cnn's arlette saenz is traveling with the president. arlette, what is on schedule here?reporter: well, president biden will arrive here at 10 downstairsing street in literally just a short while. they just rolled out the carpet for him. it will mark the sixth meeting that president biden will have had with rishi sunak in months. the two men are expected to talk ahead of that conference in lithuania starting tomorrow. they will be discussing included on their agenda is discusses on the war in ukraine. the hallmark has been providing that support and assistance to ukraine throughout this war. but the meeting that president biden is having here today does come at a pivotal time as the president just approved sending controversial cluster munitions to ukraine. that is a type of weaponry that is opposed by over 100 countries, including the united kingdom. rishi sunak, just over the weekend, stated how the uk has signed on to a ban that prohibits the use of cluster munitions. now, the white house has tried to downplay by type of rift with allies saying there are different ways

arlette saenz on the ground for us in vilnius.with us. >> a lot going on this tuesday morning. let's bring in former deputy director of national intelligence beth saner and david sanger will be joining us from lithuania in just a moment. dave, we'll talk to you soon. beth, short of getting an invitation to nato, president biden ruled out. what does success look like for this nato summit and for ukraine? >> well, the nato summit itself is absolutely historic in terms of bringing in finland and now bringing in sweden. but i think at the end of the day, the real success here is having a positive view coming out, a view of inspiration and hope coming out and not one of just utter disappointment that they haven't been able to thread that needle between ukrainian -- ukraine not getting an invitation and ukraine getting some kind of security guarantee. and that's really the issue on the table today. >> david, i was heartened when i was listening to your stellar colleague ben hubbard last hour talk about how he was surprised when turkey s

. >> arlette saenz is in helsinki traveling with the president. arlette, you had a chance to ask a question yourself, but what was your thoughts of the reactions of the two presidents? >> well, i think that president biden once again tried to stress the unity of the nato alliance, and he was specifically asked a question about the political differences within the u.s., and how he can guarantee that the u.s. would stand by nato, and that is a reference to the fact that the president is running for re-election, and there could be a change of power coming in 2024, but the president is trying to stress that the u.s. would continue to nato allies throughout the process that is ahead of them, and he reiterated support for ukraine, but i have been asking the president about things specifically happening within russia, and the disarray of the generals, and the recent rebellion of prigozhin, and one thing that is noteworthy, they don't know where prigozhin is at this moment, and when i asked him about the possibility that it could drive putin to take greate

arlette saenz, thank you.ar from president biden at the top of the hour and we'll of course bring you those remarks to you just as soon as they happen and "cnn this morning" will be covering that. >>> got your credit card ready? you might need it as amazon prime day is under way for the next two days. prime day started in 2015 to celebrate their 20th birthday. deal hunters will find everything from tvs and head phones to humidifiers and vacuum cleaners. let's bring in senior editor at cnet. good morning. so what are your top tips for people at home? >> feels like it is black friday in the middle of summer, but yeah, this is something that you will find sales everywhere. it can feel like an avalanche of deals. so take a breath. you don't have to go so fast. and i would say the big thing is have a game plan in mind. it feels like everything has a sale. but you want to go in getting things you might already need like back to school shopping, you have birthdays coming up, you can get a lot of good tech on sale. so

. >> arlette saenz has been traveling with the president in lithuania. arlette, this was a victorious tone for the president here. a united nato. they're getting sweden in, which they've been trying for a year. is that the view of the allies, that they came together, showed their unity, got what they wanted out of the summit? >> reporter: well, i think among the g7 allies you're seeing that show of unity towards ukraine and from nato allies as well. there were differences throughout the summit about how concrete of a timeline that should be offered to ukraine for joining nato. ultimately what we saw throughout the summit is this unwai unwaviering support for ukraine. in that speech president biden insisted that the u.s. and its allies would support ukraine for the long haul. he didn't make reference to the tensions bubbling up at the summit, nor did he get into specifics about the agreement that g7 leaders have had to establish bilateral security commitments for ukraine. he also in that sound bite tried to send a pointed message to putin. the nato allianc

arlette saenz traveling with the president in helsinki. what is the president looking to do with this visit? >> reporter: president biden is wrapping up his foreign trip here in helsinki, newest member of the nato alliance, another effort to have united show of force to signify the strength of the nato alliance amid russia's war in ukraine. finland shares about an 800 mile land border with russia. and while the president is here, he will be meeting with the president of finland and then heading to a meeting with leaders of five nordic countries including sweden. of course there is a big win for both sweden and president biden earlier in the week when turkey made the surprise reversal to drop their objections to sweden joining the nato alliance. president biden told reporters as he was heading over here that he believed there was cynicism about whether he would be able to convince erdogan to allow li. so of course he views this as a big win. and they wanted to enter the alliance given their close proximity to russia. and additionally one th

arlette saenz has more.en administration is taking new steps to offer relief to some student loan borrowers with some borrowers seeing their payments go as little as zero dollars per month. this was ruled not a website opening up applications during a test period for the latest version of the income-driven student loan repayment plan that the administration is calling the safe plan. now, this would apply to those who have federal student loans. private student loans are not part of this. it applies to current loan holders as well as future borrowers as well. this plan is based on income and family size. and the department of education is estimating that 1 million borrowers could potentially see their payments go to zero dollars per month. this will be based on discretionary income. so that money that you have after paying your taxes and also other living expenses. and individuals making $32,805 or less and families of four making $65,000 they would receive monthly payments down to zero. another interesting c

following it all from lithuania's white house correspondent arlette saenz. ing into this meeting. president biden told zakaria last week that he believes ukraine is not ready to join nato. what is the white house saying about what tomorrow's meeting is going to look like, if any efforts president biden is going to make to smooth this over? >> caitlin, ukrainian president zelenskyy really turned up the heat on nato allies, exposing one of the differences that exist within the alliance. heading into that meeting tomorrow, president biden is hoping to put some of that tension behind that and focus on what the u.s. can offer ukraine in the here and now and also down the road. officials here in lithuania have been talking about the fact that president biden will talk and present some ideas of how the u.s. can offer long term commitments, including on security assistance, to ukraine. do not just help them fight this war against russia, but also to deter further aggression from russia in the future. really, there's so much of the summit that has been trying to send

cnn's arlette saenz has more. >> reporter: the biden administration administration is taking some stepssome student loan borrowers with some borrowers potentially seeing their deal go as low as zero dollars a month. and it's in a baieta website foa test period of replacement that the administration is calling the s.a.v.e. plan. this would apply to those who have federal student loans. private student loans are not part of this. it applies to current holders and future as well. this plan is based on income and family size. and the department of education is estimating that 1 million borrowers could potentially see their payments go to zero dollars per month. this is discretionary income, so that money you have after paying your taxes and other living expenses. and individuals makes $32,805 or less. and families of four making $67,500 or less they would see their monthly payments wiped out to zero. another interesting component to the plan, as you're paying off the student debt, the interest would no longer accrue on those federal loans. now others when this plan goes into full effect nex

cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz is joining us right now from helsinki fi, finland. l arlette, does the president feel he accomplished his goals. >> reporter: president biden told reporters he did feel he accomplished the goals he set out to meet as he traveled here to the nato summit over the course of the past week, and he argued he comes out of the summit with a strengthened nato alliance, and also an alliance that has boosted their support around ukraine. president biden made his final stop here in helsinki, finland, which is really a show of s symbolism and force against russia's war in ukraine, especially when you consider that finland is the newest ally of the nato alliance. the president met with sweden, which is soon expected to join the alliance, now that turkey dropped its objections to its entrance. president biden in a wide-ranging press conference stressed that while there had been tension at the summit about a pathway for membership into nato for ukraine, he believes the future is in the nato alliance. he does not think that the war russia is waging aga

cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz is covering the summit in vilnius, lithuania. heading into a critical face-to-face meeting between the two presidents, biden and zelenskyy? >> reporter: yeah, john, zelenskyy made his frustrations clear hours before he even set foot here in vilnius, lithuania. tomorrow, all eyes will be on that sit-down between president biden and ukrainian president zelenskyy. officials say going into that meeting, the president plans to discuss the u.s. long-term commitments that they can make towards ukraine as they're looking to help boost ukraine in its war against russia and also deter further aggression by russia at a time when ukraine remains out of the nato alliance. president biden arrived at the nato summit hoping to project strength through unity, but now facing a major rift. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy speaking to a crowd of thousands in vilnius. >> the ukrainian battle flag -- >> reporter: seeking a clear roadmap for his country to join nato. >> translator: i would like the summit to become a total assurance of the decis

we'll begin with arlette saenz, she's in lithuania. can you bring us up to speed on this meeting that will happen shortly between biden and zelenskyy? >> yes. we do expect president biden and ukrainian president zelenskyy to sit down for the first time for a private meeting here at the nato summit in just a short while. right before that, we're anticipating the president and other g7 leaders will be appearing at an event to roll out what they've described as the joint declaration regarding ukraine. officials say that this will include the u.s. and other g7 countries laying out long-term commitments they are making towards ukraine, security assurances they're offering them to help them defend themselves in the current war but also defend themselves and deter future aggression that they could face from russia. this all comes as there had been so much tension heading into this summit around the prospect of nato seeking -- of ukraine seeking membership into nato. the communique that was released by the nato alliance yesterday fell short of

. >> cnn's arlette saenz is in helsinki for us. the invasion of ukraine looming very large over this entire trip. >> reporter: yeah. it really has, brianna. president biden tried to use this trip to have this show of force against russia, not just by stressing the strength of the nato alliance, but also trying to secure more support for ukraine throughout. the president, of course, that summit did get off to a bit of a tension after president zelenskyy voiced his displeasure with some of the items he has seen regarding whether nato would set a timeline for ukraine's entry into the alliance or what pathway they might create for that. ultimately the president was able to put aside some of these concerns and again, here in that press conference in helsinki, he stressed that the u.s., and its allies do see a future for ukraine within the nato alliance. the president also had some very tough words for russian president vladimir putin. he views the war against ukraine as having backfired on putin, partially based on the fact that they we

cnn's arlette saenz joins us live from london. can you walk us through the president's agenda for the trip and his priorities? >> yeah, jim. president biden will kick things off here in london tomorrow where he will meet with british prime minister rishi sunak before heading twindsor castle for anagement with king charles. this will be the first time the two men are meeting since the king's coratn in may. they are expected to discuss climate issu which are a key priority for king charles. after the meetings in e ited kingdom, the president will tra lithuania, and then travel on the finland, to welcome and offer support to nato's newest member country. but really, that nato summit will be the centerpiece of president biden's trip here to europe. and at the top of the discussion, there will be russia's war in ukraine. the president is hoping that he can once again build and strength support and unity around ukraine and continue to secure these long-term security commitments to assist ukraine going forward. and additionally, one issu

cnn's arlette saenz is traveling just ahead of the president's arrival, already there in london.hat is first on the president's agenda? >> reporter: well, fred, president biden will arrive here in london in just a few hours. and tomorrow he will meet with british prime minister rishi sunic before heading over to windsor castle for an engagement with king charles. the first time the two will be meeting since his coronation in may. one of the issues they're expected to discuss is climate change, a key priority and portfolio for the monarch. after this visit here to the united kingdom, president biden will head to lithuania, home to this year's nato summit. that is real the centerpiece of president biden's trip. he will then tl on to finland where he will meet with the country's president as well as nordic leader. but at the nato summit, really the war -- russia's war against ukraine will be the key focus, as the nato alliance wants to once again sure up their support for the war-storn country. also up for debate is the possible road map for ukraine to potentially join nato down the

cnn's arlette saenz joins us with these new details.his plan is a response, of course, to the supreme court striking down biden's student debt forgiveness. so this is a new way to repay. explain. >> yeah, paula, the biden administration is trying to offer a new step, a new relief to certain federal student loan borrowers by launching this beta website. this is just a test period for this website. but student borrowers can go in and subm tir applications now. who exactly would qualify fo this plan? it would apply to currend future federaldent loan borrowers. private loans arnot a part of the repayment plan, and the plan would be based on people's incomes and their faly size. the department of education is estimating around a million people could potentially have their payments go down to zero each mon based on this plan. it will be based on discretionary income. that's tome you have after you payo taxes and other living expenses. and justo give you an ideaho would qualify for that zero dollar monthly payment, it would making $32,805 or l

we have team coverage, nic robertson and arlette saenz are outside downing street. tte, let's start with you with this meeting with the uk prime minister. what do we expect to come from this? >> reporter: pamela, president biden is meeting at this moment in 10 do you think with british prime minister rishi sunak. the president telling reporters that they have a rock solid relationship, so much of the relationship between biden and sunak hassan turd around the war in ukraine. officials say this will give them an opportunity to discuss the war in ukraine and also further the support that they can offer, but it also comes as president biden recently approved sending controversial cluster munitions to ukraine, a decision that puts him at odds with many allies, including the united kingdom. the concern about these cluster munitions is that they can scatter bomblets over large areas and can pose significant threat to civilians. president biden in an interview with fareed zakaria explained the reasoning for why he decided to send those munitions at this moment. >> it was a

arlette saenz live for us. we appreciate it. >> a lot is riding on the trip including the nato alliance and whether countries like sweden and ukraine should become members of nato. joining us with more on this is retired general wesley clark, former nato supreme allied commander. general, what do you think about this issue of admitting sweden into nato? it sounds as though from listening to our fareed zakaria's conversation with president biden that the president is trying to craft some kind of a deal to get erdogan to green light, sweden joining the nato alliance. do you think nato will get over this hurdle and sweden will be admitted? >> sounds like the president believes he can do that. it sounds like the f-16s are on the table, and this may be the leverage that we need and may be what turkey is looking for and why they're withholding support right now. so there will be some closed-door meetings, but i think this is greater than a 50/50s than. >> and president biden says the war with russia must end before n

arlette saenz is live at 10 downing street and max foster is standing by at windsor castle. arlette, let's kick it off with you this morning. what are you hearing about biden's meeting with sunak? >> reporter: president biden spent about 40 minutes at 10 do you think to meet with british prime minister rishi sunak. the president described their conversation and their relationship saying that they have an incredibly strong bond. really that bond and connection has been built around the u.s. and the uk's continued unity and support for ukraine during its war against russia. this comes as the president is set to head to the nato summit, so this meeting between biden and sunak gave him an opportunity to kind of consult ahead of that meeting of the nato alliance and it also came just a few days after president biden approved sending controversial cluster munitions to ukraine. a move that puts him at odds with many allies within nato, including the united kingdom. sunak has noted that the uk is one of over 100 countries that has signed on to a convention that prohibits the producti

arlette saenz skocooped this fo us yesterday live in rehoboth beach.hings started with five things to know for this monday, july 31st. in just hours, a mar-a-lago maintenance worker accused of telling another employee that, quote, the boss wanted security footage deleted is set to appear in court. former president trump denies directing staffers to delete anything. >> in the middle of all of this, trump extends his primary poll dominance and it really is dominance. 54% of likely republican voters say that he is their pick. this is according to a "new york times"/siena college poll. just 17% want desantis and it is low single digits for the rest

cnn's arlette saenz at nato summit in lithuania as they hail his role as a legacy making achievement. >> reporter: president biden arrived at the nato summit hoping to project strength through unity but now facing a major rift. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy speaking to a crowd of thousands in vilnius, seeking a clear road map for his country to join nato. >> translator: i would like this summit to become a total assurance of the decisions that we deserve. nato will give ukraine security. ukraine will make nato stronger. >> reporter: nato's secretary-general proposing a simplified entry process for ukraine, but a communique from nato allies tonight falls short of offering zelenskyy any time line to enter the alliance. >> we will issue an invitation for ukraine to join nato when allies agree and conditions are met. >> reporter: zelenskyy put nato allies on blast in a tweet, stating it's unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for ukraine's membership. uncertainty is weakness. president biden came into the summit saying ukraine was not

temperatures yesterday. >> and san antonio and phoenix so hard hit in the last three weeks, and arlette saenzthe white house for us. >>> and republican leader mitch mcconnell is back on the hill today after he froze mid sentence. and today, no signs of any aftereffects, and we have learned that he has fallen multiple times this year. chief correspondent manu raju is on the hill right now. and manu, this is your reporting as well, but of course, mitch mcconnell is speaking today. >> yeah, he is, but he is not answering any questions about what exactly happened yesterday. i asked him about that at the press conference yesterday, and he did freeze for some time, and came back to answer questions about a fall that was highly publicized where he did hit his head and broke some rib, and he was out for some week, and he did not explain the root cause of that fall. but i have heard that there are two more falls, one of which occurred in february in hel sin ski wh t senate president fell and got back up, and continued with the meeting. there was another one in regan airport where he fell and got back

arlette saenz has the story. >> hll meet at 10 downey street and then the president will travel to windsor castle for an engagement ing charles, the firste the two will meet since the king had his coronation back in may. they are expected to discuss issues of clean energy and climate change. after his visit to london, the president travels to lithuania for the nato summit. after that two-day summit, he will be heading to finland to meet with the country's president as well as nordic leaders. at the nato summit, the key issue will be the war in ukraine as this war continues. also up for debate is the possible road map for ukraine to join nato at some point. there's been some differences between the allied leaders about what exactly nato should be joining, whether they should set the exact timetable for that and president biden in an interview with cnn said that now is not the time for ukraine to join nato as the war continues and there are still certain commitments that ukraine would need to meet in order to join the alliance. take a listen. >> i don't think he's ready for membership in nat

cnn's arlette saenz is at the white house. the administration's goals for this trip? >> reporter: treasury secretary janet yellen's trip to china is just another effort by the administration to try to stabilize very tense relations with another global economic superpower. the treasury secretary will be traveling there a bit later this week for roughly three days. and it follows a trip just a few weeks ago from secretary of state antony blinken, one that he had described as making progress in the u.s./chinese relationship. officials say they're not expecting any major break throughs during this visit, but they do describe what they expect to be constructive and frank conversations between yellen and other officials in china. she is not slated to meet with chinese president xi jinping according to an official here, but she is going to meet with other economic leaders in china. now, this also comes at a very fraught and tenuous time in the relations between the u.s. and the chinese government. just recently, president biden likene

. >> arlette saenz, thank you very much.e appreciate it. >>> now with more on all of this is is fareed zakaria of "gps." let's start about the sweden possible joining nato, it sounds like that came up. we'll talk about it on the other side of this. >> there is a turkey is looking for modernization of about 16 aircraft. and greece is also looking for some help. so what i'm trying to, quite frankly, put together is a bit of a consortium here where strengthen nato in terms of military capacity, both greece as well as turkey, and allow sweden to come in, but it's in play. it's not done. >> fareed, it sounds like joe biden is trying to craft a deal to get erdogan on board. what do you think? is it going to work? >> you're exactly right. basically the turks are behaving as they have often under erdogan, relentlessly, bizarrely trying to extract every concession, in terms of what can we get out of this. and they push the swedes as much as they can. so now they're asking the united states, basically to make up the difference, but se

it is going to be a joint news conference in helsinki and our correspondent arlette saenz is going to be there and what can we expect to hear from the president of the united states? >> president biden is here in helsinki with another show of nato unity and show right in russia's backyard. the president has spent the morning meeting with the president of finland as well as the nordic leaders including sweden. it is important that finland is the most recent addition of the alliance, and it shares an 800-mile land border with russia, and significantly expanding the nato territory, and also at the summit of the nordic leaders, the president met with the prime minister of sweden, and turkey gave president biden a big win by dropping the objections to having sweden join the nato alliance, and they need an official parliament vote which may not happen until the false, but soon, the nato alliance is going to be looking bigger, and it is all going to be striking with the message that the president has not only been trying to drop here in finland, but as he met with the nordic leaders he said

. >> cnn's white house correspondent, arlette saenz, is joining us right now. primary. any signs of concerns? >> well, president biden's advisers and allies like senator chris coons ultimately don't believe that any of these democratic challenges will actually be viable enough to take on president biden in the democratic primary, but that certainly may not stop some people from entering that primary. as you mentioned, congressman dean phillips of minnesota has been quite vocal about the fact that he doesn't believe that president biden should run for re-election in part due to his age, and he is now toying around with the idea of possibly entering the race as a challenger to the president. it's unclear whether phillips will take any of those steps to formally into the race, but it comes as we take a look at the polls, where president biden is vastly ahead of those that are currently challenging him in the field, like robert f. kennedy and marianne williamson. something that the president also has is the full backing of the democratic national committee. the com

. >> arlette saenz is with us now from the white house. so there is this investigation.at do we know about it? >> reporter: secret service is using every tool at their disposal to try to determine who brought that baggy of cocaine into the white house. they are running dna test and fingerprints analysis on the bag as well as having secret service comb through surveillance video and visitors logs. this baggy of white powdery substance later confirmed to be cocaine was found within the west wing of the white house on sunday, found in an area that includes cubbies where visitors who are being brought through forhe west wing often led by staff, that is where visitors can drop off their cellphones and also white house officials drop off their cellphones if they are heading into a scif. and there is an investigation into the matter. and this is an area that is heavily traveled through, where the visitors come through as they are looking to go on their west wing tours. but one official cautions that there is a chance that they are unable to determine who exactly brought that ba

. >> very significant development indeed, arlette saenz, thank you very much. >>> now to ukraine and its stake in what happens at the nato summit and alex marquardt is in the capital of kyiv and joining us. alex as you heard arlette report president zelenskyy is planning to meet wednesday with president biden during the nato summit. what will he be looking to get from this meeting? >> reporter: well, quite a bit, wolf. we don't have confirmation of that from the ukrainian side. it's not terribly surprising. there is a lot that zelenskyy would like to accomplish at the nato summit. ukrainian officials have been quite coy about his independence but, wolf, it is remarkable to recognize the fact that finland and soon sweden have joined or will be joining the nato alliance very quickly while ukraine has wanted to join nato for a very long time. they were told as far back as 15 years ago in 2008 in the bucharest agreement that they could join nato but at the time there was no concrete plan laid out, and, wolf, that is the main thing zelenskyy wants right now. he wants what he is calling a

>> arlette saenz, thank you so much.ning us now to discuss the former deputy secretary of defense for russia, ukraine, eurasia. i understand the president is being diplomatic and i get the need to be, but was the summit a success for ukraine if they didn't get an invitation to join nato or even an exact time line when it could happen? >> i think it was, jake. thanks for having me on. it was because you had unanimous agreement by all the nato allies ukraine should be a member of nato. and this is very different from 2008 when the united states government was trying to pressure germany and france into accepting ukraine and republic of georgia into nato and they were opposed. and then they put out some language to paper over this difference. this is now real. they all believe that ukraine will be part of nato. there is, however, of course disagreement as you hinted towards in your question. you know, there's a question of when whether ukraine is ready today or whether it needs to do more work on its democracy, and so becaus

. >> let's go straight to vilnius and cnn's arlette saenz. >> reporter: yeah, dana, strength and unity they're hoping to project and there's that flash point from someone not in the alliance and that is ukraine. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy arrived here a few hours ago seeking security guarantees and also a clear pathway to membership in nato but the communique released just hours after zelenskyy's touchdown here does not offer that. it simply says there will be conditions that need to be met before the nato alliance would invite ukraine into the group. now, zelenskyy really put allies on blast. as he headed in these meetings, tweeting, quote, it's unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation for ukraine's membership. but at the same time, the wording is added even for inviting ukraine. remember, president biden came into the summit saying now is not the time for ukraine to join nato due to the fact that war is still ongoing against russia. and also stressing there are still reforms that need to be made before ukraine can join the alliance.

let's begin with our white house correspondent, arlette saenz, she's already in helsinki, finland, where president biden landed just an hour ago. what's the feinal readout from the summit and the talks between presidents biden and zelenskyy? >> well, wolf, president biden says he feels his hour-long meeting with ukrainian president zelenskyy went very well. after the start of the summit, got off to a bit of a tense start. zelenskyy is returning to ukraine without that clear road map towards membership in nato, but he is leaving with some long-term security commitments from some of the world's biggest western democracies. president biden for his part says that he accomplished the main goals he set out to accomplish in this summit including rallying those allies to provide more support for ukraine and showing a strengthened nato alliance. tonight president biden basking in another show of yunity for ukraine. >> we will not waiver. >> our commitment to ukraine will not weaken. we will stand for liberty and freedom today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes. >> reporter: ukrainian presiden

arlette saenz is on the white house north lawn right now.h what the president is doing today and who is going to be there tonight. >> the pressure is addressing the national education association's annual meeting along with his wife, dr. jill biden, but the fourth of july festivities will begin a little bit later today. the couple will be hosting a barbecue for military families around 5:00 and then there's the big event in the evening when they gather thousands of military families, veterans, survivors, all on the south lawn of the white house, to watch those fireworks over washington, d.c. there's also going to be a host of musical performances including the brothers osborne as well as neo. and this follows a tradition that we've seen from the bidens since they've taken office, inviting military families to the white house for independence day. and i can tell you, they've been grilling hamburgers here at the white house since yesterday. you can smell the scent of them around the white house ground. this evening they are going to take time

let's go to the white house and arlette saenz. so officials are now looking for who did this incredible thing. are there any leads here, are they any closer to figuring it out? >> reporter: so far no indication that they've gotten closer to finding out who brought the baggy of cocaine to the west wing. secret service officials are using every tool at their disposal to try to find the culprit. a federal la enforcement official -- law enforcement official said that includes dna testing as well as fingerprint analysis on the bag. and secret service is also combing through surveillance videos and the visitors logs. now this baggy of a white powdery substance which was later identified and confirmed toe caine was found in the west wing of the white house on sunday. it was found in an area that includes some cubbies where visitors can drop off their phones before being begin a tour of the white house by staff. it's also an area where staff might leave their electronic devices if they are heading into a secure location to look for classi

. >> president biden reacting to our own arlette saenz to the supreme court's decision to end affirmativection. my panel joins me now. happy fourth! >> happy fourth! >> nice to see you all. karen, i'm going to start with you. there was a pause there, a pregnant pause, as they say. spoke volumes. >> it did. look, you could tell the president was disappointed and i would say as a progressive, obviously, i'm disappointed, but as a political practitioner, i think the president and most of us recognize, this is an t opportunity to draw a very stark contrast between our party and our values and what we are fighting for. and the republican party that was gleeful, for example, about -- and campaigned in 2022, against giving debt relief to our students during a crisis, during the pandemic. obviously, roe v. wade, that is a bright line in the sand, if you will, what you believe about women's rights and bodily autonomy. i think that pause represented both his frustration, but also a recognition that, again, there is a dramatic contrast between our vision and their vision for the future. >> and gover

arlette saenz is following all of this from lithuania to start us off. what have you already heard from leaders this morning? it has been a busy morning and much more to come. >> reporter: yeah, it certainly has been a busy morning. president biden is heading into the summit hoping that nato can emerge more unified and strengthened as officials are hoping to send a message to vladimir putin. but even as they are celebrating the win as turkey made that stunning reversal allowing sweden into the alliance, there is already a major flash point emerging when it comes to ukraine's possible pathway towards joining the nato alliance down the road. now, president biden heading into the summit was very clear that now is not the time for ukraine to join nato, that the war is still ongoing, they can't risk putting nato countries into direct conflict with russia, and also noting that reforms still need to be made on ukraine's part before any type of entrance into the alliance. earlier today national security adviser jake sullivan said that the u.s. and its allies pla

let me bring in arlette saenz traveling with the president in lithuania.etty amazing what we saw and the extent of which the leaders let us hear the conversation. >> yeah, it really was, kate and it shows the type of unit that president biden wanted to project with this summit. yes, there have been frustrations voiced during the summit and zelenskyy has been eyeing the concrete timetable and he didn't have that and what the president is trying to stress here is that the u.s. and allies will be with ukraine in the long term. that's what we always hear from him over the course of this war, that they're in it to help ukraine win its fight against russia, but these commitments that we are hearing from the united states is another level, with the long-term security commitments even as they're still waiting for an eventual a session to nato as they get through the reform processes, but you have the two leaders there sitting side by side, showing one, the president that he supports ukraine, and the allies fully support ukraine and also words from zelenskyy recogn

arlette saenz skocooped this fo us yesterday live in rehoboth beach. thank you. >>> and "cnn this morning" continues right now. >>> good morning, everyone. let's get things started with five things to know for this monday, july 31st. in just hours, a mar-a-lago maintenance worker accused of telling another employee that, quote, the boss wanted security footage deleted is set to appear in court. former president trump denies directing staffers to delete anything. >> in the middle of all of this, trump extends his primary poll dominance and it really is dominance. 54% of likely republican voters say that he is their pick. this is according to a "new york times"/siena college poll. just 17% want desantis and it is low single digits for the rest of the pack. also, devon archer, a business associate of hunter biden about to speak under oath before the house oversight committee. the two worked together on deals in china and ukraine. >>> and a senior russian official says the country may be forced to use a nuclear weapon if ukraine succeeds in their ongoing c

solving a press conference talking about nato, and he was asked a colleague question by my colleague arlette saenzity of changing this ridiculous position he has. he's jeopardizing u.s. security. i expect the republican party to stand up stand up. stand up and do something about it. >> i wholeheartedly agree with president biden, i honestly do not believe that senator tuberville is the brightest bulb out there. i don't think that he represents or has the intellect necessarily to serve with that type of grandiose behavior we expect from most united states senators. and this is a perfect example of the fact that republicans speak out of both sides of their mouths. you cannot say that you want a strong military, and you have this anti-woke movement within our military. you have individuals who say national security, america first. but you you have senator tuberville who is it literally putting our national security at risk. he is harming our men and women, we serve this country. and the fact is he is doing it because of an issue that he cares deeply about. he should raise it on the floor. but he shou