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700-Plus National Security Officials Endorse Harris In Bipartisan Letter; Soon, VP Harris Meets With UAE President; GA Election Board Weighs More Rule Changes 43 Days From Election Day; CDC: Cases Of Whooping Cough Surging Across U.S. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 23, 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]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A key partner in these talks between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage agreement, which has just not come to fruition.

And you have growing skepticism within the administration that a deal can be struck by the end of Biden's term.

Was the -- in your opinion, was the administration duped into thinking that these two parties would agree to a diplomatic solution?

CHUCK HAGEL, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: No, I don't think that was the case at all, duped into thinking.

We've always been -- regardless of the administrations, Republican or Democrat, we've always been focused on trying to bring a solution, bring an agreement, a two-state solution for the Middle East.

And that's what Biden and Harris of tried to do. We've tried to work that through. I mean, how many times his Biden and, in particularly, Blinken been in the Middle East. So I don't think there's any duping here.

This is an issue that needs to be resolved and it needs to be resolved soon. Because we're seeing what's happening in Lebanon that, if this broadens, this war, it's going to include the entire Middle East.

Iran will come in. We're already in. Who else may get involved, I don't know. That's what we've been trying to contain and make sense of this.

And to criticize that, I don't -- I don't know if anybody who's criticizing it understands the realities of what's going on and has been going on over there for years.

KEILAR: Yes, it won't be for lack of trying, to your point. We've seen the shuttle diplomacy with so many American officials.

But I wonder what you think the effect is going to be that there is not that agreement in place, potentially on the election and for whoever wins.

HAGEL: You mean on our election, the U.S. election?

KEILAR: On our election, and for whichever person sort of inherits U.S. involvement or U.S. backing of Israel in this conflict.

HAGEL: I don't think this is an issue that Kamala Harris campaigned on, that ill have an agreement before the election. I don't think Biden has said that.

I mean, what they've said is we're doing everything we can every day. The secretary of state said this, other senior members of the administration.

We're doing everything we can every day to try and resolve this, bring a cease-fire, bringing an agreement long term. And that's what they've been trying to do.

I don't know if anybody thinks it -- it will be done or has to be done, or the election will depend on -- on that. I mean, they're doing everything they can.

But we have only so much control over this, Brianna. I mean, the Israelis are in charge. I mean, they are the ones that -- and -- and Hamas and Hezbollah, they're the three main players in this.

We can do everything we can to help and deal with both sides. But we're somewhat limited.

KEILAR: Secretary Hagel, it is great to have you on. Thank you so much for being with us.

HAGEL: Thank you very much.

KEILAR: Thank you.

[14:33:17]

And coming up today, a Georgia State Election Board meeting gets heated as members consider even more rule changes just 43 days from Election Day.

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[14:38:06]

KEILAR: The Georgia State Election Board is back in session to weigh new voting rules just 43 days from Election Day. And it got heated between members of the GOP majority.

We have CNN political correspondent, Sara Murray, with us now for the latest.

All right, Sara, what's happened so far in this meeting?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's off to a little bit of a touchy start today. Again, they're considering these new election rules very close to the election. And the Democratic member of the board, Sara Tindall Ghazal, and the

newest Republican on the board, Janelle King, got into a little bit of back-and-forth.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA TINDALL GHAZAL, (D), GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD MEMBER: I am expressing concern about the fact that this board is acting in a way that the attorney general has stated is unlawful.

JANELLE KING, (R), GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD MEMBER: Well, I'm concerned about the fact that you are going on national TV and making an assumption that we are working on some -- some agenda that's been contrived by a rant from the media.

Because I haven't spoken to the Trump campaign. I have nothing to do with the Trump campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now the Independent chairman of the board told CNN he doesn't like to see this kind of public sniping, that he wishes they can settle their differences privately.

But this is kind of the fallout we're seeing of them passing a lot of these controversial rules so close to the election.

Again, just last week, they passed a rule requiring a hand count of the number of ballots on Election Day at the polling places, which is worrying a lot of voting rights groups.

KEILAR: Yes, and we're so close to the election. That's part of it, right?

But we're looking here at Georgia in this specific case. But I know that you are looking more broadly across the country. And that you have election officials all over who are a little worried about post- election chaos.

MURRAY: Yes, I think that what we are hearing from election workers is just kind of preaching patience. Election officials, especially in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, are already kind of trying to set the stage and warn people that we're probably not going to know on Election Night who won the presidency?

The polls are looking very tight. And in a place like Pennsylvania, and a place like Wisconsin, unlike many other states, they can't start processing mail-in ballots until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day.

[14:40:07]

Because of partisan gridlock in both of these states, that rule has not changed since 2020, much the frustration of everyone who works on elections. And we know that that time period between when the polls close on Election Night in 2020 and when the race was finally called by news outlets is when we saw this misinformation run wild.

And so election officials are saying, please have patience with us. It takes a while to count all of these ballots, it especially takes a while in a very close race. It doesn't mean that anything nefarious is going on.

KEILAR: All right, they're putting out the word.

MURRAY: Yes.

KEILAR: We'll see if people heed it.

Sara Murray --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: -- thank you so much.

The co-founder of OceanGate testifying that his company did not intend to build the doomed Titan submersible from scratch, but there was no one else who could do it. Now hear more on what we're learning from his testimony, next.

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[14:45:19]

KEILAR: Today, the co-founder of the company that built and operated the experimental Titan submersible is testifying as part of a U.S. Coast Guard investigation into last year's catastrophic implosion that killed all five people on board.

Guillermo Sohnlein says the company, OceanGate, did not initially intend to build its own subs, but that no existing sub builders could meet the company's requirements.

Despite the tragedy, Sohnlein has hopes for the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUILLERMO SOHNLEIN, CO-FOUNDER, OCEANGATE: This can't be the end of deep ocean exploration. This can't be the end of deep-diving submersibles. And I don't believe that it will be.

But I hope that someday in the near future we'll look back on this time as a major turning point in human history, when the global general public finally took an active interest in all of our efforts, everything that all of us do to explore the deep oceans, to study them and to preserve them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining me now is Sal Mercogliano. He is a maritime historian at Campbell University and a former Merchant Mariner.

Sal, thanks so much for being with us.

I wonder what the takeaways were for you from Guillermo Sohnlein's testimony and from what we've heard so far in this hearing, just more broadly.

SAL MERCOGLIANO, MARITIME HISTORIAN, CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY & FORMER MERCHANT MARINER: Yes, thank you for having me, Brianna.

I thought todays testimony has been really interesting. I mean, Sohnlein talks about the fact that they we're working closely with the Coast Guard, for example. And that's one group that's really been missing from this hearing, even though they're running it, is the role that the U.S. Coast Guard has in the certification process of the vessel.

I think the testimony last week gives us a lot of insight into how the Titan was developed. And more importantly, we're also seeing a little bit of finger-pointing here between different testimonies.

I think a lot of people are trying to focus the blame, obviously, on the Stockton Rush, but Stockton did not build this submersible by himself. There was a lot of people involved in it.

KEILAR: And so Sohnlein testified that OceanGate didn't plan actually to develop its own subs, but then it changed course when outside manufacturers couldn't deliver what they needed, maybe what they wanted.

And it was around that that OceanGate first began to consider using carbon fiber to construct a pressured hull. How important was that decision-making?

MERCOGLIANO: Well, I think that goes to the business model they we're trying to set up. They were trying to become the go-to ocean explorers out there where they can operate a fleet of up to six submersibles with a mothership.

But when they could not get a vessel that met their specifications, they had to go develop their own. And that's where Stockton Rush really came in. The engineer decided to use that very unique carbon fiber design.

And the issue comes back to the issue about whether or not anyone was investigating whether that carbon fiber could withhold and withstand the depths over a prolonged period of time.

That's why you hear a lot of discussion about classification societies and who is doing the inspecting and testing on the vessel.

KEILAR: So the co-founder tried to stress that use of carbon fiber -- fiber isn't novel. But at the same time, there was an engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping who testified this afternoon about the dangers of carbon fiber pressure holes in submersibles.

Why isn't carbon fiber approved for use in submersibles?

MERCOGLIANO: The material that's used is titanium. And carbon fiber is just not tested to that depth. It's one of the reasons it hasn't been used.

And one of the processes -- and we've seen it kind of unravel here during this testimony -- was that the stringent testing that was necessary to certify Titan wasn't being done.

They did not want to go to a classification society like the ABS. They were really trying to get down at depth as quickly as possible. And they circumvented what would normally be a long thought-out, thorough process. And that's the issue.

We're not exactly sure that carbon fiber cannot be used, but what we do know is carbon fiber was not thoroughly tested at depth until we saw the failure of Titan.

KEILAR: Sal, thank you so much. Obviously, a lot of folks very closely watching this testimony. And we appreciate your analysis of it. Thanks.

MERCOGLIANO: Thank you for having me, Brianna.

[14:49:40]

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

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KEILAR: The latest data from the CDC shows cases of whooping cough are soaring across the country with cases now five times higher than they we're at this point last year.

Let's bring in CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, on this.

All right, tell us, Jacqueline, what's causing this rise in whooping cough cases.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, while we don't know exactly what is causing it, but we do have some ideas.

Number one, we know that since the Covid pandemic, we're no longer masking, we're no longer distancing. That's led to a rise in many respiratory illnesses.

Number two, we know that vaccine-induced immunity with whooping cough can wane over time, which is why it's important to get your booster doses.

And we also know that we tend to see, every three to five years, an outbreak of whooping cough.

And this year, like you said, it was on September 14th when data from the CDC found that the number of cases reported that week were five times higher than what was found around that same time last year. [14:54:59]

And the best way to prevent whooping cough is to get vaccinated. Whooping cough is also known as pertussis. And that's included in the TDaP and Dtap vaccines.

These are vaccinations that are included in the routine childhood immunizations.

The CDC also recommends this vaccine for women during pregnancy. And it's also recommended every 10 years among adults. So that's why it's important to get that booster dose.

And, Brianna, whooping cough itself is a bacterial infection. And while initial symptoms can be like the common cold, over time, it can cause coughing fits.

And that whoop noise you make when you try to catch your breath after a coughing fit is how whipping cough got its name.

So that's really the symptom to look out for with cases like this -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, that's the telltale sign.

Jacqueline, thank you so much. We'll be keeping an eye on this story.

Coming up, prosecutors say the man suspected in the second assassination attempt on former President Trump wrote a chilling letter about it months ago, laying out his plans. We'll have details.

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