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U.S. Official: Israel Planning Limited Incursion Into Lebanon; 119 People Confirmed Dead, Devastation Described As "Post- Apocalyptic"; Man Accused In 2nd Trump Assassination Attempt Arraigned. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 30, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:19]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now to the widening war in the Middle East, and President Biden's efforts to stop it. The U.S. believes that Israel could imminently launch a more limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon than what was originally planned, this is according to U.S. official. Satellite images provided to CNN by a source show around 100 IDF military vehicles gathered at a site near the Lebanon border.

Sources also say that Israel Israeli Defense Forces have already carried out small raids into Lebanese territory, trying to prep for this larger incursion. President Biden voicing his opposition earlier today

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel may be now launching a limited operation into Lebanon. Are you aware of that? Are you comfortable with their plan?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The ground incursion would be Israel's latest advance against Hezbollah, which began intensifying its cross border attacks on Israel on October 8th in support of Hamas. And after days of bombardment on Lebanon, Israel executed a rare strike today inside the capital city of Beirut. The strikes follow the killing of Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.

Joining us now is Hagar Chemali, who served as the director for Syria and Lebanon on the National Security Council. She was also a spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Hagar, thank you so much for being with us. Sources are indicating that the smaller raids are part of preparation for a ground incursion by the IDF. What do you think that would look like? HAGAR CHEMALI, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR SYRIA & LEBANON, WH NATL. SECURITY COUNCIL: Sure, well, I -- I wouldn't be surprised that the ground invasion goes through because the Israeli government has been saying that they're going to pursue this now for the last couple weeks. And the way it would look, to be honest, it's hard to see -- it's hard to know for sure how far into Lebanon they're going to go. It's clear that they view Hezbollah as significantly weakened, and they are.

Even for me, I worked in counterterrorism. I -- Hezbollah was in my portfolio. We have all been in the U.S. government. We had all been preparing for the showdown between Hezbollah and Israel since 2006 and expecting that when that would happen, it would be significant and enormous. But over the last 11 months, Israel has really diminished Hezbollah's well as military capabilities, and certainly its military mil -- it's -- its leadership and its organizational and communication capabilities.

That said, their goal is to create this buffer zone in the south, a buffer zone that the U.N. has supposedly been supposed to be maintaining and the Lebanese Armed Forces as well. But clearly they failed at that mission. And so their goal is to create this buffer zone to ensure that the North remains safe. But that said, it's just, it's still hard to see their end game, their exit strategy, and how far into Lebanon they would go given that they know Hezbollah is this weakened.

KEILAR: And what would a potential response from Iran look like? What do you think the threshold might be for prompting one which is such a -- a big fear of -- of the U.S.?

CHEMALI: It is a big fear of the United States. But -- but I really don't believe Iran is going to get directly involved, and the reason for that is that the Iranian regime is quite weak. The -- the regime seems to want some kind of ceasefire because it helps them as well with their own domestic issues. They'd much rather have their proxies handle this, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and let them take this and -- and handle it for them and bother Israel as much as possible.

Clearly, that strategy is not really working, though. But that said, especially now, and especially with the new president, and as they eye what happens here with the election and whether or not that means that negotiations within -- on the nuclear deal could start again, they're going to be very wary in entering into anything that could precipitate a response from the United States. And the U.S. promised to defend Israel definitely serves as a very strong deterrent in -- in preventing Iran from getting directly involved.

[13:35:04]

SANCHEZ: When it comes to Israel's ability to defend multiple fronts, I wonder what you think their capacity is, because after October 7th, we talked about Israel potentially fighting a multi front war, defending against the Houthis in Yemen, obviously, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now that it appears that they're ready to move into Lebanon, what are they able to do? CHEMALI: Right. You know, what's fascinating, and you pointed it out yourself, is that this -- this war, has taken shape in a way that was pretty much unexpected, because at the beginning, after October 7th, many of us said that -- that Israel wouldn't be able to pursue a multi front war. And I still don't think that that would have been possible back then.

But it's clear that they view their operations in Gaza as -- as winding down, or certainly moving to a lower intensity phase of the war, that they feel that they've significantly dismantled Hamas's military capabilities, which I would agree with. The U.S. administration has said that as well. And their -- their view, and -- and they're turning their attention toward Lebanon at this moment, again, for the longest time, they had lived in this tit for tat world with Hezbollah, where they were exchanging this fire, and both, neither seemed to want a full scale war.

Now Israel has pursued -- has -- has pursued this escalation because they want to return their citizens to the north, and they feel very concerned that the land in the north is empty, that that undermines the integrity of their territory, and could risk Hezbollah pursuing a ground invasion, just as -- as Hamas did on October 7th. But that said, there also seems to be a different calculation that has shaped -- changed along this war, which is that Israel is pursuing this the way you had the -- the series of big wars in its history, 1967, 1973, 1948, those wars, they change in length of time, but those wars all fundamentally changed the situation on the ground.

And it's clear that the Netanyahu government changed its mind as they were able to dismantle Hez -- Hezbollah threat over the last 11 months. And clearly they view this as an opportunity to really undermine Hezbollah once and for all, so that they don't have to return to the status quo before October 7th.

KEILAR: Hagar, the U.S., you just heard President Biden there. He's pushing for a ceasefire in -- in -- on two fronts, right, Gaza and -- and now with Hezbollah. But it's kind of ineffectual, as we've seen. How is this all affecting American credibility?

CHEMALI: Yes. It is a little ineffectual. Sometimes -- I understand, sometimes it feels like it can sound as though they're on another planet, because they're pushing this ceasefire, and they keep repeating this publicly, and yet neither Israel nor Hamas nor Hezbollah, none of them want a ceasefire. At the moment, they've made that. All of them have made that very clear. And -- and the U.S. knows that.

At the same time, it is a worthwhile effort. The United States stop pushing for a ceasefire, even if that means they have to drag both sides to the table, kicking and screaming, because the risk of an all- out regional war, even though, I, like I said, I don't think Iran will get involved, but nonetheless, that risk is heightened, and that's certainly not in the U.S. interest.

So they need to continue those efforts, even though they don't believe that it will happen before the election. And also, we have the hostages at stake, right? The hostages are still there, seven of whom are American. Four of them are -- are presumed to be alive. And so the U.S. has to continue pushing for that ceasefire -- ceasefire, and trying to -- to sway Netanyahu for in favor of -- of what the U.S. deems that in -- in -- and not just in the U.S. national security interest, but in interest of Israel's long term security. They have to keep trying, even if it's becoming increasingly more difficult, at some point they will be ready for a ceasefire.

SANCHEZ: So important to remember those hostages still in captivity nearly a year now since the attacks were launched. Hagar Chemali, appreciate the analysis. Thank you so much.

CHEMALI: Thank you.

[13:38:54]

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, Hurricane Helene will soon rank among the deadliest storms to hit the U.S. mainland in half a century. This as rescue crews raced to help those who are still stranded. Up next we're going to speak to a restaurant owner from Asheville to get a better sense of what they're up against.

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SANCHEZ: We got an update just seconds ago on the death toll from Hurricane Helene. It stands at 119 people. At least 119 because many more remain unaccounted for. At least 47 of those killed were in North Carolina, where Governor Roy Cooper tells CNN, Helene wiped entire towns off the map. We are expecting to hear from the governor in about two hours or so. For now, neighbors are pulling together to help each other out.

Joining us now is Tyler Kotch. He's a resident of Asheville, North Carolina. And he, coincidentally, was out of town close to South Carolina when the storm hit. And Tyler, I understand you're on the way back up to Asheville now, and you're bringing supplies with you. You -- you own a pizza restaurant up there, PIE.ZAA Pizza in Asheville and -- and Charlotte as well. Tell us about where you are now and what you're expecting to find when you get to Asheville.

TYLER KOTCH, OWNER, PIE.ZAA PIZZA IN ASHEVILLE, NC: So catastrophic, it's a -- it's a total mess. People been swept away. Business have been ruined. Lives have been lost. It's a -- it's absolutely insane to be honest. Myself and all my friends are whitewater kayakers. And we've never seen water like this before in our lives. It's absolutely demolishing. We were honestly me and my girlfriend were looking for new -- new locations for PIE.ZAA over on the coastline. And luckily, we've been able to get a bunch of supplies. We got our whole van full of water, gas and all essentials that we're going to bring back to people and help as much as we can.

[13:45:07]

As we know, currently, there's no help or relief from the government or FEMA right now, so it's four days out. And we're still waiting that. But luckily, myself and a lot of other business owners that are available and able to do so are giving out free food, giving out water, making sure people can survive and -- and feed their kids.

SANCHEZ: You -- you mentioned some of what you had heard from neighbors in the area. What did they tell you about preparations before the storm? Do you -- do you think folks anticipated that it was going to be as intense as it was, because the storm got very strong very quickly.

KOTCH: So I -- I don't think anyone's ever anticipated this type of watershed or this type of problems. It doesn't seem like enough people were alerted about it. It wasn't -- it wasn't communicated properly. And there's a lot of people trying to survive right now, and it's really a shame.

SANCHEZ: Have you been in touch with your employees at the shop? How are they doing? What kind of challenges are -- are they facing?

KOTCH: Yes, so that's a huge challenge to work -- through. I've got a couple personal employees to go after. When we get up there, we're bringing them supplies of propane, food to feed their kids, and we got to cut some people out with chainsaws. So that's what I'm going to be doing this afternoon, and just kind of get in communication with as many people as possible, right now where there's no cell phone service. So I'm getting hits and misses from a lot of people. So we're -- we're getting in there. We're going to help them out.

SANCHEZ: Well, thanks to Tyler for that conversation. Communities across Helene's 500 mile path of destruction are in need of basic necessities, as you just heard there. And you can lend them a hand. For ways you can help, go to cnn.com/impact. Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Air monitoring sensors show that a chlorine plume is drifting into Metro Atlanta and causing unhealthy levels of air pollution in some neighborhoods there. This is happening after a fire at a chemical plant released chlorine into the air. This fire broke out on the roof of the bio -- Bio Lab plant in Conyers, Georgia, yesterday morning.

The fire is now out, but officials say that air quality obviously still a concern. We're seeing that is a developing problem. Ninety thousand people near Atlanta remain under a shelter in place order. Officials are warning people in the area to stay indoors with their windows shut and not to run their air conditioning. We're going to have a live report on this next hour.

Also, the SpaceX Dragon capsule that will bring two astronauts stuck in space back to Earth, has docked with its crew at the International Space Station. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stranded at the station since June after that Boeing Starliner that they took to the ISS had mechanical issues. They are now scheduled to return back to Earth in February.

And DirecTV announcing that it's buying its rival DISH Network, ending merger rumors that have been circulating for years now. Under the deal, DirecTV will pay DISH's owner EchoStar just $1 in exchange for assuming billions of dollars in DISH's debt. If they combine, the new service would create the nation's largest pay T.V. provider with 20 million subscribers. The companies have struggled to retain subscribers, pardon me, in the streaming era.

[13:48:20]

And still ahead, the man charged with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, appearing in court. We are live with that and what we have learned from today's hearing and what's next in this case.

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KEILAR: Another court appearance this morning for the man accused in the second assassination attempt on former President Trump. Ryan Routh is accused of lying in wait with a rifle at Trump's golf course near Mar-a-Lago before being spotted and fired upon by a Secret Service agent. CNN's Randi Kaye is with us now. Randi, tell us what happened in court today.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, it was a pretty quick arraignment. It only lasted a few minutes. I was actually seated just a few feet behind Ryan Routh in court. He didn't speak, except for when the judge asked him if he understood the charges against him. And to that, he said, yes, your honor. But he did plead not guilty through his attorneys. And then his attorneys also asked for a trial by jury as well.

But in terms of the charges against him, he's now facing five charges. One of those is attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. He's also been charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer. Those charges, Brianna, are on top of the two federal gun charges he was already facing. Those include possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a weapon with an obliterated serial number.

Now in terms of the evidence against him, prosecutors say they have a letter that was handwritten by Ryan Routh. They say that letter reads in part, dear world, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you. They also say they found six cell phones, Brianna, in his car. One of those, they say included a Google search about how to get to Mexico from Palm Beach County where this incident occurred.

They also say the cell phones pinged cell phone towers in this area of Mar-a-Lago and the golf course where the incident occurred between August 18th and September 15th, putting him in this area for several weeks. And Brianna, they also say they have a fingerprint they believe belongs to him on a piece of tape that was used to tape the scope on the rifle to the rifle itself. Brianna?

[13:55:05]

KEILAR: All right. Randi Kaye, thank you for the very latest from West Palm Beach, Florida. Boris?

SANCHEZ: The NBA has announced some sad news. Basketball legend and Hall of Famer, Dikembe Mutombo, died earlier today of brain cancer. The seven foot two inch center, a towering presence both on and off the court. He was an eight time all-star and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times. Mutombo was perhaps best known for his shot blocking and that famed playful finger-wag after denying opponents at the hoop.

He was also known for his vast humanitarian work and philanthropy, including establishing a foundation to improve education and quality of life in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. He was a legend on and off the court and had a laugh that will not be soon forgotten. Brianna?

KEILAR: Certainly will not be forgotten. Let's go now to Valdosta, Georgia, where former President Trump has just begun speaking. This is an area hard hit by Helene. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you Ashley, Chase Daughtrey Cook County Judge, respected, so respected. Doug Hank Cook County Sheriff. Ashley Ty we know. Paige Dukes we know. Richard Hardy, city manager of Valdosta, thank you. (Inaudible), thank you. Scott James, Bill Slaughter, Buddy Duke, Patrick and Kate Watson, the owners of the show. We just spoke, and I said I would have bought some furniture if you had some in there, but I always look for furniture, and that beautiful stuff, but they're going to be rebuilt in a very, very short period. So I want to thank everybody.

And we came down with truckloads of things. And we're going to have that done by -- by -- by Franklin's incredible organization. They've done such a good job. We've done this before. But we have a lot of truckloads of different items, from oil to water to all sorts of equipment that's going to help them. But we're here today to stand in complete solidarity with the people of Georgia and with all of those suffering in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Hurricane Helene turned out to be a big one, like just about the biggest that anyone's seen. I spoke with all of the relief people, all of the people that do this for a living and do this at least to -- to help, and they said they've never seen one this bad. Valdosta has been ravaged. The town is very, very badly hurting. And many thousands are without power. They're running low on food and fuel. We brought a lot of it down with us.

It's going to be distributed now or soon, throughout Georgia as well as North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee. That's our big one. And the devastation wrought by this storm is incredible, so extensive. Nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it's so late in the season for the hurricanes. Homes, hospitals, highways and cars have been plunged underwater. Entire neighborhoods have been turned into lakes.

Nobody's seen anything like it. And every family that's been displaced here in Georgia and North Carolina, who's -- which has really been hit. We're going there also, and they don't have communication. They don't have anything right now that they're we're trying to, I just spoke to Elon. I'm getting him. I want to -- we want to get Starlink hooked up, because they have no communication whatsoever. And Elon -- Elon, will always come through. We know that. And so we're working on that, getting them hooked up. They asked me whether or not that would be possible. We're going to try and get the Starlink in there as soon as possible, because they have no communication. And throughout the region, our hearts are with you. And we are going to be with you as long as you need it. It's called an hour of need. You're in our prayers. And we pray to God. And throughout this long weeks, the long weeks that lay ahead, you're going to have a lot of work, but the end result is it's going to be good.

We just wish so many people weren't so badly hurt and in many cases, sadly, no longer with us. We love you. We love everyone, everyone, I mean, to be honest, we love everyone. And we'll be back, and we'll be back again soon. We'll continue to help until you're bigger, I say bigger, better, stronger than ever before. But again, you can't ever discount the fact that people are lost. A lot of people have been lost in this terrible -- this terrible storm, this terrible hurricane.

[13:59:46]

The -- it's a storm that's also taken the lives of, I guess they have a count of 91 but that count changes on an hourly basis, and it goes only in one direction, unfortunately, up. But at least 91 people already. And to the families and loved ones of those who have perished, we mourn alongside of you, and we grieve every single life so tragically lost. I'd like to --