately drops down and the tone changes. You don't see it on the video, but police have said Crooks aimed his rifle right at the officer. He runs to the other side of the building to look at the roof. And on this officer's dash cam, which was recording audio, you can hear those first three gunshots from Thomas Matthew Crooks at 6:11 p.m.

The officer rushes back to his car to get his rifle. You hear him shout to other law enforcement officers on the dash cam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't pull up your head. He's right there.

FREEMAN: Back to the officer's body cam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). This close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's he at? Where's he at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's straight up. Who's got eyes on him?

FREEMAN: Chaos ensues. By this point, the gunman, Crooks, has already been killed by Secret Service. But it doesn't appear local law enforcement is aware.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're about to hop up. He's laying down. He's (INAUDIBLE). Next building over. Right after the gap. He's got glasses, long hair.

FREEMAN: These videos provide new insight into local law enforcement's movements moments before the shooting and the frantic aftermath. Since that day, there's been finger-pointing between U.S. Secret Service and Western Pennsylvania law enforcement, including testimony from the acting director of the Secret Service asserting local snipers hidden in a building could have spotted Crooks.

RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: I'm not saying that they should have neutralized him, but if they'd have just held their post and looked left, maybe, and there's a lot of maybes there, Senator.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): A lot of maybes, but.

FREEMAN: But this new body camera footage also suggests local law enforcement had warned Secret Service they needed to protect the building Crooks used to fire the shots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I (EXPLETIVE DELETED) told them they need to post their guys (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over here. I told them that the (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Secret Service. I told them that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Tuesday. I told them to post (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guys over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you guys were on the roof.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We're inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Alpha 1 and Bravo 1, paging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I told them to post (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guys over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't even concerned about it because I thought someone was on the roof. I thought that's how -- I mean, can you lose a guy walking back there if you're on the roof?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're inside.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN (on-camera): I should also note that frustration you just saw right there coming just about 10 minutes after the shooting took place. Now we did get a statement from the Secret Service on Thursday saying that they are reviewing the body camera footage that was released by local law enforcement. And furthermore, they added that they appreciate local law enforcement partners who acted courageously as they worked to locate the shooter that day.

Danny Freeman, CNN, Washington.

WHITFIELD: All right, Danny, thank you so much for that.

All right. Following the attempted assassination of the former president and fueling the heightened security, CNN has obtained a new intelligence report that indicates U.S. security officials are on alert for possible retaliatory attacks against Democrats at the DNC in Chicago later on this month. That's where the party will officially nominate Kamala Harris for president. The threat assessment was prepared jointly by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies, including local police in Illinois.

Joining me right now to talk more about all this is Shawn Turner. He is the former director of communications for U.S. National Intelligence.

Shawn, great to see you.

SHAWN TURNER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION FOR U.S. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Thanks, Fred. Good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: So we know that the convention would bring up a pretty heightened threat assessment as is. But now to hear about this report and possible retaliation for that attempted assassination of the former president, what's your reaction to this?

TURNER: Yes, Fred, well, you know, as you pointed out, it's not unusual for the intelligence community and law enforcement officials to generate a report prior to a major event like a political convention. What stands out to me, though, with this particular report is that it sort of reflects where we are in this country with regard to the broader security environment.

You know, as Director Wray, FBI Director Wray said in a hearing recently throughout 2023, the United States has been at a heightened security, in a heightened security state and it continues today. So what this report tells me is that the intelligence community and law enforcement officials are listening to chat or they're monitoring social media.

They're looking at all of those places that law enforcement looks to determine whether or not people are saying things and doing things that would indicate that there might be a heightened threat environment. And they're seeing more of that than they've seen in the past. So this is particularly concerning to me simply because of where we are in this country and everything that we've seen over the past couple of months suggests that this needs to be an extremely highly manicured security situation for this Democratic National Convention.

WHITFIELD: So listening to the chatter is one thing. I mean, already, you know, adjustments are always going to be made along the way.

[15:35:05]

Right now we're talking about a week ahead of the DNC convention. Are you concerned that their preparedness will or changes in the preparedness it will be difficult trying to keep up with the threats that come with constant chatter?

TURNER: Yes. You know, it's a great question, Fred, because what we've seen is an elevation in the sort of threat language around not only the Democratic National Convention, but we've seen it across the board. And what that does is it makes it very difficult for law enforcement to sort of parse out what's just rhetoric and what actually represents a threat.

Now I will say that based on all of this and I've talked to some of my former colleagues in the intelligence community and law enforcement, I believe that the 2024 Democratic National Convention will be one of the most secure that we've ever had in this country because I know that law enforcement, the Secret Service and other agencies are doing a lot of things that we will see publicly to secure the convention.

But they're also doing a lot of things that we won't see. Bring a number of different resources that will allow them to ensure that it's secure. But I think, Fred, the most important thing that they're doing, and this has started already, is that you've got Secret Service, you've got law enforcement who are going door to door in Chicago talking to people who are going to be inside that security perimeter to make absolutely sure that they understand what's going on, but it's not just to make sure those people understand what's going on.

It's also to identify areas where there might be some things that are suspicious, that are within that security perimeter. So things that we don't typically do, we'll see law enforcement doing to make sure that this is a secure convention.

WHITFIELD: Will you find this to be particularly unique challenge because we're talking about the density of a major city, downtown Chicago. And you know, you talk about the perimeter, you know, of the actual, you know, event location and all the businesses that exist there around it. I mean, what are some of the biggest challenges that are presented here?

TURNER: Yes. You know, the fact that this is happening in a place like Chicago means that there sort of two levels of threat. You've got the convention itself is going to be a hardened environment. That is to say that every single person who walks inside that venue is going to be, you know, checked up and down to make sure that they do not bring a threat inside of the convention venue.

But as you know, Fred, outside of that convention, you know, there are a lot of things that happened in the community that represents soft targets. These conventions bring a lot of economic prosperity to areas like this. And so people are going to gather. It will be very much a sort of concert type atmosphere.

And what security is really worried about are those soft targets. You know, where people will sit down, they'll socialize, they'll gather, because in those areas, even inside the security perimeter, outside of the venue, it's much more difficult to determine what's a threat and what's not a threat.

What people can take -- you know, can take some solace in is that there will be people who are in plain clothes who are there looking and monitoring to make sure that if there are any threats that it's brought to the attention of law enforcement. WHITFIELD: All right. Shawn Turner, great to see you. Thanks so much.

TURNER: Thanks, Fred. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead. The crisis in the Middle East escalates after a horrific attack leaves nearly 100 people dead in Gaza. We'll go live to Israel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:43:23]

BLITZER: Back now to our top story, the Middle East on edge right now, and countries outside the region are expressing outrage in the wake of a deadly Israeli attack on a school and mosque compound in Gaza. Gazan officials say more than 90 people have been killed in that strike, which they say happened during dawn prayers. The Gaza Civil Defense spokesman says many of the bodies recovered have been, in his words, torn apart while some are still unidentified.

Israel claims that Hamas was using the compound as a command center, but so far has not provided evidence to support its claim.

With me now, CNN military analyst, retired major general, James "Spider" Marks.

Spider, thanks very much for joining us. A meeting to resume ceasefire talks is now set to begin this coming Thursday. But when you look at the next few days in light of this attack, what is your biggest concern about what potentially could transpire?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Wolf, first of all, thank you for having me and stay safe where you are. The key issue is that peace talks have been so incredibly elusive and I can't imagine if they're going to be any more realized any closer as a result of this strike irrespective of the debate on both sides whether it was a legitimate strike against a target or whether it was a strike going against civilians, which I completely doubt that it was.

The Israelis do not do that. And then the Israelis need to come forward and say, yes, here was the targeting criteria and this was what we had in terms of what we struck. So the difficulty truly is, how can you get beyond that?

[15:45:03]

And then also the interregnum between the strike against Haniyeh in Tehran and then Iran's response kind of brings this up to a boil. So I'm not optimistic that peace talks are going to move anywhere more aggressively toward a resolution.

BLITZER: Iran, as you well know, Spider, has vowed to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran. U.S. officials tell CNN that Iran has made some, but not all of the preparations that the U.S. would expect just ahead of a major attack against Israel. What were those preparations from your perspective look like?

MARKS: Well, clearly the decision on the part of Iran is what's the size and the scope, what are the objectives they're trying to achieve, and I think the preparatory steps essentially are three. Number one is they've got to begin with a diplomatic effort to ensure their cohorts, Iranian friends, Iranian partners like Russia and China, maybe even India, are on board with what they're trying to achieve.

Number two is the military preparation. They learned, Iran learned a very valuable lesson when they tried to strike Israel about a month and a half, two months ago, they failed miserably. So past cannot be prologue in this particular case for the Iranian. So what does it look like? So they may be moving capabilities like drones cruise missiles, strike capacities closer to Israel. So the closure time will be less.

They also are going to want to try to attack Israel from multiple directions. This would primarily be done by proxies. Iran does not want to get into a direct fight with Israel. They know that Israel has immense capacity to operate on multiple lines of effort and they don't want to be able -- they don't want to put themselves at risk.

And then the third thing certainly is going to be what is the internal domestic narrative that Tehran wants to spin and provide its citizens. We responded, we weren't going to stand for this. We're still very much in charge, almost irrespective of what the objectives and the truth on the ground end up being.

BLITZER: A lot of us expected that Iran would retaliate very quickly, but there has been this delay now for so many days. Why do you think there has been this delay?

MARKS: Well, yes, Wolf, very good point. The preparation that's necessary takes time. They've got to engage diplomatically. If they are going to strike militarily in a more expansive way than they have before, you got to disseminate that commander's intent, what are we trying to achieve, what do the capacities look like? Let's double- check our readiness posture. We've got to kick the tires on everything. We don't want to embarrass so ourselves.

So this is an opportunity to really kind of steal the narrative, you know, suck the oxygen out of this, and then go forward. Of they wanted to achieve something good, then they've set the table for that. So I think there's a legitimate reason why it's taking a little more time.

BLITZER: Yes. I suspect they're also deeply concerned that if they were to launch some sort of major attack against Israel, Israel would retaliate with huge quantities of weapons and force, and Iran would pay a huge price for that. But we shall see what happens in the coming days.

General James "Spider" Marks, thank you very much for that update.

And much more just ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:53:13]

WHITFIELD: All right. Massive cleanup in the northeast after Storm Debby.

Our Gloria Pazmino has the latest on, I mean, some terrible consequences that came from this storm.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, and the cleanup is just getting started and it's going to take a while. In fact, the emergency declaration in New York still remains in place and in Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro declared and issued a disaster declaration covering more than 21 counties. That is expected to help with the cleanup and recovery, which is just beginning today.

The rain has moved out of the area. But as you said, these are the remnants of Debby and this is a storm that just has moved so slowly all across the northeast, dropping so much rain, bringing heavy winds, dangerous of tornadoes around the area. You can see so many of the rivers in the area in Pennsylvania, in New York, the border between those two states, many of them cresting and spilling over into highways taking homes with them, and trapping people in their homes.

We've heard from several rescue and emergency responders from these areas who said that they had to rescue people from their homes, including some young ones. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was really scared because at the end, Kelly was like, she was barely holding on and one foot was up, and then the rescue team came just in time to come put her in the boat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: You can imagine that there are some very relieved parents seeing that those children are able to be rescued. Now this was in Pennsylvania and New York, Steuben County. Tioga County, Westfield, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, all deeply affected by the flooding.

[15:55:07]

All of them trying to clean up today, and so the bad weather has moved out, but even emergency responders, Fred, were affected by the heavy rains yesterday. We heard from one fire station that reported three feet of water inside their firehouse. So even they needed help getting out of there and had a hard time getting out to help the people who needed it.

WHITFIELD: It was an incredible storm and people are still feeling it.

All right, Gloria Pazmino. Thank you so much.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Wolf Blitzer and Jessica Dean take it from here. Have a great afternoon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)