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Both UPenn's President And Board Chair Resign Amid Backlash; Trump Promises To Be A Dictator On Day One Only; Texas Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Woman's Emergency Abortion. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 09, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:08]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

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

We begin with breaking news. The president of the University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill resigned earlier this afternoon a short time ago. Scott Bok, the chair of UPenn's Board of Trustees who supported Magill, he also announced he is stepping down effective immediately. The controversy began after Magill's widely criticized testimony earlier this week up on Capitol Hill about antisemitism and free speech on campus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Specifically calling for the genocide of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment?

LIZ MAGILL, FORMER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESIDENT: If it is directed and severe, it is harassment.

STEFANIK: So the answer is yes.

MAGILL: It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.

STEFANIK: It is a context-dependent decision? That's your testimony today, calling for the genocide of Jews is depending upon the context? That is not bullying or harassment? This is the easiest question to answer yes, Miss Magill. So is your testimony that you will not answer yes?

MAGILL: If it is -- if the speech becomes --

STEFANIK: Yes or no?

MAGILL: If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment, yes.

STEFANIK: Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? The speech is not harassment?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: After facing widespread backlash after those remarks, Magill attempted to clarify her remarks the following day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGILL: In that moment, I was focused on our university's longstanding policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution which say that speech alone is not punishable. These policies need to be clarified and evaluated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But in the end, that was not enough, and CNN's Polo Sandoval is live.

Magill is out, Polo. What's the latest?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These were back-to-back resignations tonight, Jim, that were announced by the university. First we learned that the president of the University of Pennsylvania is stepping down and then just frankly moments later that university official who made that announcement saying that he, too, would be resigning.

Let's start with Liz Magill. She announced tonight that she would be stepping down from her position as UPenn president per the university statement. She will remain as tenured faculty at the law school there and also agreed to stay on board while they find an interim replacement.

As we've reported, students, faculty, staff, donors which are certainly a critical piece of this, all losing confidence. At least many of them losing confidence in Magill after that disastrous testimony on Tuesday in which she, along with the president at MIT and Harvard, failed to explicitly say that calls for the genocide of Jewish people would not immediately violate the university's code of conduct.

And then moments after we learned of her resignation, Scott Bok also saying that he, too, would be stepping down from his position as the chair of the Board of Trustees at the university. In a statement, Bok wrote, quote, "Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep. Following that, it became clear that her position was no longer tenable and she and I concurrently decided that it was time for her and I to exit."

Bok also defended Magill calling her a good person, a talented leader and, as he put it, not the slightest bit antisemitic. And then finally, Jim, also offering some perspective and some insight on that testimony from Tuesday saying that she was not herself. Bok wrote, "She was overprepared, over-lawyered, and provided a legalistic answer to a moral question," and that, Bok said, was wrong -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Polo Sandoval on the fallout at the University of Pennsylvania. Polo, thank you very much.

And University of Pennsylvania student Joe Hochberg joins us now. He's the vice president of the Jewish Heritage Program at the university. Joe, thank you very much for being with us. What's your reaction to

these resignations? Is it going to go far enough to contain the damage and make students feel more comfortable on campus?

JOE HOCHBERG, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA STUDENT: Yes. You know, the initial reaction from hearing these was ecstatic. We were really happy to see accountability finally being taken against some major failures, or administration to protect Jewish students on campus.

When antisemitism first started cropping up earlier this year around the time of the Palestine Rights Festival, I was really optimistic that the administration would handle it quickly and effectively. Penn, having an enormous history of a beautiful Jewish community here, a very active Jewish community here, I had a lot of confidence that it would be handled correctly.

And then time and time again I found that it was Magill and those that surround her were just dropping the ball and completely ignoring Jewish students' asks for protection because we were scared.

[19:05:13]

And so we're really happy to see that accountability is finally being taken because after seeing the mess-up that she had at Congress, we just couldn't defend her anymore. That was the nail in the coffin. To hear the president of the university that I attend say that she can't flatly condemn calls for Jewish genocide was disgusting and honestly a little scary. But at the end of the day, this is just the start.

This is a huge win for Jewish students all across the country. But the fight is not over because at the end of the day, just getting rid of a president who didn't do enough to protect Jewish students doesn't ensure that Jewish students will be protected moving forward. So that's the next step.

ACOSTA: And what about this statement from the president of the Board of Trustees, the chair of the Board of Trustees, Scott Bok? He essentially said that it was an unfortunate statement that President Magill made during her testimony up on Capitol Hill that led to her departure.

It sounds like from what you're saying, Joe, that this has been building for some time. And the university just hasn't really gotten the message when it comes to how thing are going on campus.

HOCHBERG: Yes. I mean, the fact of the matter is that she was asked a very simple question which was, is calling for a Jewish genocide against the policies of the University of Pennsylvania? She wasn't asked any type of harder question that actually involved more context. And her answer was that it was context dependent and that it could only be considered harassment if the words became actions.

And I was really taken aback by that because the question was regarding Jewish genocide and she said if it becomes action. So what I hear is, if calls for Jewish genocide on campus turn into a Jewish genocide on campus, then it would be considered harassment. And while I certainly hope that that would be at least considered harassment, the fact that it would take that much to hear our president say that it would indeed take that much for them to do anything to protect us, it was scary to hear.

And so I don't think that it was just an unfortunate response. I think that if she had given at left a more context on what type of context would be acceptable for a student or a faculty to make a call for Jewish genocide, I would be really willing to listen to her and to understand what she was trying to say. But even in her apology video she refused to explain what she meant. She actually never once said I'm sorry in that video. And so --

ACOSTA: Yes. It seems like she made matters worse.

HOCHBERG: She did 100 percent make matters worse. We gave her the benefit of the doubt many times. I especially was more willing to see how she would correct her mistakes from the very beginning with the Palestine Rights Festival. I was hoping that she would turn things around and make -- and make right the mistakes that she had made. But time and time again I found that she just dug herself a deeper hole.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right. Joe Hochberg, thank you very much for your time. I hope things get better on campus.

HOCHBERG: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Being in college is a great time in your life. So I hope things improve. Really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

HOCHBERG: Thank you. I appreciate it.

ACOSTA: All right. In the meantime, former President Donald Trump says he'll be a dictator only on the first day if he's elected back to the White House again. That's leading to some new concerns among his critics. Among them one of his former Homeland Security officials, Miles Taylor. He'll join us next to talk about that.

And later in the program the Texas Supreme Court blocks at least for now a Dallas woman's court approved exception to the state's abortion ban. We'll have that story as well.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:13:08]

ACOSTA: President Biden is delivering perhaps his sharpest warning about his likely Republican rival for the White House, telling donors at a fundraiser in California last night that, quote, "The greatest threat Trump poses is to our democracy." The president went on to slam Trump's role in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol saying, quote, "It's despicable, simply despicable," end quote.

The harsh rebuke comes days after the former president gave a chilling preview of what the first day of a second Trump term in office would look like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Except for day one.

HANNITY: Except for?

TRUMP: He's going crazy. Except for day one.

HANNITY: Meaning?

TRUMP: I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.

HANNITY: That's not -- that's not --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's drill down on this further. Joe Biden is not the only person familiar with Donald Trump to warn what a second presidency would mean for American democracy. Earlier today we spoke with the niece of the former president, Mary Trump. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY TRUMP, NIECE OF FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: We need to take Donald at his word to a certain point. We can't ignore the second half of that part. Dictators last I check don't stop being dictators. And he has every intention of destroying American democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now is Miles Taylor, he's former chief of staff to Donald Trump's secretary of Homeland Security. Miles is also the author of "Blowback," which takes a look at a second Trump presidency and what it would mean for the United States.

And Miles, I guess it's good to talk to you, as always. But I guess I have to ask you, first, what did you think when you heard Trump say he would only be a dictator on day one? I mean, what did you make of that?

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, Jim, I thought here we go again because anyone who thinks Donald Trump would be a dictator for one day deserves to have Donald Trump be their president.

[19:15:09]

We know it would be far worse than that. And I say here we go again because, Jim, you know this. I mean, five years ago from within the administration, I was warning that this guy was unstable. His Cabinet thought he was unstable. And the response is that people thought it was wrong to criticize Trump from within his administration.

Four years, you know, ago, I warned about the danger of re-electing him and people said it was the deep state. Three years ago, I made very clear that if he lost, he would not give up power and it would end tragically. People said that that was hyperbole. That Donald Trump would cede power. Republicans assured us that he could concede, and didn't.

You know, two years, made clear that he would run again and people said no. Trump is gone. He's not coming back to the scene. Well, here he is. He's back. And this year I made very clear that in a second term he would operate department by department like an autocrat.

Now I'm not saying this, Jim, because I have a crystal ball. I don't have a crystal ball. The point here is it is so obvious who this man is and how he will act in a second term and people can ignore it again but they will deserve what is coming to them if they ignore it. And to the point about one day, if Donald Trump wins office again, it would be 1,460 days that he's dictator. That's a four-year term.

But I have to add an asterisk to that because I genuinely believe he would not give up power. We already have precedent for that. That's the time of situation we're talking about here. And we don't have any historical precedent for it in the United States.

ACOSTA: And he's given as a window. His some of his aides and allies have given us a window on what he plans to do if he's reelected including mass deportations, another Muslim ban. He's talked about that openly out on the campaign trail. Firings across the federal government.

I mean, you were inside when he was president and you saw some of what he was up to back then. Is it a stretch to imagine those things actually happening and that this is more than just his usual rhetoric?

TAYLOR: Yes, Jim, it's not a stretch at all. This is how Stephen Miller, who's likely to be one of Trump's Cabinet secretaries in a second term, described the second term to me. He actually specifically described day one to me. He said day one, when we win, will be a shock and awe blitz. You've got to take him at his word. What does Stephen Miller mean by that?

He means in a second go-around, there's not going to be years of delay and indecision about whether to moderate Trump's position so he can win a second term. It will be throwing the kitchen sink at American democracy and doing all the things he's wanted to do by abusing federal power for partisan political process. That's what they're going to try to do on day one. And the pieces that were (INAUDIBLE) the most, Jim, are the weaponization of the national security community.

I mean, that's where, if you look anywhere in history, you see the most grievous abuses of power is when the army or domestic security forces are used against a leader's political enemies. And those are things that aren't just forecast of what Trump could do. He's talked about weaponizing the spy community, to spy on his adversaries. He has talked about creating his own mercenary force within the military so he doesn't have to go through a chain of command that he worries would disobey him.

He's talked about using the Department of Homeland Security to intimidate his opponents in Democratic sanctuary cities and to make sure that blue states don't get aid and red states do when there's natural disasters. I mean, this is laid out very clear. We know what will happen. And I do worry. It will be likely the end of the American republic as we know it if he comes back. Something that again, five, six, seven years ago, if you'd asked me, would have sounded like a crazy statement but it's the reality.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Miles, Axios is reporting, you know, some of the people that Trump plans to elevate into another administration, and these names are not surprising. People like Stephen Miller, you mentioned earlier Steve Bannon, Kash Patel. And then Kash Patel said this about Trump's plans for retribution and retaliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE IN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rigged presidential elections. We're going to come after you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, Miles, what did you think of that?

TAYLOR: Well, look, I mean, Jim, I've been told to prepare for lawsuits, that the Justice Department was preparing actions against him under the Trump administration. I think other people that turned against Trump, people in the media, they should take Kash Patel seriously because people like Kash Patel will be in leadership positions.

[19:20:09]

Now, Jim, the (INAUDIBLE), you're going to hear to that from an elected Republican is no, he's not going to put extreme people in those positions and even if he tries to, the U.S. Senate under the Constitution must offer advice and consent and confirm these people. Wrong. That's not what will happen, and I'll give you an example. At the end of the Trump administration, Donald Trump's secretary of Homeland Security for a year and a half, my former colleague Chad Wolff, was determined by a federal judge to have been appointed to that position illegally.

Do you know what the consequences were? There were not consequences for that. Trump learned a lesson. He can put people in posts. He doesn't have to get them confirmed. And even if Congress objects, Congress can't enforce its own laws. We should expect that. We should go into a second Trump administration clear eyed that these people will have their hands on the levers of power.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Miles, I remember when I was doing my reporting during the Trump administration, one of the things that a senior White House official told me about Trump and his discussions about Cabinet officials and so, he once said to some of his aides, how long can I keep acting secretaries around? That was going through his mind. He wanted to know how long he can keep an active secretary around because of these reasons that you about. He could circumvent a congressional oversight.

Well, Miles, great to talk to you as always. We appreciate it. We'll do it again some other time soon. But we're short on time. But, Miles, thanks a lot. As always, we appreciate it.

TAYLOR: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, good to see you.

In the meantime, a Dallas woman won her case for an exception to a Texas abortion ban. So why did the Supreme Court in that state then block it? One of her attorneys joins us next in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:52]

ACOSTA: Tonight the Texas Supreme Court is blocking at least for now a Dallas woman's court-approved exception to the state's abortion ban. Kate Cox, mother of two, says her baby is suffering from a rare genetic condition that is almost always fatal and that her own health is at risk.

CNN's Camila Bernal is following this for us.

Camila, what's the latest on all of this?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim, so Kate Cox, she's 31 years old. She's 20 weeks pregnant. And her fetus has a fatal genetic condition. So she says that the complications of her pregnancy have really been detrimental to her health, and she is worried about her future reproductive health. And this is according to her doctors in which she's been discussing with them. So she decided to sue the state of Texas to essentially ask them to allow her to get a legal abortion in the state. A judge in Texas granted that.

And this is significant, extremely significant, when it comes to the debate over abortion bans. And not only that but the medical exemptions in the state of Texas. This is a state with one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. You see those exceptions there. And so this ruling was very significant.

But the attorney general in the state of Texas did not agree with what the judge ruled so he asked the state Supreme Court to intervene. And that's exactly what they did here. Essentially freezing the lower court's decision, saying that it is a temporary block. That at some point they will review this case but did not give a timeline here. And time is really critical because, as we mentioned, she's 20 weeks pregnant.

So I want to read what her attorney said. And her attorney saying that they are very hopeful but still say, you know, that this is why people shouldn't beg for health care from a court of law. On the other hand you have Ken Paxton who is saying that essentially Kate Cox failed to demonstrate what life-threatening condition, or why she's at risk of death.

You see part of what he wrote there, saying that she fails to identify what life-threatening medical condition she has. Again, she says that this has been extremely difficult and she's had to go to the emergency room. Believes that if her child is to be born, it would only live for a few days. So she is asking for essentially the state of Texas to allow her to do this right now. The Supreme Court saying not yet.

ACOSTA: All right. Camila Bernal, thank you very much. Let's discuss more now with former Democratic state senator Wendy Davis of Texas, and Center for Reproductive Rights senior attorney Marc Hearron. That group is representing Kate Cox in court as Camila was mentioning a few moments.

Thank you both for being with us this evening. Really appreciate it.

Marc, let me start with you. How is Miss Cox handling this ruling? It feels as though the clock is ticking and there's not a whole lot of time here for her to get some resolution to this. How is she doing?

MARC HEARRON, SENIOR ATTORNEY, CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: She's obviously on pins and needles waiting to see what the Texas Supreme Court is going to say. The order that came out last night is what's called an administrative stay. And what that essentially means is that the Texas Supreme Court is saying it needs more time to consider the issues and it is going to give us a more fulsome order. At some point in an indeterminate future.

But as we mentioned time is of the essence. Miss Cox is 20 weeks pregnant. And every day that goes by, the risks to her health increase. Her doctors have told her that in their best medical judgment, the treatment that she needs to be able to preserve her ability to have kids again in the future for this pregnancy, it's an abortion because this pregnancy is not going to end with a healthy child. She's a received a fatal fetal diagnosis. And so for the state of Texas, to force her to continue to carry this pregnancy, there is really no justification for it.

ACOSTA: Wendy, what is your reaction to all of this? I know you've been on the frontlines on this battle for some time. What do you think?

WENDY DAVIS, SENIOR ADVISER, PLANNED PARENTHOOD TEXAS: Jim, I have been on the frontlines. And I have to tell you, I also personally have experienced the very thing that this woman in Texas is going through, also a fatal fetal abnormality prior to the law being enacted that, of course, banned abortions in our state, and I was able to get the care that I need, even in spite of that.

[19:30:05]

It was the most emotionally, stressful, difficult experience I have ever been in my life and I cannot imagine what she is going through with this added stress of not being able to get the care that she needs, having to fight through a court of law and against our attorney general to get that care.

It's just extremely excruciating and it breaks my heart that she is going through it. I hope that people see that this is an example of the fact that these exceptions as they are written, tend to be fairly meaningless, because in a state like Texas, where the consequence to a doctor and a hospital who violate the law, if it is determined to be the case that they've done so is that they will lose their medical license, and they can literally spend the rest of their life in prison.

It's a terrible situation on the ground here.

ACOSTA: Hey, Marc, I have to ask you, what Miss Cox has been going through in all of this because it sounds as though, please correct me if I'm wrong here is that in addition to talking with her doctor about what the condition of her fetus is, and how all of this might affect her own health, she has to go through state officials, she has to go through courts. She is asking the government for permission to get health care. Is that it?

HEARRON: That's basically right.

I mean, Jim, it is ludicrous that she has had to file this lawsuit, but that is where we are in 2023 in the state of Texas, where the state officials are threatening to send doctors to prison for the rest of their lives if they provide essential health care.

But it's even worse than that, because not only did the doctors serve -- you know, say they believe that she qualifies for an exemption. Not only did she go to court to file this lawsuit and get approval from a judge who says yes, I agree with you, you qualify for this exemption.

But even after all of that, Ken Paxton comes along and says he disagrees with the doctors. Apparently, he can exercise or he can practice Medicine better than Kate Cox's doctors can, even though to my knowledge, he doesn't have a medical license.

And he is also saying -- he is thumbing his nose at the judge's order saying, telling the hospitals that if they move forward and allow Miss Cox to have the abortion that she needs, that he is going to come after the doctors in any way, notwithstanding what the judge has already decided.

So this is just upside down world. I don't understand why we're going through this. This is a patient who needs health care, just like many, many other patients all across the state of Texas who don't have the ability and the capacity to file a lawsuit.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEARRON: So, this situation has got to end.

ACOSTA: And just follow up on that Marc, and I want to go to the next one, so is she in a situation here, your client, where she just may have to carry this pregnancy to term and deal with the fallout, and deal with the medical consequences of it. That's what we're talking.

HEARRON: That's clearly what -- that's what Ken Paxton is trying to force her to do. I mean, she'll continue to examine all of her options if we don't get relief from the Texas Supreme Court, but that's clearly another --

ACOSTA: She could go to another state, potentially, I guess? Is that one of the remedies. I know they don't want to go that route.

HEARRON: There are -- sure -- right, she will look at other options. She shouldn't have to go out-of-state. No one should have to go out- of-state to get this health care. You should be able to have it with your doctor, in your community, at your local hospital. No one should be forced to even consider, you know, finding childcare and arranging for all of the logistical things. You should be able to do this at home.

ACOSTA: And Wendy, is there any relief that she could get at the federal level? Or is the country in a situation now and is the state of Texas in a situation now because of the Dobb's decision, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, essentially, is putting this in the hands of state lawmakers and governors and state courts and so on, where there really isn't much federal relief for people like Miss Cox.

DAVIS: That's exactly right. Of course, Dobbs determined that this issue would be one that would be regulated specifically and strictly by the states. We haven't seen any federal action by Congress to do otherwise, and as we exist, under the Dobbs decision, we are going to continue to see people experience the devastating outcome of what it means to lose abortion access in states like Texas.

[19:35:10]

I want to take my hat off to the Center for Reproductive Rights, who not only are representing Miss Cox, but also in another case before the Texas Supreme Court, more than 20 women whose health has been endangered by virtue of the abortion ban here who have sought relief.

And I just want to express my gratitude not only to the center, but for every one of these individuals who is pushing back against this through a court of law, it's our only opportunity to get any correction right now, until our voters have a chance, of course to express themselves at the ballot box and to let people know who our elected officials in Texas that we are not going to accept this as our new normal and as the status quo.

ACOSTA: All right, Marc Hearron, please keep us posted on how Kate is doing, and Wendy Davis, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate both of you joining us tonight. Thanks a lot. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:24]

ACOSTA: The State Department is requesting the immediate sale of thousands of munitions to Israel, the move would bypass the standard 20-day congressional review. This comes as the US vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised that move while the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas condemned the veto calling the US position unethical.

Today, there have been heavy clashes between the Israeli military and Hamas in multiple parts of Gaza including in the south and CNN's Alex Marquardt has the latest for us.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Jim, there was intense fighting and airstrikes reported all over the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as fierce clashes between Hamas militants and Israeli soldiers around the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza, which Israel is still trying to take full control of.

In the central part of Gaza, we also saw airstrikes hitting a building that residents say had some 150 people inside, including many who had fled from the fighting in the northern part of the strip. There were chaotic scenes as the bodies of the dead and wounded were taken to a local hospital in that area, Deir al Balah.

But much of the fighting, the most intense fighting that we've seen over the course of the past few days has been around the biggest city in the south, Khan Yunis. That's where Israeli officials believe that some top Hamas leaders may be.

Israeli troops are trying to encircle the city. They say that they're breaking through Hamas' defensive lines, that they're fighting from house-to-house, tunnel-to-tunnel they say.

And tonight, the IDF issued what they called an urgent appeal for residents and civilians of central Khan Yunis to evacuate. They posted a map online saying that people in five specific areas need to go to a sixth area where they say shelters have been established.

The IDF posted a map, but it is unclear to what extent the Palestinians in Khan Yunis have internet connectivity and can get online to see this map. It is unclear whether they know to check Israeli channels or whether they can understand this very complicated map. And we don't know really what shelters are in that area that Israel is telling these residents of Khan Yunis to evacuate to.

At the same time, thousands of people have gone even farther south towards the city of Rafah near the border with Egypt where there is some shelter, but the shelters there are overflowing, people are sleeping in the streets. There is no fuel. There is little food, little water.

The Red Crescent said that around 100 trucks of aid did cross into Gaza from Egypt today, but that is still well below the average number of trucks that were crossing into Gaza during that fragile seven-day pause.

Now officials say that some 85 percent of the Gazan population is now displaced, while the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health says that more than 17,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7th -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, our thanks to Alex Marquardt for that report.

In the meantime, some dramatic images coming in from the severe swim a battering the Mississippi River Valley. You can see that tornado right there. Take a look at that, barreling its way across Tennessee. We're going to have an update on the ground in just a few moments when we come back.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am sure, it can get it like a cow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Wow. Look at that video right there. This is in northwest Tennessee, a massive tornado hitting the state. Officials there urging drivers to stay off the roads for that reason right there, that tornado passing right in front of the storm chaser there in Clarksville, Tennessee.

At least three people have been injured as a result of these tornadoes, but that's just the early estimate. So far, this tornado is part of a massive storm system now threatening several eastern states as it moves across the country and CNN meteorologist, Elisa Raffa is in the CNN Weather Center for us.

Elisa, I mean that paints the picture right there for us. My goodness, to see a tornado cross a roadway like that with just total destruction. It's just absolutely remarkable what we just saw there.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And what's been incredible about this is that we're seeing video like that, not just out of Clarksville, we are waiting in the morning now that it's dark out -- by the morning, we'll see what's probably going to be catastrophic damage out of some of the suburbs of Nashville just north of Nashville.

So far, we have about 15 tornado reports. That means just sightings, that number will go up and we'll have to have a clearer picture of what's actually confirmed and what that strength might have been. Wind and hail, plenty of those reports as well.

Now, I've put this in here because I want to explain something. Parts of the Nashville suburbs had a tornado emergency. A tornado warning, we are kind of used to, right? That's when we see that tornado, it is either spotted, either in-person or on the radar.

The emergency is that the tornado was violent. It uses words like catastrophic, so really just looking at catastrophic images by tomorrow morning of some of those Nashville suburbs and we were hoping not, but the data is showing that.

[19:50:08]

You know, in some of those early reports on social media, just showing that that damage is pretty bad already. So there is the cluster of some of the tornado reports, northern Tennessee, Southern Kentucky there.

The radar right now is showing that we still have this line of showers and storms rolling through. You see these orange boxes, those are the severe thunderstorm warnings. You have a tornado warning, that pink box there, that continuing for parts of northern Alabama there.

So again, we'll continue with this threat. We do have that watch in effect still until about 11 o'clock this evening. You see, it's been expanded to parts of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, Alabama, and then even getting into Mississippi.

This tornado watch continuing through 11 o'clock this evening for some of these communities as we continue with this tornado threat. Again, some of the video that we've been seeing has just been incredible of some of these tornadoes.

Now, here is what happens the next couple of hours. We will continue to find this rip pushing East on the overnight. You could see the storm still kind of firing up and billowing as they move towards eastern Tennessee.

Then things start to relax in intensity as it gets into North Carolina. We'll have some showers and storms, some of that rain could be heavy, and then this is why the storm system has been so potent. It's got cold air parked right behind it and that is going to punch some of the snow risk with it for parts of interior New England. So this is a threat that we're watching unfold right now with that enhanced risk.

And here's the threat tomorrow. So you can see the difference where the intensity dies down, not quite the same tornado threat for some of those states like the Carolinas into Georgia, but still on the lookout for some damaging winds and couple of tornadoes as well. The threat not totally over yet. We'll be watching that tomorrow.

And then the flooding risk from the same system up in the northeast looking at two to four inches of rain from Maine down into DC. Some flooding there as the storm again just continuing to pack a punch, some of these rain totals, up to two to four inches up the East Coast, and again could pack six to eight inches of snow there.

So something that we will have to watch. It is multi-hazard with the snow, with the cold, with the rain, with the flooding, and as you're seeing here, some of the tornado images that we've been seeing this evening are just, you know -- and as we get into nighttime here, it's going to be difficult for people to kind of really know what some of that damage is until tomorrow morning.

And it is why they are urging residents, they always urge residents at night to really heed the warnings and stay home because at night, these tornadoes are even more dangerous, because you can't see.

ACOSTA: That's right.

RAFFA: It's hard to get those alerts in the middle of the night, and hopefully, you know, we won't have too much to worry about going into tomorrow. But you know, we'll have to keep checking on those reports -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, stay home. Play it safe. You don't want to be this guy, the guy that got the storm chaser video with a tornado going right across the street in front of him. I know storm chasers want to get the best shot and everything, but that's cutting it very, very close.

All right, Elisa Raffa, very good report, warning folks up and down the East Coast in the south, big storm system might be coming your way, so please be careful. Play it safe. Stay home if you don't need to go out.

Elisa Raffa, thanks so much.

And we'll continue to monitor all of this breaking news. We will be right back.

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[19:57:41]

ACOSTA: When it comes to the US economy, the numbers may be better than you think. Unemployment fell and jobs rose in the latest monthly Jobs Report. Inflation is low compared to the rest of the world, and prices are finally calming down at gas stations and grocery stores.

Let's discuss with Jon Hilsenrath. He's the author of "Yellen: The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval."

There might be a little upheaval between now and election.

JON HILSENRATH, AUTHOR, "YELLEN": There has been a lot of upheaval for the Treasury Secretary over the last few years.

ACOSTA: A lot of upheaval. No question about it. But it almost -- and that dovetails to what I want to talk about. It almost feels like things are calming down on the economic front to some extent. We had this Jobs Report on Friday. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold. The unemployment rate is hanging at a pretty decent number with the president running for re-election. What's your sense of things?

HILSENRATH: Well, you would think this would all be great news for a president running for re-election, but as you mentioned, in the preview there, we still have price increases that people are feeling, but the job market is strong.

And you know, it has been slowing down, and I was a little worried the unemployment rate was going to keep going up and we saw that downtick in that last report, so that was good news, and is exactly what -- you know everyone is concerned about interest rates right now. When is the Fed going to stop raising interest rates?

You know, the fact that the job market is slowing in a perverse way is good news, because it gives the Fed some confidence that these inflation numbers are going to start to soften.

ACOSTA: Well, and I mean, a couple of different things there. You mentioned the interest rates, I mean, that has had a whole industry of people freaked out, the housing industry, for example. It is extremely difficult for people to buy a house when the interest rates rise as fast as they have, you know, this jobs report may help in that regard.

HILSENRATH: Well, and it is especially hard for first time homebuyers, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

HILSENRATH: So if you own a house, then you at least have some equity in that that you could flip into another one. But if you're trying to get into the market for the first time, and the mortgage rate has gone up to seven percent and prices have risen, it's a really difficult time, and it is why people are watching interest rates so carefully.

On Wall Street, obviously, they're also watching interest rates really carefully, and what we have seen is some expectation that maybe inflation has slowed down enough that the Fed might start cutting interest rates next year. So, we're watching that really closely.

ACOSTA: Yes. That is a big expectation that rates actually might get cut, but inflation, that I think is where if the Biden folks are wondering where they're running into trouble, it's with inflation.

HILSENRATH: Everything is inflation for the Biden administration and for households. The most important thing that could happen for this economy right now is for inflation to continue to slow.

Because then people start feeling their pocketbooks, their paychecks going further than they've been going the last few years. You know, like we were just talking about the price of a meal at Chick-fil-A.

ACOSTA: I was just thinking -- we were doing some that during the commercial break. We're out of time. But yes, when you go into a fast food place, and the price is thirty, forty, fifty percent of whatever you are paying --

HILSENRATH: You know, if you pay $10.00 for a package, a hamburger meal, a couple of years ago, it's $15.00 now and you're still feeling that. We need to see more relief on that front.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. All right, Jon, we'll bring you back to talk about this further.

Jon Hilsenrath, thank you very much.

In the meantime, thanks very much for joining me this evening. I'm Jim Acosta. Have a good night.

In the meantime, celebrities helping make the world a better place. It's a CNN Heroes special that's coming up next.

Have a goodnight.

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