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The Situation Room

FIFA Controversy; New Air Force One Cost?; New York Targets Kalshi; Interview With Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon. Aired 10:30a-11a ET

Aired July 31, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: As you just pointed out, several Gulf Arab nations are getting pulled further and further into this war with Iran, Saudi Arabia, for example, conducting joint strikes with the U.S. against Iranian proxies this week.

[10:30:08]

Where does Israel stand on the growing collaboration between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia? Does Israel support it?

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We welcome collaboration with moderate countries.

We collaborate -- collaborated with the UAE and other countries in the region. And we will welcome to see more countries joining this moderate group that fight the radicals from Iran. It's not about Israel fighting Iran or the U.S. It's about moderate countries fighting evil, radical regime.

So, hopefully, one day, we will see the Saudis joining the Abraham Accords. I think President Trump can deliver that in the two years he has in the White House.

BLITZER: The Saudis say they will normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords, but only, only if Israel first accepts what's called a two-state solution, a new state of Palestine emerging alongside Israel.

Do you think Israel is inclined to do that?

DANON: So, Wolf, I have news for you.

Three years ago, before October 7, we were negotiating with the Saudis, and we were able to find the language to accommodate the requests and our requests. So, I think it's possible we sign the peace agreement with Egypt, with Jordan, UAE, Morocco, Bahrain -- Morocco.

I think we can find a way to negotiate and to find agreement with the Saudis, also to address the Palestinian issue, which, as we see now, Hamas is still in power in Gaza. And that's the main obstacle for any development there.

BLITZER: So, just to be precise, Ambassador, Israel's open to the idea of a new state of Palestine emerging alongside Israel, the two- state solution, as it's called? Is that what I'm hearing?

DANON: Absolutely not. After October 7, no one is discussing the option of the Palestinian state today in Israel.

We are concerned about our security. We want to see the Palestinians prosper, have better life under a moderate regime and not Hamas regime. But the idea of a state, it's not on the table.

BLITZER: Well, Saudi Arabia says it's not going to sign on to the Abraham Accords unless Israel makes a commitment to a two-state solution. Isn't relations with Saudi Arabia really important for Israel?

DANON: Well, I think the Saudis, they know better than that.

And when I have dialogue with Arab leaders from the region, they also know that there's a lot of issues with the Palestinian leadership in terms of control, accountability. You look what happened in Gaza, but also in Judea and Samaria. No one knows what will happen after Abbas will not be in charge.

So it's not a stable situation. They are aware of that. Maybe publicly they would say something different, but, today, after they saw what happened in Gaza, they know that it's more complicated than declarations about two states.

BLITZER: Ambassador Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, thanks very much for joining us.

DANON: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up: cracking down. New York is the latest state to go after online betting platforms, claiming Kalshi is running an illegal gambling operation.

We have details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:37:39]

BLITZER: Happening now: New York's governor says the state is suing Kalshi for -- quote -- "running an illegal gambling operation" through its prediction market platform.

And this comes as states are seeing some momentum in their efforts to try to regulate these kinds of gambling platforms.

Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM is CNN's senior reporter, Marshall Cohen.

Marshall, tell us more about what happened in New York today.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Big news this morning with the state filing a major lawsuit against Kalshi. They want to shut down that platform, and they're also seeking $36 billion in damages. They say this is necessary to protect consumers, to prevent gambling

addiction, and also to stop potential underage. Let me read this for you from Letitia James, the attorney general, who filed the suit, a Democrat.

She said -- quote -- "No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple."

Obviously, Kalshi strongly disagrees with that. From a spokesperson for the company, in response to this lawsuit, they said -- quote -- "It's sad to see this type of political theater from the leadership in our state. States can't just shut down a federally licensed exchange."

That's what Kalshi says, and it's true. The federal government does license and oversee platforms like these, because under federal law, as it stands right now, it's not considered gambling. It's considered trading in financial markets.

But lawsuits like these are trying to figure out if that's going to stand. And, by the way, Wolf, for full disclosure, of course, CNN has a partnership with Kalshi. We use this data to cover major events, but editorial employees can't bet or trade on these platforms.

BLITZER: So no betting for you or me.

COHEN: Never.

BLITZER: OK, good.

So how does all this fit into the nationwide battle over these prediction markets?

COHEN: This is just one of dozens of lawsuits, many of them still ongoing, across the country to figure out whether this is going to fly, whether this is legal, whether it's gambling or not.

And we have seen actually -- look at this map -- three states right now where it is not -- you're not allowed to use Kalshi. Michigan, Nevada, Washington state, where state officials have tried to do what New York is doing, and they have prevailed in those three places.

But the companies have succeeded in other places, like New Jersey, Arizona. Earlier this week in Minnesota, they were able to shut down a ban, stop a ban on prediction markets. Wolf, a lot of people are kind of confused by this. They don't even realize or fully understand what this is. It's such a new practice.

[10:40:05]

These are markets where you can bet on almost anything. And when I say that, I really mean it. Look at some of these markets. Or I could just tell you about some of these markets. You can bet on the Super Bowl, TV shows, whether aliens will be confirmed by the U.S. government. People love it because you can trade on what you're passionate about, but, at the end of the day, most people lose money. They don't win.

BLITZER: All right, Marshall, thank you very, very much -- very, very much.

Marshall Cohen reporting for us.

Coming up: major boycott. European nations voting right now to opt out of the World Cup over controversial FIFA investment plans. The latest in the fallout just ahead.

And coming up next: Just how much did the new Air Force One's upgrades cost you, the taxpayer?

CNN's David Goldman is making it make sense.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Wolf...

BLITZER: That's coming up -- David.

GOLDMAN: That's right, Wolf. The new Air Force One, the cost overruns are $3.1 billion. What's the cost to the taxpayer?

I will "Make It Make Sense" coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:32]

BLITZER: Happening now: The new Air Force One just got a big update and a new price.

Senior business reporter David Goldman is joining us right now to "Make It Make Sense."

David, today's question: How much is the new Air Force One costing taxpayers? Surely, I'm suspecting it's got to be a lot.

GOLDMAN: Yes, that's right, Wolf. And stop calling me Shirley. That's good "Airplane" reference for you.

This is a very, very expensive airplane, and with good reason. We need a new Air Force One. I mean, it's been in service since the George H.W. Bush administration, and it's becoming increasingly expensive to fly and repair.

It needs to be grounded every once in a while because it can't -- it has mechanical problems. It can't get off the air. And so now we have a new Air Force One, actually, two new Air Force Ones that are in development, and this is going to have all the bells and whistles.

It's going to be able to refuel in midair, giving it the unlimited range. It's going to have hardened electronics so that, in the event of a nuclear explosion, the plane can continue to fly and operate as a command and control center for the president.

It's important that we do this, but at $3.9 billion, with that price tag, it wasn't quite enough to build all of that every single year. In 2020, $168 million cost overrun, $318 million in '21, in '22, $1.45 billion, and so on and so forth. It's become increasingly costly every single year.

And so you might think, with this $3.1 billion cost overrun, the cost to the taxpayer is going to increase. But President Trump signed a contract to cap the price at $3.9 billion for taxpayers. It has gone up just a little bit. It's now $4.5 billion to the taxpayer, but most of the costs are going to get eaten by Boeing now because of those cost overruns and because of this deal.

Now, Boeing says that driving this cost are a number of things. They had to change the design a number of times, and in the pandemic, in particular, you had these scheduling delays. You couldn't get the supplies that you needed to build Air Force One. That caused a lot of issues.

And I think not only is Boeing getting fed up. I think President Trump is getting fed up about this too, because we now have a new Air Force One that he is flying around today. And that has cost $400 million to the taxpayer, just so that this is safe enough for the president to fly on top of the billions of dollars that Boeing has had to pay in the billions of dollars that the American taxpayers had to pay for the other plane.

Wolf, it's getting very, very costly here.

BLITZER: Yes, and you got a lot of benefits. I've flown a lot on the various Air Force Ones over the years.

And I was always wondering, on this new Air Force One, David, will we be able to watch CNN live?

GOLDMAN: I sure hope so. I hope the seats recline and you can watch THE SITUATION ROOM. That's all that matters on the new Air Force One to me.

BLITZER: One of the reasons I often fly JetBlue, because you can watch CNN live on Jet Blue, as you know.

All right, David Goldman, thank you very, very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And, to our viewers, if you'd like David to help you "Make It Make Sense," e-mail your questions or send us a selfie video of your questions to MakeItMakeSense@CNN.com.

And only moments ago, President Trump leaving for Camp David, Maryland, where he'll soon hold a Cabinet meeting, this as he announces a major breakthrough with Hamas. We're going to bring that to you when it happens.

Stay with us, live coverage from Camp David coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:54:07] BLITZER: Happening now: FIFA is not backing down after European soccer's governing body voted unanimously to boycott future World Cups. The move is a response to FIFA's plans to inject private money into its competitions.

The Union of European Football Associations, otherwise known as UEFA, said in a statement -- and I'm quoting now -- "There are moments when institutions are judged not by what they are prepared to accept, but by what they refuse to compromise. This is one of those moments" -- end quote.

FIFA pushed back, saying -- and I'm quoting FIFA now -- "Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain."

Let's go live right now to CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes, who's joining us from Atlanta.

Andy, we also saw a rather high-profile resignation in opposition to FIFA's proposal. Tell us more.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, it really says a lot when one of your right-hand men come out strong against a proposal like this.

[10:55:04]

And Carlos Cordeiro, he's one of FIFA President Gianni Infantino's top advisers. He was a former president of U.S. Soccer. He quit over the private equity proposal.

And he didn't hold back anything in his resignation, saying -- quote -- "As a senior adviser to the FIFA president, a former banker, and a lifelong football fan, I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup. Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally. It is a bad deal for FIFA's member associations, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game."

Now, Cordeiro joins the growing list of prominent voices that are against the FIFA Forward Enterprise. UEFA, soccer's governing body in Europe, is boycotting all future FIFA competitions until it's gone. CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation have also voiced opposition.

So, if you add it all up, it's 143 countries out of the 211 members. So, Infantino, he does not have the votes to push this through. And earlier I asked the vice president of UEFA, Laura McAllister, who was in the meeting deciding for that boycott, what she thinks needs to happen next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA MCALLISTER, VICE PRESIDENT, UEFA: Nobody except FIFA came up with a proposal that threatened the soul of football. And had we not stood up in the way that we had with a threat of boycott, which, of course, is commensurate with the scale of the threat that FIFA put before us, we would -- we would be letting this proposal go through.

So we had no choice. But now it's up to FIFA to really deal with this as quickly as it possibly can by removing this proposal, by apologizing to the federations for the insulting way in which it's been handled, and accepting that they need to really reconsider the principles upon which their governance operates and the ways in which they make decisions about the future of our sport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and Laura also told me, Wolf, that she'd like to see this resolved today, but we will -- we will wait and see what happens.

But the first thing on the calendar that could see potential disruption is an under-20s World Cup, which begins in 36 days.

BLITZER: All right, we will see what happens. Lots at stake, of course.

Andy Scholes, thank you very, very much.

I want to bring in CNN contributor Cari Champion right now for some more analysis.

Cari, the next major FIFA event is coming up specifically on September 5. How do you expect this boycott will impact the match -- the matchups?

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think what we're seeing in real time is the everyone who is involved in FIFA, as we talked about just a moment ago, the confederations saying, we will not be involved.

Unless this is settled before September 5, I think we will see a protest. And I think that what happened is that they were very disappointed with some of the outcomes with obviously what happened here at the World Cup in the United States. And so they are actually -- all of the leaders are banding together in a unanimous voice saying that this cannot happen, not on our watch.

And I would -- I mean, listen, I don't even want to go this far, but I think this might be the beginning of the end for Infantino, because he is someone who is trying to press this entire confederation and saying, do what we want you to do. Do what I want to do, rather. And they're saying no.

So we will watch September 5 very closely, but I can tell you, if it's not settled by then, we will see more boycotts, we will see more people speaking out, and we will see them band together to stop this process.

BLITZER: The North and Central America and Caribbean governing bodies and the Asian Football Confederation later came out with statements rejecting FIFA's proposal, but stopped short of a of a boycott. How significant is their rejection, especially after a successful World Cup here in North America?

CHAMPION: Well, I will say this. There are those smaller countries who do feel like they want to have a voice in this process.

And the idea of private equity perhaps making millions, if not billions of dollars for some of these smaller countries is something that they are interested in. But I would say, as a whole, it's not going to be something that most would be OK with, the countries that have more power, like UEFA.

That's why they were the first to say we are coming together as this European league to say we are -- we're boycotting. Others don't have that power. They can just -- they stop short, as you mentioned, of just saying, oh, I am going to boycott.

But I do believe, as I just mentioned, they are on the same page, because this is unheard of. It really is, Wolf.

BLITZER: So what happens to FIFA and its credibility, Cari, if this proposal doesn't move forward?

CHAMPION: FIFA has always -- and I will say this as tender as I can say it -- FIFA has always been considered, at least under this particular regime, not necessarily at its best, in terms of self- interest, in terms of what people have thought was a very selfish leader, in terms of stopping short of saying corrupt.

They have always felt like something was going on here, and there are plenty of issues that need to be resolved. And I think what's happening right now, again, in real time, will force change, change that has been a long time coming and wanted.

BLITZER: Cari Champion, helping us better understand what's going on, thank you very, very much.

And the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

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