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CNN International: Zelenskyy Presents Long-Awaited "Victory Plan" To Biden; Catastrophic Hurricane Set To Hit Florida At Cat 3 Or Above; Israel Strikes Lebanon As U.S. Pushes For Ceasefire; VP Harris Meets With Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired September 26, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:41]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Beirut, 3:00 p.m. here in New York. I'm Rahel Solomon. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. Let's go right to the news.
We are tracking Hurricane Helene as it continues to strengthen on its path to the Florida coast. CNN is on the ground. We will take you there a little later in the show.
But we want to begin and Washington, that's where Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has just presented his victory plan to President Joe Biden. While Zelenskyy is working to get permission to use U.S.-made weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, Ukrainian president is also pushing for long-term security guarantees that could withstand changes in American leadership.
Biden announced a new $2.4 billion security package and also ordered the Pentagon to allocate all remaining Ukraine funding approved by Congress before he leaves office.
Earlier today, Zelenskyy met with members of Congress and will meet with Vice President Harris this hour. We will bring that to you once it happens. But for now, let's get to our team of reporters. We have seen in senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, who is live for us in Kyiv, as well as senior White House U.S. correspondent Kayla Tausche. She is at the White House.
Kayla, let's start with you. Is there any indication that Biden might lift these weapons restrictions that the Ukrainians have been asking for, for quite some time now?
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, President Biden has appeared more willing than he has been in the past, too. To be flexible on this policy, saying just a couple of weeks ago when asked about it, we're working on it, even though at the time, a senior U.S. official said that there was no official change in policy.
There have been a lot of discussions behind the scenes and we expect that President Zelenskyy today is going to be making the case for why he needs to use those weapons to bring about a quicker end to the war, to essentially get Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the broad contours of this so-called victory plan include a surge in assistance to get more weapons into Ukraine, to expedite their ability to hit certain Russian targets and weapons depots, to essentially convince Putin that there is no path to victory for him and to bring about some sort of negotiated peace solution.
Now, this comes after President Zelenskyy was at the United Nations this week, warning world leaders of a very dire outcome if Russia is allowed to prosecute a third winter at war, Zelenskyy suggested that Putin would hit no fewer than three nuclear plants inside his country, warning the world that the fallout from that could be toxic and could permeate borders.
So, certainly Zelenskyy upping the ante to bring about a quicker end to this war. And that's exactly what he's going to be discussing with both President Biden and Vice President Harris as he tries to figure out what, if any, continuity there could be for his country after November, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Kayla, thank you.
Fred, let me ask, what weapons do Ukraine need most now, heading into now a third winter?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, lots of weapons really, but one of the big issues for the Ukrainians is air defense weapons. They want more surface-to-air missile systems to try and prevent some of the strikes that we've been seeing by the Russians.
And today was really a case in point. We've been under air raid alerts for the better part of the day and for the better part of last night, the Russians attacking not just with those drones that they send, but in this case, also some very sophisticated hypersonic missiles and the Ukrainians are saying the only thing that can take those down are those U.S.-made and U.S.-provided Patriot surface to air missile systems that Ukrainians using a lot of those, but they are saying that they need more to protect their skies, and, of course, also to protect their cities and the critical infrastructure as winter is approaching from a Russian attacks.
But then everything that's really also the bread and butter of warfare, artillery, ammunition, mortars, artillery rocket system, since those kinds of things, they also need. But then, of course, for the Ukrainians, a very important thing is also those longer distance weapons like those ATACMS U.S. surface to surface missile systems, not just to get more of those, but also of course to be allowed to use those to fire deep into Russian territory.
The Ukrainians have said that they acknowledge that the Russians have moved some of their strategic basis, for instance, away from the front line, but they also say that there are still hundreds of targets that they could strike with those systems provided by the United States they were allowed to do those -- do that.
They believed that it would make a big difference on the battlefield to not only be able to stabilize the frontline where the Russians no doubt has been gaining ground over the past couple of months, but possibly even turn the tide and force the Russians in the longer term into negotiations, according to what Volodymyr Zelenskyy called his victory plans that he of course, discussed with President Biden -- Rahel.
[15:05:14]
SOLOMON: Kayla Tausche, Fred Pleitgen, thank you both.
Let's discuss this more and the state of the battlefield with retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson.
General, good to have you today. I want to pick up where Fred left off there, just this -- this agenda item for Zelenskyy to get the U.S. to lift restrictions on its weapons to be used to strike targets deeper inside Russia. One, do you think that its a matter of at this point when not if and as Fred was saying, there Ukrainians believed that this could be a game changer on the battlefield. Do you see it that way as well?
BRIG. GENERAL STEVE ANDERSON (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I do believe that it would help to provide put some pressure on Vladimir Putin. I mean, we have to remember that Vladimir Putin is the center of gravity, okay? He is the reason that this war happened in the first place. That he is the reason why it continues to this very day and will continue until he changes his mind about it, either he gets forced out of office or he decides that this war is no longer worth it.
I mean, he's now had an incursion inside Russia for over seven weeks in the Kursk region. He's lost perhaps a million casualties during this war. It's had a tremendous strain on his economy. There's a lot of internal pressure within him. And so -- within Russia.
And so, I think that anything that we can do to support the Ukrainians that help apply pressure to the center gravity is a good thing. And if that means more ATACMS, as Fred mentioned, more long-range artillery, more HIMARS, and some as Fred mentioned, also the air defense artillery systems such as Patriot, whatnot. I think that's all a good thing, and we should be providing it to Ukraine as soon as we possibly can.
SOLOMON: How -- how about these warnings from Putin that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack? I mean, how concerned do you think, General, the West should be by these threats? And how much do you think if at all this is factoring into Biden's decision?
ANDERSON: Well, clearly, it's going to be something these going to factor in. And, you know, we should consider -- consider this threat he has changed his policy apparently, as you mentioned that a non- nuclear nation that attacks, would the help of a nuclear power such as the United States stage would be considered a joint attack conducted by both. I understand that.
And the one thing that we don't want to go to, of course, is a nuclear action, but he's been threatening this for quite some time. I think that if we prioritize the air defense artillery assets and then help with a little bit of long-range artillery, I think that that would be sufficient provide the kind of pressure that the Ukrainians need to need to put on Vladimir Putin internally to, number one, continued to hold the Kursk region, the incursion that occurred seven weeks ago.
And number two, continued to attack Moscow, to take the hurt to the people because this has been going on for two-and-a-half years. And again, the center of gravity is Vladimir Putin. We've got to do everything we can to influence that man.
SOLOMON: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. It has been 2-1/2 years. I'm wondering with the seasons changing now, Russia continues to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure as they have really for the last two-and-a-half years. But can Ukraine survive another winter with the current weapons in defense -- defense system in its arsenal.
ANDERSON: Listen, I've been to Ukraine a couple of times, and these are tough, resilient, smart people. Sure, there -- Putin is going to put hardship on them. He's going to try to take up the three the remaining power plants that they have. They're fully operational, but even if it is successful, these are tough people. They are not going to bow into Putin. They're going to continue to resist and I'm very, very confident that they are that we need to continue to support them.
I want to remind all the viewers that, you know, we've given them now about $52 billion that seems like a lot, but it's really a drop in the bucket. We were spending $300 million a day, Rahel, 15 years ago in Iraq and Afghanistan, that's 300 million a day. Thus far, our support to the Ukrainians has been equivalent to about six months the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and this is a far more important, this is an existential -- existential threat to the United States.
And the Ukrainians are essentially, they're fighting for all of us. They're fighting for NATO. They're fighting -- fighting for world peace and order. They're fighting for all of us.
This is incredibly important. We need to continue to support them in every way we possibly can.
SOLOMON: Do you worry though, with the war has dragged on now, certainly much longer than a lot of people thought, two-and-a-half years at the West has become complacent with the war in Ukraine?
[15:10:09]
ANDERSON: Yes, I do you know, of course, when you listen to what one of the presidential candidates is saying about it, it's just shameful really that we aren't supporting the Ukrainians and they don't recognize how important this is, you know? I mean, if -- if Donald Trump had his way, I mean, he would shut down town support to Ukraine and that would his stance on this position makes Neville chamberlain proud.
I mean, Ronald Reagan is rolling over to his grave. His music to the years of Vladimir Putin and all that. I mean, Kamala Harris understands the severity of the situation. She understands the importance of our coalition with NATO.
She understands the importance of continuing to support Ukraine because again, as I said, there fighting for all of us. So, you know, I'm very worried that we won't continue to -- that if we have someone else in office, we're going to turn off the spigot to Ukraine.
But these are again tough, resilient people. They are going to continue to fight and they're continuing to resist to their last dying breath, I can assure you.
SOLOMON: And again, for our audience, we are expecting to hear from Kamala Harris, the vice president, of course, and Zelenskyy, any moment now, we will bring that to you just as soon as we hear from them.
General Steve Anderson, thank you so much for the time today.
ANDERSON: Thank you.
SOLOMON: Let's continue the conversation. Joining me now from Capitol Hill is Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado.
Representative, good to see you. Thank you for being here.
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): It's good to be with you.
SOLOMON: Do you believe that President Biden should lift restrictions on U.S. made weapons being used to strike deep inside Russia. And do you believe that at this point, it's a question of when and not if?
CROW: I have been an advocate of lifting those restrictions and I'm certainly not dismissive of the concern turns around escalation and making sure that we have good intelligence, that we understand the risks. But there are risks to everything that we do here. We just have to mitigate those risks and I've long said that the risk of not supporting Ukraine sufficiently, of standing back and letting Putin roll over Ukraine, and then our other NATO allies is far, far more significant than the risks that we've actually understand pretty well at this point about escalation.
What we've learned over the last two-and-a-half years, is that Vladimir Putin keeps on saying that he has red lines none of those red lines have actually triggered anything and that he actually wants to resist going to war with NATO. He is actually afraid of NATO and he should be actually afraid of NATO, afraid of United States because we're certainly in a position of strength here.
SOLOMON: What do you make when -- what do you make when Putin says that Russia would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power, i.e., the U.S., i.e., the West, to be a joint attack and could use nuclear weapons in response? Representative, how credible do you find that threat to be?
CROW: Vladimir Putin is expert at feeding us steady diet of the things that he thinks that we're most afraid of he actually have a pretty good sense, good intelligence into Vladimir Putin and to Russia, and a good sense for what is happening and is not happening. That's why I think that the risks here are very, very manageable.
You know, he has said this repeatedly over and over again. You know, don't support Ukraine, don't provide certain weapons systems, don't get involved in this war because he knows that if the United States and NATO continue to support Ukraine, that he can't win. But every time we have stepped up to the plate to support Ukraine and do what's in our interests, U.S. national security interests in Americans interest, and that is support Ukraine to make sure whatever Putin cannot win this war, he backs off and takes a different tact.
So I think the right thing to do here is to make sure that Ukraine has not just the weapons, but the authority and the ability to use those weapons appropriately. And not recklessly, which they have shown that they will not do, but appropriately to defend themselves.
SOLOMON: Congressman, do you think that fellow members of Congress, well, when they heard from Zelenskyy earlier today when they met with Zelenskyy earlier today, did they hear what they needed to hear today?
CROW: Well, I haven't yet spoken to those members? There was a bipartisan group of House members and senators. I was doing my task force hearing plan, unfortunately. I wasn't able to participate in that meeting, is we have a task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump's.
So we've been focusing on that effort, but it's my understanding meeting went very well. That President Zelenskyy outlined his concerns, outlined what he needs to win here and right now, it was very clear that the authority to use weapons and equipment in the way that they need to win this war is actually more important than just more weapons. And they need both, but they actually need the authority and they need the capability.
And I do want to ask you about that task force in just a minute because it's been quite a news day, though a lot a lot of really important things happening today.
[15:15:01]
But before I get there, I just want to ask, you know, since the war has begun, just sticking on Ukraine for a minute longer, Donald Trump has said, this would have never happened if he were president, that he will be able to end the war as president elect. Yesterday at a rally, he took shots at Zelenskyy while praising Putin.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I watched this poor guy yesterday at the United Nations. He didn't know what he was saying. They just don't know what to do.
Those buildings are down, those cities are gone. They're gone and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelenskyy. There was no deal that he could have made that wouldn't have been better than the situation you have right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Congressman, can Ukraine win this war if Donald Trump wins the White House?
CROW: Listen, I think we need to stop listening to Donald Trump. This is a man who's a habitual liar. He says that he's a great businessman, yet he continuously turned his back on his business partners and nobody -- no legitimate business person in New York would do deals with him.
He declared bankruptcy six times. He cozied up to dictators. He kept our nations secrets in his bathroom in Mar-a-Lago. This is a person who shouldn't be trusted, who is a habitual liar and we just need to stop listening to his assertions that only he can solve the problem here, which we know is just patently false.
You know, who can solve the problem is serious, focused, experienced people who know how to build coalitions and build alliances and will keep America safe. People like Vice President Kamala Harris.
SOLOMON: But, Congressman, do you worry about the impact on the battlefield if in fact the American people choose to elect Donald Trump?
CROW: Well, I am concerned about the ability of the United States to continue to support not just Ukraine, but all of our allies around the world if Donald Trump comes into office. I've been long -- very vocal about that.
Listen, Donald Trump is somebody that doesn't understand, he just fundamentally doesn't understand that America is safe, not just because of our incredible men and women uniform, not just because of our incredible military, but because we have friends, we have alliances, we have friends that support us, that protect us, that fight with us to keep us safe as well.
He wants to turn his back on those friends. That would make us fundamentally less safe. So, yeah, I'm very worried about that and it's why he shouldn't be trusted to be in that role again.
SOLOMON: Let's talk -- let's circle back to that task force now, as you mentioned sort of how you spent your day or at least part of your day on this House task force investigating the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. What are you learning that can help the Secret Service in the last 40 days of this campaign, what can you share with us?
CROW: Yeah, in America, there's no place for political violence. We have tough debates sometimes fierce debates, seemed like we were just talking and about, things where we have fundamental disagreements. But it shouldn't matter whether you're Republican or Democrat. There's no place for political violence.
This isn't tolerable, and certainly, this incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, should not have happened.
So what we're learning is that there were a cascading series of failures of the Secret Service, lack of command and control, lack of communications, an insecure perimeter, a perimeter that was too small that they had not given proper guidance to local law enforcement that was responsible for certain areas of the perimeter. Many, many things went wrong.
It's unacceptable. It can never happen again. So we're highlighting these issues. We're going to push for accountability. And that's what we did today during our first just hearing.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, are there questions that you're left that sort of are outstanding, that you're still trying to understand. How did that happen?
CROW: Yeah. There are lots of questions left outstanding. Every time we hold a hearing, or you're getting new documents it kind of leads to more questions. You know, the Secret Service is a no fail mission, right? They are the most elite law enforcement agency in the world. They have a mission that cannot fail and that is protecting the president and our highest level elected officials and candidates.
But that day they did fail. So we really have to figure out what did happen. Was this just an individual leadership issue? Is this a cultural problem? Is this a resourcing problem or I suspect it's some element of all of those?
Individual leadership failure, cultural issues, and overstretched Secret Service, the Secret Service that has agents working 80, 90 hours a week. They're deployed in the field three weeks out of the month. They've been doing that for a year.
We are in a campaign season that's unlike any other, and we're also in a threat environment that's unlike any other. So it's the perfect storm here of a lot of different events that call for us to ask really tough questions and to make sure that we're looking at this differently.
SOLOMON: Yeah, certainly those staffing issues, something that the agency is aware of. I think the question is sort of how quickly can they get to the levels that they'd like to, that they feel like they need to.
Congressman Jason Crow, we appreciate your time today. Thank you.
CROW: Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right. So still to come for us, Hurricane Helene barreling towards Florida landfall now, hours away, we're live on the ground coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:23:05]
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
Hurricane Helene is officially a category three storm, picking up force and speed as it barrels towards the Florida coastline. It has already brought torrential rain and flooding across Florida, sustaining 100 plus mile per hour winds with higher gusts. Helene is expected to intensify as it makes landfall tonight, prompting warnings of widespread power outages, dangerous storm surge, even tornadoes.
Deanna Criswell, who runs the national emergency management agency, FEMA urged Americans in the southeast to hate this storm seriously and heed evacuation and public safety orders from local officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: I just want everybody to know that this is going to be a multi-state event with the potential for significant impacts from Florida all the way to Tennessee. We're already seeing impacts in Florida in the forecast indicates that we could see up to 20 feet of storm surge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: This is gearing up to be the most severe storm to hit Florida in recent memory.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is on the ground near Tampa for us.
Derek, just give us a sense of the situation where you are yeah.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, actually, Rahel, I mean, Apalachicola, but that's still part of the state of Florida. And that's -- that's the important thing here because now that Helene is a major hurricane, this will actually be the fifth major hurricane strike for this state since 2017. So there are no stranger to these powerful hurricanes that come through, but that doesn't make it any easier.
So one of the threats that were facing here at Apalachicola, the Big Bend region, a multitude of threats. We know the storm surge is significant. We know that this catcher's mitt of Florida and the Big Bend region can get so inundated and susceptible to the storm surge values. But we've got to remember the inland flood threat that's associated with this storm, not to mention the catastrophic winds that will come on shore with a category three or stronger storms.
[15:25:04]
So I just want to talk about how we have set the stage for Hurricane Helene's arrival. We have gotten rain pretty consistently since last night, about 10:00 p.m. and looking at the latest gauges in Apalachicola, we've had over seven inches of rain, roughly 150 millimeters in the past day and a half, and this is really starting to show. So, basically, the main event is still several hours away. The heaviest of precipitation petition is still on its way.
So we have pre, kind of, saturated the soils and that's going to have a number of impacts on this big bend region, not only the flood threat, but you combine that with the storm surge, and then you think about the type of trees that line this area. It's very tree lines of pines, oaks, stretching into Tallahassee. And so once the strong winds come in and this very saturated environment, not going to take much to topple these trees down. And that is going to cause major power outages.
And you could see just how vacant the roads are here. Franklin County where I'm located under a mandatory evacuation for all residents and all visitors as well. Most people well have heeded that warning, but there are a couple of people, diehards, that have decided to ride out the storm.
They're doing what they can obviously. They're not any stranger to these massive, strong, powerful hurricanes. So they've put up their defense mechanisms like sandbags, boarding up their homes and their businesses.
But it might be just a feeble attempt because the storm surge costs here, 10 to 15 feet. So if that gets realized, obviously, we will be underwater within this particular location.
This is a game of miles. So, this shift track, right? If it goes east or west determines who exactly gets the most powerful storm, the most powerful impacts. It looks like we're going to be on that western side of the eye as it stands. That means an offshore component that could limit that surge threat, but that could increase the threat closer to the Big Bend region -- Rahel.
SOLOMON: Well, so still a lot to watch but just incredible when you think about that storm surge and just the impact of that.
Derek Van Dam, thank you. Please be safe. We appreciate the reporting.
Now, let me bring in CNN's Elisa Raffa, who is tracking Helene's path.
Elisa, just give us a sense as Derek was saying, I mean, this could move slightly east, it could move slightly west. What's the latest from what you're seeing?
ELISA RAFFA, CBM METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. We're still watching for it to intensify as well. It is now a major category three hurricane, winds of 220 miles per hour. That eye is starting to clear up a little bit. It would have been more symmetrical. That's a sign of its strengthening because it still has some time over these very warm gulf waters that is fueling it. That's that climate factor that we continue to see time and time again because it's still sitting 200 miles to the south of where Derek is an Apalachicola.
So again, its still has time to strengthen before that center goes over land. But as you saw with Derek, all of the outer bands have been lashing Florida all day, gust up to 40 miles per hour right now in Fort Myers, nearly 50 miles per hour in Key West.
We've also had multiple tornado warnings. You see those purple boxes there in Georgia, those are tornado warnings. The outer bands can spin up these briefs tornadoes with the heavy rain and lightning. And we've seen that all day.
Here's that track, takes it into the big bend of Florida, like Derek was saying, probably just east of Apalachicola for that center. But again, the storm is incredibly wide, hurricane warning stretch up towards make him this is has such a wide wind field over 400 -- about 400 miles that were going to find tropical storm force winds, making it as far north as Atlanta and then going into the Carolinas as well. That's what those blues are tropical storm warnings.
This is the un-survivable part, 15 to 20 feet of storm surge in that Big Bend area, you have to escape this. You have to evacuate. You cannot survive 20 feet of destructive waves coming in. That is just incredible.
And it's devastating. You could see the wins again picking up tonight is when that I will start to come on land. Gust, 90 to 100 miles per hour still gusts up to 70 miles per hour in making as we go into the overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning, Atlanta waking up probably without power from all of those destructive winds.
Plus, we're looking at excessive heavy rain. Look at this high risk, the highest risk that the weather prediction center can give for heavy rain from Asheville to Atlanta down towards Tallahassee, the Western Carolinas really advertising for an unprecedented, significant catastrophic rainfall event for them because we are looking at more than a foot of rain possible in some of those highest terrain.
This type of high-risk is only issued 4 percent of the time but it's responsible for 40 percent of fatalities and 80 percent of our flood damage each year. So you can see where we have this four to six inches of rain pretty widespread.
But in that kind of pocket, north Georgia and western Carolinas, again, over a foot of rain is possible in the higher terrain of the Appalachian Mountains. So, numerous mudslides and landslides are huge concern for residents there, really needing to keep an eye, it's not just a Florida storm -- Rahel.
[15:30:01]
SOLOMON: Yeah. OK, Elisa Raffa, we'll check back with you soon. Thank you.
Well, coming up, as Israel and Hezbollah trade a fresh wave of strikes and the U.S. pushes for a ceasefire, Israel's prime minister is in New York to address the United Nations tomorrow. We'll discuss coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in New York today. As he is set to address the United Nations tomorrow, his trip delayed as fighting escalates between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu's speech follows Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas who urge the U.N. today to oust Israel and for all global efforts and to ending the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT: Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel.
This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people in Gaza and the West Bank.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: The tensions in the region are unlikely to temper anytime soon.
Today in Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 15 people, including women and children, at school that for months has been operating as a shelter for displaced Gazans. The IDF alleges that the school was being used as a command and control center by Hamas.
And on the conflict in Lebanon, the U.S. and European allies proposed a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate that Israel appears to have rejected.
Let's bring in CNN's Alex Marquardt, who has fallen all of this from New York.
Alex, Netanyahu's arrival in New York now coming amid these heightened tensions and also on the back of this impassioned speech from -- of Mahmoud Abbas.
[15:35:07]
What can we expect to hear from Netanyahu tomorrow?
ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably justifications for continuing the military efforts, campaigns in both Gaza and in Lebanon, Rahel. There's quite a bit of confusion here because just last night, we heard from the White House saying that they had put together this 21-day ceasefire, which is really a pause, it's a temporary pause in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel to get the two sides back to the table, to figure out a more permanent solution for tens of thousands of residents, both in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon, to really go back to their homes.
And we know that the U.S. and French and other officials who are engaged in these talks had been speaking with both sides. It's not like this was a plan that was just presented to them last night for the first time. So it did appear that there were some optimism, at least some hope that this might get implemented quite quickly. And we know from a source who spoke to CNN yesterday that Prime Minister Netanyahu had given the green light for his government to engage in these talks.
And yet today, there seems to be kind of reversal of course. As soon as Netanyahu landed in New York, he said that the policy is clear. We continue to hit Hezbollah with all of our might.
And so, it does appear that the Israeli military campaign is going to continue. The U.S. and Israel are on the same page in terms of one thing, that it's going to take diplomatic, political negotiations to get to a quiet place in Lebanon. But the difference is Israel clearly feels that it is military pressure, continued bombardment of Lebanese position, of Hezbollah positions that's going to get there faster while the U.S., France and the other allies signed onto this statement, would like this to end right now.
So these discussions are continuing. Certainly, the ceasefire did not start as imminently as the White House would have liked. We've often heard, you and I, Rahel, have spoken about us hopes for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon quite a bit over the past few months. And so, this has not yet come to fruition, obviously remains to be seen, whether it will.
We know that there were more diplomatic conversations taking place today here in New York. Everyone's here for the U.N. General Assembly, a top Netanyahu aide was due to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
So, we will see where this goes, but I can certainly --- wouldn't -- should expect tomorrow morning, New York time when Netanyahu goes up to that podium at the U.N. to talk about why Israel feels the need to continue bombing those positions in order to get those Israeli citizens home.
But it is, it is certainly a very dangerous time, a real period of escalation and the U.S. fear of the European fear people around the world frankly, worrying that that, that is going to spill over into a much broader regional conflict, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah, as we approach the one-year anniversary of October 7, the one year anniversary of this conflict in the region.
Alex Marquardt, live for us in New York, Alex, thank you.
Let's go to Lebanon now, where Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade strikes across Israel's northern border. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant affirming today that Israel has, quote, additional missions to complete against Hezbollah. His statement as Alex was just talking about their seeming to counter U.S. efforts to secure a temporary ceasefire between the two groups.
Let's bring in CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. She is in Beirut.
So, Jomana, Israel seems to be pushing forward with its military operations today, Lebanon -- towards Lebanon, rejecting that 21-day ceasefire offer. How are officials in Lebanon reacting though?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Rahel, we have not yet heard from Hezbollah specifically about this proposal, although they have made their position clear as recently as last week when we heard from the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who had said that the only way that they would seize attacks on Israel is if the war in Gaza stopped, it would stop with a ceasefire in Gaza.
We've heard from the office of the Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, who released a statement denying that they had signed any sort of an agreement, but saying that they welcome this proposal and say that the implementation of any proposal should come with an Israeli commitment when it comes to the implementation.
And, you know, we spoke today a short time ago with the country's health minister about that. And more asked him in our interview, started that interview with a question about how he would describe the situation in his country right now.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FIRASS ABIAD, LEBANESE HEALTH MINISTER: I think we are in full- fledged war. There's no doubt about that and irrespective of what you call it, you know? We have civilians, innocent people, women, children being indiscriminately attacked, targeted.
[15:40:02]
We have, you know, residential buildings being blown to smithereens. We have hospitals, ambulances, primary health care centers being targeted. But this is war, there's no doubt about that.
KARADSHEH: Some people we spoken to say that they are worried about seeing what is happening and has happened in Gaza. Repeat itself here in Lebanon. Is that something you're concerned about?
ABIAD: Well, it's the same perpetrator and it's using the same excuses that using the same weaponry. Of course, we are very much concerned. We are concerned for our community. We are concerned.
You know, we do not want to see the carnage that is -- that happened in -- has happened in Lebanon, nor did we want to see it. And that's why I think it's imperative on the international community to take action and to apply the required pressure on Israel to seize it is indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
And the paper that was put forth by the U.S., by the G7, by the Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and which Lebanon accepted would have been a very good place to start. But unfortunately, it seems that, you know, everyone is intent on finding a diplomatic solution to this conflict, except one party that wants to continue with its indiscriminate attack on civilians.
KARADSHEH: So do you believe Hezbollah would agree to that proposal?
ABIAD: Hezbollah has stated publicly that with a ceasefire and Russia, all hostilities or all activities will cease and I think that even if Hezbollah, let's say, Hezbollah was not honest, let's remove its excuse. Let's remove this pretext and find out for what is true position is.
But I think that the international community called for a ceasefire and it's the right place to start. Lebanon doesn't want war. This is what we said (ph), and this government has said, this is what the Lebanese population has said. And I believe that a diplomatic solution is the right way out of this conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARADSHEH: And, Rahel, as you heard there from the health minister, Dr. Firass Abiad, he says, Lebanon wants a diplomatic solution, they want a way out of this, but they do not believe that this is what Israel wants. He says that the United States can do more, can put pressure on Israel, can use its leverage to stop this situation from escalating even further. And he warned that we are looking at the real risk of a wider regional conflict, not just in Lebanon.
SOLOMON: Jomana Karadsheh live for us there in Beirut, Jomana, thank you.
And still ahead. Donald Trump's bid to overturn a civil fraud judgment that could cause some nearly half a billion, that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:46:23]
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
And in New York this afternoon, a brand new development in the ongoing legal plight of Donald Trump, an appellate court today hearing arguments on Trump's bid to dismiss his $454 million fine from his civil fraud judgment. The judgment in February determined that Trump had carried out a years-long schemed to inflate his assets.
Here to help us unpack it all is CNN's Kara Scannell.
Kara, actually, I'm going to get to you in just a moment because my understanding is that Zelenskyy and Vice President Kamala Harris have just approached the podium as we can see. Let's listen together.
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, President Zelenskyy, it is good to see you again. This is our seventh visit together, and welcome back to Washington, D.C.
As I have made clear on our six previous meetings, and throughout Putin's brutal aggression and war against Ukraine, my support for the people of Ukraine is unwavering. I've been proud to stand with Ukraine. I will continue to stand with Ukraine and I will work to ensure Ukraine prevails in this war.
To be safe, secure, and prosperous, the United States must continue to fulfill our long-standing role of global leadership. We must stand with our allies and our partners. We must defend our democratic values and stand up to aggressors. And we must stand for international order, rules and norms.
Each one of these principles is at stake in Ukraine. And that is why Ukraine's fight matters to the people of America. The Ukrainian people are bravely defending their homes and their homeland, their freedom, and their democracy against a brutal dictator.
And the American people know well the meaning of freedom, of independence and the importance of rule of law. These ideals are central to who we are as Americans and some of the most important moments in our history have come when we stood up to aggressors, like Putin, just as we must today.
Indeed, standing with our friends and defending our ideals against tyranny has helped make America the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world. Putin's aggression is not only an attack on the people of Ukraine. It is also an attack on fundamental principles such as sovereignty and territorial integrity. International rules and norms are not some abstract notion. They provide order and stability in our world. They support American security and American prosperity, and when they are threatened anywhere, they are threatened everywhere.
History has shown us if we allow aggressors like Putin to take land with impunity, they keep going and Putin could set its sights on Poland, the Baltic States, and other NATO allies. We also know that other would-be aggressors around the world are watching, to see what happens in Ukraine. If Putin is allowed to win, they will become emboldened and history reminds us and history is so clear in reminding us, the United States cannot and should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
[15:50:03]
Isolation is not insulation. So then the United States supports Ukraine not out of charity but because it is in our strategic interest, we will continue to provide the security assistance Ukraine needs to succeed on the battlefield as demonstrated by President Biden's significant announcement earlier today.
I've been proud to work alongside President Biden and the 50-nation coalition we have built up to allow Ukraine to defend itself. Thanks to this coalition and the skill and the bravery of the Ukrainian people, along with your courageous leadership, President Zelenskyy, Ukraine has stood up to Russia's aggression. And today, Kyiv stands free and strong.
President Zelenskyy, I am clear, Putin started this war and he could end it tomorrow if he simply withdrew his troops from Ukraine's sovereign territory. Of course, he has demonstrated no intention of doing that. Instead, he continues to assault civilian infrastructure and terrorize the people of Ukraine.
In Switzerland in June, along with 90 other nations at Ukraine peace conference, I told you that the United States shares your vision for the end of this war and end based on the will of the people of Ukraine and the U.N. charter, and that we must work with the international community to secure a just and lasting peace.
And I told world leaders there nothing about the end of this war can be decided without Ukraine. However, in candor I share with you, Mr. President, there are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory? Who would demand that Ukraine, except neutrality and would require Ukraine to forgo security relationships with other nations.
These proposals are the same of those of Putin and let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable. So President Zelenskyy, I look forward to our discussion today, and I will continue to work with you to ensure Ukraine prevails in this conflict and remains a free, democratic, and independent nation.
Welcome back again.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you so much.
Madam Vice President, thank you for the invitation! Happy to see you!
Dear journalists!
I want to especially thank you for your participation in the Peace Summit -- and really it was very important and we remember it. The format was successful. We are preparing the second one now.
We have to end this war, we need a just peace. We must protect our people -- Ukrainian families, Ukrainian children and everyone -- from Putin's evil. And we are grateful to America for supporting Ukraine all along.
We'll have an important meeting today -- right after I talked to President Biden about the plan of Victory. I will share the details of the plan with Vice President Harris.
It is crucial for us to be fully understandable and to work in full coordination with the United States. This morning, I talked to the congressmen -- both chambers, both parties. And I'm thankful for the bipartisan support. We believe this war can be won and just peace can be closer only with the United States.
Madam Vice President, this is our, you said, seventh meeting.
HARRIS: Seventh.
ZELENSKYY: Yeah, and not the last one. And the third, as far as I remember, the third meeting this year.
HARRIS: Yes.
ZELENSKYY: Thank you. I want to inform you about the latest developments on the battlefield, of course, and about Ukraine's actions in the Kursk region -- on what has been achieved and the ambitions ahead. Today, we have a new strong support package, as you said, and we have
a common view on the things that need to be done. We have to keep pressure on Russia to stop the war and to make truly lasting and just peace.
[15:55:01]
It's a top priority for us and for other freedom-loving nations, to achieve not a freezing, but real, real peace.
So we need to keep sanctions against Russia strong, and we need to use the proceeds from immobilized Russian assets to protect Ukraine, our people, our cities, our frontline from Russian evil. And, of course, we must work hard to bring all Russian war criminals to justice.
And one more thing. I want to inform Madam Vice President about the latest Russian missile and Shahed attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. We need to urgently strengthen Ukraine's air defense to save thousands of lives and reduce Russian terror to zero. It is achievable.
Thank you again. Thanks, America! Thanks to you, Madam Vice President.
Slava Ukraini!
HARRIS: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
SOLOMON: All right. Let's bring in CNN senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche at the White House, who has been listening to that as well.
Kayla, a few takeaways for me. I mean, one, they reiterated that they have met many times now, seven times. In fact, this is their seventh visit. But from the Vice President Kamala Harris, who, of course, is running for president, she not only reiterated her support and the Democrats support for Ukraine, but also took some shots at what appeared to be her opponent, Donald Trump. But what else did you hear?
TAUSCHE: Well, Rahel, Vice President Harris has long been a staunch defender of Ukraine, and in recent weeks that she's ascended to the top of the ticket, she is placed herself more at the forefront of the administration's effort to continue defending Ukraine and keep its allies tightly knit in that effort.
I took really note of the stagecraft of the announcement today, because earlier you saw President Biden, who is the sitting leader of the United States in a more casual setting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, a very brief if interaction for reporters. But it was Harris who really leaned into this stagecraft of this moment, flanked by both the Ukrainian and the American flags in her ceremonial office with leader of Ukraine to essentially lay out what the official position of the United States and her official position going forward would be.
She's really leaning into the imagery and the optics of that moment as she did when prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu visited her in that same office just a few weeks ago. And so, she has really positioning herself at the forefront of foreign policy and trying to help voters imagine her in that role going forward, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And so, Kayla, to that and would you say that perhaps the audience she was trying to reach today was domestic audience.
TAUSCHE: I think it's very clear that that was one of the core audiences that she was trying to reach today. Yes.
SOLOMON: Okay. And talk to us a little bit about she also made the point that we've heard before, but that essentially that an aggressor, if Russia, if Putin were allowed to continue, that, this would not only embolden Putin and Russia and perhaps in other countries such as Poland, obviously a NATO member. But this would also perhaps embolden other aggressors who are watching what the U.S. allows two to take place.
TAUSCHE: And she didn't note any of those additional aggressors by name, but the one, quote/unquote, pacing challenge of this administration has been China. There are very real worries about the intention because of China, with regard to Taiwan and recent instability in the Taiwan strait that were the subject of meetings that the president has team had at the United Nations and that other lawmakers had with other allies from the Philippines and other nations in the Indo-Pacific as well.
And so that seemed to me to be a fairly veiled overture to countries like China, leaders like President Xi Jinping, that the U.S. is not going to be ready to allow Putin to claim victory in Ukraine because of the message that it would send to other aggressors overseas.
SOLOMON: Kayla Tausche, live at the White House -- Kayla, thank you.
TAUSCHE: Sure.
SOLOMON: And thank you for joining me today. I'm Rahel Solomon.
"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is coming up next.
