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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

Trump's "Massive Attack" Threat To Iran; Trump Signals He's Not Ready To Negotiate New Ceasefire; IDF Prepares For Major Military Operation After Deadly Clashes; International Criminal Court Members Dismiss Prosecutor Khan; Young People Call For Nationwide Day Of Protests In India; SpaceX Launch Attempt. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 24, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello and 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, President Trump says Tehran is getting, quote, more serious on talks a day after he threatened a massive strike on Iran. Israel

prepares for major military operations in the occupied West Bank after four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed. And preparing for launch, SpaceX

will try to send this Starship into orbit. The launch window opens this hour. We'll be following that story and plenty more coming up.

President Trump says he is now weighing restarting major combat operations against Iran. In an interview with Axios, he said, quote, "I am considering

a massive attack, bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision."

The U.S. has been carrying out strikes on Iran for two straight weeks now. Iranian state media reported at least four people were killed in U.S.

attacks today. A short time ago, the president spoke about his exit strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are and we can even make it a heavier dose and it's

knocking out everything they have, or there's a smarter strategy that lets you make a deal. And they want to make a deal. I just don't think they're

ready yet. But they do want to make a deal. Sometimes they don't want to say they want to make a deal. They want to be the tough guys, but they do

want to make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Julia Benbrook joins me now. And, Julia, you didn't exactly describe an exit strategy by saying that continuing with the military

operations would qualify as an exit strategy. But his claim there that Iran wants to make a deal is something he's repeated many, many times over the

last several weeks. And the record just doesn't seem to support that statement. How do White House officials back that up?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point, as he is discussing exit strategies, he says that he believes that there are several different

options that he can go about this militarily, which references the potential of a massive set of strikes that he's spoken about or

diplomatically. He says that conversations, negotiations are still ongoing in some ways.

And according to a source familiar, Trump met with advisers, Cabinet members earlier today to discuss the potential of escalation. These next

steps, exactly what they could look like in Iran. But this comes after there have been 13 consecutive nights of U.S. strikes, as well as waves of

Iranian drones and missiles fired at a widening number of targets in countries with U.S. bases.

And that escalation really started a couple of weeks ago, after Iran had targeted ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And Trump said that he believed

that the ceasefire agreement was, quote, "over." He has recently suggested that Iran wants to come to the table, but he does not believe that they are

ready at this point. This is a claim and a comment that he has made a couple of different times through this now nearly five-month-long conflict.

But just over a month ago, there was hope for this diplomatic solution, really a breakthrough with the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

This was signed by the United States and Iran, and it was supposed to kick off the 60-day time period to really discuss some of the big issues, like

Iran's nuclear program, the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But Trump has also said recently that, in his view, the memorandum

of understanding is, quote, "over as well.

So, a lot of questions about what's next. He has continued to present an optimistic view, telling Americans that he believes that the United States

is winning, that things are going quite well. But polling does not back up that claim. In fact, a recent Fox News poll showed that the majority of

Americans, 56 percent, had said that they oppose the current U.S. military action there in Iran. And when it comes to next steps, we do know that

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be visiting next week. He is expected to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

[18:05:00]

SCIUTTO: Julia Benbrook, thanks so much. Well, President Trump says that he trusts that China and Russia are not providing weapons to Iran. On a post

to social media, the U.S. president says that both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him personally of

this. Mr. Trump said of Mr. Xi specifically, quote, "I take him at his word." Fact is, his own Pentagon chief said the opposite in testimony just

a few days ago.

Joining me now, former senior U.S. diplomat Alan Eyre. Much to discuss here. First big picture here, the president keeps saying Iran is interested

in talking. The record has not backed that up in recent weeks, at least to date. And he said there that he has an exit strategy, but what he described

wasn't actually an exit strategy. It was just more of the same. I mean, is it clear to you what the plan is?

ALAN EYRE, FORMER SENIOR U.S. DIPLOMAT AND DIPLOMATIC FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: I don't think the U.S. administration has a plan other than

escalate and hope for the best, Jim. But I -- to comment to something you said. Iran is willing to talk. It just isn't willing to change its red

lines on the Strait of Hormuz, which is the proximate cause of this flare up. And it's not going to, in all likelihood, change its red lines on

control of the Strait of Hormuz. So, that's where we are.

SCIUTTO: OK. So, if you were negotiating, and you have experience, given that you were involved in the negotiations for the JCPOA during the Obama

administration, do you have any vision of what a potential agreement might look like? What concessions Iran would and would not be willing to make and

what concessions the U.S. might have to make?

EYRE: Well, I think there is a deal to be had on the Strait of Hormuz. Unfortunately, it requires at least short-term administrative control of

the Strait by Iran in conjunction with Oman. The problem facing us is that this U.S. administration, and it pains me to say it, doesn't do diplomacy

well.

SCIUTTO: Right.

EYRE: It's either incapable or unwilling. So, the process of diplomacy in this administration is waiting for Iran to capitulate on red lines. And

that's not going to happen regardless of how much we bomb them.

SCIUTTO: And by the way, if you open the Strait or come to some sort of agreement that opens it, that doesn't address the what were the original

motivations for this war, ending the nuclear program, eliminating its ballistic missile capabilities, et cetera. Would that be a victory by any

standard? Let's say you get to an agreement on opening the Strait.

EYRE: I think we're way past the point of victory. I think that Trump's administration's goal here is to get the Strait back to the way it was

February 28th, 100 to 130 ships going through daily to mitigate the long- term economic damage. Solving the nuclear issue, very unlikely. Proxies and missiles, please.

SCIUTTO: Wow. OK. Let's talk about Trump's comments today, where he seemed to give China and Russia pass for something that we know is not true.

Intelligence assessments have reported, as reported by CNN and others, and as testified to by the defense secretary before the Senate, indicate that

Russia and China are providing help to Iran. How do you explain President Trump saying, well, she and Putin told me otherwise, so I believe them?

What possible interest does that serve?

EYRE: Well, maybe. I mean, President Trump said they're not giving them weapons, weapons systems. That could well be true, even though Russia is

going to give Iran a verb of man pads. And but on the whole, China and Russia are not giving Iran weapons systems that will make a difference. But

what they are doing is Secretary of Defense Hanks has testified, is giving them something and that something is intelligence information that helps

targeting.

SCIUTTO: And that's problematic when that targeting hits targets. And those targets --

EYRE: Hits American soldiers.

SCIUTTO: Includes American soldiers.

EYRE: Exactly right. I mean, to use a double negative, it's not nothing to give Iran targeting information that helps target American soldiers, and

that's what's happening.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you, given your experience negotiating the JCPOA, and it's been quite a public debate as to whether President Trump, the deal

that he envisions looks a lot like the deal negotiated 10 years ago.

But if you're Iran right now and your read of the Iranian leadership, particularly after the decapitations, et cetera, are they more or less

likely to insist on some nuclear program, including the possibility of at least leaving the pathway open to a nuclear weapon?

EYRE: Well, they've always been adamantine and insisting on indigenous enrichment. That was true with a previous leadership, which relative to the

current leadership was more moderate. This new leadership, more militaristic, less risk averse, more anti-U.S. So, in fact, the current

supreme leader and the current leadership could well want to move toward a nuclear weapon.

So, getting a deal as good as the Obama deal, that's going to be tough because Iran's nuclear program right now is far more advanced than it was

when the U.S. pulled out of the JCPOA in 2018.

[18:10:00]

SCIUTTO: Big picture, when you hear President Trump give these daily assessments of the war, and there's a lot of commonality to the language,

we're winning, one. Two, the Iranians, they want to negotiate. They'll get around to it, et cetera. Are those at all accurate assessments? Do they

inform the American people as to the true state of affairs as relate to Iran?

EYRE: It pains me to say no. I mean, I largely discount what this administration says of the war. Because, I mean, it's mutually

inconsistent. It's contradictory. Two weeks ago, the Iranian leaderships are great people. Now they're scum and they're crooks. So, no, you have to

-- you can't base your assessment of what's going on based on what the U.S. government is saying, or, let me add, the Iranian government. So, you know,

people tend -- governments -- I.F. Stone said all governments lie. We're seeing that now.

SCIUTTO: Final question before we go. Is it possible that the most likely outcome is no -- perhaps a ceasefire and some negotiation, no comprehensive

agreement that both sides will be satisfied with, and that you have a kind of low-grade war, return to low-grade war, kind of degrees of military

conflict over time, a slow burn, as opposed to something that truly settles the outstanding issues?

EYRE: The unfortunate dynamic here is, if there's any low-grade war, ongoing ambient tension, the Strait doesn't reopen. It remains constricted.

And that's like your circulatory system being constricted. The longer that happens, the more painful it is. We've gotten away with it up till now

because of strategic petroleum reserves. China is using less oil.

But if the Strait remains constrained, to say nothing of the Bab al-Mandeb in the Red Sea, we're all going to be feeling it really soon.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And we're seeing some of that in the oil markets in the last couple of days. Alan Eyre, thanks so much for joining.

EYRE: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, Israel is making preparations for a major military operation in the occupied West Bank after a deadly confrontation. Palestinians say

settlers attacked a town near Nablus on Friday. The IDF says the settlers were on an unauthorized and uncoordinated hike when clashes broke out. Four

Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed by gunfire.

Mary Robinson visited the region as a founding member of the Elders, the former Irish president, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights,

told CNN she believes the policy of Israel is to, quote, "obliterate the West Bank."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY ROBINSON, FORMER IRISH PRESIDENT AND FOUNDING MEMBER, THE ELDERS: What concerned us is what we're actually witnessing this morning, this incident

of settlers apparently going on an unauthorized hike into a village. We know what that means, the aggressive way it's done, the hate speech that

supports it. It's no longer a matter of individual settlers. It's a policy now. It's a policy of getting rid of Palestinians from villages and, you

know, literally obliterating the West Bank over time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Khaled Elgindy is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Thanks so much for joining.

KHALED ELGINDY, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: First, in big picture terms, do you agree with Mary Robinson's assessment that the Israeli policy is to obliterate the West Bank?

ELGINDY: I think Israel is waging an existential war against Palestinians. I think there is. I mean, all you have to do is look at Gaza. Gaza has

quite literally been obliterated. Whether that same word applies in the West Bank, I think, is a matter of debate. But there's no question that the

extremist Israeli government and the settlers that it supports, who are often quite violent, are intent on removing Palestinians from their land

and destroying a Palestinian presence in their ancestral homeland in the West Bank.

And so, from the point of view of extremists in Israel, both in the settler movement and in the government, the very presence of Palestinians is a

threat to them that has to be removed. We may not see a wholesale expulsion of all Palestinians, but there's no doubt that Israeli settler terrorism is

directed at terrorizing Palestinians out of their homes and off of their land.

SCIUTTO: So, let's look at this particular incident, rather, because the Israeli authorities say that the settlers were conducting, and I believe

they called it an unauthorized hike, but they are also treating the event as a terror attack. And they've announced a large-scale operation to go

after dozens of Palestinians involved in the incident. Have the Israelis correctly identified the bad actor in this incident?

[18:15:00]

ELGINDY: No, of course not. I mean, the word terrorism is applied by Israelis only with regard to Palestinians, even when they're not actually

terrorists. In the meantime, settler terrorists who have killed dozens of Palestinians across the West Bank, and in some cases their murder of

Palestinians is captured on video, and yet we've seen no prosecutions of any of these settlers who -- you know, we're in the midst of, Palestinians

in the West Bank are in the midst of a massive and unprecedented wave of settler terrorism, an average of six attacks each and every single day.

And so, when Israeli officials use a term like unauthorized hike, this is a euphemism. These are settlers who have been rampaging all across

particularly the northern West Bank for the past two years with total impunity. And that's what happened.

These are Palestinians who confronted them, were on their own land. And so how we could have been them who instigated the attack is sort of -- I mean,

it's just not -- it's just not believable.

SCIUTTO: OK. There's, of course, an election coming up in Israel. It is Netanyahu who welcomed ministers into his government, such as Finance

Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is calling for Palestinian entire villages to be cleared and evacuated following this violence.

Would an election that ends Netanyahu's leadership, brings in perhaps, I believe, the current frontrunner is Eisenkot, would that represent a

substantive change in Israel's approach to the West Bank?

ELGINDY: Well, there's no doubt that a lot of the rhetoric that we're hearing from Smotrich, from Netanyahu about, you know, retaliation and

destroying Palestinian villages and retaliation for events today, this is, I think, clearly part of Netanyahu's electioneering. He's appealing to the

far-right, the most extreme elements in Israeli politics.

If he were to be removed from power, I don't think we'd see a major change in terms of Israel's overall approach to the West Bank and Gaza. But we

would see changes in -- for example, we wouldn't have -- you know, there may not be as much unfettered support for violent settlers in the West Bank

that we're seeing now.

SCIUTTO: Khaled Elgindy, we appreciate you joining.

ELGINDY: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, a setback for the proposed merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN. The deal is

now on hold for months. We'll tell you why and what that means next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

SCIUTTO: International Criminal Court member states have voted to dismiss the court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. He has been facing allegations of

sexual misconduct. For months, the United Nations watchdog investigated claims by a female ICC employee who worked as a direct assistant to Khan.

According to a leaked copy of a U.N. report, which CNN obtained, she alleged that he sexually harassed and repeatedly subjected her to non-

consensual sexual acts. Khan has repeatedly denied those accusations.

The woman spoke publicly for the first time just days ago, sitting down exclusively with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH, ICC STAFFER ACCUSING KARIM KHAN OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT: During the last few years, Mr. Khan has had a name, a reputation, and a title. And 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 in that it has allowed me 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Powerful interview there. Well, in today's business breakout, a mixed end of the trading week on Wall Street, the Dow getting a boost from

a pullback in oil prices, with Brent Crude trading below $100 a barrel again. The NASDAQ fell amid fresh weakness in chip stocks.

Checking some of today's other business headlines, a group of tech giants has signed a letter urging U.S. lawmakers not to put restrictions on so-

called open-source A.I. NVIDIA, Microsoft and Meta say restricting these lower cost models, many of which are being developed in China, will stifle

competition and drive innovation overseas. OpenAI and Anthropic, who developed closed A.I. models, did not sign.

President Trump is now threatening the European Union with new tariffs after the E.U. hit Google with a billion-dollar fine. Trump says the U.S.

will open a trade investigation into that fine and others imposed under the E.U.'s Digital Markets Act. The E.U. says that Google harms rival

businesses by not giving them the same prominence on Google search.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony has been held in Windsor, Canada, to mark the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge linking Ontario to Detroit, the bridge

owned by the U.S. State of Michigan and the nation of Canada. Ottawa cancelled a joint ceremony with the U.S. after the Trump administration

announced new 50 percent tariffs on Canada.

Well, a new longer delay today for the merger of Paramount, Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN. Paramount says it has

agreed to pause the merger for months until legal challenges to that deal are resolved in court. This due to pending lawsuits by 12 states and the

Writers' Guild of America. Shares of both Paramount, Skydance and WBD finished today's session lower on that news. The development means the

merger might not close until as late as June of next year.

Brian Stelter joins me now. And, Brian, you've been following this closely. Does this simply lengthen the timeline here, or does it create the risk

that this deal never closes?

[18:25:00]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: It definitely lengthens the timeline. But some analysts are saying that this casts even more doubt and

uncertainty onto the deal altogether. That's because if you think about big business in general, take Paramount out of this for a minute, a lot of

these companies are a confidence game, right? They project confidence, they exude confidence.

It's about convincing everyone that you've got a done deal and that you're going to win. That definitely was part of Paramount's strategy for the past

five or six months, exuding confidence that it would get all the necessary approvals, that it had all the financing locked up, and that it was a done

deal, basically. That was the marketplace impression until about two weeks ago, when these Democratic state attorneys general filed suit. Then the

Writers Guild of America filed with its own lawsuit. Suddenly, this so- called done deal looked to be not a done deal at all.

And so, there has been an erosion of confidence. And what can happen in these cases sometimes is, ultimately, these deals can be abandoned when the

financing falls apart, when people get cold feet, when the legal fees just add up to be too much. We don't know if that could happen in this case.

For now, I've been on the phone with Paramount sources. They are continuing to believe in this deal. They say they are committed to it. They will go

for as long as it takes. Of course, that's what they have to say in a situation like this, where there's a legal battle underway.

But, Jim, this merger agreement extends through June of 2027. And as of this afternoon, Paramount has agreed to delay taking control of WBD until

June 2027 or until a judge weighs in, until a trial is held. This would be a bench trial held in California. And realistically, that's not going to

happen for several months. I think it's fair to say many months.

All the lawyers involved are going to have to work out a timeline now, and that's going to happen in the coming days. But I've seen other trials like

this sometimes take a year before they actually take place. So, this is going to drag on for a while, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because you speak of confidence. Paramount, of course, is calling this a win. You might expect them to put a spin on

it. But they seem to have confidence that if they can get in front of a jury, they might have a better chance. Is that -- when you speak to your

contacts, do they buy that?

STELTER: And they might be thinking two or three steps ahead, actually. Because let's say that in Northern California, the initial result here is

actually favoring the writers and the states. Well, then Paramount can appeal. And these lawyers have already talked about a scenario where they

can try to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. Whether that's realistic or not, I don't think we're in a position to say yet, because

we're at the very early stages of this process. But Paramount is trying to argue that it is willing to go all the way.

Meanwhile, though, the financing is a big question. And if you look at the stock from Warner Bros. Discovery, there's an arbitrage situation here

where some investors are not confident this deal will get done. I think there's one notable consequence in the short term, Jim, and that is

Paramount's not taking control of CNN or HBO or Warner in the coming months. It will probably happen next year, if it happens at all, which

means that CNN will not be controlled by Paramount between now and the midterm elections.

That had been a concern amongst some CNN employees, given Paramount's close ties to the Trump administration. So, all the talk about this deal taking

effect now in July, that's been blown apart. This deal now many months away, if it takes effect at all.

SCIUTTO: Just quickly, does that ticking fee that everybody's been talking about, does that kick in or no?

STELTER: It does. It's ticking fee that makes the deal more expensive starting in October, about 700 million dollars per quarter. Paramount

unclear how they'll pay for that. But the cost will eventually, if this deal closes, result in even more layoffs, even more cutbacks, because

Paramount will be paying so much more for the company it's trying to buy.

SCIUTTO: Brian Stelter, thanks so much. Well, call it perhaps a dinner do over. President Trump is set to speak later tonight at the rescheduled

White House Correspondents' Dinner here in Washington, D.C. The event, you may recall, was cut short back in April when a gunman, and you see the

video here, opened fire in the hotel where the event was being held. Today's dinner will feature enhanced security and a smaller crowd. It'll

also be at a different hotel.

The White House says the president's speech will be, quote, "unifying yet vicious." Not clear how he could be both things. It comes one day after the

U.S. Justice Department withdrew its subpoenas against reporters for The New York Times. The DOJ had tried to force them to reveal their sources for

a story on Air Force One security, which President Trump didn't like.

Coming up on "The Brief," India rocked by a massive day of protests, calling for the country's education minister to step down. What this means

for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

SCIUTTO: Young demonstrators in India called for a nationwide day of protests as police used water cannons to disperse the crowds.

The so-called Cockroach Movement began weeks ago, partially driven by leaks of exams, national examinations, but it's now grown into a broader

challenge to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Protesters accuse authorities of cracking down on dissent while the government says it

is committed to preventing future leaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Numerous effective measures have been taken over the past two and a half months

since the paper leak incident. Those responsible have been arrested and are now in jail. Our main responsibility has been to make sure that the

student's academic year is not wasted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining us now is Ravi Agrawal, the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine. Ravi, good to have you back.

RAVI AGRAWAL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, FOREIGN POLICY: Great to be on, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So first, if you wouldn't mind explaining the context here, because just last month, more than two million students, they took India's

national medical exam. Now, they're told their results will be scrapped because of these leaks. How did its exam system, India's exam system,

become so vulnerable? Because this isn't the first time.

AGRAWAL: This isn't the first time. And look, just to put this in context, these examinations are incredibly difficult. A lot of Indians who go to

high school, they work very, very hard to take this exam. More than two million people sit them, as you said, and that is just for about 120,000

seats at medical schools across the country. So, it is incredibly competitive to begin with.

And then the notion that you put in all of this hard work and it comes to naught just because the exam papers were leaked shows that there is

corruption in the system. And more than just that, there's the sense that these exams ultimately are about fairness and merit.

[18:35:00]

And many Indians are now beginning to feel that even if they do their best work in these examinations, even if they get into a medical school, there's

growing evidence that India has a jobs crisis. More than 40 percent of young Indians under the age of 25 are unable to get jobs. So, those are the

factors that are leading to this outpouring of anger right now.

SCIUTTO: I mean, yes, that's an enormous youth unemployment rate, even for those graduates, right? The ones who make the grade, as it were. So,

explain the origin of the cockroach kind of mascot for these protests here and what their demands have expanded to now.

AGRAWAL: Yes. And just to clarify, Jim, the official unemployment rate in India is between four and seven percent. India has a huge informal sector

where people work, but it's not quite counted in quite the right way because they don't have formal jobs. And so that's why we see these high

numbers where people might be doing, say, gig work, but it doesn't get counted in the system.

SCIUTTO: Sure.

AGRAWAL: But to answer your question, the cockroach term came about after this first leak and people were very upset about it. And India's chief

justice in tackling the matter, he compared a lot of students in India's unemployed workforce to cockroaches. And that led to one student in the

United States, actually, who is Indian, was graduating from a master's in PR. It led to him saying, hey, cockroaches around the country, let's unite.

And that sort of satirical start led to this movement, which has now grown into the millions in terms of membership, at least from what we can verify

on Instagram and social media. But really, they had a very targeted protest, which was to say that the education minister in India should

resign.

This was about a month ago. And as the protests have swelled, particularly this week with the start of the summer session of parliament, they've

gained a lot more momentum. Modi hadn't really addressed the protests until about a couple of days ago, where he finally acknowledged that there was so

much anger and resentment, which grew, by the way, because the protests were met with immense brutality in New Delhi, the capital city, where

police used tear gas and baton charged a lot of the protesters.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this. How much of a threat? I mean, you've made the point that Modi's government still remains quite strong. But how much of a

political threat is this now? Because we have seen other youth-led protests in a country such as Nepal and elsewhere in Southeast Asia bring about

genuine and sudden political change. Is this that kind of challenge?

AGRAWAL: No, it's not. India is not Nepal. It's not Bangladesh. It's not even Indonesia or Philippines, which has seen similar Gen Z movements.

Look, Modi is a strongman leader. He's been in power for more than 12 years now. He keeps winning elections. He fronts the Bharatiya Janata Party, a

party that really tries to sort of double down on India's Hindu majority. Hindus are about 81 percent of the population. And, you know, they give

most Indians very few options to vote for anyone else. India does not have a very strong opposition. It's very fractured. And so, for all of those

reasons, Modi is essentially the most popular elected leader in the world. And we shouldn't forget that even amid this rising tide of anger.

Now, the question is whether Modi will just be able to see this off, or he will need to show that he is listening and make some of the changes that

the protesters are demanding. The challenge for him is that were he to give in on any one of their demands, he might be seen as weak, and that could

lead to further demands.

But again, even though this is a very, very significant challenge to his rule, I wouldn't go so far as to say that his time in power is threatened

at this point in time. Elections aren't for at least three years right now. And it's also worth remembering that when India has state elections,

Indians often vote for other parties. But in recent months, the BJP, Modi's party, has made huge inroads into states that it doesn't usually win.

SCIUTTO: Ravi Agrawal, thanks so much.

AGRAWAL: Pleasure.

SCIUTTO: Coming up on "The Brief," after two unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX is trying once again to launch the Starship Flight 13 mission. We'll take

you to Texas next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, liftoff now planned for about 10 minutes from now for SpaceX's Starship. This is the 13th test flight of Starship and it will

carry the latest Starlink satellites into orbit. This is SpaceX's third attempt at this particular mission. Yesterday, poor weather conditions

forced the company to scrub the liftoff. Its first attempt last week was aborted over issues with the engine.

Former NASA astronaut, Clayton Anderson, joins me now. Clayton, good to have you. The Starship has a lot of ambitions from SpaceX around the

Starship. How important is this particular mission?

CLAYTON ANDERSON, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, first, SpaceX, they're all important and they're all important for NASA because part of the Starship

activity is to -- the ability to have a lunar lander that we're going to use down the road with Artemis III and Artemis IV.

This is a very important mission. Elon's very aggressive. They like to bring things back as quickly as possible and retest and figure out what's

going wrong and then make adjustments on the fly. So, Godspeed to those guys today. I hope it works.

SCIUTTO: There have been several modifications as I understand it to address the engine issues from the previous flight. Can you explain in

layman's terms what went wrong and what the changes or how confident we are the changes fix those problems?

ANDERSON: Well, the previous try had to abort on the pad, so they had some engine issues and so they've changed out, I think, a couple engines and

swapped some software and hardware to make sure that everything works right. But it's a good thing that the system is good enough to be able to

see problems like that and abort a launch before bad things happen. They have also changed out some other engines and they're doing some things with

their Starship -- or their Starlink satellites.

The whole idea here is they keep attacking the problem and they'll have some small issues, right? An engine or two will fail or something will go

wrong and then they'll gather together, they'll figure out what's wrong, maybe change out equipment, but they'll go back at it again to make sure

that they've whipped that problem and they don't have something else that's presenting itself to them. I love this aggressive approach that they take.

SCIUTTO: Where does NASA stand on its timeline for the mission you described, getting to the Moon again?

ANDERSON: Well, I think it's a good timeline from a SpaceX perspective. I believe they're doing what they're supposed to do, but Blue Origin had that

setback when they had the explosion on the pad. And so, the idea for Artemis III, which is coming up in 2028 and the crew was just named and all

those good things, is to rendezvous and dock with those spaceships, those lunar landers from Blue Origin and from SpaceX and see how that all works

so that we can then use them on Artemis IV to get to the Moon.

[18:45:00]

So, the timeline is still a little bit unknown, at least to me, because Blue Origin hasn't really figured out what caused that issue on the pad.

They're rebuilding the pad, but they don't know what caused the explosion. So, NASA kind of has a choice. Can they wait for both of them to be ready

or do they go ahead and push with SpaceX and then do something else when Blue Origin comes around?

SCIUTTO: Final question, does anybody involved worry about it being Flight 13 mission or is that just old-school thinking?

ANDERSON: Well, you know, I suppose some guys in Vegas might be dropping some coin on something like that, but, you know, for folks that are in the

business like we are, it matters not. And, you know, they're going to do just fine today.

SCIUTTO: Indeed. Clayton Anderson, thanks so much for joining.

ANDERSON: You bet. Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from a tourist hotspot in southwestern France as wildfires devastate the area. Fast-moving

fires are threatening the Cap Ferret peninsula near Bordeaux. It only has one access road, so authorities, of course, are not taking any chances.

Spain has now declared a national emergency as a massive wildfire tears through the central part of their country. Melissa Bell has been following

the story for us and she has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As wildfires grip this tourism hotspot in southwestern France, locals in a

nearby port watch as an ominous red sky marks the terror taking place across the bay.

French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Hamptons-like Cap Ferret peninsula on Friday. The wildfire that had devastated thousands of

hectares already doubled overnight, according to local authorities. There's only one road linking the Cap Ferret to the outside world. Some 40,000

people used that to evacuate, with a few hundred taking boats to the Port of Arcachon on the other side of the bay.

Not far away, another wildfire is also raging in the Laon region around the town of Biscarrosse, where 23,000 people were evacuated.

This local resident says, it's worrying, and it's worrying because the whole neighborhood where I live has been evacuated. So, we're in doubt,

wondering, are we OK? Has everything burned?

Another woman from the nearby Laon region said fear had begun to spread overnight on Thursday. We're all starting to panic a little now, to be

honest, she says. We spent the whole day not really knowing what was going on, and now that night has fallen and it's really red, we can feel that

it's right next to us.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the situation very tense, particularly in Gironde, adding that France had requested the activation of

the European Union's civil protection mechanism.

France is battling 32 wildfires of varying sizes, according to the interior minister, including this large one in the southern Var region.

It really is a disaster. When you arrive here, it feels apocalyptic. It's as if we're no longer in this world, but in another one, she says.

Spain is also facing the consequences of successive heatwaves and parched conditions, with residents in some towns near Madrid also forced to

evacuate because of wildfires. They've become a regular feature of European summers, but this year the continent's forest fire information system says

that it has seen far more land burnt than the annual average for the same period normally. This, after record-breaking climate change-driven heat

waves turned the landscape into a tinderbox.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: When we come back, a check of the international headlines. Plus, LeBron James has made up his mind about where he is going next and how he

plans to finish his legendary basketball career.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

SCIUTTO: All right. Live pictures now of SpaceX's launch. This is coming from Starbase, Texas. Flight 13 mission. We don't have the -- we do have

the clock up on the screen there. So, just about 10 minutes to launch. We're going to let it run for you.

This launch has been delayed a couple of times. Engine issues, weather as well. As we watch the clock tick down in 3, 2, 1.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vehicle is pitching downrange. Booster rafter chamber pressure is nominal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 30 seconds into flight. 33 out of 33 rafter engines lit on the super heavy booster arcing away from us here at Starbase.

SCIUTTO: Wow. What a view from there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up on max view, maximum aerodynamic pressure, which again for this flight is going to be higher than it has been on any

of our previous Starship flights.

SCIUTTO: Quite a view there from the SpaceX launch from Starbase, Texas. This is Mission 13. I'm always amazed as I watch these now. I mean, just

the camera work. It's amazing. And you see just how fast it gets up there. Anyway, at this point, it looks like a successful launch.

This mission key, not only because it's going to be releasing Starlink satellites into orbit, but also one of many launches preparing the way

SpaceX and NASA hope for a return for astronauts to the moon. Well, we'll continue to monitor that mission.

Meanwhile, in sports news, NBA legend LeBron James is on the move after a lengthy free agency. The league's all-time leading scorer announced today

that he will be joining the Philadelphia 76ers. James is heading into his 24th season. The Sixers will be his fourth NBA franchise after winning

titles with the Lakers, the Miami Heat, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Joe Vardon is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic. He joins us now from Cleveland, Ohio. All right. So, tell us about what this team's going to

look like with LeBron James. Can he win another title for another franchise?

JOE VARDON, SENIOR NBA WRITER, THE ATHLETIC: Well, thanks for having me. And I guess we're talking about can the Sixers successfully launch the

final stage of LeBron's career?

SCIUTTO: Well done.

VARDON: The answer is yes, they can. But health is an issue here. On paper, this is a team that has a former MVP in Joel Embiid, a finals MVP in Jaylen

Brown, a rising superstar in Tyrese Maxey, and a second-year player in VJ Edgecombe, who is as good of a defender on the wing as maybe we have in the

NBA. And then you drop in someone who is so good and has been good for so long in LeBron that we don't really need to go over all of his resume. Like

we kind of know. But that's on paper.

Joel Embiid hasn't been right for two years health-wise. And LeBron, I mean, he's going to be 42 in December. He could only play 50-odd games,

whatever it was, last year for the Lakers.

[18:55:00]

And if those two scenarios rise up again, then you have to talk about, well, do they have enough to survive that until those two players can get

healthy?

So, if this team makes it to late April and into May feeling good health- wise, I really like them on paper. I think it's a good fit for LeBron. But once we get started in October, they have a six-month slog to get through

in a way that had he may be chosen, I would say, let's say, Cleveland or Minnesota in these cases, health wouldn't have been as big of an issue.

Those two teams could have survived LeBron playing fewer games.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And two years, $8 million just quickly. I mean, he's taking a pay cut, right? Because he wants to play for this team.

VARDON: The biggest pay cut in NBA history, but just so everybody knows, all of the five teams that he was looking at were all going to pay him

roughly that amount, between $4 and $6 million, the league minimum for somebody with his length of service.

SCIUTTO: Joe Varden, thanks so much. And thanks so much to all of you for joining. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief."

Please do stay with CNN.

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