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Tim Walz and JD Vance Spar on Policy But Remain Civil at VP Debate; State Department: 6,000-plus Americans Have Asked About Possibly Leaving Lebanon Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I 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.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The ripple -- the ripple effect.

SIDNER: Yes.

YURKEVICH: The -- the ripple effect of jobs. The first thing you're going to see impacted is truckers. Truckers who go to the ports to pick up all of these goods and products, move containers, they're going to be impacted. And then ultimately the businesses can't get what they need to sell to everyday Americans. And that's when you start to see inflation.

You start to see prices going up just because there's not enough available. And according to one estimate, we could see about 100,000 jobs impacted as a ripple effect because of this strike. And that may show up in the October jobs report. Don't forget on the west coast, we have a strike at Boeing going on right now.

SIDNER: That's right.

YURKEVICH: And so you have those jobs taken offline in addition to this port strike and all the impacts of the ripple effects, you could see not such a healthy job number in October. That is the last jobs report that we'll see before the election. People are going to be watching that very, very closely as these strikes drag on.

SIDNER: I think it'll be part of the political fodder as well. Thank you so much, Vanessa. Appreciate it.0

A new hour of CNN News Central starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the long feared wider war in the Middle East has arrived. Israel promises to make Iran pay after its unprecedented missile attack. What does that look like now? And what role will the United States play? You could call it a throwback debate of sorts. A throwback because civility actually returned to the debate stage for the first time in a long time, how the VPs faced off and why they stayed so focused on the top of the ticket rather than the person feet away from them.

And hundreds of thousands still without power, food and clean water still hard to come by in the Carolinas. Now President Biden is heading to see firsthand the devastation left by Hurricane Helene. The mayor of one of the hardest hit areas in North Carolina is our guest.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Israel's prime minister says has Iran made a big mistake and will pay for raining rockets down on Israel. The U.S. promising its support. Iran is now threatening countries who helped Israel, but also is saying at the same time it does not want a wider war. All of this in direct response to Iran's largest missile attack ever against Israel. This morning, new images of the damage in Israel after U.S. officials say nearly 200 missiles rained down.

Breaking overnight, Israel launching new airstrikes on Beirut. Israeli forces say ongoing strikes against Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets are continuing. CNN's Erin Burnett is live for us in Tel Aviv. There are so many questions, Erin, this morning, but there is one thing clear, Israel is going to respond to the attack by Iran.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. They absolutely are. And it's going to happen and it's going to be meaningful and significant. You have an unprecedented missile attack on Israel, and it appears that the response will also be unprecedented on its own. But senior Biden administration officials say that they don't believe yet that Israel has made a formal determination, Sara, on how to respond.

We're told they are in close communication with their counterparts here in Israel. We don't have any details yet, though, on whether President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here in Israel have had further conversations. But we are learning, as -- as you were going through and Kate was going through, what's going on here as the war has continued overnight, that the IDF has deployed a new division of troops on the southern border with Lebanon, southern border, northern border of Israel and strikes on Beirut this morning.

Arlette Saenz is standing by at the White House. First, though, here in Tel Aviv, Jeremy Diamond. And -- and, Jeremy, you know, you've been up with those troops. You were there when there was a strike at the hotel you were at. I mean, this is a palpable ongoing war, as they would say, a hot war going on right now. What -- what are you hearing in terms of what Israel is truly considering? We know they haven't decided, but the things that are on the table, these are a whole new level.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. And I think that strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are certainly on the table, as well as strikes on Iran's oil facilities as well. And those would be taking things much further. Keep in mind, when Iran last attacked Israel back in April. First of all that attack was -- there was a lot more forewarning there that Iran gave, if only just by the fact that those drones took 12 hours to arrive in Israel.

And so there was a lot of time to prepare the air defenses. This time it was just ballistic missiles, which gave just a few minutes for Israel to prepare its defenses. And there also appear to have been a lot more hits. The Israeli military this morning actually acknowledging that multiple air bases were indeed struck in this attack.

[08:05:04]

And so there's no question that Israel will respond, will respond significantly. I'm told that security consultations are underway today between the Israeli prime minister, the Israeli defense minister and other members of the Israeli security establishment, but no formal decision yet made on exactly how they'll respond.

BURNETT: One other thing, Jeremy, and -- and I want to get Arlette's response to this from the White House, but we have heard now, you know, from multiple former officials in Israel, but also just the talk and the conversation that one thing on the table would also be striking Iranian leadership. As they have done, right, they did the strike in -- in Tehran on militia leadership, but on the actual Iranian government and -- and individuals.

DIAMOND: And we know that Israel had provided the intelligence to the United States when they hit Qasem Soleimani, the former head of the IRGC.

BURNETT: Right.

DIAMOND: And so, we know that they have the capabilities to do so. Taking those actions would certainly be another step.

BURNETT: Right.

DIAMOND: Israel has shown that they are capable of it, that they have the intelligence to do it. Whether or not they actually move forward with that I think is another question for now.

BURNETT: Right. And we should say at least, you know, things have changed in the past few moments, though. But we still understand Iran has extended its closure of airspace for another 24 hours. Obviously, uncertainty there on what the strike might be, anticipation that it could be obviously imminent. But we, you know, we -- we just don't know time and place of their choosing is what Israel says. Arlette, and you have in Iran, we've seen the images. People immediately started lining up for gasoline in terms of showing where the Iranian people think that perhaps the strike might be, that they wouldn't be able to get gas because energy facilities could be hit. Very much a dynamic situation. What are you hearing from the Biden administration?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, U.S. officials have yet to telegraph exactly what steps they believe Israel could take against Iran. And a senior U.S. official had told CNN that they did not believe that Israel has made that final decision about to move forward. But officials here at the White House and across the administration are in constant contact with their counterparts in Israel as they are assessing the next steps for this response.

Now, even as the President has said that the U.S. is supportive, that they're working, trying to address what the appropriate response will be, there's many questions about what U.S. involvement in a response would look like, but U.S. officials have quite publicly stressed that Iran will be facing repercussions for their attack against Israel just yesterday. Take a listen to the national security advisor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This is a significant escalation by Iran. We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, President Biden says that he does plan on speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at some point, though officials have not detailed exactly when that call might take place. But yesterday, Biden told reporters that in his eventual call with Netanyahu that his message will really be shaped on what the U.S. concludes should be the next steps for Israel. And that is really one of the key challenges at -- for the administration at this moment.

There are major questions over how much influence the U.S. will have over Israel's ultimate decision about, how to respond to Iran. You'll remember back in April when Iran had launched that barrage of missiles and drones against Israel that was thwarted with the help of the U.S. Now President Biden at the time had told Netanyahu to take a win. Israel really had a much more limited response in that moment.

We will see whether that is the same kind of approach that the administration will take this time around as one of their key focuses is really trying to prevent this from escalating even further.

BURNETT: All right, Arlette, thank you so much. Jeremy Diamond here with me in Tel Aviv, thanks as well.

And let's go now to our chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour. So, Christiane, of course, covering this through your entire career, here we are in this moment. I'm curious, Christiane, as to your read, given the fact that Iran did not give any warning here and given where the U.S. is in its political cycle, how much influence does President Biden have over Israel's response and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who of course, has been sort of riding a wave after the killing of Nasrallah?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Erin, that is a very good question. And of course, a huge focus now is going to be on clearly Israel plans to res -- to respond as it's declared. But the big question is what will the United States do? Israel and Iran are the strongest military forces in that region. But Israel is much stronger than Iran. And along with the United States, not just providing weapons but acting in concert with Israel, it is even stronger still.

And I think a lot of the targeting will depend on whether the United States helps because some of the targets, according to military analysts, for instance, the nuclear targets and others may be slightly out of range. Anyway, we'll see what the targeters say.

[08:09:59]

But I think this is the big question, does the United States get involved in another war in the region that it has tried to stay out of and tried not to have for decades? And I think, you know, it is declared and it is here that the escalation is here. This is the wider war now and how is it going to proceed. It's taken a year since October 7th. President Biden has tried and failed to rein in some of the matters that he's asked Israel to -- to rein in.

The Israeli prime minister has shown that he is acting with his own interests, his own national security, his own political interests, his own conferences with his own people, and -- and not particularly in the latest days, you know, telling sometimes the United States what's going on. You've also heard Israel say that this is a huge mistake that Iran has made.

Benjamin Netanyahu said it. So did Naftali Bennett, the previous prime minister. And he added, this is a once in a 50-year, once in a generation opportunity to hit the regime and end this once and for all. So that's the -- the thinking apparently, that's going on inside Israel. I'll be talking to the former prime minister, Ehud Barak, later on, find out what he thinks is a response.

Many are saying it can't be proportional because what happened demands a very, you know, as General Wesley Clark said on our escalation, dominance. But again, the key question is, and then what? You know, the underlying issues have -- there's no plan, no political plan, no resolution, no settlement to -- to all of this.

BURNETT: And Christiane, to that moment of unprecedented, let's just play one scenario out here. Obviously, you have striking energy facilities, nuclear facilities, and you talked about some of those. But when you also talked about taking out the head of the regime and that there is a push and you hear that from the former Prime Minister Bennett and others, right, sort of a, more of a unity within some in the Israeli government than we have seen in recent months.

And when you start hearing things like taking out Iranian leadership and regime change, that is a totally different thing. That is -- that is something that we have never heard before, not openly, not in circles like this. If something like that were to happen in your mind, Christiane, how do you answer the question then what?

AMANPOUR: Well, I mean, the wider war is here. And it's either a ballistic missile war, it's an air war. It's highly unlikely at this point that Israel or the United States would send in any ground troops. It would be, you know, strategic elements, sea based, air based, et cetera. So that -- that is here. But you know what, Erin, this is not the first time.

This has been something that certainly the Israeli government since at least the last 25 years, since the American invasion of Iraq, for instance, they were very keen to have the United States agree to regime change next in Iran. At that time, President George W. Bush basically stood back and said no. So -- so this is something that's really been on the table for -- for a long time. It's something that Benjamin Netanyahu has floated many, many times to the United States, to the world, to the United Nations.

It is not -- nothing to hit a nation's oil refineries, for instance. It could cause huge consequences. And again, whether or not they could properly disable a nuclear situation remains to be seen. But this is definitely something this Israeli government has wanted to do.

And by the way, they probably find quite a lot of allies in the Arab states around which also wants to defang Iran, if you like. But again, the question is to what end? What is the end goal? And what is the -- the -- the -- the diplomatic and political solution afterwards?

BURNETT: Right, right. And of course, well, 23 -- 23 years after regime change in Iraq, I think a fair question for anyone to ask when you -- you think about that. That was next on the table. That was more than 20 years ago. Christiane, thank you so much for taking the time and -- and -- and joining us this morning. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks so much, Erin. So this morning, we are 34 days from Election Day and there are zero debates, definitive ones at least left on the calendar. We've got new reporting on what voters thought of the debate overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were demonstrating a lot of commonality in a lot of the programs. I appreciated that. It sounded bipartisan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Howard, cordial with better exchanging of ideas and less personal attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:14:47]

BERMAN: President Biden headed to the storm ravaged Carolinas, where hundreds of roads are still closed and finding clean water becoming increasingly difficult. And the new, seemingly definitive promise by Donald Trump about what he would do with a federal abortion ban if he is elected.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I agree. It should not take seven years for an asylum claim to be done. SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris does.

WALZ: I agree with a lot of what Senator Vance said about what's happening. His running mate, though, does not. And that's the problem.

VANCE: Governor, I agree with you. Amber Thurmond should still be alive, and there are a lot of people who should still be alive, and I certainly wish that she was.

[08:20:00]

WALZ: I'm in agreement with him on this.

VANCE: And first of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witnessed the shooting. And I'm sorry about that. And I --

WALZ: I appreciate that.

VANCE: Christ to have mercy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: It was a shockingly civil debate, if that's a thing. Both vice presidential candidates mostly sticking to differences in policy as they squared off over the issues. In a post-debate focus group, an overwhelming majority said they thought that Vance won last night. Here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's very battle tested, very ready, and you can just see that he went to Yale and he's very intelligent, and he reassured a lot of people anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was in strong control of the facts. He ran the show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He remained steady during the whole performance. And I was very impressed with him being very sincere and authentic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He humanized himself and actually looked like a regular guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining us now, pollster and communications strategist, Frank Luntz. Those were people that you had polled or were talking to. And I found -- I found the last comment really interesting because he humanized himself, indicating how badly he has looked in front of some people with some of the comments he's made. What did you make of -- of how Vance did? And then we will get to Walz. FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: Well, I actually want to start, and I apologize to your listeners for this voice, but this is what happens when you do a focus group that doesn't end until an hour after the debate. Our participants had a lot to say. Number one, they loved both candidates.

In fact, if they could, they would have reversed the tickets and put Vance and Walz on top and the other two on the bottom. Number two is it gave them faith in democracy, the idea that people could sit down, disagree, and do so civilly. But in terms of Vance, they were shocked that the Vance that they've seen up to this point was not the J.D. Vance of last night, measured, thoughtful, emotional, willing to agree with his opponents, not divisive.

The language that they used to describe him tells me that he has been misused on the campaign so far, that he would be far better communicating Donald Trump's agenda and vision and purpose then the attack dog kind of strategy that they've been using up to now. I have to tell you, only twice in my career have I had such an overwhelming movement towards one candidate. That's how significant yesterday was, not that they were critical about Governor Walz, but they were so shocked at how emotive Senator Vance was.

SIDNER: Right. And because he was coming from this place of being very unpopular when it comes to his personality and the things that he's said. So that's an interesting twist. What about Walz what did you hear from the panel on -- on -- on how Walz did and what they thought of his --of his comments and his policies?

LUNTZ: He got better as the debate went on. They thought that his 1st 30 minutes, that he was stumbling, that he struggled, as I am speaking to you right now. And they felt that he wasn't really as engaged and he was much more defensive. His best moment of the night was in challenging Senator Vance on what happened in the events of January 6th, and most specifically, whether or not Trump won or lost the 2020 election.

That said, he did not connect as well because he was much less specific. And they were particularly critical that he was not answering the questions the moderators were posing. And in a vice presidential debate, they expect more from the candidates than to try to talk to questions.

SIDNER: Well, the polling is out and they're basically even 49 to -- to 51 percent. So a lot of people having a lot of opinions, but it is very interesting to note that -- that people felt good about what they saw because it was civil for once. Something we haven't really seen over the past, I don't know, eight or so years. Frank Luntz, thank you so much. Appreciate your analysis there. Kate?

BOLDUAN: President Biden is heading to North Carolina today to see for himself the scale and scope of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene. The mayor from one of the hardest hit areas will be joining us with an update.

[08:24:22] And the White House warning thousands of Americans that are in Lebanon that the time to get out is now after Iran launches that unprecedented missile -- missile attack on Israel. And Israel vows to respond.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: I'm Erin Burnett live in Tel Aviv on this Wednesday. The situation in the Middle East intensifying by the minute here after Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel. And this morning there is a renewed focus on helping Americans get out of this region. So here's what we know as of right now, 6,000 Americans have reached out to American officials about potentially leaving Lebanon to the north of here.

The State Department says it's coordinating with major airlines to provide additional flights with seats for American citizens. Joining me now is Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. He is the Democrat from Illinois and of course, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. So, Congressman, let me just start there.

You know, there haven't yet been formal evacuation orders, but -- but where are we right now in terms of what you understand U.S. ability is to get the many thousands of American citizens out if that's what is needed.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I think that, you know, in other situations involving similar scenarios, we have engaged in chartering flights. We have actually had assets go and pick up.

[08:30:18]