Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Biden Discussed Hostage Negotiations With Qatar; Speaker Johnson's Funding Plan Faces Uncertain Fate; Trump Praises Xi Ahead Of Chinese President's Meeting With Biden; Trump Attacks Jack Smith At Campaign Rally In New Hampshire; Former Hollywood Agent's Son Arrested For Murder; Biden's Support Among Latino Voters At Risk; The Rise Of Antisemitism In America. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 12, 2023 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:08]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

We begin this hour with new details tonight on the hostage situation inside Gaza. The White House says one of the Americans being held captive by Hamas is a 3-year-old children whose parents were killed in the October 7th attacks. Israeli officials say more than 200 hostages remain inside Gaza as intense fighting continues there. Of those hostages they say more than 30 are children with the youngest being a 9-year-old baby.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army says it's conducting raids deeper into Gaza City, capturing 20 suspects -- terror suspects it says were involved in the attacks.

Let's start with CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak in Delaware.

Kevin, very interesting that we saw this information emerge earlier this evening with the White House saying that this 3-year-old is one of the American hostages being held by Hamas.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The timing is interesting. As it appears, there's intensifying pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to secure a deal to release these hostages. You saw large protests in Israel over the weekend of Israelis calling on Netanyahu to do more, and now the White House saying that one of those hostages is this 3-year-old toddler. They revealed that information in a readout of a phone call that President Biden held with the Emir of Qatar.

You'll remember, Jim, Qatar is acting as a broker in these talks between Hamas, Israel, the United States, Egypt, all of these partners who are trying to come up with an agreement to secure the release of these 200-plus hostages that are being held in Gaza. Now the White House didn't reveal any more information about this toddler aside from the fact that their parents were very tragically killed in the Hamas attacks on October 7th. I am told that this is the youngest of the American hostages, it is

the only minor. We did hear from the National Security adviser Jake Sullivan earlier today that there are nine American citizens unaccounted for, one green card holder, not all of them may be held hostage, some of them may have passed away, the U.S. just doesn't know. But certainly these conversations are very intensely happening among all of these parties to try and secure the release of these hostages.

Jake Sullivan today wouldn't put a timeline on these talks saying that he had thought previously that they were close and then it didn't happen, but certainly the talks are ongoing. What the U.S. says is that there will need to be a significant pause if all of those hostages are to be released at the same time. So far only a handful have been released, including an American, a mother and a daughter. The U.S. says that that had been a pilot case and they do want to expand to try and get all of those hostages out -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Kevin Liptak, thank you very much.

For more analysis on all of this let's turn to CNN anchor Fareed Zaqaria. He's the host of "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."

Fareed, I guess I wanted to start off by talking about this 3-year-old American that is said to be among the hundreds of hostages being held by Hamas. Why do you suppose the White House put out this information this evening, as Kevin was just saying a few moments ago. There seems to be maybe -- momentum is not the right word but some stepped-up efforts to get this dialogue going for some kind of pause that's long enough to get hostages out. But what's your sense of it right now?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: My sense, Jim, is that it's been off and on. There were -- as the Qataris seem to indicate, or as Jake Sullivan indicated, it seemed like things looked a little better a few days ago and now it doesn't look as good.

This is one of the most complicated situations, military operations, I think I can recall because the closest comparison is to American forces when they were trying to clear cities like Mosul of insurgents, you know, Sunni insurgents and things like that. And in those cases, you know, you had the same dilemma, do you flatten the block or do you send in American forces, which is a more surgical way to do it, but then American soldiers will be into the casualty.

So one of the reasons the Israelis are using so much air power, of course, is they are trying to minimize the casualties to Israeli soldiers, who otherwise would have to go through these buildings. But now you add this layer of complexity, which is the hostages. And where are the hostages? Are they in some of the places where these things are going on?

So I think it's a very complicated situation. My guess is the White House is just trying to get out information that would otherwise leak out anyway and kind of get ahead of it.

ACOSTA: And there seems to have been a gap, a pause in time since the last hostages were released.

[20:05:02]

There hasn't been a whole lot of momentum in getting more hostages out since we saw that take place. And on top of that, Fareed, we're seeing newborn babies inside Gaza hospitals being pulled out of incubators during these power outages that have been taking place from the fighting there. This talk of a 3-year-old American hostage that came out of the White House this evening. The civilian toll, the toll being absorbed by innocent children. It's just devastating, and it doesn't seem like there's any turning point in sight to all of this.

ZAKARIA: No, there isn't, because this is going to be -- as I said, it's a very long, very complicated military operation. The taking of Mosul took nine months, as I recall. And there you had the American army involved, with the Iraqi army involved. This is urban warfare of this kind is very, very tough. And one would hope that there would be a way to say, OK, you know, maybe that is the world we live in.

But is there some way to create, you know, kind of humanitarian enclaves like hospitals where you can get electricity, where you can get food, where you get fuel? And if it's not these hospitals, maybe you set up ones in safe zones? Because of course the Israelis say the problem is that Hamas has tunnels under these hospitals or they're operating from them. But surely there has got to be some solution to that.

It doesn't seem that we have to resign ourselves to the idea that thousands and thousands of innocent children have to die in a situation where people do have an enormous amount of capacity. You know, the Israeli army is an extraordinary powerful army. The Egyptians could get involved. The French have sent a floating hospital. You know, why not sail three hospital on ships or four.

ACOSTA: Right.

ZAKARIA: Whatever it would take it seems to me to avoid what is turning into really a kind of humanitarian catastrophe.

ACOSTA: Well, and how do you get patients out of the hospitals that they're now in Gaza into floating hospitals when there is so much fighting going on? We talked to a doctor earlier this evening who works with other medical providers inside the Al Shifa Hospital who said that they just don't have the ability to get out of the hospital, to evacuate, because there's so much intense fighting going on, and that they don't know who's shooting at them. They don't know if it's the Israelis or if it's Hamas.

And what is your sense of what's going on with these hospitals, Fareed? Because you heard Bibi Netanyahu reiterate once again today, and we heard these from other Israeli officials, they believe Hamas is running a military operation under the Al Shifa Hospital and under other civilian facilities. As you said earlier, enormously complicated and not a whole lot of information. We're kind of operating with just an information vacuum as to what's happening with these folks. ZAKARIA: Exactly. This is important to state. You know, you don't have

-- reporters don't have access into it. My sense is, if what the prime minister is saying is correct, the problem is, Israeli troops could go in and take over those hospitals, but it would be a bloody fight. There would be -- you know, Hamas is in these tunnels, and so what they are trying to do is sort of bomb various parts of it. You know, the parking lot here, the area around it, to clear out these fighters.

But apparently they are facing very real resistance. You know, this is a very different Hamas than existed 15 years ago. 15 years ago the weaponry was very crude. Hamas now has really quite sophisticated weaponry. And I think of course the Israeli army is much more powerful, but when you get into this kind of hand-to-hand urban combat on urban terrain that Hamas knows, I think, my sense is that the Israeli army is being very careful about how they proceed.

So there's a part of me that feels, why don't the Israel army just go in and take over these terrorists?

ACOSTA: Right.

ZAKARIA: Take over these hospitals and run them. And then they can be sure. But getting to that point I think would -- there will be a lot of IDF, Israeli forces' loss of life, and that is what my guess is what is preventing that from happening.

ACOSTA: And that leads me to a question that has really been on my mind, Fareed, and that is, is Hamas being let off the hook to some extent with so much of a focus being placed on the Israelis and Israeli culpability for these strikes that are around and sometimes hit these civilian facilities?

When you talk to the Israelis, and I've talked to a number of the IDF spokespersons who come on this program and other programs, they will say, well, where is the blame -- why is the blame not being put on Hamas for using these kinds of facilities, using civilians as shields? Don't they have a point?

ZAKARIA: Of course they have a point. Look, fundamentally when you are dealing with what is essentially a kind of terrorist organization or violent extremist organization, call it what you will, they never follow the rules of war.

[20:10:02]

I mean, by definition, they're going in and killing civilians. They're doing all kinds of things. The kidnapping of people that are -- the question is, does that then absolve the liberal democracy that is fighting them from all the rules? And this is again, the United States faced this when battling insurgents in Iraq, when battling ISIS, when battling al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

ACOSTA: Right.

ZAKARIA: And it's a difficult question, but I think in general the feeling is liberal democracies in particular still hold themselves to a higher standard, that part of what you are defending is the fact that you don't behave like Hamas. And so what I think is perfectly appropriate to point it out, I don't think that that means the Israeli government should say, oh, you know, all bets are off and we are going to behave exactly like them.

I'm not saying that they are doing that, but I think that that's what we have to -- you know, people have to think about when they say, you know, Hamas is not being held to these rules, that's absolutely right. And Hamas is the outlawed pariah, terror organization sanctioned by most countries in the world. Israel is not. Israel is a liberal democracy that is in good standing with most of the world.

So, yes, it is held to a higher standard. I don't know that I would describe that as unfair. I would say that no matter the provocation, you know, places like Israel and the United States have to still abide by what they regard as the rules of war.

ACOSTA: Yes. And just quickly, I don't have a whole lot of time, Fareed, but it struck me as, and I did want to talk to you about this, for the Secretary of State Tony Blinken to say there have been far too many Palestinian casualties. That sounds as though to me that the administration here in the U.S. -- I don't know if saying running out of patience is correct, but is trying to apply some pressure, delicately perhaps, that the toll is just too heavy in terms of what we've seen in Gaza.

ZAKARIA: I think you put it exactly right, Jim. I think that they are not running out of patience. I think the United States and the Biden administration has been very supportive of Israel, and understands that this is a, you know, really brutal terror attack. But it is -- it's asking Israel to focus on this very hard question which is, you know, clearly not intentionally, there is an element here of collective punishment when you have laid siege to all of Gaza, with 2.2 million. No food, no fuel, no electricity. The people who are dying because of those actions are not Hamas. They're just ordinary Palestinians.

ACOSTA: Right.

ZAKARIA: And is there some way to craft a military strategy that, you know, maybe you lose 5 percent or 10 percent of military efficacy, but maybe you save 5,000 or 10,000 lives. You know, is there a balance that could be struck that is different from the one that is now being pursued?

ACOSTA: All right, Fareed Zakaria, really appreciate the time this evening. Thank you so much, as always.

ZAKARIA: A pleasure.

ACOSTA: There are five days left until the government runs out of money, so what's the new House speaker doing to prevent that from happening? That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:24]

ACOSTA: Tonight chaos and finger-pointing among House Republicans as the country barrels towards another spending deadline. Lawmakers have just five days to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. You can see the countdown clock right there. The last time Congress faced the possibility of a shutdown, it cost then speaker Kevin McCarthy his job. He's now railing against members of his own party who ousted him, accusing them of not being conservative enough.

Let's get straight to CNN political commentator Margaret Hoover and CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. "Hoovalon" returns.

Guys, great to see you again. How do you think this is going to -- yes, good to see you, guys.

Margaret, let me start with you. How do you think this is going to play out with Speaker Johnson? He put out this sort of Louisiana two- step plan, I guess you could call it, yesterday. It did not seem to go over well inside his own conference. So, I mean, what's going to happen?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, a lot of people heads are scratching, Jim, because they don't understand what the Louisiana two-step or the laddered approach is going to achieve, how it's going to actually frankly serve any constituency within the House. And that's the problem. There's factions on all sides.

By the way, it's also Democrats that are scratching their heads at these Republicans, like not even moderate Republicans, like conservative Republicans like Tom Cole who are all wondering what this achieves. By the way, what we all know is it's also a nonstarter in the Senate. So --

ACOSTA: And the White House.

HOOVER: I have a lot of questions and concern about how this is going to be able to thwart the shutdown, avoid a shutdown rather. And --

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Spoiler alert. It's not.

HOOVER: There were a lot of folks who are thinking --

ACOSTA: Yes.

HOOVER: There are a lot of folks who are thinking perhaps Speaker Johnson had been one of these backbenchers who had been really sort of meticulously watching the levers of power and came in to fill the void at a time when he was going to surprise everyone at depth, tactical brilliance.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HOOVER: And people are really noting those presumptions at this point.

ACOSTA: Yes, John, am I too cynical to think that this plan is sort of the plan that comes before the next plan which may not actually be the final plan, and then we'll get to Thursday or Friday, and then they'll either figure it out or they won't, and we'll either be in a shutdown or we won't?

AVLON: Well, in this case I'm not going to be the messenger of hope over experience. I think experience and math would suggest that absolutist approaches to this aren't going to work. You know, the only way you're going to avoid a shutdown is if the center right, the center right work together, and the House and the Senate work together, and there are too many folks on the far-right that don't want to see that happen.

In the meantime, as we tricycle towards this shutdown again with the same structural problems -- I mean, our credit rate is getting downgraded by Moody's, and that's happening, you know, in the name of fiscal responsibility, we keep on paying more as a country. It's bonkers, this kind of self-inflicted dysfunction from the far right.

[20:20:15]

ACOSTA: It is, and Kevin McCarthy is railing against the Republicans, you know, in his own ranks who voted to oust him. Let's listen to this and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I don't believe she wins re-election. I don't think she'll probably have earned the right to get re-elected. People have to earn the right to be here. He doesn't have a conservative bent in his philosophy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. That was McCarthy going after Gaetz, and he was going after Nancy Mace today. He's not happy, but he has himself to blame for this, does he not?

HOOVER: Yes, well, in some ways, although look --

AVLON: He did the right thing, which is what got him kicked out of his conference. So that's the tragedy here.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HOOVER: He sacrificed his position of power to do the right thing so the country did careen toward or didn't end up in a shutdown on September 30th. So I am not a huge McCarthy supporter, but he did the right thing in that moment. And I don't see how the House Republicans are going to river this one.

ACOSTA: Yes.

AVLON: I appreciate the part referenced for my wife.

ACOSTA: Always welcome. And, you know, and guys, Biden is going to be meeting with Xi Jinping later this week. And I don't know if you saw this over the weekend, Trump had this rally up in New Hampshire where he was praising Xi Jinping again. I thought -- I was under the impression that Republicans they'd like to rail against China and Xi Jinping. Trump was praising him. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Xi is like central casting. There's nobody in Hollywood that could play the role of President Xi. The look, the strength, the voice. It's good to have a good relationship with Putin and Xi and all these people. They have lots of nuclear weapons. And Kim Jong-un, I have a good relationship with. He's a tough, smart guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: He really likes Xi Jinping. He likes dictators, but he really likes Xi Jinping.

AVLON: I'm so glad you're playing that because for some folks this is becoming the kind of the background music that's lulling people to sleep around this election. Donald Trump is running on a pro-dictator, autocrat adjacent platform. And folks got to wake up to it. I mean, every day there's another statement for a rally, or policy statement about, you know, mass deportations and, you know, camps and -- this is, you know, the -- but you're right because actually one of the few things that his administration conceded doing is changing the bipartisan contents around China. The only person who didn't get the message apparently is the former president.

This is utterly out of step from where the country is. And it shows just how instinctively fawning he is when it comes to dictators of all stripes because he admires them.

ACOSTA: Yes, Margaret, why is that he is not penalized in the Republican Party for saying things like this?

HOOVER: He is penalized -- I continue to be heartened by the fact that it does appear that about half of the Republican Party would prefer he not be the nominee. It just is that strong base of support that are the active primary -- self-identified Republican primary voters who will do -- go anywhere he goes, do anything he tells them to do, believe what he says.

And, look, I mean, the other dictator authoritarian adjacent -- I mean, he also lauded Hezbollah right after the Hamas attack against Israel. I mean, this is a man who actually -- he has continually and consistently demonstrated that he will do everything for himself at the expense of the country and at the expense of the best interest of the country. And frankly free nations around the world.

AVLON: Praising Putin in that same speech.

HOOVER: This is something we continue to be a bit lulled by especially because we're covering a traditional Republican primary contest by covering civil debates, and this man is abstaining from that process.

ACOSTA: Yes. HOOVER: And so I'm glad you're playing it. And remember, I don't want

to talk about Donald Trump any more than anybody else does except that he is the leading contender of the Republican nomination, and hence a major party candidate for the presidency.

AVLON: And you know, our colleague Manu Raju when he was interviewing Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy basically said Trump is going to be nominee before a single person has voted. That kind of cowardice and calculation is enabling Donald Trump. Make no mistake. So forget any spine because there ain't none with that kind of commentary.

ACOSTA: Well, I think it was McCarthy who resuscitated Donald Trump after January 6th. I mean, let's all remember that. He did go down to Mar-a-Lago and do that.

John, I did want to ask you about these developments in the Big Apple. The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, approached by FBI, asked him for his cell phone devices and his iPad and so on. And now there's this "New York Times" reporting that the FBI is probing whether or not Eric Adams was clearing some red tape for Turkey in order to have this consulate opened up in Manhattan.

[20:25:08]

It sounds as though there is some smoke here.

AVLON: There's more than a little smoke. I mean, you know, FBI agents don't seize the mayor of New York's electronic equipment, and then it's sort of downplayed by not mentioned by the mayor until it gets -- it goes public for the press.

ACOSTA: Right.

AVLON: Look, not to assume or we don't want to make any assumptions on an ongoing investigation, but this is potentially the tip of the iceberg because simple straw donor scheme is illegal but usually it wouldn't draw the attention of the FBI with this kind of a direct, you know, seizure of his information. He's Brooklyn Borough president at a time he's allegedly making these phone calls about a Turkish consulate in Manhattan.

But you've got to assume now while we wait for more facts and information that there is more here than meets the eye because that's the only way the FBI is going to seize the electronic equipment from the mayor of New York.

ACOSTA: Yes, that is no small thing. The FBI coming up to the mayor of New York City, America's largest city, and sir, can we have your device please? I mean, there has to be more to come.

Margaret Hoover, John Avlon, great to have Hoovalon back. Great to see you guys as always. Thanks so much. Have a --

AVLON: You too.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it. Tomorrow morning Donald Trump's lawyers will start their defense in

Trump's New York fraud trial, speaking of New York. We'll have a look at the strategy they might use, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:44]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have deranged Jack Smith. Have you ever heard of him? He's a lovely -- he's a lovely man. You have ever seen him with the purple little thing? He's a lovely man. The Trump-hating prosecutor in the case. His wife and family despise me much more than he does, and he decides -- I think he's about a 10, they're about a 15 on a scale of 10.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump, again, attacking Special Counsel Jack Smith and his family in this case. Smith is overseeing two federal cases against Trump, one on Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, one on his mishandling of classified documents.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen.

Norm, your sense of it when you hear the former president, we've heard him go after Jack Smith, to go after Jack Smith's family in that fashion. How is that going to impact this case? How might it impact the -- where things stand with this gag order?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's even worse to go after the family. And he said Jack Smith is a 10, but his wife and his family are a 15.

ACOSTA: Right.

EISEN: So it's a more intense focus. If the gag order were not stayed, this would be a violation. The gag order forbids targeting prosecutors or their family members --

ACOSTA: Do you think he took advantage of this? Is that --

EISEN: Completely. He's getting his licks in, Jim. Now it's normal in criminal cases to impose gag orders prohibiting attacks like this, and the Supreme Court has said you can do it because the strong First Amendment protections that we usually have must yield to the administration of justice and the people who administer justice. He's attacked the judge, he's attacked others.

We're going to have a hearing later this month in the D.C. Circuit, the appellant court to decide, will the gag order be turned back on or will it be stayed?

ACOSTA: And aren't they going to look at these comments -- I mean, to talk about the special counsel, that's one thing. To talk about his family, Norm, you and I both know what can happen when Trump riles up his base to a point and talks about people in a way that can, you know, lead one of his supporters to do something terrible. I mean, that is within the realm of possibility. That is not theoretical.

EISEN: This is a president whose words, according to Jack Smith, precipitated the violence of January 6th, and we've seen other violence associated with his followers, Jim. So it is very dangerous. It is risky, that's why we have a gag order. The record is already replete. We'll see if the record is reopened in the district court, and then -- but these kinds of comments are already in the record, and the court has an ample basis to decide.

It's an outstanding three-judge panel that you've got there, two Obama appointees and a Biden appointee. I think -- now they'd be protective of the First Amendment but there have to be limits. It's well recognized. The Supreme Court has said so. I think that this gag order is going to be reimposed.

ACOSTA: Did you see Trump making these comments or his legal team filing this motion that they want the D.C. federal trial, the election subversion case, to be televised? What do you think of that? What's going on?

EISEN: I wish it would be televised.

ACOSTA: Me too.

EISEN: Because the evidence that will be shown in that trial will be devastating proof of the assault on our democracy and the former president's alleged role. Let the whole country decide whether these allegations are well-founded or not. Unfortunately there's no way that this judge is going to televise the case.

ACOSTA: It's not going to happen?

EISEN: No, it's a nonstarter. The federal courts don't televise cases. They did a brief experiment. They shut it down before it was over. They like their privacy. And the argument the other way is imagine the risks to those involved who are depicted on television, but in Georgia, they're televising the proceedings.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

EISEN: It's a net benefit. So Trump is calling for it.

ACOSTA: As I like to say --

EISEN: Knowing that he's not going to get it.

ACOSTA: As I like to say, does anybody watch "Dateline"? You know what I mean, like, televised court proceedings have been around since, I don't know, since you and I have been around.

[20:35:00]

But, anyway, let me ask you this. What do we think is going to happen with the Trump defense in the civil fraud trial, the case up in New York? Do they have a defense?

EISEN: It's tough sledding for them because the judge has already found that these enormous disparities, you know, he says his apartment in Trump Tower was a little over 30,000 feet, it was slightly over 10,000 feet. We've talked about this before. This is not a matter of interpretation. That's 20,000 square feet.

ACOSTA: I can't believe he overstated things like that.

EISEN: And 40 Wall Street, and his Mar-a-Lago property, his Seven Springs property. You know the valuations at times were just bizarre multiples of the reality. Trump and his family, his fellow codefendants have lost that battle. The judge found that those disparities were fraudulent in granting partial summary judgment, now the rest of the trial was about, was it intentional or not, and what should the damages and the consequences be.

And we've got a taste of those defenses where -- when Don Junior testified, Eric testified, Ivanka, and of course Donald Trump himself. I just don't think that their attempt to defend, their pointing of finger at other people, that's not --

ACOSTA: Accountants, lawyers.

EISEN: That's not going to work.

ACOSTA: Yes.

EISEN: The accountants and the lawyers are supposed to get the information from the business people, not vice versa.

ACOSTA: Yes.

EISEN: So I just think that -- you know, they are using legal arguments of reliance and materiality that the banks didn't care. But, Jim, that's not the test. The test is, would a reasonable lender care if there were these grossly exaggerated valuations? Of course a reasonable lender would.

ACOSTA: Yes.

EISEN: So very tough sledding for them at trial, and I think they are playing for an appeal. They know they've lost the judge. Pretty tough on appeal as well.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right, Norm, great to see you as always. Thanks a lot.

EISEN: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: We have to sled into some commercials right now. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:08] ACOSTA: A gruesome discovery in Southern California has led to the arrest of the son of a once powerful celebrity agent. Samuel Haskell is charged with suspicion of murder after a woman's body part was found inside a dumpster. Now police are searching for the suspect's wife and in-laws.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins us from Los Angeles.

Camila, what's the latest?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim. So Samuel Haskell is just 35 years old and he was arrested on the suspicious of murder. He was arrested after someone here in a neighborhood in Los Angeles was looking through dumpster bins and they found a garbage bag with a woman's torso inside.

Now authorities say that they're still trying to identify the body parts, which, of course, are difficult to do and will take some time. but in the meantime, they say the evidence at the crime scene led them to Haskell's home. This is a house that he shared with his wife, his in-laws and three children. Now the children are safe, according to authorities, they are with family. But the three others, the wife and the in-laws, they are still missing.

Now multiple reports indicate that the torso likely belongs to his wife, but we are still waiting for all of those details from police. And in the meantime, just neighbors and a community in shock and terrified. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what to say. You know, no human should die like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That woman that's missing, grandma, I don't know but we're praying for her to survive, to live, to know what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what kind of a person can do something like that, honestly. It's another human being whether you know them or not. It's a human being. And it's very scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And police found blood and other evidence at the home that they searched. That's according to our affiliate KABC. They're also saying that no other human remains were found at the scene and this investigation obviously continues. Haskell is expected in court tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning local time here in Los Angeles. It's unclear if he has an attorney but we have reached out and we'll see what happens tomorrow in court -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Such a disturbing story. Camila Bernal, thank you very much.

President Biden in the meantime has some work to do with a key group of voters, Latinos. We'll examine why, next. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:47:54]

ACOSTA: Latino voters were a key component of Joe Biden's success in 2020 especially in swing states like Georgia. But that support may not be as robust next year, and CNN's Miguel Marquez spoke with some in this key voting bloc in the Peach State.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you happy with your vote for Joe Biden?

GABRIELA MARTINEZ, GEORGIA VOTER: Well, I didn't see something like really change. Like I didn't see changes and so I was expecting something.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Gabriela Martinez was expecting better. Both she and her husband work. They have one child, 6-year-old Roman. Every month, a struggle.

MARTINEZ: Right now, I work in three jobs because I have to, like, pay more things. Like, my house is more expensive.

MARQUEZ: Dalton, Georgia, bills itself, the carpet capital of the world, much of the labor here Latino immigrants living paycheck to paycheck. Many now view the Trump years as better for their bottom line.

JUAN MANUEL FERREIRA ZAMORA, GEORGIA VOTER: Latino community say when Trump was the president, we don't have high gas or inflation of their food.

MARQUEZ: Right.

ZAMORA: So this is the truth.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Pocketbook concerns, top of the mind in the support of this fast-growing voting bloc critical in key battleground states. Joe Biden won Georgia and its 16 electoral votes in 2020 by just 11,779 votes. That year, Latinos in the state backed Biden by a 25-point margin. While they were just 7 percent of the Georgia electorate, a small shift could affect the outcome in a tight race.

A recent "New York Times"-Siena College poll across six battleground states including Georgia found Trump running just eight points behind Biden among Latinos.

MARQUEZ: Do you think Latino votes in Georgia are up for grabs from either party in 2024?

ANDRES PARRA, PROGRAM MANAGER, GALEO IMPACT FUND: Absolutely. I think they're up for grabs from both parties. I think from any party, really. And I think there's a lot of frustration and a lot of broken promises.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): GALEO advocates for and works with Latinos statewide.

[20:50:02]

Andres Parra says Latino concerns mirror the country. Their biggest issues --

PARRA: Inflation and, you know, job pay, rent prices and health care.

MARQUEZ: Juan Jose and Soyla Patino, 63 years married, they raise seven kids. Now in their 80s, they still show up to work every day at their Atlanta snack shop.

What's important for most people living in Georgia, he says, is work. Patino says he's a Democrat but worries about the economy and crime.

Here in Atlanta, he says, many people are thinking bad things about murder and crime.

Diego Monsalve has lived in Atlanta and cut hair for 17 years. The candidate who will get his vote, the one he believes will improve both the economy and bring down crime.

MARQUEZ: Do you have a candidate in mind or are you in the media, are you in the middle?

DIEGO MONSALVE, GEORGIA VOTER: (Speaking Foreign Language)

MARQUEZ: So you're open to Democrat or Republican.

MONSALVE: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (on-camera): Look, it is not just Joe Biden who's going to have a hard time winning over Latino votes here in Georgia. We did speak to some Republican Latinos and moderates. They didn't want to go on camera but, look, they said they like the Republican Party. They want to own businesses. They like the business sense of the Republican Party. But they did say they'd have a hard time voting for Donald Trump.

It seems no matter who the candidate is or the party, they are going to have to work hard for Latino votes here in the Peach State. Back to you.

ACOSTA: All right. Our thanks to Miguel Marquez for that report.

In the meantime, there's been a sudden increase in antisemitism in the U.S. Coming up next, our Dana Bash joins us live with a preview of her report coming up on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER." Please stick around for that. We'll talk to Dana in just a moment. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:56:17]

ACOSTA: Jewish communities around the country and around the world are dealing with an alarming rise in antisemitism. Today in France, there were at least two large marches against antisemitism. Just minutes from now on "THE WHOLE STORY," our Dana Bash investigates why the Jewish community faces this threat in America. And Dana joins us now with a preview of her report "Antisemitism in America."

Dana, the spike in these incidents began really before the Israel- Hamas war. You've been covering this for some time now. But it's just gotten worse since.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really has. That was a spike. The (INAUDIBLE) 2022, but (INAUDIBLE) in the last 10 years around 2015, and you'll see why. And that has been sort of the template for where things were. Kind of the baseline. But a lot of the activity, a lot of the violence that we saw over the past years have been -- it's been from the extreme right, from white supremacists frankly. But what we also saw growing in a very, very slow way was antisemitism on the hard left. And that is now overflowing on college (INAUDIBLE).

ACOSTA: Dana, we're going to toss to a clip because your audio is breaking up. Let's go to Dana's clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Violence erupted when a pro-Palestinian demonstrator in the back of a pickup truck started to light an Israeli flag on fire.

DYLAN MANN, STUDENT, TULANE UNIVERSITY: A student on the Jewish side, he ran and he tried to get back the flag to save it from being burned. There were two kids in the back of the truck. One was holding the Israeli flag and one was holding a Palestinian flag on a very large pole. Once the Jewish student was able to retrieve the flag back, he started getting bashed over the head repeatedly with that pole. And when I saw that, that's when I ran in. I was trying to just get him out of the situation.

BASH: Then Dylan was beaten and attacked by two older men he says were not college aged.

MANN: I was completely blindsided by a man with a megaphone who hit me very viciously over the nose, which broke my nose. I went into complete shock. I went -- you know, I went deaf for a couple seconds. Like I seemed like I went blind maybe for a second.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And unfortunately we couldn't get Dana's audio back, but our thanks to Dana Bash for that clip and this upcoming report that she has. It's very important. Please tune in.

The new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," one whole hour, one whole story, is next right here on CNN on an extremely important topic. We thank Dana for her time putting this together for all of us.

In the meantime a portion of Interstate 10 in downtown Los Angeles remains closed in both directions tonight after a massive storage fire raged underneath the freeway just a short time ago. Mayor Karen Bass said officials still don't know when it will reopen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: Unfortunately there's no reason to think that this is going to be over in a couple of days. We cannot give you an estimate of time right now. But, as much as traffic is a challenge for all of us in our city, there will be no time like this when we will need to come together and all cooperate until the freeway is rebuilt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The blaze apparently started with a pile of wood pallets on Saturday. It then grew nearly two acres while damaging the freeway's structural support system. Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency.

We should note, though, in the meantime that no injuries have been reported as they try to get on top of that situation out in Los Angeles.

In the meantime, thank you very much for joining me this evening. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Hope you have a very good week and I look forward to seeing you again soon. Have a good night, everybody. Good night.