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This Week, Trump Will Campaign Across U.S., Skipping 2nd GOP Debate; Interview with "USA Today" Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page; Trump and Biden in Close Race, According to New Poll; Two Killed After Russian Attack on Odessa; Russia's War on Ukraine; New Orleans' Drinking Water at Risk Due to Extreme Drought. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 25, 2023 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: This week, Donald Trump's campaign schedule is one of the busiest since he launched the re- election bid. Everything's relative because he really hasn't been on the trail all that much. He is not going to the Republican debate, Wednesday night. The former president will be in South Carolina today, Michigan talking to autoworkers on Wednesday, and California on Friday.

With us now, CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Donald Trump not going to the debate Wednesday night in California, what is he seeing that's helping him make this decision?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, look, the former president has long had a one eye on the general election where he hopes there will be a rematch with President Joe Biden next year. But he also is keeping an eye on the primary election, we know that because he is in South Carolina this afternoon. Of course, South Carolina is the number three spot on the road to the White House for Republicans in terms of the primary schedule next year. And of course, the former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has been making some inroads there in South Carolina.

So, he is holding an event there today, but he also has his eyes in the general election on Wednesday going to Michigan to appear with striking workers. And of course, Michigan is at the center of the region of the country where any president must win, of course. He won it in 2016, he lost it in 2020. And then going to California on Friday for the California State Convention, but skipping debate. And the reason he is skipping the debate is found in this new NBC poll.

Take a look at these numbers. In terms of the command that the former president has over this race, 59 percent of Republicans nationally say they favor him. Of course, it certainly leaves an opening and an opportunity for many of his rivals which they are trying to do on that debate stage Wednesday night at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, to try to jump out of this crowded field of number two, but that is clearly the challenge for them there. So, in a slew of polling over the weekend, John, we know one thing, this is going to be a very close rematch, if it is a rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump if he becomes the nominee. And it also shows that enthusiasm is lagging for Republicans. They are concerned about the immigration, the economy, so many other matters for Democrats -- excuse me. So, certainly a busy week in politics.

But, John, looming over all of this, the shutdown potentially in Washington could have a big effect on the presidential race and on other things adds well. So, a busy week in politics starts here today, John.

BERMAN: Yes, just when President Biden's polls might be at their softest, Republicans may move to shut down the government which could give him a boost.

ZELENY: Right.

BERMAN: Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Funny you should say that. Joining us now is Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief for "USA Today." I did want to ask her about that very thing. You've got issues, really major issues going on at the border there. Things that people can come after President Biden for, the economy as well.

[10:35:00]

But here, you have the Republicans who cannot get it together and try and avert this shutdown. Tell me this is going to play out even though we have seen those poll numbers for Jeff Zeleny?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, USA TODAY: Hey, it's the best possible news for the White House, because it distracts attention from some issues that are less friendly. Also, we know from the history of shutdowns that the House Republicans are going to get blamed, take the political blame for the repercussions of a shutdown which can be serious. Serious for federal workers. Serious for Americans who want to get their passport renewed.

And we saw with the Trump shutdown, the longest shutdown in our history, the big political cost he paid for that. So, the White House is, of course, warning about the reasons not to have a shutdown. Politically speaking, it could be a good thing for them.

BERMAN: And the Former President Donald Trump has actually weighed in here and he is advising Republicans in Congress to shut everything down. So, you can see it playing in the presidential race as well, Susan.

PAGE: Yes, terrible news for Kevin McCarthy, too, who is trying desperately-- the house speaker trying desperately to find some way out of this mess. You know, we got a week to go, but there is not a path apparent to avoid a shutdown at this point. And there is a big path apparent that may cost Kevin McCarthy his speakership, we will have to see about that.

SIDNER: Just a couple of days from now, there will be another presidential debate with the Republicans. Donald Trump, once again, not showing up. His poll numbers are just fine to him, and so he says he's not going. What do you see will come out of this debate? It will be another one where somebody, kind of, comes forward but everyone is beating up on everyone else except for him.

PAGE: Yes, you know, I think what all these candidates need is someone to emerge as the obvious number two. The obvious alternative to Trump. And for a while, Ron DeSantis had that role, he has frittered it away. He has faltered. He no longer holds the, kind of, commanding lead among Republicans in those early states that he had.

Nikki Haley did well in that first presidential debate. Maybe she could emerge as a number two. I mean, if you'd look at a state like New Hampshire, if the anti-Trump or the non-Trump vote in the Republican Party, in the Republican primary got together in one piece, they could defeat Donald Trump. But there is no signs that any of these candidates, except maybe Asa Hutchison, are ready to drop out of the race at this point. Maybe the second debate will have the effect of clearing and defining the field. But man, it is going to be hard to deny Donald Trump this nomination.

BERMAN: So, if you're Nikki Haley -- just -- let's just take Nikki Haley as an example. If you do want to try to emerge as the clear number two, how do you do that in this debate? Do you take on Donald Trump or do you try to keep Ron DeSantis' dissent continuing?

PAGE: Yes, I think that you have to take on Trump to some extent. He's the guy you are actually trying to beat. And she did that in the first debate. And on the issue of the national debt, that was a surprise, her first point out of the box in that debate was to criticize Republicans for increasing the national debt. That was interesting. She also offered a kind of more moderate or nuanced position on abortion.

And the thing that I -- one of the things I'm really watching for this debate is whether other Republican candidates try to move a little on the abortion. The issue that has really defined the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan for its presidential nominees. Donald Trump opened that door in his comments on abortion. I wonder if anybody else is going to walk through it.

SIDNER: Susan Page, thank you so much for your insight this morning. Following you, John.

PAGE: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Russian strikes kill at least two people, and caused significant damage in Odessa overnight, as Russian forces target the southern port following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal. The real big news out of Russia and Ukraine this morning is that Ukraine is saying that a Russian admirable -- admiral, the commander of the Black Sea fleet was killed in the Ukrainian missile attack on the Black Sea Port of Sevastopol. We're going to have new information about that, ahead.

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[10:40:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, Ukraine says the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet was killed in Friday's attack on Sevastopol that is down here on the tip of the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine's special operation forces said Viktor Sokolov, he is the admiral, was killed and more than a hundred Russian servicemen were wounded when the Black Sea fleet headquarters was hit.

I want to bring in CNN Military Analyst, former commanding general for the U.S. Army Europe, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. General, thank you so much for being with us right now. The news that an admiral, the commander of the Black Sea fleet might have been killed in that strike. And actually, we have some video on that strike that I can show right here. What would that do to the Russian efforts in Crimea?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE AND SEVENTH ARMY: Good morning, John. It's a pretty big deal. What I'd suggest is it's not only the commander of the fleet but the targeting process that the Ukrainians are using where you garner intelligence and then decide what targets you're going to hit and then strike it is the important part of this.

Because it wasn't just the admiral killed, it was the admiral killed inside of his Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, where others were killed, as you just mentioned. Probably a -- great many of his staff. Ukraine estimates between 34 and 37 other naval officers were killed there, but this is going to disrupt the operations within the Black Sea.

The other thing that's important is the fact that in order to hit this headquarters, the Ukrainian forces also hit a telecommunications node within the Black Sea fleet.

[10:45:00]

So, that's the ability for the intelligence to pass to different ships from the headquarters as well as really just destroying the command and control infrastructure of a major element of the Russian Navy.

BERMAN: You have to be able to hit it, and you have to know he's there when you are hitting it to have that kind of success. General, you're a tank guy, so it is with great pleasure that I get to ask you about this. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that the first U.S. Abrams Tanks have arrived now in country. What is the difference that these tanks can make?

HERTLING: Well, there are -- in my view, John, and I say this with a little trepidation because I'm sure the Germans would debate me on this, it is the best tank in the world. It has the capability of high speed, great deal of armor protection, tremendous firepower from the 120-millimeter gun. It has the ability to range very far. It also has great crew protection. It can hit targets that aims at close to 3,000 meters plus, which is tremendously important, but it also has machine guns, several machine guns on the vehicle that can engage troop targets.

So, what you're talking about is a very capable armored system. It is tough to train on. The Ukrainians had been doing that for the last several months as promised. Secretary of Defense Austin said the Ukraine forces are going to get 31 of these tanks, which is the equivalent of a Ukrainian armored battalion. And it will contribute to the ground warfare, especially in the ongoing offensive that Ukraine is conducting.

BERMAN: So, 31 of them, what do you do with them? And I have the map here up of a sort of counteroffensive here, and you can see very small areas of yellow which the Ukrainians have been able to take back. Do you throw these 31 tanks right to the front immediately, or because you have relatively limited capacity, do you be careful with them?

HERTLING: Well, I'm -- I hesitate to answer that question, John. I know what I would do with them. I would wait for the counteroffensive that's ongoing now in several different directions to show strength some strengths and breakthrough operations. Then you use these tanks as part of a combined arms team of infantry and artillery and air defense and engineers to continue to assault to the key positions or the key objectives that Ukraine has determined that are the final point of this. Breaking supply lines, going after troop forces.

But in my view, these are best used as part of a mass of a combined arms team with a mobile armored punch. Once you find out where you want to go, once you find out the areas have been cleared of mines which have been plaguing the Ukrainian forces over the last several months, you would throw these in in a combined arms team and have that kind of armored punch that is needed to breakthrough and continue the assault, because they can move very quickly if they're supplied and maintained over an attack route.

BERMAN: So, wait for the opportunity then deploy. General Mark Hertling, thank you so much for being with us today.

Sara.

SIDNER: Still ahead, the mayor of New Orleans, declaring a state of emergency over drinking water as the federal government tries to avoid a disaster that could threaten the drinking water in that state. That is ahead.

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[10:50:00]

SIDNER: The mayor of New Orleans is warning the city is on the brink of a drinking water disaster, and he has declared a state of emergency. Here's the problem, extreme drought in the central U.S. has dropped water levels in the Mississippi River that has allowed ocean water from Gulf of Mexico to push upward threatening to mix saltwater into New Orleans' drinking water systems. Joining me now is CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir. Bill, we talked a little bit about why this is happening. But this is really scary. What is happening here?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It is. It is because it shows the compounding interest of the climate disaster. This has happened before. In 1988 saltwater got in to the New Orleans drinking supply for a couple of days and they had to, sort of, fight it back.

So, they came up with this idea, the Army Corps of Engineers, that they would have to build sills now, this is just like a speed bump of sand on the bottom to stop the saltwater which is denser than fresh from coming upstream there. Well, now, for the first time ever, they've had to rebuild that sill twice and back-to-back years. The initial projection was we do this every five years, we can manage it. Now, but now the drought is so bad that army corps of says they need 10 inches of rain in the entire Mississippi River Valley to fix this problem and beat back that saltwater.

SIDNER: We know what happens with the saltwater and, you know, corrosive water in pipes that are old. We saw what happened in Flint with all the lead poisoning issue. So, that is a really scary issue. But this isn't just about water, is it? It's also about food, correct?

WEIR: It is. It is about food. There's so much barge traffic, like one every five bites of food comes out of the Mississippi River down the -- the grains come down. Last year, because of the low waters as we saw those wrecks of steamer ships from the civil war being exposed by the drought. A price of shipping, one, you know, bushel of soybeans went up 300 percent. So, you see it in your grocery bills as well. And so, army corps not just having to dredge and make room for those ships to unclog that traffic of commerce that's jammed up, they're now barging millions of gallons of freshwater down to fight the seawater that's coming up stream.

SIDNER: Food, water, air. We humans are in trouble.

WEIR: We can't take the bottom of the pyramid of needs for granted anymore.

SIDNER: That is -- without a point.

WEIR: We got to pay attention what's down there.

SIDNER: Bill Weir, that's great. Thank you so much.

WEIR: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Appreciate it.

John.

[10:55:00]

BERMAN: All right. We are standing by to hear from Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, his first public statement since his corruption indictment as more of his fellow Democrats call for his resignation. What does he plan to say?

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SIDNER: So now, embattled Senator Bob Menendez is set to make his first remarks since being indicted on bribery charges. The nation watching as members of his own party are calling on him to step down.

BERMAN: And with the clock ticking to zero on a government shutdown, and may be his own job, what are House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's latest plans?

[11:00:00]