Harris says the middle class won't pay for her health plan. Biden disagrees.

Biden sought to undercut the national health insurance plan that Harris released on Monday, saying the middle class would have to pay for it.

"It will require middle-class taxes to go up, not down," said Biden, who last week called the idea of being able to implement universal coverage without a middle-class tax hike a "fantasy world."

Harris says she will shield the middle class from any tax hikes by subjecting only higher earners -- and Wall Street trades -- to new taxes.

These provisions are one way Harris has sought to differentiate herself from her opponents, chiefly Bernie Sanders. Like the senator from Vermont, Harris wants to establish a national health insurance plan, but she would also retain a role for private insurance.

There's no single definition for the middle class. About 17% of tax returns in 2017 had adjusted gross incomes above $100,000, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Harris' proposal calls for levying income-based premiums on households making more than $100,000, with an even higher income threshold for families living in high-cost areas.

Also, she would tax Wall Street stock trades at 0.2%, bond trades at 0.1% and derivative transactions at 0.002% -- a plan Sanders has floated in the past to pay for some of his progressive proposals. Harris would also tax offshore corporate income at the same rate as domestic corporate income.

Sanders has acknowledged that middle-class Americans would see their taxes go up under his "Medicare for All" plan, but says they'd come out ahead because they'd no longer have to pay premiums, deductibles or copays. Under the Sanders plan, households making above $29,000 would be taxed an additional premium to pay for universal health care.

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Beijing bans solo tourists from heading to Taiwan amid rising cross-strait tensions

In a statement, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the travel ban would come into force on August 1, effectively banning all individual leisure travel from mainland China to Taiwan.

Business travelers and tour groups will still be able to visit Taiwan from mainland China.

The individual visit program was piloted in June 2011 in three cities -- Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen -- before being expanded to residents of 47 cities to encourage closer ties between Taiwan and the mainland.

However, in recent months, Taipei and Beijing have clashed over issues including a $2.2 billion US arms sales to Taiwan, the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and a visit by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to New York.

Taiwan and mainland China have been separately governed since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, but Beijing has never stopped viewing the island as an integral part of its territory.

Under President Tsai, the island has pushed back against Beijing on a range of fronts and the Taiwan leader has made her tougher line on cross-strait relations a major issue in her bid for re-election next year.

Tsai has been a strong supporter of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters and denounced "overseas forces" during her unusually-long, four-night visit to the US in July. "Taiwan will firmly defend our democratic system. Our democracy has not come easily," she said.

For its part, Beijing has pursued a harder line against Tsai in the past two years, holding live-fire drills off Taiwan's coast and warning it could use force to "reunify" the island with the mainland.

In a military policy paper on July 24, the Chinese government said Tsai and her government were a threat to national security and social stability.

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Tulsi Gabbard breaks through in fiery debate performance

Gabbard ended the night as Google's most searched candidate in a presidential primary debate that was otherwise dominated by former Vice President Joe Biden's defense of his record against attacks from other candidates. Prior to the debate, her campaign has largely been marked by low poll numbers and controversy surrounding her past views on gay marriage and LGBTQ equality. A CNN poll released earlier this month found Gabbard holds just 1% support.

In one of the debate's most intense exchanges, Gabbard assailed Sen. Kamala Harris for her record as California's attorney general, stating people "suffered under your reign as prosecutor."

"I want to bring the conversation back to the broken criminal justice system that is disproportionately negatively affecting black and brown people all across this country today. Sen. Harris has said she's proud of her record as a prosecutor and she'll be a prosecutor president, but I'm deeply concerned about this record," Gabbard said.

When Harris defended herself, stating she was "proud" of work within the criminal justice system, Gabbard doubled down.

"The bottom line is, Sen. Harris, when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people's lives, you did not and worse. Yet in the case of those who were on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so," she said. "There's no excuse for that and the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology."

But Gabbard's debate performance wasn't just marked by confrontation. She wielded her credentials as an Iraq war veteran to speak about foreign policy decisions in a personal manner, charging the US must "bring our troops home."

"For too long, we had leaders who have been arbitrating foreign policy from ivory towers in Washington without any idea about the cost and the consequence, the toll it takes on our service members, on their families," Gabbard said. "We have to do the right thing. End the wasteful regime change wars and bring our troops home."

Ending the American conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, she added, should not be about the setting of "arbitrary deadline." It's a question, Gabbard said, "about leadership."

"The leadership I will bring to do the right thing, to bring our troops home within the first year in office because they shouldn't have been there this long," she said.

Turning to Trump, Gabbard added: "We were all lied to (about Iraq). The problem is that this current President is continuing to betray us."

Wednesday's debate also saw Gabbard draw on her childhood in Hawaii to speak about climate change, arguing the issue is "personal" for her.

"First of all, this is personal," she said. "You can imagine, I grew up in Hawaii, which is the most remote island chain in the world. So for us growing up there, protecting our environment was not a political issue, it's a way of life. It's part of our culture. It's part of who we are."

In her closing remarks, Gabbard made a simple plea to voters.

"As president, I will end this insanity," she said. "It doesn't have to be this way."

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Google reveals most-searched candidate during Wednesday debate

What does it tell us about the modern political debate process that... The top trending question on Google, during the debate, was "Who is winning the debate tonight?"

Afterward, the search engine said that Tulsi Gabbard was the most-searched candidate in all 50 states, similar to Marianne Williamson's dominance in 49 of 50 states on Tuesday night.

Oliver Darcy emails: This of course does not mean that Gabbard walked away with the most support of the Democratic contenders. It simply means that people were intrigued enough to search for her name. More Google data here...

Meanwhile, the most tweeted about moment, according to data released by Twitter, came when Booker zinged Biden during a clash on criminal justice. After receiving criticism from Biden, Booker quipped, "Mr. Vice President, there is a saying in my community: 'You're dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don't even know the flavor.'" The crowd at the Fox Theatre had an audible reaction to it, and the people on Twitter apparently had their own as well.

The lead story

Maeve Reston, who wrote the night's lead story for CNN.com, summed it up this way: The candidates "ganged up" on Joe Biden throughout the debate, "leaving a noticeably more energetic Biden taking shots from all sides while defending his record."

Chris Cillizza says Biden came away as a winner, "barely." His other winners were Gabbard, Cory Booker, and Julián Castro. Noticeably absent from his list: Kamala Harris. Read on...

→ A decent # of commenters on Twitter said Elizabeth Warren won night two by not being on the stage...

Top tweets

-- During the final half hour of the debate, Michael Smerconish stepped back and asked "if the status of this race really shifted in Detroit? I suspect not. Some helped themselves. No one tanked. Many won't make next cut..."

-- Neera Tanden: "The last time we had a large field - 2007/2008 - the Democratic candidates spent a lot more time attacking the Bush record than these folks are discussing the sitting president that one will face next year..."

-- James Fallows: "Of 20 people on stage these past nights, Dems can imagine at least 6 or 8 as plausible candidates and office-holders. Trick is to get from 20 contenders, to 6-8 plausibles, to 1 nominee, with minimum fratricide..."

Who spoke the most?

No surprises here: Biden had the most time, followed by Harris and Booker. Yang was the candidate who spoke the least, with Bill de Blasio and Castro joining him in the bottom three pack...

Trump lingers in the background

For the second night, Trump was the most-tweeted-about US politician during the #DemDebates, according to data from Twitter. That's not super surprising, given the # of times the candidates invoked his name. But it's still noteworthy...

Darcy's first debates...

Darcy emails from the debate hall: Prior to this week, I had never seen a presidential debate in person -- and while it is great to watch on television, being in the audience offers a unique POV. The one element that does not quite translate onto TV is the energy inside the debate halls. Both debates at the Fox Theatre kicked off with applause that can only be described as a deafening pandemonium. The excitement in the room was also palpable at other times. When candidates delivered zingers, thunderous applauses often ensued. Regardless of politics, being there in person, feeling the electricity in the room, has been pretty incredible...

About those protesters...

Darcy adds: There were a couple of brief disruptions on Wednesday night. The first interruption came when a handful of demonstrators shouted for the firing of the officer who put Eric Garner in a deadly chokehold. "Fire Pantaleo!" the protesters shouted, before being escorted out. The second interruption happened when a couple of protesters heckled Biden for the Obama admin's record on deportations. All in all, everything remained peaceful and the protests only caused minor delays...

Yang took shots at the pundits

If Bernie Sanders played the media critic on night one, Andrew Yang played the role on night two. "You know what the talking heads couldn't stop talking about about after the last debate? It's not the fact that I am somehow No. 4 on the stage in national polling," he said. "It was the fact that I wasn't wearing a tie. Instead of automation in the future, including the fact we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs. Hundreds of thousands right here in Michigan." He got meta and commented on the artificial nature of debates: "We're up here with makeup on our faces and our rehearsed attack lines. Playing roles in this reality TV show. It's one reason why we elected a reality TV star as our president." Yes, but everyone chooses his/her own role and lines...

FOR THE RECORD

-- Here are the closing arguments from all of Wednesday's candidates...

-- Here are CNN's fact-checks of night two... And night one...

-- Read more of Wednesday's "Reliable Sources" newsletter... And subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox...

-- Daniel Dale tweeted after night one, "One notable thing about checking the Democrats, as opposed to Trump, is that the statistics they cite are overwhelmingly either accurate or at least rooted in an actual source. With Trump, you have to be suspicious that almost everything is invented."

Tomi Lahren's repugnant commentary rankles some of her colleagues

Oliver Darcy writes: Fox News personality Tomi Lahren drew criticism for a reprehensible piece of debate commentary on Kamala Harris that she offered in a tweet Wednesday night, slurring Harris with the suggestion that Harris had used her relationship with Willie Brown to advance her career.

Lahren seemed to double down on her tweet, urging her followers to look into their relationship. I asked a Fox spokesperson if the tweet was in accordance with network standards, but did not hear back.

I did hear from several Fox employees who reached out to me on their own accord. "It makes me sick that I work for the same company as Tomi Lahren," one Fox employee told me. "Mindblowing how we give this woman a job." Another employee texted me the URL to Lahren's tweet, calling it "unacceptable." I reached out to the Harris campaign, which declined to comment...

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US extends waivers for countries to continue civil nuclear work with Iran

"The action today will help preserve oversight of Iran's civil nuclear program, reduce proliferation risks, constrain Iran's ability to shorten its 'breakout time' to a nuclear weapon, and prevent the regime from reconstituting sites for proliferation-sensitive purposes," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. The announcement came the same day that the US announced sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

National security adviser John Bolton said in an interview on Fox Business Wednesday that the waiver renewal would be for 90 days.

"I think the idea here is we are watching those nuclear activities very, very closely," Bolton said.

Two administration officials said Tuesday that the waivers were expected to be renewed, and one of the officials said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin argued the waivers should be extended during a recent White House meeting on the issue. The Washington Post first reported that the waivers extension was expected.

Under the waivers, the countries party to the 2015 deal will continue to conduct research and do non-proliferation work without facing US sanctions.

Earlier this month, Sigal Mandelker, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, made the case that the Trump administration's current "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran is working. Administration officials have argued the US sanctions push will force Iran to change its behavior.

A rebuffed offer

"Without a doubt, the sanctions are working," Mandelker said at the Aspen security forum. She pointed to Iranian oil exports being at their lowest levels ever and Iranian proxies publicly appealing for donations.

At the beginning of May, the State Department extended the waivers for 90 days instead of 180. It also revoked two waivers that allowed Iran to ship its excess heavy water for storage and swap its enriched uranium for natural uranium.

The move will likely come as welcome news to European allies, who have sought to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) amid escalating tensions and as Iran has reduced its compliance to the landmark nuclear deal.

The US has said it would negotiate with Iran "without preconditions" -- a claim that the Iranians have rebuffed. In an interview last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would travel to Tehran if necessary. The spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry dismissed the suggestion as disingenuous psychological warfare.

"We didn't see any sincerity any seriousness in that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Monday in an interview with Press TV, Iran's international English language television network. "They are not trying to have a serious agreement, and this is in line with psychological warfare that Mr. Pompeo and some of other US officials" conduct.

On Monday, President Donald Trump tweeted that people should "just remember, the Iranians never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!"

The historically inaccurate observation appeared to be pulled from a 2017 opinion article about the Iran nuclear deal written by National Security Adviser John Bolton -- and drew swift pushback.

Zarif responded on Tuesday with his own tweet including a screenshot from the Bolton article, highlighting the phrase, "Iran has never won a war, and never lost a negotiation."

Above it, Zarif wrote that "for millennia, Iranians have outlasted every aggressor." He continued: "The US has spent $7 trillion & rivers of blood in our region, in its biggest failure since Vietnam."

"@realDonaldTrump: reject #B_Team's fake history & its thirst for #ForeverWar," Zarif tweeted in a reference to Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the crown princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

"Diplomacy=prudence; never weakness," Zarif concluded in the tweet.

The US issued the waiver decision as the White House continues efforts to build a maritime security force to patrol the Persian Gulf.

On Monday, Pompeo said the effort to build a maritime force to protect international shipping in the Gulf was taking more time than the US would like -- in part, a reflection of early British and ongoing German resistance to the plan, in favor of a European security effort.

"We're going to build out a maritime security plan," Pompeo said at the Economic Club in Washington. "It will take more time than we wish it would take, but I'm very confident that the world understands its importance, that America is prepared to be a significant part of that, but we need countries from all across the world to assist us in protecting commercial transit."

The US, UK and other allies will meet in Bahrain on Wednesday to continue talks about how best to protect Gulf shipping, a British Ministry of Defense spokesman said after a meeting at the US Central Command military headquarters in Tampa, Florida, last Thursday.

While the UK had expressed interest in working with the French on a European led maritime security effort, the new Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the UK is interested in working with the US on its security initiative. Raab said he had spoken with Pompeo after his appointment as Foreign Secretary on July 24 about freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian officials are making much the same arguments about freedom of navigation in the Gulf, pointing out that it is central to their economy as well.

This story has been updated.

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Puerto Rico legislators to vote for secretary of state. They could also name the next governor

But there's no certainty a vote will settle the matter.

A week after Rosselló announced his resignation, he appointed Pedro Pierluisi as the next secretary of state. Michelle de la Cruz, a spokeswoman with the governor's office, told CNN that Pierluisi was formally sworn-in Wednesday in a private ceremony.

Puerto Rico's Constitution says Cabinet appointees are allowed to take oath when Congress is not in session but they will only remain in their roles long-term if legislators accept the nomination, said Edgardo Roman Espada, president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association.

Puerto Rico's House and Senate are meeting for a special session Thursday at 11 a.m. to discuss Pierluisi's confirmation. There's a belief that Pierluisi may not have the votes but many legislators have not publicly announced their positions.

Legislators could approve Pierluisi within hours -- paving the way for him to become the next governor -- or they could make a decision after Rosselló's expected resignation takes effect at 5 p.m. on Friday.

If a new secretary of state is not confirmed before the governor leaves office, Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez Garced would be next in line. Earlier this week, she said that she does not want the job.

Who is Pedro Pierluisi?

Pierluisi, 60, is a corporate lawyer for the O'Neill & Borges law firm in San Juan. His firm represents the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico -- which Congress created in 2016 to help manage territory's financial crisis. His brother-in-law is the head of the board, known as la Junta on the island.

One of the more popular chants among protesters prior to Rosselló's resignation was "Ricky renuncia y llévate a la Junta" (Ricky resign and take the Junta with you.)

He took a leave of absence effective Tuesday, according to the firm's website.

Pierluisi is also the former Puerto Rico's resident commissioner, the island's sole representative in Congress, from 2009-2017. He also previously served as Puerto Rico's secretary of justice under former Gov. Pedro Rosselló, the current governor's father.

Rosselló defeated Pierluisi in 2016 when they sought the New Progressive Party nomination for governor. After his loss, Pierluisi moved to the private sector.

In his statement announcing the nomination, Rosselló said Pierluisi's previous positions make him an ideal candidate to confront the current political challenges.

"This historic time requires a person able to re-establish relations with all sectors at the local and national level," said the outgoing governor.

Pierluisi said in a statement Wednesday that he believes is crucial to recover the trust of federal authorities, US Congress and continue rebuilding Puerto Rico.

"I have listened to the people's messages, their demonstrations, their demands and their concerns," Pierluisi said in a statement. "And in this new challenge in my life, I will only answer to the people. My goal is now to transform the energy shown by our people in constructive actions that help Puerto Rico go forward."

Rosselló has said Pierluisi will finish out his term but will not seek the governorship next year.

Vote could be showdown between Congress and Rosselló

The name of the next governor remains uncertain as power struggles intensified within Rosselló's pro-statehood New Progressive Party this week.

Jose Melendez, a legislator from the governor's party, said the party was pushing for Thomas Rivera Schatz, the powerful president of the Senate and expected new head of the party, to be named secretary of state. But Rivera Shatz and Rosselló are longtime political rivals.

While some people favor Pierluisi for his ties to Capitol Hill, many seem him as a problematic figure.

"For a long time Pierluisi had a good name in Puerto Rico. He was seen as a good guy, a consensus builder. But when he was the resident commissioner for Puerto Rico he asked for the oversight board. And now he's an attorney for the oversight board," said political expert Mario Negron Portillo.

But in the wake of a political crisis in Puerto Rico, Rosselló could have not had many candidates to choose from.

"The New Progressive party doesn't have a good option to support because all the people they had who could take that role in the government have been tainted by scandal," said Jorell A. Melendez-Badillo, an assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at Dartmouth College.

Text scandal led to governor's ouster

Following days of massive anti-government protests, Rosselló announced last week that he will resign.

Protests were sparked by the release of private chat messages that exposed Rosselló and 11 top aides and Cabinet members exchanging profanity-laced, homophobic and misogynistic messages about fellow politicians, members of the media, celebrities and others.

The texting scandal followed years of alleged corruption, a debt crisis and widespread devastation by Hurricane Maria. The leaks and the unrest that followed rocked the island's administration and led to resignations of several high-profile political figures.

According to Puerto Rico's order of succession, the secretary of state is next in line after the governor. The man who held that position, Luis G. Rivera Marín, resigned July 13 because he was a participant in a group chat at the heart of the scandal.

CNN's Julian Zamora, Ray Sanchez and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

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Cory Booker lands punches and punchlines in crucial Democratic debate

But he laced his repeated attacks with humor and memorable one-liners that seem likely to differentiate the former Newark, New Jersey, mayor from the nine other candidates who faced off during second night of the CNN debates. And when Booker faced an attack on his own record -- from Biden -- he deflected it with one of the most memorable lines of the night.

"There's a saying in my community that you're dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don't even know the flavor," Booker said to Biden, when the former vice president criticized his tenure as mayor of Newark.

Booker, who has trailed his Democratic rivals in polls and fundraising, also delivered an impassioned argument that voter suppression by Republicans and the Russians led to President Donald Trump capturing Michigan's 16 electoral votes by the narrowest of margins in 2016.

Booker, one of two black candidates on stage Wednesday seeking the Democratic nomination, is eager to win over black voters, and early polling shows them favoring Biden, who served as vice president to the nation's first African American chief executive. On Thursday, as he works to shore up African-American support, Booker kicks off in Detroit a tour of cities with significant black populations in key swing states for Democrats.

Perhaps Booker's sharpest exchange came relatively early in the debate when Biden and Booker clashed over their criminal justice records. Booker cited Biden's work to craft tough-on-crime bills during Biden's long tenure in the US Senate.

"Since the 1970s, every crime bill, major and minor has had his name on it," Booker said of the former vice president. Biden, he said, locked people up, rather than "lifting" them up.

"This is one of those instances when the house was set on fire and you claimed responsibility for those laws," Booker added.

Biden, in a line of attack his campaign telegraphed earlier this month, fired back by pointing to Booker's record as a mayor and the city's aggressive stop-and-frisk policing under his tenure. A Justice Department review of the Newark policies determined the police force made unconstitutional stops.

"You engaged in stop-and-frisk," Biden said to Booker. "You had 75% of those stops reviewed as illegal."

As the increasingly tense exchange continued, Booker accused Biden of not understanding the reforms enacted in Newark.

"You need to come to the city and see the reforms we put in place," Booker added.

Asked about his friendly demeanor even during his sharpest exchanged with Biden, Booker said in a post-debate interview with CNN that he has "tremendous amount of respect" for the former vice president. But "there are difference clearly in our criminal justice records."

Throughout the debate, Booker had sharp lines at the ready, often delivered with a smile.

On the promises by his rivals to rejoin the international climate agreement: "Nobody should get applause for rejoining the Paris climate accords. That is kindergarten."

On Biden not wanting to talk about deportations of immigrants during the Obama administration: "You can't have it both ways. You invoke president Obama more than anybody in this campaign. You can't do it when it's convenient and dodge it when it's not."

But Booker received his most sustained applause, when he drew a line between voter suppression and Trump's narrow victory in Michigan. Trump won by nearly 11,000 votes out of 4.8 million cast in 2016 to become the first Republican nominee to capture Michigan since 1988.

"Everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African-American voters," Booker said. "We need a campaign ready for what's coming, an all-out assault," he said to cheers from the crowd at Detroit's Fox Theatre.

"Cory Booker won the night," CNN analyst Kirsten Powers wrote on Twitter after the debate. "He was a happy warrior."

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Biden tells supporters to 'go to Joe 30330' -- a website not affiliated with his campaign

"If you agree with me, go to Joe 30330 and help me in this fight. Thank you very much," Biden said.

Viewers swiftly took to social media to express their confusion. Biden later tweeted a similar call to action, this time with an instruction to text.

Biden said in the tweet, "If you liked what you heard tonight, text JOE to 30330 and let's get to work." The text returns a fundraising pitch from his campaign.

Biden's final call to action on the debate stage closed out a night of attacks from his rivals in a heated second round of Democratic debates. The debate, hosted by CNN in Detroit, pitted Biden against some of his early Democratic rivals, including California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

Also on the stage Wednesday were Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and businessman Andrew Yang.

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Is Joe Biden too old to be president?

Daniel Pantaleo: NYPD officer loomed large over Bill de Blasio at Democratic debate

Pantaleo is accused in a July 2014 confrontation of fatally choking Eric Garner, whose words -- "I can't breathe" -- became a rallying cry in the Black Lives Matter movement. The Justice Department decided earlier in July to not pursue charges against Pantaleo.

Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro called Wednesday for Pantaleo's immediate removal from duty.

"Officer Pantaleo used a chokehold that was prohibited by NYPD. He did that for seven seconds. Eleven different times Eric Garner said he couldn't breathe. He knew what he was doing, that he was killing Eric Garner, and yet he has not been brought to justice. That police officer should be off the street," Castro said.

Asked by CNN's Jake Tapper why Pantaleo is still on the police force, de Blasio said Garner's family is "going to get justice." He said New York is "changing fundamentally how we police" and "there will never be another tragedy. There will never be another Eric Garner." De Blasio did not specify how Garner's family will receive that justice.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said the mayor's response wasn't enough. Pantaleo, she said, "should be fired now," adding that if she were mayor she would dismiss him. And if she were president, Gillibrand said, she would have a "full investigation" into Garner's death with a publicly released report.

That call had been echoed by protesters earlier in the CNN presidential debate, who interrupted de Blasio chanting, "Fire Pantaleo."

While the candidates remained onstage, de Blasio's Twitter account posted: "To the protestors in the audience today: I heard you. I saw you. I thank you. This is what democracy looks like and no one said it was pretty." A post from New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker's Twitter account supported the protesters, saying, "To the folks who were standing up to Mayor de Blasio a few minutes ago—good for you."

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Man fires a gun in a Kentucky national park after he claims he saw Bigfoot, couple says

The man said he fired into the darkness after the ape-like monster that has never been proven to exist lunged at him, the couple told CNN on Wednesday.

Law enforcement rangers with the Mammoth Cave National Park responded to the incident involving the camper with the firearm at one of the park's backcountry campsites early Sunday, park spokeswoman Molly Schroer said in a statement.

The statement did not confirm a Bigfoot sighting but Schroer said no threat remains in the park.

Federal regulations prohibit the discharge of a firearm in the national park, she said. Park officials know the identity of the person who allegedly fired a weapon; no charges have been filed.

Madelyn Durand and her boyfriend Brad Ginn, who reported the incident to park rangers, said the encounter frightened them. And the attention over the alleged sighting of the cryptozoological mystery known as Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, has surprised the Bowling Green, Kentucky, couple.

"I was mostly just concerned about him shooting the gun in the middle of the night without him really seeing anything," said Durand, 22.

Durand said she was awakened around 11 p.m. when she heard noises outside their tent. She assumed other campers were being rowdy and drinking. She woke Ginn after a flashlight shined into the tent.

"We got out of the tent and saw a man who told us their campsite had been destroyed by someone or something," said Durand, a student at Western Kentucky University.

The man, who was with his young son, showed them his gun on his hip and told them the area was popular for Bigfoot sightings, Durand recalled. The couple climbed back into their tent as the man walked away to investigate with his son in tow.

"We heard them coming back about 10 minutes later. We heard them yelling 'I see it!' Durand said.

She added: "We saw the flash from his gun, and he shot maybe 20 yards from the side of our tent into the pitch-black darkness."

Durand said she was scared that the gunfire could have struck them.

The man with firearm seemed frightened, too. He told the couple his hands were shaking, they recalled.

"The guy said he saw a Bigfoot emerge from the brush and it was coming towards him, so he shot at it," said Ginn, 24, who also attends Western Kentucky University.

"We shined a flashlight to see if there was an animal or something. And there was absolutely nothing there," Durand said.

Read: Why Bigfoot is getting nervous

Once the adrenalin wore off, the couple make jokes about their strange night during their 5-mile hike to back their car in the darkness.

"We're pretty shocked by how much it's blown up," Ginn said.

The legendary Bigfoot is commonly associated with the Pacific Northwest. But sightings have been reported all over the country and celebrated.

In Marion, North Carolina, near the Blue Ridge Mountains, Marion's mayor proclaimed Bigfoot the city's official animal during an inaugural Bigfoot festival last September.

Federal records released in July showed the FBI analyzed a sample of alleged Bigfoot hairs in the 1970s "in the interest of research and scientific inquiry" that turned out to be deer hairs.

There are skeptics of the legend of Bigfoot, of course. Some have even pretended to see the hairy monster.

Durand and Ginn said their dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Buu, didn't react to the alleged sighting.

"We're not believers," Durand said.

CNN's Taylor Romine, Joshua Girsky and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

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Winners and losers from the second night of the CNN debate

Missing Connecticut mom's bloody T-shirt found in trash, report says

The items found in the garbage bin on Albany Avenue in Hartford as part of the investigation into Dulos' disappearance included a Vineyard Vines T-shirt stained with her blood that police believe she was wearing the morning she disappeared, the paper reported.

It's unclear how police know the shirt belonged to Dulos.

The Hartford Courant also reported that police discovered a bra they believe is hers, as well as two mops and sponges with small amounts of blood on them, according to law enforcement sources.

Dulos, a 50-year-old mother of five, was last seen in her 2017 Chevrolet Suburban in New Canaan. Friends reported her missing on May 24 after she failed to show up for appointments. Authorities found her vehicle about three miles from the house where she had lived with her five children since splitting from her husband, Fotis Dulos, in 2017. She had filed for divorce, court records show.

Fotis Dulos, and his then-girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, have pleaded not guilty to charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and hindering prosecution in relation to the disappearance. The two were released on bond in June.

The day she went missing, surveillance cameras captured someone matching the description of Fotis Dulos getting out of his truck and putting "multiple garbage bags into various trash receptacles" in the Hartford area, authorities said.

Detectives later recovered clothing and household goods from trash receptacles with Jennifer Dulos' blood on it.

"I am unaware of any evidence about what she was wearing when she disappeared. This sounds like desperate speculation," Fotis Dulos' attorney Norm Pattis said Wednesday in a statement.

Pattis confirmed that prosecutors recently turned over discovery documents to him, including 26 CDs showing footage of the Albany Avenue trash dump.

Pattis says his team hasn't been able to open some of the videos that reportedly show a man resembling Dulos dumping trash. He has asked prosecutors for new copies of several of the CDs.

"The State has alleged that Jennifer's blood was in one or more bags," Pattis said. "That is far more troubling than an item of clothing."

CNN's Jennifer Henderson and Darran Simon contributed to this report.

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'Jane the Virgin' closes the book with pitch-perfect finale

"Jane the Virgin" has been a kind of miracle practically since its inception (and conception), a show that mixes comedy and drama, goofy flights of fancy, crazy twists and even a sinister villain that became sort of the female version of James Bond's Blofeld.

The final season and series finale were completely true to those values, offering a fitting sendoff filled with unabashed emotion and romance that neatly tied up the loose ends with a big bright bow.

That's no small accomplishment, especially since the ultimate outcome hasn't seemed in doubt for quite a while. Yet executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman and her team managed to keep erecting clever impediments to the title character's happiness, teasing out a season that finished with a wedding, and even a delightful little crumb about the show's unseen narrator (Anthony Mendez).

Poor Jane (Gina Rodriguez) has certainly been through a lot this season, including the little matter of her dead husband, Michael (Brett Dier), turning out to have been alive this whole time, only afflicted by amnesia. His appearance nearly derailed her plans to marry Rafael (Justin Baldoni), the father of her child, albeit via an artificial-insemination mistake in the very first episode.

Putting all the kids to bed, the finale set Michael off on a happy course with his own new love, and gave Jane -- an aspiring writer, then a struggling one -- a huge victory when a bidding war for her novel yielded an unexpectedly bountiful payday.

Happiness also found Rafael's ex, Petra (Yael Grobglas), who was reunited with her girlfriend Jane (Rosario Dawson); and an explosion of viral popularity for Jane's Twitter-obsessed actor ad, Rogelio (Jaime Camil), who loves his social-media following almost as much as his actual family.

The show's emotional core has always been the three generations of women at its center, and tears were again shed by Jane, her mom (Andrea Navedo) and her grandmother (Ivonne Coll). Yet "Jane" consistently earned those sentimental moments, which explains how the finale could cover so much ground and somehow strike nary a false note, even with the schmaltzy vows and crowd-pleasing sequence that had Jane commandeer a bus to get to her wedding on time.

Although "Jane the Virgin" has won some accolades -- including a Golden Globe for Rodriguez and American Film Institute honors its first season -- the show never really garnered the recognition that it deserved. That's in part because of its telenovela underpinnings and the younger audience skew of the CW network, which isn't a particularly good fit with the award-voter demographic.

The more outlandish trappings perhaps made it easy to overlook the thoughtful streak the program has brought to such issues as faith, immigration, abortion and parenting, which this season included handling a child with educational difficulties. Similarly, its significance as a showcase for Latino culture and talent has, by now, practically been taken for granted.

The CW has said farewell to a pair of top-notch series this spring, first with "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" and now this. If the writers employed some wacky contortions to bring "Jane" to its happily ever after, that's only fair given the smiles and tears the series has delivered over the last five years.

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Puerto Rico's outgoing governor nominates a new secretary of state, who would be next in line as governor

Puerto Rico's House and Senate are set to meet Thursday at 11 a.m. for a special session, the governor said in a statement released Wednesday.

"I'm thankful for Pedro Pierluisi's willingness to step forward for Puerto Rico's well-being. I trust that legislators will evaluate this appointment in a careful and responsible way for the good of Puerto Rico and the historic moment we are living in," Rosselló said.

If the nomination is accepted -- far from a guarantee -- Pierluisi could become governor Friday afternoon when Rosselló has said he will step down from office.

Pierluisi, 60, served as Puerto Rico's resident commissioner, the island's sole representative in Congress, from 2009-2017. He also previously served as Puerto Rico's secretary of justice under former Gov. Pedro Rosselló, the current governor's father.

Pierluisi has been working as a corporate lawyer for the O'Neill & Borges law firm in San Juan. The firm represents the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico -- which Congress created in 2016 to help manage territory's financial crisis. His brother-in-law is the head of the board, known as la Junta on the island.

He took a leave of absence effective Tuesday, according to the firm's website.

One of the more popular chants among protesters prior to Rosselló's resignation was "Ricky renuncia y llévate a la Junta" (Ricky resign and take the Junta with you.)

"I have listened to the people's messages, their demonstrations, their demands and their concerns," Pierluisi said in a statement. "And in this new challenge in my life, I will only answer to the people. My goal is now to transform the energy shown by our people in constructive actions that help Puerto Rico go forward."

"We must unite to continue Puerto Rico's reconstruction and to ensure that our people have access to the opportunities and quality of life they deserve. It is also crucial to restore the trust of federal authorities and Congress, where I have earned respect, and to re-establish a productive relationship with the Oversight Board, based only on what is good for Puerto Rico and facilitates the end of its mandate," he added.

In 2016, Pierluisi sought the New Progressive Party nomination for governor, running against Rosselló but he lost.

In his statement announcing the nomination, Rosselló said Pierluisi's previous positions make him an ideal candidate to confront the current political challenges.

"This historic time requires a person able to re-establish relations with all sectors at the local and national level," said the outgoing governor.

Rosselló also said Pierluisi will finish out his term but will not seek the governorship next year.

"His aspiration is to complete this term, so that the successes we have achieved do not fade. The electoral process that will begin in the coming months will allow other highly qualified leaders to put their ideas and character to the people's consideration," Rosselló said.

How we got here and what's next

To take office Pierluisi needs to be approved by Puerto Rico's Senate, and he may not have the votes to do so, said political expert Mario Negron Portillo.

"The issue is going to be that everything indicates that the Senate won't give Pierluisi the votes. So we could be back to square one," he said.

Members of Rosselló's pro-statehood New Progressive Party had been pushing for Thomas Rivera Schatz, the powerful president of the Senate and expected new head of the party, to be named secretary of state before Friday. But Rivera Shatz and Rosselló are longtime political rivals.

Jose Melendez, a legislator from the governor's party, told CNN Espanol this week that the party backed Rivera Shatz.

He said Pierluisi could not count on the confirmation votes in the legislature, especially given his role as attorney for a federal financial-oversight board created by the US Congress that became a target of protesters in recent weeks.

"For a long time Pierluisi had a good name in Puerto Rico. He was seen as a good guy, a consensus builder. But when he was the resident commissioner for Puerto Rico he asked for the oversight board. And now he's an attorney for the oversight board," Negron Portillo said.

The nomination comes after Puerto Ricans took to the streets for weeks to voice mounting frustration over years of corruption and mismanagement on issues ranging from suffocating debt to the response to Hurricane Maria.

What sparked the protests was a chat-app scandal that exposed Rosselló and 11 top aides and Cabinet members exchanging profanity-laced, homophobic and misogynistic messages about fellow politicians, members of the media, celebrities and others.

Gov. Rosselló, two and a half years into a four-year term, announced last Wednesday that he would resign on Friday.

According to Puerto Rico's order of succession, the secretary of state is next in line after the governor. But the man who held that position, Luis G. Rivera Marín, resigned July 13 because he was a participant in a group chat at the heart of the scandal that led to protests and Rosselló's resignation.

Wanda Vázquez Garced, Puerto Rico's secretary of justice, would have been the next in line, but she said on Monday that she does not want to be governor.

CNN's Roxanne Garcia contributed to this report.

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Commentators: Who won the Democratic debate?

In a format that was endlessly frustrating, with so many candidates on stage that moderators had to cut them off just when you wanted to hear more, Democrats showed voters that they bring a host of different, well-thought-out ideas for them to choose from.

It was a pity that foreign policy was left out, but in the topics covered, the candidates offered a range of thoughts aimed at repairing the damage inflicted by the Trump administration, from immigration to climate to gun violence, fields where Trump has achieved less than nothing.

To much applause, Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared that no matter what Democrats say, Republicans will brand Democrats as socialists, so Democrats should ignore what Republicans think.

But that is electoral sophistry. Democrats need to choose a nominee who can beat Donald Trump, one who can appeal to moderates and disaffected Republicans.

As Buttigieg himself later said, none of the great ideas by the candidates on the stage will matter if Trump is reelected. Fortunately, for Democrats, and for the country, there are smart, thoughtful people opposing him.

The strongest showings came from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, with a reliably impressive performance from Buttigieg.

The young mayor is charismatic, articulate, and made resonant moral appeals, most notably his call to Republicans to examine their conscience as they support the current president. Buttigieg has a bright future. He will be a formidable candidate four or eight years from now.

Warren showed she is the standard-bearer and the more effective champion of the ideas that Bernie Sanders introduced in his first run for president. Sanders can take comfort that his views have been embraced by many in the party. But he should now step aside. (Surely, he won’t.) His overflowing, high-decibel style does not help his cause. Warren’s steady, secure performance takes command of the left wing of the too-crowded stage. And yet, I remain skeptical that those ideas can win a general election.

Amy Klobuchar came through as a thoughtful, smart, pragmatic, experienced prospect, with a moral core. “Immigrants don’t diminish America,” she said, “they are America.” She offered a solid proposal for a major infrastructure plan to prevent another crisis like Flint’s poisoned water. And she touted her strong track record of winning elections in the middle of the country, portraying herself as a candidate who can win a general election.

The first night belonged to Warren, Klobuchar and Buttigieg.

Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a frequent opinion contributor to CNN and The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. Follow her on Twitter: @FridaGhitis

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5 Columbus, Ohio, police officers face discipline in Stormy Daniels strip club arrest

"Chief Tom Quinlan made this decision because these officers violated the Columbus Division of Police rules of conduct," police said in a news release without specifying the violations or naming the officers, all members of the now disbanded vice section.

The officers may face a reprimand, suspension, demotion or termination, the release said. Quinlan will make a recommendation, and the director of public safety will make the final decision based on that.

Police charged Daniels with three misdemeanor counts of illegally touching a patron at the Sirens Gentlemen's Club. She was detained for 12 hours, posted $6,054 bail and was released.

The charges were dropped because the law did not apply to her as she was a guest performer and did not regularly appear at the club, the Columbus city attorney said at the time.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, in January filed a suit against several members of the police department, seeking more than $1 million in compensatory damages and more than $1 million in punitive damages and costs and fees associated with the case.

The lawsuit alleges that the officers targeted her because they were "avowed supporters" of President Donald Trump and believed Daniels was "damaging President Trump and they thereafter entered into a conspiracy to arrest her during her performance in Columbus in retaliation for the public statements she had made" about Trump.

Daniels is claiming false arrest, malicious prosecution, conspiracy to violate the Fourth and 14th amendments and abuses of process violating Ohio law. An amended complaint in June added the city as a defendant, claiming Columbus violated Daniels' constitutional rights.

The department said it won't give out any more information because of pending litigation and a federal criminal investigation.

CNN's Sara Sidner and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

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Maori groups are protesting in New Zealand over child removals and use of sacred land

The protests have strained relations between Maori and the Labour coalition government led by Jacinda Ardern, who has been in the remote Pacific territory of Tokelau at a time of rising tension at home.

Hundreds of protesters marched Tuesday in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, and other cities around the country, according to Reuters.

Taking infants into state care -- known as "uplifting" -- has been making headlines in the country since mid-June when an investigation by local media outlet Newsroom showed authorities attempting to take a seven-day-old baby from its 19-year-old Maori mother while she was still in the maternity ward.

Some have raised concerns that Maori and Pacific Island babies are disproportionately affected by "uplifts" due to institutional racism. Over 15,000 people have signed an open letter online urging the government to "stop stealing Maori children."

Last year, judges ordered 281 babies to be taken into care and 71% were of Maori or Pacific Island heritage, the government said in a statement.

In New Zealand's most recent census in 2013, 14.9% of the then population of 4.2 million people identified as Maori, while 7.4% identified as of Pacific Island heritage.

Judge Andrew Becroft, the New Zealand Children's Commissioner, announced his office's own inquiry on June 16, citing long-running concerns.

"Consequently we have decided to exercise our specific statutory power under the Children's Commissioner Act to monitor and assess the policies of Oranga Tamariki," tweeted Becroft.

And on June 19, New Zealand's Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier announced a wide-ranging, independent investigation into the Ministry for Children's uplifting process.

The controversy is reminiscent of the "stolen generation" of Aboriginal children in Australia.

New Zealand has one of the worst rates of child abuse in the developed world. According to Unicef, the children's ministry receives over 150,000 reports of concern relating to the country's 1.1 million children each year.

In 2017, the government created Oranga Tamariki after finding that the system under the former ministry, was "ineffective" and had poor long-term outcomes for children in care.

However, the newly-formed Oranga Tamariki has also come under fire. In March, it announced that in the second half of 2018, there were over 300 instances of neglect, emotional, sexual or physical abuse of children in its care.

Protests over Oranga Tamariki's treatment of Maori children came at the same time as Maoris in Auckland mobilized against a proposed housing project on land they consider to be sacred, Reuters reported.

The disputes put Ardern's government in a tough spot, as Maori votes are important to the prime minister's Labour party, said Bryce Edwards, a political commentator at Wellington's Victoria University, according to the news agency.

CNN's Julia Hollingsworth contributed to this report

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Ohio governor delays execution because drug companies won't supply the state

Warren Henness was scheduled to be executed on September 12, DeWine's office said. His new execution date is May 14, giving officials about nine months to come up with a solution.

Prison officials are finding it impossible to locate a supplier of drugs for an execution method to replace a protocol deemed cruel and unusual punishment by a judge, DeWine's office said.

US Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz ruled in January that the dose of the sedative midazolam used in the state's three-drug protocol would not render Henness sufficiently unconscious to prevent "severe pain and needless suffering."

Merz likened the effects of midazolam to "waterboarding" and said the protocol amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The ruling led DeWine to direct the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to assess options for execution drugs and examine possible alternative drugs.

The method has to comply with the Eighth Amendment and Ohio law, which requires execution in the form of lethal injection, DeWine's office said.

DeWine plans to talk to House Speaker Larry Householder and Senate President Larry Obhof about whether to pursue legislation that would allow for a different execution, said DeWine's Press Secretary Dan Tierney.

No bill has been proposed so far, Tierney said.

Meanwhile, drugmakers have told the state that if they suspect any of their products are being used in executions, they will stop selling drugs to the state altogether, DeWine's office said.

DeWine said pharmaceutical companies that refuse to supply the state with medications put Ohioans at risk.

"Drugs they need for their health will be put in peril," he said.

There is a "real threat" that whichever drug the state decides to use could result in the maker of the drug "cutting off the state of Ohio," DeWine said.

Henness was convicted of killing 51-year-old Richard Myers in Columbus in 1992.

His reprieve marks the fifth execution delay since the judge's ruling, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

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