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Anti-Israel Mob Storms Russian Airport as Flight Arrives from Tel Aviv; Johnson Faces Legislative Tests in First Full Week as Speaker; Trump Dominates GOP Race in Iowa Despite Legal Problems; Source: GM Reaches Tentative Deal with UAW. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 30, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:14]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: That was an angry mob inside of an airport in Dagestan. The White House is condemning antisemitic protests there in Dagestan, the mostly Muslim region of Russia. Authorities there had to close an airport and divert flights when a crowd of anti-Israeli protesters broke in to protest an incoming flight from Israel.

In photos and videos verified by CNN, a mob outside the airport held signs that says, "We are against Jewish refugees", then a crowd forced its way into locked doors at the international terminal and even onto the runway, terrifying those who had just landed there.

According to the Dagestan health ministry, clashes left at least ten people injured. The Kremlin blamed what they called external interference for the antisemitic riots. CNN has reached out to Red Wing Airlines for a comment.

The Hamas attacks have caused a significant shift here in Israel among many in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Traditionally, they refused to sign up for military service, which is mandatory for most men and women in Israel after their 18th birthday, but that's changing. After the October 7th Hamas attack that killed 1,400 men, women and children.

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SIDNER (voice-over): Moti Leitner reads the Torah at least an hour every day.

His family is one of the 1.2 million ultra-orthodox Jews or Hassidim who live here in Israel.

For decades, many in his community have fought against Israel's mandatory military service for every Jewish Israeli man and woman as soon as they turn 18. This year, the ultra-orthodox tried to get a law passed to exempt them from having to enlist, a major source of friction in Israeli society.

Then, October 7th happened. Have you ever fired a weapon, picked up a weapon before?

MOTI LEITNER, IDF ENLISTER: No. I've never held a gun, something like this.

SIDNER: That is about to change.

LEITNER: In a few days, I will go to the Israeli army.

SIDNER: Leitner enlisted after the murderous attack by Hamas on men, women, and children in Israel.

It completely shook us, broke all conceptions, he says. We thought we had the privilege to stand at the side and not be part of, and now we realize, it's just not sustainable.

He says most of the ultra-orthodox here believe their jobs are to keep the Jewish religion alive and well, spending their days studying the Torah.

The Israeli military reported between 2019 and 2021 only about 1,200 or so ultra-orthodox Jews were conscripted annually. That's out of 12,000 potential applicants.

Why do the Hassidim, the ultra-orthodox, not want to serve in the army?

The ultra-orthodox people in Israel have an ethos, according to which, studying the Torah gives the nation a metaphysical layer of defense, he says.

But he says he cannot see how that is enough now. And he says he knows many other Hassidim feel the same.

I personally sat in my living room and just cried for a day. We can't just go on with our daily lives. We said never again after the Holocaust, and if we want to be able to say that again to the next generation and promise our children a sustainable future, we have to solve this issue.

In Hebrew, this sign says, "together we will win".

[09:35:02]

It's very rare to see this kind of nationalistic language in ultra- orthodox neighborhoods like this one in Israel. You're also seeing a lot of Israeli flags plastered all over the place. That just doesn't happen during normal times. It gives you some sense that opinions among the ultraorthodox have changed.

Leitner's wife opinion has certainly changed, but she does worry about one thing.

AYALI LEITNER, WIFE OF IDF ENLISTER: I worry more if you don't know how to hold a weapon, and I also want to know how to -- I want a license for a gun, also. You know, we are not in Switzerland. SIDNER: There is one more difficult thing he has to do with his

family before he goes to serve. Tell his children, Yohada (ph), Elizabeth and Abigail, 9, 7, and 6 years old. They play oblivious to the changes they're about to experience at home due to war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): Now, Moti Leitner is not the only member of his family that is going to go enlist. He has enlisted and so has his twin brother who lives in California. His twin brother is leaving there to come to Israel, they hope to go into the armed forces together -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Fascinating look. Sara, thanks so much for bringing us that story. Coming up, we're going to get back to Sara very soon.

Coming up still for us, this week, Congress is back to work, which in this upside down state of politics right now is actually news. The first full week for the new House Speaker Mike Johnson and, oh, so quickly he's facing his first big legislative test.

We also have new polling numbers out of Iowa for all Republicans betting it all on Iowa. How are their chances, especially those two, looking today?

This -- we'll be right back.

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[09:41:17]

BOLDUAN: This morning, Mike Johnson is kicking off his first full week with the speaker's gavel in hand. The House speaker controls what gets to the floor for votes and what does not. Here is how he is kicking it off.

A vote on $14.5 billion in aid for Israel is one thing that they are going to focus on this week, plus a trio of censure and expulsion resolutions. The new Republican leadership is also pushing ahead on three spending bills to try and move towards heading off another government shutdown, because in the midst of all the chaos over the speaker's gavel, you will remember time was running out and the government is set to run out of money in less than three weeks.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is on Capitol Hill for us this week.

And it's good to see you, Sunlen.

The first full week as House speaker and already facing a legislative test.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHIINGTON CORRESPONDENT: He certainly is, Kate. This is a hugely consequential week for the new speaker and he certainly is moving right to it. Sources tell CNN they are in a conference call with the Republicans last night, he indicated that he wants to move forward with an aid package to Israel this week, that $14.5 billion aid package.

And on that call, he revealed two important details here, one is that he wants to move this bill forward and make it completely paid for and, two, that he wants to move the bill as a stand-alone bill meaning that he does not want to tie the aid to Israel to aid for Ukraine, like the Senate wants to do so that potentially sets up a showdown with the Senate in how they want to approach these aid packages.

Also on the plate is a series -- a triple plate, if you will, of these side issues, these censure resolutions aimed at punishing members in the house. First, you have the resolution to expel George Santos. And then you have censure Marjorie Taylor Greene, in addition to the measure to censure Rashida Tlaib over her comments over Israel. So, certainly that adding some thorny issues into the new speaker's agenda of this week.

In addition, all of this, as you have said, Johnson is also staring down a potential government shutdown next month. He needs to figure out a way to fund the government. So, certainly, as they approach week number one in this new job, Kate, he certainly will be -- people will be watching him as he navigates these big ticket items and also these side thorny issues that his house conference are dealing with -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, considering how long it took them to get House speaker, they were already sucking up some of this time and they're seeing it already starting this week.

It's good to see you, Sunlen. Thank you.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, new polling data out of Iowa shows Donald Trump holding this commanding lead, despite legal troubles.

A new "Des Moines Register"/NBC News poll shows Trump 27 points ahead -- 27 points ahead of his closest competitors. Nikki Haley has gone up. She is now basically in a tie with Ron DeSantis for second place.

With me now, CNN's senior political commentator and author of the new book "Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country".

And actually, I want to talk to you about the tie-in between his book which is wonderful, "Renegade", and that poll which we just showed, not seen there, Mike Pence because he dropped out on Saturday because his campaign never got off the ground basically due to his actions, one might presume, on January 6th. Not following along to overturn the results of the election. So he's gone.

You're out of Congress right now, it was your choice to not run again, but people who did not toe the line, did not go the Trump way, don't seem to be finding a place in the Republican Party.

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I think, look, the base has made it clear where they want this party to go and part of that, John, is you've got to have leaders leading. So when Donald Trump gets indicted, people now look to the second-tier influencers, everybody running for president that you just showed up there.

[09:45:08]

And when they all say things like it's a witch-hunt against Donald Trump, Donald Trump was a great president, it's no wonder that people believe that and people want him to return.

On Mike Pence, had Mike Pence, I think, after January 6th basically stood by his message, I think he would be in a much better position. Instead, he attacked me and Liz Cheney on the committee, said that the committee was partisan, he supported Jim Jordan for speaker, who Jim Jordan, by the way, was leading the charge against Mike Pence on January 6th. So, you look at those kinds of things, and it's like he was trying to walk a fence and there is no constituency in this party for fence-walking. You are either hot on Donald Trump or you're cold on him, you are not lukewarm.

BERMAN: Well, is there any constituency for this in the Republican Party? I mean, to go full renegade than you did more of than Mike Pence?

KINZINGER: It's a small one. It's a small one but I think it's one that will have to inevitably grow because the Republican Party is going to lose elections. So while they get smaller and more intense, for instance, in their support of Donald Trump, they're going to start not -- they're going to lose the House probably, losing the Senate, potentially losing the presidency.

But what I know -- what I talk about in there is what I've seen the party do. The reason I tell my story is not because I want everybody to hear my story, but because it tells the broader story of the party. It took us a while to get to this place and my hope is we can get out of it. It's going to take a while.

BERMAN: What's interesting, though, and you note this in your book, is that there was a time right around January 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th when you thought you might have had a small group, but a growing group of House Republicans who would stand by you and maybe defy Kevin McCarthy.

And then a few weeks later, you were looking over your shoulder saying where did everyone go? Talk to me about that.

KINZINGER: So, let's take the -- those of us that voted for impeachment, okay, we had started to realize we are kind of in the cat bird's seat at the moment on January 7th and on to determine the tone of the party because basically once we voted for impeachment, we were saying this party needs to go in a different direction and by the way, in the entire Republican conference, the feeling was we don't know what direction we're going in.

I tried to encourage the other impeachers to join me, Peter Meijer from Michigan had this idea, for instance, how do we show people whose democracy supporting and who isn't, and eventually that just kind of fell apart I think because they started to be interested in their own reelection. I get it, but this was such a serious moment that we could have, I think, had a chance at actually taking the narrative of this. I had considered doing a vote of no confidence against Kevin McCarthy and it wasn't that crazy of an idea.

BERMAN: In early 2021.

KINZINGER: Yeah, in early 2021. And then when he shows up to Mar-a- Lago, that's when on a dime, the tone in the party changed.

BERMAN: So, let's end where we began with that poll with Donald Trump, you know, 26 points ahead of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Do you see anyone getting traction there?

You know, Tim Scott said today it's Iowa or bust. Ron DeSantis hasn't exactly said it but he's shown that it's Iowa or bust for him. He's moved a huge chunk of his campaign there.

Is there anything but bust at this point?

KINZINGER: I think there are three lanes right now, there's Chris Christie, there's Nikki Haley and there's Donald Trump. Because Christie is openly anti-Trump, Haley is playing the middle but she is the new generation.

I think -- let's see when candidates start dropping out and there need to be more that drop out we will see where that support consolidates. When it gets down to two or three candidates, maybe. But right now, I mean, it's certainly Donald Trump's party.

BERMAN: And what happened to Ron DeSantis?

KINZINGER: He's just -- I mean, he is boring and he tried to be Donald Trump and he's not Donald Trump. You can't be Donald Trump when Donald Trump is in the race and Ron DeSantis just doesn't have frankly what Donald Trump has, which is his ability to convince people he's authentic even though he's not.

BERMAN: I've asked you versions of this before, but before you go, was it worth it?

KINZINGER: Oh, yeah.

BERMAN: It was worth it?

KINZINGER: I do. Look, I don't have an ounce of regret for what I did. It took an impact on me, took an impact on my family, but I couldn't look at my kid in the eye ever if I didn't do it.

BERMAN: Adam Kinzinger, great to see you here. Obviously we get to see a lot of you but this is the first time we got you with your new book. Congratulations on that.

KINZINGER: Appreciate it.

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: We have some breaking news coming in, breaking news in the weeks'-long auto strike. We're learning there is a deal on the table between General Motors now and the UAW. We have new details just coming in and we're going to bring that to you, next.

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[09:53:20]

BOLDUAN: Some breaking news coming in. General Motors has reached a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers Union. This is according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

GM is the last remaining of the Big Three to not reach a deal with the union, and just this weekend that the UAW escalated and expanded the strike further against General Motors.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has this breaking news. She's joining us on the phone right now.

Vanessa, what are you learning?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yeah, Kate, General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union, just coming to a tentative agreement. This is after what sort of an up and down weekend for GM and the union. We heard that they were making process, and then the union announced an expanded strike against the General Motors.

But today, this morning, confirming that a deal is in place, and this is going to bring an end what was to the longest autoworker strike in 25 years, all three major autoworkers now have deals in place. The union and General Motors not commenting formally on this, but according to our source, this deal is in place.

Now, we don't know much about the agreements yet, but we expect that it is going to be following same pattern at Ford and Stellantis' deal. This is something called pattern bargaining. Ford set the tone for the deal last week. Stellantis followed this weekend with the same kind of contract details, and we expect General Motors to do the same.

Now, we know that this week Ford and Stellantis employees have come off of the picket line and back in the plants. We expect the announcement of this deal in the coming hours, we imagine, but General Motors workers are going to be coming can off of the picket lines as well heading back into the plants.

[09:55:09]

One key detail about this contract that we had heard about weeks ago from the company was that they were going to include all electric battery plants in this new contract. That was something that both Ford and Stellantis did not have on the table at the time that UAW president Shawn Fain called that a game-changer. So in addition to the jobs currently in place at General Motors, we

can expect potentially added jobs at electric battery vehicles. As we know, Kate, the future of the industry is just that, and this was something that is key that the union was looking for. We have to wait to see if it is in the fine print, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, wait to -- wait to see the details and hear from both GM and the union, but it is huge after how long and how wide this strike has gone on and how big it has gotten that they seem to have a deal on the table and a tentative deal and agreement reached behind the final of the three.

It's great. Thank you so much for jumping on to bring us the reporting, Vanessa.

We're going to have more as the show continues.

John?

BERMAN: All right. The U.N. Security Council set to hold an emergency meeting as the White House warns of an elevated risk of war spreading in the Middle East.

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