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IDF Pushing Deeper Into Gaza As Ground Assault Intensifies; Soon: Blinken & Austin Pitch Israel-Ukraine Aid On Cap Hill; Three Of Trump's Children Set To Testify In Civil Fraud Trial. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 31, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know what, this would be great for television. So that's what you call utilizing everything that's going on.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Can I ask you real quick. You said you had a fun one.

ENTEN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What's the -- is this the fun one?

ENTEN: I think this is a fun one. Americans who believe in ghosts. In 1979 was just 11 percent. Look, where we are today, 39 percent of Americans believe in ghosts. Do you guys believe in ghost?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: OK. I have to wrap you up here. We have 15 seconds left and I want to leave you all with this. This is what I walked into in the office this morning, Scooby Mattingly not Phil Mattingly, Scooby Mattingly.

MATTINGLY: I like fun and backpacks.

HARLOW: That is amazing.

MATTINGLY: Apparently I'm 15 years old. Everybody have a great Halloween. Harry, thank you as always my friend.

CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Israel Defense Forces push deeper into Gaza. The new information we're learning about this somewhat mysterious offensive.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And new details also about the operation rescue, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas. The targeted special operation overnight in northern Gaza, and the moment the soldier was reunited with her family.

BERMAN: A big moment on Capitol Hill, any minute now, an official plea for new funds to support Israel and Ukraine. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. Sara is on assignment. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Israel's military push further into Gaza. The IDF says troops are confronting Hamas terrorist cells on the streets and now facing what they described as anti-tank missiles and machine gunfire as the fight continues.

According to the IDF the number of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza is also now going up again now believed to be 240 hostages. The IDF is also detailing what it calls the active rescue of one of those hostages, an IDF soldier. Israeli officials say that Hamas was holding her inside a remote building, that's according to Axios. The IDF telling CNN that the soldier has shared information about her captivity with Israeli intelligence officers, which can be used for the future they say. What that means for the efforts today to get more hostages out, not entirely clear.

But we do know air attacks are not letting up. This barrage in northern Gaza struck just hours ago as Israeli leaders are firmly saying a ceasefire is not under consideration right now, though they acknowledge the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening.

BERMAN: Yes. And as Kate says, the Israel Defense Forces now say there are 240 hostages. This would be their 25th day in captivity in Gaza. And even as operations intensify in the Gaza Strip, the IDF is also conducting operations elsewhere, including the West Bank where just north of Ramallah they say they destroyed the home of a Hamas leader.

You can see the After Effects right there. That compound simply leveled from the air by Israel. And again, that happened in the West Bank, as opposed to Gaza. Also in Gaza, we are getting a sense of the scale of operations. The IDF says it killed a Hamas leader who conducted the attacks over the border in Israel on October 7th in a kibbutz in another town right here. They say this Hamas leader was responsible for both attacks there.

Now one area we're not seeing a great deal of activity is Northern Israel on the border with Lebanon. Yes, we have seen an exchange of fire back and forth over the last three weeks between Hezbollah and Israel. But up until now, Hezbollah has not launched any kind of full scale operation into Israel. Let's get to Northern Israel. That's where we find our Jim Sciutto to get a sense of what's happening there. Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: John, I'm in northern Israel just a few miles from the Lebanon border. This is an Israeli tank unit, the Merkava tank back here, their base basically a staging area. They're doing exercises as well. And the soldiers, men and women who are manning these tanks right now, they're reservists. They're there among those more than 300,000 reservists that have been called up since the attacks on October 7th.

There actually has been a fair amount of exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah and other fighters inside Lebanon. And also frankly, those fighters from Lebanon and also for the Syrian side targeting civilian areas, we found ourselves in the midst of it. It's a combination of artillery fire, rocket fire, mortar fire. They're even sending IEDs over on parachutes in effect, makeshift IEDs that drift over and dropped down to the ground and it is causing genuine fear here in the north to the extent that many of these northern communities are either under mandatory evacuation or in effect, voluntary evacuation as we've been driving through these towns along the border here, many of them are empty.

[09:05:35]

And these are not small villages, John and Kate, these are major communities, places like Qiryat Shemona in the north, and where we are now, which is right along the coastline. So you have a combination of fear among civilians here moving south, but also deployments like this one we're seeing here in case there is a more aggressive attack by Hezbollah fighters in numbers.

One thing I will note too, John, as well, is there's great concern about Iranian proxies in this region, unleashing their more advanced missile systems. And the IDF saying today that for the first time, the arrow missile defense, as it's known, this is a high altitude missile defense even higher altitude than the Iron Dome, we're so familiar with, that the arrow missile defense system was engaged for the first time of this conflict, because of missiles coming from Yemen, who are Iranian backed forces in Yemen, the Houthi rebels there.

And that's a genuine fear, right? Because Hezbollah as well has many thousands of these long distance, precision guided weapons that if they were allowed -- if they decided to unleash them in numbers, onto Israeli territory, that it would overwhelm those many layered missile defenses, the Iron Dome and the arrow much higher up. So you've got concerns at the ground level. You've got concerns from incoming artillery fire, and then you have concerns about higher altitude, greater precision weapons coming in as well. That's the level of the alert here right now, John.

BERMAN: Yes, a great deal of concern as Jim was saying right on the Israel-Lebanese border. I didn't mean to say it was totally quiet there because it hasn't been. It's been constant activity. Hezbollah estimated to have some 150,000 rockets. And as Jim was saying, including high tech rockets, they could hit almost anywhere in Israel, including the capital Tel Aviv, in the airport there.

As of now, Hezbollah has been somewhat restrained. Obviously, the concern there is they would cease to be. Jim Sciutto in northern Israel, our thanks to Jim. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Now, minutes from now, we're going to hear from the U.S. Secretary of State and the Defense Secretary both on Capitol Hill to testify before senators on the Biden administration's asked for $106 billion in aid for both Israel and Ukraine. But this comes as we have been discussing, of this growing opposition to linking these two funding requests, the growing opposition coming really amongst Republicans in the House.

Let's get into Natasha Bertrand right now, of course, she's in Washington. Natasha, what are we expecting to hear from both Tony Blinken and Lloyd Austin as they go before appropriators now?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Kate, we haven't gotten their prepared remarks just yet, but expect it to be very similar to the pitch that President Biden made in his speech to the American people earlier this month, in which he advocated for the U.S. Congress to pass the supplemental bill that would provide additional funding to Ukraine and Israel.

And he emphasized the importance of the national security interest for the U.S. to provide that money. Now, he said Hamas and Putin represent different threats. But they share this in common. They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy completely annihilated. So that is really the argument we're likely to hear from Blinken and Austin, is that this money is necessary in order to help these two very key U.S. allies confront the threats that they're facing right now.

Now, a major problem, as you mentioned, is that the house does not want to link Israel funding with Ukraine funding. And the House GOP, they put forward a bill just last night that provides $14 billion in additional funding for Israel but punts on the issue of aid for Ukraine. And in addition to that, it also rescinds the over $14 billion in additional IRS funding that had been included in the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed by the Biden administration.

So in response to this, Karine Jean-Pierre, who's the White House press secretary, she put out a statement last night saying that this bill was essentially a non-starter. She said, quote, politicizing our national security interest is a non-starter. Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism would be a break with the normal bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for safety and alliances in the years ahead.

Now, Senate Democrats have also said that this bill is a non-starter. So expect this to be a subject at the hearing today. Austin and Blinken are going to make the case to link these two saying that they're essentially really key for U.S. national security as the Ukrainians try to fend off Putin. And of course, as Israel tries to fend off Hamas. However, it remains to be seen how this actually gets passed with such opposition in the House right now to linking those two. Kate?

[09:10:22]

BOLDUAN: Yes, really uncertain future on what they describe is very immediate need. Thank you so much, Natasha. John?

BERMAN: All right, let's dig deeper now into the Israeli incursion into Gaza. So far, it has happened really only in the north here. With us now is CNN military analyst, a former NATO supreme allied commander, General Wesley Clark. General, we can zoom into Northern Gaza here. And we have a sense that the Israeli forces are moving in, in three directions from here, the north, you know, the northern corner, the other northern corner, and from the south here somewhat toward Gaza City. What is it that you see happening here?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they're moving toward the center of gravity, as they see it, of Hamas. And they're moving very deliberately. They're moving with full security. They're drawing the resistance into them. They're forcing Hamas to maneuver they're picking up then intelligence from that maneuver and using it for targeting

And we know from previous incursions that, John, that there is a big tunnel network under northern Gaza. So they're moving in where they can get into tunnels, but they also have to be on the rooftops.

BERMAN: So Axios is estimating that there are some 20,000 Israeli troops now inside Gaza, we have no way of knowing for sure here. But if that is within the range of what Israel has committed so far on the ground there, is that a lot, a little, limited? How would you describe it?

CLARK: I'd say it sure is quite limited so far. There were about 10, 12,000 U.S. troops in Fallujah, which was one -- about one-tenth the size of the Gaza Strip, so northern Gaza, maybe one-fifth, five times larger than Fallujah. They don't have enough troops in there yet. But they will be putting more troops and they're going to have to clear the area. You're going to have to go into the buildings, clear the rooms, be on the rooftops, check the basements, go into the tunnels. So this is the beginning of a lot of hard dangerous work of the IDF.

BERMAN: And again, Gaza City is right here. And we have the sense that there are tanks in, an infantry every direction of it. Are you talking about something that would be like a siege surrounding Gaza City for some period of time? Or will they go in to the downtown area and force do you expect?

CLARK: I think it depends on the reaction. And what they get out of Hamas, I think if Hamas holds up in a definite zone, then they will close on squeezed out and penetrate that zone, if Hamas comes out at them, and they can conduct sufficient attrition against Hamas, by its attacking their fixed positions, then you're not going to see as much movement into the center of the city. But eventually, yes, they're going to occupy the whole city.

BERMAN: Want to talk about what's happening at the Israel-Lebanon border. As for our Jim Sciutto, we just saw him. And Jim is reporting on the constant activity that's been going on back and forth with Hezbollah targeting some of the Israeli villages right there along the border, Israel, the IDF conducting some operations in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.

But up until now, Hezbollah has not launched anywhere near the kind of operation they did in 2006, firing thousands if not tens of thousands of rockets into Israel using their well-trained militia groups to invade or trying to cross the border into Israel. Why not do you think?

CLARK: I think the Iranian bosses there, the mullahs are carefully watching the situation. They recognize the United States has two aircraft curves there. I think Israel is better prepared to defend itself now than it was in 2006 on the northern border. And I think the mullahs recognize that should have Hezbollah really commit full bore against Northern Israel, Hezbollah will be destroyed or substantially destroyed and they'll lose major face in the region, the Iranians will, and they'll also lose their ability to influence Lebanese politics, and also Syrian politics.

So Hezbollah is a force working in three different directions. This is one of them. This is posturing by Hezbollah thus far as the Iranians continue their calculations. Now Israel puts 150,000 troops into Gaza. If Israel stuck in there taking heavy casualties, the Iranian mullahs will -- they'll recalibrate. And at that point they might well decide to launch Hezbollah, but not yet.

[09:15:11]

BERMAN: All right, General Wesley Clark, we should note that Hezbollah as leader Hassan Nasrallah has said he will speak on Friday, several days from now, obviously the world watching very closely what he'll say. General Clark, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Donald Trump's kids are set to testify in his civil fraud trial in New York, what that could mean for them, for their dad and for the family's business empire.

And we're also learning about new warnings that were coming from the main shooters, the murderer's ex-wife and son, what they told police back in May, but what and -- what we're learning about how he acquired up to 15 guns.

And Ron DeSantis speaking out this morning, after Nikki Haley is now touting being in second place behind Trump in key early primary states. What this race looks like now after the first major Republican contender drops out. Mike Pence's former chief of staff is our guest.

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[09:20:09]

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump's kids are taking the stand starting this week and the $250 million civil fraud trial against Trump himself, a lawsuit that is threatening Donald Trump and the entire family's business empire backwards to forwards. Ivanka Trump is expected to testify next week after the judge in the case denied her motion to quash her subpoena. She had argued that she shouldn't be forced to take the stand after she was removed as a co-defendant in the case by a lower court judge. The judge also indicated he is giving Ivanka Trump time to appeal.

BERMAN: Yes, before Ivanka Trump testifies, though, well before as soon as tomorrow, in fact, Ivanka Trump's brothers, Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, they will testify this week again, as soon as tomorrow. Let's bring our legal analyst, former ambassador Norm Eisen to join us now. Norm, what does the Attorney General's team want to get out of Donald Trump's children? NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: John, he wants to get out of Donald Trump's children additional admissions that they engaged in the falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements and insurance fraud. Now, they're not going to say, yes, I did it. But what he's going to do, what the lawyers for the AG are going to do is confront them with the inexplicable discrepancies in the valuation of specific properties ranging from Trump's apartment to the seventh springs estate, the 40 Wall Street to show that there was in a nutshell fraud.

BOLDUAN: Norm, can they avoid doing damage to their dad?

EISEN: Well, they're in a very tough spot, because the discrepancies between these numbers, sometimes variations on these properties of hundreds of millions of dollars in the internal records of the Trump Organization, put them in just in a corner. On the one hand, if they tell the truth, it appears they'll be admitting to the wrongdoing.

On the other hand, if they're not candid, they're exposed to potential perjury. If they take the fifth, then that will count against them in the case. And all of this is happening in front of a judge who already had a partial summary judgment finding on the persistent fraudulent behavior. That's the first count of the complaint. So why it's an impossibly difficult situation for the kids, and ultimately, for Trump himself.

BERMAN: Again, you can see right there on the calendar, it spells out in visual detail. We're going to hear from Donald Trump's children as soon as tomorrow from Trump himself the beginning of next week. Now in a jury trial, you can understand the emotions that might be at play here, as the jury would see the children of the defendant testifying. There's no jury here. This is a judge. So how does that change the situation?

EISEN: Well, there's been controversy about whether a jury might have even been available or not. Trump's lawyers didn't ask for one. That's the latest in a series of moves that have been questioned by his lawyers over the years. They say no jury was available, so they didn't mess up. You know, the real audience here is not just Judge Engoron, who clearly has profound doubts about the candor of the Trump family. He's made that clear already.

Whatever happens is going to be reviewed on appeal. And in particular, John, the penalties, which are in effect already up on appeal and enough for the summary judgment and in effect, a corporate death penalty. So what's going to happen is building the record for appellate review. I think the bottom line is when you look at these papers, it certainly appears as the judge found on partial summary judgment, two sets of books, you just can't do that. So it's going to be a very tough case up on appeal. They're going to try to make it a little less bad.

BOLDUAN: A little less bad. Not a goal and not a way to live life. It's good to see a Norm thank you so much.

BERMAN: It all begins tomorrow. [09:24:48]

All right, a troubling trend we are seeing here in the United States, a rise in anti-Semitic incidents, what's behind this and what can be done?

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BOLDUAN: This morning, trouble ahead once again on Capitol Hill as lawmakers are now trying to figure out how to send help to Israel and also Ukraine if they're going to at all. On the Senate side, there seems to be a rare display of bipartisanship as leaders of both parties agree that Israel funding should be part of a larger package that includes aid Israel and also a boost to funding for the southern border of the United States.

[09:29:52]

In the House of Representatives though, this new speaker, Mike Johnson, he's running for a fight, it appears, pushing a standalone bill that does not include any money for Ukraine and also calls for scraping some $14 billion in IRS funding that was part of the big bipartisan infrastructure.