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Today, House Expected to Vote on Fourth Speaker Nominee; New Airstrikes on Gaza This Morning. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 25, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Standing by for a vote on House speaker. After all the chaos, new developments over just the last few hours indicate that this vote really, finally, genuinely might be the one. We have brand-new reporting just in.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the new U.S. warning for Israel to avoid a full-scale ground invasion in Gaza, to avoid mistakes of the past U.S. battles. And there are new airstrikes hitting Gaza this morning.

BERMAN: Reports that Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, granted immunity in the special counsel investigation. New details on were reportedly said.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. Sara Sidner is in Israel. This is CNN News Central.

A speaker of the House, it might be imminent. This could be happening for real this time, maybe, possibly. We are standing by for a full House floor vote on Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, after the Republican House Conference said he was their man overnight.

Now, if you're following this at home, this last three weeks, they booted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker's chair. They then picked on Steve Scalise, picked Steve Scalise, but he dropped out before a House vote. Then it was Jim Jordan's turn. They voted on him. He lost several House floor votes. Yesterday, they selected Tom Emmer. He lasted four hours before dropping out before a House floor vote. And then they settled on Mike Johnson late last night. Now, Emmer, gone too.

Now, Mike Johnson, as far as he is concerned, they held a ballot to see how Republicans would vote today on the House floor. Three Republicans voted present, which is to say they withheld their support for Johnson. 22 were absent during that. If any 4 of any of these 25 against Johnson, that would be enough to spike his efforts. But we are getting new reporting on where some of these 25 are now headed.

Let's get right to CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill for the very latest. Manu, what are you hearing? MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. After weeks of infighting and complete GOP disarray that has left the chamber completely paralyzed, unable to act on the nation's business, there are clear signs this morning that, finally, Republicans could put this ugly episode behind them. There is momentum behind Mike Johnson's bid to become speaker of the House there.

At the moment, none of those members that you indicated there have indicated they will vote no on the House floor, which is good news for Johnson, who had been working behind the scenes overnight and into this morning to ensure that he does not have more than four Republican defections on the House. And the expectation at the moment is that he will now.

Now, there is talking to a number of the Republicans over the last days. Some of them, even some of the more moderate members from swing districts, they say they're simply to move on. That is something that Congressman Mike Lawler told me last night, and also some of the more hard line members are falling in line behind him given Johnson's very conservative politics, indicating that perhaps this time they'll get the votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): You know, obviously, I did not support the removal of Kevin McCarthy. I think it was arguably the stupidest move ever made in politics, but we have to move forward. And so we're going to rally around Mike Johnson and elect him as speaker tomorrow and get back to work.

REP. SCOTT PERRY (R-PA): It's a different situation now. There was a trust factor with leadership last time.

RAJU: Are you guys going to give him some leeway on that?

PERRY: Yes.

RAJU: Was it worth throwing out McCarthy for Johnson?

[10:05:00]

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): Well, look, I mean, that's not actually the question at this point. The question here is, is Mike Johnson the right guy at the right time, and I think he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, Mike Johnson is relatively inexperienced, in his fourth term in the House, the former conservative talk show host, former state legislator, someone who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, someone who aligns himself with some of the far right members of his conference in terms of his ideology, social conservative politics and the like, also led the effort in the House to try to overturn the 2020 election, something that some of his critics will point out as well, but, nevertheless, still expected to get the votes on the House floor today and huge issues ahead, John, dealing with the government funding, dealing with aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine. These weeks of Republican infighting has only sidetracked their efforts to deal with key issues, something Johnson will have to confront immediately if he gets the votes today.

BERMAN: Look, it doesn't get easier for him, never been in leadership, never even been in a committee chair, could be the least experienced speaker almost of all time. We'll see what that means.

Manu Raju, keep us posted on what else you hear. Thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Joining us now is Democratic Congressman from New York Gregory Meeks. He's the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, a ton to get to, but let's start with now you have Mike Johnson, what are Democrats going to do about this vote at noon? A unified no vote or some voting present to get this thing over the line and done with once and for all?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): 212 for Hakeem Jeffries. We are locked in strong with the vote for the man that we believe is the best person to be the next speaker of the United States House of Representatives, that's Hakeem Jeffries. So, I think that you will see no difference from Democrats on the vote at 12:00. You will see 212 members of the Democratic Party voting for our leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

BOLDUAN: One thing that this paralysis impacts is doing anything to offer further support to Israel among so many other things, and I want to ask you a few things about the conflict that we're watching play out in Israel and Gaza right now.

Turkey's president, Congressman, just today said in a speech the following. Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a group for liberation and a Mujahideen fighting to protect their land and citizens, this from a U.S. ally. What do you say to that?

MEEKS: I say that he's absolutely wrong, and to say and make that statement is horrendous. Hamas is a terrorist organization who was created for one purpose, not for trying to help the Palestinian people. What they are there for is to wipe out the state of Israel. They do not believe that Israel has the right to exist and that, therefore, that they are not asking for peace, not asking to try to figure out a solution. They're saying that Israel should not be.

And then if you look at the actions that Hamas took, the chopping off of heads of babies and raping of women and taking of hostages and killing people, just innocent women and children in the streets, that's not the act of a group that is trying to liberate or anything of that nature. That's the actions of a terrorist organization and a terrorist group.

BOLDUAN: And then there's also this from the U.N. secretary-general just yesterday. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL, U.N.: It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, the secretary-general did go on to say the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, but the secretary-general had to come out just a few moments ago, I'm just reading it now, Congressman, to, as he says, set the record straight, because he says he's shocked that his statement at the Security Council is as if it was -- is being seen as if it was justifying acts of terror by Hamas, calling that interpretation false.

But those words from the secretary-general at the Security Council has led to Israeli leaders calling now on Guterres to resign. What do you -- what do you make of this? Do you think he should resign?

MEEKS: Look, I think that when you talk about this and you look at it from a historical context and you look at what took place 75 years ago, when it was a decision that there should be a state of Israel. And in trying to figure out how you can have, and I think the ultimate idea, and I know of what I am, a strong supporter of, is a two-state solution.

However, when you look at it at that time, the Arabs and others in the area, they all believe that Israel did not have the right to exist, and many of the wars of the past. For example, before it was with Egypt, it was about Israel not existing.

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And I think that what has to take place here, as what happened with Egypt, as what happened with Jordan, that there came a point to say Israel has the right to exist and we're going to figure this out. And that's the reason why Hamas is the bad group because they are not talking to say, okay, Israel has the right to exist, and that's why the -- I'm a supporter of the Abraham Accords, where you start to see other Arab nations, for the first time, saying Israel has the right to exist. And by saying that, then you're opening a door for real peace, not saying that Israel should be destroyed, Israel need to be wiped off the map. Those are individuals who do not want peace. They want war.

And so I would hope that we would be able to move with them of the Arab states to come on in and a dialogue continue with reference to the Abraham Accords because that's the way that we can get to a two- state solution and have some peace in the Middle East.

BOLDUAN: At the same time, as the secretary-general was, and as we heard Tony Blinken do it as well yesterday in front of the Security Council, you can also say that all civilian life is precious and of equal value and the humanitarian crisis that we're seeing in Gaza is dire and deserves attention. And that's why I was wondering, you've gotten a lot of briefings, you came out of a classified briefing, what are you hearing about the efforts and the likelihood of getting the hundreds of American citizens who are currently stuck in Gaza out?

MEEKS: Yes. No, look, I'm with President Biden, who is working 24/7 to do just that. He has been in constant contact with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israelis. He is focused on the humanitarian aid and getting in there. He's working and talking to the Egyptians about making sure that the Rafah gate is open so that we can make sure that aid is getting in there. You can hear him talking in regards to delaying some of the ground attacks so that more innocent people are not killed.

So, I think there's no -- it hurts my heart to see any child, whether -- and each life is very important, whether it be Israeli and Palestinian, and that is devastating. We want to make sure those individuals because all Palestinians, and most Palestinians, overwhelmingly, are not Hamas. And so my beef is with Hamas, not the Palestinian people, and we need to find ways to make sure that the humanitarian aid can get to those innocent men, women and children.

BOLDUAN: And to be able to get American citizens out, if they want to.

MEEKS: And get them out. That's correct.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, thank you very much for your time. John?

BERMAN: All right. We are getting new pictures just in, the Australian prime minister arriving at the White House. You can see President Biden and the first lady right there, important security meetings, not just about the Pacific and about China, but obviously about what is going on in the Middle East, as well.

U.S. Military officials are warning Israel, don't repeat the mistakes the U.S. made in Iraq. Why they say Israel should avoid a full-scale ground invasion in Gaza.

As fuel supplies dwindle, people in Gaza are reportedly resorting to donkeys to transport bodies of those killed by Israeli airstrikes.

And then Donald Trump's ex-chief of staff has cut an immunity deal with federal prosecutors. That's according to a new report. What he is telling them about conversations that he had with the former president.

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BERMAN: And, of course, it is the White House right now. You can see President Biden right there with the prime minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. They are meeting today. They have a range of issues to discuss, including global security, Indo-Pacific military partnerships, as the U.S. and Australia try to position, vis-a-vis China, and, no doubt, the situation in the Middle East. We will hear from President Biden on all of this.

In the meantime, we did see pictures just in over the last hour from Northern Gaza of Israeli airstrikes, brand new airstrikes. And we do know that, of course, Israeli troops have been deployed all around, all around Gaza for days and days and days now, but the ground invasion seems to be on pause at least for now.

Let's get the very latest on the situation, why the wait. CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is in Sderot, which is right there just outside of Gaza. Nic, so explain this delay.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The delay seems to be because there is a pause for diplomacy, possibly around the release of hostages, up to 50 foreign nationals being held by Hamas, also around a big and growing international push for a humanitarian pause or ceasefire, the words almost interchangeable, and also because Hamas is insisting it wants fuel for Gaza. The IDF says they have fuel, Hamas has fuel in Gaza. U.N. agencies say that the hospitals are running out of fuel, dangerously low, hospitals could close, U.N. operations could stutter to a halt.

So, at the moment, the diplomacy is sort of front and center. But I can tell you from where we stand now, we were very close to Gaza when that big airstrike you were talking about happened.

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We heard multiple rounds of artillery going in, saw a huge plume of smoke rise up. You may have heard bangs behind me, that was one of them, because there's an artillery battery not far from where we are that is putting shells into Gaza at the moment.

So, although the incursion is on hold, the military activities around Gaza and the pressure that's being put by the IDF on Hamas, that's continuing at the moment.

BERMAN: Yes, no doubt. And, again, we can see that plume of smoke rising up over Gaza there.

Nic Robertson in Sderot, just outside of Gaza, Nic, thank you very much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The humanitarian crisis worsening in Gaza. The main U.N. agency working in Gaza says it will be forced to stop relief efforts by the end of the day, potentially because of the fuel shortage that Nic was just talking about, which has become a big part of this crisis.

Here's Salma Abdelaziz with more.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Aid is slowly trickling into Gaza, but in U.N. camps, families desperate for food and water say they're getting bars of soap. This so-called aid provides nothing. We are dying a slow death, this man says. You don't hear the people screams at night when they fight over a piece of bread. There's not even water to drink.

So far, the total amount of aid delivered is less than 1 percent of what the enclave would receive on a daily basis prior to this conflict. And a crucial lifeline is missing, fuel. Without it, UNRWA, the main U.N. agency on the ground, says it will be forced to halt operations by Wednesday night.

The international community is begging for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are appealing, we are pleading, we are on our knees asking for that sustained, scaled up, protected humanitarian operation.

ABDELAZIZ: Israel's reply, ask Hamas for fuel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: fuel will not enter the Gaza Strip. Hamas use the petrol for its military infrastructure. Fuel Hamas stole from UNRWA should be taken back from Hamas and given to the hospitals.

ABDELAZIZ: UNRWA previously declined the claims of fuel-looting. As Israel intensifies its bombardment of Gaza with more than 200 hostages still being held by Hamas, the fuel shortage is already costing lives, doctors warned.

At least six hospitals have shut down due to a lack of fuel and hundreds of patients from premature babies to the many wounded in ICU are at risk.

If the hospital is not provided with the necessary fuel for the generators, we are issuing a death sentence, this doctor says. The execution is in the hands of the free world. Everyone is guilty.

Water pumps will soon stop working, too, making it even more difficult to get clean drinking water. Bakeries are closing, aid deliveries are more difficult, and more than 2 million people, half of them children, already under bombardment and under siege could face starvation. The clock is ticking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Now, there are intense, diplomatic efforts under way to try to get that fuel in before that deadline of Wednesday night, but there seems no indication, no sign that that's going to take place. UNRWA, that U.N. agency says, it is already making declarations for what it's going to cut, what help critical aid it will no longer supply to the 600,000 people sheltering in its camps.

BOLDUAN: Salma, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right. With me now is General Wesley Clark, former NATO allied supreme commander and a CNN military analyst. General, great to see you. If we can, I want to talk about some things that have happened outside Israel over just the last 24 hours. We know that there was a meeting in Beirut between Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of Hezbollah, the Shia militia group that operates outside of Lebanon, and then political leaders from Islamic Jihad and Hamas. They took a picture of this meeting.

Meanwhile, we got word that there was an airstrike, an Israeli airstrike on a Syrian military location, they say, over the border inside Syria. Talk to me about the significance of all of this, particularly when we talk about the fears of a widening conflict.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So, this has always looked look a three-phased operation from the Hamas perspective, that is provoke Israel, get Israel to come in and then use Hezbollah and Palestinian militants to squeeze Israel. And Iran wants the final solution there on the decisive battle.

Now, whether this will be that or whether this is more psychological operation, but we do see problems with Lebanon on the north.

[10:25:11]

We see the Israeli strikes here and striking at the airfield. We know we had attacks on U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq. We know there are weapons coming into the West Bank. We know there's fighting in the West Bank. So, Israel is facing a multi-front problem here.

BERMAN: Talk about -- let's hone in a little bit on Hezbollah and Lebanon. You were just talking about the things that have been going on at the border there. This is the border between Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah has a lot of power particularly in Southern Lebanon. How much power? What is the threat of Hezbollah on Israel?

CLARK: Well, they really built up their rocket supply and they've got much more sophisticated rockets than Hamas has, so maybe 100,000 rockets, maybe 150,000. We don't know what the unclassified level exactly what they had.

But we do know that the rockets have precision guidance. They could strike key infrastructure all through Israel. They can take out the airport. They can take out power facilities, diesel facilities and really wreck Israel just by launching the rockets.

Now, Israel went in on the ground in 2006. It didn't go well. And so Israel has really good intelligence on a lot of this. They have got precision strikes by air. We have got the two U.S. carriers. They might get involved with U.S. aircraft if this gets ugly, but --

BERMAN: General, let's stand by for one minute. We're going to go to the White House now where President Biden is speaking.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Welcome. Welcome and good morning, or as you would say, good day. It is an honor to welcome you all to the White House as we celebrate the enduring alliance between Australia and the United States, an alliance that's marked by imagination, ingenuity and innovation.

Nearly 55 years ago, American astronauts took humanity's first step on the moon. They sent a message forever etched in history, quote, that's one small step for man and one giant step for mankind. But the only reason anyone down on Earth saw this feat or heard those immortal words was thanks to a team of Australian engineers.

As dawn broke at NASA station, just outside of Cambria, they aimed a radio telescope toward the heavens, captured a lone voice among all of the stars and shared it with millions of people watching breathlessly all around the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Prime minister, today, Australia and the United States continue to stand together, continue to innovate, to push back the bounds that have been in our way and make a giant step toward what could be, to race undaunted toward a future we know is possible if we work together, because time and time again, we've seen what America and Australia can do when we stand as one.

We saw it during World War I, when our troops helped turn the tide of war on the western front. We saw it during World War II when we fought the forces of fascism side by side in the Pacific, cementing a makeshift between our people. And we saw it again during the war against terror when Australia invoked the ANZUS Treaty for the first time to stand with the United States after an attack on 9/11.

And we will never forget those brave Australians and Americans who, generation after generation, gave their lives to give us a better world. We'll never forget our obligation to them, to keep upholding the democratic values for which they gave their lives, to keep forging a better future for generations to come.

Together, Australia and America are meeting that obligation, as two proud Pacific nations for ensuring Indo-Pacific remains free, open and prosperous and secure, including through our historic partnership AUKUS with the United Kingdom. We are building stronger economies, economies where no one fears coercion and everyone, as you say down under, gets a fair go.

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