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Biden Says He's Reached Deal To Get Aid Into Gaza; Biden To Press For Israel & Ukraine Aid Tonight; U.S. Officials: Navy Destroyer Near Yemen Intercepts Multiple Missiles; Several GOP Members Ask Jordan To Drop Speaker Bid, Jordan Refuses; Jonathan Conricus, IDF Spokesman, Discusses The Continuing Israel-Hamas War. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 19, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
LT. COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: And that is the kind of thing that the Israelis thought they had, but it turns out they didn't when it came to what happened on the 7th of October.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So, in President Biden's speech tonight, he's expected to ask, not only for Israel, but as we noted, significant aid for Ukraine, $60 billion.
Obviously, there is some restraint or rather hesitation on the part of many lawmakers in Congress to pair those two. But it's needed aid.
LEIGHTON: It certainly is. From the Ukrainian standpoint, Boris, it's going to be absolutely critical. They cannot sustain the fight without it.
What they have to -- what lawmakers have to think about is where they're getting the biggest bang for their buck.
When you compare what's going on in Ukraine, the fact they have ATACMs, for example, and they've been effectively using them, they've been able to recapture some of the territory that the Russians occupied in the initial phases of the war.
They have done a lot with the aid that they received.
When you compare that to, for example, the sinkhole of Afghanistan when it came to aid, it's a very different thing.
We put in well over a trillion dollars into Afghanistan the years that we were there. Ukraine promises to be cheaper if we do it right and if we do it in a sustained fashion.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right. Colonel, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your insights.
LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.
KEILAR: And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:43]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news. U.S. officials say a Navy destroyer near Yemen just intercepted multiple missiles.
I want to go to our CNN Oren Lieberman at the Pentagon.
Oren, what do we know about this?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this just in to me and my colleague, Jim Sciutto. A U.S. Navy destroyer operating in the Middle East, in fact, just passed through the Suez Canal just yesterday, was off the coast of Yemen when it intercepted several missiles fired from Yemen.
According to one of the two U.S. officials we spoke with, it looks to be approximately two or three missiles that were intercepted.
Those officials say it's unclear what the missiles were targeting, whether it was aimed at the carrier itself or whether they were targeting something else.
The key question is, who fired them? One of the officials says it's believed to be the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen who have this sort of capability.
It's been something the U.S. has been looking very closely, whether other groups, who are interested in partaking in this or see some sort of weakness in Israel, might try to participate in the conflict and get involved. Perhaps it's an indication of that happening.
But it also speaks to the broader tension throughout the region. In addition to this U.S. Navy destroyer intercepting these missiles off the coast of Yemen earlier today, we have seen drone attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq within the past 24 or 48 hours. We saw three drones targeting U.S. forces there.
This is what the administration and other countries were worried about, whether a conflict in Gaza could spread beyond. It's the intense diplomatic effort by the U.S. to head that off.
But this is an indication that, first, of the volatility of the region and, despite the administration's best efforts, it's heading in the direction or moving towards a regional conflict.
Anderson, we expect more information, a better and clearer picture perhaps of what those missiles were targeting, an exact number. And then next steps at this point.
Keep in mind, Anderson, the other assets the U.S. Navy has in the region, two aircraft carriers in eastern Med and the Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Red Sea.
COOPER: All right, Orin, thanks very much.
I want to bring back in CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton.
Colonel Leighton, what's your reaction to this?
LEIGHTON: Anderson, this could potentially be an escalation here.
When you see the fact this happened off the coast of Yemen, combine that with the drone attacks against the U.S. installations in Iraq, some other activities going on in the eastern Med and where you are right now, it looks like there's at least the potential for there to be an escalating effort.
That type of effort, in terms of what the Iranians might be doing here, could very well be a dangerous escalation of things. That's on one hand.
On the other hand, if this is a -- an accidental firing or if they were looking at another target, that becomes another matter.
The intelligence aspect of this, to find out exactly what happened, is going to be critical to determine next steps by the U.S. and by other regional players right now.
COOPER: Colonel Leighton, thank you very much.
[13:38:53]
Stay with CNN. Our coverage continues after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:43:18]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): So I'll just say this. We made -- we made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn't where we were going to go.
I'm still running for speaker. And I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race.
I want to go talk with a few of my colleagues. Particularly, I want to talk with the 20 individuals who voted against me so that we can move forward and begin to work for the American people.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That was Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, the speaker designate in the House of Representatives.
Let's take a step back and review what has transpired over the last few weeks. Republicans, Matt Gaetz specifically, filed a motion to vacate Kevin
McCarthy as speaker. Eight Republicans vote for it. All Democrats vote for it. It succeeds.
Then they go into conference. They nominate two folks, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Scalise wins the nomination.
KEILAR: But they don't respect the majority rule vote as they normally do.
SANCHEZ: Right.
KEILAR: He bows out.
SANCHEZ: He bows out. Jim Jordan wins the nomination process again when he puts himself up again. Goes to the floor twice. Fails twice. Loses --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Fails more the second time.
SANCHEZ: He fails more the second time around.
Then he goes into conference and says he would support a motion to empower the temporary speaker, Patrick McHenry, to have the power through at least January to pass laws. To --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: To get work done.
SANCHEZ: To fund aid for Israel, to fund aid for Ukraine, et cetera, et cetera. That gets rejected by his conference.
[14:44:59]
And now he's running for speaker again, potentially, with a vote later today.
KEILAR: We'll see does he lose more support. He said he's trying to shore up his support. But where do things sit?
Let's go to the man who I think knows. Manu Raju, our chief congressional correspondent, is there in the basement talking to everyone after this dramatic meeting.
What a mess. What a cacophony it sounds like this was. Where do things stand? Will he get more support, Manu?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no sign of that. I talked to several of those Jordan opponents as they walked out of the room. Their votes haven't changed. They're making clear they plan to vote against him.
But there's so much back and forth that you well laid out just today in the aftermath of this chaotic two weeks where nothing can get done in the United States House.
Because of the beginning of the ouster of Kevin McCarthy led by Matt Gaetz, supported by eight Republicans, all Democrats voting to take out Kevin McCarthy. Nothing has been done because Republicans can't unite behind any speaker candidate.
Jim Jordan is poised to lose potentially 22 votes. If they have another vote tonight, maybe up to 30 votes on the House floor. That was the expectation this morning. We'll see if anything changed behind closed doors.
It's pretty clear Republicans may be setting aside -- passing a resolution to prop up the interim speaker, Patrick McHenry. That had been the idea. And there had been a lot of momentum behind that idea. But it got pummeled behind closed doors just moments ago.
And there was so much tension in the room. A lot of back and forth about that idea.
And also towards Congressman Matt Gaetz himself. And I just had a chance to catch up with Gaetz about everything that's transpired in the room, including a tense back and forth he had with Kevin McCarthy.
I asked him whether he regrets leading the charge to push out Kevin McCarthy given his preferred candidate, Jim Jordan, doesn't have the votes to become speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: What did you get out of this? You may not get Jim Jordan as speaker. You may get someone more moderate? What did you get by leading this charge to oust Kevin McCarthy?
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): We're shaking up Washington, D.C. We're breaking the fever. And you know what? It's messy.
But the only reason people think there's chaos in this town right now is because the special interests aren't in control anymore. I think we'll have an upgraded position of speaker of the House.
For me, it was never about one person. It was about ensuring that we got an upgraded position. Kevin McCarthy failed us. He made multiple contradictory promises. We weren't really governing under McCarthy.
Everyone is making this big deal out of the fact that we've burnt the equivalent of four legislative days on all of this. But we spent seven legislative days on Post Offices and procedural votes, for goodness sakes.
This is what it's supposed to be. It's not clean and it's not orderly. And the lobbyists and the special interests hate it. But I don't seem to mind too much.
RAJU: But you can't even legislate. You can't --
(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: The question is, what will happen next? And whether or not they can find anybody who can be more conservative than Kevin McCarthy, someone who Matt Gaetz may actually like. There's no sign that that could happen.
The only leading option at the moment is to figure out some way to give Patrick McHenry more power to legislate. McHenry's ideological position is more moderate than what Matt Gaetz and, certainly, more moderate than Jim Jordan was.
So what then was accomplished by this chaotic episode? It's something that's being heavily debated right now behind closed doors as Republicans are trying to figure out a way to re-open the House.
But no plan, no consensus still after more than two weeks of bitter infighting -- guys?
SANCHEZ: Yet, according to Gaetz, the fever is breaking.
Manu Raju, chief congressional correspondent, thanks so much for that report. 02
Special coverage continues after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:53:02]
COOPER: The Israeli defense minister just spoke to troops not far from the Gaza Strip today and told them they will, quote, "soon see" the enclave, quote, "from the inside."
Joining us now, IDF spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
And, Colonel, should people interpret that in one way?
Actually, let me ask you, Nic Robertson earlier reported that he was told by an unnamed Israeli official that the decision for moving forward now into Gaza is now in the hands of the IDF. Can you confirm that?
LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF SPOKESMAN: I cannot at this stage.
What I can say is that our troops are ready, equipped and prepared, and they're armed with both ammunition and a clear mission, and most importantly, the morale and spirit to execute that mission.
COOPER: There was a mission in the West Bank, and there were reports that a number of Hamas operatives were, I think, arrested. I'm not sure of their status. Can you tell me what occurred?
CONRICUS: Yes. In parallel to the fact that we're fighting Hamas in the south and defending ourselves against Hezbollah attacks in the north and keeping an eye on Syria, we are also operating every day in Judea Samaria. Attacking the infrastructure of Hamas is trying to build and has built and arresting Hamas terrorists, financiers, supporters and terrorist planners in various locations in Gaza.
As a preemptive move in order to make sure they won't be able to conduct terrorist attacks against Israelis. They are trying.
And there are sincere efforts by Hamas in Gaza, lots of pressure from Gaza, for the terrorists in Judea Samaria to attack communities, attack the military.
[14:55:02]
And that is why we're doing preemptive operations to round up Hamas officials and supporters and activists.
COOPER: I was in an area where they buried on the ground today a sickening scene and very somber day there, obviously.
When we left, we learned that, according to the IDF, an Israeli- American and her granddaughter, Carmella Dan and her granddaughter, Noya Dan, who h ad been kidnapped from Nir Oz were found dead.
And her family was notified, their family notified yesterday. Other members of their family are still missing, believed kidnapped.
Can you say anything more about that? Where they were found? Obviously, a lot of hostage families want any news. Do you know if they were kidnapped and in Gaza and returned or do you know if they never made it that far?
CONRICUS: So there are still -- there's more than 200 confirmed Israelis that are in Hamas hostage. They're being held hostage by Hamas. More than --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And 203 was the latest number put out.
CONRICUS: Correct. And there are between 100 and 200 Israelis still unaccounted for.
We do not know if they are dead and their body is somewhere in Israel or in the Gaza Strip. Whether in the hands of Hamas or other terrorist organizations, or not in the hands of anybody, or if they are held hostage.
There are still many, many people unaccounted for. And tremendous efforts are being allocated in order to find out and establish and to understand where each and every Israeli is.
But it is something that is extremely difficult because of the difficulty identifying remains and locating bodies.
The IDF has been doing operations, tactical operations inside Gaza Strip in order to find remains and other pieces of information. And we have brought back bodies and they are being processed, which is a tremendous effort to understand remains, and to try to match them with the identities of Israelis that are missing.
COOPER: Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, thank you. Appreciate it.
Stay with CNN.
CONRICUS: Thank you.
COOPER: Our coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
