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Eric Adams Pleads Not Guilty; Israel Continues Strikes on Hezbollah; Hurricane Helene Aftermath. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:20]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Life-threatening floods after Helene, towns and cities picking up the pieces after the ferocious storm roars through the Southeast. We will have the latest on the areas that it hit and the places that are still getting pounded. One county warning that a dam could fail at any moment.

And the New York City mayor in court, Eric Adams appearing in a Manhattan courtroom one day after he's indicted on five federal charges and facing intense pressure from Democrats to step aside. New York's governor could decide his fate.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Plus, huge explosions rock Beirut, as Israel's prime minister says he has every right to fight Hezbollah. An Israeli official telling CNN Hezbollah's leader was the target.

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

KEILAR: Right now, Helene is battering the southeast with potentially catastrophic rainfall, flash flood emergencies stretching from Tennessee to North Carolina and Virginia. Damaging winds, tornadoes, mudslides, they are also a threat in some areas.

We do have some new video of the destruction that Helene left behind after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region last night, authorities saying that at least 23 people have died across four states and millions are without power.

And take a look at a dramatic rescue, an amazing one here. The Coast Guard says a man and his dog got caught in the storm after their sailboat became disabled and started taking on water. This happened about 25 miles off Sanibel Island in Florida. And, luckily, both the man and his dog were lifted to safety.

Let's go down to CNN Weather Center and -- to the CNN Weather Center and our meteorologist Elisa Raffa.

What's next for Helene, Elisa?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The flooding is going to continue. You can see we have a pretty wide stretch here of heavy rain. Here's an outer band that's been pumping tornado warnings from

Wilmington to Raleigh in Eastern North Carolina. And then the heavy rain stretches into Tennessee, Kentucky. Even parts of Eastern Missouri, we have this rain that just continues to swirl.

I have never seen so many flash flood emergencies in effect. That is all of the white outline that you see here. The green is a flash flood watch, meaning that there could be flash flooding anywhere in that watch area, but all of this kind of white outlined red area of the emergencies, that is the highest level that we have to warn for flash flooding, telling people to take action immediately.

One of these flash flood warnings has been in effect all morning for Atlanta, including the major population center, midtown, downtown. We have had people being rescued out of cars in the city all morning. Western North Carolina really getting hit hard with all of this heavy rain. Again, all of these white boxes are emergencies, including that one that you mentioned, where there is a dam that they are worried is going to fail.

It is eroding. We're trying to get more information about what's happening there. But a lot of these places have already gotten more than a foot of rain. Look at this. This is also mountainous terrains. This is the Appalachian Mountains. So they're worried about homes possibly collapsing in landslides, because there's nowhere for this water to go in this type of terrain.

So that's just going to send things going down in landslides. And you could see the pocket of the heavy rain totals, well over 10 inches in the Asheville area, again also coming with some wind gusts. We still have some tropical storm conditions, with gusts 30 to 40 miles per hour from Charleston to Myrtle Beach, and Charlotte as well, all coming with the heavy rain.

Here's a look at some of these totals. One mountain community in North Carolina getting close to 30 inches of rain in the last 48 hours, 30 inches. Again, in mountainous terrains, that will cause landslides. Table Rock, South Carolina, over a foot of rain, Asheville over a foot of rain, 13 inches. Even Atlanta got 11 inches of rain.

Again, it will continue as we go through the day today. We still have this high risk of rain in effect for the North Carolina Mountains. That high risk is only issued 4 percent of the time, but incredibly dangerous. It's responsible for 80 percent of our flood damages -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Elisa Raffa for us in the CNN Weather Center.

Let's go now to CNN correspondent Isabel Rosales. She is in Asheville.

She is joining us on the phone because she and her crew were actually facing rising waters and had to move their live shot location. So they're on the move right now.

Tell us what you're seeing, Isabel. ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, just to show you the

sort of misinformation that can kind of happen and the panic that can happen, we saw people starting to run from the hotel yelling that a dam was about to break, but we spoke with several police officers in the area and they said that that was not accurate this area where I'm at, at Biltmore Village.

[13:05:15]

Because we do know over in Rutherford County, that is the case, that there was a dam that is at risk there of imminent failure. But, nonetheless, here, people were in a panic and started to evacuate.

Right now, I'm near a bridge that actually has been cleared due to, the police officer was telling me, multiple propane tanks coming loose from a nearby gas company and they were piling up underneath of the bridge. This bridge is over the Swannanoa River.

There was a scent that was starting to come up of fuel and of gas. And they were hearing the propane tanks (AUDIO GAP) people from this bridge. And it just goes to show you, Brianna, it's exactly what the governor said that just because the rain has passed from this area, it doesn't mean that the threat is over.

And, in fact, we have seen the waters, the floodwaters continue to rise, as it really has no place to go to right now. It's going into these rivers and just swelling beyond the banks. So, we are not out of the woods here yet in the Asheville area, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Isabel, thank you so much. Stay safe out there. We appreciate the report.

FREEMAN: Now, switching gears, massive explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut over the past few hours. The Israeli military says it hit the Hezbollah headquarters in the powerful strikes.

Israel now says Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was the target of this strike.

KEILAR: And also today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly with a fiery speech that included threats towards Iran, a vow to continue Israel's assault on Hezbollah and Hamas, and made no mention of a U.S. proposal for a 21- day cease-fire across the Israel-Lebanon border.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is with us now.

This was a speech that came just moments before these explosions in Beirut. What is the message she's sending today?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is a very clear message that Israel is still interested and sees it as a necessity to engage militarily against Hezbollah across the border in Lebanon.

He said in his speech today that Israel has every right to continue these strikes against Hezbollah. That, of course, was met with frustration from U.S. officials, who have been pressing for a cease- fire in recent days.

But I want you to just listen to part of his speech this morning before the news broke about this additional strike that occurred against the Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut today and just the tone that he was taking in terms of the necessity to continue going after Hezbollah in Lebanon. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Just this week, the IDF destroyed large percentages of Hezbollah's rockets which it built with Iran's funding for three decades. We took out senior military commanders who not only shed Israeli blood, but American and French blood as well.

And then we took out their replacements and then the replacements of their replacements. And we will continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, these comments that we just heard from the prime minister this morning come after U.S. officials were already incredibly frustrated with Israeli officials.

We're told that when the U.S. and many of its allies rolled out this proposal for a 21-day cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, they had had discussions with Israeli officials leading up to that proposal and putting it out on the table. They expected that it was going to be met with some welcome comments from Israelis.

Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately threw cold water on it. That led the U.S. to try and pressure the Israelis to put out some sort of a statement that indicated that they were open to a cease-fire. We saw that done last night, but we should note that, in that statement, the Israelis didn't actually say that they are open to a cease-fire.

They said they appreciate the role that the United States is playing to try and drive down what is occurring along the Israeli-Lebanese border, but they didn't commit to a cease-fire. And then what we are seeing today is really every indication that Israel is laying no groundwork to try and make that cease-fire potentially come to fruition, particularly with this targeted airstrike on what they say is Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a huge strike.

Kylie Atwood, thank you so much for that.

And let's go now to Beirut, which is where CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is joining us now from.

What is the latest from where you are? JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, just under two

hours ago, a massive blast shook the Lebanese capital, and we saw these thick plumes of smoke rising from Beirut's southern suburbs, where you do have Hezbollah presence, as well as it being a heavily densely populated part of the country, one of the most densely populated.

[13:10:10]

And we have heard since from the Israeli military, officially, the Israeli military saying that they were targeting Hezbollah's central command center. And they said that this was a precise strike and that this was -- that this center was underneath a residential building.

Our colleague Jeremy Diamond confirming from an Israeli official that the target of that strike was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and that the Israeli military right now is working to assess whether he was killed in that strike.

I can tell you from here we have not yet heard anything official from the Lebanese authorities, from Hezbollah, no announcement yet, but a security official telling CNN that when asked if Hassan Nasrallah is alive or if he was killed, he simply said "We wait."

And we are waiting to see if there's been any confirmation of this. But I can tell you that these were massive strikes. According to the Lebanese state news agency, at least six buildings have been reduced to rubble. And images that are emerging from the scene, you can see a huge crater that is left by those strikes.

Certainly, large munitions were used in this targeted attack. Also unclear at this point if there are casualties. One would assume, when you look at these images and the explosion that we witnessed here and we heard, that there most certainly will be casualties, but, again, the big question is, was Hassan Nasrallah there?

Did he survive this? Or was he injured? All these questions, we are waiting to hear from Hezbollah and from the Lebanese authorities. But I can tell you that many here in Lebanon are right now on edge. A dangerous escalation does not even begin to describe the situation, Brianna.

KEILAR: And what would this mean if he does or does not survive this, Jomana?

KARADSHEH: Well, the fact that this -- if you look at what has been happening here in recent days, you have had a serious Israeli escalation that began with those pager and walkie-talkie attacks.

Then you have had several strikes in Beirut, where the Israelis went after Hezbollah commanders and senior leaders from that group. And since then, in the past few days, you have had devastating strikes that have been concentrated on the south and the eastern part of the country, something that the country's health minister, who we spoke to, said, this is a full-fledged war that his country is facing. Now, at the same time, what we have seen from Hezbollah is that they

have continued their attacks on Israel. We did see an escalation this week by Hezbollah, when they fired that one ballistic missile targeting Tel Aviv. That was, of course, intercepted. And those who know the group, know how it operates saw that really as -- or described it really as a calibrated escalation, saying that Hezbollah was not ready to declare war, was -- did not want to essentially take the gloves off.

But, right now, all is very possible. And we are talking about the most heavily armed militant group that is right on Israel's doorstep, and it is part of what is known as the so-called Axis of Resistance. These are Iranian-backed proxies from Syria to Iraq to Yemen. And this really could be a turning point in this conflict that has been taking place, what has been a mid-level intensity conflict between Israel, Hezbollah.

And then you have had these attacks by these Iranian proxies since October the 8th of last year. What we could be witnessing right now is a serious turning point in a very, very dangerous situation right now, Brianna.

FREEMAN: Jomana, thank you so much for your reporting. Please stay safe. We will check back with you again, I'm sure.

Coming up ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, New York Mayor Eric Adams appears in court right to face those federal corruption charges. Our illegal experts are standing by.

Plus, going on offense. As polls show voters put more trust in former President Trump to handle immigration, Vice President Harris heads for the border.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:19:22]

KEILAR: The first sitting mayor of New York to be indicted just pleaded not guilty in his first hearing in federal court. A judge just allowed the release of Eric Adams during a brief proceeding.

If convicted, Adams could face up to 45 years in prison on multiple charges, including corruption and bribery. And CNN is learning that New York Governor Kathy Hochul is telling allies she's seriously considering the possibility of removing the mayor from office. It's a power granted to her under state law.

Adams says he will fight the charges, he will not step down. His attorney spoke after the hearing slamming federal prosecutors.

[13:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX SPIRO, ATTORNEY FOR ERIC ADAMS: They normally answer questions. They didn't want to stay for questions in this case. And they left and they made this assertion or this -- they implied that somehow he's disappointing people or that people ought to be disappointed in him.

It's not him doing this. It's the other government that everybody should be disappointed in bringing this case against the sitting mayor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: With us now, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor.

So, Elie, this idea of the governor invoking state law, how would that work?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Brianna. So this is an old and obscure statute that's about to come into the spotlight.

New York law gives the governor the power to begin a process to remove a mayor. And that could be the mayor of Manhattan. That could be the mayor of Poughkeepsie, any town in New York state. All it tells us is that the governor has to start the process, notify the mayor, hey, I'm trying to remove you.

The mayor has to be given a chance to defend himself and then it looks like the final decision gets made by the governor, who essentially serves as prosecutor and jury. It actually has not been used in New York, this law, Brianna, since FDR, when he was governor of New York state, used it nearly 100 years ago.

So we're going to be digging through the history books here. It sounds like the governor's people are reportedly doing just that, but ultimately it will be her decision whether she initiates this process to remove Eric Adams.

KEILAR: Yes, we're in all kinds of uncharted territory right now, including pretty incredible, the sitting mayor of the biggest city in America working under orders of a pretrial release.

How could that impact his movement and his ability just to run New York?

HONIG: It's an unbelievable scenario. Of course, he was given bail, he was released today, as expected.

But the fact of the matter is, he is now under federal court supervision. The court has the right to restrict where he goes, to put a curfew. They haven't done these things, but he is now essentially a ward of the court. He is now subject to the court's jurisdiction while he is running the largest and most important city on the planet.

It is a collision of interest down there in Manhattan. The mayor's office is a couple blocks away from that courthouse and I'm still sort of having to wrap my mind around the sitting mayor of New York City walking into that federal courthouse and sitting at the defendant's table, but we should get used to it. It's going to happen a lot over the next several months. KEILAR: His lawyer, who we just heard outside court, said this is an

airline upgrade corruption case, that the government's case is based on the word of one staffer, that that staffer lied, and that the government hasn't put that information out there or provided it.

Fair to say he left some things out?

HONIG: Fair to say, yes.

Look, it's a catchy phrase, the airline upgrade corruption case. It makes the case sound sort of small and petty, but a couple things. First of all, the case is about much more than that. The prosecutors here alleged that Eric Adams didn't just take a couple upgrades, but he took over $120,000 in free luxury travel and accommodations.

That's number one. Also, what the defense lawyer left out is a key part of the indictment, half of the indictment, that talks about how Adams separately is charged with taking campaign contributions from a foreign national, which are illegal, through false straw donors. And, in fact, the allegation is Adams then used that money to get about $10 million in taxpayer matching funds.

So that part was left out too. As far as the claim that this is all based on one witness, I don't know that to be true. That's not how I read the indictment. But if this witness has credibility problems, then, yes, prosecutors do have a duty to turn that over to the defense, and we will see what they make of it.

KEILAR: This sentence, the possible sentence of decades in prison, I mean, talk to us about how realistic that might be. What is he really looking at here if convicted?

HONIG: Yes, just a word of caution to everybody. When you hear these maximum sentences, they're always huge numbers. They rarely come into play. The number here is 45 years, I think. No one's getting anything near that.

But if you look at the federal sentencing guidelines, which are very influential at sentencing, judges are not bound by them, but they absolutely use them as a starting point. The range for Eric Adams, given what he's charged with here, looks to me to be in the five- to six-year range.

So even if he gets a little bit off that, that tells you how high the stakes are here, Brianna. If Eric Adams ultimately does get convicted, I don't see any way he avoids a prison sentence of at least multiple years. But also, in the federal system, when a person gets assigned or -- excuse me -- gets sentenced to X-number of years in prison, he will serve at least 85 percent of that.

There's none of this early release or parole. So the stakes here for Eric Adams are enormous and unimaginable.

KEILAR: Yes, they certainly are. Elie Honig, thank you so much. We appreciate your insights.

HONIG: Thanks, Bri.

KEILAR: And ahead, U.S. federal prosecutors charging three Iranian government-linked hackers in connection with an operation aimed at Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Also, Vice President Kamala Harris heading to the border, tackling a key issue that Republicans are trying to use against her, immigration.

We will have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:29:32]

FREEMAN: We're following some breaking news.

U.S. federal prosecutors have unsealed criminal charges against three Iranian nationals suspected of hacking into Donald Trump's presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media outlets.

For more on this, we have CNN's senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez.

Evan, what does this indictment allege?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Danny, this is -- these are charges against three members of the IRGC, the Iran -- the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

And according to -- to prosecutors, they are part of this broader operation by the Iranians to try to target the Trump campaign.