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IDF: Israel Striking Hezbollah Targets In Lebanon; State Dept Warns All American Citizens To Leave Lebanon Amid Possible War Escalation; Republicans Curse, Shout In Speaker Fight; Joran Van Der Sloot Confesses To Killing Natalee Holloway. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 19, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:29]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: The Israel Defense Forces say it is seeing a significant escalation on the border with Lebanon and has been striking back after some 20 rockets or so were fired toward Israel.

Today, the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, says it also attacked five Israeli military posts.

A spokesperson for the IDF tells CNN that Hezbollah is trying to drag Lebanon into the conflict. Certainly, something people in the region have been worried about.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in southern Lebanon for CNN right now.

Ben, what have you been seeing as there is concern that if Israel -- if and when -- embark on this ground invasion that the fighting could increase and Lebanon could get pulled into this war?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, we are hearing a lot of this cross-border fire. Today, it wasn't just Hezbollah. It was focusing mainly on Israeli military positions along the border.

But also the military wing of Hamas got involved. And they claim to have fired 30 rockets into the upper Galilee region.

But I'm -- it's important to keep in mind that even though, certainly, we are seeing more cross-border fire on this -- in this area than perhaps 2006 during that war back then.

But Hezbollah is being very careful to keep it within certain limits to avoid a full-scale war. It seems to be wanting to show that it is supporting Hamas by doing some action here without going all the way.

Keep in mind, just a few months ago, the Israeli defense minister said that if Hezbollah decides to launch a war on Israel, Israel will bomb Lebanon back into the Stone Age. So there is a certain hesitance.

And certainly, in this area where we are, there is nervousness about the possibility of a full-scale war. We spoke with a shopkeeper here who told us he has his bag's packed in

his car ready to go in the event that things go really south.

So there is nervousness. But at the moment, I think a certain level of violence without going too far is being maintained here -- Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes. And that's really interesting given the idea -- if you see the strikes going back and forth, something you say we haven't seen in 20 years.

And I should note we're hearing a little activity here right now in Tel Aviv. We'll be monitoring that.

[13:34:58]

But you're saying what Hezbollah is doing is maybe a little bit but not enough to provoke Israel. Is that the sense of what's actually happening on the ground, what their decision-making is?

WEDEMAN: Yes. They are doing -- what we're seeing really in terms of Hezbollah's capabilities is really just the tip of the iceberg.

These are very localized attacks. They've not lobbing missiles in the direction of large Israeli population centers.

We're getting -- Hezbollah is putting out videos every day. They seem to be focused on communications, surveillance, and observation equipment on the Israeli side.

Occasionally, hitting tanks and troops, as well. But it's really very military in its focus. Not what we're seeing, for instance, in coming out of Gaza. This is very specific, very localized -- Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes. And clearly, the U.S. government, though, seems worried it could go from the state of where it is now to something bigger.

Because this warning came out from the State Department telling Americans in Lebanon leave the country as soon as possible. They're worried there may not be commercial options to do so in the near stage, I guess.

I mean, have you sensed a change in how people feel? Are they going about everyday life, or do you sense something different since you've been on the ground?

WEDEMAN: Certainly, in this area along the border, there is nervousness. Some people have already left. Others have left and come back because they can't afford to hang out in hotels in Beirut.

But certainly in general, if you're talking about Lebanon, there is nervousness.

And it's not just the U.S. government. The U.K., Germany, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and others have told their nationals in Lebanon that it's a good time to leave now while there are still flights. Keep in mind that in 2006, at the beginning of the war between

Hezbollah and Israel, one of the first things Israel struck was the airport in Beirut.

It's also important to keep in mind that when we're talking about nationals of the U.S., Australia, U.K., Germany, Canada, and whatnot, there are hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who have dual passports.

So it's not just tourists who are here or businessmen. There are a lot of Lebanese who hold these passports, as well.

And in 2006, all of these countries had to send ships to take their nationals out. And so we're talking about not just a few thousands. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people who, in theory, should leave.

But many of them are obviously connected to their land and their homeland and won't be leaving. But it's -- we're not talking about a small number of people -- Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes. A difficult decision for a region that is certainly on edge.

Ben Wedeman, thank you for that reporting.

Boris and Brianna?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So we're getting new reporting from Capitol Hill. It seems like the fight to become House speaker is getting uglier and uglier.

What we're learning about shouting, finger pointing, swearing, prayer, refusing to sit down. All of this happening in a meeting that's under way right now. We'll take you behind closed doors when we come back.

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[13:42:45]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have breaking news on Capitol Hill. This chaotic fight that we have watched between House Republicans over this new speaker situation, it's even uglier now if you can imagine that.

There's been this heated GOP conference meeting under way. It's happening right now.

And we are learning that members, they are swearing at each other. They are shouting at each other. In the case of Matt Gaetz, refusing to sit down after former House Speaker McCarthy told him to do just that.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Fellow Republican apparently pointing directly at him and saying "this is all your fault" for his filing the notion vacate McCarthy as speaker.

Let's take you back to Capitol Hill with Melanie Zanona. So, Melanie, what's happening now?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Yes, Republicans are still meeting behind closed doors in that conference meeting, which I'm told has grown heated and emotional.

We've seen a lot of conference meetings over the past two weeks as Republicans are faced with this deepening leadership crisis and have been unable to get themselves out of this impasse.

And they are plunged further into chaos. It's hard to imagine things getting worse, but that's where we're at right now, guys.

Because I'm told that during this meeting, there was the confrontation that you mentioned, Boris, between Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy. Matt Gaetz stood up, went toward the microphones. McCarthy told him to sit down.

Gaetz refused. And then another member, Congressman Mike Bost, got up and started swearing at Gaetz saying "this is all your fault." Things got emotional.

But it didn't end there. There was also multiple Republicans who stood up, including some people who were backing Jim Jordan, who said that he should get out of the speaker's race, calling on him to step down, asking why he should still be their speaker designee.

Jim Jordan, of course, is still in the race, has refused to step down, even though he does not have the votes. And canceled a plan for a vote on a third speaker ballot today.

And then something else that has come up, guys, which is, again, just speaking to the intensity and emotions and frustrations, there have been a number of Jordan holdouts, who have been receiving death threats, menacing messages, angry phone calls to their offices.

There's been several members who say they have received death threats over their vote. So that came up in the meeting.

Jim Jordan, of course, has denounced those threats and said he is not involved in any of these outside pressure campaign tactics that have been deployed by some conservative leaders and conservative media figures.

But it all just speaks to just how tense things are inside the GOP as they still scramble to come up with a solution here.

[13:45:00]

KEILAR: Well, this is -- it's awful. It's ridiculous.

When it comes to Jim Jordan and this idea of empowering the speaker pro tem, the sort of acting speaker, McHenry, where is Jim Jordan on that vote?

ZANONA: He's gone back and forth. Initially, he was adamantly against the idea. He was telling his supporters to vote against it yesterday when it looked like it would come up for a vote.

This morning, we were hearing that Jim Jordan had a new plan, that he was going to get behind the resolution.

The idea being that if they can temporarily empower a speaker until maybe January, that it takes away the chaos of a speakerless House. And it gives Jim Jordan more time to build support for his speakership bid, which he's clearly lacking now.

The problem is his own conservative members are fiercely against that idea. He was getting pushback in the meeting against that idea.

They also, some of them, came out of the meeting were and telling us similar things. Jim Banks said this would be the, quote, "biggest F-U with voters if they move ahead with the plan."

So it's very unclear, Brianna and Boris, whether Jim Jordan is still going to come out of the meeting supporting this resolution. And even if he did, it's unclear whether it would have the votes to pass.

They would clearly need some Democratic votes to help get it over the finish line. Democrats had their only meeting today but have not made decisions and are in kind of a wait-and-see mode right now. So very unclear.

It looked like this morning we might have had a viable path, an option out of this chaos. But now that's looking less and less certain -- Brianna and Boris?

KEILAR: All right. Melanie Zanona, some very interesting details coming out of that meeting.

Coming up, a chilling murder confession. It's all on tape. New details that we are learning about the Natalee Holloway case.

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[13:51:22]

KEILAR: Almost two decades after Natalee Holloway vanished in Aruba, the person who has been the suspect pretty much the entire time has now admitted to killing her. We now have a recording of Joran Van Der Sloot's confession.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and even though he admits he killed the Alabama teen back in 2005, he won't be charged with her murder.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following all the details.

Jean, walk us through it. What more are we learning from this tape?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are learning more of exactly how this happened.

First of all, when he arrived in May with FBI agents on an FBI plane from Peru, they sat down and they had a discussion. They said, look, if you'll honestly, truthfully and accurately tell us

exactly what happened to Natalie Holloway, we'll enter into a plea agreement with you.

So what happened, he was first debriefed by the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI. When he agreed, then it was -- they all sat down. There was a recording device.

The public defender representing Van Der Sloot asked the questions. We know the FBI was in the room when it happened.

Now listen. We have the audio.

Here is Joran Van Der Sloot, in his own voice, describing what they say is very credible and truthful -- the FBI is saying that -- what happened to Natalee Holloway.

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JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, CONFESSED TO MURDER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: She kneed me in the crotch. I get up on the beach and I kick her extremely hard in the face. Yes, she's laying down unconscious, possibly even dead, but definitely unconscious.

And I see right next to her there's a huge cinder block laying on the beach. I take this and I smash her head in completely. Her face basically, you know, collapses in.

(END AUDIO FEED)

CASAREZ: Yes, there was one more condition to this plea agreement, a polygraph.

Once it was done, according to documents, federal agents administered that polygraph and it was determined that it was accurate what Van Der Sloot was saying.

KEILAR: It's so hard to listen to. I can't imagine for her family -- I know they're glad to have closure here, Jean.

What comes next?

CASAREZ: We've been talking with prosecutors in Aruba. And this is fascinating because they say that this is an open investigation, continues to be in Aruba.

And they have asked the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. attorney's office for all documentation, all legal documentation, everything they have to get in their hands in Aruba.

They will read it and they will determine what they do next. But they are not excluding that something could be done in Aruba based on this confession that he's given in the United States.

SANCHEZ: Jean, back to the point about Natalee Holloway's family, what are they saying about all of this? CASAREZ: You know, I've followed this from the beginning. And what

they have gone through, as you said.

Yesterday, Beth Holloway gave a statement outside of federal court. No cameras in federal court.

But I'm going to just let you listen to what she says and how she feels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH HOLLOWAY, MOTHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: It just blistered your soul to hear the brutal description of how he killed her. It was intentional in what he did.

But honestly, I can say it now because I spent 18 years the not knowing to now and I know what happened.

[13:55:04]

And -- and the 18 years leading up without knowing was more tumultuous and torturous than, you know, in taking that hard hit, bracing yourself, your heart and soul to take that hit and begin to process and absorb the reality and the truth and the answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: She also said that she's been in the teaching profession for years. And that, when all this happened, she moved to Aruba to search for her daughter.

And she said that she had to become licensed again when she got back to Alabama and she also lost her tenure and she had to work very hard to be tenured again.

I mean, the family has gone through so much, so much, and even down to her own profession.

SANCHEZ: Yes, such a difficult journey for that family and for her mom. Hopefully, a closing of that chapter in her life.

Jean Casarez, thanks so much for the update.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come on NEWS CENTRAL, we're going to take you back live to the Middle East where airstrikes are picking up in northern Gaza. All of it coming just hours before a primetime address from President Biden.

Stay with CNN. We're back just a few minutes.

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