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CNN International: Biden Addresses United Nations For Final Time As President; Biden: We Will Not Let Up On Our Support For Ukraine; Hezbollah Fires Rocket Barrage At Kiryat Shmona. Aired 11a- 12p ET
Aired September 24, 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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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon in New York.
Let's get straight to our breaking news this hour, a message of hope from President Biden, even as war brings misery and loss to millions of people in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He just told the United Nations that it's not too late to stop a full-blown war erupting across Israel's border with Lebanon. In his last speech to the UN General Assembly as Commander in Chief, Biden says that he has not lost hope of international cooperation leading to peaceful solutions to conflict, even as lives are being lost in Lebanon, Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're also working to bring greater measure of peace and stability in the Middle East. The world must not flinch from the horrors of October 7. Any country, any country, would have the right and responsibility to ensure that such an attack could never happen again, thousands bombed. Hamas terrorists invaded a sovereign state, slaughtering and massacring more than 1,200 people, including 46 Americans in their homes and at a music festival, despicable acts of sexual violence.
250 innocents taken hostage. I have met with the families of those hostages. I have grieved with them. They are going through hell. Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell, thousands and thousands killed, including aid workers, too many families dislocated, crowding in the tents, facing a dire humanitarian situation. They never asked for this war that Hamas started.
I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a ceasefire and hostage deal. It's been endorsed by the UN Security Council. Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas threat, ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war. October 7th, since October 7th, we've also been determined to prevent
a wider war than engulfs the entire region. Hezbollah unprovoked during the October 7 attack, launching rockets in Israel, almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced. A full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes and the border safely, and that's what we're working tirelessly to achieve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And CNN has a team of reporters and analysts covering the story from every angle. CNN Senior United Nations Correspondent Richard Roth with us, CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier, and CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak, welcome to you all.
Richard Roth, I want to start with you. Talk to us a little bit about your first thoughts on this final address from Biden. He talked about AI. He talked about being optimistic. He talked about being stronger together. What stood out to you?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I heard a lot of speeches here at the UN. So, sometimes, it takes a lot to crack the wall. But, for President Biden, the optimistic tone we're used to, I think it was his acknowledgement or statement that when the world acts together, we're stronger, perhaps a hint at another Trump administration or the past Trump administration. He said we should not flinch from what happened on October 7th. So, from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan, pushing for united action.
But, there was a lot of applause when he said the people are the ones really with the power. Don't cling to it, when that General Assembly audience is filled with countries that have been run for years by the so-called strong men.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Fair point. And Kevin, let me bring you into the conversation.
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There was also sort of a moment where it seemed like he was hinting at internal domestic politics. He said some things are more important than staying in power, which some could read as a dig at his former opponent, Donald Trump. I mean, what else did you hear?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And certainly, people in the crowd will have taken that in a certain way, but a televised audience in the United States might have taken it a different way. And it was interesting to hear him describe in fairly candid terms his decision to step aside from the Democratic ticket. We actually haven't heard him talk about that decision at great length for very long, and it was something of an interesting choice to hear him talk about it from the UN, particularly when there are so many global conflicts that he needed to address as well. And you did hear in this speech, the President kind of tick through them one by one and talk about the different ways that the United States is trying to resolve them.
But, I think at the end of the day, if you were waiting for President Biden to say something new about Ukraine, about the Middle East, about Sudan, you're probably still left waiting. He didn't offer any new proposals, any new strategies to try and bring, particularly in the Middle East, the parties together to try and come up with a ceasefire agreement.
In that clip you played, the lead in was pretty much the extent of what he said about the Middle East. So, that is interesting. And I think he made that forceful call for a ceasefire deal, but he didn't really say how he plans to do that, and it remains the case that American officials still think that the prospects of a deal are somewhat fading. They don't necessarily believe that President Biden will be able to achieve this deal by the time he leaves office. They will still continue pursuing it, and President Biden will talk about it in his engagements in New York this week. But, they don't necessarily think they're any closer to striking that agreement.
So, when you listen to the President, certainly he wanted to make this a career capstone speech. He talked about all the way back to the Vietnam War, when he first started as a U.S. Senator, and sort of tick through all of the issues that he has worked on throughout the course of his 50-year-long career. But, at the end of the day, for a final speech, his final capstone speech to the world stage, the world is very much still on fire, and the President didn't necessarily offer a lot of new proposals or new perspectives on how to get everything under control.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It's a fair point, certainly when you're talking about the Middle East, or when you're talking about Ukraine.
Richard, let me bring you back into this conversation. One thing that was on the relatively newer side was this announcement we just heard from Biden there that the U.S. will announce the donation, or did announce a donation of one million mpox vaccine doses and at least $500 million to African countries to support their response to mpox. That was on the relatively newer side. That was a recent development. Talk to me a little bit about the thinking or the strategy of why mention that here, I mean, what that says about the U.S., as we're thinking about this being Biden's last speech and his legacy.
ROTH: Well, you have to spread it around, and he has -- every President comes here ready to tell the world and remind them that the United States is the biggest donor, the biggest supporter of humanitarian issues, and that's really what the UN does best. And aid workers are braving live fire and getting killed inside Gaza. So, the viruses, the vaccines, plays well, especially in Africa. He also mentioned the U.S. campaign for two additional seats to be on the Security Council coming from Africa. The big problem, you don't know who is winning the White House in the election, and the seats will not have veto power. So, they're going to -- the Security Council is deadlocked. They're going to add more countries to add to the fund. That's the way I see it, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And Kevin, let me bring you back into the conversation, and last word
here. Talk to me a little bit more about that. This is his last speech, certainly addressing the UNGA as President, at least. The election is, what, less than six weeks away now. I mean, that has to be weighing on his mind as he sort of delivered this speech. Talk to me a little bit about the dynamics politically and domestically, and how that factored into, ultimately, the speech that we just heard.
LIPTAK: Yeah. It's weighing on his mind, and it's weighing on the minds of every single person in the General Assembly Hall, every delegate trying to get sort of an idea of where American foreign policy might be heading. And certainly, the President's speech today will be looked at very differently a year from now, depending on whether it's Donald Trump at the rostrum at the UN or whether it's Kamala Harris delivering her first UN speech.
And I think you could either interpret it as a coda (ph) on a certain era of American foreign policy and diplomacy, when -- one where the U.S. alliances have been restored, one of muscular American role abroad. Or if Trump wins, it will be viewed as sort of the last iteration of that, at least for the next four years. And President Biden in speech very much made the case for the muscular role abroad, and he talked about restoring alliances.
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It is interesting to think back to his first UN speech, when he talked about the importance of autocracy versus democracy. He said that the U.S. is not seeking a new Cold War. Well, at the end of the day, the United States is in something of a new Cold War. You don't hear him talk about autocracy versus democracy very often. The realities of the real politic around the world have sort of come to the fore. So, I think it's a speech that the President certainly wanted to give to burnish his foreign policy legacy, in a way.
But, these global conflicts are having a role on the campaign trail. They aren't at the forefront of what voters are talking about. But, certainly, as they think about the Biden administration and think about sort of the way that he is leaving the world with these two global conflicts roiling the globe, I think this is something that the President is certainly very much thinking about and trying to make the case, at least for his view of the world as one that can bring calm, can restore peace, but hasn't necessarily been able to do that yet.
And so, I think when the delegates are listening to him speak, they very much also want to know what will happen next. It's one of the reasons why so many foreign leaders are jockeying to try and meet both with Trump and with Harris this week while they're in the United States, and I think it's just going to be a period of uncertainty until we know who the next President will be.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Richard Roth, Kevin Liptak, thank you both.
I want to now bring it to the conversation CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier. Kim, good to see you. Talk to me a little bit about -- I want to pick up where Kevin left off there. The first time President Biden addressed the UNGA in 2021 as President, he talked about not wanting to enter into another Cold War. He talked about the difference between democracy and autocracy. Now that this speech is in the books, how do you think this speech will be remembered? What stands out to you?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, unfortunately, what stands out is he is very hopeful. He is very aspirational, but not only have a lot of those aspirations not been fulfilled, but it feels like we've gone backward with autocracies on the rise in terms of countries electing leaders who have a more nationalistic point of view, and in terms of the war in Ukraine still going on, now the war in Gaza with an added battle raging with Lebanon's Hezbollah, and he talked about things like he defended his pullout from Afghanistan, saying, yes, we lost 13 troops then. But, I put that against the nearly 2,500 troops lost in 20 years there, and I chose to do it rather than make another President do it, because the campaign just wasn't working.
So, sure, explanations of why things went wrong. But, to a lot of those listening, they see Afghanistan and the U.S. pullout as proof that the U.S. is a fickle ally. And here, once again, the world is waiting to see what the U.S. will elect in November, and how radically different the foreign policy will be or might be, depending on who gets elected.
SOLOMON: And to that point, I mean, we know that Zelenskyy is expected to address the UN Security Council a little bit later today. He is expected to address the wider UNGA tomorrow. On that end, Kimberly, what would you expect to hear from him at this stage of the war?
DOZIER: He is going to make -- well, first he'll say thank you, because he has generally learned to do that since this war has started, but then he will lean hard on, here is what I could accomplish if I had the right to use these weapons in this way. He has still been campaigning hard to use U.S. weapons to reach into Russia, where the attacks are coming from, devastating attacks on Ukrainian electricity grid ahead of another, surely, brutal winter to come, and also, he is fighting a loss of morale and devastation of the numbers of troops needed on his side to fight this fight.
So, he'll be saying, look, I need more technological help faster than you've given it so far, or you stand to let Russia roll over more Ukrainian territory unchallenged, and that will be without directly criticizing the Biden administration. It will be calling them out.
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And I got to tell you, I've talked to a lot of European diplomats who say, we can't give Kyiv permission to use our weapons the way they'd like to, until the U.S. moves on this point, and they're still too risk averse.
SOLOMON: Yeah. That's a really interesting point. Kimberly, I want to play for you two clips, if we can, control room, both, Biden speaking about two of the major conflicts happening in the world, both Ukraine and the Middle East. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a ceasefire and hostage deal. It's been endorsed by the UN Security Council. Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas' grip, ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war.
The world now has another choice to make, will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom, or walk away, let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed? I know my answer. We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away, and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins with a just and durable peace in UN charter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Kimberly, I wonder, on both of those conflicts, the situation is quite grim. I wonder sort of how this calls into question the effectiveness of the UN. I mean, whether we're talking about Ukraine, it's been almost three years now, if we sort of think about February, thinking about what's happening in Lebanon now. I mean, it certainly seems like that situation is widening. I mean, how do you view his comments sort of in light of these conflicts that at least right now the situation appears pretty grim?
DOZIER: Well, with the UN General Assembly, with permanent members at odds, there is very little that the UN can do beyond issue declarations that are an essential sort of diplomatic working of hands. That then leaves it to the U.S. to lead in some of these solutions. You could say on Ukraine, even though Zelenskyy has argued he is not getting enough weaponry, enough permission to use that weaponry fast enough, the coalition has stayed together of some 50 plus countries providing military and other aid to Ukraine, and you have the U.S. lead that declaration against the invasion of 141 UN members when the invasion first happened. So, those are wins.
Now on the clucking at Hamas and Israel to come to some sort of solution, that's not going to get either side anywhere. It's never worked before. But, it does make it sound to the Democratic Party and to the left wing of the Democratic Party that Biden is serious about coming to some sort of solution. It also gives the GOP a certain amount of ammunition. I'm sure they will be playing that bite, saying this is what a Kamala Harris administration would also be like, bawling out, chiding Israel when it's the Hamas terrorist group and the Hezbollah terrorist group that are to blame.
SOLOMON: OK. Kimberly Dozier, we always appreciate your insights and perspective, but especially on this day. Thank you.
The Human Rights Office is urging the General Assembly to prioritize ending the conflict in the Middle East, saying that it is extremely concerned by the spillover of the Gaza war into Lebanon. Israel is vowing to, quote, "speed up operations against Hezbollah" after unleashing a new round of airstrikes. This is social media video set to show the aftermath of an attack
today in Beirut's southern suburbs. Israel says that it killed a senior commander of a Hezbollah missile unit.
Lebanon's Health Ministry says that at least six people were killed. The UN says that tens of thousands of people in Lebanon have fled their homes to escape the fighting. Monday's strikes were the deadliest in Lebanon since 2006, killing at least 558 people, including 50 children. The Lebanese Health Ministry says that the vast majority of those killed were unarmed civilians in their homes.
An official says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the security cabinet that the operation's goal is to separate Hezbollah from Israel's war on Hamas. But, Hezbollah has vowed to continue hostilities with Israel until it ends the war in Gaza. The Israeli military said that Hezbollah launched dozens more rockets toward Israel overnight. Obviously, a lot to get to.
So, let's bring in Nic Robertson live in Tel Aviv. Nic, before we get to the strikes, have you heard any reaction to President Biden's speech at the UN locally there? What are you hearing?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. We're not hearing anything from any senior political officials so far. I think on the point that President Biden made about a Palestinian state, that's something that is obviously going to divide opinion here.
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And we've heard from various political figures recently, as recently as the past couple of weeks, indeed opposition figures, saying that they don't feel that that's something that is anywhere close. So, I think that gives you a sense of perhaps what the majority of people, the opposition, are saying that as well, and that's certainly the position of the government at the moment. It's something some of them would reject, and certainly nothing that's close. So, too soon to say what comments might come out about President Biden saying now is the time to make the deal, because Prime Minister Netanyahu is not, apparently, ready to make a deal on Gaza and diplomacy the way forward with Hezbollah. That's what President Biden said. That's not what we're witnessing right now.
SOLOMON: And to that point, Nic, I mean, what are we witnessing? What's the latest on casualties on the ground?
ROBERTSON: Yeah. 215 incoming missiles from Hezbollah into Israel today, only one casualty that we're aware of, a reservist IDF member was injured and taken away for medical attention. By and large, the strikes are being either intercepted here or falling in open areas in Kiryat Shmona. It did appear today as if some infrastructure had been hit, but not clear what that infrastructure was at all.
The thrust of the operation really is continuing, not as heavy as yesterday, with the airstrikes, 2,000 munitions dropped so far on 1,500 targets, according to the IDF. The best insight, I think, of where this is going came from the Army Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevi, saying that Hezbollah should not be given a reprieve, that the operation should continue at full force. In fact, he said the operations were going to be sped up and that action should be continued and vigorous across all areas. So, I think the military here are signaling that what we're witnessing at the moment is what they plan to do more of.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And just speak to us a little bit more about that, just that comment, that operations may be sped up. As far as we can understand, Nic, or based on previous reporting, sort of what might that look like? How long might that take? Just give us your sort of -- your lay of the land.
ROBERTSON: Yeah. It's going to look like what we've seen so far, a lot of airstrikes or predominant airstrikes along the border, artillery and tank fire. The IDF is -- says that they're targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. They're continuing to warn civilians, if they've left their homes because they believe Hezbollah may be close, don't go back to their homes until the IDF gives them the all clear, anyone else who is in their homes where Hezbollah may be to leave their homes. That's the warning that's being given. Clearly, a high number of casualties in Lebanon, and among them, many civilians. And I think for those -- for the Lebanese population, this is clearly a very, very dangerous time along the border. The IDF wants Hezbollah to pull back from the border, and there is no indication Hezbollah is about to do that.
SOLOMON: Yeah. OK. Well, keep us posted. Nic Robertson live for us there. Nick, thank you.
Well, straight ahead, immigration issues upfront. We will hear both U.S. presidential candidates and what they're saying on the matter and why one of them is now planning a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. With the U.S. presidential election just six weeks from today, immigration remains one of the main issues on the campaign trail, and surveys say that it's an issue where former President Donald Trump has the advantage. A source now tells CNN that Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to visit the U.S.-Mexico border while in Arizona on Friday. It comes as Harris attempts to chip away at Trump on issues like his vow to conduct mass deportations.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation in American history. Imagine what that would look like and what that would be. How is that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?
(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: At a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday, Trump talked again
about baseless claims of Haitian immigrants eating people's pets, concluding, quote, "you have to get them out".
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do you think Springfield will ever be the same? I don't think. The fact is, and I'll say it now, you have to get them the hell out. You have to get them out. I'm sorry. They destroyed it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Later today, Trump heads to the battleground state of Georgia, where he is expected to talk about the economy. A source tells CNN that he also plans to return to the site of the first attempt to assassinate him in about two weeks. He is going to visit Butler, Pennsylvania on October 5th.
Let's bring in our team of reporters. We have CNN's Alayna Treene, who is covering the Trump campaign, and Eva McKend, who is covering the campaign of Kamala Harris, and they both join us from Washington. Good to see you both, ladies.
Eva, let's start with you. What do we know about this potential trip to Arizona?
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, it's going to take place on Friday. She will visit the U.S.-Mexico border. And her team believes that this is a good opportunity for her to essentially argue that it was the former President that squashed that bipartisan border enforcement deal, and that she ultimately wants to come to solutions on this issue. Clearly, her campaign is seeing the polling. The polling continues to suggest that the former President is more trusted on the issue of immigration by about 10 points. And so, they believe that they have time to still make the argument here that she takes the border seriously as well.
SOLOMON: And Eva, is this something that we can expect to hear more of? I mean, we just heard that soundbite there of her on Wednesday talking about mass deportations. Do we expect her to be leaning into this issue more? Because, as you cited, it's an issue that Trump seems to do better on.
MCKEND: So, her campaign believes that this is the right strategy for her to go down to the border. But, this is going to be a tricky issue for the Vice President, because she has a long, well documented history of being a real advocate for all immigrants, documented and undocumented. In her own memoir, she has two chapters, I say we fight and we are better than this, where she speaks very passionately in defense of immigrants. When she was a Senator, a joint session of Congress, she brought a dreamer as her special guest. She called the border wall under the former President as a symbol and a waste of resources.
And so, for -- we know the voters like to see candidates show up as their most authentic self, and I think that's why when she spoke at the Hispanic Caucus about the havoc that mass deportations would wreak, you could tell that she really believed what she was saying. I think it's going to be a challenge for her to sort of characterize herself as this huge enforcer at the border, because that is inconsistent with the policy positions that she has previously espoused.
SOLOMON: Yeah. So, watch that space. Eva McKend, thank you.
Let me bring in Alayna Treene now, Alayna covering the Trump campaign. So, what else can we expect to hear from Trump today in Georgia?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rahel, it's about -- he is slated to speak in just over an hour now, and those remarks are his campaign is billing as an economic speech. They said it's going to be hyper focused on manufacturing policy. Now, I did obtain some excerpts of those prepared remarks from a senior Trump campaign advisor.
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We'll see if he sticks to this. But, I'll just outline for you some of the policy points he wants to touch on. First of all, a lot of them are some of the policies we heard him outline earlier this month during his speech before the Economic Club of New York, really the first time we heard Donald Trump dig into this -- the specifications, excuse me, of his economic policy. But, some of those that he'll touch on today include lowering the corporate tax rate for companies who make their product in the U.S., reducing regulations, cutting energy costs by 50 percent, selling off federal lands, and then this last point, they say, will be about enhancing port infrastructure in places like Savannah, which we know has a large port location right off the city. And so, that's what Donald Trump is supposed to be focused on.
But, again, he veers off topic a lot. He was supposed to talk mainly about the economy yesterday in Pennsylvania as well. We obviously heard him delve into a series of attacks on Kamala Harris, talk about Springfield, as you played at the top of the show. And so, we'll see what the speech ends up being like.
But, the economy really is the number one issue they're trying to push now in the lead up to November, especially after we just saw recent polls from -- that came out yesterday from The New York Times and Siena College that showed he is edging ahead of Harris in Georgia, as well as other -- some of the other Rust Belt states, like in Arizona and North Carolina, and part of the issue that they saw when you dug into these polling numbers is that the economy, most voters say that they believe Donald Trump will handle the economy better. So, that's a big reason why they're pushing that issue in that speech.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We'll see if he sticks on script and if that's actually what the speech is about. Let me ask, we also know that he has been casting doubt on the early voting process. What is he saying?
TREENE: Yeah. It's really interesting, actually, because he talked about this in Pennsylvania yesterday, Rahel. He actually started by encouraging Pennsylvania voters to get out and vote early for him, and then very quickly reversed and called the practice stupid, and also tried to argue that it might have been why he did not win in 2020. Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We got to get out and vote. You can start right away. You know that, right? Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early. I wonder what the hell happens during that 45? Let's move -- see these votes. We've got about a million votes in there. Let's move them. We're fixing the air conditioner in the room, right? No, it's terrible. What happened the last time was disgraceful, including right here, but we're not going to let it happen again. Too big to rig, right? That's one way you do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: So, Rahel, clearly, very contradictory remarks. But, look, this actually boils down to something that's actually personal to Donald Trump. He personally does not like early voting. He doesn't like mail-in ballots. We saw him just make several disparaging comments about both voting methods in the lead up to the 2020 election because he personally believes that those practices lead to fraud. Of course, we know his widespread frames of fraud in the 2020 election are false and baseless.
But, I think it's interesting to note as well, because this comes as Republicans, including his own campaign, including the RNC, including Chairman Michael Whatley of the RNC, and his daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, who is the co-chair, they are all really aggressively trying to get Republicans to vote early and to vote by mail. They say that these are the tools that are necessary for Republicans winning in November. You even heard J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, yesterday say that they need to move forward with any voting pathways that they can. And so, Donald Trump kind of out of step on this language, while the rest of the party and specifically his team is really trying to change the narrative around early voting.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We have seen examples of that before, where sort of the campaign, the party has sort of had one sort of approach, and then we hear something different from the candidate himself.
Alayna Treene, good to see you. Thank you.
Well, still come for us, a hurricane that may hit, or that did hit, parts of Mexico may have weakened, but that does not mean that the heavy rainfall is over. We're going to get a weather update. Plus, students returned to their high school today, weeks after a deadly shooting. We're live on campus with a look at how things are now going.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
Apalachee High School students are returning to class today. It's the first time since the deadly shooting that happened on September 4th, just weeks into the school year. Two students and two teachers were killed by a lone gunman, and the lives of parents, students and the entire community have been turned upside down. An open house was held on Monday. This was an attempt to try to let the school community reconnect and take the first step toward healing, according to the school. While classes begin today, students will have half days until October 4th.
Let's bring in CNN's Ryan Young for more on how the return is going so far. He joins us from Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Ryan, talk to us a little bit about the plans to try to help these students as they head back today.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rahel. This is something hard to watch, really, when you watch the kids and their parents hug and then separate. You understand the pain they may be going through in terms of, do you want to drop your kids off to school again? We also saw kids in this parking lot that's just behind me make the long walk over to the school.
Now, they're keeping us pretty far back at this point. But, there is a ton of officers who are here. And not only did we see officers, we saw dogs that have been brought in, therapy dogs, so that the kids can have a chance to sort of deescalate their day, have a chance to maybe take a break. We also know counselors are here as well. We heard that announcement around 8:30 that they did, the pledge allegiance, and then could hear the administration basically welcome back the kids to school.
But, take a listen to the sheriff talk about all the things they put in place for this day.
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SHERIFF JUD SMITH, BARROW COUNTY, GEORGIA: Obviously, a lot of emotions going on today. The kids and the teachers have been communicating, but not face-to-face in most regards, but they will today. So, the overflow of emotions are not only tough for them, they're tough for us as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Yeah. I cannot stress enough how small of a community this is, the impact of this shooting. All across the state, all across the country, people have been talking about this particular shooting. We know, especially with the football coach getting killed, people have been having that conversation about how to move things forward. That's something that's so difficult, because nobody here has ever dealt with a situation like this one before.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And Ryan, as you talk about sort of how small the community is and the impact on those there, a Hollywood star also holding a special surprise for some of the students. Talk to us a little bit about that.
YOUNG: Yeah. I'm glad you were able to ask about that. Look, we are all surfing social media this weekend. All of a sudden saw "The Rock" held a surprise for the football team. He brought the kids into a soundstage where he is filming a movie. You can hear the explosion of emotion from these kids, as they were excited to meet "The Rock", who is kind of a bigger than life superstar at this point. But, you see that outpouring of support from around the community. The football team, the Atlanta Falcons here, also wore the high school football team's shirts a few weeks back.
People want to reach out to these kids. Over $100,000 been raised for several different families who've been involved in this sad shooting. And so, of course you see the community sort of helping out. But, at the same time, so many questions about how to move forward, especially when the accused shooter is just 14-years-old and his dad is also in jail as well. So, people trying to figure out how to move the next step, to move the ball forward in this case.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It's tough road ahead. Ryan Young, thank you. Good to see you.
YOUNG: Absolutely.
SOLOMON: All right. Let's get to some international headlines we're watching for you today. Tropical Storm John struck Mexico's southern coast. It's a Category 3 hurricane on Monday night. It has now weakened to a tropical storm, dumping heavy rainfall, as it moves northwest of Acapulco.
[11:40:00]
The hurricane triggered warnings of life-threatening floods and mudslides and unleashed fierce 120 mile an hour winds.
In the U.S., Florida and parts of the southeast are bracing for a potential Category 3 hurricane. Right now, the system is a tropical storm named Helene, moving through the northwestern Caribbean Sea. It's expected to strengthen into a hurricane on Wednesday, as it enters the Gulf of Mexico. Florida's Panhandle and Gulf Coast could see life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds.
Boeing has increased its pay offer to 33,000 staff who went on strike almost two weeks ago. The planemaker now offering an immediate 12 percent raise and increases amounting to 30 percent over the next four years. The International Association of Machinists, which rejected an earlier offer of 25 percent over four years, says that it will review the contract.
And the woman whose testimony helped convict the founder of the FTX crypto exchange is facing sentencing for her part in the multibillion dollar scam. Caroline Ellison will learn today whether she will go to prison. She pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy after FTX collapsed. She testified against her former boss and ex- boyfriend, Sam Bankman-Fried. He was convicted of defrauding investors and stealing $8 billion from FTX customers. Bankman-Fried is appealing his sentence of 25 years in prison.
Well, still ahead for us, new Instagram restrictions are coming for teen users. We'll have the details straight ahead.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Starting today, Meta is rolling out a teen version of Instagram. In the coming weeks, users under 18 will be moved into private Instagram accounts with restrictions on the kinds of content they can see and with more power for parents to check on how their kids use Instagram and who they're interacting with.
Let's bring in CNN's Clare Duffy in New York with more details. So, Clare, talk to us a little bit more about these new accounts and these new details.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah, Rahel. As you know, Instagram, for years, has been facing pressure to do more to keep young users safe on its platform, and this is its response. In the next few weeks, millions of teens will see their accounts automatically moved into these new Teen Account settings.
I sat down with a member of Meta's youth policy team to learn more about what exactly this is going to look like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DUFFY: For the millions of teens under the age of 18 who use Instagram, the platform is going to start looking a little different. Meta, the company that owns Instagram, is rolling out a new Teen Accounts experience after years of criticism over the platform's safety risks for young people. They are, for example, going to make all teen accounts private by default.
So, these settings were available before, but now you're -- if you're under the age of 18, you're getting put in them --
KIRA WONG O'CONNOR, YOUTH SAFETY POLICY MANAGER, META: Exactly.
DUFFY: -- whether you like it or not.
O'CONNOR: Exactly.
DUFFY (voice-over): Teens who are 16 or 17 have the option to manually change the settings back themselves, but 13 to 15-year-olds need to set up parental supervision through the app and get their parents' OK to make their Instagram settings less restrictive.
[11:45:00]
O'CONNOR: For parents, we know, speaking to them, three of their top concerns are with teen's online safety is, who can contact them, the content that they're seeing and time spent.
DUFFY: OK. So, this is a demo account for you said a 14-year-old. I think the biggest or like the most immediate thing they're going to notice, right, is the private account. So, this is interesting. You go to settings, and you see immediately teen safety settings.
O'CONNOR: Yes. And so, here you see, learn more. If you click on that, it takes you to a pop up that will tell you how a Teen Account works, so that when you're a teen using Teen Accounts, you're only able to contact people that you're mutually following or that you've already been in contact with. So, with sleep mode, anyone in Teen Accounts is defaulted into sleep mode. This means from 10:00 p.m. until 07:00 a.m. a teen is not going to get notifications in that timeframe, and then they are able to still use Instagram, but they're not going to get notifications, kind of pulling them back into the app.
DUFFY: Got it. And again, here, if I want to turn this off --
O'CONNOR: You're going to have to ask your parents.
DUFFY: -- I have to ask my parent, because --
O'CONNOR: Yeah.
DUFFY: -- I'm 14.
O'CONNOR: With the daily limit, same thing. You're able to change this only if a parent gives you the permission to but we've set this at 60 minutes.
DUFFY: How do you know if, when I'm a teen, I request to add parental supervision? Is there a way for Instagram to know that it is actually a parent and not like an older friend or something like that?
O'CONNOR: While we don't verify who a parent is, we do have other safety technologies in place where we know if it's potentially a suspicious account. We don't allow teens to supervise themselves.
DUFFY: And then what happens if I'm a teenager and I sign up for an account and I just lie about my age?
O'CONNOR: For a long time now, we have required that when you sign up for Instagram, you have to input your age at that point. If you're under the age of 18, and we notice that you tried to change your age above 18, we will put you through an ID check in order to verify and make sure that you are the age that you're stating.
DUFFY: In other words, it may still be fairly easy for teens to evade these restrictions if they sign up for an account with a fake birthday, but Meta says it's trying to prevent that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DUFFY: So, as you hear there, this isn't necessarily going to be a silver bullet. There still be -- will be workarounds for crafty teens who will find a way around these restrictions. But, certainly, I do think this will provide some reassurance, give parents more control, especially over their young teen's activities on Instagram. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And I wonder, Clare, will there be any sort of accountability moving forward from Instagram in terms of like how these new accounts are actually working. Did you guys discuss that?
DUFFY: I do think it is a question for the company, and it's interesting timing here, right, because there is growing momentum for regulators and lawmakers to actually pass some laws that would force Instagram to make some of these actions. Instagram has now voluntarily done this, I think probably in part to potentially avoid some of those laws being passed, avoid some of those restrictions. But, I think that will be the accountability for Instagram here. Can they do this themselves and prove that it's working? Or will we have to see lawmakers actually pass some laws to force them --
SOLOMON: Yeah.
DUFFY: -- to do this?
SOLOMON: Yeah. Great point. Clare Duffy, good piece. Thank you.
DUFFY: Thank you.
SOLOMON: Well, Melania Trump has rarely appeared on the campaign trail for her husband during his current run for the White House, and now we're learning that she was paid to speak at a fundraiser for a Republican group earlier this year. Brian Todd has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Thank you all.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new CNN report uncovering mystery over who paid Melania Trump for a speech at a political event. The former First Lady got $237,500 for speaking at one Log Cabin Republicans fundraising event in April, according to former President Donald Trump's latest financial disclosure form. But, the forum doesn't say who the donor was. The Log Cabin Republicans tell CNN it wasn't them. Campaign finance and ethics watchdogs say not knowing the source of the money raises troubling questions.
NORM EISEN, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE ETHICS CZAR, & THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It could be an individual who has a conflict of interest, who wants something from a future President.
TODD (voice-over): There are also questions being raised about the timing of her paid appearance.
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR, "FIRST WOMAN": It's not unusual for a former First Lady to earn six figures speaking, but it is unusual during a campaign season.
TODD (voice-over): Officials for Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, say those first ladies did not get paid for any fundraising appearances during political campaigns.
EISEN: Typically, these appearances are associated with raising money for the campaign-associated groups, not for your own pockets.
TODD (voice-over): This comes amid a barrage of videos Melania Trump is posting on social media, promoting her upcoming memoir titled "Melania", videos ranging from a discussion of her renovation of the White House Rose Garden to a video defending her past work as a nude model.
M. TRUMP: Why has the media chosen to scrutinize my celebration of the human forum in a fashion photo shoot? Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?
[11:50:00]
TODD (voice-over): And there is a video speculating about the assassination attempt on her husband in July.
M. TRUMP: I can't help but wonder why didn't law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech? There is definitely more to this story, and we need to uncover the truth.
TODD (voice-over): But, Melania Trump still has barely appeared anywhere to support her husband this year. She didn't attend his hush money trial in New York, and aside from this grand entrance at the Republican National Convention.
BROWER: She hasn't been on the campaign really much at all. I mean, she was only at the RNC that one night, and she didn't even speak. And for Melania, a lot of it is about making money, right?
TODD (voice-over): So far, the former President says he hasn't read her book.
TRUMP: Go out and get her book. She just wrote a book. I hope she said good things about -- I don't know. I didn't -- so busy.
TODD: A spokesperson for Melania Trump declined to comment in response to CNN's questions about the payment for at least one Log Cabin Republican event. Sources supportive of the former First Lady who attended the Log Cabin events, but who didn't know she got paid for at least one of them, defended her, saying she has a right to decide how to spend her time and to get paid for her time.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: After the break, many consider him one of the greatest actors of his time. We'll tell you how Broadway is honoring the late James Earl Jones.
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SOLOMON: In Munich, hundreds of Bavarians in traditional attire packed the streets for Oktoberfest. The annual costume parade is always held on the second day of the world's largest beer festival. It began back in 1835 as a royal wedding anniversary celebration and features brass fans and horse-drawn carriages. Now, the parade highlights the various cultural heritage with men wearing Lederhosen and women donning traditional dresses. [11:55:00]
And before we go, one more thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES EARL JONES, ACTOR: Golden Pond is very near wherever you are, and we're not even aware of other people doing their plays. And suddenly --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: The amazing actor, James Earl Jones, will be remembered by Broadway on Thursday when theaters dim their lights in New York at 06:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Jones passed away at the age of 93 on September 9th. He was surrounded by family at the time. Jones, who had a long and distinguished film career, appeared on Broadway over nearly 70 years, winning a total of three Tony Awards. The Broadway community also honored him earlier this month by renaming the Cort Theater, the James Earl Jones Theater.
Well, thanks for being with me today. I know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next.
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