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IDF: Israel Conducts "Targeted Strike" On Southern Beirut; Lebanese Health Ministry: Eight Killed, Nearly 60 Injured In Israeli Strike On Southern Beirut; North Carolina GOP Nominee For Governor Made Dozens Of Disturbing Comments on Porn Forum. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired September 20, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ERICA HILL, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

We begin this hour with breaking news, a deadly Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut amid a sharp escalation in the fighting with Hezbollah. That powerful blast hitting a residential area in Beirut's dense southern suburbs. You see some of the aftermath there. Lebanon's Health Ministry says at least eight people were killed, dozens more injured. Sources telling CNN, a senior Hezbollah military leader, Ibrahim Aqil, was the target, but it is not yet clear whether he was, in fact, killed. Lebanon's Prime Minister saying the strike shows that Israel, quote, "gives no weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations."

The attack, of course, also coming just hours before the UN Security Council's emergency meeting on those pager and walkie-talkie explosions across Lebanon earlier this week. In those attacks, at least 37 people were killed, thousands more wounded. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has, of course, vowed revenge, and accused Israel of crossing all the red lines.

Joining us for all the very latest, Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv.

Ben, first to you, just bring us up to speed on what more we're learning about this airstrike in that southern Beirut area and the fallout.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. The strike took place about two hours (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY) news agency. It was an Israeli F-35 bomber, rather fighter that dropped two -- fired two rockets onto a residential building. The Ministry of Health is saying that at least the sort of the preliminary toll is eight dead, 59 wounded. Now, we know that the building that was struck is a multi- storey building that has now been just completely flattened. There are rescue crews on the scene digging through the rubble, trying to find any survivors. This is a part of Beirut. It is very densely populated. And even though we describe it as a Hezbollah stronghold, it's actually home to hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, many of -- and civilians, essentially.

Now, according to reports coming out of Israel, the target was one Ibrahim Aqil, who they describe as a senior military official with Hezbollah. This is a man who has been with the group since the early 1980s. And according to some reports, he is the head of what's known as the Radwan Force, which is Hezbollah's elite commando unit.

Now, obviously, this comes at a time when tensions were already incredibly high after Tuesday's pager blasts and Wednesday's walkie- talkie blasts, which killed 37 people at least, as well as almost injuring 3,000 as well. So, people here, very concerned that, as tensions rise or skyrocket, that indeed Lebanon and Israel are on the verge of a full-scale war. There is really already a war going on. This is the third time that Israel has struck the Lebanese capital since the beginning of the year.

What we have seen in the last 24 hours are intense Israeli airstrikes in addition -- on southern Beirut, in addition to Hezbollah strikes nearing 200 on the Israeli side of the border. So, tensions high, and there doesn't seem to be anything or any power, for instance, the United States doing anything to try to head off what could indeed end up being a full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel. Erica.

HILL: Ben, you mentioned the U.S. perhaps not doing anything, at least publicly, to try to head this off. But, just give us a sense of within the region writ large, how is all of this playing out?

WEDEMAN: Well, this -- there has been long concern that the war in Gaza would spill out and become a regional war, and this is really the critical moment where this could happen. Keep in mind that Hezbollah has long been the insurance policy for Iran, Iran, which has long feared that it would come under attack because of its nuclear program from Israel or the United States.

[11:05:00]

Hezbollah, right on the border with Israel, very well armed by Iran, very well trained by Iran, is in a position to inflict a lot of damage on Israel in the event of any attack on Iran. But, now that Hezbollah is fighting itself, pushed into a corner, it's been severely compromised in terms of its intelligence apparatus. It appears that perhaps, we still don't know for sure, yet another senior Hezbollah military commander has been killed, and therefore Iran's insurance policy is about to go into the shredder, perhaps. So, pushed to the wall. The response could be dramatic.

Hezbollah still has in reserve a lot of long-range precision missiles that can reach basically, essentially any target in Israel, all the way to a lot in the far south. And the Israelis clearly have decided that perhaps now is the moment to push Hezbollah into a corner. The problem is, what does Hezbollah do when it's cornered? Erica.

HILL: Ben, appreciate it. I want to bring in now Jeremy Diamond, who is in Tel Aviv. And Jeremy,

sort of picking up where Ben left off there, there was also some talk in the wake of the initial pager explosions, that attack, that perhaps this was also an effort to perhaps serve as some sort of a deterrent, as we've seen the strike even today. What is the response from the Israeli government in terms of where this goes next?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is no question that this strike today, as well as the pager attacks, which we confirmed were carried out by Israel, were intended beyond anything else to disable Hezbollah, to disrupt their operations, and in this case, a very senior commander. This commander who was targeted in the strike in the Lebanese capital, I'm told, was the head of Hezbollah's Special Operations. He is one of the most senior military commanders in that organization, and certainly the most senior military commander to be killed -- to be targeted, I should say, by Israel since the assassination of Fuad Shukr in late July.

When you look at the pace and the number of attacks that Israel seems to have carried out over the last week, it really is startling to see how quickly this situation is escalating. It was just on Tuesday when we saw those thousands of pagers exploding almost simultaneously in the hands of Hezbollah members, killing about a dozen people, most of them Hezbollah members, but at least two children had also been killed. The next day, we saw exploding walkie-talkies. Even more people were killed in that attack, bringing the total to about three dozen Hezbollah members who were killed over just that two-day period.

Last night, we saw a series of heavy Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, and today, now, we see this very significant strike in the Lebanese capital, only the third such time that we have seen the Israeli military carry out a strike from the air in Beirut itself. And so, you are just watching this thing quickly running very -- at a very fast pace in the direction of escalating things further. Hezbollah, of course, has not been silent. We already saw them, in addition to their vows of retaliation over those wireless device attacks. This morning, they carried out a pretty significant barrage of rocket attacks on northern Israel. And now the question is, what more will they do?

As Ben was saying, there is very much a sentiment that Hezbollah is being pushed up against a wall, and it seems unlikely at this point that it's going to prompt Hezbollah to say, OK, we're going to stop firing rockets on northern Israel, which is ultimately the goal that Israel is trying to accomplish, so they can return some 60,000 Israeli residents in northern Israel, who have been displaced from their homes. But instead, it seems that the alternative to that, in the absence of a diplomatic solution, which so far has evaded both parties, that the only other alternative beyond Hezbollah backing down is going to be a kind of all-out war between these two sides.

And there is no question that we are creeping closer and closer to that. It is ultimately up to the two parties and the decisions that they take in the coming days to see whether or not that actually materializes. But, there is no question that tensions, and we say this all the time, the tensions are high, but right now, there is no question that the pace and number of attacks that we have seen in the last week, all of these incidents are driving us closer and closer to that all-out war that has been feared for so long.

HILL: Absolutely. Jeremy Diamond, Ben Wedeman, appreciate the reporting from you both. Thank you.

Also joining me now is Gregg Carlstrom, who covers the Middle East for The Economist. He is also the author of "How Long Will Israel Survive? The Threat from Within". It's good to have you back with today, Gregg.

[11:10:00]

As you look at this, I'm curious, where is your focus in the coming hours and even the coming days in terms of retaliation?

GREGG CARLSTROM, MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT, THE ECONOMIST, & AUTHOR, "HOW LONG WILL ISRAEL SURVIVE? THE THREAT FROM WITHIN": I think in the coming hours or coming days, it's still unlikely that there is going to be a major retaliation from Hezbollah, just because I don't think they're in a position to carry one out right now, when they have hundreds, if not thousands, of their fighters who have been injured, some of them quite seriously injured in these pager explosions, when their communications network is scrambled and when they're very, very worried about internal security about leaks, about what other sabotage Israel might have carried out.

All of this makes it, I think, difficult for them to carry out a major retaliation. And the speech that we heard last night from Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the group, didn't sound like a speech from a leader who was bent on escalating the war further, retaliating immediately in a very serious way. Now, that at some point may all become moot. Hezbollah may be forced to do something, but I still think a major retaliation has to wait a while.

HILL: I was struck by your assessment on Twitter, I should point out Nasrallah's speech last night, because it was alternately referred to as defiant, right, which would not be unexpected, but you noted it was very tired and subdued, and that struck me.

CARLSTROM: The tone throughout the entire speech, I mean, this is someone who, whatever your views of him, Lebanese who love him, Lebanese who hate him, pretty much everyone agrees he is a very good speaker and he is a very charismatic speaker, and his speech last night more so even than some of his other speeches over the past year, as I said, it really -- it did seem tired. It seemed subdued. It didn't seem like he had much to say. I mean, at one point, he more or less said, you win some, you lose some. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It wasn't a speech by someone who had any real response to these pager and walkie-talkie attacks that left the entire country reeling.

HILL: The UN Security Council calling an emergency meeting. There was a push to discuss what was referred to as the climate of fear in Lebanon, Ben Wedeman talking about what it has been like on the ground there since these attacks earlier in the week. What do you expect to come out of that?

CARLSTROM: Probably not much, to be honest, coming out of a Security Council meeting. And I think the question right now, where this goes from here? It's probably in Israel's court, and there are some Israeli officials who have been arguing, not just since Tuesday, since the pager attacks, but they've been arguing for months, that Israel could carry out a limited aerial campaign against Hezbollah without this escalating into the sort of all-out war that everyone feared, and that maybe by carrying out such a campaign. They could push Hezbollah into making a separate ceasefire, independent of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and Gaza. They could push Nasrallah to agree to a ceasefire deal on Israel's northern border.

Now, I'm not sure that logic works. But, I think since Tuesday, since the pager attacks, that argument has gained strength in Israel, and there are generals right now who are arguing that our enemy is reeling and we need to take advantage of this opportunity to really push and to carry out an increased campaign of airstrikes.

HILL: I also just want to get your take on The Wall Street Journal reporting this morning that senior U.S. officials telling them privately, acknowledging they really don't expect a ceasefire agreement anytime soon, certainly not before the end of Biden's term. I don't know that that would surprise a number of people at this point. But, in terms of this becoming more public, the fact that this is being expressed more, even if it's privately, right, but making it into a very important report, what does that tell you about any hope at all in terms of a deal here for a ceasefire and/or hostage release?

CARLSTROM: Right. I don't think it surprises anyone who has been following along for months now. I mean, the dynamic Benjamin Netanyahu on the Israeli side, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, on the Palestinian side, neither of them want to make a deal. And in this Wall Street Journal report, you heard Obama administration -- sorry, Biden administration officials putting the blame on Hamas, and rightfully so. Sinwar has been a major obstacle to a ceasefire deal for months now, but so has Netanyahu. He has worked very hard to torpedo everything that the Biden administration has tried to do diplomatically, going back to the spring, and none of the officials quoted in this report or cited in this report were willing to put any blame on Israel, on Netanyahu for reaching this impasse.

And so, I think that tells you that while the administration is confronting reality and is admitting that there is not likely to be a deal, it's not seeming to change American policy in any significant way. They're not saying that we've reached this impasse partly because of Israel, and therefore our policy towards Israel is going to change. They're just sort of throwing up their hands and saying, well, we tried, and otherwise continuing with their same policy in the region.

HILL: Gregg Carlstrom, really appreciate your insight and your perspective. Thanks for being here. Just ahead, North Carolina's Republican candidate for governor now facing allegations. He made lewd, sexist, racist comments online.

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All of this uncovered in a bombshell report from CNN. Could that reporting lead to political fallout for Robinson's highest profile supporter, Donald Trump? Plus, they are deep in Trump country, but they're not giving up on a Harris win. Why Democrats in one rural Michigan county believe they can actually be the difference in this highly contested, tight battleground state?

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HILL: The latest political scandal, could it actually taint Donald Trump just weeks before the presidential election? Stunning new details revealed about a candidate he is backing for governor of a critical battleground state. CNN's KFILE uncovered a series of disturbing posts on a poor website, which were reportedly made by North Carolina's Republican nominee for governor, Mark Robinson, more than a decade ago. Those posts include Robinson referring to himself as a, quote, "black Nazi" and calling for the return of slavery. Robinson has denied making the comments. Senior Trump campaign advisors tell CNN there are no plans to call on him to exit the race in North Carolina. Donald Trump, for his part, has a long history of praising and elevating Robinson, who he, of course, endorsed for governor earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is Martin Luther King on steroids. I think you're better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two. One of the great stars of the party, one of the great stars in politics, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. And I'm a great supporter of his. You are incredible, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. He is a hot politician. He is a hot politician, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. A real star, a great guy, friend of mine, Mark Robinson,

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Dianne Gallagher, of course, has been closely following the governor's race and all things politics in North Carolina for some time. Good to see you this morning, Dianne. So, in terms of the fallout, it has been swift in terms of reaction from fellow Republicans. What about in the state?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And look, here is the thing, Erica. Mark Robinson remains the Republican candidate running for governor here in North Carolina. Last night, at midnight, was the deadline for him to withdraw as that candidate. He didn't do that. So, the GOP here is stuck with him, effectively, through the election, and they are publicly, at least, standing by their candidate, releasing a statement late last night that said in part that this is, quote "The left trying to demonize him via personal attacks."

[11:20:00]

But, I can tell you that I've had numerous private conversations with Republicans across the state that are concerned that this is going to add ammunition to attacks from Democrats down and up the ballot when they try and sort of attach their Republican opponents to Robinson using photographs, past endorsements, or even just supportive statements of the current lieutenant governor of the state, after this KFILE investigation into those posts that Robinson made on a pornographic website called "Nude Africa" from 2008 to 2012.

Now, this is what Robinson told KFILES' Andrew Kaczynski, denying it again, categorically and speculating on what it actually may be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON, NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: I'm not going to get into the new show of how some might manufacture this -- these salacious tabloid lies. But, I can tell you this. There has been over $1 million spent on me through AI by a billionaire's son who is bound and determined to destroy me. The things that people can do with the internet now is incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: So, again, KFILE investigators used numerous investigative tools, including web archive. These posts were made on that site between 2008 and 2012. They were able to identify usernames that Robinson had that were also attached to email addresses that he widely used across several sites on the internet, Erica.

And so, the KFILE investigation shows very disturbing comments that were made, including about these arousals that he felt when he thought about personal memories dealing with a peeping incident of women in public showers back when he was a 14-year-old. He graphically described that in great detail. There were also a thread where commenters were discussing whether or not they should believe a woman who said that she was raped by a taxi driver when she was intoxicated, that username, that KFILE says, belongs to Robinson, wrote, quote "And the moral of this story, don't f*** a white bitch." These posts included antisemitic, anti-Muslim and homophobic slurs, as well as those that you profiled earlier, talking about calling himself a black Nazi.

Again, this is a state that former President Donald Trump needs to win, and polling shows that he and Vice President Kamala Harris are virtually tied here. Most polling has shown that Robinson is trailing his opponent, the Attorney General here, Democrat Josh Stein, but they are very worried, again, about that down-ballot race and what effect, if any, it may have on Donald Trump.

HILL: Absolutely. Dianne, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.

Well, we know just how close this election is likely to be, which means each vote taking on in many places added importance. Democrats in one rural county in the swing state of Michigan acknowledge they are far outnumbered by their neighbors who support Donald Trump, but they also believe this is the year their votes could prove to be a gamechanger in Michigan.

Here is CNN's Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What's it like to be a Democrat in a place that is so conservative?

ELAINE MAYER, DEMOCRAT, MENOMINEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: I really keep a good sense of humor.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Deep in Trump country, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, something is stirring with Democrats.

MAYER: More people are starting to come out now that they know that I'm Democrat and I throw these signs up. My neighbors, who I would have never thought were Democrat, would go by and honk the horn, thumbs up. People are starting to step out and say, you know, I'm glad you're doing that. I'm kind of afraid to put a sign out, but I'm for you putting it out there.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): In the 2024 race, Michigan is again a battleground prize. Donald Trump hoping for a repeat of his narrow 2016 win of the state --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A margin of 10,704 votes.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): -- Kamala Harris looking to repeat Joe Biden's victory from four years ago.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Joe Biden will win the state of Michigan.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Despite that loss, Trump performed slightly better here in Menominee County.

MARQUEZ: Why are Democratic votes in rural Michigan so important to winning the state in November?

PAUL HAUPT, DEMOCRAT, MENOMINEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Well, every vote counts. If we get 30 or 40 extra votes in the county here with our work, that possibly could make the difference in Michigan because Michigan is going to be close.

MARQUEZ: You are?

VICKIE KNUTH, CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC PARTY MENOMINEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: The chairman of the Menominee County Democratic Party.

MARQUEZ: The big, massive Menominee County Michigan Democratic Party.

KNUTH: Yeah.

MARQUEZ: How many members now?

KNUTH: We have close to 80, pretty much tripled our membership this year.

MARQUEZ: This is a small county, about 12,000 votes at play here. To have 80 active Democrats in the party, what does that say about where things are right now here?

KNUTH: Well, to me, it says that there are Democrats in this county that had been hidden for a while.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Hidden no more.

GRACE GORRINGE, DEMOCRAT, MENOMINEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Was it President Obama at the DNC, or maybe it was Michelle who said --

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Those that around and complain about things, do something.

GORRINGE: -- that has been in my brain, kind of repeating itself over and over since I heard that do something.

MARQUEZ: It's like a Democratic coming out.

[11:25:00]

GORRINGE: It is. I even said, we're coming out. We're putting our Democratic signs out.

MARQUEZ: How popular are Harris-Walz signs?

KNUTH: Well, they're popular.

MARQUEZ: And you don't have any signs.

KNUTH: Well --

MARQUEZ: You have no signs to give.

KNUTH: Yeah, that's true.

MARQUEZ: Do you have a Harris-Walz sign at your house?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we have a hybridized one. It said Biden- Harris and we folded it over and now just says Harris.

MARQUEZ: So, this is as good as you can do now?

KNUTH: Yes.

MARQUEZ: And I can see the little made by the Menominee County Democratic Party.

KNUTH: There it is.

MARQUEZ: Why do places like this matter to what happens in Michigan in the country?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, if people can change here, they can change just about anywhere.

MARQUEZ: Look, Democrats seem buoyant in this little corner of Michigan. Two other things that they are saying that they haven't seen in the past, one, the Trump signs. There are a lot of them out there, but they say there are not as many as there used to be in previous election cycles. The other thing they say is that female voters, whether they're Democrats or independents or Republicans, women in this part of Michigan, they say are ready to vote for Democrats.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Miguel, appreciate it. Thank you.

Joining me now, Michigan Senate Majority leader Winnie Brinks. She is Democrat and the first woman to hold that position in Michigan Center. Good to have you with us at this hour. I hope you could just hear Miguel's piece, because I found it interesting at the end there when he was speaking with those folks in Menominee County, that they didn't have signs. Is this a sign that perhaps even in that county, which, of course, does not tend to skew heavily Democrat, that the party itself and perhaps the Harris campaign needs to be making more of an effort there.

WINNIE BRINKS, MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I think we are seeing a campaign that is getting to all corners of Michigan. And the fact that there may not be a sign available at an office is not an indication that there isn't enthusiasm. We've got folks who are calling into places like that from more populous parts of the state, as you know, UP (ph) is big and remote and tough to get to, but we are not going to ignore it as Democrats. We've been working hard there at our state level races for state House. And so, definitely not ignoring it.

HILL: The Vice President, of course, sitting down with Oprah Winfrey in your state last night. As part of that discussion, not surprisingly, abortion, access to reproductive healthcare did come up. And there was a moment that I know certainly struck a lot of people when they watched. I just want to play some of that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CJ THURMAN, AMBER THURMAN'S SISTER: We trusted them to take care of her, you know, and they just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban. They treated her like she was just another number.

OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: What do you want to say, Madam Vice President?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm just so sorry. And the courage that you all have shown is extraordinary, because also, you just learned about how it is that she died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The Vice President had been playing for some time to make this, of course, a focus of the campaign. We do really see her leaning into women's right to healthcare and to reproductive rights. To have that message be so personal, how do you think that is impacting some of the voters who have not yet made up their mind?

BRINKS: I hear it every day in Kent County. We're a swing county and a swing state. I talk with a lot of Republican-leaning women, and they are very concerned about their reproductive rights. Parents of all ages have been talking to me about what this means for their children and what's at stake with this election. We saw in my own elections in this purple county in recent years how important reproductive rights are. So, I am confident that the people of America will see what is truly at stake here and understand that this really is a life and death issue for so many people. When things go terribly wrong, you need to know that your life will be saved.

HILL: I'd also like to get your take on another moment, certainly getting a lot of attention, when Kamala Harris spoke about the fact that, yes, she does own a gun, and gave us a little indication why. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINFREY: I thought it was so powerful at the convention when you said you have guns, no, at the debate, at the debate when you --

HARRIS: I'm a gun owner. Tim Walz is a gun owner.

WINFREY: I do not know that. And I thought that was fun.

HARRIS: It's somebody raised in my house a gun shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: We don't have the -- what she said next, but what she said next is, oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. My team is going to have to clean that up tomorrow. Is that really something, though? I mean, talk to me here as a real politician that she would want to clean up. Or is that perhaps a helpful message for, again, some of these undecided voters and perhaps part of the plan?

[11:30:00]

BRINKS: I think Tim Walz and Kamala Harris have made it very clear that they do support Second Amendment rights and that they also know that we have a responsibility to our families, to our children in our community, and to our neighbors to keep them safe. And so, that involves things like taking reasonable measures, like we have here in Michigan, universal background checks, making sure that if somebody is showing signs of potentially doing harm to themselves or others, that we can step in to protect them, making sure that kids are safe, and requiring safe storage of a weapon where children is - where children are present in a home.

So, I think they've been very clear about where they stand, and I do think it's something that resonates with the American people. They believe in our rights, but they also understand we have responsibilities.

HILL: Senator Winnie Brinks, appreciate you joining us this hour. Thank you.

Still to come here, an update on that powerful Israeli airstrike targeting southern Beirut just a couple of hours ago. We will take a closer look at not only that target, but also what we are learning about the casualties.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

I want to get you up to speed on our breaking news that we're following at this hour, the death toll now rising in southern Beirut. This after an Israeli airstrike in a crowded residential area, a strike being called targeted. Lebanon's Health Ministry says now at least eight people have been killed, nearly 60 wounded. You see here some of the destruction, an entire building nearly was destroyed. Sources telling CNN, a senior Hezbollah military leader, Ibrahim Aqil, was the target here. It is not yet clear whether he was, in fact, killed. Lebanon's Prime Minister, in response, saying that the strike shows Israel, quote, "gives no weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations."

This attack also coming just hours before an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. That meeting called in the wake of the pager and walkie-talkie explosions across Lebanon earlier this week. Those attacks killed at least 37 people, wounded thousands more.

With me now is Firas Maksad. He is a Senior Fellow and Senior Director for Strategic Outreach at the Middle East Institute. Good to talk to you again. We last spoke just in the wake of those walkie-talkie explosions. As you look at this airstrike today, and we're hearing more about who, in fact, the intended target was, not yet clear whether he is among the dead, what does this tell you about a potential escalation?

[11:35:00]

FIRAS MAKSAD, SR. FELLOW AND SR. DIRECTOR FOR STRATEGIC OUTREACH, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Yeah. I mean, what that tells me, Erica, is that the Israeli appetite for taking on risk as they expand and intensify their operations in Lebanon is quite significant. When you attack and you assassinate and target such high-ranking officials from Hezbollah, Aqil being essentially their newly promoted Chief of Staff after Israel had killed the last Chief of Staff back in July 30th, when you conduct such operations, there is really no telling who else is in the room particularly, I mean, what comes to my mind is senior Iranian officials, the IRGC board. And those kind of operations can have intended consequences that further broaden war (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY)

HILL: What do you anticipate in terms of retaliation?

MAKSAD: Well, Hezbollah is very clear. It's strategy, all short of a full-on war. So, Hezbollah does -- hello. Can you hear me?

HILL: Yep. I've still got you. Can you hear me?

MAKSAD: I can hear you. HILL: OK. Sorry. Go ahead.

MAKSAD: I just had to (inaudible) once dragged into an all-out war, they will probably keep this limited and contained, but they are, no doubt, receiving some very heavy blow from Israel. They, again, have the advantage. They want to be able to try and force the ceasefire in Gaza on Bibi Netanyahu. The aura and the hero image of Hassan Nasrallah very much going to demand that not only he cannot decouple from Gaza right now, he cannot leave Hamas and the Palestinians off their own because their entire strategy is based on what they call the unity of fronts, which they declared between Lebanon and Gaza, but also the Houthis in Yemen, the militias in Syria and Iraq. So, that Iranian axis cannot decouple from Gaza, which is the stated objective of Benjamin Netanyahu's broader war.

HILL: The fact that, I would say the consensus in folks that I've spoken to is probably not much coming out of this emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Would you agree with that, or do you think that that there could be some meat?

MAKSAD: Sorry. I didn't hear the question. Do I agree with what there?

HILL: In terms of the emergency, the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in the wake of these attacks on the devices, right, in Lebanon, folks that I've been speaking with said they don't really see much coming out of that. Do you agree, or could there be, in fact, some meat that comes out of it?

MAKSAD: No. I don't see any path forward right now for diplomacy, unfortunately. The irony of this all is that the Biden administration had did -- had done quite a bit of legwork. There is a pre-negotiated deal on the table for a new security arrangement in south Lebanon. It would see Hezbollah pull away a certain number of kilometers from that border. It would see the Israelis also redeploy from some key border points that are disputed and new enforcement mechanism guaranteed by the Americans and the French.

However, Iran and Hezbollah have made a ceasefire in Gaza a precondition to unlock that deal, and obviously, we all know that Gaza is not in the offing.

HILL: Firas, always good to have you. Thank you.

Just ahead here, our continued coverage of the political fallout from CNN's exclusive reporting on Mark Robinson. An investigation from CNN's KFILE coming to light as, of course, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump fight for every last vote in battleground North Carolina. What could the impact of a man that Trump has elevated be now on that race? Michael Smerconish is going to join us in just a moment. We will drill down on all of that.

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[11:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HILL: 46 days now until Election Day here in the United States, the

race for the White House coming down to the wire and to every vote in the battleground states, including the State of Georgia. That's where Vice President Kamala Harris will be this afternoon, underlining the campaign's message on reproductive rights. The visit also following a media report which revealed two deaths linked specifically to Georgia's abortion restrictions. Last night, Harris made her pitch to thousands of voters in a livestream rally hosted by Oprah Winfrey.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez tracking all developments within the Harris campaign, and she joins us now live from Atlanta, Georgia. And it is interesting to watch the follow, right, from the family who we heard from last night. Now, the Vice President making her way to Georgia today.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. This is one of those reports that sources close to her tell me was jarring to her and resulted in her directing her team to add this stop to the calendar this week. Of course, this was not what was supposed to be the plan. This is a detour. She was going to go to Wisconsin later today, now stopping here in Atlanta before heading there, and it is because she saw it as important to come highlight the issue of reproductive rights in this state because of this report revealing the two deaths linked to the state's abortion restrictions.

Now, just to get into the report a little bit more and the family that you mentioned, this was a woman who died a couple of years ago from a treatable infection due to delays in medical care. And so, that was part of the event last night with Oprah, where the family was able to speak directly to the Vice President, and it was an emotional moment shared between the two.

Now, the Vice President, before becoming the Democratic nominee, had done a lot of this type of travel before. It was -- her rapid response travel was part of a strategy, a broader strategy for her to quickly deploy two areas where there was news of days or issue of consequence, and she is doing that again here today. It's a callback to that type of travel that she used to do. And it is, again, the campaign putting reproductive rights front and center. Of course, they see this as a political saliency -- having political saliency among voters. They believe that it's going to drive voters to the polls. And Georgia, of course, is a battleground state. And so, by highlighting this issue here, it's not only elevating the story of these two families, but also driving home the idea that reproductive rights as a broad -- broadly with medical care is important.

And so, that is what the Vice President will be doing today. These are remarks that she will be providing until she heads -- then heads to Wisconsin for a rally later tonight. Erica.

HILL: We are really entering the part of campaign season where it is a lot of travel. We're going to see a lot of time in battleground states, you mentioned, of course, Georgia now, but then heading later to Wisconsin. What else is ahead?

ALVAREZ: Well, this is going to be, as you mentioned, the aggressive part of the campaign, which essentially translates to a lot of travel and her going to multiple battleground states. We saw her last week in North Carolina, which is in the headlines today because of CNN reporting, and that is going to be a push by her team, which is not only, by the way, going to battleground states, but also going to red and rural counties, counties that voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020. And sources tell me that we're going to see more of that in the coming weeks, because the idea there, their strategy there is to shave off votes that would go toward former President Donald Trump.

So, all of this is going to culminate into her travel over the next few weeks. But, what we can be sure of is that reproductive rights will consistently be something that she is talking about everywhere she goes.

HILL: Priscilla Alvarez, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.

We were closely monitoring as well the fallout from CNN's KFILE investigation into Mark Robinson, many now calling on the Republican candidate for governor there in North Carolina to resign. This on the heels of CNN's bombshell report, which uncovered some pretty shocking comments posted on a porn site starting back in 2008.

[11:45:00]

Robinson has denied the allegations that these are his posts which involve antisemitic, racist and homophobic remarks. The Harris campaign, for its part, seizing on that report to highlight Donald Trump's consistent praise for Robinson, who he once described as quote, "Martin Luther King on steroids." The state's current Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, is set to speak soon. We're going to monitor that press conference to see if he, in fact, comments on this reporting from CNN's KFILE about Mark Robinson, and we will bring that to you if it happens.

But, with me now, Michael Smerconish, the host of CNN's Smerconish right here on Saturday mornings on CNN, joining us live from Philadelphia. Always good to talk to you. As we look at the fallout here, these comments were really something. I was struck as well by the comments that Robinson made to my colleague Andrew Kaczynski, when he asked him specifically, and he tried to deflect, saying, well, there is a lot of people with a lot of money trying to take me down, I'm paraphrasing, obviously, and this could have been an AI issue, and Andy laying out, right, the work that they have done to authenticate some of these posts, which, again, were quite old.

What do you make of, A, his pushback to start, and B, the fact that we've already seen a number of Republicans try to distance themselves from him?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, "SMERCONISH", & CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, Erica, I see him as trying to take advantage of the liar's dividend. That's what the social scientists call a circumstance like this, where, in a world of so much misinformation and disinformation, it actually opens a window for someone who is caught up in some type of wrongdoing or misfortune to say, well, that wasn't me. That was artificial intelligence or that was fraud by a political opponent. So, they're seizing on this confusion that exists in the marketplace where it's hard to determine what's fact and what's fiction.

I will only say that, having read the totality of that KFILE investigation, it's awfully compelling. I think it's a very compelling case, and he is probably taking a page out of President Trump's book, which is to never admit a thing, just push back and deny, deny, deny, and count on the fact that the news cycle will move on by tomorrow.

HILL: It'll be interesting to see how quickly the news cycle does move on from this. I mentioned some of the Republican pushback that we're already seeing. I just want to play a little bit of what we've heard from Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): Pretty sad to go this far along and then for the people who supported him, all the money that he has raised, and I think he needs to drop out today.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I definitely want to read what the allegations are and the comments on it. I myself can't support anyone if that all turns out to be true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Marjorie Taylor Greene there saying she couldn't support him if it turns out to be true, Donald Trump has elevated him for a long time now, and really helped to get him to this position in many ways. Do you see there being any impact on the former President himself?

SMERCONISH: RealClearPolitics as of this morning says that North Carolina is a 0.1 percent race. So, it is a game of inches. Anything could matter. This runs the risk, I think, of depressing turnout in North Carolina among some of the constituencies that Donald Trump needs and maybe boosting turnout among, say, suburban women. I think that the race is such that people are coming out to vote for the top of the ticket. The real impact might be those races that follow the gubernatorial election. And I think that you could not only see the Republican candidate that we're talking about get blown out, but harm done to some of the down-ballot GOPers.

HILL: I did want to get your take quickly on Governor DeWine of Ohio penning an OpEd in The New York Times today, stating very clearly, Springfield, a town which he knows quite well, the town is not what's being portrayed on social media, and part of what he wrote, we're going to put up on the screen here. I was struck he is specifically calling out. He says, "As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, I am saddened by how they and others continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage the legal migrants living in Springfield, Ohio", going on to say "The rhetoric hurts the city and its people", specifically calling out their verbal attacks and saying "they dilute and cloud, which should be a winning argument about the border."

SMERCONISH: Well, Erica, I told you --

HILL: I was struck by the fact that he is calling both of them out by name.

SMERCONISH: Yeah. I totally agree. And look, this whole conversation that you and I are having is related, right? I mean, there is no basis for what Donald Trump said in the debate on this, they're eating our dogs and cats, and that's a great meme, maybe, but there is no reality to it. And yet, he just keeps saying it and saying it. And if he says it long enough, a significant number of people among us are going to believe it. That's the most distressing part of all. And many just don't have enough bandwidth to keep track of each one of these stories in such a fluid campaign.

HILL: It's true. It'll interesting to see too if there is any pushback or fallout from that, right, from the former President.

[11:50:00]

It is a story that is not going away, as you point out, and the mayor saying right here on CNN, even just this morning, that it would be better for the former President not to go to Springfield, as he said, that he might, but instead to talk about perhaps unity. We'll see if that happens.

Michael Smerconish, always get to talk to you. Thank you.

SMERCONISH: Nice to see you. Thank you.

HILL: And a reminder, you can catch "Smerconish" right here every Saturday at 09:00 a.m. Eastern Time on CNN. That's 02:00 p.m. in London.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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HILL: Our breaking news again at this hour. Lebanon's Health Ministry saying at least nine people now were killed, dozens injured, in the wake of an Israeli airstrike in a densely populated residential area in southern Beirut. At least two buildings, we're learning, have collapsed in the wake of that strike. Sources telling CNN the Israeli military was targeting a senior Hezbollah military leader.

A CNN team at the scene describing a frantic mass effort to rescue people from beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings. That coupled with the wave of explosions carried out earlier this week in Lebanon by the Israeli military and Mossad, which killed at least 37 people, injured thousands more. There are, of course, increased concerns about an all-out war breaking out. The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, vowing revenge, accusing Israel of crossing, quote, "all the red lines."

Ben Wedeman following all of these developments for us in Beirut. Ben, bring us up to speed here on what more we're hearing in the wake of the attack. WEDEMAN: Yeah. Now we're hearing the Israeli military is now claiming

that it indeed has assassinated Ibrahim Aqil, a senior Hezbollah military commander, allegedly who leads the so-called Radwan Force there. That's their elite commando force. Now, this airstrike took place earlier in the afternoon when, according to the official news agency here, it was an Israeli F-35 warplane that fired two rockets on the Jamous neighborhood in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah has a very strong presence.

As a result of that strike, as our crew there saw, the two buildings were totally flattened. And as the Ministry of Health is reporting, nine people have been killed, 59 injured among the injured, eight of them in critical condition. And of course, these are the preliminary numbers, because it's widely believed and efforts are underway that there are still many more under the rubble of these two buildings.

And keep in mind, Erica, that even though it's often that part of Beirut is often described as a Hezbollah stronghold, there are still tens of thousands of civilians living in those areas. And the strike took place at a time when the streets were probably full of cars and people, stores, very busy at the time. So, this comes after days of rising tension, first on Tuesday with those pager blasts, and Wednesday the walkie-talkies, and now this. Now, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, had vowed to take revenge for those electronic device attacks. As you mentioned, he said Israel had crossed all red lines.

[11:55:00]

But, it's important to keep in mind, in the last four days, there have been three major Israeli military operations against Lebanon, against Hezbollah, and certainly, this is not an instance where Hezbollah can take its time and decide the time and place. It will take revenge. At this point, it's really pushed into a corner by the Israelis, who, by all -- for all intents and purposes, have launched a war against Hezbollah, far broader than the border skirmishes that have been going on for months and months. And the concern is that, of course, this country is simply going to be engulfed in such a war. What form it will take? It's hard to say. But certainly, since October, there is no point in time that has been as dangerous as this one. Erica.

HILL: Yeah. It is such an important point. Ben, really appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

Thanks to all of you for joining me this hour. I am Erica Hill in New York. Stay tuned. Our coverage continues next right here on CNN with One World.

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