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Antisemitism on the Rise; Trump Jr. Set to Testify in New York; Second Blast Hits Gaza Refugee Camp. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:01:06]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: For the first time, people getting out of Gaza, an opening at the Rafah Crossing. Hundreds of foreign nationals could get out over the next few days.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: A second strike has now rocked the refugee camp in Northern Gaza. What we're learning about this blast, while the IDF says it's strike yesterday in the same area took out a Hamas commander, but dozens of other people are feared dead as well.

BERMAN: Donald Trump's eldest son scheduled to take the stand, pivotal testimony in the $250 million trial where Trump has already been found liable for fraud.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, Sara on assignment. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: So two big developments right now in the Israel-Hamas war.

First, let's talk about the Rafah Crossing. According to officials on the Palestinian side of the crossing, as many as 110 foreign passport holders are traveling through the checkpoint at the Gaza border. The crossing, you remember, has been closed since Hamas attacked Israel, sparking this war.

Since then, people have not been allowed through. Now they are. The first people to officially cross into Egypt were injured Palestinians, we are told. Ambulances were seen moving through this morning, you see here. This is after Qatar brokered the deal between Israel, Egypt and Hamas, all coming to an agreement on this.

Now, under the full agreement, up to 500 foreign nationals, including some Americans, will be allowed to leave Gaza.

Also, moments ago, we want to show you posted from inside of one of the checkpoint waiting areas. We have new images coming out of women holding a baby there in the waiting area. She waits to evacuate, other children seen with her as well -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, by the way, that's all happening down here at the Rafah Crossing.

BOLDUAN: Yes. BERMAN: This is the first time people are getting out, because Hamas would not let people out and Egypt would not let people in. But after furious diplomacy, that has changed.

We're also watching developments out of the Jabalia refugee camp in Northern Gaza. This is new video that CNN has obtained from inside Gaza. This is purportedly following a second blast at the Jabalia refugee camp. Now, we do not know what caused this supposed blast. Yesterday, Israel did confirm that it conducted an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp.

It says, Israel does, that it was targeting a Hamas terror leader. Israel says it has killed that leader. But Israel also acknowledges that civilians were killed there. An Israeli official would not tell me how many civilians they believe were killed there. This is video that is said to be from another blast today.

The Israeli Defense Forces, Israel Defense Forces, have not commented to us on this alleged incident at this point. We have been asking them for comment on this. Civil defense officials inside Gaza, which is run by Hamas, they say, basically, Hamas says that there are casualties here and people trapped in the rubble from a new blast there.

That is the limits of what we know about this.

Let's get as much more as we can.

Salma Abdelaziz joins us now.

Salma, what are you hearing about this?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, as you mentioned, John, you have done a great job there, of course, of laying out what we are trying to ascertain so far.

This is something that has just happened. We are still working to obtain more information. Important for our viewers to understand that comms are extremely limited inside the Gaza Strip since yesterday's attack. So getting information out is difficult.

But what we know is that there was yet another massive explosion in the Jabalia refugee camp. A bit of context here. We call it a refugee camp, but this is not a camp. These are historical terms. This is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza in one of the most densely populated places on Earth.

[11:05:11]

You are looking at an area where families were living with families were living with families. So, any time a residential building is struck, is leveled, is hit, you are talking potentially about many, many, many dead. And you can imagine the fear here this morning after already people were still digging for survivors, still digging for the dead from yesterday's attack, only for another one to occur yet again today. Now, Jabalia is in the north of the Gaza Strip, right up near the

border with Israel. Israeli officials have said, look, we have told people to evacuate from the north of the Gaza Strip.

But here's the thing about that. That is extremely difficult. That's according to the United Nations, who have described that as an impossible task for families with their children, with their elderly, with disabled people to try to evacuate under bombardment and under siege to the south, where there are also airstrikes.

And that's according to our own producer on the ground, who sees near- constant bombardment in the south as well. That's why you hear so many people saying there is no safe place in Gaza. You hear that over and over again from Palestinians, from rights groups, from aid agencies.

Now, as for today's attack, again, we're obtaining more information, but the fear, the worry is that we are going to be looking at more civilian casualties in an area that's already so overwhelmed with death and carnage in the last 24 hours.

BERMAN: All right, again, this is all happening in Northern Gaza. You can see the Jabalia refugee camp right there.

As Salma correctly points out, that is what is called a refugee camp, but it is really a densely populated part of the city. You can see where it's situated, not terribly far from Gaza City, which seems to be getting surrounded by Israeli forces at this time.

Let's now move to the other side of Israel right now, close to the Israel-Lebanon border.

That's where our CNN's Jim Sciutto has been for days now.

Jim, tell us what you're seeing today.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So, today, another day where you have some cross-border fire.

There was an attempt, the IDF tells us, by Hezbollah militants just across the border in Lebanon to fire anti-tank missiles across the border. That was spotted by Israeli forces in advance. They struck back, with an Israeli tank firing at that position and taking it out before they were able to fire. This is a regular back-and-forth that we're seeing really across the length of this northern border of Israel with Lebanon.

The thing is, John, as you look at that map there, is that the fear in Israel today and the reason you have so many thousands of IDF forces, including tanks like the ones behind me, situated now across the northern border, is that these Iranian proxies outside of Gaza where Hamas is, Hezbollah in Lebanon, proxies in Syria to the Northeast, and then the Houthis in Yemen, which does not border Israel, but it's within missile range, that they will all make a decision to jump into this war in numbers.

To date, they have been taking shots at Israel. You had missile attempts more than once now from the Houthi rebels. These are long- range, highly capable precision missiles, shot down, but, still, they have attempted. You have multiple shots per day coming from Lebanon. And you have had similar from Syria.

The worry is that that all happens at once and in much greater volume to overwhelm not just the ground defenses, but also the missile defenses. And, John, with that in mind, a lot of attention in this country is focused on this Friday, when the leader of Hezbollah, Nasrallah, is going to speak. He hasn't spoken in public for some time.

And the worry is that he might -- we don't know this -- he might announce a greater involvement of Hezbollah in this war, order his troops, in effect, to attack. We don't know that yet, but there is a great deal of attention being paid to that day and that speech to see if that might signal an expansion of this war.

And that, of course, John, has been a worry since the beginning.

BERMAN: Yes, just to illustrate what Jim was just talking about there in terms of the threats on Israel from Iranian proxies, missiles from Yemen, rockets from Yemen, the Houthis there in Syria. The Iranians have proxies inside Syria that have been firing missiles, Lebanon, and then, of course, Hamas as well.

So you can see Israel faced with possible rockets and missiles being shot from every direction here. And, Jim, as you know, I think the hottest position is certainly the Israel-Lebanon border in the north there, where there's been fire back and forth.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BERMAN: Any ground activity, Jim?

SCIUTTO: Yes, there have been attempted infiltrations across the border by small groups of Hezbollah fighters.

One group got in a few days ago, but they were intercepted by Israeli forces, not in great numbers yet. I think you could call those probing attacks, but serious ones, right, potentially deadly. And by the way, they're lobbing bombs across the border all the time.

[11:10:06]

And that creates enough fear here to have triggered the deployment of 70,000 Israeli forces to the northern border. That's a decent-sized chunk of the Israeli military. And -- and you and I talked about this yesterday, John. It's already evacuated a lot of these northern communities here. I mean, we go through these towns. They're like ghost towns, some under mandatory evacuation, some under voluntary evacuation.

But shops are closed, streets are empty, homes are empty, schools are empty. They are taking steps already here in preparation for an attack that they hope doesn't come in numbers, but they're certainly preparing for it. BERMAN: Yes, and the mere fact of those tanks behind you, Jim, right

near the border there shows you what Israel is prepared for, even if they hope the eventuality never comes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BERMAN: Jim Sciutto, great to see you. Terrific reporting. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also, this just in, U.S. officials telling our colleagues M.J. Lee and Jenny Hansler that they expect more than 5,000 foreign nationals could ultimately be released from Gaza into Egypt as part of this deal announced today, with one senior U.S. official saying the total could be around 7,000 people, though, of course, they stress it's hard to get a handle on the firm numbers here.

But now you see the scope of how big this deal to open up the Rafah Crossing could really be.

We're joined now by Joel Rubin to talk more about this. He's a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration. He's also running as a Democrat for Congress in Maryland.

Joel, thanks for coming in.

Let's talk about the Rafah Crossing and what we're learning. I mean, getting the Rafah Crossing open again has been a real priority of the U.S. State Department from really the beginning of this war. And now we are seeing some of this. What do you think this means for the war effort and where the focus of diplomatic efforts should be?

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, Kate, it's great to be with you.

And you're right. This is a significant diplomatic victory, a long time coming, several weeks now of negotiation with the United States, with our American partners in Qatar and Egypt, and obviously negotiating with Israel and Hamas to get this done.

It's super significant, to use that term. It's crucial to have security for these individuals getting out. It's really important that all civilians who are able to leave, leave. And I think what this demonstrates is that American leadership diplomatically makes a difference.

And, right now, Secretary Blinken, heading out to the region on Friday, he's going to lean in further -- and he's been telegraphing that quite publicly as well -- on the humanitarian side for the Palestinians to make sure that humanitarian assistance gets in.

Now that we can prove that people can get out, it's time to make sure that goods do get in, in a robust way to take care of Palestinian lives as this work continues.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And we also have now new reports of a second blast at the refugee camp in Northern Gaza. This is one day after we know that the IDF has said it has hit Hamas terror targets in the same area. The IDF says that that attack yesterday took out a Hamas commander, along with other Hamas operatives hiding with him in underground tunnels.

It is also believed that dozens of others in that -- at the refugee camp were killed as well. Does this pose a problem diplomatically for the United States and for Israel?

RUBIN: Kate, obviously, it does, without a doubt.

The question of strikes where civilians are killed and harmed is increasing pressure on Israel and on the United States regarding humanitarian pauses. Calls, of course, for cease-fires are out there. I believe that Israel does need the time and space to conduct its military operations effectively.

But even from a practical level, when civilians are harmed in the way -- that undermines the ability of Israel to maintain global support as well. This has not been a quiet discussion. Secretary Blinken and the president have publicly, consistently stated that Israel needs to take care of civilian lives when it conducts its operations.

And it's right to go after the terrorists who masterminded October 7, but the fallout of these attacks undermines Israel's ability to conduct and continue to conduct these kinds of operations from a political level. So, it needs to take good care. And I think that's also part of the message that we're going to continue to see as well.

One thing to add. Well, Qatar, Egypt, they are able to work with and negotiate alongside Israel and Hamas in good faith because they have relations. What we don't want as Americans is to have Qatar and Egypt and other Arab governments to have relations with Israel to not be able to continue to have those kinds of discussions.

[11:15:00]

So, Israel does need to take care of how it conducts its operations and really minimize civilian casualties.

BOLDUAN: Another horrible, we can call it fallout, or the -- let's call it fallout, from the terrorist attack in Israel...

RUBIN: Yes. Yes.

BOLDUAN: ... and the now war of Israel taking on and trying to take out Hamas, has very, sadly, been a shocking and dangerous rise in antisemitism and Islamophobic hate.

The FBI director, Chris Wray, he said yesterday that antisemitism is reaching historic levels now in the United States, Joel. I want to play a little bit more for everyone what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: The reality is that the Jewish community is uniquely, uniquely targeted by pretty much every terrorist organization across the spectrum.

And when you look at a group that makes up 2.4 percent, roughly, of the American population, it should be jarring to everyone that that same population accounts for something like 60 percent of all religious-based hate crimes. And so they need our help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This is real, and it should not be ignored.

What can be done, though, about this? I mean, are you seeing enough coming from the Biden administration to try to tackle this?

RUBIN: Well, Kate, this is very personal for me, as an American Jew and as someone who has led American Jewish organizations as well professionally.

I grew up in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, where the Tree of Life Synagogue is located, spent a lot of time there as a kid. And five years ago, the worst terrorist attack against Jews occurred in that synagogue, massacring 11 private -- 11 individuals who were just going there to pray.

Since that time, it almost feels like that's like a -- sort of a naive moment in our experience here in the United States. What we have seen now has shocked the senses beyond anything that any American Jew expected, the largest massacre of Jews in history of the world since the Holocaust took place on October 7.

And it's only seemingly facilitated more Jewish hatred here in the United States. And so, to your question, yes, President Biden and his team, they have been ahead of the curve on this, putting up the counter-antisemitism strategy. They have been very robustly engaged.

But I don't think anybody saw the level of vitriol coming that we now see. And it requires leadership. It requires people to speak out. It requires heads of universities to not bury their heads in the sand and to actually defend Jewish students publicly, to call out those who are engaging in hate speech and engaging in aggressive actions towards Jewish students just for being Jewish, to call out lynch mobs for what they are.

It requires local leaders in local government to stand up and define what is exactly occurring and to call on citizens to not do it. We are Americans. We are all Americans. I'm a fifth-generation American. I'm proud of my grandfather and his brothers serving in World War II and on and on. Our history is tied tightly with the United States.

And this is anti-American at its core. And so I'm grateful that we have a leader in the White House. I think it requires leadership across the board at every institution, as well as in our homes, in our education, in the way that we speak. But, without a doubt, this is a very frightening and very eye-opening

and, quite frankly, depressing moment for the American Jewish community.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, we will have to leave it there.

But you put it in a way that I haven't heard yet, which I think is an important and a terrifyingly sad statement about the world right now. The largest, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust has seemed to only facilitate a further spike in antisemitism around the world and in the United States.

RUBIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: That is a terrifying statement.

Joel Rubin, thanks for coming on -- John.

BERMAN: John, all right, a big day for the Trump family. Donald Trump's eldest son, Don Jr., may take the stand. What prosecutors are hoping to learn about the family business.

And, this morning, new CNN polling out of the key primary state of South Carolina. Who is making the biggest gains on Donald Trump?

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[11:24:12]

BOLDUAN: Today, in New York, Donald Trump Jr. may testify in the civil fraud trial against him, his father and their family business. He would be the -- and will be the first of Trump's children to take the stand in the coming days.

Don Jr. is named, along with his brother Eric as a defendant of the $250 million lawsuit. They're accused of knowingly participating in the scheme to boost their father's net worth.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is outside the courthouse for us. She's joining us now.

Brynn, what could we learn from Don Jr. when he does take the stand?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, we can learn about his involvement in the preparation of these financial statements.

Now, you said may. And when I saw you yesterday, Kate, we were talking about how the schedule could shift just a little bit. So, a quick note on that. And that's, right now, an expert witness is on the stand being questioned by the state's attorneys. There is going to be cross- examination.

[11:25:06]

So it's possible Don Jr.'s testimony doesn't happen today. It could get pushed back to tomorrow. So we will see on that. But when he does take the stand, that's what he's going to be asked about the heart of this case. How did he prepare or help prepare those statements of financial condition? How was he involved with evaluating the company's assets, his father and the company's net worth?

And we already know that he's somewhat distanced himself because of a deposition that was under -- he was under oath back in 2022, where he essentially said, listen, I have a business degree, but I would rely on my legal team, my accountants to bring me the paperwork, and then I would sign it.

He said -- quote -- "I had no real involvement in the preparation of the statement of financial condition, and don't really remember ever working on it with anyone."

So we will see how he sort of steers around sort of that whole issue when he does take the stand. And then we do expect Eric Trump to take the stand after his brother, possibly sometime before the end of this week, more pointed questions likely for Eric Trump, since he does a lot of the business for Trump.org and has been mentioned many times actually throughout the course of this trial so far -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Brynn, thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.

Renato, great to see you.

A great legal mind said that this testimony is a minefield for the Trump children, that great legal mind, by the way, Renato Mariotti.

Why is this a legal minefield for the Trump children?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, it's very, very challenging for them, because, of course, they want to maintain their relationship with their father, but, at the same time, they have their own liability.

I mean, these financial statements are like poison, or they're like radioactive. Of course, they want to say they have nothing to do with them, they weren't really aware of what's going on, they weren't paying much attention, as we just heard a moment ago.

But, at the same time, they also don't want to say that there was something wrong with the business or that they, for example, were told by somebody else like Donald Trump to do this or that to just sign without reading these things carefully. So I think they're in a very, very challenging position, which is why they took the Fifth so many times when they were questioned previously.

BERMAN: And, of course, when you take the Fifth in a civil trial, how is that different than a criminal trial?

MARIOTTI: Wow, that's a really good question, John. In a criminal trial, the jury is told that you cannot have that used against you, they should not consider it at all. In a civil trial, the jury, or, in this case, the judge can use that against you. In fact, essentially, they are to assume or presume that they the testimony would have been negative, so -- would have worked against your interests.

So, when, for example, Eric Trump is asked, did you engage in a scheme to defraud, and he takes the Fifth, essentially, the judge can presume that in fact, he did.

BERMAN: All right, so Donald Trump, who has been fined by this New York judge for comments that he has made outside the courtroom on social media, he posted again last night on TRUTH Social.

I'm not going to read it verbatim here. But he attacked the attorney general. He attacked the judge. He attacked Michael Cohen, who was a witness in this case, using all kinds of colorful language. I don't mean to make light of it there.

So what do you think the judge, how do you think the judge will react to this?

MARIOTTI: Well, I got to tell you, John, it's a fantastic way to win the judge over. Since he's the one deciding this, there's no jury, I think it's a -- it's obviously, I think -- I'm being sarcastic.

It's obviously a very bad strategy, when -- given that the judge is deciding the fate of Donald Trump's businesses. So I think, at the end of the day, regardless of the judge's reaction, it's going to be a problem for Donald Trump.

But I imagine the judge is going to keep ratcheting up the fine. We saw $5,000, $10,000 fines. Obviously, that maybe pocket change to Donald Trump. I think the judge is going to continue to ratchet up the punishment, until Trump understands that, ultimately, this is not going to be productive for him.

BERMAN: But Trump obviously doesn't care. I mean, Trump has been fine. Trump knows this could get him fined again.

At what point does it have an impact on him, if he's already -- he's already lost, by the way, this case, has already been found liable in this case. So what more bad can happen to him? And would this translate, do you think, to when he takes the stand, as soon as next Monday?

MARIOTTI: Well, there are degrees of losing, OK?

And so I think that the whole reason we're having this trial is because there's a number of counts that have not been yet decided. There's been an extent of what the remedies would be, what the judge can impose. So I do think the judge is ultimately going to be the one trying to determine what's going to happen with some of these entities that are under Trump's control.

So, there are some consequences there.

[11:30:00]