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Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is Interviewed about Congress; Israel Can't Confirm Some Atrocity Claims; Antony Blinken Meets with Survivors; Biden's Delima in Israel. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired October 12, 2023 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Challenge to me, and you see the list of people who are saying that they won't vote for him, is not much has changed since eight folks teamed up with 208 Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker. And unless you address the root cause here and the challenge, we're going to be dealing with the same problem.
So, my objective is, we need to get a speaker. We need to get 217 votes on the House floor so we can get back to work on behalf of the American people. That is the objective. There are a lot of challenges, from spending, to the border, to obviously the crisis in Israel, and so on.
So, there's a lot of work to do. We need to elect a speaker. We need 217 votes to do it. And we need to do it quickly.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Again, just to be crystal clear on this, you did talk to Scalise last night and the House Republican conference is meeting later today. Would you vote for Scalise on the House floor?
LAWLER: Look, we need 217 votes. And it's incumbent on Steve. He got the majority of the conference yesterday to get 217 votes. And so, unless you deal with the challenges within the conference, it's very hard to get there. You have a bunch of people saying they will never vote for him. I'm not saying I will never vote for him, but this is a challenge and you got to get to 217.
BERMAN: Got it.
I want to move on to Israel right now if I can.
The Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination, Donald Trump, over the last 24 hours has actually been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We're going to play a little bit of sound, some different moments of him. He's criticizing Netanyahu for some action he took years ago when the U.S. hit Iran, but also talking about preparedness and some other things here.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I'll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing. I will say that.
When I see sometimes the intelligence, you talk about the intelligence, or you talk about some of the things that went wrong over the last week, they've got to straighten it out because they're fighting potentially a very big force.
And they said, gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn't attack from the north because that's the most vulnerable spot. I said, wait a minute, you know, Hezbollah's very smart. They're all very smart. The press doesn't like when they say (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, Congressman, what do you think of that during this moment when Israel is in crisis?
LAWLER: Look, I'll let the former president speak for himself.
My focus is on helping the Israeli government, making sure that they have the resources they need financially, militarily, from an intelligence standpoint, and doing everything we can to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.
They are at war with a terrorist organization. Hamas, backed and funded by Iran, is hell bent on wiping Israel off the face of the earth. And we need to do everything we can to support Israel, to make sure that they eliminate Hamas, period. And if Hezbollah, or any other bad actor, wants to get engaged in this war, they will regret that.
And I think it is imperative that we speak with one voice, united in our support for Israel, for the Israeli people, and that we make sure we are doing everything we can to get American citizens home.
Right now you have over 20 Americans that were killed, you have thousands of Americans that are seeking to get out of Israel and come back to the United States right now. I have hundreds of constituents of my own. I've been arguing with the White House for days about the need to get military planes in to help evacuate American citizens.
There is a lot to deal with. We can go back and look at, you know, intelligence failures, et cetera, down the road. But right now, the focus has to be on winning this war and supporting Israel.
BERMAN: And I have heard you call for U.S. military assistance in getting some of your constituents out. There are still a lot of Americans there who do want to get out.
Congressman Mike Lawler, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we've got much more coming up. CNN's coverage continues. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:39:03]
BOLDUAN: This morning, the Israeli government is clarifying statements made, and claims made yesterday that children were found decapitated following the Hamas terror attack Saturday. The Biden administration is also walking back a statement that President Biden made about pictures of terrorists beheading children.
CNN's Matthew Chance is in Jerusalem. He's joining us now.
Matthew, some clarification needed on this. What are you learning here?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some clarification being given as well by the Israeli government. An official, very highly placed in the Israeli government, told me that they're not able to confirm that babies were decapitated. That dreadful story that we've all been sort of hearing about in these Hamas attacks. But they are saying that decapitations happened as long as - as well as other what they described as ISIS-style atrocities by Hamas militants as they attacked Israeli settlements.
[09:40:06]
But what the authorities here in Israel are saying now is that, look, we're not going to confirm whether these people were men or women, whether they were soldiers or civilians, or whether they were adults or children. And so that's the clarification that's been given to us at this point. You know, in this - in this dreadful, dreadful story. But I think we have to bear in mind that, of course, many, many children have been killed. The means by which they were killed is in some ways irrelevant. And that's what the Israeli government wants to do now is focus on, you know, that - that crime, that aspect of what's happened.
And so, yes, a lot of confusion, though, as you can imagine. There are still areas where the Israeli authorities have not retrieved everybody's remains. There's still areas in the kibbutz, near the Gaza Strip, where, you know, they've not been properly cleared out yet and we've not been allowed to get into yet.
We've come here to the Hadasa (ph) medical facility in Jerusalem, which is one of the country's biggest hospitals, and where we've been speaking to a couple of witnesses and people who were injured as a result of those Hamas attacks. There have been 100 people or more in this hospital that have been treated as a result of those attacks, and all of them have these incredibly compelling, tragic stories to tell, Kate.
BOLDUAN: And I think you put - with clarification it's also - I think what you're - you are putting - you are reminding everyone of the finer, important point, which is, children killed and murdered at point blank range, which should not, cannot, will not be lost in the telling of all of this.
Thank you so much, Matthew. BERMAN: All right, we're just getting some pictures in right now of
Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Tel Aviv. These are live right now. He is being cheered by Israelis there. You can't see Blinken in this frame, I don't think, but he, we are told, is delivering some kind of supplies - some kind of -- there he is right behind that man.
BOLDUAN: He's right (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: Yes, behind there.
And, look, Antony Blinken has got a -- let me listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's - I've known him for more than 20 years. It's (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw it. We saw it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. -- Mr. Secretary, how do you feel about this --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's wonderful to see this (INAUDIBLE).
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: These are some of the humanitarian supplies there in the camera being moved just for a second. We'll try to listen in once he gets settled and set here. There he goes.
BERMAN: All right, I thought he was going to take some questions there. It would have been good to listen in, and we still will try. But what's interesting here, again, just not an inch of space at this moment between the United States and Israel in this conflict.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) my boyfriend.
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Nice to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my father, Atan (ph).
BLINKEN: Ah, good to meet you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are survivors from the music raid.
BLINKEN: Ah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were lot (ph) of friends. And --
BLINKEN: I'm so sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We lost a lot of our friends, close friends, and lots of family members. There are a lot of people that we know that are kidnapped and now in Gaza.
We went through horror, really. I'm just like -- I'm 24. And I never imaged something like this would happen ever in a dance, in music festival. We celebrated love and we danced. And it was amazing.
And then the rockets started and gun shots everywhere. We managed to escape. But there were a lot of friends that didn't. And there are a lot of friends that are kept captive now in Gaza.
And we were saved by miracle. But there are friends that we love that weren't, that aren't.
BLINKEN: Wow. I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for being here. It's really important.
And if there's any way to help, like first priority, first priority are our friends and family that are now in Gaza.
BLINKEN: We're -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're strong here. We're powerful here.
BLINKEN: We feel that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this place now in Tel Aviv and everywhere.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
BLINKEN: We're thinking of them. We're thinking of them and trying to do everything we can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
BLINKEN: Because we want to bring them home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much for being here and speaking to me.
BLINKEN: And I'm so, so sorry you have to go through this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It means a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
BLINKEN: I - I - I admire your - I admire your strength and - and also telling your stories makes a big difference, too. The world - the world needs to know this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE). Thank you.
BLINKEN: Thank you. We will - And we're -- we're there with you. We're there for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We see.
BLINKEN: (INAUDIBLE). Thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
BLINKEN: Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
[09:45:02]
BLINKEN: Good to see you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.
SIDNER: An emotional moment there.
BOLDUAN: That was so powerful.
SIDNER: Extremely touching where you have these two were at that music festival on the border. You can just hear the sorrow. She got a chance to speak with the secretary of state as he goes to visit the area. And she said she is 24 years old. She's got friends missing. She wants the hostages to be a priority.
And he stood there, looked her in the eye, hugged her, hugged the young man she's with, both of them that were at the music festival. And as they're doing it -
BOLDUAN: Just the power. The power of that image, of the secretary of state meeting this woman.
SIDNER: Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to move everybody together, back again, and - and, you know, love will win all and, you know, thank you for -
BLINKEN: What you're doing is incredibly powerful. And the unity you're showing. (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are - we are - this is my fourth funeral (ph). I just came from it. Fourth friend (INAUDIBLE) because I knew from (INAUDIBLE).
BLINKEN: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number one thing that all parents say was, finishing the shiba (ph), the seven days of mourning. And we're up to go to (INAUDIBLE). We're up - they were going to go (ph). We're not stopping our lives. Our goal is to build the country (ph) again. That's why we're raising the money. We're -- this is not a short-term thing. We're going to be rebuilding the kibbutz (INAUDIBLE) and we're going to be helping the families.
We now have - we've arranged (ph) every large tech company to adopt one of these - one of these towns and rebuild it. We're not going to wait for the government, because the government's not going to be doing it. And we're going to be adopting all the families. We're - we're - we're basically busy now with making sure we win, with everyone supporting (INAUDIBLE). At the same time, getting geared for the - all the humanitarian and civil help we need to rebuild the country. And these are the amazing people that are doing it 24/7, some of the most amazing people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And first responders. Really, first responders before everybody in the government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're getting so much support from Americans. Not just the government.
BLINKEN: No, I know, that's why I'm here (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From America. This is so hard for them because the bond -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the states between (ph) here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bond between my - my - I have a venture capital fund in Silicon Valley, in Israel, and that - but the bond that we feel between Americans and Israelis with the shared values, the shared belief, the shared way of living, shows that we can free them and the free way of living, it felt so strong. And it helps us keeps strong.
BLINKEN: The outpouring of support has been incredible from the United States. And, again, it's very, very heartfelt. And you can - you can count on it. And we'll be there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know. We know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really want to thank you for the visit and for all the support.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
BLINKEN: No, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should - you should see when we heard that the aircraft carrier was coming here, people were standing in the streets and -- not because we feel we're not strong, right, the way - if we wanted we have - was an air force pilot. I was in the top unit. We know what we can do. We're not afraid.
BLINKEN: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the family, we've got American support visibly was so meaningful to people. This is - and even if it does nothing, it's so meaningful because people know that that bond is so strong. It's beyond this government or that government. This is something that, you know, we've always prided ourself as (INAUDIBLE), and now we feel it (INAUDIBLE).
BLINKEN: You know, I said earlier, we know that Israel takes pride, rightfully, in being able to defend itself by itself, and you always will. But you don't have to because you're not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you know that, Tom, that was here, Tom Knight
(ph), he was a very good friend, one of the most amazing representatives of the United States. Our new old ambassadors Tom is unbelievable. He was such a good friend of ours.
BLINKEN: I - I -- I - I agree with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Such a loss for us. I mean (INAUDIBLE) there and everything. That's such a loss for us.
BLINKEN: Yes.
All right, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.
BLINKEN: Thanks for sharing this. Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks so much.
BERMAN: I mean Secretary of State Antony Blinken there really being swarmed by Israelis. That 24-year-old woman, who had been at the music festival, sobbing, saying, thank you for being here. Which is a message just bigger than one person right now. It really symbolizes the relationship between the United States and Israel, which has entered this very different stage over the last few days. This complete support from the United States government.
BOLDUAN: And the fact that Tony Blinken is there, I mean, this happened Saturday. The -- it is -
SIDNER: Still going on.
BOLDUAN: Uncertain what the future is going to hold -
SIDNER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: In the immediate hours and days and he is on the ground with and feel all your love.
SIDNER: Yes. I think Tony -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your visit is everything to us.
BOLDUAN: Your visit -
SIDNER: Your visit is everything. Yes.
As we listen in to each person, he can't take three steps. And I think it's -- we should mention, it is highly unusual that someone would have this kind of access to the secretary of state of the United States of America in a war zone.
CROWD (chanting): USA. USA. USA. USA.
BOLDUAN: They go from singing the Israeli national anthem to cheering USA.
SIDNER: Now you hear them cheering USA.
BERMAN: And, look, it just needs to be said that the relationship between Israel and the United States, up until last week, had -- there had been some tension there.
[09:50:07]
BOLDUAN: For sure.
SIDNER: There was tension inside of Israel.
BERMAN: That's what I mean. Yes.
SIDNER: I mean you had this huge tension and the United States was trying to thread the needle, figure out - but there's also a -
BOLDUAN: But when the - when the existential crisis that faces Israel all the time is - is close to the - is as stark as it is today --
SIDNER: They've made it very clear.
BOLDUAN: All of those tensions go away.
SIDNER: Yes.
BERMAN: Antony Blinken also noted before that his stepfather was a Holocaust - was a Holocaust survivor. So, this is particularly poignant and meaningful for him. And you can see it on his face as I think his aides were trying to get him out of there, and he wasn't having anything of it.
BOLDUAN: He has -
SIDNER: He wanted to talk to people.
BOLDUAN: He has spoken about that before and the impact that that has had on his call to service for Tony Blinken, the impact of his stepfather being a Holocaust survivor and what that has meant for him. That was a remarkable moment to see.
SIDNER: It was remarkable.
We are going to be right back with you in just a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:55:17]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD (chanting): USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA. USA.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: All right, this was just moments ago. We were watching as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was at a donation center in Tel Aviv. He is in Israel meeting with Israeli leaders, but took a brief stop from that to come here to help donate goods to this center and was just swarmed by Israelis grateful, not just for the U.S. effort to help Israel, but for the presence of the U.S. secretary of state. A 24-year-old woman who survived the massacre at the music festival was hugging him, sobbing in his arms, saying, thank you for being here. And then you heard those USA chants. And we also heard them singing the Israeli national anthem. An extraordinary moment.
SIDNER: Truly extraordinary. No one gets that close to the U.S. secretary of state, generally speaking, to have those long conversations.
All right, this morning, President Biden is meeting with his national security team. He faces a really delicate balance as he works to support Israel against Hamas. But with Lebanon sending rockets and armed militants into Israel, the delicate balance he is now facing to try to avoid having the U.S. becoming embroiled in a wider regional conflict in the Middle East is growing.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now from the White House.
Tell us what you can about this difficult position that President Biden may find himself in.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Sara, it certainly is a delicate balance. And the resounding message from the White House has been expressing outrage over this conflict but also signaling that they do not want to see this escalate. And that outrage and that support is intentional. The president, we learned, gathered with his advisories on Tuesday before his speech on the conflict where he wanted him to include detail of the appalling nature of the attack. If you recall, he called it, quote, "sheer evil."
And that really underscoring the deep, emotional reaction from this president and this White House, while also being forceful about the U.S. response. And, of course, sending a stern warning to anyone looking to get involved in it.
Take a listen to what the president said to Jewish community leaders just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Already we're surging additional military assistance to the Israel Defense Force, including ammunition, interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome, and we've moved a U.S. carrier fleet to the eastern Mediterranean. And we're sending more fighter jets there to that region. And made it clear, made it clear, to the Iranians, be careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: Now, the White House wants to avoid being embroiled in a foreign conflict. Right now it is a show of support. And in closed door meetings we've learned that the president has emphasized to his advisers that it is important that they get this response right. And any miscalculation could be consequential.
Sara.
SIDNER: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for breaking that down for us.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: We want to show you a live picture of Gaza. You can see black smoke in the distance there. Israel says it is conducting a large scale strike on Hamas targets right now. The IDF also saying they're preparing for the next stage. What that means, stay with us. We have reporters on the ground throughout the region.
CNN's coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
