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Protesters Gather In Tel Aviv After IDF Mistakenly Kills Hostages; Tracking Russian Intelligence That Went Missing Under Trump; Interview With Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA); U.S.: Next Phase Of War Will Precisely Target Hamas; Major Storm To Slam Florida Before Heading Up East Coast; How Important Are Endorsements For Presidential Candidates?; Giuliani's Fall From Grace. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 16, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:27]

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

We begin with new details after three Israeli hostages were mistakenly shot and killed by Israeli soldiers inside Gaza. The chief of the Israeli Defense Forces says he takes responsibility calling it a, quote, "difficult and painful event." A military official says the three men came out of a building shirtless waving a white flag when they were shot by Israeli soldiers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling it an unbearable tragedy.

And this was the demonstration that unfolded in Tel Aviv tonight. Hundreds of protesters and families of hostages pleading for the Israeli government to bring back their loved ones. This comes as another hostage, 27-year-old Inbar Haiman, has died while being held captive by Hamas, according to the Israeli prime minister's office. Her death means 21 hostages have now died inside Gaza, while 129 others remain held captive at this hour.

And CNN's Alex Marquardt is live for us in Tel Aviv.

Alex, the prime minister just spoke. What's he saying about the hostages? What can you tell us?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we actually just got back from that rally. It just ended. And it was very emotional, and there were a lot of people out there who feel like Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't doing nearly enough to bring those hostages home. Now he did speak just a short time ago. He said that the whole country is mourning, and he talked about the horrible tragedy that happened yesterday with these three hostages killed.

He said we were so close to embracing them, basically they were so close to being freed and escaping from more than 70 days in captivity. But he did not take any kind of responsibility for what happened then yesterday with those Israeli troops killing the Israeli hostages. He actually said that military pressure is what is needed to get these hostages home. He has repeatedly pointed to the military operations as a way of squeezing Hamas to get those hostages released. And a lot of these hostage families disagree with that and are now

saying that Israel needs to be much more proactive about putting a plan on the table, about negotiating with Hamas to get the hostages home now. I spoke with the cousin of one of the hostages, Gil Dickman. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIL DICKMAN, COUSIN OF HOSTAGE: Now we understand that what we feared, what we warned from, actually happened. I think none of us could actually imagine such a horrible thing happening, like what happened yesterday. And now that it happened, we all understand that there must be -- they must change things. They must do it right now because every minute, every hour puts their life in danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So Gil and others I spoke with at that rally, Jim, talked about the significant concern they have for the safety of the hostages. We've heard -- hostages who've been released talking about how IDF strikes have landed all around them, how hostages have been wounded because of the fighting, and so what the people who have been protesting for the last two nights are demanding is a plan to really jumpstart these negotiations that have essentially come to a standstill -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Alex, thank you very much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:08:04]

ACOSTA: And we are back with the major news we're following out of the Middle East. Three Israeli hostages were mistakenly shot and killed by Israeli soldiers inside Gaza. And here to discuss, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren.

Ambassador, your reaction to these tragic deaths and the new details that we're getting. What's your sense of things today?

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Hi, Jim, good to be with you. Excruciate, unbearable. We didn't think that we could endure any more pain from this war and what precipitated the onslaught of October 7th, but this is truly unbearable. Unbearable for the families of the hostages who were killed, unbearable for the soldiers who killed them, who have been in combat for many weeks now, in the fog of combat, facing an enemy who doesn't wear a uniform, and can even be a suicide bomber.

So tremendous confusion. We've heard already on your broadcast that the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces took responsibility. The defense minister took responsibility. All these are extraordinary events here in Israel, and we're reeling with it. Having said all that, I think the vast majority of Israelis are determined to continue the struggle until Hamas is defeated because it faced the war. We have no option. ACOSTA: And Ambassador, I mean, should this tragic mistake be some

kind of catalyst for re-examining the military strategy in Gaza? I mean, I understand what you're saying that Israelis by and large are going to want to continue the struggle and defeat Hamas and all of those larger goals that you laid out. But there is a case that could be made that the strategy needs to be re-examined. Your sense of that?

OREN: Well, the strategy has been to put pressure on Hamas, and we know that that pressure was what led to the initial hostage releases, and I have a strong feeling that there will be further negotiations, further hostage releases in the coming days, certainly the coming weeks as the IDF military noose closes around Hamas's neck in Gaza.

[16:10:09]

But having said that, if there's another strategy, I can't really put my finger on it. What would it be? Hamas wants one thing and one thing only, and that's to survive. And its leaders have said very openly that if it survives, it's going to plan the next assault on Israel. So what option do you have but to continue the ground assault and hope that Hamas will give up more hostages in the end?

Maybe at the conclusion of the war, there's a grand bargain, similar to what Israel will lead to the PLO back in 1982 in Beirut where the PLO terrorists got on boats, went off to Tunis, maybe we can send Hamas terrorists off to some country like Algeria and Libya, and get all the hostages back. But we're not there. And so the ground incursion is going to continue. The army will draw its lessons from this terrible tragedy, and beware of the possibility that as Hamas control begins to fragment, begins to deteriorate, some hostages may find themselves walking out of captivity and trying to get back, try to link up with Israeli forces.

ACOSTA: Yes, and the head of Israel's intelligence agency is set to meet with Qatar's prime minister to discuss the hostage situation. Is it time for another pause in the fighting, to get those negotiations going again so more hostages can get out and potentially head off a tragedy like we've seen with these three hostages who were killed?

OREN: Definitely, I don't think it'd head that off. I think the army being aware of the fact that there could be hostages who are somehow finding their way to freedom and being aware of that because nobody was aware of it before the horrible events of yesterday. And yes, I do expect there'd to be another round certainly of negotiations and hope those negotiations will bear fruit. At the end of the day, Hamas will not release all the hostages.

Hamas knows that when the last hostage is freed, that's when Israel could fill those tunnels with sea water or some flammable substances and that would be the end of Hamas. Those hostages are the get-out-of- Gaza-free card for Hamas. And so the ground incursion will continue. The pressure will continue to mount on Hamas. Hopefully it will relinquish as many hostages as possible and maybe there's some grand bargain at the end of it.

Now keep in mind, one other thing that people tend to forget that Hamas is demanding the release from Israeli prisons of terrorists who have been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Israelis. If Israel were to release those prisoners, you'd have to deal with the families of those murdered Israelis. They count too, and even a pause means that Hamas will reorganize and regroup and rearm, and we'll maybe gain some hostages' lives but we're liable to lose some soldiers' lives as well.

ACOSTA: Ambassador, I mean, you understand the language of diplomacy all too well. I mean, we're seeing the U.S. change its language to some extent. The administration has been pushing Israel to down shift from, quote, "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza. I mean that's the language that's been used, to more precise strikes that might not hurt as many civilians.

Why do you think the Biden administration is saying that right now? Do you think the Netanyahu government will take that to heart?

OREN: I don't think the answer is diplomatic, Jim. I think it's more political. I think it has to do with the, you know, 2024 elections and the polls that show that the support for the administration's policies toward Israel, toward this war have not been popular in certain segments of the Democratic Party, the progressives. Young people in certain key states, and I think that's found expression.

The administration is actually talking in two very different voices. You have a spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, spokesman for the State Department Matt Miller coming out in very strong terms supporting Israel and saying Israel is doing more and even going above and beyond in trying to reduce civilian casualties, and then you have other voices that you just quoted saying that we've been bombing indiscriminately.

Israelis, I must say, sort of bristle at that because we wouldn't be losing so many soldiers, and we lost just 10 soldiers in one incident two days ago if we were bombing indiscriminately. Some Israelis will say, well, OK, if we're losing as many soldiers, and people are accusing us of bombing indiscriminately, maybe we should. But we're not. And we're taking extraordinary measures to try to limit civilian casualties.

It is impossible because we are dealing with an enemy who is hiding behind the civilian population, and literally underneath them with hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath cities and towns. So it is a complex and brutal and agonizing trouble as we've seen. With no easy answers. No matter how you look at it, there's no easy answers. The only thing Israel can do and a vast majority of Israelis would agree with me is to continue the struggle to remove Hamas from the control of Gaza and give a better future not just for our people but also for the Palestinians themselves.

[16:15:05]

ACOSTA: All right, Ambassador Michael Oren, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

OREN: Thank you, Jim. ACOSTA: All right. Here in Washington, questions are swirling over the

location of a binder holding some of the United States' most closely guarded national secrets. The highly classified information about Russian interference in 2016 presidential election went missing in the final hours of the Trump presidency. These are documents considered so sensitive that the House Intelligence Committee secured them in a safe inside another safe, a CIA vault, and more than two years later that binder is still missing.

CNN's Jeremy Herb is part of the team that broke this story.

Jeremy, what is the situation right now with this binder? Do people in the U.S. government still have no clue where it is? What's going on?

JEREMY HERB, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, you know, that's the mystery that we have spent many months now trying to get to the bottom of. Now this binder, this contained raw intelligence collected by the U.S. and its NATO allies that informed the government's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to help Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

And this was one part of a massive collection of documents that Donald Trump ordered brought to the White House in the final days of his presidency as part of an effort to declassify material related to the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. And it set off a mad scramble at the White House to redact these documents of this sensitive information, with the idea being that they could then be declassified and released.

Now the president did issue a declassification order on the final full day of his presidency but that did not actually lead to these documents being released. The circumstances about how this binder went missing, it really still remain shrouded in mystery. But the situation was so alarming to intelligence officials that they actually briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leadership about this situation last year -- Jim.

ACOSTA: And Jeremy, one of Mark Meadows' top aides, Cassidy Hutchinson who we know very well from testifying before the January 6th Committee, she says, she's, quote, "almost positive the binder went home with Mr. Meadows," referring to her former boss, the former White House chief of staff. But he has denied that through an attorney or something along those lines? He's saying I don't have it. So what's going on?

HERB: Yes, I mean, Jim, we don't know where this binder is, but Cassidy Hutchinson, she has put forward one theory that has emerged. And what she says is that she as you said in congressional testimony was almost positive that this went home with Mr. Meadows. She also wrote about it in her book saying that he took it home. Excuse me, she saw him taking it from the White House on the second to last day of the presidency tucked under his arm.

Now as you said, Mr. Meadows' attorney, he strongly denies this, and he said in a statement to CNN, Mr. Meadows was keenly aware of and adhered to requirements for the proper handling of classified material. Any such material that he handled or was in his possession has been treated accordingly and any suggestion that he is responsible for any missing binder or other classified information is flat wrong.

Now it's also worth noting here, Jim, that this binder and this intelligence was not among the items that was found when the FBI searched the former president's residence last year, Mar-a-Lago, and it also was not among the items that the FBI was looking for when it searched Mar-a-Lago. So it's one of those things that we are still trying to unravel and get to the bottom of this mystery -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Jeremy Herb on the case of the missing binder. Jeremy, thank you very much.

Joining me now to talk about this is Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. He was a member of the House Intelligence Committee when it reviewed some of these classified documents, if I have that correct.

Is that correct, Congressman? Did some of the members of the Intelligence Committee have a look at some of this? It went through some processes of redactions and so on or attempts to declassify, if I understand some of the reporting correctly. What do we know about these documents?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Yes, Jim, so we certainly reviewed everything around Russia's effort to interfere in our election. The work, you know, with the Trump team, the president's own invitation to the Russians, and how he wanted them to interfere. We looked at all of that.

As to the specifics on what the Trump White House had and what is missing, I can't speak to that, but shocker, right? I mean, this is so on brand in two ways for the Trump White House. One, Donald Trump surrendered in every way to Vladimir Putin. So it wouldn't surprise anybody if what we'd find out is that's something that would help Russia is in the hands of someone on the Trump campaign. And Trump certainly did not have respect for classified materials, even when asked to return them as we saw in the FBI search.

[16:20:00]

And when you go back to, you know, why he was impeached the first time, it was because he was willing to leverage U.S. resources, $350 million, to try and get dirt on his then opponent, candidate Joe Biden. So that's why you can never give the keys to our national security secrets to this guy because he would always, always, always try and leverage it for his own personal benefit.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, do you think Mark Meadows has his hands on this missing intelligence? I mean, what was he doing -- I mean, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, he took it with him at one point. What does that mean for Mark Meadows in all of this?

SWALWELL: Well, Cassidy Hutchinson has proven herself to be a very credible witness in all things Trump. Mark Meadows has proven himself to not be credible in all things Trump. But you know, it's really -- it's the job of the FBI, and I'll respect, you know, their ability and mandate to track down these materials and update Congress as to where they are.

ACOSTA: And I did want to ask you about this Republican impeachment inquiry into President Biden. I understand you told "Politico" that you reserved the space outside the Capitol for Hunter Biden, the president's son, to deliver his rebuke to Republicans. What compelled you to step in? What's your sense of how Hunter Biden handled all of that, and where is this inquiry headed?

SWALWELL: Yes, James Comer wanted Hunter Biden to testify publicly. Multiple times he said he can come publicly or privately. And then when Hunter said, OK, I don't trust you guys to be in private, I'll do it publicly. Then Comer shifted his position. And so Hunter came to our press conference and said I'm here publicly, and also, I thought very admirably recognized that he'd made mistakes in the past as an addict.

I have, like many millions of Americans, a loved one who's suffered through addiction and has become clean. And it's just perverse to me that Republicans are weaponizing his addiction because they've never accepted his father, Joe Biden, as president. And he made it clear, there's no dot to connect between his own personal issues with finances and then Vice President Joe Biden.

And so Republicans won't take yes for an answer. He's willing to testify publicly. They won't accept that, and I think you saw why when he spoke at the Capitol.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, let's play something that Republican Congressman Jim Jordan said during the second Trump impeachment and talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): It's always been about getting the president no matter what. It's an obsession, an obsession that has now broadened. It's not just about impeachment anymore. It's about canceling -- as I've said, cancelling the president and anyone that disagrees with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Is Congressman Jordan now doing what he railed against in 2021, right after January 6th we should note?

SWALWELL: Yes, and by the way, in that speech, he's defending a guy who incited and aimed a mob violently at the Capitol, who attacked Capitol Police officers, 150 of them who were injured, one lost an eye, one lost a finger. Many would die in the days after by suicide. And so there's really no equivalent between what Donald Trump did and what they are trying to do. But they never have accepted Joe Biden as the president, from when Speaker Johnson was the architect of the idea you could overturn the election, to Donald Trump sending the mob to the Capitol, to now using this inquiry to try and throw Joe Biden out. I also think it's interesting, Jim, for your viewers to know that

Speaker Johnson and everyone in the Republican leadership voted to keep admitted fraudster George Santos in office because they believe that should be up to voters. That it shouldn't be up to Congress to throw Santos out. So they all voted to keep him in and then a week later they're bringing this inquiry to use their own power to throw someone who was elected into office, Joe Biden, out.

ACOSTA: And some Republicans may have said the quiet part out loud about their impeachment intentions. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Representatives, what are you hoping to gain from an impeachment inquiry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I can say is Donald J. Trump, 2024, baby.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): This has been, I think, the most transparent political -- or congressional investigation since I've been in Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Some Freudian or not so Freudian slips there. I don't know what you would call that. I guess it's saying the quiet part out loud. What's going on here with this impeachment? It looks on the face of it from what they're saying that this is really part of the campaign for next year.

SWALWELL: Yes. The crime here is that Joe Biden blew out Donald Trump by over 70 electoral votes in the 2020 election, and they've never accepted that.

[16:25:02]

And even on the floor when they were debating why they wanted to do this, it was interesting to me to listen to it, they all had a different reason. And when we impeached Donald Trump the first time, it was very clear he used taxpayer dollars to try and get a foreign leader to get dirt on his opponent. And the second time he sent a mob violently to the Capitol. So we could articulate why for the American people, and here it just seems they don't like Joe Biden, they don't accept Joe Biden, and so Donald Trump is giving them essentially the orders that he's got to go.

So at the cost of working on health care, reducing gun violence, helping people find breathing room in their finances, at the cost of all that, we're going to focus on throwing Joe Biden out. That's the agenda.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, before I let you go, I want to ask you about Israel and these three Israeli hostages who were accidentally killed by the IDF. We know the Biden administration has been asking the Israelis to be more targeted in their operations. Perhaps you heard the former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren say a few moments ago that this is not going to deter what they do when it comes to taking out Hamas.

And they accept this tragedy, they're going to try to learn from it, but they're going to press forward with what they've been doing. What's your response to all that?

SWALWELL: They have to be more careful, Jim, for the sake of innocent Palestinians. For the sake of hostages who may still be alive. And look, I am rooting for them to defeat and root out Hamas. They have a right to do that. Hamas will attack them or the United States or anyone that they hate again if that doesn't happen. But that doesn't mean you don't have to protect against and have a responsibility, you know, to make sure that innocent lives are not taken as you do that, and we -- you know, as a country that has supported them, have every right to expect that as well.

ACOSTA: Congressman Eric Swalwell, thanks very much for your time. Appreciate it.

SWALWELL: My pleasure, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead, the Israel-Hamas war has been raging for more than two months. But what's next? National Security adviser Jake Sullivan is hoping to down shift the destruction as they're describing it in the Biden administration. We'll talk about that in just a few moments from now.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:23]

ACOSTA: More than two months into the Israel-Hamas war, national security adviser for the Biden administration, Jake Sullivan, says there will be a transition into a different phase of this war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: We are now in the middle of a high-intensity phase with ongoing ground operations, military operations in both the northern half and the southern half of Gaza.

But there will be a transition to another phase of this war, one that is focused in more precise ways on targeting the leadership.

We're not here to tell anybody you must do X, you must do Y. We're here to say this is our perspective as your partner, as your friend, this is what we believe is the best way to achieve your tactical and strategic goals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining us to discuss, Ian Bremmer. He's the president and founder of the Eurasia Group and GZERO Media.

Ian, great to see you. Thanks for coming on.

Do you think that the tragic events of the last 24 hours or so with the tragic killing of these three Israeli hostages might expedite this transition that Jake Sullivan is talking about? What's your sense of it?

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, EURASIA GROUP & GZERO MEDIA: I don't think so. I think it's increasing international pressure on Israel, and that includes at least privately from the Biden administration.

But the perspective inside Israel and particularly with the war cabinet is that they've lost immense amounts of support even at the beginning.

October 7th, you saw the anti-Semitism. You saw how few countries were willing to sport them even as they had the worst attacks against Jews since the Holocaust.

And so the information space that they are in is very different than what we're debating in the United States or what's being discussed around the world.

And I think that the desire on the part of the Israeli people and the government to finish off Hamas, whatever that means, and with the extraordinary civilian casualties that will come of it as a consequence, including Israeli hostages, as we see, that is undiminished at this point, Jim, and that's part of the problem.

ACOSTA: Ian, so we're just going to see a continuation of these devastating and painful episodes, do you think? Do you think there's a potential for another pause in the fighting?

I tried to ask former Ambassador Michael Oren about that earlier. He seemed to indicate that perhaps one might be on the horizon.

What's your sense of it?

BREMMER: Well, look, Hamas leadership is still in place after a couple of months of fighting. There are still rockets that are being sent against Israelis indiscriminately inside the country, though, of course, Israel has the about to defend itself pretty well against them.

No, as long as that's going on, I don't see anyone in the war cabinet in Israel saying we can put an end to this right now. And you're still talking about pretty difficult urban warfare, both in Gaza city as well as in the south.

So really, no, I mean, you might be able to get a couple more days if you can get significant numbers of additional hostages that are released. But that is very different than a lasting ceasefire. We're not remotely close to that.

And how could we be? Because, I mean, Hamas would have to be the side that would agree to it, and to agree to it means the end of them. And of course, a big part of the problem is that we've radicalized both of these populations to a much greater degree as a consequence of the events over the past couple of months.

The Israelis are much less interested in talking about a two-state solution today than they were before October 7th. And Netanyahu was never so interested.

[16:34:58]

And the Palestinians, we just saw the first surveys of Palestinian civilians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza taken during the few days of the ceasefire that -- the halt in fighting that we had a couple of weeks ago, and that population is much more supportive of Hamas today than they were before October 7th.

So I mean, this is a generational challenge that we're seeing here, Jim. It's not just a matter of the next couple of months of fighting.

ACOSTA: But if the goal is to eliminate the leadership of Hamas, are the Israelis, in your view, going about it the right way with the campaign that they're waging in Gaza right now?

Or is it going to transition, as Jake Sullivan was saying at the onset of this segment, to some sort of next phase?

I mean, we saw with the U.S. war on terror, Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan a decade or more after 9/11.

I mean, isn't there a longer struggle that the Israelis are going to have to come to grips with that will involve taking it to Hamas in other ways, with other kinds of strategies?

BREMMER: Jim, you'll remember early in the war Biden himself warned the Israelis to learn the lessons that the Americans had not of 9/11.

The war against bin Laden was very successful, and his, you know, sort of inner confederates of Al Qaeda. The war on terror that the Americans fought was a disaster, right?

I mean, the Taliban are back in power, trillions of dollars wasted. Huge challenges, overhaul in a Department of Homeland Security Stripping away rights of people that should not have had them taken away in the United States and, of course, in other countries around the world.

What is Israel doing right now? I mean, they will destroy the leadership of Hamas sooner or later. I have no doubt. They will take out the tunnels ta are that are being used for military purposes, the command-and-control architecture of Hamas militants.

But will they end support for eradication of a Jewish people in Israel among the Palestinians? I suspect they'll strengthen it.

I think that Hamas and its ideology will end up stronger as a consequence of the acts of October 7th, the terrorist attacks, and the Israeli response than ever would have been the case before hand.

And that's a horrible reality that is impossible to get through to the Israeli government, given what they've been through and given the response we see around the world, but it's still a reality, Jim.

ACOSTA: Ian, you say that Israel is becoming less of a functional democracy under Netanyahu. How is that going to affect the Israeli campaign to take out Hamas?

BREMMER: Well, this was true well before the war started. I've been talking to CNN and many others over the past year about Israel.

It wasn't about the Palestinians. It was about unprecedented numbers of Israeli citizens peacefully demonstrating across the country because Netanyahu was trying to undermine the democracy, the sole true democracy in the Middle East.

He was doing that to avoid incarcerations, investigations against him, something we're very familiar with in the United States.

And also to support his far right-wing colleagues in his coalition government who want to expand their control, their dominion over the Palestinians, take more territory that doesn't belong to them, illegal settlements in the West Bank.

So that's the problem. Those people are still this government today. They're not likely to be after the war is over.

But, but you know, part of the problem here is that Netanyahu is incented to keep this war going for his own domestic political purposes in ways that are not necessarily fully aligned with those of long-term Israeli national security.

Now, Biden knows this. Biden is, by far, the best friend of the Israeli people on the global stage today. No other country is doing for Israel and taking the political risk for Israel that the Americans are under Biden right now.

But he's not a friend of Netanyahu. He doesn't trust Netanyahu. And so far, the Israeli prime minister has been playing Biden a fair amount because he knows that Biden won't come after him publicly.

And I know there are people advising Biden who need to take some more swings at the Israeli prime minister. I am personally in that camp.

I think that this is -- the ally of Israel of the United States, which is very deeply strong, is becoming weaker because of opposition in the U.S. And Netanyahu has been a big part of that problem.

ACOSTA: All right, Ian Bremmer, great conversation. Wish we could keep it going. We'll pick it up next time. But thanks for the time. Appreciate it.

BREMMER: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right, thank you. [16:39:54]

Still ahead, strong winds and heavy rain in Florida as a powerful storm threatens that state. We'll have more, live on the ground, next. And how that weather might be moving up the east coast and impacting where you live.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Right now, a powerful storm is closing in on Florida. It's expected to bring heavy rain and flash flooding before gaining strength as it heads north. Millions of Americans from Florida to Maine are in its path.

Let's go straight to CNN's Rafael Romo in Daytona Beach.

It looks like a mess where you are right now, Rafael. How's everybody doing? How are they preparing?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a mess is a good way to describe it, Jim. And conditions have changed drastically in the last couple of hours.

I'm right next to the Daytona Beach pier. It is a favorite spot for tourists. And we saw plenty of them earlier today. But at this time and after the rain and the wind came our way, things started to change, and you hardly find anybody there anymore.

[16:45:08]

The National Weather Service is warning that we may get wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour here in this location in east central Florida.

Another problem is going to be torrential rains that may produce local flooding.

And also, and this is rare for this time of the year, but it happens, Jim, we may also see tornados at different points. It's a possibility. We haven't had any reports that it's actually happened, but it is a possibility within the next 24 hours here in Florida.

And we have heard from different cities across the state that have had to cancel events that had been previously planned for this weekend. For example, there was a boat parade in Fort Lauderdale that had to be canceled for the first time in its five-decade history.

There was also a Christmas tree that had to be taken down because officials, as you can imagine, Jim, were afraid that the winds were going to knock it over.

Jim, back to you.

ACOSTA: All right, Rafael Romo. As folks are looking at that satellite radar image right there, just

keep in mind that that weather system you're seeing, that big blob of precipitation over the state of Florida, that is going to be moving up the east coast, according to weather forecasters.

So, Rafael, hopefully, you'll get a break from it soon. But the rest of the east coast is in for a soaker over the next 48 hours.

All right, Rafael, thank you very much.

Still ahead, Trump is picking up some new endorsements from officials in New Hampshire. He's also engaging in more anti-immigrant rhetoric. We're going to be covering that later on in the program.

But in the meantime, we will run the numbers on where Republican candidates stand right now in New Hampshire. That's next.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:14]

ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his anti- immigration rhetoric at a campaign event in New Hampshire today. Trump told a rally that immigrants are, quote, "poisoning the blood of our country."

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done. They've poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world.

Not just in South America, not just the three or four countries we think about. But all over the world. They're coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They're pouring into our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Meanwhile, Trump announced four new endorsements that are from New Hampshire officials and Republican leaders in that state. That state's primary, of course, is next month.

CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten, joins us now to run the numbers.

Harry, New Hampshire's governor this week endorsed Nikki Haley. There was a big response to that for Nikki Haley supporters.

The question is whether these endorsements really matter all that much. Do they move the numbers? What do the numbers say? HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I mean, look, here's the fact.

What was so interesting to me about that Haley endorsement from Chris Sununu was the fact that it was only her second endorsement from a sitting governor or member of Congress.

Ron DeSantis only has seven endorsements from sitting members of Congress or governors. Donald Trump at this point has nearly a hundred.

So the Haley thing stands out because it's an outlier, not because it's some magic bullet that's going to help her win New Hampshire. Maybe it will.

But the fact of the matter is Donald Trump, who I think we often think of as an anti-establishment candidate, is, this time around, Jim, the candidate of the establishment. There's no other way to put it.

For goodness sake, he has pretty much the backing of Mike Johnson who's the speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy says he'll eventually back him.

When you put it all together. Donald Trump likes to say he's an anti- establishment candidate, but if endorsements matter, Donald Trump has to like what he has.

ACOSTA: Does the person with the most endorsements usually win these primaries? Do you have the numbers on that?

ENTEN: You know I always have numbers on everything. Let's talk about it a little bit, all right?

If you look back on the Republican side since 1980, you see that the candidate who does, in fact, have the most endorsements usually goes on to win.

There's only one exception to that rule, and that was Donald Trump back in 2016. But this, to me, Jim, is just another sign that this Donald Trump candidacy is very different from those in years past.

This is a candidacy that is much more tradition that will, and Donald Trump has to like that he has all of these endorsements.

ACOSTA: And just to switch gears, Harry, this week, as you know, Rudy Giuliani was ordered to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers. He's also paid a heavy price in the court of public opinion.

What do we know about Giuliani's fall from grace?

ENTEN: I mean, who else has had a drop in his favorable rating of 60 points over the last 20 years? He was at 76 percent. Now he's just at 16 percent if you look at poll numbers.

You talk to someone like my father back in the day, he was someone who liked Rudy Giuliani. But by the end of his life, my father despised Rudy Giuliani. According to the numbers, he is one of many -- Jim?

ACOSTA: And what happens when you break this down by party?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, look, my father was a lifelong Democrat. And I think you could see in these numbers here, Rudy Giuliani, after 9/11, had a favorable rating well into the 70s. Now it's just at 3 percent.

Although there is one thing about Rudy Giuliani that stands true through time, the bipartisan appeal that he once had has now become bipartisan, I guess, dis-appeal. I'll make up a word.

His favorable rating, even with Republicans, has dropped into the 30s. He's just not a liked candidate anymore. And this judgment is just the latest thing to go against him.

[16:55:01]

ACOSTA: All right, great stuff.

Harry Enten, thanks as always. We appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Be sure to check out Harry's podcast, "MARGINS OF ERROR." You can find it on your favorite podcast app or at CNN.com/audio.

Still ahead, we're live in Israel where hundreds of protesters gathered today, pleading for the Israeli government to have their loved ones get home alive. We'll talk about that in just a few moments.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:59:56]

ACOSTA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Good evening. We start tonight with thousands of Israelis gathering in Tel Aviv after Israeli soldiers mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza.