Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Iran's Missile Attack On Israel Fuels Fears Of Wider Regional War; Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) On Vance-Walz Vice Presidential Debate; Massive Port Strike Underway Across East, Gulf Coasts. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:30]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And right now the world is watching and waiting for any sign of Israel's response to Iran's unprecedented missile attack here on Israel. According to Israeli officials it is not a question of if, it is now a question of when. And the Israeli prime minister saying that Iran will pay.

We've heard various scenarios from attacking Iran's nuclear facilities to possibly even suggested by some in the Israeli government that they would want to actually take out leaders within the Iranian government itself, which would be an incredible escalation. Unclear now what and when.

Natasha Bertrand is joining me now from the Pentagon though. And Natasha, so what is your reporting here of what the U.S. intelligence shows in terms of what they anticipate and also the support? What U.S. involvement could be in place?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, our reporting as of right now is that according to a senior White House official, it does not appear that the U.S. knows for sure just how Israel is going to respond because it's not yet clear if Israel even knows how it's going to react to this. They are still weighing their options, according to our latest reporting from administration officials here.

But look, I mean, this is exactly why the Defense Department has put all of these assets in place in the Middle East. You saw them working yesterday with that massive Iranian missile barrage, with destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean intercepting -- shooting, I should say, roughly 12 interceptors at these missiles. Unclear whether any of them were actually taken down. But they did take part in this broader effort to try to intercept some of those incoming headed towards Israel.

And, of course, the U.S. does not only have the destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean, they also have a carrier strike group in the Arabian Sea, which is close to Iran. They have warships in the Red Sea to potentially intercept any missiles incoming from the Houthis in Yemen.

And they also have increased their force posture all around the Middle East in order to prepare for something really at a moment's notice like we saw just yesterday -- particularly when it comes, of course, to a potential evacuation operation. Now, we have not seen any plans in movement yet -- just yet for such an evacuation operation. But again, the U.S. has thousands of Marines stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean that are prepared to carry out such an operation if one becomes necessary if this conflict escalates even further.

I should also note that the U.S. deployed even more fighter jet squadrons to the Middle East in recent days, again to try to intercept missiles if and when they are fired at the Israelis. And, of course, to enhance force protection for the thousands of troops that are currently in the region.

[07:35:11]

And so, while it's unclear just how this is going to play out -- you know, the U.S. saying that neither Iran nor Israel necessarily want a broader war here. The risk for miscalculation and escalation is obviously very high, and that is what the Pentagon is preparing for, Erin.

BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. And, of course, one of the biggest questions is as you put more and more troops into a location to prevent an escalation that's exactly when a spark can, of course, take off the most quickly -- the great risk there -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Erin, thank you so much. We're going to get back to Erin in Israel shortly.

Let's talk more about all of this, though. Joining me right now is Shawn Turner, the former director of communication for U.S. National Intelligence. And also, Gen. Wesley Clark, the former supreme allied commander of NATO.

General, let's -- we're -- let's talk about U.S. involvement in just a moment. I also heard you say that Israel's response now to the barrage coming from Iran should be disproportionate. The White House view, though, seems to not be that. They seem to think that Netanyahu can't afford to be anything but proportionate.

Explain what you see here.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, SENIOR FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER (via Webex by Cisco): So the psychology in the region looks at the United States -- our adversaries there look at the United States and say the United States has all this power but it's afraid to use it. Why is it afraid? It's weak. They don't look at the -- they know the U.S. military is strong, but they look at the administration and say they're weak. They're afraid to use it.

And inside Iran we know that there was a debate between the president and the hardliners and the Revolutionary Guards who said don't worry, America's not going to come in. We have to -- we strike hard. Let's strike hard now. And they won that debate. So now they've tried to cap it off.

If Israel responds, let's say -- what people say proportionately, then what you do is you invite another cycle of this. Some of those missiles fired by Iran got through. They didn't strike the target. And we don't know what the effectiveness is. And as much as the United States is willing to say it was an ineffective attack it doesn't look that way to the Iranian leadership.

They're our target. You must strike disproportionately. You must achieve escalation dominance so they jump back and say oh my God, we did make a mistake and let's hold this down. That's the psychology in the region and I hope that will guide the U.S. approach to Israel's response. Israel understands this psychology.

BOLDUAN: And Shawn, as David Sanger put it in an analysis in The New York Times today, "The long-feared 'wider war' in the Middle East is here."

And you think that reality is an important one for the Biden administration to acknowledge quickly. Why?

SHAWN TURNER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION FOR U.S. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. You know, thanks, Kate.

A year ago when we were talking about what's happening in the Middle East -- just about a year ago -- we were talking about the concerns over a wider regional war. But what did that look like? It looked like a spread of hostilities into Lebanon in the south -- in the north. We looked -- it looked like a spread of hostilities into Iran. It looked like what we're seeing today -- this larger regional conflict.

And the administration has been doing a -- doing a very good job of working behind the scenes to try to negotiate a ceasefire to try to calm hostilities in the region. But we are there, Kate.

I mean -- and I think Wesley Clark's absolutely right. We're at a point where Israel needs to take a look at this next response, and it needs to be one that is focused on weakening Iran's ability to strike back.

So I think the conversation over a wider regional conflict is one in which we need to put that behind us and we need to be talking about this from a position of strength where we're talking about what we are going to do to necessarily prevent Iran from dealing -- you know, dealing with other countries in the region or bringing other countries into this conflict. We're just -- we're already there and the administration needs to acknowledge that.

BOLDUAN: And General, let's talk about the term you use, escalation dominance. I want to ask you more about that.

Let me first play for you what the former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett told Wolf Blitzer yesterday kind of along these lines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: This is a once-in- a-50-year opportunity. What Israel needs to do immediately -- we need to take out Iran's nuclear program, we need to attack Iran's energy facilities, and we need to attack the regime itself right away because Iran made a fatal mistake of shooting 200 ballistic missiles at the state of Israel. Enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:00]

BOLDUAN: Taking out nuclear facilities. Taking out the nuclear program. Attacking Iran energy facilities. Is that -- is that going too far or is that kind of along the lines of what we're talking about here?

CLARK: Well, I think you have to look at what the actual targeting capabilities are. A lot of those nuclear facilities are deep underground. Some of them are in southeastern Iran and they're hard to reach. You may not get them the first time. But the principle is correct, Kate.

Look, the hardliners in the Iranian government have watched the United States respond for over a year saying we don't want to escalate. Oh, please, let's don't escalate. To them that says weakness.

And to Israel -- Israel understands that they're in a really tough neighborhood. If Iran gets away with this, this time, the next strike will be much worse, and it'll continue the continue the cycle.

So this is what the former prime minister said -- the opportunity to take out their nuclear weapons. Can it be done? Don't know. That's for the targeteers and the insiders in the military, but it has to be on the table. Iran -- this is the time to stop this in the region.

You know, we went into the Red Sea. We said to the Houthis please don't attack the shipping. We defended the shipping while we were there. We protected ourselves. The White House approved the strikes. They were retaliatory.

But what we didn't say to the Houthis is you guys made a big mistake. You're out of business. And we didn't put them out of business, which we had the power to do -- or a lot -- or almost, perhaps.

But the point is Iran read weakness, weakness, weakness. In this region you cannot show weakness.

And remember, this is not just about the Middle East. Russia is in there in Iran. Russia's watching. China is watching. They're assessing the strength of will (PH) and the determination of the United States as their principal adversary.

BOLDUAN: Shawn --

CLARK: There's a lot riding on this next actions. BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Sorry, General to jump in there.

Shawn, quick last to you. How is this different from --

TURNER: Sure.

BOLDUAN: -- when Iran fired missiles in April? Why does this feel so different?

TURNER: Yeah. You know, if you look at what happened in April, and this is what's happened for quite some time with Iran and Israel, these two have been fighting a shadow war for quite some time.

Back in April there was a specific incident that resulted in the direct conflict between Iran and Israel. In fact, prior to the volley of missiles back in April, Iran forecast what they were going to do for days prior to that.

So there's been this sort of tit for tat -- this sort of -- this sort of sending a message back and forth when there is direct conflict between these two countries. But in this case, there was no warning to -- certainly to Israel prior to this attack, and we've seen a lot more missiles this time.

This is an escalation that needs to be dealt with differently. The strategy needs to be focused now not on sending a message but on weakening Iran's ability to continue to launch attacks.

BOLDUAN: A lot riding on this moment as the general is getting at.

Great to see you both. Thank you so much for coming in -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We've got new reporting this morning on the significant disruptions you could see at supermarkets from the strike at U.S. ports.

And standing by this morning as one of the doctors charged in connection with the overdose death of Matthew Perry is expected to appear in court and enter his plea.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:48:05]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Today, both vice presidential candidates are back on the campaign trail. Senator J.D. Vance campaigning in Michigan while Gov. Tim Walz kicks off a bus tour across Pennsylvania, both hoping to see a post-debate bump in support.

CNN's MJ Lee joins us now. Is there any word on how they're feeling, each of them, about their performance at the debate last night?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, you know, it was the two vice presidential nominees that were on the debate stage last night for 90-plus minutes. But really, the overwhelming focus was on the two people at the top of the tickets, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

And what we saw J.D. Vance and Tim Walz do last night was to try to 1) defend their respective running mate's record and their vision, and then also look for opportunities to go on the attack on the other presidential candidate.

And what we ultimately saw was these two vice presidential candidates spar on a number of really important issues.

For starters, there was a discussion about foreign policy and particularly, the unfolding situation in the Middle East. They went after each other's record and vision on two really politically salient issues, reproductive rights and immigration. And then, of course, the all-important issue of the economy and inflation.

And you were wondering I think, as everybody else was, are there going to be fireworks? Is there going to be yelling and name-calling? And we really didn't see that. It was pretty much across the board a very civil discussion as far as these debates go.

But there was this one exchange at the very end of the night where we did see some real sparks flying between the two candidates. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would just ask that. Did he lose the 2020 election?

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? She tried to --

[07:50:00]

WALZ: That is a damning -- that is a damning non-answer.

VANCE: Has she -- it's a damning non-answer for you to not talk about censorship.

Obviously, Donald Trump and I think that there were problems in 2020. We've talked about it. I'm happy to talk about it further.

WALZ: I'm pretty shocked by this. He lost the election. This is not a debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And Sara, the Harris campaign saw this, I'm told, as the moment of the night. And, in fact, they are already cutting ads using this exchange.

On the question of whether there was a clear winner coming out of the night -- I mean, look at the CNN polling. It's very evenly split. For Vance, 51 percent and Walz, 49 percent. And then the question for did either of them actually change people's

perception of them using last night's debate. Well, we see that Tim Walz's favorable numbers went up. Unfavorable numbers went down. But the exact same for J.D. Vance. His favorables moved up, his unfavorable numbers went down.

At the end of the day, Sara, I think neither campaign believed that last night ended up sort of changing the trajectory of the race. But they, of course, still recognize that this was a huge opportunity to talk to a big audience so close to Election Day, Sara.

SIDNER: Yep. The argument is we need another debate -- a presidential one, a lot of people are hoping for. Probably won't see it.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. MJ Lee there for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now in studio, Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado. Governor, thank you so much for being with us.

We talked about the relative civility in the debate. There are some on the left who wanted to see more fire from Gov. Walz.

The New York Times collects sort of real time commentary on the debate. Let me read you a few of what they said.

It said, "Gov. Walz..." -- this is from Symone Sanders. "Gov. Walz is not prosecuting the case, rather it's a nice-fest. If you agree with Vance on so much then why should we vote for you?"

Asha Rangaappa said, "Walz has missed a lot of opportunities to go on the attack and point out Vance's lies and hypocrisy."

And Jen Psaki, former Biden White House press secretary, said, "I was missing the magic and the organic spontaneity of Tim Walz."

GOV. JARED POLIS, (D) COLORADO: Look, one of the most important things in politics is to be authentic -- be who you are. Tim Walz is a nice guy. He's a good guy. That's who he is. I think that came through.

This is a guy who is a coach, a dad, a veteran. Served in the United States Congress. A very effective governor.

I think the most telling moment was at the end where J.D. Vance failed that ultimate test of character -- would you stand up to Donald Trump if Donald Trump tries to override the vote of the American people? And he refused to answer. And I thought it was very clear when Tim Walz said that's why Mike Pence isn't on the stage today.

BERMAN: Can Tim Walz afford to be nice when it comes to J.D. Vance and the case that the Democrats are trying to make about him?

POLIS: Well look, absolutely. You have people all over, of course, and Donald Trump's own worst enemy is himself. You listen to him for five minutes and he turns most people off. Again, in choosing a running mate in Tim Walz, what Kamala Harris was

saying is look, there's a better vision for America. We can be better than this, right? We can -- we can speak to the better angels of the American spirit.

Tim Walz is a terrific guy. He's the person, along with Kamala Harris, who can bring this country together, right? We need somebody that we can all be proud of as president and vice president, not just somebody who gets in the dirt and fights.

BERMAN: There's a little bit more than a month left to go. This may have been the last debate of this entire election cycle.

What's left -- what's left for you in the Harris-Walz ticket to change minds?

POLIS: Well, firstly, it's up to Kamala Harris if we're going to have another presidential debate. She's ready, she's willing.

BERMAN: Well, it's up to CNN. We're trying to host one.

POLIS: We'd love you to do it, and Kamala Harris will be there. But I hope the other guy shows up, right?

Look, I think it's a matter of getting out of the vote. Yes, there's a few people that are still undecided.

BERMAN: Who?

POLIS: Who are they? I mean, again, you know, just a couple of percent of people, right?

I think the key question for them is do they want to go back to the politics of the past or just move forward as a country, putting these divisions behind us?

And then, of course, John, to get out the vote. The basic on-the- ground get out the vote effort. Who votes. Who is motivated to vote. Those people on the margins. If they vote they're going to support Kamala Harris. Are they going to come out and vote?

And that work is occurring, especially in those swing states, to make sure that we do everything we can to talk about the importance of this election for our economy, for affordability, and, of course, to protect the democracy of our country.

BERMAN: A couple of big events in just the last, what, like, 48 hours. We have what's going on in the Middle East -- the exchanges of -- well, Iran shooting missiles into Israel. And we also have the dockworkers' strike. So we have these two events.

And I'm wondering what you think the impact of instability might be the next month.

POLIS: You know, beyond the impact of every -- of every particular issue -- and I thought Tim Walz and Kamala Harris are doing a great job talking about Donald Trump's lack of a health care plan that would strip protections from preexisting conditions. But beyond any particular issue it's about who do you trust to handle the issues of the day. Who is going to be that thoughtful, stable force going forward versus the chaos and the unpredictability that we've seen from Donald Trump last time around and that we would see again.

When it comes to foreign policy and when it comes to dealing with potentially nuclear powers like Iran, it's critical we have somebody that we trust and we can rely on to defend American interests here and abroad.

BERMAN: What did you think of J.D. Vance on that debate stage? Some people look at it and say oh, he tried to polish some of the edges -- soften some of the sharp edges.

[07:55:05]

POLIS: Well look, I mean, if you're -- if you're looking for a car salesman, he's your guy. I mean, I think he looked shifty, he looked slick.

Of course, he's good at what he does. He talks to different groups in different ways, no question about it. But at the end of the day he failed to say he would side with the American people over Donald Trump.

And I think that's one of the problems and one of the reasons many swing voters are moving away from Donald Trump is they know that he surrounds himself with sycophants and yes men rather than people that are willing to have a legitimate discussion about how to move America forward.

BERMAN: You've had a back-and-forth with Donald Trump for years. How do you think Donald Trump will react to people saying that J.D. Vance is doing a better job at prosecuting the case for Trump than Trump is himself?

POLIS: Well, yeah, really. I mean, knowing the guy, he's probably going to cut him down a peg or two, and that's why he's hard to work for. He can't keep a cabinet. He can't keep anybody who is qualified to do the job.

It's important that we recruit people to run the different agencies of the federal government that are competent and that are effective. Kamala Harris will do that. Donald Trump has failed once, and he'll fail again.

BERMAN: Gov. Jared Polis, great to see you in person. Thanks for coming in.

POLIS: Likewise, John.

BERMAN: We'll have to go to Colorado. It will be an even trade.

POLIS: Let's do it.

BERMAN: All right. Nice to see you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Federal prosecutors have filed a new indictment against two former Louisville police officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. This is coming from new reporting by the Associated Press.

The new indictment includes new allegations that the former officers, Josh Jaynes and Kyle Meany, and details how they falsified the affidavit that was used for the search warrant. These same officers were federally charged in 2022, but a judge dismissed those charges this summer.

Breonna Taylor died in March of 2020 when the police carried out a no- knock search warrant on her home. Her boyfriend fired a shot, saying they thought an intruder was bursting in at the time. That triggered a volley of fire. The officers hit and killed Breonna Taylor sparking nationwide protests.

Today, one of the two doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry's death is expected to appear in court. In a deal with federal prosecutors, Dr. Mark Chavez set -- is set to formally plead guilty today to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine to Matthew Perry. A federal judge has already ordered Chavez to surrender his medical license, barring him from practicing medicine. The L.A. medical examiner said that ketamine -- the drug contributed to Perry's drowning death at his home last year.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is facing new allegations today of sexual assault and abuse. This is coming from more than 100 people.

A Houston-based attorney says that he's been hired by these new accusers and plans to file civil suits against Combs. The allegations come from men, women, and it also includes 25 people who say they were minors when the alleged crimes were committed. Combs' attorney responded to these new allegations calling them false and defamatory.

Combs in already, as you'll remember, currently in jail awaiting trial on criminal sex trafficking and racketeering charges -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. New this morning, a massive strike by dockworkers over pay and automation issues. It has the country's East and Gulf Coast ports at a standstill. A strike of this magnitude could significantly disrupt the goods that come in and go out of the United States. Both sides have yet to come back to the table.

Here with me now is CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich. When might people see the effects of all this, and what will that look like?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, not yet. There may be some panic buying happening, which we have seen. Some people have reported empty shelves. But that could be panic buying.

In terms of when people will actually feel this port strike, probably if this strike extends past a week. And the first things that you're going to notice are perishable items -- fruits and vegetables, frozen items. And obviously, can't keep in containers. And if they're not coming into the country and they're not grown anywhere else in the United States, particularly bananas. About 50 percent of all bananas come in through ILA ports that are on strike right now.

But the Department of Transportation is really monitoring price gouging that may be happening. We see this in natural disasters. People try to take advantage. They're going to be monitoring ship lines to make sure they're not -- they're not providing -- they're not adding surcharges on things coming into this country.

Also, the Biden administration has said that they are going to be looking out for price gouging from businesses and retailers, really trying to keep an eye on that.

But every time -- every day the port is closed it takes three to five days to recover. And one week of closure could cost the U.S. economy $2.1 billion. And this could actually have a significant impact on U.S. GDP. On an annualized rate we could see a reduction of $4.5 billion just because of this strike.

And major retailers, though -- they got wind of this strike, so they were able to bring things in early. So holiday shopping should not be interrupted. But smaller businesses who really rely on these ship lines to bring goods in -- they could really be the ones struggling first at the end of the day.

SIDNER: They could be hit. I remember we covered this once in California where the longshoremen there in Long Beach --

YURKEVICH: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- and other areas were on strike, and it did have somewhat of an impact.

I do want to ask you about whether this will also hurt other jobs. Because obviously, you just talked about how long it would take for them to get things back rolling, which means there's got to be a lot of people who rely on the longshoremen getting the goods here to then take it elsewhere.