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NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson Denies Report Of Disturbing Posts; At Least 12 Killed As IDF Claims It Killed Top Hezbollah Commander; Students In GA Stage Walkout Following Apalachee School Shooting; Shohei Ohtani Becomes 1st Player In 50-50 Club. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 20, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

PAT MCCRORY, (R), FORMER NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: -- that's starting in weeks regarding early voting.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I wonder if you think he's going to hurt other Republicans on the ballot and whether you would call on him to drop out?

MCCRORY: Well, I think he probably should have not even run, based upon the record he knew he had, and based upon the business record alone of some non-profits that he and his wife are being investigated on at this point in time.

Yes, I think what's going to happen as people are deserting him, people that used to beg him to be on the same podium as him, are now just going to walk away.

And Don -- President Trump and his team, basically, were avoiding him during the last month or two. Some of the videos of him being with him or older videos.

But I think they even knew -- anyone in the circle here in North Carolina knew that there were a lot of rumors about him about to be broken and let the public know.

So he hasn't been transparent with almost everything he -- that comes out about him, he then admits to them, but only after he's caught. And that's not good for North Carolina. It's not good for the political system, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat.

SANCHEZ: So do you think he should step down as lieutenant governor?

MCCRORY: Well, I'm in the media now with a PBS show called "Funds." So I --

(CROSSTALK)

MCCRORY: -- reluctantly -- but I never endorsed him before I started doing that.

Because I had strong questions about him. And I think the party ought to take some stronger actions about what he has said in the past and some of these new revelations that have come out.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCRORY: And even some of the strongest supporters of him, like Senator Ted Budd -- and I'm glad to see Ted come out and say he needs to prove that these are not factual statements.

SANCHEZ: Should Donald Trump rescind his endorsement of Robinson?

MCCRORY: I don't think he's qualified to be governor. But that was even before these statements were made.

And again, he's not the type of politician that I'm looking for. And I don't think the Trump people knew a lot of these factors before he did that.

They saw that he was a powerful speaker. But again, a lot of this information wasn't known. And in defense of the Trump campaign, I knew they we're trying to walk away from him a while back and not wanting him to be on the stage.

So -- but this should be as no surprise to the party. And with all due respect to Michael Watley, who's now chairman of the party, of the national party when he was North Carolina chairman, they should have done a better vetting job for such an important job.

You can get away with this when running for lieutenant governor, where there's very little vetting. But when you run for the governor's office, believe me, people are going to check into your background.

It's a very, very important job, honored to serve. And I knew I was vetted and some of it's bad vetting, but you better be ready and --

SANCHEZ: And, sir --

MCCRORY: -- he obviously is not ready.

SANCHEZ: Quickly, before we go, I want to ask you whether you think this might hurt up-ballot, if you think this controversy might hurt Donald Trump's chances of winning the state of North Carolina?

MCCRORY: Well, North Carolina is known for close elections. And so anything that divides the party ticket doesn't help the Republican Party.

And -- but Republicans in North Carolina also have a reputation of dividing their ticket. I'm an example of that. I lost my reelection by 10,000 votes out of 4.6 million. And that was due to a very small percentage dividing their vote and splitting their ticket.

And so it does work to the Democrats advantage and probably does work against President Trump. Because most of our presidential elections in the past have been -- you know, we're a purple state. it's going to be always one or 2 percent at the presidential level and at the gubernatorial level. With a few exceptions, including my first election. I won by 8 percent or 9 percent. But when you lose by less than 1 percent, every vote makes a difference.

SANCHEZ: Former North Carolina Republican governor, Pat McCrory, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate the perspective, sir.

MCCRORY: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Thanks.

[14:34:27]

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Israel military is now claiming that it assassinated a top Hezbollah military commander in today's deadly strike in southern Lebanon.

The IDF says the target, Ibrahim Aqil, was part of the terror groups elite unit, the Rod One Force.

But the strike flattened a residential building, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 60 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Some of the wounded trapped in the rubble.

The White House saying that it wasn't aware of any advance notice from Israel ahead of the strike.

We have CNN senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, joining us now from Lebanon.

Ben, who was Ibrahim Aqil?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ibrahim Aqil, Brianna, is somebody who has been a member of Hezbollah back to its founding in the early 1980s.

Now according to the U.S. State Department, Justice Department, he was involved in the April 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut that left 63 people killed.

He was involved in the October 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 people.

[14:40:01]

He's also wanted here in Lebanon for suspected involvement in an assassination attempt against a former prime minister.

Now, more recently, he is believed to be the head of what's known as the Rod One Force, which is Hezbollah's elite commando force.

Now, the Israelis claim he has been assassinated. I must stress, however, we have yet to hear either from the Lebanese government or Hezbollah as to whether he is actually alive or dead.

Now the Israelis claimed that Aqil was actually involved in the planning of an October 7th-style attack on Israel. However, all of this information is coming from Israel and we can't confirm it.

But clearly, he is or was a very senior figure in Hezbollah -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Ben, this is really starting to look like it is evolving into something more than it has been. What can you tell us about that?

WEDEMAN: Well, let's just step back a minute and look at what happened over the last four days. We've had these pager attacks in Lebanon that killed 10 people, wounded thousands, including civilians.

And among the dead -- now 12 people, excuse me. Among the dead were two children. Then Wednesday, the walkie-talkie attacks killed 20 people, wounded more than 600. And now today, on Friday, we have this attack.

I mean, clearly, Israel has decided to pull out all the stops as far as pursuing Hezbollah as a -- as an organization. But clearly, this effort is causing real worries that Lebanon and Israel are about to be dragged into a full-scale war.

These attacks -- also the attacks of this week, and also going back to the late July assassination of the senior commander of Hezbollah's military wing, all underscore what is clearly an infiltration by Israel, a compromising of Israel of Hezbollah's internal security.

This organization has never been as exposed as it is now -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Ben Wedeman, live for us in Beirut, thank you.

And next, two weeks after a deadly mass shooting at a Georgia high school, students across the state are walking out to demand change.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:52]

SANCHEZ: Today, in Georgia, some students are walking out of class, demanding new gun safety measures two weeks after a deadly mass shooting at Apalachee High School.

On Thursday, more than two dozen children rallied at the state capitol pleading with adults there to act.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADDIE LA ROSE, 11-YEAR-OLD: Many people got killed and four people died, two teachers and two students. And nobody should have ever died and nobody should have ever gotten a gun for kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Rafael Romo joins us now.

And, Rafael, you are at the funeral for one of the students killed in that September 4th attack, Christian Angulo. What are people there sharing with you?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, as you can imagine, a very, very hard day here. Another very sad day for this community of Winder, Georgia.

And we are at St. Matthew Catholic Church where the funeral mass was held earlier today. The remains of 14-year-old student, Christiane Gabrielle Angulo, were then laid to rest at a cemetery about 10 miles north of here.

Angulo's funeral is the last one of the four fatal victims of the September 4th shooting at Apalachee High School. It was standing room only inside the church for a very emotional mass, Boris.

Besides the Angulo family, there were many students and teachers from Apalachee High School who were here earlier today showing their support. There were also many people from Winder and neighboring towns.

Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer officiated the mass, which was held mostly in Spanish, as a sign of respect for Christian Angulos' family and his Mexican heritage.

After the mass, we spoke with Armando Martinez, an Apalachee High School student, who was close to Angulo. This is part of what he told us. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARMANDO MARTINEZ, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & FRIEND OF TEEN LAID TO REST: He was just blessed with the grace of God that made everybody just enlightened whenever he was around. It's sad that he was taken from us and the other victims from the mass shooting.

But all I can say is that it's going to impact us very hard. I mean, we're never going to let this -- we're never going to let this go. We're not going to forget it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Boris, if you can imagine this, Martinez says he also knew Richard Aspinwall well. The 39-year-old assistant coach also died in the shooting.

So very traumatic moments, very traumatic -- traumatic couple of weeks for the students here in Winder.

Now back to you.

SANCHEZ: Our hearts go out to their families and, obviously, the broader community as well.

Rafael Romo, thank you so much, from Winder, Georgia.

[14:49:37]

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be back in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPORTS ANNOUNCER: The ball is up. It falls back. There it is, 50-50.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Dodgers superstar, Shohei Ohtani, just joined an elite club in Major League Baseball solely that he is the only member, 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a single season.

KEILAR: Show time. Ohtani, now in a league of his own, over Hall of Fame greats like Mays, Griffey and even Babe Ruth. And remember, he's also a pitcher.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: CNN's Natasha Chen is there in Los Angeles -- Natasha?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna and Boris, can you even imagine, all the stats we're talking about, the history he's just made is before he's even pitching for the Dodgers right because he's recovering from elbow surgery. So this is just only going to get better.

[14:54:59]

The fans here are just going wild. We have seen fans from Japan already gathering outside the closed the gates, trying to take pictures of the stadium. And it's more than seven hours before tonight's game.

He is at 51-51. Those numbers could climb tonight with the home series that begins this evening.

And we talked to a tour guide locally yesterday, right around when he hit the 50-50 mark about what this means for the Japanese community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAZOU IMAI, TOUR GUIDE: Nobody's done this before. And he's a Japanese. You know, this is America. I am very proud of him, he did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And for Asian-Americans as well.

I talked to a fan who said that this is so important for Asian- American kids to have someone to look up to, that Ohtani is such a role model, someone like him. They didn't necessarily see when he was growing up.

A long-time, lifelong Dodgers fan told me, just in general of the sport, that it's just so funny to watch this happen that he said it's humbling to see an international player excelling at this American pastime.

This is how he said baseball should be played -- Boris, Brianna?

SANCHEZ: Yes, it is incredible. Also given that he endured some drama earlier in the season. His assistant, these charges about gambling. It is quite historic. And it's not over yet.

Brianna, as a pitcher, you know.

KEILAR: Yes, I know.

SANCHEZ: You're excited. Maybe getting some pointers. There's some technique.

KEILAR: I pitched like in one terrible softball -- I think he's known for enthusiasm, not good softball.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Natasha Chen is known for her enthusiasm and we appreciate it.

Thanks so much for the reporting, Natasha.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Just in now, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to speak on reproductive rights from battleground Georgia. And we're following it live.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)