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Israeli Defense Minister: IDF Troops Will "Soon See" Gaza "From Inside"; U.S. Officials: Navy Destroyer Intercepts Missiles Near Yemen; Ex-Trump Lawyer Flips, Pleads Guilty In GA Election Case; Jordan Drops Plan To Back A Temporary House Speaker. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 19, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:02:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The aerial bombardment of Gaza has not let up and now Israel's leaders they're hinting at what's next. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington here with Boris Sanchez.

Kaitlan Collins is on the scene in Israel.

And Israel's defense minister is telling troops that they will soon see Gaza from the inside, adding: "The command will come."

The civilians stranded in Gaza are bracing for that next phase and they're still waiting for promised deliveries of food, water and medicine. Right now the U.N. Secretary General is in Egypt witnessing preparations for those shipments.

Now, an Egyptian official tells CNN that aid trucks will start going through the Rafah Border gate starting tomorrow. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and tonight President Biden is set to make the case for a different kind of aid. This is a massive military aid package for not only Israel but also Ukraine and the war that is happening there. It is a rare prime-time Oval Office address. Surely only the second one the President Biden has done since taking office. It'll be closely watched here in Israel and in Ukraine and really all over the world.

Let's get to our coverage, though. We are covering what's happening here on the ground on the border near Gaza.

Nic Robertson is Sderot and Jeremy Diamond is in Ashkelon.

Nic, I want to start with you because you just had a lot of activity where you are in just the last hour. I just want to show viewers what happened while you were on the ground there.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Iron Dome, Iron Dome, Iron Dome, lots of Iron Dome going up into the clouds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

ROBERTSON: Yes. Wow. Hey, guys, are you seeing these Iron Dome intercepts here? Oh look at it, look at up here the - down there. Yes, are you seeing that over there John (ph)?

JOHN: (Inaudible), yes.

ROBERTSON: Fighter jet - oh, wow, look up here. Incoming, incoming - yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Obviously, Nic, this comes as everyone's kind of bracing for what they believe is going to be this Israeli ground operation. Can you just kind of walk us through what you witnessed?

ROBERTSON: Yes. This was an outgoing fire coming from Gaza. Rockets - first of all, the intercepts we saw were rockets headed north in the country and then the rockets coming over here.

First of all, it sound - the rocket sounded so strong. It sounded like a fighter jet and it wasn't because then we heard the Iron - then we heard the incoming missile warning which gives you such a brief time to respond and take cover, so - and then it was all over very quickly.

But for the people who live in this town and - most people have left but there are still a couple of thousand here, this is what life is like.

[15:05:00]

They're used to living with the sound of the sirens and just taking cover immediately and partly because it seems that the Iron Dome intercepts over this town at least have diminished to a degree over the past few days. But to what's expected in Gaza, the defense minister there telling the troops that their boots will soon be inside of Gaza.

I spoke with the economy minister earlier on today on this very subject asking him about when the decision is going to be taken and he said look the political decision to go into Gaza has already been taken. He said a green light - those were his words - a green light has been given to the military and it's up to the military, he said now, about when they go into - when they go into Gaza. And he did give us some other ideas as well, some outlines of what a post-incursion into Gaza may look like, a much bigger level of border security, a dead zone where nobody - no one can go into all around the 67 kilometers, 50 miles or so of the Gaza border.

And as well a final situation he said were like the West Bank which is completely different to Gaza well like the West Bank Israeli defense forces would be able to go in at a time of their choosing to arrest people who they want to arrest.

To achieve that, Israel has to achieve its goal of completely crushing Hamas and the only way that can be done realistically is a lot of troops on the ground for an extended period and that's what politicians today have been talking about to us which is expect a long war. And I think that's where we stand at the moment, an incursion perhaps soon and a long time after that before all this wraps up.

COLLINS: Yes. I think that's important we keep talking about when this could happen but what is the clearest message from officials here especially in Israel is that it is going to be quite a lengthy incursion once they do go in. Nic, stay with us.

Jeremy, you are in Ashkelon, this is a city that has been fired upon time and time again. We've seen so much action there. What have you been seeing tonight?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's right, Kaitlan. Even just today we had three different barrages of rockets towards the city with sirens going off. This is the most fired upon city in all of Israel, about 25 percent of all of the rockets have been targeted at this very city.

And so we spent the day kind of trying to get a sense of how the people who are living here, still about 75-, 70 percent of the population is still believed to be living here and yet 90 percent of businesses are closed. What is open though are supermarkets, for example, where we were today when one of those sirens went off.

And you saw the different reactions from folks. Some of them really still very fearful trying to catch their breath as they rushed inside to try and get cover you only have a few seconds before those rockets head this way. Others carrying on with their shopping even as those sirens wailed in the skies above.

And what we also witnessed today was the command center here in Ashkelon. They really have worked this down to a science to try and get the response as quickly as possible. They have two massive screens in there. And what they're actually able to do is get a sense of where these rockets are going to land if indeed they get through the Iron Dome missile defense system before they actually even make impact in order to rush those emergency services to those locations as quickly as possible.

But Kaitlan, beyond that what we also got a sense of today is this sense of waiting, this sense of anticipation for the next phase of this military campaign as Israelis here are certainly expecting that a ground invasion is imminent and certainly as those comments that Nic was just talking about we are hearing Israeli officials increasingly using bellicose rhetoric and increasingly using very crystal-clear rhetoric about exactly what is going to happen next and that it will involve Israeli forces going into Gaza.

COLLINS: Yes. The framing you hear from so many of them is they feel like they have no other option.

Jeremy Diamond, we'll continue to check back in with you.

We also have breaking news on the U.S. assets in the region. There has been a lot of U.S. firepower moved since October 7th, since that deadly day. And now U.S. officials say that a Navy destroyer near Yemen intercepted multiple missiles today.

Our CNN Max Anchor and Chief National Security Analyst, Jim Sciutto, has this reporting with our colleague, Oren Liebermann.

And Jim, is it clear what these missiles that they intercepted were aiming at? Were they aiming at the USS Kearny or is it clear what the target was?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN MAX ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's not clear in initial assessments who the absolute target was of this, but obviously close enough to U.S. assets there that they shot those projectiles down. Intercept its - intercepted them successfully. This is our understanding at this point, two U.S. officials telling myself and my colleague, Oren Liebermann, that the U.S. Navy destroyer was operating off the coast of Yemen when it intercepted multiple projectiles near the coast there.

[15:10:01]

One official said that the missiles were fired by the Houthi rebels there, which of course backed by Iran. They continue to be engaged in a conflict in Yemen.

The issue here, of course, as you know being where you are, Kaitlan, is concerns about escalation and the various parties in this region, they have proxies. Of course, Hamas is a proxy for Iran as is Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis to a large degree as well.

The concern being that escalation can come from a number of directions. It could come from Iranian forces or Iranian-backed forces and the sad fact is that oftentimes escalation can happen even in unintended circumstances, right? Something such as this where perhaps the U.S. destroyer was not the target close enough that it intercepts and you can imagine a scenario where it doesn't intercept and then those U.S. assets come into danger that is the witch's brew of danger - dangers that are mixing right now in that region and this is one instance of that.

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, given there is so much U.S. firepower that has been moved into this area just in the last week alone, I mean how is that being received? Are they understanding the warning that is coming not just in statements that we see from President Biden but these actual movements that we're seeing in all of these carriers?

SCIUTTO: We don't know. Biden was very explicit, right, saying don't do it, right? I mean that was very clear in his first public comments on this. But more U.S. assets are headed in their way. Just one point of fact here, you now have two U.S. carrier groups in the eastern Mediterranean, Hezbollah in Lebanon has many thousands of missiles far more than Hamas and some of them are capable of striking ships. They've successfully hit an Israeli ship in years past so those US forces though they have tremendous capabilities missile defenses, et cetera.

Hezbollah has tremendous capabilities as well and there is danger and you could be sure that their antenna are up so to speak, right, about any potential threats that may come the way of those U.S. forces.

COLLINS: Yes. Certainly seems like everyone is.

Jim Sciutto, great reporting.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

COLLINS: Thank you. Boris and Brianna?

SANCHEZ: So President Biden is set to give that prime time address about five hours from now. He's pushing for billions of dollars in aid for Israel. Our next guest says the U.S. should not take its eyes off Vladimir Putin while all of this is happening in the Middle East, because the Russian president is "helping Hamas hurt the West."

KEILAR: That is the title of Josh Rogin's opinion piece this week in The Washington Post. And Josh is with us now.

All right, so Josh important to note here you write that reports of direct Russian military support for Hamas remain unconfirmed, so explain how Putin right now is using Hamas against the West.

JOSH ROGIN, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. Well, at this moment, Vladimir Putin is in Beijing meeting with his dear friend, Xi Jinping, to talk about the new world order that they are trying to build together. And for both of them, their governments, their state medias have been pumping out pro-Hamas propaganda but not just criticizing Israel but criticize the United States, that were to blame for the war, that it's our neglect of - the United States - of the region that has led to these rising tensions. And moreover that Ukraine itself is a distraction from this region that helped exacerbate this problem.

So Vladimir Putin's number one goal in the entire world is to get the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress to stop Ukraine aid. That's what President Biden is giving a whole speech about. Tonight he's going to say that Israel, Ukraine they both need the aid. We can't choose one or the other.

And Vladimir Putin is proving that that he's right by showing that he's on Hamas and Iran side which is something he's been - a side that he's been on for a very long time actually.

SANCHEZ: So you point out in your column that Israel has been less explicit in its support of Ukraine because it needs Russia's help with Syria. What happens now though? How do you see Israel's relationship with Russia playing out?

ROGIN: Right. Israel's relationship with Russia is destroyed and that was Vladimir Putin's first move was he - that he abandoned what had been a very businesslike relationship with Netanyahu to side with Hamas. And we just saw that the Iranian proxies are shooting missiles at U.S. forces in - off of the coast of Yemen. Oren Liebermann reported that Iranian militias are aiming drones at U.S. bases in Iraq. I can tell you right now from my reporting this is first on CNN that Iraqi militias sponsored by Iran have launched drones at U.S. bases in Syria. Syria, the al-Tanf garrison which is on the border between Iraq, and Syria and Jordan. So this is an escalation across the board and the Iranians are activating their proxies in many, many, many countries.

And how we will respond will determine whether or not this current conflicts balloons across the region. And the Russians and the Chinese government are in the middle of that. They're working together diplomatically in the U.N., propaganda, the Palestinian groups get all their funding through Moscow-based crypto exchanges.

[15:15:02]

They're all fighting against Israel, and Ukraine and us.

KEILAR: How do you see Ukraine aid being - obviously, Biden is trying to tie these all together and not just Ukraine aid and aid to Israel, but other things as well. Hey, Congress, pass all of this as a joint package.

How do you see Ukraine aid relating to the Israel aid? Does this increase or decrease the chances it gets passed?

ROGIN: Right. It's a very risky gambit, Brianna. You're absolutely right. By putting them together, he's - he wants to pressure Republicans who don't like Ukraine to swallow the Ukraine aid because they don't want to vote against the Israel aid, so that's why you have a lot of the far-right Republicans, the MAGA guys, saying that we should pass them separately.

Now, if you pass them separately, they would both pass separately. But they both would have to come to the floor separately.

KEILAR: Right.

ROGIN: And there's no Republican Speaker of the House and there's no assurance that Ukraine aid would ever get a vote in the Congress. That's why the White House is putting them together. It might work. It might just work, but it's going to be a lot of Ukraine aid, less Israel aid and at least a bunch of Republicans are going to have to support it and I don't know - I don't really don't know if it's going to work or not.

SANCHEZ: So tying those two points together in the aid that President Biden is asking for is also a significant amount of investment in Taiwan, additional aid for Taiwan. You mentioned a moment ago that President Xi and President Putin are watching all of this. They had a meeting just a few days ago discussing a new world order so to speak.

So in your mind, how should the United States respond to the Iranian proxies in the region and to those other powers that are closely watching how we respond to all of this?

ROGIN: Right. Well, I think we need to divide it between military response and financial response. As for the attacks on U.S. forces, I think the risk of escalation is so great that I would expect the administration to be very careful in their retaliation and to think very carefully about how - what the second and third degree effects are.

But when it comes to the funding, it's very clear that this is going to be the last emergency funding bill that we're going to be able to get through Congress, if we can get it through Congress before the next election, that's in a year from now.

So this is the only chance they have, so they're going to throw the kitchen sink in. That means border funding, that means funding for the Pacific, that means Ukraine funding, Israel funding, funding to modernize and replenish U.S. stockpiles. We're talking a lot of money. It could be upwards of $80- to a hundred billion dollars. That's no small amount of money, but the alternative would be to enter a year in 2024 when all of these challenges and all of these wars are likely to get deeper and worse and to have the U.S. military and our allies unprepared and I think that's an alternative that the President United States is going to argue vehemently against in his speech to the nation tonight.

SANCHEZ: Josh Rogin, great to get your perspective on all these issues.

ROGIN: Anytime.

SANCHEZ: Thanks.

So, coming up, a former Trump attorney flips in the Georgia election subversion case. Why other defendants may not be nervous about what Sidney Powell just struck as a deal with prosecutors.

And, of course, we're following the latest on the hill. The battle over the next Speaker of the House heating up, a lot of developments over the last few hours. We'll get you up to speed when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: We're back with a significant development out of Georgia. Earlier today, Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six counts of election interference just a day before her trial was set to begin as part of the plea deal for the former Trump attorney. Powell may have to testify against the former president at future trials.

Let's get the details now with CNN's Katelyn Polantz. She's been following all the developments.

So Katelyn, walk us through the details.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Boris, this is a significant step forward for the state prosecutors in Georgia who brought a massive racketeering case against Donald Trump and 18 others. Sidney Powell is the second person charged in that 19 defendant case to plead guilty and she is a pretty significant person and that she's admitting to essentially tampering with voting equipment or wanting to tamper with voting equipment as well as voter data in Coffee County, Georgia that's part of the case that prosecutors had accused all of these people of as part of a large conspiracy, but also something they had accused her of specifically being involved in.

And they are having her plead guilty to six misdemeanor charges that comes with a cooperation agreement, meaning that Sidney Powell if the prosecutors want to put her on the stand in front of a jury as they have another defendant on trial potentially even Donald Trump himself, they can call her and she will have to testify about the things that she's admitting to as part of this guilty plea and potentially other things they may ask her about.

And when you step back, Boris, the big picture here is that Sidney Powell is someone who knew about that Coffee County, Georgia voter data breach, but also she was around Donald Trump and around people like Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows in a freewheeling chaotic screaming match of a meeting in mid-December at the White House that was - that at the end of the meeting as she and others were trying to convince Donald Trump to keep pushing these lies of election fraud. He then had that infamous tweet "will be wild" on January 6th.

And so what she has to do here and provide for prosecutors still remains to be seen and also if there's interest by federal investigators, we'll be watching. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much for the update.

KEILAR: A very contentious, heated meeting among House Republicans just ended and there is still no sign of what will happen next with Jim Jordan's bid for speaker. Members are pressing Jordan to step aside and let someone else run but Jordan says he's not backing down.

Let's go to Lauren Fox. She is on Capitol Hill for us with the latest. Lauren?

[15:25:04]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, a very contentious meeting indeed. And behind closed doors, no resolution on how the Republican conference is actually going to move forward. They are now on day 16 without a speaker and there is no path in sight for Jim Jordan to clinch the nomination given the fact he is still short the 217 votes he would need.

He said just a few minutes ago that his plan was to continue trying to have conversations with the holdouts. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this moment, what's ...

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): So I'll just say this, 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're 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, but 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And the resolution he was referring to there at the top was a resolution that was being drafted by Rep. David Joyce that would have empowered Rep. Patrick McHenry to be the speaker pro tem until January so that legislation could be brought to the floor, but in that contentious meeting behind closed doors, a decision was made by Republicans that they did not want to move forward with that potential path.

And so basically, right now, everything is at a standstill. We are in the same place we have been over the course of the last several weeks as everyone is waiting to see what happens next, given the fact that again, Jim Jordan's still in the race but with no clear path to 217. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. So much has happened and yet nothing has changed. Lauren Fox live for us on Capitol Hill, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Back to the drawing board, I guess.

Still to come, we're going to be joined by one of those Republican lawmakers who backed Jim Jordan for speaker. Is he still supporting the Ohio congressman as he pleads support?