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Senior Hamas Leader Killed; Interview With Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf; Explosions in Iran. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired January 03, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:54]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: More than 100 people are dead after two explosions near the grave of an Iranian commander killed by the United States, Iran describing the explosions as a terror attack. They come at a time of already heightened tensions in the region.

Plus, taking their message south, some 60 Republicans led by House Speaker Mike Johnson meeting on the Mexican border, while cities across the country work to manage an influx of migrants.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: And you can forget delay, delay, delay. The Trump legal strategy right now appears to be appeal, appeal, appeal, the former president now doubling down on his immunity claim and ramping up his fight to stay on the ballot in Maine.

We are following all of these major developing stories, as well as many more, all coming in here, right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Good afternoon, and thanks so much for joining us on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Boris Sanchez with Alex Marquardt in Washington, D.C. Brianna Keilar has the day off.

We start with twin blasts rocking Iran, more than 100 people dead, as fears grow of a widening war in the Middle East. One of the bombings was caught on an Iranian state broadcast. Watch this. You see the panic in the crowd there. The explosions happened about 20 minutes apart. More than 140 were also wounded, according to Iranian state media.

MARQUARDT: And also according to Iran's state media, they're reporting that officials are calling now this a terror attack.

The blast happened in the city of Kerman during a tribute to the Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed exactly four years ago by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq. State media reporting that the first bomb that blew up today was in a suitcase.

Joining us now is Josh Rogin, a columnist for "The Washington Post."

Josh, thanks so much for being with us on this incredibly dramatic story.

First, I want to ask who you think might be behind this attack, because there is a fairly lengthy list of potential culprits.

JOSH ROGIN, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Right.

While we can't be sure, this attack has all the hallmarks of and fits a pattern of attacks by Sunni militant groups against Shiite religious institutions inside of Iran. And Occam's razor says it's Sunni extremists behind it. Of course, we can't really know.

Either way, the Iranian government is not waiting for the investigation to blame Israel. They're going to blame Israel, whether or not they have evidence of it one way or the other. And the reason they're doing that is because, one, they're already blaming Israel for a bunch of stuff. And, two, they're deflecting from the idea that this could be an internal issue and not an external issue.

And so what that means is that the retaliation from the Iranian side is likely to target Israel and possibly U.S. forces around the region. And that's just going to escalate tensions, raise the risk of a wider spillover for war, and make the already dangerous situation in the Middle East only that much more dangerous and risky in the days and weeks ahead.

SANCHEZ: And to that point, Josh, we have seen that Iran has moved one of its Navy destroyers into the Red Sea, a sign that they're backing the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Meantime, Israel struck a Hamas target in Lebanon, drawing the ire of Hezbollah. So there is real concern that this could very quickly escalate and become a more regional

conflict. What's the likelihood that we may see some more intervention by the United States or perhaps the Israelis?

ROGIN: Right. I mean, this has been a medium-boil regional conflict for almost two months, Boris.

And all sides, including Hezbollah and Iran, but also the United States and Israel, have an interest in avoiding all-out war. And we see that the Iranians and their proxies in Iraq, in Yemen, and in Syria, and in Lebanon are all harassing U.S. and Israeli military personnel and merchant ships, but they're not actually attacking all out yet.

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And so they're making a calculation about where our red lines are. We're making a calculation about where their red lines are. We could both be wrong. And that -- in that confusion, in that misunderstanding lies the risk of the greater region-wide all-out conflict that nobody really actually wants.

MARQUARDT: And, Josh, we have been monitoring a speech today by the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah, of course, backed by Iran.

It comes the day after the -- that the Hamas leader, another group backed by Iran, was also killed in Lebanon, in fact, in an area that is dominated by Hezbollah. What is your sense of what Hezbollah's response may be?

ROGIN: Right.

Well, Nasrallah's speech was cautious, characteristically of him, to be honest. It didn't assign attribution to the Iranian attack, unlike the Iranians did. It did blame Israel for the killing of the Hamas leader in Beirut, something the Israeli government hasn't really tried that hard to deny.

Basically, what's really interesting is that the Hamas leader that was killed in Beirut was the Hamas ambassador to Lebanon. And, essentially, his job was to try to get Hezbollah more involved in this war. And Nasrallah and Hezbollah have been resisting that this whole time.

And now that they have killed him on Hezbollah's turf, Israel may have allowed this dead Hamas leader to achieve in death what he couldn't achieve in life, which is to get Hezbollah more involved in the war against Israel. And that's the risk of these targeted assassinations. You take out a terrorist, but you don't really have control over what happens next.

MARQUARDT: Yes, after months of back-and-forth between Israel and Hezbollah on that southern border, this was in Beirut, in the capital, the most brazen strike that we have seen so far by Israel.

Josh Rogin of "The Washington Post," thank you very much for your time and for your thoughts today.

ROGIN: Any time.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Josh.

We want to pivot now to the border crisis here in the United States, because, at this moment, leaders in Congress, in border towns, in coastal cities and Midwestern suburbs all have one thing in common. They are grappling with a record surge of immigration. Here's just one snapshot.

In December, monthly migrant encounters at the southern border eclipsed 225,000, the highest in over two decades. And zooming out, each of the past three years has set an annual record for border apprehensions. In Fiscal year 2023, there were nearly 2.5 million. That's fiscal year.

So, last month's record numbers aren't actually included in this set. They will be in the 2024 total.

MARQUARDT: And those staggering numbers are part of the House Republicans' justification for readying formal impeachment proceedings against the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, even as he continues his central role in those border talks with senators.

The big question now is whether the House GOP will be backing a border deal. As those Senate negotiations resume, today, House Speaker Mike Johnson and some of his 60 House Republican -- fellow House Republicans are visiting the U.S.-Mexico border.

Let's start there with CNN's Ed Lavandera, who's in Eagle Pass, Texas.

So, Ed, what are you seeing there on the ground?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the area along the border in Eagle Pass where Speaker Johnson and this large contingency of Republican House lawmakers will be getting a tour from the Texas Department of Public Safety in a little while, and they will tour the area.

And this is what they're going to see, the razor wire and the long line of steel containers that have been put in place by state authorities here in Texas over the course of the last year, in hopes of trying to curtail illegal crossings.

But as we have documented over the last few months, none of this has really slowed down any of the illegal crossings here in the Eagle Pass area, where just a few weeks ago we were seeing several thousand people crossing each day.

And you mentioned the numbers in December, record numbers of 225,000, more than 225,000 illegal crossings all along the U.S.-southern border. But those Republican lawmakers will be coming here, as you mentioned, that a border security bill is being -- negotiations are continuing to try to reach some sort of deal.

But it will be interesting to see exactly what the Republicans here from the House side will be calling for after they get the tour of this area and meeting with state authorities here in Texas. The state officials here have been in a fight with the federal government as to how to best handle the migration crisis here along the southern border.

Eagle Pass has been one of the major focal points all along the border in the last year. As we have seen over the course of the last few weeks, there have been large numbers of migration that has taken place here in Eagle Pass that has overwhelmed local authorities.

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But what is interesting is that, in recent days, it has really slowed down quite dramatically. Anecdotally, we can tell you that we have talked to some -- a gentleman who runs a migrant shelter on the other side of the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico. And they say that in the roads leading up to the border, Mexican authorities have stepped up and made checkpoints, immigration checkpoints, much more robust.

And there's a feeling that is starting to control the number of migrants that are able to reach the Texas-Mexico border. So, that they say they have noticed happening in the last few days, especially in the days after the Christmas holiday, when Biden administration officials flew to Mexico City and met with the president of Mexico just after Christmas. So these are all kind of the dynamics at play here along the border as

we prepare to see this large group of Republican lawmakers here in Eagle Pass in -- just in the next few hours.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the White House pointing to that dip in the numbers as a success, as fruit coming from their meeting with the Mexican officials.

Ed Lavandera in Eagle Pass, thank you so much.

We want to get you now to Capitol Hill with CNN's Manu Raju, because, Manu, we understand that these three key Senate negotiators are back on Capitol Hill now.

They said that they were teleconferencing during the holiday, continuing the discussion. But now they're meeting in person again. Where do talks stand right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are still significant hurdles before reaching a deal.

I'm told that there are major issues that are still dividing the two sides and dealing with some very complex areas of immigration policy, dealing with changing and how people can seek asylum, changing how the president can grant parole to migrants who are crossing the border, as well as expulsion authority, how to expel migrants, how that language would work, as well as providing -- imposing new detention facilities in along United States for people who do cross the southern border illegally.

A lot of questions about how those may be resolved, even as the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, reported that there was some progress being made in the negotiations. There are still some major questions about, one, whether a deal can be reached, two, whether it can pass the Senate, and what will happen in the GOP-led House, where the speaker, Mike Johnson, as you heard it, down on the border, has been demanding that the Senate accept the House-passed bill, which is known as H.R.2 that the Democrats say they simply will not accept because of more restrictive border measures.

That is the warning from Chuck Schumer today, when he said that he believes that the Senate deal, whatever is produced, will have to be accepted by the House, and they would not accept the House GOP's proposal.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): When the House claims to H.R.2 as the only solution, which every Democrat has voted against, I believe both House and Senate -- certainly, every senator voted -- every Democratic senator voted against it.

I think every Democratic House member voted against it as well. If not, it was almost everyone. We're not going to get a deal. But I think that if we pass something in the Senate -- look, we're working hard to get that done. And, as I said, it's hard. It's hard. (END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And there are just still so many questions about how this ultimately will get resolved, if it can get resolved.

Senators and House members return back to Washington from their holiday break next week. And if they can't get this deal through, hanging in the balance, of course, is aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel, Ukraine in particular in a dire situation, according to the administration, that says that aid must be approved by the end of the month before things get particularly dire.

And Republicans have said the border must be dealt with first before they will agree to aid to Ukraine. So, there's so much hanging on these talks and a lot of questions about whether they can get there -- guys.

MARQUARDT: Yes, lots of tense and immediate conversations taking place in this new year up on Capitol Hill.

Manu Raju, thank you very much for that report.

We're joined now by the former acting Homeland Security Secretary under Donald Trump Chad Wolf. He is the executive director of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute.

Secretary Wolf, thank you so much for joining us today.

With these Senate talks ongoing that Manu was just talking about, what, in your view, are these House Republicans who are going to the border actually trying to achieve today?

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, I think a number of them, whether they're visiting the border for the first or second time, I think it's always useful to go down there and see firsthand what's going on, talk to the men and women of the Border Patrol, talk to the agents on the field that are dealing with this crisis, that have been dealing with the crisis for three years now, and ask them, what are the resources, what are the policies that they need to secure that border?

So I think it's vitally important to hear firsthand from the folks down there. It's very difficult to make decisions that affect the border if you haven't been to the border. So, whether you're a Republican or Democrat, I encourage everyone to go down there and talk to those agents. And I think you will get a different perspective. You will get a different viewpoint on what it takes to secure that border coming from such a trip.

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MARQUARDT: But Speaker Johnson is going to be accompanied by dozens of other Republican lawmakers. It's a real show of force. It's quite a dramatic presence to really highlight this issue.

Meanwhile, you have these closed-door talks between Senate Republicans and Democrats. Do you believe that Senate Republicans may be taking a more productive tack by getting something done that can be done by both chambers?

WOLF: Well, I haven't seen what is coming out of the Senate negotiations. I don't know that I would say it's a more productive route.

I will say I will wait and see what comes of it. I think, at the end of the day, whether you're looking at H.R.2 or you're looking at what the Senate is doing, that you need real policy changes along that border. Look, the American people, in poll after poll, are saying that we're going in the wrong direction along that border.

You have got blue state governors and mayors that are saying we're going in the wrong direction regarding the border. The administration can change course tomorrow if they want to. They don't seem to want to, which is why we now have a legislative battle on our hands between H.R.2 and what the Senate is doing.

So, look, what we don't need to do is just throw more money at the situation. You need policy change there to drive a different paradigm along that border.

MARQUARDT: And, Secretary Wolf, you, of course, know the job of homeland security secretary very well. What do you think impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would actually accomplish, if he's really enacting the broader Biden administration policy on immigration?

WOLF: A couple of points there.

Look, at every turn, the administration and the secretary himself have had three years to change course. And almost every month, the situation along the border gets more desire -- gets more dire, and the numbers continue to rise. So after three years, you would think that they would change their policies and bring some order back, but they haven't.

And I think that's what, again, most Americans and particularly Republicans in the House are very frustrated at that. And then there's a whole number of other things, whether you talk about the parole system, the asylum system, and other things, that I believe have been abused by this administration.

It all leads to the same point, which is, you're there. You have taken a note through the office to protect the borders, to protect Americans every single day. And I think, by any honest measure or metric, that's not occurring. And the fact that they won't change their policy, they won't -- you don't even need to admit defeat.

You just need to say, our strategy hasn't been working, we're changing, and they won't do that. And I think that's where House Republicans are at the moment.

MARQUARDT: But, Secretary, is that an impeachable offense? Should Secretary Mayorkas be impeached for that? WOLF: I have been on the record. I have been very clear there needs

to be a change of leadership of the department. I think the secretary should have resigned a long time ago. He clearly won't. And I think the impeachment proceedings that were announced, I believe earlier today, is a step in the right direction.

We will see what the House ends up doing. And then, of course, it goes to the Senate. But the American people have been clear. I think Republicans have been clear they need a change along that border. And it's just not coming. And, unfortunately, Americans and American communities are paying the price for it.

MARQUARDT: All right, acting Secretary Security -- excuse me -- acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, thank you very much for your time today. Appreciate it, sir.

WOLF: All right, thank you.

MARQUARDT: And we have much more developing news from the Middle East. What the U.S. and Israel are now saying about an attack in Lebanon that killed a senior Hamas leader.

SANCHEZ: Plus, CNN has new reporting on that deadly plane collision in Japan -- details on a possible fatal error straight ahead.

And a familiar message from the Biden campaign going into 2024, a central part of their reelection message, that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans pose an existential threat to democracy. Is that a strategy that's going to resonate with voters?

We will discuss in just a few moments.

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SANCHEZ: We want to get you an update now out of Japan, where the death toll from Monday's powerful earthquake is now up to 73, the number of people missing still undetermined, as rescuers comb through rubble and try to reach areas that have been cut off.

We're told that at least 70 people were rescued overnight. Thousands of homes were destroyed and water and power service still down in certain areas.

MARQUARDT: We're also learning new details on that horrifying plane collision in Tokyo involving a passenger jet and a Japanese Coast Guard plane. Remarkably, everyone on board the passenger plane was safe, but there were deaths aboard the Coast Guard plane.

Earlier today, Japan's Transport Ministry released communications data between the two planes and air traffic control. It shows the Japanese Coast Guard aircraft did not have permission to be on that runway as the Japan Airlines jet was landing.

Now, as we just mentioned, despite that huge fire that you can see there, everyone on that commercial jet survived. The death toll aboard the Coast Guard jet was six people. And this comes as Japan Airlines is revealing that, after the crash, the plane's intercom system failed, crew members apparently using megaphones to direct passengers to safety and somehow got nearly 400 people off that plane in just a matter of seconds.

To the Middle East now, where a short time ago the head of Iranian- backed Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas in Gaza, expressed condolences for the scores of victims killed in the two bombings today in Iran. Hassan Nasrallah also talked about that other attack that happened yesterday in Beirut, in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based.

That strike killed Hamas senior leader Saleh al-Arouri, whom Nasrallah called in his speech a martyr.

SANCHEZ: Now, remember, al-Arouri helped found Hamas' military wing. At least four others were killed in the strike at that apartment building. Israel has not claimed responsibility for this attack, but, as Josh Rogin alluded to earlier, they haven't exactly outright come forward and denied it.

MARQUARDT: Right.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now live from Tel Aviv with more.

Jeremy, what are U.S. officials saying about the strike in Lebanon?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, while Israeli officials are officially staying intentionally ambiguous about who is responsible for the strike, a U.S. official is indeed telling CNN that Israel was responsible for this strike that took out one of Hamas' top political and military leaders.

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But according to that U.S. official, Israel did not provide advance notice to the U.S. government ahead of this. The Israeli military, for its part, has officially declined to comment on whether or not it was responsible. But it did say that they are on a -- quote -- "heightened state of alert" in the wake of this.

And that has been what we have been watching and waiting to see, in particular, that speech that Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, gave earlier today to see whether there were any indications of whether Hezbollah, which is the dominant military power in Southern Lebanon, whether they would retaliate against the Israeli government for this targeted killing of a top Hamas leader.

And in his speech today, Hassan Nasrallah did not really go much further than the statement that Hezbollah put out yesterday, calling this simply a crime that he said was large and dangerous and saying that this crime will -- quote -- "not be left without a response and punishment," but he stayed intentionally ambiguous about exactly what that would be. And now, while, the Israeli government isn't officially commenting on

this matter, we have heard from several Israeli officials offering not-at-all-veiled or thinly veiled comments about this, indicating that, indeed, Israel was responsible for this.

One of those comments comes from Danny Danon, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. He said in comments -- in a tweet earlier today, he congratulated the Israeli military, the Mossad, the Shin Bet, Israel's security services, for carrying out this strike. And he said that: "We will get you and close the account to anyone responsible for the October 7 attacks."

We heard thinly veiled comments as well from David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, who said that Israel is -- quote -- "obliged to settle all accounts with those responsible for carrying out and planning those October 7 attacks."

But, again, for the moment, there doesn't appear to be a heightened response from Hezbollah to these strikes.

There has been a continued exchange of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border, but nothing out of the ordinary, from what we have seen over the course of the last couple of months, as this war has continued, but certainly fears both here, concerns certainly here, as well as in Washington, that this war between Israel and Hamas could escalate, in particular in light of what was certainly a very significant targeted strike carried out yesterday.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much for the update.

MARQUARDT: And still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Police in New Jersey are searching for a motive after a Muslim leader is shot outside of a mosque. We're live on the scene next.

And President Joe Biden is also set to deliver a major campaign speech on the three-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. That's this weekend.

Stay with us.

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