Smarter, which won by morning. Got it. Got abbas, daughter, youve got this is cnn Breaking News youre live in the cnn newsroom. Im jim acosta in washington. We do begin this hour with Breaking News out of the middle east. Israels military says it has rescued a hostage from a hamas tunnel in southern gaza. He had been held captive since the Terror Attacks of october 7. The father of 11, and spent the last 320 six days as a prisoner there he is in the hospital right there a short time ago reuniting with his brother, cnns jim sciutto joins us now from tel aviv jim, the details of been trickling in whats the latest that youve learned . Well, first of all, certainly youre happy fomin moment for, for him and for his family after these painful days, weeks, and months captivity. But this has also been quite a rarity for the idf of the close to 250 hostages taken on october 7, only aides have been freed alive via Military Operations. And this is the first one based on the details provided to us by the idf that took place inside a tunnel so in gaza, the first hostage to be rescued alive from that dangerous complex of tunnels underneath gaza, where not only are hamas fighters hiding, but also it is believed many of the hostages have been held and are being held. So quite an operation, quite a difficult one the idf says it was based on intelligence, special Commando Units were involved, including a elite engineering commando unit, which has been tasked with the jobs specifically of carrying out operations inside those tunnels. So in what has been a painful and remember, were coming up on the oneyear anniversary of the october 7 attacks in the midst of what has been a painful nearly a year. This is a rare moment of success for the idf, but also a rare moment of happen venus for those Hostage Families yeah, jim, i mean, this is a reminder that these hostages could very well be alive. Many of them could very well be alive and i wonder how much of this is going to impact the negotiations for a hostage release. What do you think well, those negotiations continue. I was told by a u. S. Official with knowledge of the talks that they made progress over the weekend to the point where they are discussing some of the final details included the names of Palestinian Prisoners held by israel that would be released in exchange for israeli hostages that continue to be held in gaza. But as you know, jim, theres been an enormous amount of pressure inside this country, particularly from Hostage Families, but not just Hostage Families from members of the public. Other senior Government Officials inside netanyahus government, who want to move forward with the deal to get the bulk of or all the remaining hostages out and out quickly because yes, while many are believed to be alive sadly, many are believed to have died already. And of course, the pressure is that over time, more might not survive just last week, the idf very than an operation that brought back the bodies of six hostages who sadly had already been killed or passed away since their captivity. And ill just i want to read a quote from the hostages forum. This is a group that represents Hostage Families that gets exactly to this point jim, because they released a statement, of course, praising this rescue, calling it nothing short of miraculous. But going on to say that Military Operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages a negotiated deal is the only way forward. So a lot of certainly a happy day here. But for those remaining families and there are a lot of them they want their moment to and many there are are insisting that an associated deal is the only way to achieve that all right jim sciutto live for us in tel aviv. Thank you very much. Turning now to the race for the white house, the highly anticipated president ial debate between donald trump and Kamala Harris. Now just two weeks away that is if there is one, this is what trump said yesterday. Quote, if theres a debate, lets take a listen they flew almost 1 Million People in over the border. They flew that stops all of that. I shouldnt say this because if theres a debate, it would be nice to surprise her with that one cnns Alayna Treene joins us now, alayna at where does this Debate Dispute stand now, i mean, we have to think its going to happen. Theyre going to hammer out these rules, but were not there yet. Right . Were in this weird process of will they or wont they . The debate over the debate. Look when i talked to Donald Trumps senior advisors they say that they do believe that they have an obligation to debate that donald trump himself actually wants to debate the big question is just how will it look and what are going to be the parameters around this . And thats really what this is. I mean, its, its frustrating and im sure for our viewers as well, its a very processing thing about really what it comes down to is whether or not the mics will be muted at certain points in the debate or if theyll be allowed to be on for the entire discussion and it really comes down to jim, i think the idea fact that both campaigns recognize how high stakes this debate is it really could be one of the last defining moments of this entire election cycle. They also remember how when you look at june 27 debate between trump and biden, that really is what set off the chain of a fans that led to biden ending his campaign. And so whats really happening now Behind The Scenes is both sides are jockeying for some sort of edge over the other candidate. Now i can tell you, i mean, the interesting thing about the Trump Campaigns argument is joe biden was the one initially for that june debate with cnn who wanted the mics to be shut off at certain points and the Trump Campaign at first didnt like that, but i remember this reporting when i talked to them in the lead up to that first debate they changed their minds. They thought that, you know, actually maybe having the mics be shut off at certain points will help him particularly because and this is the same calculus for this upcoming debate, is that a lot of Donald Trumps advisers believe one of the more important things and perhaps even more important than the substance of the questions is Donald Trumps demeanor if he doesnt come off looking aggressive, they dont want it to come off looking like a bully. They want him to tone down his rhetoric, have a, you know, a more calm, tall and to have them look president ial. Thats even potentially more important now that youre going to have someone like Kamala Harris on stage with him. Shes a woman. He hasnt faced her on stage yet. So that is a lot of whats happening Behind The Scenes. Theyre trump was saying yesterday, he didnt really sounded like he didnt really care whether the michael e hundred or not, despite what his campaign is saying. Rfk junior is endorsing donald trump, as we know, but our kfile team has uncovered apparently some other statements that rfk jr. Has made about donald trump in the past, what do we know . Some very harshly critical statements of donald trump, some as recently as last month jim, look, i dont think this is surprising. This is clearly politics and donald trump for his part, has also been very critical of rfk junior his entire campaign for the last year or so has been trying to label him as a radical liberal in conservatives clothing. That is how they were trying to frame him to voters. And now that he is not only endorsed him, but is going to be campaigning with him theyre talking about a potential role for him in his future administration that has changed, but i want you to just take a listen to some of the critiques at rfk junior it has made of donald trump in the past you know, i think donald trump is a terrible president. He wasnt draining the swamp he was turning the government over to corporate pirates. I think the problem isnt what and he is a bully and, you know, i dont like i dont think america oh, thats part of america so quite a 1e80 there from a lot of those comments. I mean, you heard him he was saying that he thought donald trump is a terrible president. That he was a bully who appealed to bigotry and hatred, very different from the praise we heard rfk jr. Here on donald trump on friday, but i think the bottom line here again is that this is politics. Clearly rfk junior made the calculus that he thinks that this is beneficial for him. The Trump Campaign, i can say they had debated, debated whether or not trying to bring rfk junior into the fold was beneficial for them. They decided it was particularly after harris it became clear that she was going to take bidens place at the top of the ticket. So all of this is really them just kind of doing whats best for their own interests. And right, Alayna Treene. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Lets bring in our panel the director of the Center For Politics at the University Of Virginia our old friend, larry sabato and republican strategist doug heye guys. Thanks to both of you. Doug limit year here in the studio. Let me go to you first. I mean, this debate over the debate, it sounds kind of hokey the thing to say, you know, coming out of my mouth. I mean, this debate is going to happen, right . Well, let me say first, since youve talked about rfk last week, i was i was on this network and i made a joke about the way he speaks which is totally out of bounds and i just want to acknowledge that and apologize. Oh, okay. His ideas totally inbounds how he speaks differently, but to your question about the debates every campaign, whether youre talking about president , congress, or chief grave digger, although that may be an appointed position, has a debate about debates when and where, how many, what the formats are. There usually completely meaningless unless the incumbent just doesnt want to do any. Thats clearly not the case here. And with what donald trump says, its so in line with what he often does tune in tomorrow, theres more with, lets focus the attention back on me. Everything that hes saying right now, there may be debate. I hope theres a bait well see if theres a debate. It fits that role of tune in tomorrow and thats what were all doing. Yeah. I mean larry, i mean, a lot of this sounds it feels very much like the apprentice and to mustsee tv, teasing to next weeks episode. Tune in if theres going to be a debate thats what this sounds like yeah. Well, let prompt. Its probably difficult politics be honest. This is the only part of this campaign i think is the norm the debate about debates, which is always the image deals worthless part of a Campaign Discussion because it Means Nothing average people were having held discussion now, but thats you know. Yeah. Well, im trying to get out of the way. Thank you no but i mean but larry, i mean, you have studied this for a long time, isnt that why we have a president ial or we used to have a president ial debate commission. So we could just stop having these games. Thats one of the reasons why were having these games in this discussion, this silly discussion in this cycle thats absolutely true. Although remember after the first four in 1960, we didnt have debates in 1964 or 1968, or 1972 because lyndon johnson, the incumbent 64, knew he wasnt good on tv and didnt want to debate. And then richard nixon, whod lost the election because he lost the debate. The john f. Kennedy in 1960 said, im not dumb enough to do this again in 1968, 1972, we only got back to debates because the jimmy carter versus gerald ford in 1976, it was suddenly in the interests of both candidates to debate. They thought they, both of them thought they could win the debate. So they did it and then we were in that tradition and the tradition lasted until relatively recently. And maybe well get back into it though. I doubt that commission ever comes to be again. All right. And i think no navarro is joining us are free, man navarro are you there . Can you hear me yes, i can. What do you think about this . Im so glad youre with us. Im sure you have some thoughts on this whole debate. The discussion and whether or not trump is going to show up. And this whole thing about the mics muted are not muted listen, i love all the things that weve seen in this campaign, but this by far one of the stupidest, i think it shows donald trump is running scared i think he comes across as a chicken who is afraid to debate Kamala Harris is coming up with any and every excuse he can because on the one hand, he said hey, its about the microphones. On the other hand, hes attacking dog brazil, a commentator ivc, who has nothing to do with this debate. Hes attacking every abc journalists, people who will have nothing to do with this debate and people who are journalists consummate journalist of great integrity. The bottom line is, he looks scared he looks very, very scared. The American People deserve to see the two folks who are running to be in charge of our country have a policy debate. If donald trump is too scared to show up, that abc should give Kamala Harris a time and she should be there answering the question and i did want to ask you a more more than 200 republicans who worked for both bush senator mitt romney, mitt romney, they signed a letter that is backing Kamala Harris. It says in part of course, we have plenty of honest ideological disagreements for Vice President harris and governor walz. Thats to be expected. The alternative however, is simply untenable how, how important is this . I mean, we saw this happening at the dnc were seeing more of it now i think its important because i think its part of a larger campaign. And what we are seeing, right . We are seeing folks who work with donald trump say we cant vote for this guy we are seeing folks who at the dnc republicans say the water is warm. Its okay and its safe to come in we are seeing ads we are seeing now this latest thing with just over 200 people who look, i know mitt romney quite well. I knew john mccain very well. I know some of the bushes. I think all of them would want folks who work for them, folks who they inspired to put country first. That was the mantra of john mccain. And i think what these republicans are joined today is exactly that. This is not about policy. Were not going a point where we can be arguing about policy because we are arguing about fitness of character, about humanity but moral compass, there will be one day when theres a republican candidate who has a moral compass, and we can go back to arguing about policy. But right now, its about who is the most fit human to serve as commander in chief, president of the united states, and these people are putting country first. I applaud them for doing that. And doug, i do want to ask you about the Foreign National security adviser under donald trump, but hr mcmaster, he says that trump bears some responsibility for the violent ending to a u. S. Role in afghanistan. Listen listen to this does trump bear part of the responsibility for what happened . Oh, yes. I mean, so the whole premise of talking to the taliban before you leave afghanistan, why the heck were even doing that . What happened in these series of negotiations and concessions to the taliban is we got to through the afghans under the bus on the way out. Yeah. Doug, what do you think about that . And also the fact now, hr mcmaster and other former trump official coming out being highly critical of the former president. Hes one of those people that when he was brought on, you said okay, there are going to be adults in this room because quite often in the tropics finished ration their warrant adults or there were a lot of non adults in the room. What he says has impacted, but we should also remember just the bare knuckle politics and i listened to what he says very closely and ive followed several of his interviews but then we get to politics and the reality is the images that we saw of that evacuation happened in the biden administration. Donald trump is going to use that against Kamala Harris because thats part of her record. I was in raleigh, North Carolina yesterday and the day before and i started to see some of the trump ads that we dont see in washington dc. Its good to get out of washington. And what i saw were trump ads that were very focused on the economy and on inflation. And can you say that what happened in covid and support . By changed under donald trump played a role shore, but the brass politics of it are the administration in charge is the one that gets the political blame. And this is where if donald trump can remain focused and his ads are, he can have some real headway. And larry just finally, do these former republican officials from for Trump Officials coming out and being critical of the former president , does that make a difference at the end of the day . I think it does. I absolutely especially the wellknown ones two words, mike pence when was the last time that a Vice President who served with a president refused to endorse him. And for reelection, maybe you can go back to John Nance Garner and fdrs term. But it is extremely rare in all of these other key officials who worked closely with trump in his first term are telling you that he was a terrible president you know, i kind of think people should listen to that. And these 200 people, jim, thats great. Theyre courageous. Im glad they did it where the other 20,000 why havent they said anything . This is kind of a year where you dont get a pass all right. Anna larry, doug, guys, thanks to all of you really appre