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Israel Launches Extensive Strikes On Hezbollah In Lebanon; Biden Addresses The U.N. General Assembly For The Last Time; Cuban Officials Warn Of Heavy Rains, Mudslides And Flooding; Prosecutors Charge Ryan Routh With Attempted Assassination Of Trump; Harris Loses Senator's Support Over Vow To Gut Filibuster; Thousands Flee South Lebanon For Shelter In Beirut; Meryl Streep Advocates For Women In Afghanistan; Zelenskyy Expected To Meet With Biden And Harris. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired September 25, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:29]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade live in Atlanta.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, another day of cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah amid warnings that Lebanon risks becoming another Gaza. Plus, what could be the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a year is intensifying in the Caribbean. Also Swiss Police makes several arrests shortly after a controversial suicide pod is put into use.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.

KINKADE: Israel continues its brutal air campaign in Lebanon with extensive strikes against what it calls dozens of terror targets. Hezbollah confirms one of its senior commanders has been killed in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut. Lebanon's Health Ministry reports at least six people were killed and 15 injured in that attack. But the death toll overall in the country after two days of strikes is now well over 550 including dozens of children, as well as at least two U.N. aid agency employees.

Cross-border fighting has increased dramatically over the last few days. More than 200 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel and the Golan Heights on Tuesday according to the IDF. Most were intercepted or fell into open areas. Hezbollah says it also targeted a naval base along the northern mediterranean coast that houses an elite Israeli naval commander unit.

The Israeli prime minister visited an intelligence base on Tuesday before meeting with his cabinet and security officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I say to the people of Lebanon, our war is not with you. Our war is with Hezbollah. Nasrallah is leading you to the brink of abyss. I told you yesterday to evacuate the houses where he put a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage. He who has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his garage will not have a home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: I want to bring in CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson for the latest.

Good to have you with us, Ivan. So Southern Beirut again bombed for a second day. More people forced to flee in a panic. And some, including the U.N. secretary-general warning that we don't want this to become another Gaza.

You have family in Lebanon. What are they telling you?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that people with the means are now trying to get out of the country, fearing that much worse will come in the days and weeks ahead. But that's very difficult right now. Most of the airlines have stopped their flights to and from Beirut right now. The Lebanese airlines, Middle East airlines, is still flying. But there's limited to, you know, passenger seats to try to fly out. And then the land border to Syria yesterday, the main crossing point, was choked up with huge numbers of cars and traffic there.

So that is one of the realities on the ground. The other is that you've had a massive displacement of people. Recall that Monday morning, people were -- children were still going to school and then the Israeli aerial bombardment began and killed more than 500 people in just 24 hours on Monday. Among them, more than 100 women and children. And it triggered this mass exodus where the Lebanese government says around 150 schools are now being used as shelters.

They're estimating more than 16,500 people have fled northward in just a 24-hour period. The UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, warning about just an exodus of people. Volunteers coming as what would normally be an hour or 90-minute drive up the coastal highway turned into a 15-hour drive with volunteers distributing water and helping power phones for people.

Reports of people just having to camp out on the side of the road as they're trying to flee north. And we're starting to hear more about some of the civilians who were killed. The UNHCR saying two of its staff members were killed in Monday's Israeli aerial bombardment. Among them Dina Darwiche and her youngest son who were killed when an Israeli missile hit their home. That's according to the United Nations.

[00:05:01]

Also a math teacher named Layali Ayyash, her husband and two children were killed in the bombardment. That's according to the Lebanese government. Suzy Kajak, the principal at a middle school, and two sisters who were also teachers, Zainab and Fatima Haribi killed.

Let's listen to a doctor at a hospital in the Southern Lebanon describing what he was seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MOUSA YOUSSEF, HOSPITAL DIRECTOR (through translator): Those are massacres against civilians and not military attacks as they are claiming. 90 percent of the injured are kids. Their injuries range from burns to fractures, open fractures. It's a scary situation and it shows a savagery that exists.

There are many martyrs, kids, women, and elderly people. These are people whose bodies were dismembered, whose skulls were broken, who lost their nose or their arm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So that's just a sense of kind of the humanitarian toll of what we've witnessed in the Israeli aerial bombardment of just the last 48 hours.

KINKADE: Yes. I mean, it's just horrific listening to the sort of injuries that they're dealing with. Of course, Israel claims that it's just going after Hezbollah. It claims it's killed a senior Hezbollah figure who worked in the militant group's missile unit as well as two other commanders.

What can you tell us about the impact this has had on Hezbollah and what more is Israel saying about the days ahead?

WATSON: It does very much look like the Israeli Defense Forces have been successfully hunting down and killing senior Hezbollah commanders over the last week and over the last months as well. So the Israeli military claimed to have killed a Hezbollah commander named Ibrahim Qubaisi in an airstrike strike in Southern Beirut. Hours later, Hezbollah confirmed that commander's death, though didn't indicate where that actually happened.

There was a strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut that destroyed the two top floors of an apartment building with officials saying six people had been killed and 15 wounded. It suggests that that may be where this Hezbollah commander was killed.

Hezbollah has been firing hundreds of rockets into Israel. It has been targeting, it says, a number of Israeli military bases in the northern part of Israel as well as several of the Israeli communities near the border that have been targeted by Hezbollah over this kind of cross- border conflict that has gone on for the past year.

What we have not yet seen is deeper attacks towards, for example, Tel Aviv or places further south. However, just in the last hour, we've gotten reports from Israel about air raid sirens going off and reports of some kind of projectile being struck by Israel's aerial defenses over the city of Netanya. That's considerably further south than anywhere that we've heard Hezbollah targeting over the course of the last month.

KINKADE: Yes. Well, it's certainly intensifying on both sides. Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thanks very much.

Well, the U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres addressed the situation during the General Assembly Tuesday. He noted that the conflict is just one of multiple current events driving the world towards what he says is the unimaginable, but maintains that there is still time to de-escalate if diplomacy stops dragging its feet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, day two of the U.N. General Assembly is set to begin in the coming hours with continued discussions on climate change and other international security matters.

CNN's Kayla Tausche recaps the events of day one for us, including U.S. President Joe Biden's final address to the group.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is the fourth time I've had the great honor of speaking to this assembly as president of the United States. It will be my last.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After five decades in foreign policy, a final farewell on the world's biggest stage, drawing on conflicts of the past to outline optimism for the future.

BIDEN: Things can get better. We should never forget that. I know many look at the world today and see difficulties, and react with despair, but I do not. When we stand behind the principles that unite us, we stand firm against aggression, we end the conflicts that are raging today.

TAUSCHE: A new war is raging in the Middle East since Biden's last United Nations address, 18 days before Hamas launched an assault on Israel that sent the region spiraling into a wider fight with Hezbollah.

[00:10:05]

Biden calling for a ceasefire deal, two-state solution and detente in the region.

BIDEN: A full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even as situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.

TAUSCHE: In discussions at the U.N., Biden and his top aides working to stabilize that and other conflicts around the world.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for a new peace summit before another winter at war.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: They are preparing to target our nuclear power plants, three of them. We have this information. If Russia is ready to go that far, it means nothing you value matters to Moscow.

TAUSCHE: Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says the West will keep arming Ukraine to convince Putin he can't win.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: He realizes that he will not get what he wants on the battlefield, the total control of Ukraine, then he may be willing to accept the solution which is acceptable for Ukraine.

TAUSCHE: That outcome no guarantee but Biden crediting Vice President Harris for standing up to Russia and offering this parting shot to autocrats.

BIDEN: I decided after 50 years of public service, it's time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward.

My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power. We are here to serve the people, not the other way around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAUSCHE (on-camera): As President Biden works to burnish his legacy, foreign leaders are now jockeying for their own meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, either of whom could be representing the U.S. here at the General Assembly next year. So far the only meeting that has materialized is one between Zelenskyy and Harris, and that's set for the White House on Thursday.

Kayla Tausche, CNN, at the United Nations.

KINKADE: Well, let's return now to Israel's brutal air campaign in Lebanon as it carries out extensive strikes against what it says are dozens of terror targets.

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a British-Palestinian surgeon working at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. He joins me now from the Lebanese capital.

Thanks so much for your time.

DR. GHASSAN ABU-SITTAH, BRITISH-PALESTINIAN SURGEON: Thank you.

KINKADE: So the Lebanese Health Ministry said these attacks from Israel have killed over 550 people, including 50 children, and almost 2,000 people have been injured. Can you describe for us what you're witnessing at the medical center? What sort of injuries are you treating? ABU-SITTAH: So the first day because of the number of people who were

on the roads trying to escape the bombing in the south, we had difficulties evacuating the wounded from the hospitals in the southern part of the country. But late on yesterday and then early this morning, we started to get more and more of the critically wounded. We have received children with unfortunately the same pattern of injuries that I used to see in Gaza.

Blast injuries in the face, amputations to the limbs, multiple shrapnel injuries, crushing injuries as a result of houses being demolished on top of them. So the pattern of injuries that similar to what I had seen in Gaza in October and November last year.

KINKADE: Wow, absolutely horrific. And these of course are the physical injuries that you're seeing that doesn't even begin to assess the trauma that people are dealing with. Families have witnessed the pager and walkie-talkies exploding in groceries stores and now entire buildings being leveled.

Talk to us about the mental health of those dealing with and fleeing this aerial bombardment?

ABU-SITTAH: So yesterday, I received a 12-year-old girl with a blast injury to her face and I mean, really severe fractures to the (INAUDIBLE) face. And the mother had been trying to coordinate the other child who had been sent to another hospital in Beirut while she was with that girl that came to us. And so these families, their lives have been torn apart.

They've had to flee their homes and they have, you know, again, like Gaza, people have been hit inside their homes. And so multiple members of the same family are usually injured. And it's just, for me, it's just seeing this unfold again in a similar way.

KINKADE: Yes, exactly. And of course, earlier this year we were reporting on how Lebanon's health system is crumbling amid this economic crisis which of course led to the exodus of dozens of doctors and nurses and the closure of hospitals.

[00:15:00]

How is Lebanon's health system coping right now, given these airstrikes?

ABU-SITTAH: So the last Tuesday's pager boom left 3,000 wounded and so that completely overwhelmed the bed capacity of the health system, and then, so we were trying to operate on these wounded and trying to discharge them as early as possible as the signs were coming in that there was going to be another war. And as you said, there was four years of severe economic collapse, which meant that a third of the doctors have emigrated. Around the third of the nurses have emigrated.

A lot of the hospitals do not have the financial capability to replenish the consumables and the supplies and the medication that have been used up since Tuesday in operating on the wounded from the pager attack, and so all of the system is really very, very fragile and this influx of 2,000 wounded in just two days is putting a lot of strain on the medical health system in Lebanon.

KINKADE: And what must be quite frightening is the fact that Israel is warning that these attacks will intensify. Talk to us about the medical supplies, the trauma kits, what sort of additional support might be needed if this drags on for many, many more days?

ABU-SITTAH: I think what we need is to have trauma teams well- supplied, well-equipped, come in and join that health system. The health system also needs a replenishment of the supplies, the medication, the surgical supplies, the kind of consumables that you go through when you're treating these complex, multiple wound.

And then the Ministry of Health needs its financial support because all of these hospitals, again, are completely dependent on electricity generation which means that they're completely dependent on diesel and so the ministry needs to be able to replenish that diesel fuel and that supply to keep these hospitals running.

KINKADE: Well, we wish you and your team all the best there, Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah in Beirut, thank you so much for your time and sharing your story about what you are witnessing there. Thank you.

In Mexico more catastrophic rains are expected in the wake of deadly Hurricane John, now a tropical storm. John slammed into Mexico's southern coast late Monday as a category three hurricane. Two people were killed by a landslide that hit their home. The National Hurricane Center says John could develop again over the ocean and pick up speed causing flash flooding and mudslides. Intense rainfall is expected for the next few days.

Well, evacuations are underway as Tropical Storm Helene barrels towards the U.S. state of Florida. It threatens to hit as the strongest storm to make landfall in the country in over a year. Officials say Helene will gain power at a breakneck pace, potentially landing late Thursday as a category three hurricane. Residents are bracing for massive storm surges, torrential rains, power outages, and tornadoes.

Well, sheets of rain whipped across Western Cuba Tuesday as residents brace for the storm.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann has more now from Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now it is expected to travel between the western tip of Cuba and Mexico. And that might seem like good news, but not necessarily because as it travels over those very warm waters that is essentially the gasoline that will make the storm stronger and stronger, and it is expected to explode into potentially a major category three hurricane.

And even if it doesn't make a direct landfall here in Cuba as a hurricane this size travels passed Cuba, it displaces a lot of water and that water will come sloshing back. The storm surge will come sloshing back onto a coastal city like Havana, with so much aging infrastructure, that really can cause a lot of problems.

So people here who do live on the coast are very worried because they've had their homes flooded so often over the years, as we continue to grapple more and more with the impacts of climate change in a coastal city like this one. Really, though, it is the people living on the West Coast of Florida that have taken a very close eye on the storm because it is expected just to gain a tremendous amount of power in a short amount of time.

And we've talked about a major category storm like Helene is expected good to become. That really changes where people can hunker down. You're not talking about just power being out, tree limbs being down, it becomes a question of where you can ride out the storm. And for many people who lived close to the coast, being in their homes will no longer be an option. They will have to get away from the coast.

They say that you hide from the wind and you run from the water. And the kind of storm surge that is expected to be generated by Helene, you know, is very, very scary and it will cause structural damage.

[00:20:02]

It becomes a matter where people need to get away from the coast, get to shelters. So authorities, both in Cuba and in the United States, are warning people to take -- keep a close eye on this and get prepared, be prepared to evacuate if need be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Our thanks to Patrick Oppmann there in Havana, Cuba.

Well, still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, an alleged gunman waiting in the bushes for hours with a view of where Donald Trump was playing golf. New details about what prosecutors say was an attempt on his life. Plus arrests in Switzerland after an American woman used a controversial suicide capsule. We'll have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Well, new charges in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Florida golf club are revealing new details about the incident. Federal prosecutors said that in court filings Ryan Routh, armed with a rifle, stalked Trump for hours with the intention to kill him. U.S. attorney general and FBI director said on Tuesday the assassination attempt endangers democracy.

More now from CNN's Evan Perez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The alleged gunman accused of stalking Donald Trump at his golf course in Palm Beach is facing four new charges, including one count of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.

Ryan Routh could face life in prison if he's convicted of the attempted assassination charge. It's one that the FBI and prosecutors have said that they would try to pursue in this ongoing investigation. Prosecutors say Routh camped outside of Donald Trump's West Palm Beach golf course for hours on end, armed with a rifle that he pointed through a chain link fence with a clear shot to the next hole where the former president was headed to on September 15th. According to court documents, Routh spent more than a month tracking Trump in Florida.

Prosecutors told a federal magistrate judge that cell phone data showed Routh at the golf course as well at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort over several days beginning in mid-August. According to prosecutors, investigators found a handwritten note after detaining Routh that included venues and locations where Trump had or was planning to visit in the months leading up to the 2024 before election.

Now Routh allegedly also left behind a letter in a box of belongings saying, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. The case has been assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon. She's the federal judge who oversaw the federal charges against Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents. She dismissed that case and that's a decision that remains under appeal.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, the Trump campaign says there are also threats from Iran to assassinate the former president and that the U.S. intelligence officials briefed Trump about those real and specific threats on Tuesday. The Trump campaign said Iran's goal is to, quote, "destabilize and sow chaos in the United States." A Trump spokesperson alleged that the threats have grown in recent months as the election nears.

[00:25:07]

When asked for a comment, a spokesperson for the director of National Intelligence acknowledged the briefing but declined to address any specifics.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is repeating her vow that if she becomes president, she would get rid of the filibuster delay tactic in the Senate in order to pass a bill codifying abortion rights. And that stance has caused her a potential endorsement from a key moderate senator.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris reiterating her call to eliminate the filibuster to restore Roe v. Wade, a position that she also held in 2022, again in her argument to support reproductive rights and voting rights.

Now, of course, reproductive rights, has been a galvanizing issue for Democrats. One that the vice president has talked about extensively on the campaign trail, and on Tuesday, doubling down on that message and a radio station in Wisconsin, a crucial state for her come November. Now that statement did also lose her the endorsement of Senator Joe Manchin, who had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): Shame on her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So I know that you've been considering endorsing her. Does this change your view?

MANCHIN: Oh, no. That ain't going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're not going to endorse her?

MANCHIN: I'm not endorsing her. Never. I think that's basically something that could destroy our country and my country is more important to me than any one person or any one person's ideology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now defenders of the tool said that it forces consensus in the upper chamber so some division over her statement but certainly the bottom line from the vice president is that she will support the end of a filibuster to, again, sign legislation codifying Roe v. Wade.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire as fears grow of an all-out war that could put the entire Middle East at risk. We'll have details next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: The Israeli military says strikes are ongoing against Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon in Beqaa. The IDF says it struck terrorists weapon infrastructure and it killed one of the top commanders in an airstrike on Tuesday.

Well, Britain is now urging its nationals to leave Lebanon as the new offensive raises fears of a full-scale war that could destabilize the Middle East. U.N. Security Council plans to meet Wednesday to discuss the conflict. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the people of Lebanon, Israel, and the world cannot afford for Lebanon to become another Gaza.

[00:30:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAELI MILITARY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): We strive that our operation is as short as possible. That is why we are striking with huge power. Our mission in the end is to achieve the war goals and bring the residents of the North back to their homes. And we have to stand by our mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, our Ben Wedeman is in Beirut and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos and dust, moments after an Israeli airstrike on South Beirut. Israel claimed the target was an important Hezbollah operative.

Hours later, Hezbollah confirmed it. At least six were killed, 15 injured.

Hezbollah continues to fire unabated rockets over the border. After Monday's punishing Israeli bombing, Lebanon suffered its highest daily death toll since the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre.

A fourth of the dead, women and children.

South of Beirut, the funerals have begun, the coffins draped with Hezbollah's banner.

What was a border war is looking like a full-on war. And like the last war, tens of thousands, again, are fleeing for their lives, no easy task for the elderly and infirm, to dozens of schools in the capital turned into shelters for the displaced. Shades of Gaza. Most left everything behind. Some, including their dead.

"It's true, we left, but material things can be replaced," says Zainab. "Lives cannot. Losing someone is incredibly hard. You can't change fate, but it's heartbreaking to lose a loved one."

Home for Abu Ali (ph) and his family of six, now a bare classroom. I ask him if, as Israel says, it was only striking Hezbollah targets.

"Liars, they're liars," he shoots back. "Entire families are gone. They're not Hezbollah targets. We live in the South. We don't know where Hezbollah is, and I don't know where the Hezbollah fighters are."

Dr. Jihad Saadeh treated the injured in the 2006 war. And here at this hospital in Beirut, he's doing it all over again.

DR. JIHAD SAADEH, BEIRUT, LEBANON: All of them are civilians. They are families where their houses were -- they were buried in their houses, in the South.

Three of them had head traumas, and the rest had different traumas of the body, like we see in every war.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): It's happening again, all too familiar.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KINKADE: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Well, Swiss police have made several arrests after a 64-year- old American woman took her own life using a controversial suicide pod.

[00:35:08]

The self-operated capsule causes death by hypoxia, where the body is starved of oxygen. It was used at a Swiss woodland location on Monday.

There, assisted dying is legal, but not euthanasia.

A spokesperson for the Last Resort, the group behind the device, says its legal advice was that the pod could be used. But on the day it was used, the Swiss interior minister said it was not legal.

ELISABETH BAUME-SCHNEIDER, SWISS INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): The Sarco suicide capsule is not legally compliant in two respects. Firstly, it does not meet the requirements of the Product Safety Act and therefore may not be placed on the market.

Secondly, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the purpose of the Chemicals Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, the Last Resort says its co-president has been detained, along with three other people.

According to the group, the deceased, who had health problems, had past psychiatric tests.

And help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts. You can head to CNN.com for those global resources.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the U.N. General Assembly in the coming hours. He spoke at a Security Council meeting Tuesday, pleading with leaders to take action against Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy told them Russian President Vladimir Putin won't stop on his own and must be forced into peace. A Ukrainian official says Zelenskyy is expected to meet U.S. President Joe Biden Wednesday.

Mr. Biden gave his final U.N. address as president on Tuesday, urging leaders to remember the people they represent. And that some things are more important than power.

I'd like to bring in Asha Castleberry-Hernandez now, who is a former U.S. State Department official and the author of the forthcoming book, "Why National Security Matters."

Good to have you with us.

ASHA CASTLEBERRY-HERNANDEZ, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Thank you for having me.

KINKADE: I'd like to get to the president's comments and the global conflicts in just a moment, but I want to start with a speech by Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, who spoke passionately about the horrific situation in Afghanistan and the lack of rights for women and girls due to the archaic Taliban laws. Let's just take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: And today in Kabul, a female cat has more freedoms than a woman.

A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park.

A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today, because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: I mean, it was hard not to listen and take all of that in. Who will that miss, and who would that message resonate with?

CASTLEBERRY-HERNANDEZ: With women around the world. I mean, it was a very strong message, you know. Descriptive, especially, you know, doing a comparative analysis with an animal compared to women's rights.

I think she did a really good job using her celebrity power, her celebrity diplomacy to promote a critical issue that is happening under the Taliban rule.

So, this, I would say, is just a powerful message overall and is calling on the world that we need to address the state of women in Afghanistan, and what do we need to do as far as using our external influences to help address that issue. Because it's extremely critical.

They're characterizing this issue as the gender apartheid. So, where, you know, women in the country, while under Taliban rule, is going to a lot of restrictions. So, it takes a powerful person like Meryl Streep to address this issue.

KINKADE: Exactly. It was -- she spoke so eloquently. This of course, is the U.S. president, Joe Biden's, last UNGA after five decades of public service.

Interestingly, he says he still has hope. How hard is that to say at a time like this, especially when this crisis in the Middle East is only getting worse.

CASTLEBERRY-HERNANDEZ: Yes, I -- I was actually deeply impressed with the UNGA speech, and I will say that with President Biden, he did an excellent job with restoring smart global American leadership by, you know, making sure that, you know, showing that the United States and along with the rest of the world, should be committed to the international rule-based order.

I thought he also did a really good job in showing a good, like, balancing act, whether you, when you're talking about Ukraine, as well as you talk about conflicts in Gaza Strip, the Gaza crisis as long -- as well as talking about Sudan. So that's really critical to note.

[00:40:08]

KINKADE: We also heard today from Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, who spoke about Russia's invasion, calling on nations to act. I just want to roll some of that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what's needed. Forcing Russia into peace as the sole aggressor in this war, the sole violator of the U.N. charter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Now, he's going to meet with the U.S. President Biden and Vice President Harris, and potentially, Donald Trump in the coming days.

And we heard Donald Trump trash him while he's in town, while he was at the U.N., calling him the greatest salesman, I just want to play some of that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion. I think he's the greatest salesman on Earth.

But we're stuck in that war unless I'm president. I'll get it done. I'll get it negotiated. I'll get out. We got to get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: That's what Trump had to say. How is he likely to view another potential Trump tenure (ph)?

CASTLEBERRY-HERNANDEZ: Yes. Thank you so much for the question. I would say, just going back to President Biden, I think he did an excellent job with, shown his commitment to Ukraine as far as continuously provide security and economic assistance, and wanted to continue that constant -- will want to show that continuity where he's going to convey the same message to President Zelenskyy at the White House.

Now, with regards to how he's viewing -- how he views President Trump, a lack of seriousness, not necessarily showing commitment to countering Russian aggression effectively, but feels that he still needs to convey to President Trump that, look, just like what the Biden administration is doing, we need -- we need assistance. We need to continue -- we need international assistance to continue, in order to effectively address account of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

So, I think that's how he, you know, perceives or looks at President Trump.

KINKADE: We'll see if that meeting actually happens between President Zelenskyy and Donald Trump in the coming days. We will be following closely when he does meet with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, good to have you with us.

Thanks for your time.

CASTLEBERRY-HERNANDEZ: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, I'm Lynda Kinkade. I'll be back at the top of the hour with much more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, stick around. WORLD SPORT starts in just a moment.

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