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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

Twenty-Five Western Nations Condemn Israel For Gaza Food Aid Crisis. Russian Drone Warfare Reaches New Levels In War Against Ukraine. Despite Economic Boom, Trump Tariffs Set To Impact Auto Industry. Venezuela Investigates El Salvador Prison Despite Its Own Human Rights Violations. Military Jet Crashes Into School In Dakar. American Pilot Makes Sharp Maneuver To Avoid B-52 Bomber. Shigeru Ishiba Loses Majority In Upper House Of Parliament. Trump Threatens to Pull Money If Commanders Don't Change Back Name. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 21, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:31]

JIM SCIUTTO, HOST, CNN THE BRIEF: Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington, and you're watching

The Brief. Just ahead this hour. More than two dozen Western nations condemn Israel for what they call drip feeding aid into Gaza. At least 20

people have been killed in Bangladesh after an Air Force jet crashed into a school there. And Japan's prime minister vows to stay in office after

voters delivered a stinging rebuke in Sunday's parliamentary election.

We begin, however, with 25 Western nations condemning Israel for what they call a drip feeding of aid into Gaza. Foreign ministers of countries that

are traditionally allies with Israel, including the U.K., Canada, France and Australia, but excluding the United States notably, have issued a

blistering statement demanding that the war ends now. They say the suffering in Gaza has reached new depths, as the Palestinian Health

Ministry says more than a thousand people have been killed simply seeking aid since late May.

Israel calls the foreign minister's statement, quote, disconnected from reality. It comes as we're learning that Israeli tanks are now rolling into

parts of central Gaza that had not previously seen Israeli ground operations. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, I wonder, one, how

Israeli officials are responding to this statement, but also the Israeli people. And are the Israeli people seeing images regularly of the suffering

in Gaza?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there's no question that opposition to the war in Gaza is growing in Israel. The overwhelming

majority of people here want a deal that will free all of the hostages and end the war in Gaza but not necessarily because of the suffering of Gazan

civilians. And that's because those images are rarely broadcast here in Israel on Israel's major television stations.

Some of those images have begun to break through, though, I will say, just from my own personal observation the last 24 hours or so, which seems to

point to just how bad the situation in Gaza is becoming from a humanitarian perspective. Almost impossible to ignore with a number of prominent Israeli

commentators talking about the situation in Gaza.

And also, of course, a lot of that is also stemming from the growing isolation of Israel on the world stage and the fact that you are now seeing

25 Western nations, including, you know, longtime Israeli allies, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, condemning Israel for the humanitarian

situation in Gaza, placing blame squarely at their feet and calling for the unimpeded access of aid into the Gaza Strip in order to rapidly out (ph)

remedy the situation.

SCIUTTO: So, there has been a number of statements, certainly here in Washington in recent weeks that a ceasefire deal was just around the

corner. You've heard that from Trump administration officials. Of course that has not proven to be true. Where does that responsibility lie now?

DIAMOND: Well, for the last two weeks, we've been talking primarily about Israel's objections to this deal. The things that Israel was refusing to

back down on that were holding up progress. Namely the fact that Israel was refusing to withdraw troops from something called the Morag Corridor, which

is a strip of land east to west that separated the city of Rafah from the rest, the northern part of the Gaza Strip. And Israel was trying to hold on

to its troop presence there, something that Hamas said was a total nonstarter.

And now, following intense US pressure, Israel last week finally agreed to remove that objection. And that, combined with U.S. assurances about Israel

sitting down and negotiating an end to the war over the course of this 60 day ceasefire, ultimately resulted in putting the negotiations in a much

better place. And so last week we saw that this new ceasefire proposal, with those objections removed, was sent back to Hamas. And now it's been

nearly a week.

[18:05:03]

And the sources that I've been talking to who are familiar with these negotiations say that they are still waiting for Hamas's response. And

interestingly, I'm also told that privately there seems to be a difference between the leadership of Hamas outside of Gaza and the leadership of Hamas

inside of Gaza. That's because Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas' political leader outside the Gaza Strip, who has been the lead official on these

negotiations.

I'm told that privately he has signaled that he would respond positively to this latest ceasefire proposal, but he is still waiting to hear back from

Hamas's leadership inside the Gaza Strip. That's because those are the leaders who will actually have to implement the ceasefire agreement, who

have to release the hostages over the course of this 60 day ceasefire.

And so it's not clear why they have not responded yet. I can tell you though that the United States, the mediators, are now all focused on

bringing pressure to bear on Hamas with the latest message being passed on from the United States to Hamas telling them that the U.S.'s patience is

running thin. Of course a ceasefire, Jim, would address all of those humanitarian issues. Aid would begin to flow in, at least 10 living

hostages would be released over the course of this ceasefire. 18 deceased hostages. A lot would change if this deal actually went through, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, so much disappointment as there have just been more and more delays. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. Well, disappointment and suffering.

4 year old Razan Abu Zaher starved to death in Gaza. A medical source tells CNN she is one of dozens of children who have died from malnutrition since

the war began. As I have to warn you so often, this story contains disturbing images. Paula Hancocks has the report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, ABU DHABI: Four year old Razan Abu Zaher was hospitalized with malnutrition more than one month ago. Malnutrition

has caused her to suffer from a mobility disability, her mother says. Her health was good before the war, but there is nothing to strengthen her. No

milk in the hospitals or pharmacies.

Sunday, Razan became the latest child in Gaza to die of hunger. Her skeletal body laid out on a slab of stone. Painful proof of the famine the

UN and others have long warned about. It is shocking, but should not be surprising. In the space of 24 hours, 18 deaths were caused by famine,

according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Yasser Ahmad (ph) was waiting at this soup kitchen since 6 a.m., desperate to take something home to his family of 12. Flour is expensive, he says.

Everything is expensive. Where can we get food from. We don't know what we'll do in the end. Eat each other? When his turn comes, the amount poured

into his bowl is minimal. He walks the 4 kilometers back home. When his wife sees how little is in the pot, she starts crying.

Is this enough for 12 people, she asks. Is it enough for a woman who is seven months pregnant? Even a one year old child wouldn't be satisfied by

this. Pouring the watery soup into one bowl, the family eats together. The father allows himself just one spoonful, leaving the rest for his children

and grandchildren. After this, he says he will go to another soup kitchen to see if he can keep starvation at bay for one more day.

Israel says the military is working to allow and facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza including food, adding there are trucks yet to

be picked up by aid groups. The UN says Israel often denies permission to move aid or approves routes too dangerous to travel. Thousands across Gaza

risk their lives every day in the search for food. At least 73 people were killed Sunday by Israeli gunfire while trying to access aid, according to

the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The IDF says it, quote, fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them. It cast doubt on the death toll. The UN says

accessing aid has become a death trap. The UN World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has now reached new levels of desperation. Hospital

officials say they're seeing an unprecedented number of starving citizens arriving at emergency departments. A man made catastrophe that has been

continuously warned about. No one can say they didn't see this coming.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: So what does Gaza look like to those who have seen it and have worked there? I'm joined now by Dr. Zaher Sahloul, the president and co

founder of MedGlobal, an international nonprofit offering life saving care and who he himself has done work there. Thanks so much doctor for joining

today.

[18:10:11]

DR. ZAHER SAHLOUL, PRESIDENT, COFOUNDER MEDGLOBAL: Thank you for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: MedGlobal was at one point seeing 700 to 800 patients a day in Gaza. Can you describe what you witnessed there on a daily basis?

SAHLOUL: I was in Gaza four times in the last five years. And the last time was last year during the peak of the war, in Khan Yunis. I was in a city

called Rafah, which is now completely destroyed, leveled. At that time it was the most congested city in the Gaza Strip because the fact that most

people were displaced there was relatively safe.

We used to travel to Khan Yunis, north of us, where I worked at Nasser Hospital. And I saw mass casualty after mass casualty in the hospital after

a bombing nearby, blocks. I saw patients who have diarrhea, respiratory infection because of the crowding. You can see sea of tents around you

everywhere because 90% of the people in Gaza are displaced. Since then the situation got worse.

Today I was speaking with Dr. Salwa Al-Tibi, who is the director of our medical office in Gaza. She lives with an apartment that's semi destroyed

in Gaza City with 17 other members of her family. She's been eating lentil only for the past three months. Even if you have money, you cannot buy food

because the markets are closed, the stores are depleted, water quality has deteriorated because most of the water is being brought from an area right

now considered red zone.

So, the water is polluted. She said that every member of her family had intestinal infection and people are collapsing on the street because of

exhaustion, because of low immunity, because of low calories and lack of vitamins and every nutritional products. So hospitals are full of patients

and our clinics that treats patients with malnutrition have seen quadrupling of the numbers of children with severe acute malnutrition, SAM.

This is an irreversible condition, like the condition of Razan, that will lead to death or irreversible damage on the physical and mental health of

children.

SCIUTTO: The World Food Program, to your point, says that nearly one in three Palestinians does not eat for days. Can you describe what happens to

a population, especially children, when sustained malnutrition is the norm for so many of them?

SAHLOUL: I mean the whole population is starving. The United Nations also the last report showed that 450,000 people, which is one quarter of the

population, have the highest level of food insecurity. There is famine in Gaza. This is famine by definition. Especially with the increasing rate of

the malnutrition among children, increasing death. Many of the deaths are not reported, of course. These are not counted as death related to the war,

but death related to the infections. People with malnutrition die because of infections.

And you have children and pregnant women and elderly who are dying because of infections every day. People lose weight, they lose hope. Dr. Salwa told

me that her children are telling her that they would like to go to heaven because there's at least food in heaven. And of course everyone is

traumatized, including our staff, our doctors and nurses in Gaza.

We have 300 of them who are themselves starving and they need to serve the population. And the situation is desperate. I haven't seen anything like

this in my years of working in disaster areas. I worked in Ukraine, in Syria, in Gaza multiple times. But this is intolerable. There are no words

to describe what's happening in Gaza. It's a grave condition.

And I hope that President Trump, President Trump and anyone who can affect what's happening in Gaza, listens to these words because we can talk about

all kinds of things and your channel have been describing and putting reports, but unless our policymakers listen to the suffering of the people,

2.1 million people in Gaza who are now in a small concentration camp, who are starving to death, who are desperate, who have no water, no food, no

medical supplies, the healthcare is collapsing. Unless they listen to them and stop the war, things will continue to deteriorate.

SCIUTTO: You have this new aid distribution program run by the U.S. and Israel. It has fewer aid distribution sites, far fewer than were there

previously.

[18:15:03]

And it also puts Gazans seeking food in much closer proximity to Israeli forces when they do so because Israeli forces provide the security here.

What impact have you seen as a result of this new aid distribution process?

SAHLOUL: Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, I wrote an article about this two months ago when the foundation was being -- idea was being shared with

international (ph) NGOs (ph). Everyone refused to work with them because this is not the way to distribute aid. In the past, we used to distribute

aid in 150 locations. Now it's only in four locations. So, you have bottlenecks and you have desperate population who are hungry and they want

to provide food to their children. And then you are seeing what's happening.

Every day you have people who are being killed. And because these areas that food are distributed are also in red zones. So, if you happen to come

earlier or later, you stay later in this distribution area, then you're going to be killed. And that's why we have more than 875 people who were

killed during distribution. And also you are forcing people to be displaced, from the north to the south, so they can get flowers and flour

and food to their children. And this is inhumane situation.

And I think every person who is able to stop this nonsense should stop it. I'm really surprised that the head of the foundation is a reverend, a

person of faith. How can you justify killing people who are getting food to eat and to their children? And you are the head of this foundation, and I

believe that we can improve this. It doesn't mean that there's no food. There are food around Gaza. There are medical supplies around Gaza. We have

convoys of food and medical supplies around Gaza that are not allowed through the border crossing.

Before the war, there were 500 trucks entering Gaza every day. Now there's about 25 trucks entering Gaza every day. Gazans need more than 1,000 trucks

every day because of the famine that I've mentioned.

SCIUTTO: Well, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, we appreciate the work that you've done in Gaza and your organization does there. Thanks so much for joining.

SAHLOUL: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a new round of peace talks with the Kremlin is set for Wednesday. He also shared, though,

that a kindergarten Kyiv caught fire after a wave, yet one more wave of deadly Russian airstrikes overnight. Air raid warnings went out across the

country as Moscow launched some 450 missiles and drones. Now to Matthew Chance, who has this report on a Russian drone factory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Over Kyiv, the ominous buzz of a Russian drone before it finds its target. Waves of these

attack drones pose a nightly threat against Ukrainian towns and cities. Now, we have a rare glimpse inside one highly secretive Russian drone

factory, where thousands of the cheap, simple and deadly weapons are virtually flying off the assembly lines. This is now the biggest factory in

the world for attack drones.

The company CEO, sanctioned by the US, tells the Russian Ministry of Defense television station. It's secret, he says, but we will show you

something. And what we're shown is a vast and modern production facility employing thousands, hundreds of miles from the front lines and recently

expanded, we're told, enabling Russia's escalating campaign of drone strikes across Ukraine. We must give credit to the strategic foresight of

those who foresaw that this war would be a war of drones, the CEO says, and it's good. We're ready for it, he adds.

Ukraine is waging its own drone war, of course, striking Kremlin forces deep inside Russia in highly sophisticated operations like this one last

month, targeting Russian strategic bombers. While on the front lines, drones from both sides have transformed the battlefield. But these

unprecedented images from this one Russian factory shows how the Kremlin is dramatically scaling up drone production and its capacity to wage a long

and devastating drone war in Ukraine. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: The EU's Commissioner for Defense and Space says it is clear to him and other European leaders that Russia wants to continue the war.

[18:20:05]

Andrius Kubilius told me that is why the EU is rearming itself, concerned by the Russian threat to European territory going forward. Here's my

conversation with him earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDRIUS KUBILIUS, EU COMMISSIONER FOR DEFENSE AND SPACE: We're doing our job. You know, we're really preparing our defense readiness to take

responsibility on European defense on our shoulders. And that comes because of American position, which was always very similar, asking us to take that

responsibility. And second, because we are feeling very much threat of possible Russian aggression.

SCIUTTO: The German chancellor, when he was elected, said quite publicly that part of the reason, perhaps even the principal reason, for Europe to

boost its defenses is because it can no longer trust the U.S. to lead, perhaps even to come to its defense. Do European partners fear that perhaps

if there was an attack by Russia, for instance, they would be on their own?

KUBILIUS: Well, you know, we hear also very clear announcement by President Trump that, you know, America is standing together with NATO and with

Article V. So this is one thing. But second is definitely we hear also from American administration that Europeans should take responsibility on

European defence. Because of rising Chinese military power, maybe Americans will need to ship more and more towards Indo-Pacific. So, we take that as

some kind of basis for our strategy, and strategy's very clear. We started to invest huge amounts of money into our defense.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, talking about Ukraine now, this is yet another night of just punishing air attacks by Russia. We did have the news in the last week that

the US will continue weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense. Does Ukraine, with the combination of what it's receiving from Europe, does

it have what it needs now to defend itself?

KUBILIUS: Well, that's perhaps for military experts to say, you know, better, but definitely, you know, in my view, the only way to convince Mr.

Putin to end the war is to implement the formula peace through strength and strength on Ukrainian side. And we need to see very clearly, yes, both (ph)

know (ph) United States and we (ph) would (ph) did quite a lot supporting Ukraine since the very beginning of the war.

But if you calculate in monetary terms how much we gave in military support is both sides we gave around of 60 billion during three years. So, it means

per year we are giving around of 20 billion. And 20 billion from both sides. 20 from EU, from the US is around of 0.1% of our GDP.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

KUBILIUS: So 0.1% of GDP is not, you know, zero, but it's not also 3.5%, which we are ready according to NATO agreements to invest into our defense.

We can do more.

SCIUTTO: You heard the Kremlin spokesperson there saying that Russia is ready to move swiftly towards peace negotiations as long as all of our

objectives have been met. Has Russia at all reduced its objective of essentially controlling Ukraine?

KUBILIUS: Well, no, definitely. And a lot of European leaders are very clearly saying that there is no clear picture that Putin will agree on

peace if situation will continue to be as it is now, because perhaps he is considering that he is winning in this situation. And that is why, you

know, strength on Ukrainian side is one of the conditions how peace can be brought much more quickly. And that is what we need to do.

SCIUTTO: Do you believe that Putin is seriously interested in peace negotiations right now, or more likely wants to continue the war?

KUBILIUS: I see that he wants to continue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: He wants to continue the war, says the European Union Defense Minister. Still to come, that is Putin wants to continue the war. Still to

come, one of the big three U.S. automakers is expecting a multibillion dollar loss in the first half of this year. Blames it partially on Trump's

tariffs. We're going to break down the numbers.

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[18:26:57]

SCIUTTO: Wall Street hit more record highs on Monday. The S&P 500 surpassed its previous all time high. The Nasdaq also hit a new record. Shares of

Verizon jumped 4% after it reported better than expected quarterly earnings. The company has raised its full year profit and financial

forecasts as well. President Donald Trump's tariffs are having a real effect, though, on company earnings.

The multinational auto company Stellantis reported a $2.7 billion loss in the first half. It says tariffs are at least partly to blame. The company's

CFO says that figure will likely double in the second half. More than 40% of vehicles it sells in the US are imports, mostly from Mexico and Canada.

Joining me to discuss tariffs, the impact on the auto industry, lead global autos equity analyst for RBC Capital Markets, Tom Narayan. Thanks so much

Tom for joining.

TOM NARAYAN, LEAD GLOBAL AUTOS EQUITY ANALYST, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS: Sure.

SCIUTTO: So you've seen a lot of other companies and the headline economic figures, at least for now, appear to avoid major damage from the tariffs.

But I mean, this Stellantis figure is pretty, is pretty bad. Is that unique in the auto industry or are we seeing that across the board for many North

American automakers?

NARAYAN: I mean, the tariff topic is definitely not unique to Stellantis. But I will say Stellantis is undergoing some of its own self help and its

own turmoil as well. You know, these are brands like Jeep and Ram in the US where pricing went very far after the pandemic. And they're dealing with

having to deal with tariffs and you have to increase pricing to offset the tariffs. And what happens when your pricing is already very high? There's

only so much you can do. So, it is an issue for the industry, but I think it's also exacerbated when you have a situation with Stellantis.

SCIUTTO: How is the industry adjusting to the tariffs? Because all the talk, had a number of interviews on this and you hear this from officials,

north and south of the US border as well, that the, you know, the North American auto industry is so deeply integrated. Right? I mean, a car has a

bunch of parts built north of the border and a bunch, you know, added south of the border. How are they adjusting to all this? And do we expect them to

raise prices across the board significantly?

NARAYAN: Yeah, in the second quarter, you saw all of the carmakers, not just Stellantis, actually absorbed the tariff. I think their hope was that

deals would be struck. Right? With the administration and, you know, Japan and Korea and with Mexico and it didn't happen yet. I think they're still

hoping, but certainly if this continues, they'll have no choice but to pass on these prices to consumers. And that is kind of what may actually force

the administration to strike the deals that people think they'll strike in the first place.

SCIUTTO: Covering this industry, is it your sense that there's just a lag effect here at this point in terms of how much the trade wars will impact

profits, earnings, as well as cost for consumers?

[18:30:12]

NARAYAN: Yeah, I think that's a fair characteristic. I mean, ultimately, it all depends on if deals are struck with the administration and Mexico and

these countries. You know, the reality is it's also a political decision that they have to make. There's midterm elections next year, you know,

these sorts of things. And inflation has a big impact on that. So, the consensus opinion is we will ultimately get deals.

But you know, until that happens, inflation can be a real problem. You know, these car makers need to sell these cars. If not, you'll have dealer

inventory start building up at the lots, and they'll have to discount heavily and absorb the tariffs. And there's only so much you could do.

These are big numbers that you're dealing with. And you know, these carmakers, they need to make a profit.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, they're not running charities. Tom Narayan, thanks so much for joining. Coming up on The Brief, tragedy in Bangladesh after a military

jet crashed into a school. What we know so far, coming up.

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SCIUTTO: Welcome back to The Brief. I'm Jim Sciutto. And here are more international headlines we're watching today. Twenty-five Western nations

condemning Israel's, quote, drip feeding of aid into Gaza and, quote, inhumane killing of civilians. The Palestinian Health Ministry says more

than a thousand people have been killed simply trying to receive humanitarian aid in Gaza in just the past two months.

The White House is refusing to let the Wall Street Journal travel with President Trump during his upcoming trip to Scotland. Press Secretary

Karoline Leavitt said the decision was based on the Journal's fake and defamatory conduct.

[18:35:04]

Trump sued the Journal for defamation last week after a story in the Journal described a letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Donald Trump's name

and a crude drawing of a naked woman.

Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for his role as Theo on The Cosby Show, has died at the age of 54. Officials in Costa Rica say that Warner

drowned after he was caught in a riptide. A source close to the actor says he was on vacation with his family. Warner rose to stardom playing Theo

Huxtable, Cosby's fictitious son. Along with his television work, Warner won an R&B Grammy in 2015.

A former police officer in Louisville, Kentucky, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison that for violating Breonna Taylor's rights during a raid

in which she was shot and killed. The raid happened in 2020 when police used a no knock warrant, as it's known, at her home. Her boyfriend,

believing that they weren't police officers, but intruders, fired on those officers with a legally owned gun. The police then returned fire through

the door.

Venezuela has ordered an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of Venezuelan migrants who were held in El Salvador's notorious maximum

security prison. Hundreds of Venezuelans were sent to CECOT, as it's known, from the US earlier this year, then returned to their home country via a

prisoner exchange with the US last Friday. Venezuela's attorney general says the investigation into President Nayib Bukele and other senior

Salvadoran officials has opened over claims of torture and cruel treatment of those prisoners.

Stefano Pozzebon joins me now. Tell me, if you can, exactly what kind of treatment Venezuelan authorities are alleging here? And I suppose it's fair

to ask, what is Venezuela's own record for treatment in its prisons?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Jim, this is a tricky one, isn't it? You basically have two governments. Both of them stand accused of gross

violations of human rights, especially in the way they treat people behind bars, accusing each other, essentially. In this case, it's the government

of Venezuela accusing the government of El Salvador of not giving enough food, keeping the Venezuelans who were detained in CECOT without enough,

like I said, enough food.

They said that they've been tortured. Many they said have been violated. It's worth noting that whenever we hear witnessings (ph) and we speak with

former political prisoners in Venezuela, that is exactly the type of treatment that they tell us they have been victims of from the government

of Maduro himself. Take a listen, for example, to what the Venezuelan attorney General said today, and then I'll give you my thoughts about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAREK SAAB, VENEZUELAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: I call on the International Criminal Court, the UN Human Rights Council, and the relevant bodies in the

Americas and around the world to do the same, to do what we are doing as the Public Prosecutor's Office in Venezuela against these three individuals

and those who may obviously emerge later as the perpetrators of these actions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON: So, the Venezuelan Attorney General, Tarek Saab, is calling for an investigation from the International Criminal Court. Of course, he

glides over the fact that both him personally and his president, Nicolas Maduro, are both under investigation by exactly the same type of crimes

that he's alleging Nayib Bukele committed by the same International Criminal Court.

So, like I said, it's a tricky one. Today, of course, we are seeing joyful images of family reunited, these migrants that have been deported and sent

to a prison for several months have finally met their loved ones. The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, is due to speak at another event

where they will join their family and loved ones. It's about to start in about 20 minutes from now. So, the joy of those 250 families who are

finally reunited, of course, cannot take us away from the fact that, well, the Venezuelan government has an abysmal record of human rights themselves,

as you correctly pointed out, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Fair point, Stefano, thanks so much for joining. A deadly plane crash in Bangladesh. An Air Force jet crashed into a school in the capital

Dakar, killing at least 20 people. Officials there say more than 170 others were injured. Vedika Sud has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VEDIKA SUD, CNN JOURNALIST: A devastating tragedy has unfolded in Bangladesh's capital, Dakar. A military training jet crashed into a school

in the city's northern suburbs Monday afternoon, local time. What appears to be the country's deadliest air incident in recent memory.

[18:40:10]

The impact sparked a massive fire with thick black smoke billowing over the area, as seen in dramatic footage emerging from the crash site. Authorities

say the pilot was among those killed. The aircraft reportedly slammed into two story building housing the school that caters to children between the

ages of four and 18. Emergency crews were rushed to the scene within minutes, battling the blaze and attempting to rescue those trapped in the

wreckage.

According to eyewitnesses, a loud explosion was followed by huge plumes of ash and smoke rising from the site. The country's interim leader, Muhammad

Yunus, has issued a couple of statements. In one of them, he says the bodies identified so far will be handed over to their families promptly

while DNA testing will be carried out on those that are yet to be identified. It's unclear at this point what caused the crash, but a

detailed investigation is underway. Vedika Sud for CNN in New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Here in the US, a pilot flying a Delta Air Lines regional jet says he had to make a hard turn to avoid potentially colliding with a B-52

bomber. This is what he had to say to passengers just after they landed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PILOT, SKYWEST FLIGHT 3788: For those of you on the right hand side, you probably saw the airplane kind of sort of coming at us. Nobody told us

about it. Given his speed, it was a military. I don't know how fast they were going, but they were a lot faster than us. I felt it was the safest

thing to do to turn behind it. So sorry about the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise. This is not normal at all. I don't know why they

didn't give us a heads up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Pilot's saying there he had no warning. This involved a SkyWest flight, that's a Delta connection flight from Minneapolis to Minot, North

Dakota. The U.S. Air Force says it is now looking into the incident. Coming up, Japanese voters make their feelings heard. We're going to dive into the

results of Sunday's parliamentary elections there and what comes next for the incumbent prime minister after a loss for his party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Voters in Japan delivered a crushing blow to the country's prime minister and his ruling coalition over the weekend.

[18:45:04]

Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner lost their majority in the upper house of parliament, further weakening their grip on

power. The prime minister's party lost control of the lower house of parliament just last year. At the polls, voters expressed dissatisfaction

about the rising cost of living, quite a familiar issue, as well as immigration and the government's failure to strike a trade deal with the

U.S. Ishiba, who called the result harsh, is vowing to fight on, citing the need to continue negotiating with the U.S.

However, he is under increasing pressure now to step down. One of the parties that picked up seats is the far right wing Japanese First Party.

Also sounds familiar, which came to prominence by spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations during the COVID pandemic. David Bolling is the

Eurasia Group's Director for Japan and Asian Trade, joins me now from Tokyo. David, good to have you on.

DAVID BOLING, DIRECTOR, JAPAN & ASIAN TRADE, EURASIA GROUP: Great to join. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: So, you cited one big issue here, in particular inflation. Quite familiar because we saw that in this country and other countries. Was that

the driving force here?

BOLING: Absolutely. I mean, the story here is inflation. As you mentioned in your comments, the Liberal Democratic Party lost the lower house of the

parliament last October, and that was largely due to inflation. Remind everyone that Japan's had decades of deflation, and so even modest

inflation here really hurts Japanese pocketbooks. But it's not only the inflation. It is that teamed with the fact that wages here have been

stagnant for decades and are not keeping up with inflation.

And that put the Japanese voters in a very, very grumpy mood. And as we saw last year, inflation is really an incumbent party killer. Where the UK had

losses because of it. You saw in South Africa and India. So, that was the real message here, is that the Japanese voters are really upset about

rising prices and they want to see something change.

SCIUTTO: You've noted that Japan was a priority country in Trump's trade negotiations, in his trade war, essentially with the world, but no longer.

Why? How did Japan, in effect, fall out of favor in these trade talks?

BOLING: Yes, I do think that the Trump administration, at the beginning of the trade negotiations back in April, really hoped that they would be able

to reach a deal quickly with Japan. Japan's a very important ally. It's the number one foreign direct investor in the United States has been for the

last five years. So Japan was a priority country, and they had several rounds of negotiations in Washington, but they never really made much

headway and both sides have some blame here.

The Japanese took a very hard line, sort of maximalist position that the United States had to eliminate all tariffs, take all tariffs to zero. And

you know, this is tariff man and he's not going to do that. At the same time, the big issue for the Japanese is the automobiles tariff, which is

25%. Japan still exports about 1.3 million vehicles to the United States every year. It's really tough for Japan to swallow a 25% tariff.

So, there needs to be some sort of compromise here. But it doesn't look like the Trump administration at this stage in the game is really willing

to compromise. And time's running out. I mean August 1 is the deadline. They just finished this election. The chief negotiator from Japan is in

Washington now.

SCIUTTO: This is not the first country certainly to see gains by a far right party. This one with particularly alarming origins given that it

began with conspiracy theories about vaccines during the pandemic. Is this the kind of party that has further potential to grow in Japan? I mean this

is a number of seats here, but it's not like they're close to a majority. But is that, is that potential down the road?

BOLING: Well, it's early days. I think what this really shows, as I said, is voter frustration. It's hard to imagine the Sanseito Party, this far

right party, really gaining traction, but for the fact that, you know, people are very grumpy about inflation. It certainly has some extreme

views, as you mentioned, anti vaccination view. It has an anti immigrant, anti foreigner view.

But it really, I think the voters are attracted to it because it also has an anti tax view and many of the other opposition parties want to push

that. But I think another reason this party has gained traction goes back to the death of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. The three year

anniversary was at the beginning of this month. He was really the glue that held the Liberal Democratic Party together.

[18:50:04]

He was conservative, and a lot of conservatives in Japan were attracted to Abe. Now that he's no longer on the scene and Ishiba, the current prime

minister, is pretty moderate by LDP standards, I think that has alienated some conservative voters and that has pushed them to the Sanseito.

And the last thing I would say about the Sanseito is it's been very adept, very adept at using social media. The LPD, however, is not. It has a I

think a lot of young people see the LDP and they just see a bunch of old men who are out of touch. And the Sanseito was able to capitalize on that.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Familiar patterns to a number of countries. David Boling, thanks so much.

BOLING: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Another public threat from the US President, this time over football and the Washington Commanders, tied to a major NFL stadium deal.

What Trump said he would do if the team does not change its name back to the Redskins. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: President Trump has threatened to block a multi billion dollar NFL stadium deal for the Washington Commanders if the team does not change its

name back to the Redskins. Here's what his press secretary said this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, TRUMP 2024 NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: The President was serious and it's part of the art of the deal, part of his negotiating

skills. As you know, sports is one of the many passions of this president and he wants to see the name of that team change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: He's also demanding the Major League Baseball team, the Cleveland Guardians, change their name back to the Indians. CNN's Tom Foreman has the

latest on how those threats are landing in our field of play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Commanders are being blitzed by the commander in chief who is demanding the team change its name back to

Redskins, insisting with no evidence our great Indian people in massive numbers want team owners to make the switch immediately.

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: You want me to make a controversial statement? I would. I wouldn't have changed the name.

YOLANDA BLUEHORSE, PROTESTOR: This isn't the 1960s. It wasn't okay to use the N word back then and it's not okay to use the R word today.

FOREMAN: To be sure, when the D.C. team's racially charged name was dropped in 2020 after years of protest, many fans were unhappy.

ANGRY COMMANDERS FAN: I just spent over $700 in less than probably a month ago redoing all this.

FOREMAN: But last season, the Commanders romped to their best record in decades. Approval for the new name shot way up in a recent Washington Post

poll, with most now in favor of Commanders, including the team owner who said.

JOSH HARRIS, OWNER, WASHINGTON COMMANDERS: I think it's now being embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff. And so, we're going

with that.

[18:55:03]

FOREMAN: But that was before Trump said if he doesn't get his way, he might upset negotiations on a multi billion dollar deal to move the Commanders

from Maryland back to the District of Columbia. It's unclear if or how he can do that. And for the moment, D.C. officials are focusing on what they

can control.

MURIEL BOWSER, MAYOR, WASHINGTON, DC: We need to complete our part so that the team can get to work, so that local businesses can get hired, so that

we can start earning the tax revenue that will come when we deliver the Commander Stadium.

FOREMAN: Trump is also calling for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team to go back to their old name, Indians, which changed a few seasons back amid

what Trump is characterizing as a period of runaway wokeness. Times are different now, he wrote on social media. Owners get it done.

BARACK OBAMA, 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've got to say, if I were the owner of the team.

FOREMAN: Still in 2013, when President Barack Obama weighed in on the D.C. team name?

OBAMA: I think about changing it.

FOREMAN: Trump mocked him. Presidents should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name. Our country has far bigger problems. Focus

on them, not nonsense.

SCIUTTO: It's always good to call up those old tweets. Thanks so much for your company. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching The

Brief. Please do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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