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Israel Allows "Tactical Pause" For Aid, But Fighting Continues; Speaker Johnson To Meet With Trump At Mar-A-Lago; Biden Slams "Convicted Felon" Trump In New Ad. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:34]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, new developments in Israel's war with Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disband his war cabinet. And the IDF is now clarifying what it's calling a, quote, tactical pause.

Plus, the House Speaker Mike Johnson heads to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump. What's on the agenda as they look ahead to the November elections?

And evacuations are underway near Los Angeles right now, as firefighters were to contain a very fast moving wildfire.

Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin this hour with the Israel-Hamas war. New this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved his war cabinet. The move comes just days after a senior member of the war cabinet resigned in a show a very dramatic vote of no confidence in Netanyahu and his strategy for the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel has begun what it's calling a tactical pause to clear the way for the flow of aid into southern Gaza. But it's also notable that Israel's military says it's continuing its military offensive in Rafah. CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us now from southern Israel. She's not very far away from Gaza right now. Paula, a tactical pause while fighting continues. Break that down for us.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Wolf, a little earlier today we were at the Kerem Shalom crossing where the Israeli military wanted to show us what they meant by this. So they said that they had about 1,000 plus trucks on the Gazan side of that crossing waiting to be distributed, but they hadn't been distributed. So they've said that this tactical route will effectively be a safe road from the crossing into Gaza, skirting alongside Rafah where the fighting will still be going on. And then going up the Salah al-Din road so that the main north south artery within Gaza.

They said this is so that they can make sure that aid is distributed throughout the strip. Now, we have spoken to some of those international groups within Gaza, they're putting the idea of putting the onus on the groups to be able to distribute this aid. And they have said that it is simply too dangerous sometimes to get to this crossing, to be able to pick the aid up. We heard from the sub office of Archer, the humanitarian office in Gaza say that on Sunday, even though there was this safe route from the Israelis, is it's such a state of lawlessness in Gaza at this point that it was too difficult for them to access. Let's listen to a part of my interview with the IDF spokesperson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Are you going to escort these trucks, the military will escort them?

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAELI MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: Well, this is a war zone. And we need to act inside a war zone. And to find inside the complexity, the way that find solutions. The first step is to make sure that the road is safe. The road will be safe. Military wise, it will be safe in our planning and our attacks et cetera, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, the U.N. just last week, warns that by mid-July, so next month, about 1 million Palestinians could be at risk of starvation. So there is a desperate need to be able to get this aid to those who need it. But sometimes it is just simply too dangerous for these groups to be able to access these areas. Wolf?

BLITZER: Paula, I just want to correct you're now back in Jerusalem, but earlier today you were down in southern Israel right near the Gaza border. The Kerem Shalom border crossing, what was it like there?

HANCOCKS: Well, we could see a number of pallets that were there waiting to be taken into Gaza. We saw maybe three trucks going in not very many in about the two hours that we were there. But they did show us this routes that they said was going to be the safe route. And then just very close by, you could hear the continual shelling and artillery of the operation still ongoing in Rafah.

Now we know that that is very intense fighting. We have heard from both sides, from the citizens and civilians in that area and also from the Israeli military, saying that they've discovered tunnels and also large caches of weapons and they are fighting intensely with Hamas. That is very close by this area that the Israeli military is saying is going to be a safe route for the humanitarian trucks get through. Wolf?

[11:05:12]

BLITZER: Let's hope those humanitarian trucks get through into Gaza. And then once they're in Gaza, they can be distributed to the people who are so desperately in need of all that food and medicine and water and everything else that's coming in. Paula Hancocks, thank you very much for that report.

I want to continue the conversation right now with Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for the U.S. State Department. He's now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace here in Washington. Aaron, thanks for joining us. How is this so called tactical pause that the Israelis are describing likely to impact the actual flow of this desperately needed humanitarian aid into southern Gaza?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: You know, thanks for having me. It's all about reliability and predictability. And for that, you're going to require what we don't have now, which is the cessation of major Israeli ground maneuvers and military activity. I think it's a hopeful sign if it can be made to work getting the aid. They're living under trucks and Kerem Shalom. I think part of the problem is the shortage of trucks on the U.N. side.

But if the Israelis are basically saying that that transition, that road, up at Salah al-Din highway, the north south thoroughfare, if what they're saying is that they will not operate militarily in that area, it doesn't mean they're going to escort these trucks. But if they're not going to operate militarily in that area, then maybe there's a chance, Wolf, that you can begin to increase the number of trucks that are required, 500 before October 6th, October 7th, sorry. And that number is has yet to be reached in the past eight or nine months.

BLITZER: So Aaron, once those trucks, let's say they go through the Kerem Shalom border crossing from Israel, into Gaza, and they begin to go up that Salah al-Din Road in Gaza to distribute all that food and medicine and water and everything else, who is responsible? Who is in charge of making sure all those supplies go to the millions of Palestinians who are in desperate need right now in Gaza?

MILLER: That's the problem. I mean, getting the aid to Gaza is -- has proved difficult. But distributing it within Gaza, I think is the major challenge. Part of the problem are desperate hungry people who can become understandably unruly, we've seen evidence of that several months ago. Pirate criminal gangs diverting assistance for black market purposes. And I'm sure there's a fair amount of aid that is being diverted by Hamas.

I don't think the Israelis are prepared, I may be wrong. We'll see how it plays out to actually physically escort these trucks. It would be important enough if they could actually produce and then guarantee that these routes would be safe quarter from Israeli military activity, although that to be sure will depend on Hamas to some extent. So again, we're in what started on Saturday. It's now Monday. Let's see where we are a week from now.

BLITZER: While I have you here and I want to turn to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to dissolve his what's called his war cabinet. What is he trying to achieve with this move?

MILLER: Well, first and foremost, Wolf, I think is to make it impossible for Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Police and the Minister of Finance to keep them out of any deliberations on significant or serious security issues. So now Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Gallant, as well as two non-voting members, Ron Dermer, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States and Evet Lieberman, leader of a important party for Russian immigrants, they will constitute presumably, the form in which decisions will be made.

It also, Wolf, strips away any pretense I think that this is now a set of decisions, so to speak, legitimized by reaching across the aisle with Eisenkot and Benny Gantz's leaving, these decisions will now be laid at the doorstep specifically of Yoav Gallant who has his problems with Benjamin Netanyahu and the Prime Minister. So I think it's important. I think the Prime Minister still has a coalition which is cohesive 64 seats, and I think he's going to be with us for quite some time.

BLITZER: Sixty-four out of 120 members of the Knesset, you need at least 60, 61 in order to be the prime minister. So he's got that coalition, at least in place for now. We'll see what happens in the coming days and weeks. Aaron David Miller thanks so much for joining us.

[11:10:05]

MILLER: Thank you Wolf.

BLITZER: And there's more news we're following here in the CNN Newsroom. Still ahead this hour, there are just 10 days until the first presidential debate on CNN and the Biden campaign seems to be toughening its strategy right now in emphasizing former President Trump's criminal conviction.

And you'll see them in the packaging of cigarettes, alcohol and other harmful substances. Now, the Surgeon General of the United States wants that iconic warning label on social media apps saying they can cause mental health problems, serious harms for adolescents.

Plus, the Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking a rare trip to North Korea, what he plans to discuss with Kim Jong moon. We'll have a live report from Moscow. Lots of news. That's all coming up.

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[11:15:32]

BLITZER: Today, the House Speaker Mike Johnson is traveling to Mar-a- Lago down in Florida for the first time since former President Donald Trump's criminal conviction. They're expected to drill down on strategy as House Republicans fight to retain their razor thin majority in the House. The meeting comes just days after Trump met with Republican lawmakers up on Capitol Hill here in Washington for the first time since the January 6th insurrection. CNN political reporter Alayna Treene is with me here in the CNN Newsroom. Alayna, tell our viewers you've done a lot of reporting on what's going on. What's your assessment?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, first of all, you mentioned that meeting, Donald Trump coming to D.C. for the first time since the January 6th attack as well as since becoming the presumptive nominee. And during those meetings with House and Senate Republicans, he promised them that he would help get their candidates elected and help get many of the members reelected themselves.

So this meeting today at Mar-a-Lago is going to be focused on a lot of that on delivering on that promise. It's going to be with House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. And look, I mean, they really recognize that they have a very slim majority in the House right now what Donald Trump wants, but of course, the House leaders want is to make sure they can expand that majority in the fall.

And we know that Donald Trump in the past has been a kingmaker when it comes to these races. However, at the same time in the past, many of his endorsed candidates, particularly in 2022, ultimately went on to lose in the fall. So this is a very interesting dynamic that I think they're going to be discussing today. And I can tell you, Wolf, from my conversations with Trump's team, I know that Donald Trump personally as well as that of his campaign, he's endorsed fewer candidates because they don't want to put their support behind people who can't win.

We've seen Donald Trump kind of shy away from a lot of the big races that he waded into last cycle because of that. Now he'll say publicly that it's because he's focused on his own election fight. But privately, they're worried about his candidates not going on to win. So I think a lot of today is going to be about strategizing. The other part of today, though, is this is a meeting with Mike Johnson and Richard Hudson coming shortly after Donald Trump was convicted in Manhattan on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

I know that shortly after that verdict, Donald Trump and Mike Johnson spoke on the phone and Donald Trump was very angry, according to my conversations with people familiar with that call. And he wants House Republicans to start going on the offense with Democrats and waging war on them really as retribution for that verdict. And what Donald Trump believes is the weaponization of the government against him.

And so part of this whole plan of making sure Republicans retain the majority or if not expanded, is going to be so they can continue to wage war on Democrats and also to make sure he has loyal people in Congress so that if he wins the election in the fall, they can hit the ground running with --

BLITZER: Over the weekend he seemed to signal that he was ready to tone down the rhetoric, the anti-rhetoric that he's been using against some of his Republican critics.

TREENE: Right. He did. I mean, I'm skeptical that he'll be able to keep himself on a leash when it comes to many candidates, but he did show that restraint with Larry Hogan. LARRY HOGAN, someone who has not endorsed the former president. He's been an outsize critic of Donald Trump.

However, Donald Trump is saying he thinks it would good for Larry -- be good for Larry Hogan to win his Senate race, take a listen to how Trump put it over the weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, he's obviously a little bit different persuasion than me, but I think having Larry Hogan as opposed to a Democrat would be a good thing. Somebody in my staff said something very bad about Larry. And I thought, maybe we should try and get along. But we'll see what Larry has to say. I've not spoken to him at all. And if he has a good chance of winning, that's very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Wolf, this is a big deal for someone like Donald Trump, who often if someone criticizes him, he doesn't like to share nice words about them. But I think this really just underscores how Donald Trump recognizes. He wants Republicans to be an office, even if there are people who have been critical of him because they will help him in the long run if he's able to get elected at all.

BLITZER: Larry Hogan, former Republican governor of Maryland, pretty Democratic state too. Now he's running for the Senate seat in Maryland. We'll see what happens. Appreciate it. Alayna Treene reporting for us.

With the first presidential debate now just only 10 days away, the Biden campaign is releasing a new campaign ad slamming Donald Trump as a convicted criminal. It's the first time the President has used Trump's legal woes in various television ads after months of steering clear from the topic. CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us live from the White House right now. Arlette, why is the Biden campaign now all of a sudden going after Trump's legal troubles?

[11:20:13]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, if this is a significant ad from the Biden campaign is it marks the first time that they are directly using the former president's criminal conviction in their television advertisements. And it comes at a time when the campaign is really trying to sharpen its attacks against Trump heading into that first debate on CNN in just 10 days.

Now, this new ad will be part of a $50 million ad push in the month of June running on television and digital streaming platforms across battleground states. And what the Biden campaign is trying to do with this ad is frame the election as a choice between a convicted criminal who is looking out for himself and President Biden, who they say is working for the American people. Take a listen at a bit of what this ad entails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SAENZ: But this does mark a significant shift for the adminis or for the campaign, as you noted that they've refrained from commenting on the president's legal issues, but in the wake of his conviction, they've really tried to use that as further evidence that he's unfit for office.

BLITZER: It's interesting Arlette that over the weekend, the President had what has been described as a record breaking event in Hollywood. Tell us about that.

SAENZ: Yes, President Biden teamed up with his former boss, President Barack Obama and some Hollywood stars to rake in some major cash for his campaign, George Clooney and Julia Roberts, Jimmy Kimmel all partook in this event that brought in $30 million for Biden's campaign. That is the largest Democratic fundraiser in history. And both Biden Obama and others, including the First Lady really use this fundraiser to try to stress what a Trump -- second Trump term could look like.

President Biden specifically drilled in on the Supreme Court and the implications that it could have if Trump is elected again, and he has potentially two more Supreme Court appointments handed to him. So President Biden is hoping that they can carry some of this momentum from the fundraising push that they had out in Los Angeles. Of course, Biden has led Trump in fundraising for most of the race, but you've seen Trump recently make significant gains in his own fundraising. And so we'll see towards the end of the week, what -- how much money exactly they have in cash on hand because that's important for buying these television ads, by hiring organizers and opening campaign offices heading into November.

BLITZER: Yes. Money talks in politics for sure. All right, Arlette, thanks very much. Arlette Saenz at the White House.

Let's discuss what's going on with CNN political commentator, Karen Finney and CNN senior political commentator, and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban. David, should Trump's campaign be concerned about this new line of attack from the Biden campaign painting, this election is a choice between a statesman and a felon?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Wolf, listen, I don't think there's much concern the Trump campaign about that line of attack. But listen, Joe Biden often says, you know, don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. And I think that's what voters are doing at this point. They're comparing Donald Trump's record to Joe Biden's record. And they're making a choice, as you see in these poll, poll after poll after poll that clearly state that Donald Trump is somebody they trust on the border, on the economy, on national affairs.

And basically every question that's asked Donald Trump is trusted more, and people think he'll do a better job than Joe Biden. And that's what this election will be about coming in this November. And so I'm not too concerned about this ad. I know that Karen and her colleagues are going to try to frame it as such that, you know, it's the, you know, this is a really bad, bad, bad man that you can't trust. But the American people know better. And we'll see.

BLITZER: Well, let's get Karen's reaction. Do you think Karen that President Biden will lean into this argument during the CNN debate next week?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I do. And David, get ready, because polling also shows that it actually matters to the American people, that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, not just on this case. And as the ad lays out, yes, this case in it of itself is important. But think about also some of the underlying things that came out, the way he treated Stormy Daniels, the fact as this ad mentioned, he was also convicted or found liable for sexual assault, the fact that he also was found guilty of cheating.

And so part of this, you know, argument about character. I mean, they're, you know, there starts to be a pattern and a trend that again the polling is showing internally it matters and you do have to make the argument. And the other thing I would just remind all of our viewers is we just had another poll out today that reminds us, as we've all been saying, you've got a number of those voters who are yet undecided. We call them the, you know, infrequent voters. Those are the voters who will be starting to pay attention between now and the election, for whom we know they have not made up their mind.

[11:25:30]

And so, yes, well, we've seen a lot of polls around the folks who've made up their minds. This is about people haven't made up their minds. And the choice between, you know, someone who has been is a convicted felon and someone who is a good decent man who has been trying to help our country.

BLITZER: You know, David, a potential Trump running mate, and there are several, but this one, the Ohio Senator J.D. Vance says Trump needs a vice president who won't, quote, stab him in the back. Does that include certifying election results Trump doesn't like?

URBAN: Yes, look, you know, Wolf, I think Vice President Pence did the right thing on, you know, when he was sitting in the chair that day. So I mean, look, the role of vice president is we know and that situation was largely ceremonial, and really did have an impact. But I think he did the right thing. So I'm not sure that, you know, J -- I know that J.D. Vance. And Senator Vance said what he thought was a great answer, but I'm not sure that's, you know, that's the ultimate role of the vice president, or the, you know, President Trump's running mate moving forward.

You know, what Karen did say, I will agree with Wolf in that. Now this race is going to be close, it's going to be a jump ball. And there are going to be a lot of voters who are going to make up their minds in these next coming months. And I think that this upcoming debate that we're going to have on the network next week is probably the most important thing that's going to happen in this campaign this fall, not just, you know, moving forward after that, but I think it'll be a defining moment. People are going to tune in to see how these performances go. Is President Biden up for? Is he robust or is he kind of a doddering old man? Is Trump going to be able to contain himself? Is he going to be measured?

I mean, this is going to be a big deal. And I think it'll probably make a big the biggest impact on the campaign, not only ads, not no -- not anything that Karen I say, but this debate will make all the difference in the world.

BLITZER: Yes, there are tens of millions of people will be watching, and many of them are still undecided. Go ahead, Karen.

FINNEY: Well, I was just going to say, because, you know, my dear friend David didn't actually answer the question. We have heard from inside the Trump camp, that one of the most important things to the former president is loyalty. And whereas we've seen so many of we just saw Tim Scott yesterday could barely answer the question.

I mean, you know, it is a question and it is something that each of these individuals who are being considered have to ask themselves, how far will they be willing to go in a second Trump term to potentially ignore the Constitution of the United States of America, because that's what the boss, Donald Trump, might want.

That's a big difference between vice president like Kamala Harris, who's been working her heart out to help this country and who uphold the law and would uphold the Constitution.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, you know, David, that over the weekend, Trump continued to sow doubt about the integrity of U.S. elections. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We need to watch the vote. We need to guard the vote. We need to stop this, you know. We don't need votes. We have to stop -- focus, don't worry votes, we got all the votes.

You got to watch your vote because they just destroy votes, they terminate your vote, they do all sorts of things. Watch your votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction? How concerned are you when you hear him talk like that?

URBAN: You know, Wolf, I think that we need to do better in America to make people feel that their -- that the election system has integrity. I don't like to hear the President say those types of things. I want to have confidence in our election system and have Americans have confidence in it. And, you know, I think that, you know, we've had this discussion on air, Karen, myself and others about how on Election Day, I think it's important, listen, you can have early voting, you can have mail-in voting.

But on election day itself, we should have a winner come election night, whether it's 1:00 of the morning, 2:00 in the morning, when people go to bed or when they wake up the next day, we should know who the president of the United States is or who their senator is, or congressman, it shouldn't drag on for weeks or months and there shouldn't be voting going on for days afterwards, ballots coming in, that really casts a lot of doubt in people's minds as to what's going on. They don't understand it.

The problem is we have such a mishmash of election laws and these different counties and states across America that makes it almost impossible to have a, you know, unified system, which would -- I believe give people a lot of confidence in the election system, which they don't have right now.

[11:30:01]

BLITZER: David Urban, thank you very much. Karen Finney thanks to you as well. And be sure --

URBAN: Thanks Wolf.

BLITZER: -- to tune in to the CNN debate moderated by our own Jake Tapper and Dana Bash on June 27 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN and streaming on Max.