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Trump Delivers Primetime Speech, Claims Declassified Documents Show U.S. Election Vulnerabilities; U.S.-Iran Conflict Escalates; Texas Faces Deadly Flooding; China's Vision for A.I. Future; Gulf States Fend Off Attacks As U.S.-Iran Conflict Escalates; Lawyer Accuses ICC's Karim Khan Of Sexual Misconduct; Venezuelans Reflect On Devastating Earthquakes. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, wherever you are in the world. You are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show, President Trump's new claims that America's election systems are vulnerable and the 2020 elections were allegedly rigged by China. Plus, China's leader hopes to offer the world a new plan for A.I. We're live in Hong Kong. And three weeks on, thousands are still missing in Venezuela. We speak to survivors who have lost everything.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom with Ben Hunte."

HUNTE: Welcome. U.S. President Donald Trump is getting praise and criticism for his primetime address on election security, which he wrapped up just a few hours ago. He says newly declassified intelligence shows foreign countries, namely China, meddled in U.S. elections and affairs to hurt him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Colossal security breach is even more disturbing in light of the additional information showing that China engaged in other election-related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign, results of the U.S. midterm elections, and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself.

Separately, in mid-2019, the Chinese government's strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president. They wanted to just make you sound like your president wasn't so hot when actually your president has done a great job.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNTE: Although the documents are newly declassified, they largely discuss issues that have been known for years and election officials around the country have tried to address already. None of the declassified information supports the claim that any previous election results were manipulated by foreign interference in a way that would have changed the outcome.

CNN's Gabe Cohen has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's important to remember the bigger context here because this is really just the latest move in a campaign by this administration to prove that elections in this country are not secure. That voter fraud is not just possible, but that it's happening in large numbers despite no evidence of that.

Important to note, none of the evidence that was provided actually showed, nor did the president even claim that it showed, that any votes were actually changed or manipulated in any past elections, including 2020, which the president has repeatedly said was stolen.

But it's just the beginning for this White House task force that has been assembled and is declassifying a trove of documents to show election security vulnerabilities. And the president used this to, again, push for the Senate to pass the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and voter I.D. to actually cast a ballot.

So, what were the president's claims? Well, he talked about voter data being vulnerable, saying that China stole data on some 220 million Americans in 2020, even though intelligence reports at that time from Trump's first administration actually found that China chose not to try to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.

His Department of Homeland Security also found that 250,000 non- citizens are registered to vote in just four states, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. And that was based on, they said, public data. Now, I've spoken to officials in Pennsylvania and Nevada tonight who said they don't know where those numbers are coming from. Nevada Secretary of State's Office flat out refuted that claim, saying that DHS has not been in touch with them. And Pennsylvania's secretary of the commonwealth says that they welcome DHS to share their methodology so that the state can address it.

But I will tell you, right now, the Justice Department is actually suing more than two dozen states, including those four, to force them to hand over their voter lists for a more significant check for non- citizen voters. Apparently, they felt they had enough publicly available data still to make that claim.

And again, the bigger picture is really key here because the president and his allies continue to claim that Democrats are rigging and stealing elections, and this administration has taken several steps toward implementing more federal control, most of which has been blocked by courts. [02:05:05]

And there are a lot of officials across the country, as well as election integrity experts, who are worried that this is another effort toward sowing doubt in the results of the 2026 midterms on the basis of potential or perceived voter fraud even though there is no evidence of any widespread fraud at this point.

HUNTE: All right, let's bring in CNN Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang live in the Chinese capital for us. How is Beijing responding today? Are Chinese officials treating these allegations seriously?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Ben, I have heard back from the spokesperson at the Chinese embassy in Washington and, surprisingly, the denial was strong. Their statement reads, in part, China has all along adhered to the principle of non-interference in others' internal affairs. It goes on to say China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S.

So, this really echoes their longstanding position even though it does not touch on the hacking allegations that has come up in the past as well in the U.S. election context that China has always vehemently pushed back.

Now, so far, it seems the response has been fairly restrained. Perhaps, as you just heard Gabe say, they could point to previous assessment from the U.S. intelligence community that basically cleared China, including in that 2021 report.

And the part of the president's latest speech actually reflected the minority view in that report. But he has gone much further, not only highlighting the mass scale of Chinese hacking of U.S. voter data, but also Chinese capability and even intention to interfere with U.S. election infrastructure.

So, it's going to be interesting to see how this kind of overwhelming and even ominous allegations from the president could impact bilateral relations, especially in terms of the expected visit to Washington by Chinese Leader Xi Jinping in September. Remember, when Trump was here in May, his talks with Xi Jinping actually has ushered in a period of relative calm and stability between the two governments and with a very delicate trade truce still going on. This kind of leadership summits always considered strong guardrails in preventing this relationship from deteriorating.

But now with this speech -- before the speech, actually, there have been some chatter of Chinese officials going to D.C. to hash out the details of Xi's visit. But now with these latest claims, there has been some doubt on that. But, at the end of the day, Chinese officials and Chinese analysts understand the intended audience of Trump's speech is mostly domestic, especially ahead of that critical midterm election. So, they could choose to just look past that quickly after issuing their predictable strong denials, and then, of course, turn the page over to maintain this rather fragile stability between the two countries. Ben?

HUNTE: OK. Steven, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Sara Sadhwani joins me now from Los Angeles. She is a professor of political science at Pomona College and democracy fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School. It's good to see. Thanks for being with me. The president promised to shock the nation. Did this speech actually reveal anything new or was it just a repackaging of claims that he has made before?

SARA SADHWANI, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT POMONA COLLEGE, DEMOCRACY FELLOW AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY KENNEDY SCHOOL: Yes, nothing new here. Donald Trump has been on a six-year crusade at this point, trying to suggest that there was some wrongdoing in the 2020 election as to why he lost. It honestly makes him look like a childlike, sore loser. He has brought over 60 cases himself against the election in 2020. Most of those being thrown out, including some by judges that he even appointed. So, there has been no evidence that any kind of fraud actually occurred in 2020.

But Donald Trump is a master at crafting a narrative. He's the DIC, the Deflector in Chief. And this is an opportune moment for him to take some of the pressure off many of the other domestic issues that we have going on here in the United States, across much of the East Coast and the Midwest. We have triple digit heat and plumes of smoke that is causing choking air for people. He's not focusing on that. He's not focusing on affordability, not focusing on the lack of yet another treaty with Iran, not focusing on the fact that ICE killed three people just in the last week. So, instead, he goes back to his ongoing bogus claims about fraud in the 2020 election.

HUNTE: Wow! Well, tell us what you really think. Juicy, juicy.

(LAUGHTER)

The White House released documents alongside that speech, which you are clearly a big fan of. Based on what we have seen so far, do they actually back up the president's biggest claims?

SADHWANI: Based on what I've had a chance to look at thus far tonight, I'm not seeing anything.

[02:10:00]

FBI reports that are mostly redacted, talking about someone in their car maybe holding false voter registration. Thus far, I mean, there's a lot in there. I just started looking at it myself. And there's many, many documents. So, it's easy, it would be easy to kind of swim in all of these documents that have been procured.

But thus far, I'm not seeing anything that changes the nature of the previous court cases that have been out there. We haven't seen the Department of Justice actually bringing any additional kinds of claims or investigations. That's what you would anticipate seeing if there was actually evidence that could be used in that way.

HUNTE: We are seeing lots of people say that the president is laying the groundwork to challenge the 2026 midterms when they happen, if Republicans underperform, of course. What do you think about that?

SADHWANI: Yes, that's the part that worries me the most about this speech, not that there's some new evidence but, instead, it's the pattern that he's creating, manufacturing doubt about the system's integrity so that he could potentially use that as a rationale in the future for putting the executive branch in charge of the voter of the elections. That would be a worst-case scenario, not only for the 2026 elections but for democracy writ large.

HUNTE: OK. Sara Sadhwani in Los Angeles, thank you so much. Speak to you again soon.

SADHWANI: Thanks, Ben.

HUNTE: Gulf states are fending off fresh attacks as the conflict between the U.S. and Iran does escalate. Iran says it launched drones at U.S. military targets in Bahrain. Qatar and Kuwait also report intercepting missile and drone attacks after loud bangs were heard in Doha. Qatar says a child was wounded by falling shrapnel.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military says it has completed its latest wave of attacks against Iran. This marks the sixth consecutive night of U.S. attacks. CENTCOM says U.S. forces hit dozens of Iranian military targets. Iranian state media says several bridges in the country's south were targeted in the latest U.S. strikes.

CNN's Eleni Giokos joins me now live from Dubai. It's good to see you. There is so much going on. What is the latest from where you are in the wider Gulf?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, you basically said a lot of what we've been seeing. And I think there's one sort of word to describe this past week and its escalation on all fronts. You know, Jordan just a short time ago says that they also intercepted incoming projectiles. No one was injured. That's in conjunction to the news out of Bahrain as well as Kuwait where they were intercepting missiles as well as drones, projectiles.

Iran released footage of missile launch sites, signaling two things, frankly, that it's willing to retaliate against the United States, but also that its military capabilities, you know, still exist to some extent despite the fact that we've seen six nights of strikes against Iran.

Now, Iran state media also releasing other footage. And I just want to point out to some of the things that we've seen. They're showing some of the images around several bridges that were targeted leading up to the port city of Bandar Abbas. And these images were geolocated. We also have our own footage showing the damage to some of these bridges. Iranian state media also saying that power lines were targeted as well as a train station.

Now, importantly, the Iranians are saying that seven people died and nine people were injured in these overnight strikes. CENTCOM says it has now concluded the strikes for now. But frankly, both sides have been, you know, escalating the rhetoric and threats against each other.

What we've seen in Qatar today as well, Doha, hearing loud explosions. One child then was injured by shrapnel. That is the latest this Friday morning as there's still some kind of, you know, hope, anticipation that mediators will drag both sides to the negotiating table.

HUNTE: And while all of that is happening, do you think we're seeing any signs of de-escalation at all?

GIOKOS: Absolutely no de-escalation. In fact, we've been speaking to so many experts in and around the region. And for as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains a sort of flashpoint and Iran wants to use it as leverage and said it is an absolute red line for the Iranians in terms of controlling the Strait of Hormuz, the United States has now embarked on its military blockade against port cities, Iranian port cities, and then you've got this sort of escalation trap that could be emerging. And on the sidelines, the U.S. says there are talks that are going on, but nothing is really emerging. It's sort of tangible right now.

For as long as we're seeing these strikes, for as long as commercial vessels are not taking the journey in terms of transiting the Strait of Hormuz, there is major concern about what comes next.

[02:15:07]

Unless both sides want to get to the negotiating table in a tangible way, the expectation is that this is going to be the new normal. You know, some maritime experts say that this perhaps could be what we'll sort of experience in the next few months as they try and figure out whether there's going to be a joint mechanism in terms of, you know, managing the Strait of Hormuz or perhaps some kind of off-ramp that can be found by mediators, Ben.

HUNTE: OK. Eleni, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

China makes it no secret that it wants to go head to head with the U.S. on artificial intelligence. Still ahead, China's leader lays out his vision for the future of the A.I. landscape. Plus, catastrophic flooding is raging through parts of Texas. Oh, look at that. We'll get the latest from a reporter on the ground in one of the hardest-hit areas.

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[02:20:00]

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HUNTE: At least two people have died as floodwaters surged through South Central Texas, the same area where more than 100 died last year. First responders have conducted more than 230 rescues now, including this one you're seeing there where body cam video shows a crew member pulling a family to safety. Officials declared an emergency as floodwaters threatened livestock, crops, and infrastructure.

Jonathan Petramala reports from one of the hardest-hit areas in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, JOURNALIST, DOCUMENTARIAN (voice-over): You can see a high-water rescue truck in the distance still making the rounds, making sure there's not somebody that maybe stayed behind, not thinking that the Guadalupe River would quite get this high. They might be uncomfortable and want to get to higher ground. But this is the impact here in Comfort, Texas, from the Guadalupe River. This is going to be one of the highest crests on record here.

Talking to locals, even last year's historic flood that killed 130 people upstream in Kerrville and Hunt, Texas, the river here in Comfort did not reach the levels that what we're seeing here today.

UNKNOWN: Those who live here know.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, Mother Nature just does what she wants. But I didn't think it was going to be as bad. I didn't think it was going to be worse than the fourth of July one.

PETRAMALA (voice-over): What you're seeing is as much of the geology of the Texas Hill Country as it is, the hydrology, the rainfall that we saw. The ground here is like concrete. It's limestone. Water passes really quickly through it. It's not absorbed at all. So, any rain that falls quickly rushes down into the Guadalupe River. And that's what causes these rapid rises.

PETRAMALA: That's what causes these destructive and deadly flash floods that, unfortunately, now we've seen the last two years.

I'm going to continue to cover the impacts from Comfort, Texas. I'm Jonathan Petramala for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: China is spelling out its vision for the future of artificial intelligence. Just a short while ago, President Xi Jinping spoke at the opening of the World A.I. Conference in Shanghai. China has a huge artificial intelligence industry, but its close models still do lag behind those made in the U.S. partly because of limited access to advanced U.S. chips.

Well, Kristie Lu Stout is monitoring this story from Hong Kong for us, and she joins us live. So, Xi Jinping is laying out his vision for China's A.I. development, but what else did he say?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, he is vowing to make A.I. available for all. Xi Jinping is headlining the World A.I. Conference that's currently underway in Shanghai. His appearance alone, a very strong signal of the strategic importance that the party attaches to the technology of artificial intelligence. And during this keynote speech that Xi delivered earlier today, he called A.I. development -- quote -- "a symphony of global cooperation." This comes after some 29 countries signed an agreement to form a new global A.I. cooperation body that would be headquartered in Shanghai. Among the countries involved in this new body include, of course, China, but also Russia, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Now, in this speech that Xi Jinping gave earlier today, he called for an A.I. development approach that would be people-oriented, people- centered and inclusive. He also said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XI JINPING, CHINESE LEADER (through translator): In the meantime, we should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of A.I. or placing one country's security over that of others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, the summit comes at a time of rising high tech and A.I. rivalry between these two superpowers, the U.S. and China. It comes at a time when Chinese companies like Zhipu (ph), like DeepSeek, like Moonshot are releasing ever increasingly sophisticated A.I. models. And on top of that, Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, is set to release a new advanced A.I. computing system that will highlight just how self-reliant China's tech industry has become.

At the same time, both China and the U.S. are also taking great pains to safeguard their domestic homegrown A.I. For example, back in April, that was when China ordered Meta to unwind its two-billion-dollar acquisition of Manus. This is an A.I. startup that's currently headquartered in Singapore but was previously founded in China.

The U.S. is doing the same. In June, the White House moved to limit foreign access of frontier models, citing national security concerns.

[02:24:56]

All this is happening because both the U.S. and China, despite Xi's talk of an open A.I., both of them very concerned about A.I. being critical national security assets worthy of national protection. Back to you, Ben.

HUNTE: OK. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thank you.

Investigators trying to determine the source of an intestinal illness that has affected some 7,000 people across parts of the U.S. may have found one of the causes. Sources familiar with the investigation say shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and served at some Taco Bell restaurants has been linked to hundreds of cyclosporiasis cases in the Midwestern U.S. Taco Bell says it will completely replace its supply of Taylor Farms lettuce with another supplier's product within 24 hours.

Well, still ahead, the U.S. launches its sixth consecutive night of strikes against Iran as the conflict does escalate. But the war received only a brief mention during President Trump's address to the nation just a few hours ago.

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[02:30:35]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We won in Venezuela, which is now working with us to produce millions and millions of barrels of oil. We are likewise winning big in Iran. And you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly. America is back and doing really well

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump there only briefly mentioning the war with Iran during his primetime address to the American people. Those few words were his only reference to the conflict.

They came on the sixth consecutive night of U.S. strikes against Iran. Both sides exchanging attacks in recent hours. The U.S. says it struck dozens of Iranian military targets in its latest wave of attacks. And Tehran claims it targeted U.S. forces in the region. Gulf States say they have fended off fresh missile and drone attacks.

Mehran Kamrava is a professor of government at Georgetown University in Doha and joins us now.

You are in Doha. What have you seen and heard on the ground today? And how tense does the region feel at the moment?

MEHRAN KAMRAVA, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY IN QATAR: Well, the region is quite tense. Qatar was not attacked by Iran last week because there was a funeral of the former emir. But today, at 3:30 a.m. local time, we were all woken up by loud bangs when the Iranians apparently attacked the American base, Al Udeid. And then again, there was a second wave around 6:00 a.m. local time.

So, everyone here in the region is quite tense, and we appear to be at the beginning of an escalatory cycle from which neither side knows how to back down.

HUNTE: It is interesting to me that you're speaking very matter of factly about the fact that you've seen strikes overhead. Just tell me, how are you feeling about this level of risk that you're now facing in this area?

KAMRAVA: Ben, I -- like thousands of others, I'm -- I and my family moved here about 20 years ago because of safety, security, stability and -- and so for us, life has become somewhat, I don't want to say risky, but, unstable and insecure and, you know, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai are major transit hubs in terms of global airlines. Flights are might be once again disrupted. And, and so life is -- life is uncomfortable. But I do want to mention

that although here in the -- in the region, in a place like Doha, we live with insecurity and uncertainty. I think its also important to remember that at the other side of the Persian Gulf, in Iran, lives are being destroyed and people are dying. And so, the death and destruction, is of unprecedented scale there.

HUNTE: Yes, I do think that's very important to mention. I'm speaking to my team about that earlier.

Some analysts are warning that this risks becoming a forever war. Do you agree with that?

KAMRAVA: Well, what Iran is -- has done successfully somewhat is to turn a military conflict into an economic one. The Iranian leadership is quite aware that it cannot go toe to toe with the United States militarily. So, what it's done and what it's trying to do is to make sure that this conflict turns into an economic battle over energy resources.

And therefore, Iran has successfully pushed up energy prices globally. And it has disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Major oil producers, like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar have a hard time exporting their oil and gas. And so, yes, of course, this conflict has global repercussions.

HUNTE: If there is to be a lasting agreement, what would each side have to give up? What does a realistic off ramp actually look like at this point?

[02:35:03]

KAMRAVA: Well, the first thing that needs to be done is for both sides to do away with their zero-sum assumptions that they can effectively, do away with the other or overwhelm the other side. And diplomacy is the art of the possible. So, they can come up with a win- win scenarios in the Persian Gulf, in the Strait of Hormuz, whereby Iran, for example, can guarantee that it will not impose, or impede traffic, it will not impose fines. And the United States and its regional allies can provide security guarantees to Iran.

So, there are off ramps. The question is, is anyone willing to take it at this point.

HUNTE: Okay. Mehran Kamrava, thank you so much for your time. Speak to you again very soon, I'm sure. Thank you.

In a world exclusive, the woman who accuses the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, that's Karim Khan of sexual misconduct is going public. Khan denies all allegations against him and has questioned the fairness of the investigation, which has led to him being suspended.

Talking exclusively to CNN's Christiane Amanpour, the woman at the heart of this story has chosen to speak out for the first time. On July 24th, all ICC member states will vote on whether Khan will be dismissed altogether. Some have attempted to tie the case at ICC arrest warrants for Israeli officials, hoping that if they can do so, the arrest warrants would be discredited.

Here's Christiane Amanpour with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The woman who accuses the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, of sexual misconduct, is going public for the first time. Khan denies all her allegations, and after a lengthy U.N. investigation, she sat down with me for an exclusive interview about what she says happened and how it's impacted her.

Her name is Sarah. She works at the court, and she tells me that her allegations have nothing to do with the ICC's case against Israel's prime minister and defense minister.

You may recall in 2024, Karim Khan broke the news to me on CNN that he was seeking arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders. Since then, there have been efforts to tie Sarah's allegations to those warrants. Some supporters of Khan even going so far as to suggest that she's working with Israel in an attempt to discredit the ICC. Sarah denies this, and no evidence has emerged to support it.

After a long and convoluted investigation into her sexual misconduct allegations, with several bodies and differing conclusions, Khan is now suspended. And next Friday, all ICC member states will vote on whether to formally dismiss him.

It's a moment of crisis for the ICC because its future is unclear as the United States continues its pressure campaign against the court. Just this week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the ICC, quote, "brick by brick."

But Kahn's accuser says that she never wanted to be in this position and that it is still difficult to speak about what happened to her. Here's what Sarah told me about why she's speaking out now.

SARAH, ACCUSES ICC'S KARIM KHAN OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, WHICH HE DENIES: I have been known as VO1 and anonymized, and that is meant to protect a victim who comes forward or a complainant. But that also has had the opposite effect. It has allowed me to be a -- to be crafted in whatever way suits another person. And there's been this caricature drawn, a state agent, a gold digger, crazy, emotional, a compulsive liar.

And there are thousands of women who will never have the opportunity to sit with you. And this is not unique to my circumstances, this happens every day. And for me, what I want out of this is, at the very least, for people to consider the various ways in which we deflect from legitimate allegations.

AMANPOUR: Karim Khan has repeatedly denied all allegations. We asked him to sit down for an interview with us. His legal team said it wouldn't be appropriate at this time, but they did offer us an opportunity to speak with his lead counsel.

Here's some of what she told me.

SARETA ASHRAPH, LEAD COUNSEL FOR KARIM KHAN: We would like to say that these are serious allegations, and they needed to be taken seriously, investigative seriously, and undergo a serious judicial review, and that is what has happened. The allegations that are presented in your program are not new allegations. They are allegations which form part of a much larger body of evidence.

[02:40:02]

Mr. Khan has denied and continues to deny them in their entirety, any form of sexual contact relationship, consensual or non-consensual, with the complainant.

AMANPOUR: You can see more of that interview and Sarah's extended interview at CNN.com. And we will be watching the full vote on Khan's fate next Friday.

I'm Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Israel's Knesset is set to dissolve itself in the coming hours before voters head to the polls to elect a new parliament on October 27th. It will be the voters first chance to pass judgment on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the deadly Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023.

His current administration is considered by many to be the most right- wing in Israels history. Mr. Netanyahu is also facing a long running corruption trial. He denies all charges against him.

Venezuelans continue to question their government's response to a pair of deadly earthquakes that hit the region three weeks ago. Still ahead, the latest on the death toll as survivors reflect on the devastation.

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[02:45:51]

HUNTE: Massive plumes of Canadian wildfire smoke have engulfed large parts of the U.S., impacting more than 120 million people. Major cities in the Midwest and Northeast already are under air quality alerts, with more cities along the East Coast under watches, poor air quality is expected to plague these regions through at least Saturday as more smoke pours across the border.

And residents of a town in northern Spain were told to get to safety on Thursday morning as firefighters battled a raging wildfire. Spain and much of southern Europe have faced increasingly severe wildfire seasons. That's a trend that scientists linked to climate change.

It has been three weeks since twin earthquakes devastated parts of Venezuela. The number of dead has now surpassed 4,800 people, according to a Venezuelan lawmaker, that is.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Three weeks since Venezuela was hit by twin destructive earthquakes. It is far too early to even think of turning the page. According to government officials, more than 4,500 people have been killed. Many will rest nameless here in a mass graveyard expanded last week in La Guajira, close to the disaster zone.

The true death toll we may never know. Thousands of people are still looking for missing loved ones. It is just one of several questions thrown at local authorities.

The U.S.-backed Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who has been in power since January, is being criticized for a delayed and insufficient response to the most devastating natural disaster her country has faced in this century.

POZZEBON (translated): Who decided how, why, and for what purpose the military would be deployed in this catastrophe?

DELCY RODRIGUEZ, VENEZUELAN ACTING PRESIDENT (translated): Our system combines both armed forces and civil protection. That's why I gave the order, and we immediately issued the decree activating the whole response in accordance with the disaster law.

POZZEBON (voice-over): But the governments reassurances, including the deployment of 19,000 military officials, does not square with our own experience on the ground in Venezuela.

POZZEBON: This used to be a golf course. La Guaira was a tourist hot spot by the Caribbean Sea. And so here is where tourists will come and play golf and relax. Now, of course, it's a tent city for hundreds of displaced, many of whom actually used to live there in those blocks. And every day they wake up and they see their homes and flats broken down by the brutality of the earthquakes.

POZZEBON (voice-over): It is here we met Zoe Santander. Back then, she hadn't been able to see her son in ten days. They were separated in the aftermath of the quakes. Zoe made it out unharmed. Her seven- year-old Xavier was trapped under the rubble

ZOE SANTANADER, LA GUAIRA RESIDENT (translated): There was nothing. Nothing outside, no firefighters, nothing. Finding ourselves like that, what were we going to do? Just wait for anyone who could come and help us.

POZZEBON (voice-over): To this day, Zoe still doesn't know where her son is. Nothing remains of their home. A vast housing complex built by Rodriguez's predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez. This year's earthquakes are just the latest in a seemingly never ending run of tragedies suffered by the Venezuelan people. A few days after the tremors, we met one person whose life chronicled

that struggle. Like so many, 45-year-old primary school teacher Ninoska Gutierrez emigrated in 2018, seeking better opportunities and a decent salary to support her family.

[02:50:02]

She lived in Peru, crossed the jungle and moved to the U.S. in the following years, just as Venezuela's infrastructure fell into disrepair. Listening to her is like living through dozens of stories I covered as a foreign correspondent for almost 10 years -- the Venezuelan economic collapse under Nicolas Maduro, the exodus of millions of migrants to other countries in Latin America, and then to the United States. And the crackdown on undocumented migrants under Donald Trump's second administration.

Last month, Ninoska was detained by Miami police over an incident and charged with a misdemeanor, deported to Caracas just hours before the quakes hit. She was resting in a hotel when the ground started shaking.

NINOSKA GUTIERREZ, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (translated): A wall fell on top of me, thank God on my legs and not on my head, or on my arms. That wall collapsed on me, and then a beam -- or something like that -- came down too. It ended up trapping my legs.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Incredibly, Ninoska made it out of the hotel alive. And yet it is a drop in the ocean.

The coastal road in La Guaira is now lined with debris of collapsed buildings. The waves of the Caribbean Sea crashing on the remains of so many lives shattered. For those who survived it, it is now time to pick up the pieces, looking somehow to rebuild the life.

Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, La Guaira, Venezuela.

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HUNTE: Search and rescue efforts continue across Venezuela, and charities are on the ground providing aid to those affected. For more information about how you can help the earthquake victims, please go to CNN.com/impact or scan the QR code on your screen.

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HUNTE: "The Odyssey", Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of the epic poem, is selling out theaters ahead of its release this weekend. It is the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX cameras and cost about $250 million to make.

CNN asked Nolan about how he tackled the legendary story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, DIRECTOR, "THE ODYSSEY": The way I write, I write from the beginning of the story to the end. [02:55:01]

But I don't let myself start writing. For many months. I take notes, I draw diagrams, I do a lot of thinking, and I write notes in sort of more abstract terms. And I think of the film more abstract terms ironically, for somebody who tends to often in non-linear structural terms, I do start with page one, and I do just write, you know, through to the end. And then I write in layers and I rewrite in layers, but always, always from front to -- front to back.

THOMAS PAGE, CNN REPORTER: Fabulous. I'd love to ask about Odysseus, this complicated man. How did you reconcile the figure of the hero that we see in the poem with perhaps what we might expect to see from a hero in pop culture today?

NOLAN: I think taking on the character of Odysseus is quite challenging, because, I mean, the term most often associated with Odysseus historically is wily. And that's not a characteristic you associate with hero at the center of a story. And in fact, very often I think -- I think in a lot of ways, Odysseus, as in the Iliad, he makes a fantastic supporting character.

So, if you're looking at, you know, "Star Wars", for example, he's more Han Solo than Luke Skywalker. So, the challenge is, okay, how do you take the audience with them on this journey with all of those characteristics?

And a big part of that is casting. A big part of that is finding somebody like Matt Damon, who is such an incredible actor and a wonderful movie star with charisma, with empathetic ability, the empathetic ability to open a journey, an emotional journey to the audience and bring them with him and into his way of looking at the world and thinking of the world. You trust him. He's able to gain your trust.

And so, in that way, Matt is able to fully embrace all of the complicated layers of, of this, this complex figure without them being alienating. And that's -- that's a big part of, you know, how it works in the film.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: SpaceX aborted the launch of its mega starship rocket just moments before liftoff on Thursday. Data from SpaceX showed at least four engines failed to ignite during the start-up sequence, despite the mission being scrubbed. We got to see the water deluge system at work as it showered the launch pad with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to protect it from the blaze. SpaceX is aiming for another launch attempt sometime next week. The company is facing intense pressure to ensure the starship is ready for an up-and-coming NASA test flight that could pave the way for the next moon landing.

All right. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me in the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. More news coming up in just a few minutes. Stay with CNN.

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