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Interview with Organizing Talks by Hamas Attack Survivor and Hostages' Families Avery Stern; Interview with Nova Music Festival Hamas Attack Survivor Maya Parizer; Trump Will Hold Rally in Florida Instead of Attending 3rd GOP debate; Interview with Former Chief of Staff to VP Mike Pence Marc Short; Hamas Hostages' Families Speak on Capitol Hill; Government Funds to Run Out of Money on November 17, A Potential Shutdown Is Imminent; Congressional Democrats Demand Tlaib Censure Resolutions Be Rejected. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 07, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

MAYA PARIZER, SURVIVED HAMAS ATTACK AT MUSIC FESTIVAL: Oh, look at this poor civilian German. You know, when people are attacked, you know, the -- people have to respond. Israel needs to respond for the fact that 1,400 people were slaughtered that day. This is -- comparing to the size of Israel, that is such a great amount of people. And the fact that 20 --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Maya --

PARIZER: -- 240 are kidnapped, you know.

BERMAN: Maya Parizer, I appreciate you being with us. I appreciate your bravery and courage and speaking out, not just at your home, but also here in the United States.

And Avery, we appreciate you being with us --

AVERY STERN, ORGANIZING TALKS BY HAMAS ATTACK SURVIVORS AND HOSTAGES' FAMILIES: Thank you for having us --

BERMAN: -- and bringing this story --

STERN: -- and letting us tell you Maya's story.

BERMAN: Thank you so much, Avery.

STERN: Thank you.

BERMAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: The stage is set. Tomorrow night, five Republican presidential hopefuls will go toe to toe in Miami for the GOP's Third primary debate. But once again, the odds-on frontrunner will not be in attendance. Donald Trump ditching the debate for the third straight time, instead holding his own event, a rally in South Florida.

Let's talk about this and much more. Joining me now, Marc Short, Senior Adviser to Mike Pence, also the former Chief of Staff to Pence when he was Vice President. So, Marc, we're down to five Republicans on the debate stage now. What do you think this is going to look like? By the third debate, what do you think they need to be doing if they have any hope of survival?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VP MIKE PENCE : Well, I think you're probably going to have a lot more of a contentious evening between Nikki and Ron DeSantis. I think that the two of them seem like they've sort of separated from Tim Scott, Vivek, and Chris Christie. And so, that's probably where more of the fireworks will be. Some of the others will look to try to engage more in the debate.

But I think that, you know, as time goes on, President Trump's decision to avoid the debates, I think, is unfortunate for voters, but I think politically it continues to make it look like the rest of the debates are somewhat of an undercard. And so, I think that's probably played to his benefit thus far.

BOLDUAN: Do they have to go, like, just guns blazing. I hate any, kind of, analogy like that, but at Trump at this point. I mean, if I don't -- they are making distinctions or have been trying to but if they're "Seen as playing nice at all against Trump even though he's not there," I mean, how do you get this right as a Republican candidate not named Trump when he's not on the stage?

SHORT: Well, I think it is certainly a conundrum for them, because the reality is that I don't think our primary voters really want you to take Trump head on. But at the same time, how do you end up getting traction if you don't? And so, I think it is certainly is a challenge. I do think, you know, something that we discussed some -- last time, Kate, is I still think there's this conventional wisdom that says what we need to do is to get down to one candidate to go mano a mano against Trump.

But I think that that conventional wisdom isn't true in this case. I think as more and more candidates drop out, it creates a bigger inevitability that Trump will be the nominee. And this simplistic notion that says, well, there's a Trump vote and anti-Trump vote, I don't think it really applies. I think a lot of the polling shows at candidly for DeSantis, if he were to ever drop out, a lot of his vote would go back to Trump.

And so, the notion that there's this -- a lot of this pressure that says candidates need to drop out and donors want candidates to drop out so we can figure out who to solidify against, I think doesn't really apply in this year's election because I think more and more it probably benefits Trump as the field narrows.

BOLDUAN: It's -- I have been really -- I've been thinking a lot about that analysis that you've been offering. It's really interesting perspective. I have to run though. We have some news coming from Capitol Hill. Marc, let's talk again soon. I really appreciate it.

I'm being told that hostages that were taken by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, they are now on Capitol Hill speaking with, I believe, the House Speaker Mike Johnson. Let's listen in together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Part of your people, you're part of Israel. And America has been like the best allies, and I'm so proud of being an American, being an Israeli as well. But I do need you now because there's nothing helping me now. I pray, which I didn't do before, but just please help me. Oh, and one other thing, if I can, I just forgot. This is Guy. OK? OK? His best friend is a hostage too. This is Almog, his best friend. So -- that's it. Thank you for the opportunity.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: Thank you. We pray for both of them. And thank you for sharing your story. Yonathan and Hidu, would you like to speak?

YONATHAN, KIBBUTZ KFAR AZA RESIDENT AND HAMAS ATTACK SURVIVOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you for having us. My name is Yonathan. This is my brother Hidu. We used to live in kibbutz Kfar Aza for 30 years. I live with my wife and my two-year-old daughter. Our parents live in the same kibbutz a couple houses from me. Hidu live in the heart of the kibbutz, and our brother Alon (ph) kidnapped from his house in the same kibbutz.

In that Saturday, my wife woke me up to the sound of the alarms and the missiles.

[10:40:00]

As we rushed to the safe room, I managed to grab my birthday cake of my daughter and some water and we lock ourselves in the safe room. Meanwhile, Hidu sent me message that he's in the safeguard of the kibbutz and there is -- they called them up to take the guns and fight. And in that point, we realized that we are under attack.

So, I locked the safe room. I told my wife to be with my daughter, and I told her that I will guard the door. As soon as we locked the safe room, we started to get messages from all around the kibbutz. The terrorists go inside houses and start killing people. Families. Babies.

Around 10:00, my younger brother Alon (ph) wrote me a message that the hitter is inside his house. So, I wrote him that I love him and he's strong. He sent me a heart emoji and that's the last time we spoke. For the rest time in the safe room, we've been in an absolute nightmare. I can't stress and you can't imagine what it feels like to be in the safe room with your seven months pregnant wife, with your two-year-old daughter. When you hear all your friends being slaughtered inside their beds, when you hear all the terrorists go inside the kibbutz, inside civilian's houses, and wiped-out families.

Alon (ph) was -- Alon (ph) worked with us. We're a family business. He was a great guy. We do everything together, three of us. We miss him a lot. But now this is a call for action. They've been 32 days now, and Hamas -- just to remind you, they butchered our families, they raped our women, they beheaded our babies, and they burned us alive.

This is the organization that take and kidnap children, nine-month children, three-old children. They kidnapped elderly women and men that are sick. This barbarian organization kidnapped 240 plus civilians. And every day now it's -- you never know what they can do to them.

I want to thank to the -- for everyone here for having us, to the American government that help us. But it's not enough. We need help now. We don't know what is their condition. This is a call for action. And this is a wakeup call not only for Israel, not only for the Jewish community. This is a wakeup call for all of you. All of you here, all of America, all of Europe. You are next. You are next. And we should do everything that we can to stop these atrocities to come and -- never again.

[10:45:00]

We need to remember 7th of October and do whatever we can to stop this, too. I'm sorry. Thank you again. Thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you, gentlemen.

BOLDUAN: 30 days, that is how long these families have been waiting for any word on their loved ones. These are the families of hostages being held by Hamas. And you hear very clearly their plea as they're standing with, hosted by House Republicans on Capitol Hill right now. We need help now. And the mother before, please help me. 30 days these families have been waiting. 240 people being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza right now.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, a government shutdown looms at the end of next week. We've got reporting on where things stand on that right now. Also new reporting on the possible censure of Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib over comments she made about Israel.

Our Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent Manu Raju is up on the Hill with the very latest. Manu, what are you hearing?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY AND CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of things moving at the same time. 10 days to avoid a government shutdown. No clear consensus on how that will be resolved. Divisions among the House GOP, Senate GOP, Democrats, and the like. A lot of questions there still.

And also, we expect a vote this afternoon to censure Rashida Tlaib. She's a Palestinian American congresswoman, who's someone who's emerged as a sharp critic of Israel, taking and said remarks that have been widely criticized as antisemitic, including over the weekend, using the phrase, from the river to the sea. Of course, a phrase used by Hamas in calling for the end of the Jewish state. She has defended those remarks.

But in talking to Democrats today, many of them are concerned about what she said, even as they said they plan to vote against a resolution to formally central her on the floor of the House today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Are you concerned about her use of that phrase from the --

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: We expressed concern about that and will continue to.

RAJU: What about --

JEFFRIES: The extreme Mag Republican agenda has nothing to do with the American people. They want to default on our debt, shut down the government, crash the economy, censure Democrats, and avoid holding their own members accountable. This is who they are.

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Well, I'm very concerned about it. I think it's a terrible comment. I'm certainly going to vote against the motion to censure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, last week, a motion to censor Rashida Tlaib failed. That was offered by Marjorie Taylor Greene. Some Republicans were concerned it was too broad in its language, now it's been changed. One congressman, Congressman McCormick, plans to push that forward today. It has been changed, revised, and is narrow -- more narrowly tailored about Tlaib's remarks, that now is expected to pass. We -- that is -- it's been increasingly used, these issues of censure, even though that is a very rare thing to publicly reprimand a member, but expect that could happen on the floor of the House later today over Tlaib's comments. John.

BERMAN: All right. Later today. We'll be watching that very closely. Manu, thank you so much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, John.

Coming up for us, a Jewish man is dead after dueling protests in California over the Israel Hamas war turned violent. What police are now saying about their investigation. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BOLDUAN: Police in California are investigating the death of a Jewish man who died after an altercation at dueling pro-Israel, pro- Palestinian demonstrations in Thousand Oaks, California. This happened on Sunday. Witnesses told police that 69-year-old Paul Kessler, he fell backwards and hit his head on the ground during a confrontation with a counter protester and he died on Monday from his injuries. The medical examiner's office has labeled his death a homicide.

The sheriff's department is still investigating, has not ruled out the possibility of this being deemed a hate crime. No suspects have yet been named. No arrests have yet been made. Much more in this as we get news.

John.

BERMAN: All right. It is election day in America. Polls are open across the country. We are watching a few critical races that could give us key insight into the 2024 election year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]