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Israel-Hamas War; Biden Warned Invasion of Rafah Would be a "Red line" Warning; Campaign into Rafah Not "Imminent," According to Israeli Officials; Six-Week Ceasefire in Gaza Urged by Biden; Princess of Wales Apologizes for Photo Edit; With Seven Victories, "Oppenheimer" Tops Oscars. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 11, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Israel says it will push forward with its offensive in Rafah, but multiple officials say that offensive in Gaza is not imminent and plans have not been finalized. President Biden warned that an invasion of Rafah, where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, would be a, "Red line," a warning that was promptly rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Let's go to CNN White House Reporter Priscilla Alvarez for more on this. Priscilla, the president, Netanyahu, they seem to be going back and forth over all this. What else is the White House saying?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, there is no doubt, Jim, that this is a tumultuous time for the relationship between President Biden and the Israeli Prime Minister, a relationship that goes back decades, especially amid concerns of an Israeli invasion of Rafah. That's an area in Gaza where more than a million displaced Palestinians have amassed.

And President Biden saying over the weekend that an invasion of Rafah would be a, "Red line", but also maintaining his defense of Israel. Take a listen.

[10:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Israel, I'm never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. So, there's no red line. I'm going to cut off all weapons so they don't have the Iron Dome to protect them. They don't have -- but there's red lines that if he crosses and they cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Well, I don't know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant by that that I'm pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis and that this is hurting the interest of Israel, then he's wrong on both counts. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, President Biden making clear last night that the plight of Palestinians in Gaza is top of mind. Saying in a statement to mark the holy month of Ramadan, "As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me." So, this still a developing situation on the ground.

ACOSTA: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

For more on this, I'm joined by CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger. David, a great to have you as always. I mean, what do you make of this business of the president saying there's a red line if Israel goes into Rafah? I mean, you and I both know we covered not only the Trump administration, the Obama administration. Barack Obama did not do himself favors by drawing a red line when it came to Syria.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, NYT: And George Bush when it came to North Korea.

ACOSTA: Right, yes.

SANGER: So, let's parse what the president said here for a moment, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, yes.

SANGER: So, he said, there's a red line but there's no red line for enabling them to defend each other. He mentioned Iron Dome, a purely defensive system and so forth. So, we have to intuit what the president means. And I assume what it means, and again, we are making a leap here, is that if they go into Rafah, they're not going to get the offensive weapons that the U.S. has provided.

But he didn't quite say that. And what we know is that the president himself has been feeding weapons to the Israelis at the same time that he is, feeding in food and medical gear and so forth to the Palestinians.

So, the question is, is the quiet signaling here to the Israelis that if they went into Rafah, they would lose the offensive weaponry, and the White House will not answer that question.

ACOSTA: Yes. No, I mean, it -- obviously, the implication is hanging out there.

SANGER: That's right.

ACOSTA: That there will be consequences if this happens. And, David, what about this back and forth that is going on between President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? I mean, after October 7th, the president went to Israel. He put his arms around the Israeli people. We're in a very different place right now. SANGER: We sure are.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SANGER: And that was sort of the high point. But even at that, you remember this, Jim, because I think you and I discussed it right after the president was there. He said, don't make the mistakes we made --

ACOSTA: Right.

SANGER: -- after 9/11. OK. He's now convinced that they have made every one of those mistakes and added to a few.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SANGER: And the conversations between the president and the prime minister have been very heated. The president has hung up the phone after a few of those of the prime minister and said things that we cannot repeat on CNN.

ACOSTA: Yes, that's right.

SANGER: So --

ACOSTA: It has been heated.

SANGER: Yes.

ACOSTA: And let's play a little bit of -- if we have it, of what President Biden had to say about a possible ceasefire and have you weigh in. If we have it, let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: So, I want to see a ceasefire and I'm starting with a major, major exchange of prisoners for a six-week period. We're going into Ramadan. There should be nothing happening and we should build off of that ceasefire. And look, I've spoken with the majority of the Arab leaders from Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Jordan, they are all prepared to fully recognize Israel and began to rebuild the region.

And that's the focus. What comes after Gaza? What's next? It's a tough decision, but there's a lot that can be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANGER: Yes, what do you make of what the president had to say there? I mean, he's obviously very concerned about the rest of the neighborhood. I mean, we know that the Jordanians have been very adamant that if something like this happens during Ramadan, that there could be consequences.

SANGER: So, again, let's pause what he's -- parse out what he said.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SANGER: He used to use the phrase, there will be a pause.

ACOSTA: Right.

SANGER: Right? And whenever we wrote ceasefire, somebody in the administration would call back and say, no, no, no. That's not quite the phrase because a pause suggests, you know, an exchange of prisoners. We'll have a pause in the fighting to get the food and the medicine in, and then the Israelis will resume.

Now, having said what he said about the red line and Rafah, they can't have that resumption.

ACOSTA: That's right.

SANGER: So, he is beginning to pick up the same language that you first heard from Vice President Harris in her speech about a week ago where they're using ceasefire now. And a ceasefire means you do not fire and it doesn't last forever, but it's interesting he's picking up the language.

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: I was going to -- how do you do a -- an invasion of Rafah while there -- I mean, while there's all this conversation about a ceasefire?

SANGER: That's right.

ACOSTA: When the Americans are saying, we want a ceasefire.

SANGER: That's right. Now, so far, nothing that the president has said has impressed Prime Minister Netanyahu enough to make him change his plans. And the real issue is, can the U.S. change that plan? And I don't see a way to do it other than to make the aid, the arms aid conditional. Maybe there's another way. No one's explained it to me.

ACOSTA: It raises a lot of questions as to what this red line is and what happens if it's tripped. All right, David Sanger, perhaps we'll hear some questions about that over at the White House today.

SANGER: I suspect we will.

ACOSTA: I think we will. All right. David Sanger, thanks as always.

SANGER: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Really appreciate it.

In the meantime, Princess Kate apologizing for a photoshop faux pas. A lot of people are talking about it around the world right now. It is fueling a lot of internet speculation about what's going on inside the palace. What the palace is saying, that's next.

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[10:45:00] ACOSTA: In London, Kensington Palace is in damage control mode. This time over this photo of the Princess of Wales and her three children. Take a look at this. Several international news agencies pulled the image, saying it was manipulated.

This morning, Kate responded to the controversy on social media saying, "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."

CNN Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy joins me now to discuss. Oliver, we have a lot of problems in this country. This is not one of them, but it is something that a lot of people around the world are talking about. I mean, this is the first official photo we've seen of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery two months ago.

And then there are news organizations now saying, hold on a second, this photo appears to be doctored. And I was looking at this this morning, Oliver. It is really weird. If you look at the daughter's sleeve, there's a little bit something that's off there. Tell us more. What's going on here?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: I mean, it's very obviously doctored or manipulated or edited, as she has herself now said. This raises a lot of questions for the palace's credibility. You know, when news agencies get these handout photos, they I usually expect that they're not edited like this. They're not manipulated. They're good photos.

And so, they distribute them to their partners. They put them on the homepages of websites like CNN, front pages of newspapers. And obviously after, you know, some close inspection here or just maybe glancing at the photo, it came to their attention that these -- this image was very obviously edited and manipulated.

Now, the palace isn't saying exactly what happened here, like, in terms of what she edited. They're just admitting that she's edited the photos. But this is really damaging to their credibility. And that, like, now people are going to be much more suspicious when they release these handout photos.

And also, Jim, because she has been absent from public life for some time, and this was her first photo, you would expect that this would be, you know, some sort of highly coordinated rollout. You would not expect that they would release an edited version of the photo --

ACOSTA: Right.

DARCY: -- particularly because of all these conspiracy theories that have already been floating around the internet because she hasn't been in public life since the surgery. And so, to see them now release this photo, it's only going to fuel those more and it raises questions about their credibility.

ACOSTA: Yes, and -- I mean, the royal family, how many official photographers do they have? They have a, you know, a King's ransom, I guess, worth of official photographers. And the other thing, Oliver, is -- I mean, it just goes to show you, I've got to go, but it just goes to show you there are a lot of internet sleuths out there who are just going to find this stuff out. It happens every time.

All right. Oliver Darcy, great to see you. We'll talk about this more tomorrow. I think it's going to come up again. Oliver, thanks so much.

DARCY: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: In the meantime, while "Oppenheimer" may have swept Hollywood's biggest night, there were still plenty of memorable moments. As we head to break, here's Ryan Gosling's show stealing rendition of "I'm Just Ken".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN GOSLING, ACTOR: I'm just Ken. Where I see love, she sees a friend. What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan and fight for me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: "Oppenheimer" swept the Oscars, taking home seven awards during Hollywood's biggest night. CNN Entertainment Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us now. Elizabeth, what were the night's top moments in your view? I mean, I -- I'm still a little bummed about Lily Gladstone not winning Best Actress. I was pulling for it. I thought she was incredible in "Killers of the Flower Moon".

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: She was, Jim. And that was really the biggest shocker of the night. Lily Gladstone was widely expected to win and really ever since "Killers of the Flower Moon" debuted, I remember being at the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Everybody was saying, she is going to win the Oscar.

Now, she lost a bit of steam throughout the race because Emma Stone gained a lot of traction with the international vote. Emma Stone won the BAFTA award, which is essentially the British Oscar. So, she ended up taking home the top prize for lead actress.

But let's go through some of the other big winners of the night. As you said, "Oppenheimer", this was truly the night of "Oppenheimer". They won seven awards including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor, Robert Downey Jr. getting his first Oscar ever, which is pretty crazy to think about that in his entire career, never won an Oscar.

Same thing for Christopher Nolan. Now, he is finally an Oscar winner after many, many nominations. And also, Cillian Murphy getting his first Oscar as well. And as we said, I spoke about their Emma Stone getting the award for Best Actress. Now, Jimmy Kimmel returned to host for the fourth time. And I had interviewed Jimmy Kimmel last week. He took a break from rehearsal to talk to us at CNN and give us a little preview, and I asked, are politics going to take center stage? Jimmy told us, no, he was not planning on politics becoming a huge part of the Oscars unless something happened. And guess what? After our interview, something happened. He made a joke about State of the Union, and he also made a joke about Trump. Let's take a look at that.

[10:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, TELEVISION HOST AND COMEDIAN: Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars? His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not and never can be. Thank you for watching. I'm surprised you're still -- isn't it past your jail time?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: So, as you see their huge reaction in the room. And look the former president did take to "Truth Social" posted live, so, what else can you expect from Jimmy?

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, I -- obviously, Trump is not going to resist getting on "Truth Social" when Jimmy Kimmel's hosting the Oscars. But what a comeback. What a quick wit Jimmy Kimmel has. He is a national treasure.

All right. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very much.

Thanks very much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of "Newsroom" with Wolf Blitzer starts after a short break. Have a great week everybody.

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