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Trump Wins In NH; Haley Says "Race Is Far From Over"; International Committee Of The Red Cross: Urgent Action Is Needed To Prevent Medical Shutdown In Gaza; Israel: "No Deal" With Hamas To Free More Hostages; Chief GOP Senate Negotiator On Border Talks Urges Members To Be Ready To Compromise On Immigration; Texas Places New Razor Wire Despite Threat Of Feds Removing It; Supreme Court Declines To Halt First-Ever Nitrogen Gas Execution. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 24, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:02:01]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: On to South Carolina, Nikki Haley vowing to stay in the race after losing in New Hampshire, and despite Donald Trump's double-digit big win, Haley is spending and spending a lot in her home state.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Mass casualties at a U.N. shelter in southern Gaza reports of at least nine people killed and dozens injured after it was struck by Israeli tank fire.

And "it's a total disaster embarrassing," that is how one Republican senator is describing Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's handling of border security talks. This is coming ahead of a major meeting on the Hill between Senate Republicans set to begin just minutes from now.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: A few minutes ago, President Biden secured the critical 2024 endorsement from the United Auto Workers Union. It's a major boon for his re-election campaign. A campaign that's already looking ahead to a rematch against former president, Donald Trump.

Trump is also spoiling for that fight now that he's notched a pair of decisive primary wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, he still has not heard a concession from Nikki Haley, though. She says the Republican primary is just getting started and now she seeks to pull off a political Hail Mary in her home state of South Carolina and that primary one month from today.

Let's check back in with CNN's Kristen Holmes who's on the trail for us.

Kristen, a huge win last night for Donald Trump, but he didn't get Nikki Haley to tap out and that apparently, according to sources, made him furious. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, that's right. I think you could tell that from his speech. I mean, he went after Nikki Haley most of the time, compare that to what happened in Iowa when he was speaking and he said it was time to unite the party, time to unite the country.

This was almost all direct attacks on Nikki Haley and he actually even pulled off other guests and other people on to the stage to go after Nikki Haley. So very clearly it was underneath his skin. He was very angry.

Now, the - where we're turning now is to South Carolina, what's going to happen in there. Nikki Haley expressed confidence in that state, but Donald Trump's team is also very optimistic. Yes, it is her home state. Yes, she was the governor there. But they believe that the electorate has changed, that it's more pro-Trump.

Now, here's Sen. Tim Scott, South Carolina senator, talking about what's going to happen in South Carolina. Just a reminder, he has endorsed Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): What we have to do is just focus on South Carolina, make the margins so wide, so devastating that the race is over. The donors start turning their attention to Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five weeks.

SCOTT: I think it's the next two or three weeks. The poll - the margins are going to get wider over the next three weeks. We're going home to South Carolina to finish this race and start focusing on Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:07]

HOLMES: Now, one thing to note here is that if the election was tomorrow, our CNN polling shows that Donald Trump is up by about 30 points. So they do have a very big lead in the state. But as you said, she is pouring money into South Carolina. She's already doing campaign events.

I've reached out to Trump's team. I have no calendar events of when he's going to be there. No idea if they're going to put any ads out there. I've asked, have not heard back, but they do feel very confident.

The other thing I want to point out, this was a moment of true honesty for South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. When he talks about those donors, you hardly ever hear Donald Trump's people publicly talking about big dollar donors. They say they're fine. They get all the money from their grassroots organizers. They're small donations. That's how Donald Trump has always raised money. But when you really peel that back, they do want that money. They did believe it was going to come after Iowa, after Ron DeSantis had gotten it. It was going to come to Donald Trump. Well, instead, it went to Nikki Haley. Now they are hoping that with South Carolina, those big dollar donors will come home to Donald Trump. But it was just interesting to hear him say that, because again, it's not something you ever really hear from the Trump team themselves.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live in New Hampshire for us. Thanks so much for the update, Kristen. Brianna?

KEILAR: Let's turn now to the war in the Middle East. The International Committee of the Red Cross is warning that Gaza could see a complete medical shutdown unless actions are taken now to protect essential services. Right now, intense fighting is taking place in southern Gaza, where thousands are displaced, taking shelter there.

A U.N. official says one of its buildings has been struck and that this has resulted in mass casualties.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us in Tel Aviv following the very latest here.

Nic, the Israeli military says it plans to continue fighting in Khan Younis for several days as it's targeting Hamas there. What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What we're hearing from the director of UNRWA from that area in Khan Younis is that one of their buildings, a carpentry building, he said, is part of their big - and part of their bigger training facility that's being used by about 40,000 displaced people at the moment. That carpentry center was hit by two tank rounds. He said, 800 people in the building when those rounds struck. Nine people were killed, 75 people were injured.

But he describes a scenario where the IDF's fighting in the vicinity of the training center has been increasing over the past year, so there's been an advisory from the IDF for people to leave this training center, which is under a U.N. flag and is designated a safe area and the U.N. said they've been told by the IDF that people there would be safe.

The civilians there have been told go to a safer area to the west towards the coast. The director said they weren't able to do that because there were tanks blocking their path. And eyewitnesses on the ground say they've been seeing tanks right outside this U.N. displaced persons location and a lot of people they've seen with shrapnel.

A problem in this area is there isn't the freedom of movement. They can't get the casualties to the nearby hospital, which is facing a similar set of conditions, so a lot of concern there. Interestingly, where the fighting is not so heavy, a little bit to the north of there in Gaza, in central Gaza, there was a protest today by women. This is really unusual. They said it wasn't a political protest. They said they weren't protesting necessarily against Hamas. But they were calling for the release of the prisoners, the hostages, the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. They were calling for the release of them, saying that they wanted the war to stop. They wanted to go back to their homes. They were being humiliated by the war. Their families were separated.

They said, look, let us just go back and put a tent where our houses used to be. Even if the houses are not there, let us go back. This is unusual to see this kind of protest, calling for the release of the Israeli hostages.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly worth noting there. Nic, thank you for that report from Tel Aviv, we appreciate it. Boris?

SANCHEZ: The intense fighting in Khan Younis is unfolding as more than a hundred hostages remain held inside Gaza. An Israeli official tells CNN that no deal has been reached with Hamas despite reports of progress at the negotiating table. Israel says that indirect talks are ongoing, but there is a long way to go before a final agreement is reached.

According to the Israeli Prime Minister's office, 132 hostages are still inside Gaza, 104 are believed to be alive.

We want to dig deeper on this with former hostage negotiator, Gershon Baskin.

Gershon, thank you so much for being with us.

I read an op-ed that you published where you talked about Benjamin Netanyahu now being backed into a corner. You argue that his only option is an all for all deal, meaning that all remain 129 or so hostages in exchange for the 8,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel.

[15:10:07]

Some of those prisoners were caught soon after October 7th.

I'm wondering why you think Netanyahu should make that deal. Wouldn't that be a victory for Hamas?

GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Right. If it was only the prisoners, it would be an easier deal. Hamas is also demanding an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and that's even harder for Netanyahu to accept, leaving Hamas in place in Gaza and basically surrendering to Hamas' demands. This would empower Hamas further in Gaza and in the West Bank, perhaps in Jordan and Egypt as well.

So it's a very difficult deal to do. But on the other hand, Israel has the moral responsibility to bring these people home. There were civilians taken from their homes and from a music festival, some soldiers taken from a base early in the morning where they were sleeping, Israel failed to protect them and it must bring them home. And this is part of the ethos of this country of Israel, that we don't leave anyone behind.

So even if there are severe consequences for that deal, the day after the deal is done and the hostages are home, Israel could re-arrest any of those prisoners who might endanger Israel's security or if any of them engage in terrorism, Israel can take them out. That's not the problem here. The problem is having the courage, the political courage, to stand up and make a deal that will bring these civilians home.

SANCHEZ: A deal like that would go against so much of what we've seen from Netanyahu's track record. Wouldn't that also potentially make Hamas more vulnerable, though, if the hostages are being used as a life insurance policy right now?

BASKIN: Right. The - well, that's one way of looking at it. My understanding of Hamas having dealt with them for 17 years is that, one, they already achieved. Their - breaking into Israel with such ease on October 7th and killing so many Israelis and taking so many hostages was a victory for them. They have also put the Palestinian issue back on the international agenda after it's been removed by Netanyahu for so many years. And I quite frankly believe that in their own mind they will survive this war, that the pressure put on Israel to end the war, the hostage issue will bring about an end to the war, and they will come out of their tunnels and bunkers in charge of Gaza.

And even if they don't, even if the leadership is killed, it is part of their religious beliefs that they need to die in battle against Israel, killing Jews. It's part of how they believe they will enter paradise.

SANCHEZ: So you have argued previously that these steps, this kind of deal, ultimately, would help address the longer-term conflict and the solution to that or a path to the solution to that being a two-state solution. Could that ever happen with Netanyahu in power?

BASKIN: No, it could never happen with Netanyahu in power and the voices in Israel are growing louder for elections now, for replacing Netanyahu, for calling for him to resign. There's a question of how long he can continue to lead this government and the war effort and have the trust of the people of Israel and the army of Israel when most Israelis hold him directly responsible for the failures of October 7th and what led up to it.

But the two-state solution is back. It's being pushed by the international community, led by President Biden. Now the United States needs to do the right thing and recognize the state of Palestine after talking about a two-state solution for 30 years, it's time to put both of these states on a more equal footing to negotiate in a regional context with America recognizing Israel, removing the statehood issue of Palestine from the Israeli veto that they've held for so long.

SANCHEZ: Gershon Baskin, there's a lot more conversations to be had based on the one that we just started. We look forward to having you back.

BASKIN: Thank you. SANCHEZ: Thanks for being with us.

Just minutes from now, Senate Republicans will meet behind closed doors to go over an emergency border security deal that comes after tensions erupted yesterday over this deal at a private Republican lunch. Could this deal be dead on arrival? We'll discuss.

And jury selection continues in the rare case of a parent charged in a school shooting that was carried out by her son, Jennifer Crumbley on trial for manslaughter in Michigan. Those stories and much more still to come. Stay with us.

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[15:18:45]

KEILAR: The Senate GOP's lead negotiator on border talks is calling on members to be ready to compromise, but right now that is far from happening.

We have CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju, on Capitol Hill with more on this funding fight. Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right now, actually, in a matter of moments, Senate Republicans plan to gather behind closed doors to discuss these issues that have been dividing their conference. Yesterday, there was a closed-door meeting. There were tensions flared as Republicans, some of them flatly blaming the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, for his handling of these negotiations, in other words have been concerned that they have not seen any of the details yet as part of these bipartisan talks over immigration that have been going on for months, and it went back and forth for some time.

Now, all of this is so significant, because Republicans have demanded that there must be a deal on the border, dealing with the surge of migrants at the border of Mexico. That must be dealt with first to their satisfaction before they'll agree to greenlight more funding for Ukraine, which is calling for aid immediately in its war against Russia. This is what they're discussing now behind closed doors.

But in talking to senators, it is very clear there is a - there are major divisions within the ranks, especially in the aftermath of the former president, Donald Trump, calling on Republicans to reject any bipartisan deal that falls short of what Trump considers a perfect deal.

[15:20:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Trump said that you guys need to accept only a perfect deal, is he wrong?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): There will be no perfect deal. There will be a good deal or I won't support it. The solution to the border eventually will require a Trump presidency. But between now and then, we can do some things that will make the border more secure.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Biden has failed. We are here. We've been elected. We have election certificates. When you have an opportunity to make this country safer, you take it and you don't play politics.

RAJU: So what do you think of his handling of the Ukraine and immigration talks, McConnell?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Oh, it's disastrous, clearly - totally. I mean, just look, it's a total shambles. It's a total disaster. I mean, it's totally disastrous. It's embarrassing. Nobody knows what's in the bill, what's not in the bill, what the deal is, what's not the deal. Nobody knows what the priorities are. This has dragged on for weeks and months now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So there you have it. Some Republicans simply saying that the negotiations, which they have not gotten any window into, simply they're not hearing - they're not liking the way these talks are going. They simply believe we should wait until next year with Donald Trump has become president, Republicans take back the Senate, maybe keep the House, then worry about it then. Others say it's time to have a bipartisan compromise now.

All of this, of course, is immigration remains front and center, the dominant issue on the campaign trail, particularly among Republicans. Trump, for one, does not want to give Joe Biden a victory, according to many of his allies here on Capitol Hill.

So it just shows you the complicated dynamics at such a critical time as Ukraine awaits aid, the - as others await action along the way, but uncertain whether Congress can get there. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Manu Raju life for us on Capitol Hill, thank you for that report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Right now, U.S. officials are not planning to take any immediate steps to remove miles of razor wire along the southern border. This despite the Biden administration taking the issue to the Supreme Court and getting a ruling in its favor.

CNN's Rosa Flores is live for us in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Rosa, walk us through what's happening right now.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me show you the scene that we see over and over here on the southern border, Boris. If you look beyond these several layers of razor wire, it's a little difficult to see, but there are two migrants who are sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande. I talked to them.

They say that they've been here for about two days. They have not eaten. They don't have water. And they want to turn themselves into U.S. immigration authorities. But because of all this razor wire, and I'm in the area that was taken over by the state of Texas, this is the Shelby Park area. You can see all the razor wire and it keeps on going for several miles.

This is how broken the situation is. So Border Patrol is not allowed to come in here to do normal operations. Under federal law, these individuals should be apprehended and processed and the immigration protocol should be applied. But the point I want to make here is that because Border Patrol don't - doesn't have access, there's nobody arresting them or taking them into custody.

And U.S. authorities, and there's a lot of U.S. authorities here, both Texas DPS and Texas National Guard, some of them are working or were working just behind me. They're adding more razor wire. This is how Texas is doubling down on taking over this park. They're removing some of their own razor wire only to add bigger layers of razor wire, that include some fencing. You can see some of those guys up there in some of the cargo containers.

But Boris, this is how broken it is. There are migrants who are on U.S. soil, I should point out, because the international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico is the middle of that bridge. Excuse me, the middle of the river. And so these individuals are on U.S. soil. They want to be processed under immigration law, and yet they're sitting there waiting and nobody is paying attention to them. Authorities are not taking them into custody or trying to turn them over to U.S. Border Patrol officials or anything.

And again, I want to point out that Border Patrol doesn't have access to this area because it has been taken over by Texas authorities. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now, really an encapsulation of this fight between the state of Texas and the federal government there in your live shot.

Rosa Flores from Eagle Pass, Texas, thanks so much.

Still ahead, U.S. forces carrying out strikes against an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, reportedly killing up to seven Hezbollah leaders. Next, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby is going to join us to discuss these dangerous and increasingly common conflicts between the U.S. and Iran-backed groups. We'll be right back.

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[15:29:33]

SANCHEZ: This just in to CNN, the Supreme Court has declined to halt the first known U.S. execution by nitrogen gas. The inmate involved, Kenneth Smith, was sentenced to death by the state of Alabama for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire.

Now, Smith requested to be executed by this untested method, but the state instead opted for execution by lethal injection back in 2022, that attempt had to be aborted after difficulties setting an IV.

[15:30:03]

Now, after the state agreed to his request, Smith is reversing course. He claims that this method puts him at risk of "super added pain."