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IDF Says Targeted Top Islamic Jihad Commander at Gaza School; Trump Campaign Says it has been Hacked; Dozens of Civilians Killed in Gaza by Israeli Airstrike; IDF Says Top Islamic Jihad Commander May have been at Gaza School Struck Earlier; Israel Sending Negotiating Team for Ceasefire Talks Next Week; Debby Leaves Swollen Rivers, Flooding in its Wake. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 10, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:50]

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": And I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv.

Tonight, Israel says a top Islamic Jihad commander was the target of a deadly strike at a school and mosque in Gaza.

Gaza officials there say at least 90 people are dead, including children. Israel has not yet shown any evidence about all of this, but the attack has complicated efforts to restart truce talks between Israel and Hamas.

We are also closely watching the Middle East as Iran and its proxy groups in Lebanon vow to strike Israel after the death of a top Hamas military leader.

We will have live updates coming up throughout this hour -- Jessica.

DEAN: And we begin this hour with breaking news here in the US. The Trump campaign saying it has been hacked, claiming foreign sources intended to interfere in the 2024 election.

CNN has reached out to the FBI for more information. We will of course, bring it to you as we get it. Let's check in though now with CNN's Jeremy Herb, who is tracking this breaking story for us.

Jeremy, what do we know right now?

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, Jessica.

These documents were sent to POLITICO, which reported today that it began receiving documents from an anonymous e-mail account and these documents included internal Trump campaign materials.

Now, Trump campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, he said in a statement that these documents came from foreign sources. Cheung suggested that it was Iran who is behind this hacking, pointing to a report earlier this week from Microsoft on Iranian operatives ramping up activities to influence the US election.

He said in a statement to CNN: "These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources, hostile to the United States, intended to interfere here with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process."

Now, this Microsoft report, it came out earlier this week and it said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, they were trying to break into the e-mail account of a high-ranking campaign official in June. Microsoft did not say which account this was and it did not say whether this was successful.

So it is not yet clear whether Iran was behind this attack. We asked the Trump campaign if they had any more information, if they've talked to the FBI about this and they declined to comment further -- Jessica.

DEAN: And Jeremy, do we have any sense of what is in these hacked documents?

HERB: Yes, Jessica, POLITICO reported that it received from this anonymous account vetting materials related to Trump's vice presidential nominee, JD Vance and other materials. POLITICO reported that they found these documents authentic, but they have not published them yet.

Now, of course, it is worth remembering back in 2016, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, his e-mail was hacked and his e-mails were published by WikiLeaks in the final days and weeks of that campaign. And of course, it is also worth remembering that in 2016, Trump, he suggested that Russia should hack Hillary's e-mails -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, yes, all important context here. Jeremy Herb, thank you so much for that reporting.

Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz are wrapping up their battleground blitz with a rally in Las Vegas.

The campaign is hoping to bring a wave of energy and enthusiasm to that critical state of Nevada where Biden narrowly beat out Trump in 2020, and today, new signs of strength for the Harris campaign, new polling from New York Times-Siena shows her gaining momentum in three battleground states -- Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Now, looking at these numbers important to remember is still no clear leader. It is within the margin of error, but a sign that the trajectory is moving Harris in that right direction energizing American voters in a way President Biden had not been able to do before he exited the race just three weeks ago.

[18:05:33]

CNN's Eva McKend is live at the Harris rally in Las Vegas, where a lot of supporters are already getting in to that arena. Eva, set the scene for us, tell us the latest from the campaign trail, where just a couple of hours from now, they will be there on that stage.

EVAN MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jess, it is clear from being out on the campaign trail that the vice president has re-energized the base of the party and also re-engaged disaffected voters.

As people start to file into this arena, I hear chants of "Fired up, ready to go, we will not go back" and "This is what democracy looks like." But the campaign says that these rallies are also strategic in a sense, because all the while, they are recruiting volunteers. They say out of Arizona yesterday, they got 3,000 volunteer shifts.

Meanwhile, on the policy front, Jess, what they are talking about is reproductive rights, as well as immigration and reproductive rights is so critical for the voters that we speak to. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHLOE MCKINNEY, NEVADA VOTER: Abortion rights, and the fact that Trump is wanting to take them away. Abortion rights are very part to me and my family and for personal reasons and that I see girls that are like all over the world struggling to get their rights, and so that's very important to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And Jess, ahead of this Las Vegas rally, the vice president picking up a key endorsement, the culinary union, that is 60,000 workers here in this battleground state and they are so important as it relates to the organizing footprint.

So they are hoping to ride that endorsement into when enthusiastic and raucous rally this evening -- Jess.

DEAN: All right, Eva McKend will be there for us in Las Vegas, thank you so much for that reporting.

Let's turn now back to our breaking news this hour, the Trump campaign saying it has been hacked by what it is calling foreign sources, who are trying to interfere in the 2024 election.

I am joined now by CNN contributor Lulu Garcia Navarro and CNN political commentator. S.E. Cupp. It is great to see both of you here on the Saturday afternoon.

S.E., let's start first with you.

There are shades of 2016 to this as our reporter, Jeremy Herb was just kind of laying out and we have known that foreign actors want to interfere in the US election.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean, this is a huge problem. It is not a problem that we are unprepared for, but it is good to be a constant reminder that hacking disinformation, this is a big part, especially by foreign entities, this is a big part of why as voters, we need to be really educated diligent, vigilant, all the things because so much information is flying at us from so many different places, especially on social media, it is hard to know what's real, it is hard to know what is faked and now fake and now what these leaks were potentially getting access to things that we are not supposed to see.

Any campaign would be very upset to learn that they're sort of, you know, their secret weapon, you know, the plans that they have are being shared potentially with the press and then potentially with voters.

DEAN: Right and it still remains to be seen. It is very early in all of this what was in this hack? What are in these documents?

Lulu, former President Trump famously asked Russia in 2016, Russia if you're listening, find Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Now, the Trump campaign has been hacked. If you're the Trump campaign, how serious of an issue is this? How concerning is this?

LULU GARCIA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, it is hugely concerning and not only for the Trump campaign, but for any American.

I mean this, if indeed it is a foreign government trying to interfere in our election, we should all be concerned about that. I think POLITICO at this point has been very judicious in reporting about getting these documents, but so far not distributing them and telling law enforcement about this, so they can investigate it. I mean, you know, the Trump campaign is trying to spin this saying that this is potentially Iran trying to attack the former president's campaign because of his own actions.

We don't know really who is behind and this yet. We do know that America has many enemies. We do know that there are many countries in the world that want to interfere in America's elections -- China, Russia, North Korea -- I mean, the list is very, very lengthy and we all, as S.E. was saying, need to be very vigilant.

DEAN: Yes, and we will certainly be following the story as we get more information. It is truly a breaking story at this point with new information coming as the minutes and hours go by.

[18:10:25]

I want to talk, S.E. a little bit about this campaign and the strategies on both sides in particular, we saw the former president holding that news conference this week and then this rally last night, he has really been going after Harris, questioning her Blackness, questioning her intelligence.

I want to play a clip and then ask you a question on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Kamala is grossly incompetent and in my opinion, has a very low IQ, but we will find out about her IQ during the debate, okay? Let's find out about her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, S.E., both of these campaigns want to grow their coalition. That is how you win a race, more voters vote for you than the other person. So I am curious why the former president thinks that that attacking Kamala Harris in this very personal way is going to bring in new voters.

Do you think that is a good strategy?

CUPP: No, and listen, I host another show on another network called "Battleground," and the point of it is to talk to swing state voters. I talk to them every day and they don't care to litigate Kamala Harris' race. They don't care about childless cat ladies. They have problems and they want solutions.

And if you're trump and JD Vance going into these swing states, the states that will determine this election, talking about Kamala Harris' IQ or punishing people who don't have children, these are not solving problems that they have.

And in fact, a lot of swing state voters, especially women, are turned off by these very personal attacks. So there is a reason why voters in swing states, many of them are uncommitted, undecided, they are waiting for solutions to problems that they have.

Trump is not offering that yet. Harris and JD Vance for their part, have not yet laid out their agenda either, so everyone is kind of waiting for the substance of this election to kick in.

Trump seems very sort of scattered with Harris now on the Democratic ticket and Harris and Vance are obviously just getting in and just getting started, but they also need to tell voters, we are not just a campaign of vibes, right? We are going to -- we are going to solve some problems and here is how.

DEAN: And Lulu, Harris in Arizona, in Nevada yesterday and then today, they are obviously hoping to put these states maybe were going to be out of reach for Democrats back into play there in the Sun Belt, where the voting blocs can be more diverse. Of course, Latino voters in both of those states play a very key role.

Latino voters are not monolith. Of course, they care about independent things and different things. But how impactful do you think yesterday's endorsement from the League of United Latin American Citizens might be to this race in those particular states?

NAVARRO: I think it was important. I think the culinary union, which actually always leans Democratic is important, but what happens there is that they end up going door-to-door. They have very robust get-out- the-vote campaigns, Latinos respond to that. They like to see people face-to-face. It is a difficult demographic to reach often, but a very important one, vital to this election, especially in those states. And so it is -- it is increasingly important. And you're seeing Vice President Harris hone her immigration message. We saw it yesterday in Arizona where she talked about being tough on the border, but she also talked about a pathway to citizenship, and this is the line that she is going to try and navigate while appealing to people who want to see the southern border locked down, who are concerned about illegal immigration, but also to the base and to Latino voters who want to hear about what you will do to help the people in this country actually become legalized.

DEAN: And what I keep hearing for both of you and from so many people like yourselves who are experts and analysts that do talk to voters, they want to hear, S.E., about solutions. They want to hear it -- they have problems, they want to hear what somebody might do about them.

I know you're telling us you talk to them a lot. I am just curious, what are they saying to you? What are some of the issues? I mean, we see the polling, it is the economy and is usually at the top, but what are you hearing from people who are going to make a difference in the fall when they vote?

CUPP: Yes, I mean, every state is different. In fact, inside every state, right? Like Flint, Michigan voters care about different things than Bloomfield Hills voters in Michigan care about, so it is important to be on the ground and ask those questions, but there are overarching themes. Voters care about the economy. They care about the cost of goods that goes from cars down to groceries.

[18:15:06]

They care about housing prices. We are hearing that as a consistent theme, especially in growth economies like Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina -- these are big, big issues for voters. The cost of housing, being sort of locked out of buying a new home or a first home is a common theme.

We hear a lot about immigration and strengthening the border, strengthening -- lowering crime, making cities and towns safer. We also hear a lot about abortion, we do. We hear a lot about women's rights especially since there are now many states in which that is actually on the ballot.

DEAN: Yes. It is going to be so interesting to see how this unfolds and just condensed timeframe.

Lulu Garcia Navarro and S.E. Cupp, my thanks to both of you.

CUPP: Sure.

DEAN: And let's go now to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, who is live in Tel Aviv tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, there is a lot going on here in the Middle East right now. Israel says it was targeting a top Islamic Jihad commander in that devastating airstrike. They have killed more than 90 Palestinians sheltering at a school in Gaza. That incident has galvanized people trying to put together a ceasefire and hostage truce between Hamas and Israel, but will it be enough to stop the bloodshed? Stay with us, lots going on. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:06]

BLITZER: Welcome back.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv, Israel.

More countries right now are calling for ceasefire talks after a devastating Israeli attack on a school in Gaza. A warning: The images you're about to see are disturbing.

Gaza officials say at least 93 people are dead, including children and more are hurt after the airstrike on that school and mosque where many displaced Palestinians were sheltering.

Speaking only moments ago, the IDF said a top Islamic Jihad commander was likely at the school, but it is not yet clear if he was hit. The IDF says, Hamas terrorists were running a command and control center in the compound, but CNN cannot verify that, at least not yet.

CNN's Clarissa Ward is here with me in Tel Aviv watching all of this unfold. What is the latest -- Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, international condemnation has been pouring in. This was a particularly gruesome attack, Wolf.

According to Gaza's Civil Defense, of the 93 who were killed, 11 of them were children, six of them were women and I do want to caution our viewers again that some of the images in this report are incredibly distressing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice over): The strike hit before dawn as worshippers gathered to perform the Fajr prayer. Shortly after, rescue workers arrived to a scene from hell.

(UNIDENTIFIED GIRL speaking in foreign language.)

WARD: "Daddy" this girl screams, "Where is daddy?"

Amid the carnage, there is no way to know the answer. The ground is covered with blood and bodies, but it is the wailing that is perhaps most harrowing.

(UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE speaking in foreign language.)

WARD: Gaza's Civil Defense says that around 6,000 people were sheltering at the Al-Tabeen Islamic School compound in Gaza City. Many had recently arrived from the north after the IDF issued new evacuation orders there.

Um Mohammad (ph) comforts her son, sobbing over the loss of his father.

(UM MOHAMMAD speaking in foreign language.)

WARD: "They were all in pieces and dismembered," she says. "I went to look for my husband and I couldn't identify anybody. They were all dismembered."

Israel Defense Forces claimed the strike targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters and says approximately 20 to 25 militants were killed. CNN cannot verify the number of casualties or if any combatants were among the dead, but video from the scene shows the remnants of one munition used, a US-manufactured GBU-39, small-diameter bomb.

The strike comes just a day after the US agreed to release $3.5 billion in military aid to Israel.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

WARD: "What did the people well do to deserve this?" This man says, "Where is the entire world? The whole world is seeing these massacres and staying silent."

It is a stinging reminder of the international community's collective failure to protect innocent Palestinian civilians.

At the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, families gather to claim their dead and to say a final goodbye.

Diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement have intensified in the past week, but for the people of Gaza, talk of peace rings hollow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (on camera): The IDF said in a statement that the munitions that it used in that attack were small and that they were precise and that they would not be able to create the kinds of images of destruction and death that you have seen there.

But Wolf, we actually spoke to two separate weapons experts, one of them, a former US Army EOD bomb technician, and they said that if the room was crowded, even a small diameter bomb like the GBU-39, could, in fact cause those casualties, and according to Gaza's Civil Defense, there were roughly 200 people in the room when that strike happened gathering for that dawn prayer -- Wolf.

[18:25:17]

BLITZER: These were not these 2,000-pound bombs. They were much smaller bombs, precision bombs as they're called.

WARD: But still capable of killing a lot of people.

BLITZER: Obviously, all right. Clarissa, thank you very much for that report.

Right now, Israeli firefighting teams are badly multiple fires in Northern Israel after the IDF intercepted multiple drone launches from Hezbollah in South Lebanon heading into Israeli territory.

The Israeli military says several areas are affected, but no casualties have been reported at least so far. All of this comes as sources are now telling CNN that Hezbollah says it is ready to strike Israel, independent of Iran and that could happen within days as fears of an imminent Iranian attack threaten to widen the conflict into a much wider regional war.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining us now from Beirut.

Ben, what more are you hearing right now about these intercepted drones coming into Israel from Hezbollah.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hezbollah today, Wolf, has claimed 10 separate strikes on targets within Israel. The ninth was what was described by Hezbollah as a swarm of drones. Some of them headed toward the Israeli city of Safed, some fell according to Hezbollah, near the Lake Tiberias.

This number, 10, is a fairly large number for sort of the daily tally of Hezbollah strikes on Israeli targets. Israeli planes also carried out a series of strikes along the border within Lebanon itself.

Also this afternoon, at about 5:30 local time, Israeli war planes flew over Beirut, breaking the sound barrier. That's a fairly normal thing to happen in the southern part of the country, but three times within the last five days, Israeli warplanes have broken the sound barrier over the Lebanese capital. And of course, that is interpreted as a warning to Hezbollah not to retaliate against the killing last week of a senior Hezbollah commander, but also a warning to Lebanon as a whole that there will be dangerous consequences if Hezbollah launches such a retaliatory attack.

Now also, Iran has made it clear that it will also strike, but Iran is in a different sort of situation. It is a long way away from Israel. If you launch a drone from Iran, it takes hours to get to Israel, easily detected either by Israel or American or other forces that might be involved in trying to head off such an attack.

Hezbollah on the other hand, its forces are on the border with Israel. It doesn't take very much time for a missile, a drone, or any other sort of projectile to get into Israel. And therefore, Hezbollah in a sense, poses a much greater risk to Israel.

And we heard from the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah twice -- two speeches within 10 days -- the last 10 days that Hezbollah will attack Israel. The question is when.

Of course, we've heard from US officials going back a week now that that strike would take place within 24 to 48 hours. So I take those predictions from US officials with a grain of salt -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we will see how -- what happens. In the meantime, there's a lot of nervous people watching and waiting to see what happens.

Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thank you very, very much.

I want to get back to Jessica in New York.

DEAN: All right, Wolf, thank you for that.

Ahead, how the White House is responding to a hack that targeted Donald Trump's presidential campaign, apparently unearthing some internal communications. What this means ahead of an election that US officials have said will almost surely feature foreign interference -- attempted interference.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:33:27]

DEAN: Turning now to our breaking news from the campaign trail, the White House is condemning an apparent data breach of the Trump campaign. Stories still developing, but right now the Trump campaign pointing to a report from Microsoft saying in June that a group run by an Irani intelligence unit sent a spear-phishing email to a presidential campaign.

Now, Microsoft wouldn't specify which campaign. The Trump team has not provided any additional details except to say that they believe they have been hacked.

Joining us now is Jamil Jaffer, former counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Jamil, thanks so much for being here with us.

I think everyone is trying to process what this means more broadly as we still are waiting for a lot more information to come out. So what's your initial reaction to this news of this apparent hack of the Trump campaign?

JAMIL JAFFER, FORMER COUNSEL TO THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Well, Jessica, what we know is that the data that's been leaked or that was sent to Politico allegedly was a vetting memo about JD Vance in the lead-up to his selection as the vice president. And what we've heard is that the Trump campaign is saying that it was Microsoft talking about them.

Now, we don't know for sure because Microsoft hasn't said which campaign they're reporting about that this spear-phishing email was sent to. However, the Kamala Harris campaign has said it wasn't them. The Trump campaign is saying it wasn't them, so I think we do know now and it does appear clear that it was these Iranian hackers.

The question now is what exactly is Iran trying to achieve and who else is in the mix. We know the U.S. Intelligence Community just about a week ago put out information saying that both Iran, and Russia and China at some level were trying to get involved in the current election cycle. [18:35:00]

DEAN: And so more broadly, how concerning, how significant is it that this has happened?

JAFFER: Well, Jessica, obviously this is troubling because if we know that foreign nation states are trying to get into our campaigns and leak data, they're trying to do something damaging. The question is what are they doing, are they trying to influence voters for or against a candidate? Are they trying to simply undermine our trust in the election system? What is going on here? Why are they doing it?

We know they've been active in prior campaigns. Now it looks like they're starting pretty early in this process, and it's going to get more and more aggressive as this goes forward.

DEAN: And so what does this mean as we now lead into really the meatiest part of this campaign, these months that are going to lead in to November? Do you expect to see more of this? And what does it mean for the average American? Can they have good faith that the elections will be protected from this sort of interference?

JAFFER: Well, I think this is exactly the challenge, Jessica, is that we now know without a doubt that foreign governments are seeking to influence at least our knowledge or understand the election cycle, right? We're not sure if they're going to actually be able to go after votes and the like. In fact, I think our system is pretty well protected against that type of attack, but we know they're going to try and influence us.

And given that, I think the American public has to come together and say, look, we're going to pick our candidates based not on what we're hearing about these leaks and the like and these narratives that are being spread, but on what we know about the candidates and who we trust to be our next leader. That's how we've got to decide.

And frankly, we've got to come together as a nation and recognize that these are foreign actors trying to undermine our own confidence in the democratic system and our democracy.

DEAN: And what that can look like, right, is posts online, unverified reports that get circulated around. And I often tell my friends and family when they ask me, well, is this true? Check your - start with checking your sources first. You always know where this information is coming from.

JAFFER: No, it's exactly right. Look, if you're seeing it on TikTok or WhatsApp or Instagram, you know, check it, right? Go look it up on a credible news site, check CNN, check another credible news site, whichever news site you trust, see and verify. And then there are these websites that sort of knock down untrue rumors, snopes.com and others, places you can look for verified information.

Don't just take what you see online at face value, more often than not, even if it accords with what you think probably isn't accurate. DEAN: All right. Jamil Jaffer, thanks so much. Again, that breaking news that the Trump campaign saying it's been hacked by what it calls a foreign actor. We will see what more we learn about this. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

JAFFER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: And a list of top White House officials are going to the Middle East in a bid to get a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal back on the board.

Up next, my colleague Wolf Blitzer will be speaking with Axios Middle East reporter Barak Ravid on why some Israeli officials say the deal faces a now or never moment. We'll go to Wolf live in Tel Aviv on the other side of this break. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:11]

BLITZER: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv.

Tonight, a spokesman for the Israeli defense forces says a top Islamic Jihad commander was likely at the school that was struck earlier in Gaza. A warning, the video you're about to see is disturbing. At least 93 Palestinians were killed, many more injured according to Gaza officials.

The IDF says they were targeting members of Hamas, but CNN cannot yet verify that. The attack has some world leaders ramping up pressure for a ceasefire and hostage deal, including tonight from the vice president, Kamala Harris. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Far too many civilians who have been killed. I mean, Israel has a right to go after the terrorists that are Hamas, but as I have said many, many times, they also have, I believe, an important responsibility to avoid civilian casualties.

We need a hostage deal and we need a ceasefire. And I can't stress that strongly enough. It needs to get done. The deal needs to get done and it needs to get done now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining me now, CNN Political and Global Affairs Analyst and Axios politics and foreign policy reporter, Barak Ravid.

Barak, thanks very much for joining us.

What do you make of Kamala Harris' comments that we just heard now? Will that help restart these talks?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hi, Wolf. I think it just shows you how much the administration needs this ceasefire and this hostage deal, and it is willing to put all of its chips on it and all of its efforts. And we are going into a very dramatic week when we'll see President Biden's top Middle East advisor, Brett McGurk, going to the region in a day or two. Then Secretary of State Blinken might join also and travel to the Middle East.

And on Thursday, there's this negotiation summit, maybe the last chance, maybe the now or never hostage deal on Thursday, when CIA Director Bill Burns will lead the U.S. negotiation team. So this is going to be a very dramatic week. And I think what we heard from Vice President Harris just shows you how much the administration wants this week to end with a breakthrough towards the hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza.

BLITZER: Do we yet know if this critically important Thursday meeting on the hostage release and the ceasefire, will it take place in Cairo or Doha, Qatar?

RAVID: We still don't know. I think a lot of it will depend on what will happen in the next 24, 48, 72 hours when it comes to whether Iran or Hezbollah will attack Israel, because this will change the whole picture. And I think this is what the Biden administration is still trying to see.

[18:45:07]

The Qataris are trying to see what's going on. The Egyptians, they're all trying to press the Iranians and Hezbollah not to do anything before Thursday. But anything that happens on this front, on what the Iranians are going to do and what Hezbollah is going to do is going to influence dramatically this summit on Thursday.

BLITZER: And what's really significant is these negotiations for a hostage release and a ceasefire come at a time when Israel is awaiting the possibility, the very real possibility, of major retaliatory attacks from Iran or Hezbollah or both. In your recent article in Axios, you said - and I'm quoting you now: "The U.S. and Israel still don't have a clear idea about when such an attack could happen. But the general assessment is that Hezbollah is likely to attack first, possibly this weekend, two U.S. - Israeli - two U.S. officials and one Israeli official said."

So, Barak, how could these potential attacks change the dynamic of a ceasefire deal and can Israel continue to fend off these barrages?

RAVID: I'll give you an anecdote to answer your question. Yesterday, Secretary Blinken calls the Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, and one of the things that Blinken tells him, he tells him, look, Hezbollah or Iran or both might attack you in the next few days. It's important that you will not retaliate or respond in a way that will further escalate the situation and prevent us from getting to this hostage deal.

So the U.S. pressure is not only on Iran and Hezbollah to prevent them from retaliating, it's also on Israel in case that if Iran and Hezbollah do retaliate, that Israel will somehow maintain the most restraint possible in order not to, you know, harm those - this summit on Thursday.

BLITZER: So bottom line, Barak, do you think Israel is about to enter a much wider scale war with both Iran and Hezbollah?

RAVID: I think this is the - I think this is why this week is so dramatic and so sensitive and so dangerous, because things can go either way. We can see a scenario and we can definitely see a path that you can get to Thursday and you get the major breakthrough in the hostages ceasefire negotiations, but you can also see a path where Hezbollah or Iran or both do attack Israel in the next 24, 48, 72 hours and then everything is unraveled and you find yourself in a much deeper and wider conflict.

And I think this is the - this is why this is such a dramatic week for the U.S. diplomacy, because the Biden administration is trying on the one hand prevent this war from widening. And on the other hand, you know, use this opening to maybe get a hostage deal that will change the whole atmosphere in the region.

BLITZER: This Thursday is shaping up to be a potentially extremely critical, critical day. Barak Ravid, thanks very much for joining us.

RAVID: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And Jessica, back to you in New York.

DEAN: All right. Wolf, thanks to you and Barak for that.

What's left of Debby now gone, but the Northeast still feeling its impact with dangerous flash flooding as another potential tropical storm bruising the Atlantic. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:53:09]

DEAN: Debby has finally moved out of the U.S. after a week of wreaking havoc from Florida all the way to New York. But its impacts are still being felt in several states. People in New York and Pennsylvania dealing with severe flooding from those overflowing rivers. CNN - Our CNN's Elisa Raffa is in our weather center with more on this.

And Elisa, it's finally moved out, but it left some things behind in the name of flooding.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. The footprint of rain behind is just insane how much rain this thing was able to drop. This is what's left. It kind of all - that tropical moisture got sucked up into a front that's now offshore and continues to work its way offshore. So not really seeing any of that rain falling anymore, but look at the footprint of what it left behind. Not only do we have significant rain totals in Florida, but look at the totals in the last five days from the Carolinas, those 10 and 20 inch totals up through D.C., Philly and even up to the Canadian border, Upstate New York seeing some heavy rain as well.

We're still finding some flooding problems in the Carolinas because you just had 10 to 20 inches of rainfall. That water needs to go somewhere. So we're finding some problems with river rises. There are also a couple of this from flash flood warnings in effect here, parts of eastern Carolinas, because as they get even just a couple of scattered storms, this ground is so saturated, just a little bit of rain could really do a lot of damage when it comes to flooding, since it's so saturated.

Look at the river rises. Cape Fear River, we're expecting it to get up to - it's already in major flood stage. So we'll continue to find flooding from that as we go into the weekend. And then some rivers haven't even gotten to their major or moderate flood stage yet. This is the Tar River in Tarboro, again, continuing to get up to moderate flood stage, not quite there yet, but continuing to rise. And we'll do so as we go into the weekend.

Now, behind this, we already have an area of development that we're watching, a tropical wave with a very high likelihood of getting a name as we go through the next seven days.

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These are the spaghettis that show it had somewhere towards the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. And then from there, we'll have to see what kind of return it can take. But the next name on the list is Ernesto. That would be the next name. And we are ahead of schedule for the hurricane season. And a lot of it is because of these very warm ocean temperatures.

Three to five degrees above normal in this development zone, that is fuel for that tropical wave. And again, still, you've got temperatures, water temperatures way above normal throughout the entire stretch. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Elisa Raffa, for us, thanks so much.

And still ahead, more reaction to that data breach targeting Donald Trump's campaign, accessing some internal communications. We'll have the latest for you. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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