Biden on the Ropes, Hurricane Beryl Hits Texas, Boeing Takes Plea Deal
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It is Monday, July 8th. Right now on CNN This Morning, Joe Biden's presidency, is it hanging in the balance? As more top Democrats say, it is time for him to step aside.

Breaking overnight, Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 storm just in the last hour. We're going to be live on the Texas coast ahead. Boeing taking a plea deal from the Justice Department to avoid facing trial and criminal fraud charges. And France facing the possibility of political paralysis after what was a stunning election outcome for the left.

It is 6:00 AM here in Washington. Here's a live look at Surfside Beach, Texas. Just in the last hour, Hurricane Beryl made landfall nearby as a category one hurricane. That storm bringing life threatening flooding more than 130,000 people without power. Throughout the hour, we're going to bring you live to the Texas coast for the latest updates and forecast.

Very good morning to everyone. I'm Jim Sciutto in for Casey Hunt today, and it is great to be with you. This is the week that could make or break Joe Biden's reelection bid. A growing number of Democrats, though a small number, is now questioning his capacity to serve a second term.

Many in private, some out loud. Sources tell CNN House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a call on Sunday with ranking Democrats, and at least six of them expressed opposition to Biden as the party's nominee. Republicans Mark Takano, Adam Schiff, Jim Himes, Joe Morelli, Jerry Nadler, and Susan Wild. Five others have already spoken out publicly against Biden. Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Seth Moulton, Raul Gravala,

Angie Craig and Mike Quigley on this broadcast. At this moment, President Biden remains defiant, refusing to even acknowledge the dissent within the ranks. Several prominent Democrats are still on the fence waiting to see if Biden can indeed weather the storm, but they all agree the president needs to do more to combat voter skepticism.

I love Joe Biden. I don't know that the interview on Friday night did enough to answer those questions. And so I think this week is going to be absolutely critical. I think Biden is not going anywhere. He has been strong in saying that in the last day or two. He's not going to be pushed out. He should take a moment to make the best informed judgment. And if the judgment is run, then run hard and beat that SOB.

White House sources describe the mood in the West Wing as grim. The full House Democratic caucus will meet on Tuesday. One senior member told CNN that could be the day the dam breaks. But we haven't seen it yet. Let's bring in Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden. And Alex Thompson, national political reporter for Axios.

Megan, where do we stand here? Because there were moments last week when the Washington chattering classes, who are often wrong, said it's over for Biden. It's not clear that's true. No, I think that he's doing what people are asking him to do. Right. He spent the weekend campaigning. He did the interview, which was a net neutral for him. And then he was out campaigning. He spent an entire day. He was in Wisconsin. He talked to reporters under the wing. He.

was doing OTRs, talking to voters. He gave a speech at a rally. Like he's doing the things that our people are asking him to do. So now, and he's very clearly said he will not drop out. So now we have to wait and see. He has a big week this week. NATO is in town. He has a press conference on Thursday. So this is a make or break week for him. Do you, I mean, you've been doing a lot of reporting on this, Alex. What is the actual mood inside the party as to whether he should stay in the race?

Well, it's completely divided. I mean, and I think if you put them all on truth serum, a lot of them would probably like for him to withdraw and step aside, not just because of concerns about their own elections now and concerns about him hurting them and hurting the party in November, but also I think concerns about what happens after November if he wins. And I think real concerns about his age and about his mental fitness four and a half years from

now. The other thing I was talking to someone who's known Joe Biden for a very long time, has worked for Joe Biden. And the thing that you have to remember, though, is you're probably going to see a lot of Democrats come out and say exactly that this week, especially with Congress back in session. But the thing is, Joe Biden may not care. The thing is that it is a commandment within the inner circle, Joe Biden's world, that he is the most electable person against Donald Trump, which they see as an existential threat.

And he is not going to get out unless he has shown conclusive evidence that he no longer is the most likable. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, he doesn't care, but he may he may care in the in the sense that the more folks say get out, he digs his heels in even deeper. Knowing the Biden personality. If you have a rich hedge fund guy being like, I'm not going to give my money anymore, that nothing could make Joe Biden want a campaign even harder than that. Matt Gorman.

What do Republicans want here? It's not their choice, but what do they want? I mean, we're ready for, I think, whatever. I think we thought, if you asked us maybe a week ago, we thought, okay, Kamala's going to be a fait accompli.

As of yesterday, I'm starting to kind of hit me. He could gut this out and he could use the playbook fashioned by Bill Clinton in 92 with Jennifer Flowers, Trump with Axis Hollywood where, look, don't apologize. Don't back down. Not one iota. Let your enemies throw you out through the official machinations of power. Ralph Northam did it. Andrew Cuomo tried to do it if he wasn't being impeached.

And look, it's an ironic little twist of fate that he could be following in a way Donald Trump's playbook here. But I always had to laugh because when folks like the governors are all banding together, yeah, well, because no one has to share a ballot with Joe Biden this year. Of course they're going to band together. They can say whatever they want. Congress this week

is going to be so crucial because those would be the people that would be sharing the ballot line with him. And you hear it's front-line Democrats who are most concerned about the potential effect on their race. But do you think, though, that it's interesting that these Democrats are asking him to step aside when their constituencies voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the primaries? Like, they're going against the will of their constituencies. Primaries.

Well, but it's still a primary. But it's still a primary. Come on. It was an incumbent president kind of like it was close to the rigged primaries you can get. Like as close as you can get. Their constituency still went out and cast ballots for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. So how do they now like go against what their people have? I think there's a lot better arguments than reliable. I'm literally just asking you the question. Okay, sorry. But like I think that it's hard to compare like a incumbent president primary. It's like saying, you know, George D. Bush won the 04 primary. Congratulations to George D. Bush.

I think what it's really going to come down to is it's a standoff, right? If they don't believe that Joe Biden is going to step aside, they are scared to say step aside. They don't want to get all the cannon fodder. But without a groundswell of Democrats, there's no conclusive proof, right? Alex, I want to ask you because early on it was CNN's reporting last week that the Biden team acknowledged that

if they saw polls plummeting, his support plummeting, that was the word in CNN's reporting, that he might reconsider. The polling I've seen has been kind of all over the place, as it often is. And by the way, when you look at a place like France, you know, don't invest too much in polls. We learned that lesson a long time ago. But is there any hard data to show a significant drop in Biden's support since the debate?

I mean, it depends on your definition of significant. There has been a drop of support. There is overwhelming evidence that it's, you know, a few points here and there. But it is not the floor falling out that maybe we would expect. And I think part of that is not necessarily just Joe Biden's strength. It's sort of the Trump polarization effect. The fact is that tens of millions of people in this country would vote for Joe Biden at 120 years old over, you know, if Trump's on the ballot. So I think that's also part of the reason why maybe you have

You still see him above 40% in a lot of these polls. Megan Hayes, there's the will he run question, and then there's the should he run question. As a Democrat, you work for President Biden. You have seen the change, and there is a change in the way he answers questions, his energy, his quickness, et cetera. It's obvious to folks who watch him in public forums. Should he run? Yeah, I mean, he is the person who was elected in the primaries, and he is the person who is on the ticket. Not an open primary. Well-

Well, it doesn't matter. It's still a primary. And so I just think he's taking it to the people. He's going out there. He's doing what he needs to do. He's showing that the debate night was an abnormal event for him. I mean, he just spent the last weekend out campaigning and talking to voters. So I'm not sure what we want from him. He's never going to be perfect. He's never going to be someone that gets every fact right or every word right.

And it's just, so I think we have to decide whether or not we want to keep talking about this as Democrats or whether or not we want to continue to go, or we want to go back to talking about Donald Trump. - And this, I mean, this could be the week where that decision is made, at least for some Democrats. Megan, Matt, Alex, good to have you all. Coming up next, millions of Texans bracing for flooding and possible tornadoes as well as Hurricane Beryl makes landfall.

Senator Marco Rubio trying to create distance between Donald Trump and the controversial Project 2025. A lot of Trump allies involved in that project, by the way. And dozens of looters ransacking an Oakland gas station, one of the five things you have to see this morning.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season has made landfall on the central Texas coast this morning near Matagorda, about 150 miles north of Corpus Christi. Hurricane Beryl bringing heavy rain, powerful winds, life-threatening storm surge and flooding to the state. More than 7 million people are under a tornado watch as well, including the Houston area. More than 130,000 customers in Texas without power already.

It will be a deadly storm for people who are directly in that path. Just know it's going to be wet, it's going to be windy, and it's going to be dangerous. Do not go out. Yeah, you often hear that advice with storms like this. Don't go out. It's dangerous. Meteorologist Eric Van Dam joins us now live from Port Lavaca, Texas. He's out there so we can know what it all looks like. What are you seeing on the ground?

Yeah, sharing the dangers of this storm with our viewers this morning. Jim, yeah, we are witnessing and feeling the brunt of this first hurricane strike of the Atlantic 2024 hurricane season. And it's got quite a bite to it, a lot of sting to these tropical force gusts that come through the Port La Baca region where I'm located along the central Texas coastline. There's already been gusts of 89 miles per hour at the Matagorda Bay area.

Inlets there has been two to five feet of storm surge above normal tide levels Galveston Bay at four feet above tide levels now and rapidly rising I want to show you the current radar and satellites the storm has moved onshore That means it's lost its energy source, which of course is the ocean But it is pulling in a lot of that moisture from the warm Gulf of Mexico and this is new to CNN

If you're in Houston, you've got a rude awakening after a long holiday weekend. Currently under a flash flood warning just issued by the National Weather Service. This encompasses just under three and a half million people. That is the majority of Harris County, which of course includes the Houston Metropolitan. There has been significant rain that has fallen in and around the Houston region.

That was discussed yesterday from the National Weather Service at Houston and Galveston that we needed to monitor the bayous in the Houston area. And of course, with the rain that has moved into the region, that will be a concern. Street flooding, rapid rises in rivers. That's why we have the flash flood warning. Here's some of the rainfall totals we picked up on. That's over a half a foot of rain along the coastline.

And of course it's not done yet. It's nowhere near done. So the potential there for local amounts over a foot certainly exists. Here's the radar. We call the right quadrant of a hurricane the dirty side of the hurricane. There's a reason for that.

It's dangerous because it has spin-up tornadoes that can form at a moment's notice and they can cause damage very, very quickly. I mean, aside from the hurricane force wind gusts that are present within this area, the tornado threat is there and ever-present from Houston all the way to the coastline to the Port Lavaca

and Central Texas coast where I'm located as well. That wind threat, this is a new graphic I want to show you as well because the National Weather Service constantly is assessing the situation, updating the storm on the ground. And look at that shade of red from Bay City all the way into Houston Metro. That indicates winds of 74 miles per hour. That's category one strength in Houston Metro. So we go back a few weeks. Remember what happened when the straight line winds knocked out all the windows in the high rise buildings?

That was with winds of hurricane force. So if we get a repeat of that today, we know what that did a couple of months ago. We don't want to see that again. Now, this storm is a fast mover. That is one of the positives we have working for us. So it is going to make a beeline towards the U.S. and Canada border by midweek. So this is different than Harvey. This is not going to produce 50 inches of rain on the ground in Houston because Harvey sat down

and basically meandered around eastern Texas for four days after landfall. This system is going to be up and out of here rather quickly and then bring rainfall to the central parts of the country. But in the meantime, the real threats are here along the Texas coastline, now moving inland as Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season here in the U.S., makes landfall. Jim. Thank goodness it was at low tide. Derek Van Dam, stay safe. Thanks so much.

Just ahead, Senator Marco Rubio trying to shield Donald Trump from Project 2025. Plus, it's fake blood, but those are real sharks. One of the five things you have to see this morning.

23 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning. The lake fire in California burning more than 19,000 acres in just a matter of days. It is 8% contained. Evacuation orders for surrounding areas include Neverland Ranch, the property made famous, of course, by Michael Jackson. Anti-government protesters clashing with Israeli police. They are demanding new elections as well as the release of Israelis held in Gaza.

And look at this security video showing dozens of people looting and vandalizing a gas station in Oakland. The manager says the incident occurred when only window service was being offered, believes the theft and damage could total more than $100,000.

Scientists in New Zealand released 200 gallons of synthetic blood, to be clear. Looks pretty real. Synthetic, though, to lure a 14-foot great white female shark. They're testing out the Queen Boss theory, which says that clans of sharks are created around female sharks that reproduce with multiple mates at once.

And new images reveal an asteroid that recently tracked very close to Earth has a little moon as its companion. NASA scientists say none of them are on a potential collision course with our planet, thankfully. But both giant rocks reveal valuable insights into space.

Just ahead, more House Democrats breaking with Biden. Why this week could be critical for the president's campaign. Plus, Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane to make landfall this year, bringing life-threatening flooding. Powerful winds to millions in Texas. CNN is live on the scene just ahead.

Let's face the facts, be willing to make a change. Let's just be honest. I think there are still questions out there in the minds of many voters. I think it's incredible how presidents get so insulated and sometimes from reality. This is not just about whether he gave it the best college try, but rather whether he made the right decision to run or to pass the torch.

There's some pretty remarkable public comments from members of the president's own Democratic Party taking to the airwaves this weekend to respond to President Biden's first post-debate interview in which he brushed off concerns about his age, his mental acuity,

Yesterday afternoon, a growing number of top House Democrats told party leadership that Biden needs to exit the race. Even some of the president's remaining supporters are warning that he is running out of time to convince voters, and that's key, that he is capable of defeating Donald Trump this fall.

I think the president needs to make some moves this week to put himself out there in a position to answer those questions. And if he can't do that, then, you know, of course, he's going to have to make a decision about what's best for the country and what's best for the party. I believe that he can do it. But I think that this is a really critical week. I do think the clock is ticking.

My panel is back with us now, joining us, CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, also, of course, the co-host of CNN's State of the Union, host of Inside Politics. Dana, has there been a change in momentum here in the president's favor to some degree? Because towards the end of last week, and again, you know, let's discount the Washington chattering classes because they're often wrong, but there was a sense inside the party that the party was moving away from him. Is that still the case?

I think the change in momentum is that the private conversations that have been going on both in favor of Joe Biden staying in and against Joe Biden staying in have spilled more out into the public.

The fact that you have very senior, very important, in some cases veteran members, in some cases just the people who are the most powerful because they run key committees in the House, saying to Hakeem Jeffries on this conference call, I was told it was an hour and 45 minutes, very long, so many of them saying, we believe he has got to step aside.

aside, he's got to do it for not just the best of what's best for the country, but from their perspective, what's best for the House of Representatives, because many of them said that they believe that he, Joe Biden, at the top of the ticket, who is going to make it impossible for Democrats to take back the House. I do want to say, though, that as much as you're hearing from sort of that side of the argument,

There are also several high-ranking Democrats who are saying, "No, no, no. Don't go anywhere." Maxine Waters, for example, I mean, she has been -- I believe she has said it publicly, too. And what has been interesting to me has been the Congressional Black Caucus and also the grassroots organizers and just the grassroots voters, particularly people of color,

saying, do not get out Joe Biden. So he genuinely is hearing both sides of this. Megan, I wonder, though, is he wounded by this as a candidate against Trump? Because you hear those Seth Moulton, Chris Murphy, Tim Ryan, Adam Schiff, even the ones who are not calling for him to step out are not exactly giving him a full throat of defense and saying he's the best candidate we have to win in the fall.

Yeah, absolutely. I think he's wounded. I also think that we've spent the last 10 days plus and we're going to continue to talk about it this week where we're talking about Joe Biden's age and we're not talking about how Joe Biden can beat Donald Trump and the contrast of what that means for the for the election. So I just think we as Democrats are wasting time here. If he's not dropping out, we need to just get behind him and move forward and take our our target to Donald Trump and let Joe Biden run his race and run it with him. That's so I just think that the party at some point needs to just stop

all the back and forth talking about each other and move towards the actual person we're running against, which is Donald Trump. And that sounds a bit Mac Orman, like taking a page out of Donald Trump's book, doesn't it? I mean, there was we talked about his felony convictions, at least as a sort of dominant issue for about three days, I think, after the verdict. I mean, look, we think about Acts of Hollywood, where we were. We had every major crime.

person in the party, I shouldn't say maybe, but like a lot of major people in the party saying just openly he should step down. That was about a month before election day. But I'll also say this. I don't expect a ton of polls in this case to drop a ton because I always believed that voters had already were ahead of the pundits and the elites in many ways on this issue. I mean, there's an ABC News poll earlier this year that said 70 or so voters believed he was too old.

for this. I think in many ways this is a reverse where voters have priced this in and were recognizing this long before I think it kind of came down to the shattering class. So for this, you're not going to, I don't expect that, you know, suddenly a 10 point gap to emerge. Yeah, I mean, CNN's poll, I think it was 75% most recent poll said that the Democrats should replace him at the top of the ticket.

But it was about 72 percent, if I have the numbers right, months ago. So it's not like that's been a dramatic shift there. Alex, you've been reporting this aggressively. Inside the White House.

Is there a split there too? I mean, New York Times had a piece quoting someone close to Biden saying he should get out, but I mean, we don't know how close that actually was. There's definitely a split inside the White House, but there's not a split at the very, very top of the White House. And that's what matters. One of the most interesting things that happened on the Sunday show circuit yesterday was Adam Schiff said something that Democrats have been saying quietly for years, which he said, I would urge the president to talk to people that have some distance, that are objective,

And he was basically saying that they feel that the inner circle of this White House is very scared of giving the president bad news, that he is surrounded by yes-men. And a lot of Democrats have felt that for a long time, and that was him subtly indicating that and speaking for a lot of Democrats. And that, by the way, it's not just the age thing that was discussed as a vulnerability prior to the debate, but that insularity as well, Dana Bash. And I wonder...

what that means for the decision going forward. I mean, ultimately it's Biden's decision himself. And one could argue based on his public statements is that he's digging his heels in deeper right now in recent days in the face of this public criticism. - He is. Look, one of the questions that we're gonna see answered

probably this week is whether or not you are going to see key leaders from Hakeem Jeffries to Chuck Schumer to Nancy Pelosi to Jim Clyburn, who was supposed to be on Face the Nation yesterday and canceled. To me, that was...

frankly shocking because he's not a canceler. And he is incredibly close to Joe Biden. We all know the lore at this point that he saved his candidacy in South Carolina. So why wouldn't he then be on the Sunday shows making a full-throated defense? Well, he was on my show a week ago doing exactly that.

and the fact that he declined to do so yesterday, I'm not saying that that means that Jim Clyburn has changed his mind. I just, it seems to me that he and others are now

being a little bit more circumspect as they continue to listen to their members. So that is those are some of the key, key questions that we're going to see answered this week. And I'm not saying that let's just say hypothetically, Nancy Pelosi, Jim Clyburn, Hakeem Jeffries go to President Biden and say it's time to go. I don't know that that necessarily means he would go, but it would be the

answer to your question about whether or not he could get outside of his very, very tight, very long serving inner circle. I mean, it's sort of the people bring up the Nixon scenario, right? When senior Republicans went to Howard Baker, you got it. You got to go. Very, very different. Who might Biden listen to?

I think he'll listen to his family. I think he'll listen to the advisors in the White House that he has around them. But those have been his long-serving people. They served him right in the 2020 campaign. You know, people called us dead in the water, and they were like, no, we are going to all four states, the early states. We are doing this. Regardless if we are in someone's minivan, they were dead set on going. I had that conversation. So I just think that those are the people he will listen to. But he has a gut instinct here. He is not dumb. He knows that it was a bad night for him on Thursday. He knows he needs to go back to the voters and make sure –

to prove to him that they can do the job. But he believes in his gut he can do this, and until that changes, he's not going anywhere.

Well, folks, I'm sure it's not the last time we talk about this. Thanks so much to all of you. Appreciate you joining us this morning. Coming up next, a stunning election result, leaving the French government in a state of gridlock but pushing back against the fall right there. Plus, life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds, hundreds of thousands without power. Live report from the Texas coast as Hurricane Beryl makes landfall. ♪

Hurricane Beryl has now strengthened to a category one just before slamming into the Texas coastline earlier this morning. Beryl hit near Matagorda Beach, about 150 miles north of Corpus Christi. Winds up to 80 miles an hour, heavy rain and the possibility of life threatening storm surge

although thankfully it hit at low tide. More than seven million people are under a tornado watch, including the Houston area. Coastal residents are being urged not to underestimate this hurricane. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us live from Port Lavaca. So often, as you know, Derek, folks underestimate. They go out, they say, "Oh, it doesn't look so bad." They end up caught in the flooding. What are you seeing on the ground there and what advice would you give to people in the area?

Yeah, good question, Jim. You're probably noticing that from the last time we talked 30 minutes ago, our backdrop has changed dramatically. We no longer have power here at Port Lavaca. We had transformers over my right shoulder starting to

the storm. We're in complete darkness. We had a storm that started to blow earlier about 10 minutes ago, so the lights flickered at our hotel and our live shot location. And now we're in complete darkness along with 130 other 130,000 other customers here across the central Texas coastline.

and some of the most dangerous part of this hurricane is still to come. And I'm looking at our viewers in Houston because you're getting absolutely slammed right now. There is a flash flood warning that has just been issued for Harris County, including Houston Metro. There was a tornado warning issued in Harris County just north of the city center of Houston that has been expired within the past 15 minutes.

But that gives you the breadth of the dangers that are at play here that are still unfolding as this very fluid situation.

situation continues to unfold basically before our eyes. So what are those threats? Let's get a look at the radar and satellites. Still a category one hurricane. So that means winds of at least 74 miles per hour. But there have been gusts over 90 miles per hour. Matagorda Bay Inlet, those locations near the coastline have clocked winds in excess of 90 miles per hour.

And of course, it's the tornado threat because on that right quadrant of a hurricane, that is where we get these spin-up tornadoes that can come. They drop out of the sky. They last very brief, few moments of time, but of course, that can cause some damage. We haven't seen that here in Port Lavaca, the Lavaca Bay directly behind me. What you would see if we still had electricity is the waves chopping up and slashing up towards the seawall that's directly over my left shoulder.

And of course, the storm surge threat here. We have seen four...

Two to five feet of high tide or levels above normal high tide and Galveston Bay in particular we've seen the readings there starting to go up and up as we continue to get that surge of water from the Gulf of Mexico which by the way is directly behind me as well. The difference between this storm and a benchmark storm for so many people in this area, Hurricane Harvey August of 2017, is that this will be a fast moving storm so that will limit

not eliminate, but limit the amount of rain that will fall from this storm system. So we've already had rainfall totals in excess of eight inches. Houston, the airport is reporting just around three inches, but there is certainly more to come. And with the bayous that

run throughout the city of Houston. We could see some potential flooding there. City streets, of course, seeing some urban flooding. And then the rapid rises in rivers as well. How much rain is still yet to come? Another 5 to 10 inches still possible, over a foot in some localized areas. But the difference here with Harvey is that that meandered over eastern Texas for four days after landfall. Barrel is going to make its way out of here quickly. And by Wednesday and Thursday, it's got its eyes set

on the border of Canada and the United States. So that will be a quick mover. Jim. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.

It is 47 minutes past the hour and here is your morning roundup. Boeing pleading guilty to criminal fraud charges stemming from two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people. The DOJ found the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years. Boeing also must pay a fine of $243 million to avoid a trial.

Just a bloody morning in Ukraine. At least 22 people killed, 68 injured by dozens of Russian missiles. The country's largest children's hospital and residential buildings all badly damaged by the strikes. Closing arguments begin this morning in New Jersey. Senator Bob Menendez's corruption trial. Menendez did not take the stand to refute allegations that he traded political favors for gold bars and cash.

A consortium led by Skydance Media is nearing a deal now to acquire Paramount Global. Paramount's special committee has reportedly signed off on the agreement. And celebrations in the streets of Paris after French voters rejected the far-right alliance in Sunday's second round parliamentary election. Crowds cheering the new Popular Front's 182-seat win, even though that falls short of a majority.

That now leaves the government gridlocked, but did head off a takeover of sorts by the national rally, the far-right party. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist ensemble alliance captured 163 seats. The far-right finished third after a really strong showing in the first round. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal tendered his resignation Sunday, although Macron is asking him to stay on while the leader of the far-right said the country has been thrown in instability.

I tell you in all seriousness that depriving millions of French people of seeing the possibility of their ideas and thoughts represented in government will never be viable for France. The unified left has shown it is capable of facing this historic event and it has scuppered the trap which was set for the country.

CNN's Nick Robertson joins us now live from London. And Nick, you know the expectations going into the second round of parliamentary elections, that the far right was going to be anointed, in effect, as the new power in France. That didn't happen. It finished third. I wonder what the reaction is you're hearing from France and the significance of this.

Yeah, a reaction from Europe as well. I mean, look, the French really value their position as an important country in the EU with an important voice able to sort of lead discussion on a number of issues, whether it's Ukraine, the suggestion from Macron that there should be NATO troops on the ground inside Ukraine in a training capacity only. Those sort of forward-leaning positions are now under threat, and we've got a reflection of that today heard across Europe.

the deputy German chancellor saying, look, this is a relief, you know, frankly, that the hard right haven't made it in and won't just be able to disrupt the EU in their way. But this is a worry, he said, for the French and for the EU. We're going to miss if there's a hung parliament in Paris and if the president finds himself hangstrung by a parliament that's not aligned with his views, then this will affect France's position.

position, you know, globally as well as in the European Union. You know, the relief, we kind of heard that from the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, who noted, look, France and Britain actually had just sort of voted in quite left-leaning governments, just like we did, he said, in Spain last year. So he said that's a good thing. But I think perhaps if you kind of want to get a real cross-section of the flavor, you get that in a tweet from Donald Tusk, Polish

Prime Minister, but not so long ago he was the Commission President of the European Union. And he put it this way, he said, "In Paris, enthusiasm. In Moscow, disappointment. In Kyiv, relief." And that's enough to make Warsaw happy. You know, it's a mixed bag here, Jim.

No question. But you're taken together. You look at the results in the U.K. And again, all politics is local, right? So there are a host of local factors that led to these results. The conservatives out in the U.K., a surprise defeat for the far right in France and Poland only very narrowly, right? The moderates there defeating their own far right party. And there's been so much concern in Europe about the rise of the populist right. Is this a sign that that concern was somewhat overblown?

I think it's a signal that whatever Europe needs to do to be ready for an increasingly popular right, they have a little bit more time. But I don't think anyone is going to, at least in France and probably in Brussels, is going to think that this is all over by far. Look, Marine Le Pen's party came out of this way stronger than the last elections, not quite doubling their vote and their representatives. But

This is significant for them. And, you know, look at the German chancellor as well. You know, he's in a difficult coalition, a fractious coalition. The push to the right in European politics is there and it's real. And if you want to kind of see a real exponent of that, look at Viktor Orban.

who has just taken over, Hungary has taken over presidency within the European Union, six months rotating presidency. What has he done? He went to Kyiv, he went to Moscow, he's just been to Beijing, he'll be pitching up in Washington in a couple of days.

And his message is essentially, you know, let's look at a new path for peace with Russia over Ukraine. And it's not representative of the European position, but he's pushing himself in that position. So the right wing has a real...

ability here to play a destructive role for the unity of NATO, the unity of the European Union and as you know Jim those are the real strong values you have working as a block of countries to overcome you know non-democratic forces in the world. No question of course Orban makes that peace pitch as

Russia has just pummeled Ukraine across the country with this missile attack. Nick Robertson in London, thanks so much. All right, so back here in Washington this week, President Biden will welcome dozens of foreign leaders to the Capitol for the NATO summit. I'm about to host the NATO nations in Washington. We put them together. The world's looking to us. Not a joke. The world is looking to America, not to carry their burden, but to lead their hopes.

Well, the stakes are also high for this president. He is hoping to ease concerns that he's no longer fit to run for reelection. After the first presidential debate last month, CNN reported several foreign diplomats described his performance as, quote, hard to watch. Now on the world stage, his every move will be even more highly scrutinized. My panel is back

good to have you uh sarah with us as well i just wanted from a media standpoint you you had the debate 50 million some odd people watched it you had the abc interview eight million it's a fraction you will have a press conference on thursday at the nato summit for the president here uh which might gather more attention but

Do any of those get the media platform that the debate had for him to show his sharpness, fitness for office, et cetera? No, it's going to be very hard for him to offset that. And I'm looking at foreign coverage right now because you have all these leaders coming in. They want assurance that the NATO alliance remains strong. They have been covering this ad nauseum. The debate performance was front page headline news. Even we have the FT here in front of us today. There's a headline right here about Democrats and Joe Biden.

So they're paying very close attention here because for them, the debate really resonated. They're not watching all the smaller rallies in places like Raleigh here. So the press conference will be big. But, Jim, we want to see unscripted remarks from the president. And typically with these types of press conferences, you have a teleprompter results and then maybe he'll take Q&A from press. We'll be watching to see if he actually does that. I mean, Megan, this is the problem, right? Because you.

Europe was already worried prior to the debate about Biden's chances. They're genuinely concerned about the possibility of a Trump return here. You don't have a lot of opportunities like the debate for him to restore a sense that he's got it all under control here. I just wonder, given the stakes that he himself places on this, he says that this election is for the soul of the country, for the Constitution, for democracy.

Is he the best candidate, right? Is he the best candidate to lead that charge? Yeah, I mean, he has said that. I think that he's met with these world leaders many times. He was just at the G7. He was just in France. He has them all here. He does NATO every year. These leaders are not new. They're not new people to him. They understand who he is. They are very grateful for what he's done for them. He's strengthened NATO by two additional countries. They are doing a lot for Ukraine. They are doing a lot for the strength of NATO. So I just think

The president is doing what everyone has asked him to do. He is out there talking to voters. He is out there taking unscripted questions from reporters. He has a press conference on Thursday. This will all come out in due time, but he is the best person right now. And he has NATO here. And I don't think that we should be, you know, jabbing at the president when we have 30 plus countries coming here on the strength that he has provided for the world. Matt, there is genuine concern in NATO. I've spoken to NATO leaders and officials that if Trump's reelected, he will

take the U.S. out of NATO. And if he doesn't formally take the U.S. out of NATO, there's some questions as to how Congress, what its voice would be in there, that he would effectively defang the alliance by just not coming to the aid of NATO allies if they were, say, attacked by Russia under Article 5. Is that true?

You have to ask them. I mean, I think the New York Times came out with one of their editorial board members yesterday. The Trump team is very proud of the fact they were one of the editorial board members in New York Times agreeing with the Trump campaign on NATO and European allies shouldering more of the burden. And I think when it comes to what I'm expecting from this week is what we've seen a little bit peppered in the coverage of kind of Joe Biden, the fitness is stuff from D-Day, stuff from the past. Does this NATO summit matter?

A new round of leaks, right? We know I was sitting next to Joe Biden at a dinner. I think that is a talk of what I'm kind of hearing from folks around Washington is, does this ignite more stories in that regard? Right. Alex, I mean, listen.

he can have a million opportunities, but if each opportunity doesn't kill the questions, I mean, Joe Biden's not going to change suddenly, right? He's not going to get younger. I just wonder, you know, there's this constant looking for the next chance to dispel concerns that are lasting concerns and frankly building concerns. Yeah, like age is a one-way street. And I think that European leaders, there's two things. One is

European leaders may be concerned, but luckily for Joe Biden, none of them vote in Wisconsin. So the second thing, though, I think the reason they are concerned and you're going to see, I think Matt's right, you're probably going to see more and more leaks. The Wall Street Journal, right after that debate, landed a story with lots of diplomats saying that he seemed unfocused at times and meetings like he was reading from note cards.

And I think European leaders are also looking at post-November because they, I mean, while a lot of them don't want Donald Trump to win, they're also concerned about what does this mean when you have a president who is going to be 86 in 2028? What does that mean for them? Yeah, I mean, this is the ongoing question, right? Because it's a question not just about Sarah Fisher. Is he the best candidate to run now?

Is he the best candidate to run the country for the next four years? Yeah, and that's what a lot of the headlines that I've been reading about in foreign press are trying to get at, particularly as it pertains to NATO. One of the questions that everyone is asking is, Joe Biden has been, you know, a unifier of NATO. Is he...

equipped to be able to continue on that mission four years out. We don't expect this war in Ukraine to decimate anytime soon. And so they're going to need that support. And then the other question is, let's say Joe Biden is not the nominee strong enough to defeat Donald Trump. What does NATO look like in a Trump world? As Matt says, only time will tell. But we do know that pulling back some of that power

support is absolutely on his agenda. And I've spoken to former senior Trump administration officials who've said he will pull out of NATO. We'll see. Thanks so much to our panel. Appreciate you joining us on this Monday morning after the long holiday weekend. Thanks so much to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. CNN News Central starts now.

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