it's unbeatable internet for a more unbeatable gru. i mean, you. hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting live right now from jeddah, saudi arabia. we're covering a raesh pivotal day of talks with president biden president biden and the world leaders from the council, iraq, egypt, and georgia. united emirates here also after the controversial meeting with the saudi crown prince. the president is here for critically important talks. >> and i'm kim brunhuber live at cnn center in atlanta where a

deadly heatwave is baking parts of europe, sparking wildfires along its path. we'll look at what's causing these record-breaking temperatures. it's now noon here in saudi arabia, and the leaders of the gulf cooperation council plus three will soon be gathering for their rather important summit. president biden will be meeting one-on-one this hour with the president of the united arab emirates. earlier he talked with the leaders of egypt and iraq. the summit officially gets under way in the next hour after president biden and others is a assemble for what's called the classic photo, which is expected at the top of the hour.

the brutal murder of journalist jamal khashoggi certainly cast appal. president biden is hoping this trip will help move the two countries forward, while still making clear, he says, that he holds mohammad bin salman, the crown prince, responsible for the killing. here's what he said after meeting with the crown prince in jeddah on friday. >> i made my view crystal clear. i said very straightforwardly, for an american president to be silent on the issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who i am. >> reporter: but some find it difficult, especially the president's critics, to square the president's rhetoric with his greeting the crown prince with a so-called fist bump. it was president biden who labeled saudi arabia during the presidential campaign in the united states a pariah. that was just a couple of years

or so ago. president biden says he doesn't regret the remark, but both men chose to ignore reporters' questions as their meeting started here in jeddah. >> jamal khashoggi, will you apologize to his family, sir? >> president biden, is saudi arabia a pariah? >> reporter: let's bring in our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. she's with me here in jeddah. this is a real delicate and diplomatic dance that the president of the united states has to go through. >> reporter: absolutely. that was his most problematic part of the trip. the white house thought the political cost was worth it because they think they need to be able to work with saudi arabia. and, of course, it was the president's own words that made that so awkward and an interesting meeting that everyone was paying attention to to see how they were going to handle that. you saw president come out pretty late in jeddah to explain what happened in the meeting.

there are differing accounts because the president said he did bring up the murder of jamal khashoggi not at the end but at the top to share his views. the saudi said it wasn't as contentious as biden framed it because biden said he believes he was responsible for the killing. that's each side saying their own spin about what happened and how they believe the meecting went, the u.s. and the saudis some of this wasn't the most controversial part of the trip. he's got these meetings with other world leaders today. it's going to be focused on oil production and iran. and you'll see president biden lay out basically his mission statement for the middle east. >> he made that statement. he met with reporters and read a prepared statement, highlighting what he called the achievements that occurred during the course of the meetings so far, and that was a previously unscheduled media event.

>> it was. it was more what they accomplished and making sure he put his side of the story out there. he made sure to put out photos quick. they were the ones who captured the fist bump at the beginning of the meeting. the achievement, there were some already in the works. some of them were modest, but some are significant, including the one they announced before he arrived here, which was opening the saudi airspace so commercial flights could come here. that's a big deal. the other is cease-fire in yemen, the red sea fire. there are things they're pointing to where they say, this is, we believe, the biggest thing. it's the fact this meeting happened and now the relationship can go forward. that's really what they wanted to accomplish. >> they keep stressing how concerned their are if the u.s. were to withdraw for the middle east, there would be a vacuum, and russia and china could fill that vacuum. >> they're concerned that's already happened.

look what's happening with russia and iran. russian officials visited iran in recent weeks to look at some of their equipment, equipment that the national security adviser in the u.s., jake sullivan, warns they're pretending to send to russia to use in ukraine. >> those u.s. concerns are very, very significant indeed. all right. kaitlan, don't go too far. our kaitlan collins, chief white house correspondent. mean wheel jamal khashoggi's killing back in 2019 remain as very hard issue. the report was concluded that the crown prince was most likely behind it. saudi officials consider the matter completely closed. i spoke yesterday with the saudi minister of state for foreign affairs. listen to this. >> i don't believe that was specified in those terms, one. number two, it was an assessment.

number three, we know what the intelligence community's assessment was with regard to the mass destruction. the kingdom held those responsible for it accountable, and they're paying the price of the crime they committed a we speak. we investigated, we punished, and wu put in place procedures to ensure this doesn't happen again. this is what countries do in situations like this. this is what the u.s. did when the mistake of abu ghraib was committed. this is what the u.s. and others in situations that involve combat operations or involve any situation where somebody transgresses or makes a mistake. >> the saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, ade llal jabeer speaking to me yesterday. let's head over to some other top stories, kim. >> thanks, wolf.

the military stepping up plans across the board. they're all coming under rocket or artillery fire saturday morning. some are still reeling from similar strikes the day before. dnipro was hit by a barrage of rockets yesterday that killed at least two people. left three elderly people dead. ukraine says it pushed back to gain more ground in the donbas region, and that includes repelling an attack aimed at a strategic highway. scott mclean joins us live from kyiv. let's start with the latest attack in odesa. what more can you tell us? >> hey, kim, yeah. my colleague, ivan watson, has managed to get to the scene. he said the air raid sirens had

gone off in the industrial airy in speaking to the folks in the residential areas nearby. they're not being allowed to get close to that area, so it's hard to know what was hit, other than some kind of industrial site. but the reality is odesa has been a popular target for russian missiles especially over the last couple of months because russian troops have not been able to get anywhere close to the actual city, and that's because the city of mykolaiv nearby has really been a brick wall for russian forces attempting to push further eastwards. so mykolaiv, the russians not really able to make progress on the ground, have shelled it relentlessly. the local mayor saying of 142 days of war, there have only been 21 days of quiet with no shelling inside of the city. they had shelling yesterday at a university. they had more this morning. they're still trying to figure out exactly what's been hit and what kind of casualties there are. you mentioned the rocket strikes elsewhere. dnipro a popular target now.

officials saying a total of 57 rockets as of late have been fired in the direction of the city. the one bright spot for ukrainians for the moment is the situation in the east seems to be stabilized or stable at the moment. the russians took the entire region of luhansk. now they're trying to quickly capture donetsk. they're trying to surround the region from three sides, the south, the north, and the east as well. the ukrainians say the front lines have not changed at all. they've managed to keep them off the highway reend pelled whatever has come there way, but it seems the russians are still able to lob bombs at the towns and villages on the other side of the front line. >> absolutely. scott, that horrific attack in

vinnytsia. what's the latest on the victims? >> reporter: 21 people are confirmed to have died. there are still eight people who are missing. they managed to identify 1 of them. most of them were identified through dna. the bodies have been burned beyond recognition in many cases. so yesterday i was at a hospital, and i saw two women outside the doors, very upset, crying. of course, the hospital, this kind of thing happens all the time. they wouldn't speak on camera, but i did manage to speak with them briefly, and they said they had gone around to all of the hospitals in the region looking for their missing relative, and this was the final stop. this was their final hope to actually find them alive, hoping they had ended up at this hospital and didn't manage to get in touch with anyone. they weren't there. that's why they were so upset in that moment. they assume their body is somewhere within the rubble,

somewhere that is probably destroyed beyond recognition. there are dogs on site going through, looking for any kind of human remains, but considering the damage that was done to the building and nearby buildings and pavement between them, even the parking lot between them, you have to imagine that any human body in close proximity to where those missiles actually landed is not going to be in good shape. that is the sad reality of what's happened in vinnytsia. remember there are children who are victims among them. >> heartbreaking. scott mclean, thanks so much. well, a new first in the 2020 election probe. coming up on "cnn newsroom," the january 6 committee sets its sients the u.s. secret service over missing text messages. we'll have details on that in a moment. plus, scores of migrants are arriving at the border of mexico. we'll have details why that's

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service for information about text messages that were later arrested. cnn's jessica sni snyder has th latest. >> reporter: he briefed all nine committee members on his claim that the secret service erased text messages from january 5th to 6th, 2021. now that the committee has heard his take, they want to talk to the secret service is. >> one of the things we want to make sure is what the secret service is saying and the a.g. is saying is that those two issues are one in the same. >> reporter: the inspector general said he raised questions with alejandro mayorkas more than once, bun ultimately turned to congress saying many cease caret service text going add ups of jan 6, 2021, were replaced as part of a device erasing

program. they'll raced the questions after oig raised questions. they quickley shot back saying the loss of text data was part of routine phone replacement. the insinuation that they'll -- they'll raced text messages is false. they did it after migration was well underway. the secret service notified the oig of it but confirmed to oig none of the texts it was seeking was lost to migration. the secret service said they have been cooperating, handing over 800,000 emails andover 8,000 of the agency's chat messages. cassidy hutchinson testified last movement she was a top aid to white house chief of staff mark meadows, and she recounted

how she was told by dech put chief of staff that he lunged at the suv and tried to force his detail to take him to the capitol. >> the president reached up toward the front to grab the steering wheel. he grabbed his arm and said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. >> reporter: there was a cooperation of details. >> mr. trump then used his free hand to lunge toward bobby engel. and when the story was recounted to me, he reached toward his clavicles. >> reporter: one official telling cnn the agents dispute hutchinson's account. but hutchinson's lawyer says she stands by her testimony. >> if people want to come

forward, we would encourage them to testify under oath. that's very different and that putting out anonymous statements. >> reporter: the committee has announced plans for a third and final hearing at k p.m. it will focus on those minutes when trump was out of view. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. georgia's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election is now focusing on top state republicans. georgia's republican parties chairman david schaefer has received a target letter from fulton county's district attorney, warning him that he may be indicted. schaefer helped organize fake electors in the staff. shafer has also faced inquiries from federal investigators and the house select committee.

the investigation was triggered after former president donald trump's infamous phone call to the secretary of georgia's state to find more votes, and here's part of that call. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. >> democrats are hoping to expand their senate majority in midterm elections this fall since the senate's 50/50 split means every lawmaker carries outsized weight. joe manchin represents west virginia, which voted overwhelmingly for president trump in 2016 and 2020. in an interview on friday, manchin said he told senate majority leader chuck schumer he won't support climate provisions or tax packages at all. here he is. >> i said, chuck, until we see

the july inflation figures, until we see the july -- basically federal reserve rates, interest rates, then let's wait until that comes out so we know that we're going down a path that won't be inflammatory to add to inflation. he said, are you telling me you won't do it right now. i said, chuck, it's wrong, it's not prudent to do the other right now. >> manchin said he's open to adjusting prescription drug prices. manchin sees the federal spending as the main driver of inflation and won't support climate or energy provisions or tax increases. parts of the u.s. border with mexico are being overwhelmed by migrants seeking asylum in the united states, and unlike past years, they're not mainly from mexico and central america. cnn's priscilla alvarez has more from yuma, arizona. >> reporter: mass migration is

landing at the u.s. doorstep. with conditions getting worse that their country of origin, migrants are appearing in droves, relieved across the border. sometimes the situation at home eliminates any possibilities, she says. in this part of the border, u.s. authorities arrest up to 1,000 migrants daily. the influx is an alarming trend, made even more difficult by the nationals of the people crossing the border. here past midnight in yuma, hundreds of migrants have already crossed into the u.s. and turned themselves over to border patrol. they come from a range of countries, including as far as rus russia. and they all, after speaking with them, have said the same thing. they're looking for a better life here in the united states. the situation was described as dyn dynamic. >> we were having countries cou

were receiving. those now are flying in, arriving to the border, and they're having to be processed, and there's just so many of them, it's posing a challenge to the work force. >> reporter: authorities can turn back migrants at the southwest border, back to mexico or their home countries under the trump era rule, tight 482. that isn't complied with with everyone. they might be released wheel going through immigration proceedings. >> we continue with technology and resources not only for our agents but in the mission of the surveillance systems. and we continue to add to the processing and humane care of the migrants in custody, wraparound medical services, food contracts to make sure we have plenty of food to be able to take care of those in custody. >> reporter: the pace of people

journeying north presents a steep challenge for president biden and one he raised with mexico's president this week. >> one of those is migration. it's at historic levels throughout our hemisphere. here's what we're going to do to address it together. >> reporter: the u.s. has looked to countries further south for help, including costa rica where many migrants travel through. an agreement between the two obtained by cnn outlines commitment commitments. biden continues to face political pressure from r&bs who say he's not doing enough. arizona governor eric doocy signed papers. he's sent 25 buss with migrate grants to washington, d.c. even so, people continue to come, with hope of a new life on

the horizon. the yuma sector chief tells me in the coming days they anticipate they'll reach 250,000 arrests just in this sector. so far this fiscal year, that would surpass all of the last fiscal year. priscilla alvarez, cnn p, yuma, arizona. day two of president biden's journey is well on the way. we'll take you live for the latest. stay with us. i get powerful, effective and safe relief. salonpas. it's good medicine. waxed. natural. sensitive. new dove ultimate antiperspirant. our unique water based formula and 6x more glycerin. helps restore skin to its best condition. new dove ultimate. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated

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from jeddah in saudi arabia. u.s. president joe biden is here in saudi arabia as leaders of the gulf cooperation council plus three began gathering here in jeddah. the so-called class photo is expected to be taken near the top of the hour. we'll, of course, share ta photo with you. the summit follows a rather eventful day on friday when president biden said he directly challenged the saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman on the murder of jamal khashoggi in 2019. denied direct involvement. listen to this. >> i made my view crystal clear. i said very straightforwardly, for an american president to be silent on human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who i am. >> the president's remarks came after rather fierce criticism of this photo showing two men greeting here in jeddah with a

fist bump. it was president biden who labeled saudi arabia a pariah just a few years ago during his presidential campaign in the united states. i want to bring in our cnn international correspondent, nic robertson. he's here in saudi arabia. how do you think they handled this controversy over jamal khashoggi and that murder? >> mbs could have met president biden inside the royal palace and we wouldn't have seen the greeting. he got the fist bump shot. that's what the saudis wanted. people will remember this. president biden says we may see a benefit, we may see oil come down at the gas pumps. the saudis have pushed back on the notion that they'll give gas for security in the region. but, of course, security is the other part that's come up here. one of the gains here, president biden outlined it last night,

saudi is going to invest in u.s. technology, 5g, 6 g cellphone networks. why is that important? remember the conversation, the former trump administration said? you can't buy your equipment from china. it's not safe. that looks like a longer term commitment to a security partnership with the united states now. the saudis already buy a lot of chinese high-tech equipment. how does that look? we don't know. but these are accoindicators, i think, something to build on. >> it's also interesting the united states is here for the ggc summit plus three. united emirates, bahrain, these other countries, plus jordan, egypt, and iraq.

that could have implications as well. >> president biden has tried to build this security alignment around iran and the threat of getting nuclear weapons. saudi's position sit wants that deterrence in what iran wants in terms of nuclear weapons and the threats. in yemen here a few months ago, iran backed houthi rebels. there's a reality for the saudis. when he meets with the other leaders like he met already with the prime minister of iraq, the message there was, you know, he doesn't want to get into a security alliance that could threaten iran. his meeting with mohammed bin laden, it's the same there. it's a range of views. we all know how hard it is to get consensus in the middle

east. where is he going to be able to land the security package? for the saudis, it's going to be a lot harter. >> i think it's sig can't for those who have covered the middle east like you and me for a long time. the new deal, the president was involved, saudis are directly involved. handing over a couple of islands egypt controlled since camp davgsd going way back, handing over criminal to the saudis right now. israelis are on board. this is something they're ready to accept. >> i think president biden really framed this in his press cons cotton frens. i would add to the fact that saudi arabia is allowing all commercial airlines to fly over saudi arabia, including israel. he himself flew directly from israel. both steps on these islands where israel has a security interest as well.

saudi has given some ground on the over flights and israel has given some ground. these strategic islands, the mouth of the red sea, and suez canal. it's important who controls those. both sides have made concessions. president biden listed these as the top of his gain last night. this, i think, shows a path forward, but it's going to be a long path. >> i thought it was significant as far as israel was concerned. in the interview i had with adel al zs. > > > > jaber, he said they were close to normalizing but he linked it directly to israel with a two-state solution.

he said then it won't be a problem for the saudis to do so. i thought that was significant in the course of the interview, that the saudis were linking a two-state solution to the normalization with israel. >> the problem with that at the moment is they don't think there's an israeli leader who can deliver that. that's one of the big issues about getting into this improved relationship scenario, leadership, and also the position they have to take, the king's custodian of the two sites in islam. that carries a lot of baggage and influence in the region. they've got to get the mood and temperature right so they would have to -- among the wider muslim world that have always felt passionate about the palestinian issue, although i have to say here in the gulf, it's becoming less so. it needs to be a partner in israel that's really going to be able to deliver. >> linking progress on the palestinian front to normalization of relations,

significant for the saudis, apparently not so significant for other gulf countries like the united arab emirates and bac bahrain. >> millions of people come here. people come here. this is something that -- i say carries a lot of baggage. for them to take a step in the muslim world, it would seem to be breaking with what the majority of muslims around the world, ran than their countries here in the gulf. in the leadership, there's a genuine feeling the palestinians need to catch up with the reality and the world, which is the position, i think, that the uae has very clearly stated. for the saudis to do that, they have to remember what the rest of -- what the wider muslim world feels, and that sentiment about palestinians is not the

same. >> yeah. it is significant that the saudis have agreed to allow israeli arab muslims to fly directly from there to saudi arabia. that's a major breakthrough as well. nic robertson will continue our coverage for what's going on. that does it for me in this hour from jeddah. swreel a lot more coverage. there's a lot going on. in the meantime, let's head to tlarn for other top stories, kim? >> thanks so much, wolf. a war behind the front lines that's turning food into a weapon. wheat fields are on fire, raising concerns millions could gogo hungry around the c countr. stay with us. ... and move toward relief after ththe first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infectitions, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb.

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wheat fields on fire sparked by russia's shelling. if ukraine doesn't score an export, tens of millions around the world could struggle to put food on the table they're scrambling to save whatever they can. >> reporter: a war against one of the biggest bread baskets in the world, ukraine's fertile farmland now a battleground. exclusive footage obtained by cnn shows russia's artillery pounding the wheat fields, burning the harvest can to charcoal black. farmers race to protect their crops. until the invasion, ukraine was the fifth largest exporter of wheat. this looks like some kind of munition over here. now ukrainians are harvesting a deadly cross. he says these are pieces of russian rockets that they

gathered out of the field. he takes me on a tour of his farm. he'll show us. >> that's another shell strike. >> reporter: acres of wheat waiting to be harvested within earshot of pounding russian artillery. this is absolutely surreal. we're amid the wreckage of previous battles. armored personnel carriers, military vehicles, and you've got farmers out here harvesting wheat right now. the vehicles that have been destroyed here, this could have happened back in march, february, much earlier, but we're also seeing these impact craters from shell strikes that we're told probably took place within the last couple of weeks. despite the threats, these brave farmers still bring in their harvest, only to face another obstacle. this is 3,000 tons of wheat from

last year's harvest. he can't sell this wheat because the russian military has blockaded ukraine's ports, so there's no way for this to be sold except at an enormous loss. ukrainian ports where ships once carried millions of tons of grains to market are now blockaded by the russian navy. the logjam pushing up food prices. last month, the ukrainian military forced russian troops to abandon ukraine's snake island in the black sea. the snake island victory freed up channels to the danube river. ukraine activated soviet arab ports on this waterway as an

alternative drought for the export of grain. but exports warn the river could only handle a fraction of ukraine's prewar cargo. this week ukrainian/russian meetings reached a principle. but, ukrainian farmers continue to face deadly threats on land, making it too risky for many to plant crops for next year. this front line farmer vows not to give up. our soldiers are fighting and dying to get rid of these occupiers, he says. we need to feed our country, the soldiers, and help the whole world with our food. that's why we'll keep working. he calls his farm the second front in this deadly war. i i van watson, cnn, southern

ukraine. united nations is optimistic talks could lead to a deal on exports of food. turkey says follow-up talks is to continue next week. they want to export food through the black sea, which would bring food to millions worldwide who otherwise wouldn't get it. the u.n. secretary-general called the progress a sign of hope. >> we have seen a critical step, a step forward, to ensuring the safe and secure export of ukrainian food products through the black sea. in a world darkened by world crisis, we have at last ary of hope, a ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world, a ray of hope to support developing countries and the most vulnerable people. a ray of hope to bring much needed stability to the global food system. >> but if any deal is reached,

can russia be trusted to keep its side of the bargain? i spoke with a former ukrainian government minister. here he is. >> russia seems to be targeting farm fields. they've been accused of stealing and reselling ukrainian crops. in our reports, russia has been waging a war on wheat. is that how you see it? >> that's correct. they also target infrastructure as well as longisticss by the shelling from the south. they took away the equipment t farmers' equipment. >> so right now, aside from what you said, from the targeting of fields, the dangers that farmers face as well, there's also the problem what to do with the

products because of russia's blockade of the black seaports. but there's news as i mentioned now, there's hope of a deal with ukraine, russia, and turkey the allow ukraine to export grain from those seaports. so how close are we, do you think, to an actual deal here? >> i'm more optimistic than a ago. i talked to the government, some officials who i informed about the process or progress of it, but there's actually a realistic hope. >> ukrainian president zelenskyy said some 25 mill ion grains ar held up because of the blockade. we'll have details from the cnn weather center ahead. stay with us. rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look off fifine lines in 1-week, deepep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neneutrogena®

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forcing evacuations in portugal. firefighters have been battling almost a dozen active fires. health authorities say around 240 deaths between july 7th and 13th are likely caused by the heatwave. spanish officials say it's believed at least 84 people are thought to be dead because of sweltering temperatures. they think the death toll will rise. scientists have a dire warning. the fires and heatwaves we see now may be only the beginning. >> reporter: with each leaping flame, nature's full wrath on display. a warming planet facing the consequences. fires raging throughout southern europe and into north africa. thousands of hectares scored as thousands of firefighters throughout the region struggle to fight the high winds to rapidly contain the spreading

danger. the extreme heat and drought fuelling what scientists say is a sign of the effects of climate change. >> one of the things that we're seeing increasingly is not only that we get extreme heat and drought or extreme floods, but they stay in the same location day after day. so you are subject to that deadly heat for multiple days. >> reporter: in france, president emmanuel macron visiting an emergency command center after thousands were evacuated from their homes to escape the blaze. >> translator: we already have three times more forests burned than in 20, and we have a spring that has been very dry and fires that have spread with force. >> reporter: temperatures peepeak above 45 degrees celsius in spain and port gal on thursday, and dire warnings for the weeks

to come. the office issuing its first ever red heat warning for monday and tuesday. residents are flocking to beaches and whatever they can to escape the stifling heat. that threat turns deadly for at-risk populations like the elderly and the homeless. and this spain, farmers struggling to save their livelihoods, the drought wiping out grains and other crops, adding to food shortages amid rising inflation. >> translator: depending on the areas and lands, some have resisted it better than others. it will be a loss of 30% to 40%, and in some areas of this progressive vince, we're talking 60%, 70%, 80th loss. >> reporter: as the mercury climbs, scientists warning without addressing the climate crisis, weather events like this will grow more common and more extreme. >> translator: we ask ourselves,

how is this going to end? either we will see a water shortage or a desert. >> >> translator: it's not so much for us but our children and grandchildren. >> reporter: the growing population aware of how uncertain the future may be. isa soares, cnn, london. >> that wraps up this hour of cnn. i'm kim brunhuber. "cnn ncnn "new day" begins next. please stay with cnn.

buenos dias, good morning, and welcome to your weekend. we're grateful to have you on new day. it's saturday, july 16th. i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm kristin fisher. thanks so much for joining us. it's great to see you in person, boris, for once. >> it's a busy day. >> indeed. we begin with president biden's effort to turn the page on relations with saud