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New Israeli Strikes Rock Hezbollah Targets in Beirut; Liz Cheney Campaigns with Harris at Wisconsin Rally; Trump Slams Response to Hurricane Helene; U.S. Port Workers Union, Employers Reach a Tentative Deal; Millions Continue to Cope with Damage and Destruction from Helene. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired October 04, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The severe blows against Hezbollah in all areas in Beirut, in the Beqaa Valley, in South Lebanon will continue.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He has called for jailing journalists, political opponents, anyone he sees and deems as being an enemy.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kamala spent all her FEMA money on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This home is gone. All of my things are gone and ruined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Friday, October 4th, 9 a.m. here in London.
It's 11 a.m. in Beirut, Lebanon, where another day of Israeli airstrikes are underway in the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs, as you can see. A source says Israel targeted a possible successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. It's not clear if he was killed.
Lebanon says an Israeli strike on a key border crossing with Syria has cut off access to the international road. Tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting in Lebanon have used the crossing over the past few weeks.
This video is taken from Beirut, where Israel says it struck Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters. It reports taking out several Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon. The IDF says the goal of its military operation in Lebanon is to eliminate Hezbollah's ability to threaten the residents of northern Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, IDF CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF (through translator): We will not allow Hezbollah to settle itself in these places in the future. The severe blows against Hezbollah in all areas in Beirut, in the Beqaa Valley in south Lebanon will continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: We're also keeping a close eye on the Grand Mosque in Tehran, where huge crowds have gathered for Friday prayers. Iran's supreme leader paying tribute to the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is tracking the latest developments. And if we were last week looking ahead to what we're seeing today, it would be extraordinary and in many ways unbelievable.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The unleashing of the violence that we've seen, the war and its escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, it really has been, I think, stunning and startling to witness and very disturbing. The Israeli military says it carried out dozens of strikes against southern and eastern Lebanon against southern Beirut, saying it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. It says that there were more than 200 rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel, that no civilians were injured in that latest round of salvos. A ninth Israeli soldier was killed in ground fighting.
Meanwhile, on the Lebanese side, at least 37 people killed on Thursday and more than 150 injured. Among the people killed were two Lebanese army soldiers. And this is an important distinction, Max. Hezbollah is a militant group, the most powerful military and political organization in Lebanon. But the Lebanese government and army are kind of separate and are not technically at war with Israel.
In fact, the Lebanese army is funded and trained and equipped in part by the U.S. government to the tune of billions of dollars over the last 18 years. So the Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed two of its soldiers in two separate locations near the border and the Lebanese army fired back.
UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, says that more than 690 children have been injured by Israeli airstrikes over the last six weeks. And listen to what the director general of the World Health Organization has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: In southern Lebanon, 37 health facilities have been closed, while in Beirut, three hospitals have been forced to fully evacuate staff and patients and another two were partially evacuated.
[04:05:00] And yet, health care continues to come under attack. In Lebanon alone, 28 health workers have been killed in the last 24 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, Max, more than a million people in Lebanon have been displaced by the fighting of the last couple of weeks. It is very difficult to get a seat on one of the handful of Lebanese airliners landing and taking off from Beirut airport as that city is actually being bombed. Incredible pictures and, I guess, bravery on the part of those pilots.
The main way for people to escape this war zone and the deadly airstrikes from Israel is to cross the border to neighboring Syria. And the Israeli government bombed that main highway today after accusing Hezbollah of using that main border terminal to smuggle in weapons. So now the main way for civilians to escape the Israeli airstrikes, which have killed and maimed many civilians, has now been cut -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Ivan, thank you so much for that. Iran's supreme leader, as we were saying, leading prayers, Friday prayers in Tehran today, remembering the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is following that live from Berlin. It's interesting, isn't it, Fred, seeing the response there, but also anticipating what he might say.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And I think it certainly is no coincidence, Max, that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is leading those Friday prayers today. The last time that he actually did that was in 2020, when a U.S. airstrike, of course, killed the then commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, who, of course, was very important to Iran's military apparatus.
And so now, as far as those memorial services for Hassan Nasrallah, as part of these Friday prayers is concerned, the supreme leader once again today will be on the scene to speak at these Friday prayers. And we can already see, we have some of the shots there, just how large the crowds are that have turned out so far. I've been at that facility many times for Friday prayers.
I have not ever seen a crowd of that size. In fact, I think the last time that there was a crowd of that size was probably the funeral for Qasem Soleimani. And one of the things that we have to keep in mind, Max, is that the bond between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Hassan Nasrallah was a lot stronger than I think many people realize.
So one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that between Qasem Soleimani, the slain general, Hassan Nasrallah, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there was a major bond that was formed during the time of the Israeli incursion into Lebanon in 2006. In fact, the three wrote a book together later with a massive part of that book dealing with that 2006 incursion. So certainly there was a very special place for Hassan Nasrallah with the supreme leader. Certainly there was a lot of support, of course, also from Iran for Hezbollah. And the Iranians are saying that that continues. And of course, we did have that major strike on Israeli territory by the Iranians happening not after the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran, but after Hassan Nasrallah was then also killed in Beirut. And I think the Iranians are showing just how big a thing the killing of Hassan Nasrallah was for them.
And of course, the Iranians also trying to display the power of their missile forces that they have. And one of the interesting caveats in all of this is also is that the same department of the Revolutionary Guard Corps that's responsible for Iran's missile force is also responsible for Iran's air defense systems, which, of course, right now are on high alert as the Iranians anticipate some sort of Israeli response that could happen.
Of course, there are people who've been talking about possibly the nuclear facilities of Iran being under threat, but then also oil and gas installations as well. In any case, I would say right now that Iran's surface-to-air missile system is certainly on high alert -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Fred, thank you. We'll be watching closely.
Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney joined Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail for the first time on Thursday. Cheney told a crowd in the battleground state of Wisconsin that Donald Trump, quote, can never be trusted with power again. CNN's Eva McKend is in Wisconsin and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: This was a very different campaign event for the vice president. She typically talks about reproductive rights, the economy, gun violence. This was not that.
This was a conversation for the country about core values. The vice president joined by Liz Cheney, Cheney seemingly recalling some of her work from the January 6th committee. She strenuously outlined for voters the many ways, in her view, the former president threatened the peaceful transition of power.
[04:10:00]
The vice president warning this audience that there is no guarantee that if former President Trump is reelected, that he would honor his oath to the Constitution. Take a listen.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
(CHEERING)
HARRIS: And as you have heard and know, he refused to accept the will of the people and the results of an election that was free and fair. As you have heard, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol where they assaulted law enforcement officers.
He threatened the life of his own vice president and refused to engage in the peaceful transfer of power. And let us be clear about how he intends to use power if elected again. He has called for jailing journalists, political opponents, anyone he sees and deems as being an enemy.
He has pledged to destroy the independence of the Department of Justice. And he called for deploying our active duty military against our own citizens.
MCKEND: This was a message for a very specific type of voter, conservatives and independents that have no appetite for the former president, but may otherwise sit this election out. The vice president, Liz Cheney, leaning on those voters, essentially arguing that this election is too urgent for them to skip. Also leaning on their sense of patriotism in this hour.
Eva McKend, CNN, Ripon, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, Donald Trump heads to Georgia today where he'll meet with state Governor Brian Kemp and get a briefing on hurricane damage. The visit comes after Trump campaigned in Michigan on Thursday. He slammed the White House response to Hurricane Helene, falsely accusing Biden and Harris of stealing money from FEMA for undocumented immigrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country. Including one billion for gift cards for illegal aliens and putting them up in luxury hotels with a gift card, with a gift card to welcome them to America as our veterans are sleeping on the sidewalks below those hotels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the former president also bashed Liz Cheney while speaking to Fox News earlier in the day. He mocked her congressional loss and said that she was terrible. Trump has been given more time to respond, meanwhile, to special counsel Jack Smith's sweeping new immunity brief in his federal election subversion case.
This week, prosecutors laid out their most extensive case to date against Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The judge has given Trump until November the 7th to respond, two days after election day and three weeks after the original deadline. Trump's team is expected to ask for the entire case to be thrown out under the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling.
The U.S. economy may have dodged a bullet from the huge strike of port workers along its entire east and Gulf coasts. Their union reached a tentative deal yesterday with the employers, offering a $4 an hour raise each year until 2030. Union members are expected to be back at work today, even though they're yet to ratify the agreement.
This was a comment from President Joe Biden after that announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The dockworkers are going back to work and in the next 90 days they're going to settle everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the strike, which began this week, threatened to upend U.S. exports and imports ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season. Sources told us the White House pressed shipping companies to cut the deal with the union.
One union leader explained what the agreement means to workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT COWAN, PRESIDENT, ILA LOCAL 333: It means that they can they can provide, put food on the table, pay their bills. They don't have to worry anymore, possibly losing their cars or their homes or anything like that. You know, we're just coming back off of a major catastrophe, maritime tragedy with the bridge collapse.
We were out of work for two months. Now we're out of work for a few more days. We're very excited to be back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: President Joe Biden calls for an end to rapid political division as he leads the federal response to hurricane relief in the U.S. Millions of Florida and beyond struggle to overcome the devastating effects of Helene.
And later, the war in Gaza continues, even as attention shifts to an escalating regional conflict. New deadly Israeli strikes on the enclave. Details coming up.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
[04:18:55]
FOSTER: The death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to at least 213 people across six states. More than 200 people in North Carolina are still unaccounted for, as new before and after photos show the extent of the hurricane's damage. Category 4 storm cut a 500 mile path of destruction across the U.S. southeast, with water levels rising higher than they've ever been.
The National Weather Service calls it a once-in-a-thousand-year rainfall event. In many areas, such as Chimney Rock, North Carolina, entire parts of towns, including bridges, roads and buildings, were wiped away.
President Joe Biden surveyed the devastated areas in the southeast again on Thursday, first in Florida alongside Republican Senator Rick Scott, later in Georgia, where he said he hopes people will come together and break down the rapid partisanship in U.S. politics.
Ryan Young reports on President Biden's stop in Valdosta, Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, all throughout Lowndes County, which is 500 square miles, you see destruction like what's behind me.
You see this house right here with a tree across its roof, and the house next door has a tree across its roof.
[04:20:00]
We've seen this repeat itself over and over again. Crews have been working their way to clear streets to make things safe for residents.
But that's why the president showed up here. We know that this has been such a powerful storm that they need federal assistance in this area. The president went through to see the areas that were damaged.
We knew agriculture has been greatly impacted. Small businesses have been impacted, and they need federal assistance.
BIDEN: In moments like this, it's time to put politics aside again. It's not one state versus the other. It's the United States.
Our job is to help as many people as we can, as many as we can. And also, by the way, when you do that, I hope we're going to break down this rabid partisanship that exists. I mean this sincerely. There's no rationale for it.
YOUNG: We saw Senator Warnock here. We also saw the mayor of Valdosta with the president.
You see that tarp back there on that roof. Tarps are being handed out to citizens all throughout this county because they know more rain could be coming. They're trying to protect homes throughout this area. They're also giving out ice and water.
But more than 70 percent of this area is without power. There are power crews that are working from all across the United States here. We saw a crew from Mississippi that is trying to get lines back up, get critical power back on.
It's still very hot here. The residents here are suffering more than one way because without power at several small businesses, people aren't getting paid. They're not able to go out and get food. So these are things they want to see restored very quickly. It's something that we'll continue to watch.
Ryan Young, CNN, Valdosta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A disturbing story out of North Carolina. An Asheville father is missing after flooding carried his house away. MR Khan was trapped on a balcony shouting for help, according to a neighbor who tried to phone emergency services, but the apartment building shifted and broke away before any help could arrive.
Before that, Khan had written a message to his wife, apparently not sensing the extent of the danger that was to come. Now, almost a week later, the search continues for Mr. Khan, as well as many others who went missing during the flooding.
The damage caused by Hurricane Helene continues to affect lives and livelihoods of many millions. CNN's Carlos Suarez has more on the devastation in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The shoes and the clothes and the rollerblades.
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The items that once brought joy to Marie Rowley's life litter the front yard of her house again.
SUAREZ: And you've been flooded out twice.
MARIE ROWLEY, HOME DESTROYED BY HURRICANE HELENE: Twice, yes. I got hit Idalia last year, flooded my living room.
SUAREZ (voice-over): A walk inside the 29-year-old's home captures the damage left behind by the latest storm, Hurricane Helene's deadly flooding.
ROWLEY: Everything was underwater. The drawers, I mean, in my closet, almost the top drawers of my closet, just everything was shifted around, floating at one point.
SUAREZ (voice-over): Her sanctuary, the place that she called home for just over a year, destroyed by floodwaters in one of the hardest hit areas of Pinellas County.
ROWLEY: The water was about to here. It was, in some places, over three feet. There's a lot of life that this place once housed, and now it's gutted.
This home is gone. All of my things are gone and ruined. But I had people, and I had love, and I have my life.
SUAREZ (voice-over): Rowley's story is one we encountered throughout St. Petersburg, days after Helene's close-to-seven-foot storm surge left parts of the city underwater. Sara Schaeffer's long embrace of a friend inside her muddied living room captured how such a simple act in such a trying time can mean the world. SARA SCHAEFFER, HOME DESTROYED BY HURRICANE HELENE: Any drop of kindness is really appreciated. Anything, even if you don't know what to say, just say something. You know, we all have our stories. This is ours. I think we're all really thankful to be alive.
SUAREZ (voice-over): In neighboring Tampa, over three feet of water swept through Julie Curry's bakery Bake'n Babes. Its waterlogged entrance, bright and pink, gives way to a dark and soaked kitchen filled with tens of thousands of dollars in damaged commercial refrigerators, freezers, and ovens.
JULIE CURRY, OWNER, BAKE'N BABES: The water line was here.
SUAREZ: $60,000 loss. Is that something that you can withstand?
CURRY: We're trying to get, to see if some of the equipment can be repaired so it's not like a total, you know, loss. Water just came out, yes.
SUAREZ (voice-over): Curry said the business, which was not damaged in previous hurricanes, Ian and Idalia, recently scored a catering contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. She's afraid her insurance policies won't cover much of the damage, leaving the fate of her business and the livelihood of more than a dozen employees uncertain.
CURRY: We work so hard, you know, and then, you know, everything is gone.
SUAREZ: Julie and Marie tell us they have no plans on leaving the Tampa area. They recognize that the rebuilding effort is going to take months, and it is not going to be easy.
[04:25:00]
They're dealing with the uncertainty of having to come up with all of the paperwork and documentation just to file an insurance claim. There's also the fact that we still have two months left of hurricane season.
Carlos Suarez, CNN, Tampa, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Ahead, schools turned into shelters in Gaza, now obliterated by Israeli airstrikes. Why the IDF says they targeted these sites.
Plus, three former cops face up to 20 years in prison in the deadly beating of Tyre Nichols. But that outcome is only a partial victory for the prosecution. We'll explain why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, here are today's top stories.
Republican former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney appeared alongside Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday at a rally in Wisconsin. After endorsing her for president, Cheney said she's never voted for a Democrat before. But because of Donald Trump's actions on January 6th, we can't be trusted -- he can't be trusted with power again.
Meanwhile, Trump was in a rally in Michigan. The former president criticized the response to Hurricane Helene and falsely claimed that Harris used all her disaster relief money to house and care for migrants.
More than 200 people have now died following Hurricane Helene's rampage through the southeastern U.S.
President Joe Biden visited storm-damaged parts of Georgia on Thursday. Trump is set to visit the state later today.
And officials in Lebanon say an Israeli strike on a key border crossing with Syria has cut off access to the international road. The crossing has been used by tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting in Lebanon over the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, Israel says it killed the local leader of Hamas's network and other operatives --
