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U.S. Charges 3 Iranian Hackers For Allegedly Targeting Trump Campaign; Helene Barreling North After Roaring Ashore In FL As Cat 4; Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Is Interviewed About Harris To Go On Offensive With Trip To AZ Border. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: -- 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 over the last few months. They, beginning in -- in May and June, they started trying to get to people associated with the -- the Trump campaign. They -- they targeted journalists. They were able to get some nonpublic information. Things from -- there were private information from the Trump campaign, including a dossier on J.D. Vance and other people who were being vetted for potential not -- running mates for Donald Trump, and they started disseminating some of those documents to members of the media.

Now, this is a -- a tactic that we know was used very successfully back in 2016 by the Russians. And so what the Iran -- Iranians in this case, appeared to be doing was trying to use that same playbook. And According to -- to prosecutors, you know, they have a lot of information about what the Iranians were up to. It appears that the FBI and -- and -- and certainly the intelligence community even knows exactly where in Tehran the -- these -- these hackers were basing themselves out of.

They even have a photo in this indictment of the -- the -- the front door of the office where this cyber security company that was being used by -- by the IRG -- IRGC as part of this operation, where they were based. So a lot of information in here. These three people are not in custody. But the Justice Department says that they will continue to pursue them until they are caught.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Evan, you noted this when you started speaking, but you said this is part of a broader complex effort by Iranians, including targeting former President Donald Trump and his campaign. Just can you emphasize a little bit more what you mean when you say a broader effort here?

PEREZ: Well, the -- the intelligence community who believes that this is beyond just an effort to hack the campaign, they also have a -- a -- a separate operation to try to kill the former president and other people associated with the former president, also people from the current administration, anyone associated with the U.S. government, the Iranians are trying to figure out a way to target. We know earlier this summer, Danny, that they charged a Pakistani man who, according to prosecutors, was sent here to try to find and hire hitman who would try to carry out assassinations. And so that is part of this very much more complex effort by the Iranians. According to some of the paperwork we saw today, we saw sanctions, for instance, by the Treasury Department against seven people associated with the Iranian government, all part of this operation.

But this has been going on, according to prosecutors and according to the U.S. government, certainly going back several years. This year, though, you could see the stepped up operations by the Iranians. And -- and according to the Justice Department, you know, they are trying to call this out now before the November -- November election, so that voters keep that in mind if they see things online, it's something that's quite different, Danny, from the way they -- the government handled the 2016 case where they didn't say anything before voters began casting their ballots.

FREEMAN: Evan Perez, thank you so much for that breaking news. Really appreciate it.

PEREZ: Sure.

[13:33:11]

FREEMAN: And as Helene hits the southeast, forecasters are looking at how the Atlantic is more active than it's been all year, coming up ahead how climate change supercharged this storm.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are following Helene's path as the storm pushes inland, causing catastrophic flooding in the southeast. The storm is one of the biggest on record to hit the Gulf Coast, and that is no surprise to our next guest, climate scientist, Michael Mann says climate change is causing stronger and more destructive storms. Michael is also the director of the Penn Center for Science Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of the book "Our Fragile Moment" How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis." All right, Michael, thanks for being with us, and just tell us why this Hurricane Helene was so bad.

MICHAEL MANN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Yes, thanks. It's good to be with you, Brianna. Unfortunately, we're seeing yet another devastating storm make landfall, 10 foot storm surge, millions of people without power, a couple dozen people have lost their life. And so what we're seeing are these more destructive and deadly storms that are intensifying faster. And this is another example of what we call rapid intensification, where in the space of about 24 hours, it went from a tropical storm to a major hurricane. In less than another 24 hours, it became a -- a cat 4 hurricane.

The, you know, the science here is pretty rock solid. It's not, you know, it -- it -- it's -- it's not, you know, rocket science. It's -- it's pretty basic physics that tells us that the warmer you make the oceans, the more moisture they evaporate into the atmosphere, the more energy there is to intensify these storms, the more rapidly they intensify. When they're more intense, when those winds are stronger, you get a larger storm surge.

They pile up more water, and when it makes its way towards the coastline, you get the sort of catastrophic flooding that we're seeing, as well as inland flooding, because, again, the air is very warm. There's more moisture in that storm. And so as it continues after it makes landfall, and it progresses, you know, sort of northward, in this case, it continues to dump out huge amounts of rainfall, and they're seeing, you know, quite a bit of flooding even inland in the southeastern U.S.

[13:40:02]

KEILAR: Yes, we're looking at those pictures. It is unbelievable in Atlanta, where we see this scene from earlier today. When we look at how Helene compares to other recent storms, I do just want to give people some perspective here, it was 420 miles wide. Idalia last year was 219 miles wide. Ida in 2021, 247 miles wide. Michael in 2018, 272 miles wide. So we see what a big difference this is. What do you see looking at those numbers?

MANN: Yes. And so this is another trend that we've seen, that these storms are -- are larger, just the, you know, the -- the radius of maximum sustained winds, you know, how far out you can go and still -- from the center of the storm and see, you know, still see hurricane strength winds, though we're seeing storms that are much larger in that sense.

And the science here isn't quite as well developed. We clearly see a trend towards larger storms. Why exactly that's the case? It's still being sort of worked out and debated by scientists. But I can tell you what the implications are. When the winds are strong and when those winds extend far out from the center of the storm, it's going to pile up more water. The larger the storm, all else being equal, the more water it's going to pile up. The stronger the winds, the more water it's going to pile up.

So you put those factors together, very intense storm, very large radius, maximum sustained winds, of -- of -- of hurricane strength winds. And you get these huge storm surges like what we saw here with Helene, 10, 11, 12 feet, as I understand it, along parts of the, you know, Florida's Big Bend coast.

KEILAR: So how do we turn this trend around?

MANN: Well, you know, turning it around is going to be tough, because the reason we're seeing these more intense, more extreme storms, is because of how much we've warmed up the planet, how much we've warmed up the oceans. And that warmth is sort of baked in for, you know, the near future. We're not going to cool the planet down in the absence of, you know, substantial new technology to -- to suck carbon out of the atmosphere.

We're not going to be able to do that for the foreseeable future. And so we're sort of stuck where we are. We can prevent it from getting worse. And one of the things that climate science has taught us over the last, you know, dozen years or so is that we're now much more confident that when we bring our carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning down to zero. When we stop polluting the atmosphere with carbon pollution, the planet will stop warming up.

And so there's a direct and immediate consequence of our efforts to decarbonize our economy. And so that's what we've got to do. We've got to transition as rapidly as possible away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy, and we've got an upcoming election here where we have a stark choice before us. We -- we have a candidate on the one side who denies that climate change is real, calls it a hoax. We've got a candidate on the other side who recognizes that this is one of the great threats we face, and we'll try to build on the progress that we've already made in trying to do something about the problem.

KEILAR: All right. Michael Mann, we appreciate you. This is just incredible what we're looking at here, and you really put it into perspective. Thank you.

MANN: Thanks very much, Brianna.

KEILAR: Next, Vice President Harris will visit the southern border today. We'll be speaking to one of the President -- one of President Biden's key advisers about the criticism and how the visit could help her campaign, next.

And a programming note this week's episode of "TV on the Edge," it looks at diet culture and how daytime T.V. was reflective of society's fixation with losing weight. Those shows had a profound influence on everyday viewers, but the conversations today are very different.

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LINDY WEST, AMERICAN WRITER AND COMEDIAN: No one was having this conversation on television when I was 16.

TESS HOLLIDAY, AMERICAN PLUS-SIZE MODEL: Yes. Do I feel like we're completely there yet and -- and rejoicing? No. But I wish I could tell the 12-year-old me drinking SlimFast on the way to school that I would be able to like share space with you guys now.

WEST: It's so special to be here today, because I don't feel like I get to have nuanced, complicated conversations about fatness and diet culture. It is so healing to me always to get to spend time with other fat people.

HOLLIDAY: Right. I'm fat?

WEST: It's such -- I have actually great news for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:44:42]

KEILAR: Be sure to tune in a new episode of "TV on the Edge: Moments that Shaped Our Culture" airs Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN. We'll be right back.

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FREEMAN: Today, Vice President Kamala Harris aims to flip the script on some of her perceived weaknesses, immigration and border security. In just a few hours, she'll visit the southern border in the critical battleground state of Arizona, where she'll meet with border officials, tour a point of entry and deliver remarks.

Harris campaign aide tells us that during her speech, Harris plans to highlight former President Trump's role in killing that bipartisan border deal and emphasize her work as a U.S. senator and Attorney General of California, a border state. Now, part of Harris' strategy to counter Trump includes a new ad that will run in Arizona and other battleground states. Take a look.

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[13:50:12]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's her plan, hire thousands more border agents, enforce the law and step up technology and stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking. We need a leader with a real plan to fix the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: But Harris says, a steep hill to climb. A recent CNN poll shows former President Trump holding a significant 14 point advantage nationally when it comes to who is more trusted to handle immigration.

Joining me now to discuss this is Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. Let's jump right into immigration. This is Harris's first visit to the border as a presidential candidate. Her last visit was back in 2021 when she was given the mission of tackling root causes of migration. Congressman, why hasn't she visited in three years?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me. I have no idea how to answer that question. I do know that she was first given this job, she went to the countries of origin to try and find out exactly how we could tackle this problem from the very origin of it, rather than to hang out at the border.

Now, while she was Attorney General of California, a border state, she dealt with this history. She served about two terms as Attorney General, so she's been to the border many, many times. So I don't know that visiting the border is all you need to do to tackle this problem. You had James Langford and Senator Murphy from up in -- who -- Republican from Oklahoma, Senator Murphy the Democrat from up in Connecticut, working together, they produced a bipartisan bill, which she endorsed, as did President Joe Biden.

And what happened, this bill, which can really take us a long way to solving the problem, Trump decided that he didn't want to see the problem solved. He wanted to have a political issue to run on. And so that's what is taking place here. And so I think her going down there at this particular juncture, pointing to that piece of legislation, reminding the people of why it did not get across the finish line. And let them know that when she's elected, she will bring that bill back and she will sign it into law if he can get through any kind of filibusters that might take up in the Senate.

FREEMAN: Well, Congressman, I want -- I want to talk a little bit specifically about that bill, because you're right. When asked what her plan has been to fix the border, she says she'll go back and sign that bipartisan bill that you referenced with Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, but that fell apart. And President Biden was not able to pass immigration reform during his first two years when he had control of both -- both the House and the Senate.

There may be a divided Congress again after November. So if Vice President Harris becomes President, do you believe immigration will be a top priority for her administration?

CLYBURN: Oh, I think immigration has been a top priority for every administration, for that since I've been in the Congress, and that's 30 years now, I work very closely. We thought we had this bill, this issue resolved when I was House Majority Whip, the first time. I -- I worked with Xavier Becerra, who is now HHS Secretary. We work very closely together to produce a bill in the House. We thought we had the same bill going in the Senate, and at the last minute, the senators walked away from it.

So this has been an issue for a long time, and it's going to be an issue until people can feel that our border is no longer too porous for us to maintain security for the people within these borders. I think that this bill is the beginning of a great resolution to this issue. We ought to get this bill across the finish line. She's committed to doing that, and I do believe that would start us to solving this problem.

FREEMAN: Congressman, I want to change gears for a moment, sticking with the issue, though, of presidential politics. Vice President Harris leads right among black voters aged 60 and over by about 87 points. Almost identical to President Biden's lead, 85 point margin back in 2020 that was according to exit polls.

[13:55:06]

But this shrinks to a 55 point lead for Harris among black voters younger than 60. So when you're looking at this generational divide, I know you've spoken about it. We've spoken about it on the air for a little while now. I'm curious your perspective, though. Do you fear that this could be a sign of a larger, longer term problem for the Democratic coalition, if they're losing the support of younger black voters, particularly black men?

CLYBURN: We're not losing support of younger black men. I talk to them all the time. I hang out on HBCU campuses. I deal with the youth council of the NAACP all across this country. We are having an issue connecting with these young people, where they hang out. They don't hang out the way us older people used to hang out. We have to meet people where they are.

And so I think that what we're beginning to see that Kamala Harris is doing a great job of now a digital connection, which needs to be done if you're going to get to these young people. And I think that's going to improve. I will tell you this. I believe very strongly that between early voting in November 5th, she will have over 90 percent of that vote.

KEILAR: We shall see. Congressman James Clyburn, thank you very much for your time today. Appreciate it.

CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me.

FREEMAN: And coming up next, Hurricane Helene is now blamed for at least 25 deaths. And the storm is still rolling across the southeast. The latest fear, rising flood waters, as one state warns, all roads in western North Carolina should be considered closed. That's coming up next.

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