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Israel Says It Is Extensively Striking Lebanon; Harris Agrees To CNN Debate Against Trump On October 23; Lone Dem On Georgia Election Board On Controversial New Rules; One-On-One With The Commander Of Polaris Dawn; Sources: Divers Want Stronger Security Around Superyacht Wreck. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 21, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:58]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we begin this hour with breaking news in the Middle East where Israel is ramping up its fight against Hezbollah. All this week we have seen a string of major operator patients targeting the Iran- backed terror group based in Lebanon.

And today, Israel saying it's quote, "extensively striking" after uncovering Hezbollah's plans for a coming attack.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining us now, live from Beirut. And Ben tell us what you're seeing on the ground there today.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've seen is in the south an then intensification of Israeli bombardment and airstrikes the likes of which we haven't seen for quite some time.

There was an intense period of bombing between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. local time by Israeli airplanes. According to the Lebanese news agency 111 Israeli strikes within the span of just 60 minutes.

And this evening, it seems it's the same. There's intense strikes in much of the southern part of Lebanon along the border. Now Hezbollah for its part, claims to have struck -- rather launched 11 strikes on Israeli targets on the other side of the border.

And overall, it does seem that escalation is the order of the day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: Where Friday noon was a nine-story residential building in southern Beirut, now just a jagged jumble of concrete rubble and twisted steel bars.

Israeli warplanes struck late in the afternoon, targeting successfully a meeting of Hezbollah commanders. Yet among the almost 40 dead, there were women and children. It was the third major Israeli attack in four days.

Full military honors at the funeral for three of the Hezbollah fighters killed Friday in Beirut. Since Tuesday, the Iranian-backed group has suffered its highest casualties since the 2000 war. Yet at least here, the faithful, there are no signs of wavering.

They're committed to their leader despite the body blows, Israel dealt Hezbollah in recent days.

"It has been tough and painful, says Al-Mahedi (ph), but we have patience and endurance and God willing with Hezbollah and Nasrallah, victory is at hand.

Hussein tells me, "In this war, you can't win every day. Let Israel wait and see what our response will be. We are strong in faith."

There are more funerals to come for fighters and civilians from Friday's strike. These are Hezbollah's darkest days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And this evening, the U.S. embassy here in Lebanon has put out it's sternest warning yet to U.S. nationals in the country, basically saying, don't come to Lebanon. And if you're here, leave as soon as possible.

The line that's sort of jumped out at me was this. Do not travel to Lebanon due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, unexploded land mines, and the risk of armed conflict, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Ben Wedeman live in Beirut tonight. Thank you very much for that.

Let's bring in Barak Ravid now. He's a CNN political and global affairs analyst, as well as a politics and foreign policy reporter for Axios

Barak, good evening to you. Thanks for being here.

[17:04:46]

DEAN: I just want to start first with zooming out and kind of getting a bigger picture look at all of this. Looking at the actions over the last week -- last week by Israel, what do you think is the state of play right now when it comes to Israel and Hezbollah? And what maybe comes next?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hi Jessica. Well, I think we're in a very dangerous moment where both sides are escalating.

We need to take a look at the last week, Hezbollah suffered, I think, its biggest blow in its history. Within a week, thousands of its members were wounded by this pager and walkie-talkie attacks, dozens of them were killed.

It created shock and paranoia inside this militia with its members not knowing what's going to happen next and whether they are safe.

And on top of that, yesterday in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Hezbollah's top commander was taken out together with 15 other senior commanders.

So Hezbollah at the moment and its leader Hassan Nasrallah, looks to the right, looks to the left and find himself more or less alone because most of his command-and-control system is dead.

And I think this is -- this why this thing could go either for a very serious escalation or for Hezbollah to say, you know what we need to pause this thing because we're taking too much damage.

DEAN: And U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan was asked about the recent ramp up in the attacks. And he said that there's quote, "a real risk of escalation".

I know that the Biden administration and the U.S. has tried to pursue diplomatic resolutions to what has been going on. But at this point, does it seem like that's even a realistic option? Or are we just going to see more of this fighting escalate?

RAVID: So at the moment, it doesn't seem to be, you know, an option, at least not in the immediate term. But what the Israeli government has said and the Biden administration is, in many ways, subscribed to this idea is de-escalation through escalation.

Meaning for months, the diplomatic efforts by the U.S. did not achieve a deal. Hezbollah did not agree to decouple itself from Hamas and Gaza. It said it's going to stop fighting only when the war in Gaza stops.

Therefore, what the Israelis are telling the U.S. is, you know, we've been doing everything we did over the last week in order to put Hezbollah in a place where it recalculates its policy.

And what I hear from U.S. officials, very senior U.S. officials, that they recognize that this seems to be the way to go at this moment. They recognize at the same time, that this is a very -- this is slippery slope, meaning it's a very fine calibration.

You can find yourself very easily escalating and not ending with a de- escalation, but ending with an all-out war.

DEAN: And so to that point is there a tipping point where Iran becomes directly involved? Or do you think not?

RAVID: That's a good question because the Iranians -- for Iran, Hezbollah was its secret weapon. It's most important investment for decades as this militia that would retaliate against Israel in case Israel attacked Iran and its nuclear facilities and every day the Iranians look at what's going on in Lebanon and see that Hezbollah is taking more and more hits.

So I think the Iranians are thinking about it for sure. But I think we are not going to see the Iranians getting involved if we don't see Israel invading Lebanon.

If Israel invades Lebanon, that's a different story. I'm pretty sure the Iranians will get involved. But if it's just going to be those clandestine intelligence operations and targeted air airstrikes. I find it hard to see the Iranians going in.

DEAN: And it is of, course, late on Saturday night in Israel right now. As we've seen for months and months many Israelis are protesting. They're are calling on the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a hostage deal.

Some are calling on him to step down. Of course, he's been accused for many years of pursuing conflict to stay in power. What is the current status of Prime Minister Netanyahu?

And also, just as we get closer to the U.S. election, what kind of role is that playing in -- in his mind as well?

[17:09:56]

RAVID: So I think that that's one of the key elements here because a war between Israel and Lebanon is a much more serious thing than a war in Gaza.

Ok, I know it sounds hard to believe, but the war in Gaza would be a walk in the park in comparison to a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And a divided society -- divided Israeli society, which is the situation right now, is not a good recipe for such a war and Netanyahu knows it.

And one major development that happened earlier today was that Netanyahu, for the last few days while this whole thing is going on tried to fire, wanted to fire the minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, who is highly popular in Israeli public opinion and replace him with a member of the opposition in order to broaden his coalition and kick out Gallant, who he doesn't really like.

And earlier today, Gideon Sa'ar, this member of the opposition that Netanyahu wanted to appoint as minister of defense announced that he is giving up on this idea and he's not going to take the job.

And it happened after both Sa'ar and Netanyahu and the entire Israeli society saw devastating public opinion polls in different Israeli media outlets that showed that 60 percent of Israelis are opposed to the firing of minister of defense Gallant and think that Netanyahu is only doing this for political reasons, not because Gallant is not doing his job.

And I think it tells you a lot about Netanyahu's political situation and the trust he has from the Israeli people these days.

DEAN: All right. Barak Ravid, as always, thank you so much for that analysis. We appreciate it.

RAVID: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: New tonight, Vice President Harris accepting an invitation to a CNN debate set just days before the general election. We're going to tell you how President Trump and his campaign are responding.

Plus Georgia's attorney general saying vote counting changes made by the state election board may be unlawful. And I talked to the lone Democrat on that election board.

Plus wait until you hear why divers surveying wreckage of a super yacht off the coast of Sicily are now asking for heightened security. What could be on board that ship?

You're the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:12:19]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: It's been less than two weeks since their first debate and now Vice President Kamala Harris is saying yes to another debate with former President Donald Trump, this time on CNN on October 23rd, of course, just days before the election.

Let's go straight to CNN's Steve Contorno, who is live in Wilmington, North Carolina where the former president just wrapped up a rally. And Steve, Trump responding to this invite from CNN, while speaking to supporters there. What did he say?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Jessica, the answer was essentially thanks, but no thanks. He believes that he has debated enough already in this cycle. And he told the crowd that it was too late for another debate because people are already voting.

Now I will point out that he did participate in October debates both in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, in fact, he actually did two debates in 2016 as well as a late October debate against Joe Biden four years ago. However, he said he's not up for another one this time around.

Also speaking to his crowd, he continued here to talk about his favorite topic, immigration. This time promising a new crackdown on sanctuary cities.

Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Today I'm announcing a new plan to end all sanctuary cities in North Carolina and all across our country. No more sanctuary cities.

As soon as I take office, we will immediately surge federal law enforcement to every city that is failing, which is a lot of them, to turn over criminal aliens. And we will hunt down, capture every single gang member, drug dealer, rapist, murderer, and migrant criminal that is being think illegally harbored. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Trump as president tried to withhold funding from sanctuary cities when he was president, but a court stepped in and said his executive order could not be issued.

DEAN: And Steve, this campaign in North Carolina comes on the heels of a CNN investigation that found that the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, Mark Robinson made lewd and racist comments on a porn site years ago. How does the Trump campaign respond to this knowing that the foreign president endorsed him?

CONTORNO: He endorsed him and he has spoken at many Trump rallies in the past. However, today he was not invited. He did not show up and he wasn't even mentioned by Trump or any of the speakers today.

And it just shows you how quickly they are trying to distance themselves from Robinson and some of the fall regarding him. But however, I will point out that the state GOP has so far stood by Robinson and Trump has not specifically addressed Robinson himself.

But his campaign instead saying that they are focused on winning North Carolina, realizing how important it is to their path to the White House.

DEAN: All right.

Steve Contorno there in Wilmington, North Carolina. Thank you so much for that reporting.

[17:19:45]

DEAN: Joining me now is CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic" Ron Brownstein.

Hi Ron. Thanks so much for being --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi Jessica.

DEAN: -- here with us.

We've got a lot to talk about. I want to start first with that bombshell report from CNN on Mark Robinson. Does it change the dynamic in North Carolina in the presidential race there? Already we knew it was likely to be a very close race.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I think it does, at least a little. You know, North Carolina has been heartbreak hill for the Democrats since 2008 when they won the presidency there. Obama won the state and they won the senate race.

since then, they've lost a succession of close Senate and presidential contests. And there is concern among Democrats that the population balance in the state has been tilting a little away from them with an influx of conservative retirees from higher tax blue states. But this is the kind of development that could turbocharge the best

thing Democrats have going for them in North Carolina, which is the movement of white-collar suburbs outside of Charlotte and Raleigh, as in other states toward them.

There is a risk, I think, for Trump who has praised Robinson and, you know, was instrumental in helping him become the nominee through that praise that some of the white-collar pro-choice suburban women who might otherwise be attracted to voting for Trump because of his stance on the economy and immigration might find Robinson just a bridge too far, maybe stay home, maybe give another look to Kamala Harris.

North Carolina's still tough for Democrats, but this certainly gives them a little boost.

DEAN: Yes. And what do you make of Harris accepting this second debate with Trump? He says that it's -- that it's too close. It's too close, he can't do it then. What do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well look, the first debate could hardly have gone better for Harris. And so in one sense, it's understandable that she thinks that she can beat Trump again.

On the other hand, I am a little surprised in that the campaign might want that contrast. It's hard to believe any debate could ever be that effective again. And they might want that contrast to be the last thing that voters -- you know, the last time voters see them together.

I am just reminded -- Trump's response reminded me of something a Republican strategist said to me a few days before even the bad performance in the first debate with Kamala Harris, which was that this strategist said, you know, I don't think we're going to win this campaign, if we do through the interactions between Harris and Trump, whether in the debate or in the day-to-day kind of give and take of the candidates.

If we do win, it's just going to be grinding her down with negative advertising, the kind of textbook of work Republicans have done for years, painting Democrats are soft on crime and immigration, coastal liberal in those critical states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin aimed at blue collar, mostly blue-collar whites.

And I think that's what you see here. I mean, I don't think they want to put him in that position again. And they just want to count on this kind of like Terminator-like day after day accumulation of negative advertising.

DEAN: And also this week, the vice president participated in this event with Oprah Winfrey. It was in Michigan, of course, trying to reach an even broader set of voters.

She spoke with the family of a woman from Georgia who died as the result of delayed medical care that's linked to that states abortion ban.

I just want to play a quick clip of that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So is she on death's door before you actually decide to give her help?

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: That's the problem.

HARRIS: Is that what we're saying?

WINFREY: That's the problem. Yes.

That you've got to prove you're on death's door.

HARRIS: Like literally a doctor or a nurse has to say, she might die at any minute, better give her now care. Because otherwise I might go to prison.

It's a health care crisis. It's a health care crisis that affects the patient and the profession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And Ron, look they talked about a number of issues, but you've got the vice president with Oprah Winfrey talking about women's reproductive rights. It kind of tells you a lot about who they are targeting, what kind of voter they are hoping to motivate.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, look, I think we are underestimating the potential impact of abortion in this election. Harris is talking about it with force and conviction.

And if you look at 2022, the first election after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, the Democratic performance in the governors races in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin improved over Biden's just two years earlier among not only college-educated white women in those states, but also the non-college blue collar white women who have tended to vote Republican over most of the past 30 years.

The recent polling that came out last week from both Quinnipiac and Marist in those critical states that will probably decide this election. Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin showed Harris holding the gains that Democrats made in '22 relative to Biden in '20, both among the white-collar and the blue-collar white women.

[17:24:49]

BROWNSTEIN: And that is what I think above all, will put her in a position to strongly compete for those states.

DEAN: Yes. That is such key demographics to watch.

All right. Ron Brownstein, as always, thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Weeks before voters head to the polls, a Georgia election board is changing the way the state's going to count the ballots.

Up next, we're going to talk to the Democratic member of that board who says this could change -- this change could delay the results of the presidential election in a very critical battleground state.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Just six weeks now, just a little over six weeks until election day and the state elections board in Georgia just changed how it's going to count ballots.

[17:29:52]

DEAN: This controversial new rule will require counties to hand count the number of ballots cast at a polling place on election day.

That three to two vote came Friday. Three Trump allies supporting the move, with the one Democrat and the one Independent appointed by the GOP opposing.

Critics say it could take longer to count those votes in the battleground state.

And joining us to discuss, Sara Tindall Ghazal, the lone Democratic member on the Georgia State Election Board.

Sara, thanks so much for being here with us.

SARA TINDALL GHAZAL, (D), GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD MEMBER: Absolutely, Jessica. My pleasure.

DEAN: All right. OK, so let's start first, the attorney general there, Chris Carr, who is a Republican, says that these rules are not tethered to any statute.

Also, he warned that the board might be making these changes too close to the election. What is your take on this?

TINDALL GHAZAL: Well, that's one of the aspects of this that I find most shocking that the board is operating without the constraint of the rule of law. And this is something that, as the only attorney on the board, I have spoken about publicly many times.

But it is entirely too close to elections. There are boards across -- county election boards across the state have been passing resolutions, unanimously, bipartisan board, saying, please stop making new rules. There needs to be a quiet period.

Voting is already happening. The ballots for our military and overseas voters are already out there. So it's mind boggling to me that these folks think it's appropriate to change the rules when voting is already happening.

DEAN: And Georgia has a number, obviously, of counties, as you mentioned, that are going to have to hand count these ballots. What kind of impact could that have on election night?

TINDALL GHAZAL: So we have 159 counties, all from 5,000 to 6,000 voters, up to nearly A million in the metro area.

And not only do they have to hand count them, but they have to hand count them three times. And those counts have to match exactly, even though every ballot has already been counted. Not just tabulated, but also counted by electronic scanners.

The counties that have actually tested this already, they have -- they have run like a beta test for this. They that it's taking them in an hour, hour-and-a-half, two hours. And that's using workers that have not already had a 14 day.

So it is going to delay getting those results back to the county at headquarters, sometimes by many hours. And that means that the counties that are legally required by statute to have those vote totals uploaded by midnight are really facing an incredibly challenging deadline.

DEAN: And obviously, three people on this panel believe it's necessary to require hand counting. And they're going to require that counties make sure the number of ballots, as you just mentioned, match the tally of the -- on the voting machines.

Where is the harm in making sure everything matches? What do you say to people who say, why can't we just make sure everything matches?

TINDALL GHAZAL: Why didn't we look at this rule six months ago? If this rule was so important, if this task was so important, why didn't we undertake the rulemaking early enough that the counties could have trained and provided for this.

Now, their coworkers are already trained. The poll -- the poll workers are already hired. So they didn't expect to have to do this.

Are we -- are they going to have to retrain? Are they going to have to reset the way the precinct is set up to make sure that they have their -- the table setup in a way that this can -- the count can be conducted safely and they can keep those ballots secure?

If this was so important to election integrity, why didn't we do this last year? Why didn't we do it in January and February, in June even?

But we are in September, the end of the line. It is way too late in the day to be making these kinds of changes and expect the counties to be able to undertake this in a way that is reasonable, rational, safe, and keeps the ballots secure.

DEAN: And Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensberger, has already called this board and this situation a mess, that's his words, a mess.

And as I'm hearing you talk about this, and you think about this, you think about hand-counting, you think about the potential for human error, as you mentioned, after someone who he's worked hours and hours at a polling site.

Do you worry that this could inject some sort of questioning into the results that are totally secure because now there is a risk for human error, that it could -- could be causing problems where there -- where there weren't any before?

[17:35:55]

TINDALL GHAZAL: That is exactly what every single election director, re-election supervisors from across the state, they all warned about.

We've had -- the former secretary of state of Alabama made the same sorts of warnings to us, saying you don't change the rules, you don't change procedures because you are risking injecting confusion, you're risking injecting misinformation about what might happen.

And it's just - it's a deep concern to me. And I just can't -- I can't fathom why anybody thinks it's a good idea to change these rules this late in the game.

DEAN: All right, Sara Tindall Ghazal, thank you so much for sharing your perspective on this. We appreciate it.

TINDALL GHAZAL: My pleasure.

DEAN: Well, if you are the first private astronaut to conduct a spacewalk, how do you top that? What do you do next? We're going to ask Jared Isaacson, the man who did the first private spacewalk.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:41]

DEAN: The world is still in awe after last week's historic space mission. The Polaris Dawn crew splashing back down to earth last Sunday after a five-day mission.

It reached the highest altitude traveled by any human since 1966. And two crew members became the first women to travel so far from our planet.

Polaris Dawn conducted the first commercial spacewalk with Commander Jared Isaacman telling Mission Control, quote, "Back at home, we have a lot of work to do. But from here, looks like a perfect world."

Today, we're speaking to Commander Jared Isaacman, who partly funded the mission.

Thanks so much for being here.

It's been nearly a week since you've been home. What do you keep thinking about? What an experience to have.

JARED ISAACMAN, COMMANDER, POLARIS DAWN: Well, first, thanks for having me.

And, yes, I mean, this is -- when we have some brief moments of reflection, it's quite -- it's quite intense to think about.

But we've also been giving a lot of our time to the scientists who continue to poke and prod us a little bit as well as just sharing our story with everyone, which is it's one of the fundamental obligations of any human spaceflight missions.

DEAN: And tell us about that moment, about the spacewalk. It was partly to test out, I believe, the space suits. But just to be out there in space, what was that like?

ISAACMAN: Well, we were taking 14,000 people with us. I mean, this was a huge undertaking from everyone at SpaceX. There we're contributions from NASA.

I mean, no one's built a new spacesuit, that you can do spacewalks in, in nearly four decades.

You know, there were a lot of things on our mission, whether it was the high altitude of the spacewalk that were certainly done in the 1960s and '70s.

But it was when there was 4.5 percent of GDP funding in the space race and it was kind of paid for by everyone.

It's just a really awesome time now where private industry, commercial industry can be unlocking these capabilities really there for everyone.

And it was one heck of a view. And the suit did really, really well. And I'm excited to think about where that suit might be used someday.

DEAN: Yes, you just don't know how it will evolve.

I just remind everyone that was a five-day mission. You and your crew carried out nearly 40 science experiments. You did research.

Can you tell us a little bit about what kind of experiments, what you were trying to study while you were doing this?

ISAACMAN: Sure. You know, I mean, up until very recently, human spaceflight was kind of the exclusive domain of world governments and it often carried a hero image associated with it.

But to tell you the truth, of the 600 and some odd people who orbit, about 50 percent feel horrible. There's fluid shifts in your body when you're out in that micro-gravity environment. It's kind of why your face puffs up a little bit.

But if you can envision a world in the future where tens of thousands of people are traveling into space, it would probably be great for all of them if they were feeling decent and not getting sick.

So we had a lot of science and research experiments about understanding Space Adaptation Syndrome, about understanding a lot of the ocular issues that happen when your optic nerve can be compressed with increased intraocular pressure.

We were doing experiments on new -- new methods of medical intervention because, if you are going to the moon or Mars and coming back, some of these journeys can be long and you're going to have to deal with things like airway management, CPR.

So we had a lot of -- oh, and a lot of ultrasounds, just understanding everything from your eyes, your major veins and organs. So we kept ourselves pretty busy up there.

DEAN: Yes, it sounds like you can get -- you didn't waste a lot of time.

I'm curious what your biggest challenge was. And if everything went as planned.

ISAACMAN: Well, I think it actually goes to the previous question, it's just time. We only had five days. That's the limitation of Dragon and our oxygen supply.

And since we're breathing 100 percent oxygen during the EPA, it's why we only had so much time outside the vehicle as well.

But really it was just time. We were on the clock the moment we launched. We needed perfect weather to come home within five days. And we had a lot to do during that period.

So I think we all would have loved a few more days to get things done, but we just kind of sacrificed sleep a little bit and managed to check all the boxes.

DEAN: And so what happens now? Where do you go from here? What could you possibly do next to top this?

ISAACMAN: Well, I think the whole purpose of the Polaris program is to bridge the gap between the Dragon vehicle that has proven to go to and from the International Space Station really well and Starship.

[17:45:07]

That's a huge new reusable rocket with double the thrust of the Saturn Five, that there's two factories of making in quantity. I mean, this is -- this is going to be 737 of human spaceflight.

This is what NASA has already contracted with to return humans to the moon. And this is how people are going to get to Mars and really explore our solar system.

So there's an awful lot to do between what we have today and when that spaceship comes online in the next decade.

So that's what Polaris is about. It's why we're building new spacesuits. It's why we're leaving our comfort zone and going really high, testing new communication methods, using lasers like we did on this mission.

And there's still a lot more to develop and test on the horizon.

DEAN: Always so much more to do and learn.

Jared Isaacman, thank you so much for being here with us.

ISAACMAN: Thank you.

DEAN: Well, here's a mystery. That superyacht may have had highly classified data locked inside a safe onboard before it sank. And now sources say divers are worried about foreign governments trying to crack them under water.

It kind of sounds like a plot out of a spy novel. We're going to talk more about it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:53]

DEAN: A tragedy off the coast of Italy is taking a mysterious turn. Divers are asking for more security as they survey the wreck of the $40 million superyacht that sank in August, killing seven people. This is according to local sources.

They say highly classified intelligence data may be locked inside the safes that were on board. It is information that may interest foreign governments such as Russia's government, Chinas government.

Barbie Nadeau is joining us now with more.

And, Barbie, what more do we know about this?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, first and foremost, we have to remember this is a human tragedy. Seven people lost their lives in a very bizarre accident, weather-related accident.

But it's just who was on that vessel when it went down that is becoming a matter of international intrigue. Mike Lynch, a British tech titan, who is often described as a British Bill Gates, who was involved with several cybersecurity companies that worked with Western intelligence.

He's said to have carried with him always whenever he went on his yacht or anywhere this highly sensitive data that he kept in hard drives and that was secured on the ship.

Now, we're getting this information from the questioning that went to all of the crew, 15 people who survived crew members and passengers, who were in his inner circle, associates or who sailed with him often.

And so they're very concerned right now before they raise this vessel, which is expected to happen in the next couple of weeks, that no one tries to reach it before they do. Now, it's below the level of the sea, about 50 meters or 114 feet.

It's not going to be a novice diver who could go down there and try to get something off the ship.

But they're very concerned that someone with a higher level of technology may try to reach it.

And we've understood, from the authorities here in Italy, that they have beefed up their surveillance and their protection of the site, both above and below water, until they're able to raise that vessel,

And then what happens to this potentially very highly classified and important information on board that ship is also a matter of great concern -- Jessica?

DEAN: And, Barbie, do we -- have we learned anything more about the actual sinking? I know this was weather-related.

NADEAU: Well, yes, they're saying that this was a tornado or a waterspout that hit this vessel around, you know, right about 4:00 a.m. the morning of August 19th and sank this, quote, unquote, "unsinkable vessel," according to the makers of the yacht, within about 15 minutes.

Now, there were other vessels and other yachts and boats and things like that in the water around it that did not sink them.

So they're looking into criminal negligence on the part of the captain and on several other of the crew members to see if maybe the hatches were open and things like that.

None of those questions, of course, will be answered completely until they're able to raise the vessel.

Now, doing that is a matter of also environmental concerns. With about 18,000 liters of fuel and oil on that vessel, they have to be very careful how they bring it up and make sure that they do it in a careful way as well -- Jessica?

DEAN: All right, Barbie Nadeau with the latest there. Thank you so much for that reporting. We appreciate it.

And with students across America settling into the school year, "CNN Heroes" have a reminder that some of the best life lessons don't always come from a book.

Middle school teacher, Brian O'Connor, had his class in Chappaqua, New York, write letters to their top "CNN Heroes" in 2023.

And at the Make Good Famous Summit, the class got a surprise video call from their heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES O'CONNOR, CNN HERO: ((INAUDIBLE)

MAMA SHU, CNN HERO: I'm Mama Shu. Peace and love, everybody.

When I was young, like you all, my neighborhood was very important to me. I saw the neighborhood that I was in and it was just so ugly, so broken down, so blight, you all.

And I just felt that I deserve and my other people deserved in my community a beautiful place to stay in.

And so that's why I bought a whole block and I'm building a homework house and building a lot of things for children your age.

O'CONNOR: Kwane, the veterinarian.

KWANE STEWART, CNN HERO: I remember my mother always being kind to strangers, particularly to the homeless. So, since then, I've had this dream of being a vet.

[17:55:03]

And what I've learned through my work is kindness can change the world.

So remember that when you are talking to your friends and your peers, maybe somebody that's having a hard day. Just the kind words for them can make things so much better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And you can see more of the conversation and other inspiring stories at CNNheroes.com.

Former President Donald Trump visits battleground North Carolina without the man he's endorsing to be the states next governor.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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