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Trump to Rally at Site of PA Assassination Attempt, Lies about Hurricane Relief; Israel Delaying Decision about Iran Retaliation; Syrian Refugees from War See It Again in Lebanon; Hurricane Helene Death Toll Rises; 2024 Presidential Candidates Campaign Today; Melania Making Waves ahead of Book Release; Ayatollah Leads Friday Prayers in Show of Defiance; French Report 600 Killed in Burkina Faso Massacre; Elephants Evacuated from Flooding in Northern Thailand. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired October 05, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. presidential election is exactly one month from today. How Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are spending the weekend as the clock ticks down.
Bracing for escalation, what Israel is telling the U.S. about the possibility of striking Iran's nuclear facilities in retaliation for the earlier missile attack.
And the search for the missing as the death toll following Hurricane Helene in the U.S. climbs.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We are one month away from Election Day here in the U.S.
And today, former president Donald Trump is returning to Butler, Pennsylvania, to the same venue where he survived an assassination attempt in July. He's expected to honor the victims of the shooting during a rally. Trump's running mate, JD Vance, and billionaire Elon Musk are also scheduled to be there.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her rival hit the campaign trail on Friday, keeping the focus on battleground states. And they both plan to spend the weekend trying to persuade undecided voters. CNN's Eva McKend is traveling with the Harris campaign in Michigan.
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EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: In a worker focused pitch, the vice president pledging to protect union jobs and arguing she would work to create opportunities if elected for skilled workers, opportunities that don't require a college degree.
She also blasted the former president, arguing that his record has been a disaster for working people. And she touted the efforts of the Biden-Harris administration to shore up union jobs at an assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan.
Take a listen.
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here's what I will do. I will invest in communities like Flint.
Plan to reach out to bills beyond O industry and the UAW (ph).
We will retool existing factories, hire locally and work with unions to create good paying jobs, including jobs that do not require a college degree.
Because we understand a college degree is not the only measure of whether a worker has skills and experience to get the job done.
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MCKEND: Another significant moment when she gave a nod to the Flint water crisis, telling people in this community that they understand all too well the significance in having clean drinking water as she tried to characterize herself as someone who is principally concerned about the environment and community safety.
But the vice president not only had a union and labor focus message here in Michigan, she also spoke with Arab American voters in Detroit earlier in the day. We'll sense that the campaign is doing all that they can to solidify their coalitions with not that much time left to make their case -- Eva McKend, CNN, Flint, Michigan.
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BRUNHUBER: On Friday, Donald Trump campaigned in front of military families and veterans in North Carolina. And he promised he would change the name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg if he's reelected, even though it was (INAUDIBLE) the push to get rid of the names of Confederate leaders.
During the town hall, Trump also slammed Biden's recent comments about Israel and Iran. Here he is.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They asked him, what do you think about -- what do you think about Iran?
Would you hit Iran? And he goes, as long as they don't hit the nuclear stuff.
That's the thing you want to hit, right?
I said I think he's got that one wrong.
Isn't that the what you're supposed to hit?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Also on Friday, Trump praised Georgia governor Brian Kemp's response to Hurricane Helene, saying he's doing a fantastic job. But he criticized Harris and Biden's handling of the disaster, falsely claiming that they misused relief funds. Here he is.
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PRES. TRUMP: And, you know, Kamala should be here. She shouldn't be anywhere else. They're giving you lousy treatment in North Carolina, in particular. And we don't like that, so we're going to let it be known then they have to get a lot better because people are not happy.
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BRUNHUBER: There's good economic news ahead of the election. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the U.S. added 254,000 jobs in September, far exceeding expectations. That's more than 100,000 more than economists were predicting for the month and well above the 159,000 jobs added in August. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Joining me now is Thomas Gift in London. He's the director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London.
Thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate it.
So that jobs report good news for Democrats, obviously, in the context of the election for Kamala Harris. But Republicans don't like the numbers, which is why Donald Trump is claiming the numbers aren't real. Here he is.
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PRES. TRUMP: Migrants are coming into the country, are getting the jobs here, they're getting most of the jobs. And the citizens aren't getting the jobs.
And the other thing that you don't know what to believe anymore because 818,000 jobs, two months ago was a fraud. They put in 818,000 extra jobs and it got wiped out. They said they made a mistake. That wasn't a mistake. That was done on purpose. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So there obviously he was referring to the common practice of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, revising numbers either upwards or downwards when they get updated information. So Donald Trump obviously has a history of saying this about numbers that he doesn't like.
But we saw Republican senator Marco Rubio also claiming on social media that the jobs report was fake. So this seems to be their strategy, to claim that the federal government has manufactured the data for political gain.
Do you think any of this matters to voters, do you think?
THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, thanks so much for having me, Kim, it's really good to be with you.
I think that it is crucial to say that several economists have already come out to publicly discredit the assertion that the jobs numbers are fake. I think it's also important to point out that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has revised multiple initial jobs reports upwards in the last 1.5 years compared to what was initially released.
So there's just no concrete evidence that the Biden administration is cooking the books or trying to present misleading figures about the health of the economy. But I think that this is the problem when you have historically low trust in public institutions and particularly in government.
Politicians can make assertions unsubstantiated and they're going to be taken at face value by a certain fraction of the population, especially those who buy into conspiracy theories. Distrust in institutions is low across the board. It's particularly low among GOP voters. And so I think that's what Trump is tapping into.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, and I want to ask you about that in relation to the disaster relief in a second. But just staying on the economy, it is interesting that the economy was one of the strongest issues for Trump. But the gap seems to be sort of narrowing a little bit.
A new Cook Political Report poll of swing states showed calm Harris tied on the issue of who can best deal with inflation and the cost of living. And then the recent American University poll found 46 percent of women prefer Harris over Trump to handle the economy; 38 percent prefer Trump.
So again, that gap on this very important number one issue for most voters seems to be narrowing there.
GIFT: No, absolutely. I think, from the very beginning, Trump thought that cost of living and inflation was going to be his issue. But he hasn't emphasized it enough. I think that he does have a story to tell but he's been too distracted on other things, criticisms of Kamala Harris personally.
And so I think that he has to get back on message. His message needs to be one, inflation and the economy and, two, immigration and just keep saying that over and over and over.
I think that that may help Trump regain some of the momentum he's lost there because the polls that you show have to be really discouraging for Republican operatives.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right, back to that theme of trust.
One of the major political issues this week has been the federal response to the hurricane. And one of the major claims by Republicans is that the Biden administration isn't helping folks in the stricken states.
And in the words of Donald Trump, that they're going out of their way not to help people in Republican areas and then diverting that money to migrants, which isn't true. I mean, there are just so many lies being spread on social media.
Marjorie Taylor Greene even claiming that Democrats are controlling the weather to basically attack Republican voters. FEMA had to set up a page, a web page, just to deal with these rumors.
So as a political issue, do you think this will resonate?
GIFT: Well, I think you're right that there's so much misinformation out there. Everything is going to be politicized now and viewed through a partisan lens. Even national disasters.
I think to a large extent that began with Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. George W. Bush was accused of a flat-footed response to the tragedy. And the federal government was accused of ignoring certain areas, especially the majority Black neighborhoods in Louisiana and Florida. There was some evidence for that then.
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But there's basically no evidence now that Democrats are specifically withholding funds and emergency response materials to Republican majority areas. I think it's just false.
But at the same time again, I think that it could resonate with a certain core of Republican voters who are prone to look at anything that the Biden administration does with skepticism.
BRUNHUBER: All right.
We only have a minute left but I did want to ask you about this because it is significant. Today, Donald Trump going back to the site of his first -- the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. It promises to be an emotional moment for his supporters, potentially a huge point in his campaign.
What are you expecting?
GIFT: Well, I think the image of Trump yelling, fight, fight, fight is the image of the campaign that Trump and his allies most want voters to remember on Election Day. So it makes political sense that Trump would go back to the site of
that crime. I think when the assassination attempt occurred, Trump's approval was at an all-time high, when Joe Biden was still the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party.
And everyone thought that the rest of the election season would be a viewed through this lens of what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania. Then the news cycle faded after the Republican convention, after Kamala Harris became the nominee.
And I think Trump is trying to retake that attention. It's no coincidence, Kim, that he's doing that in Pennsylvania, which is the swing state of all swing states, which we've talked about before, and probably the state that will determine the winner of the White House.
So I think it will be a pretty emotional moment for Trump but one that he really wants to publicize.
BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be watching. Appreciate your expertise as always, Thomas Gift. Thank you so much.
GIFT: Thank you, Kim.
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BRUNHUBER: The Middle East is bracing as Israel appears likely to retaliate against Iran for its unprecedented missile attack earlier this week. A U.S. State Department official says Washington hasn't received any assurances from Israel that it won't target Iran's nuclear facilities.
Officials are watching for the timing of any attack. Monday marks the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
Meanwhile, it's just after 11:00 am in Lebanon, after a night of clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. Lebanon is spiraling into a humanitarian crisis as the conflict heads into another week.
The new report from a conflict monitoring group says, Israel's bombardment of Lebanon over the past three weeks is the world's most intense aerial campaign, with the exception of what's happening in Gaza, in the last two decades. The Israeli military is warning medical teams in Lebanon not to work with Hezbollah.
The IDF alleged on Friday the militant group is, in its words, "exploiting rescue vehicles" to transport what they described as "terrorists" and weapons and it warned it will take, quote, "appropriate measures" against any vehicle it believes is being used by Hezbollah.
CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments from London.
So Nada, we hear there are no assurances from Israel that they won't target Iran's nuclear facilities. Take us through the reaction. NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. No assurance is no
clear timeline either from Israeli officials, not at least according to the Biden administration. Again, there has been close coordination, of course, a close communication dialogue between the Israeli government and the Biden administration.
But again, we are hearing again words of caution but also uncertainty from the American president himself. We did hear from Biden yesterday, urging caution. Of course, in this situation, again, no clarity on when we may expect some sort of response to retaliation from the Israeli military.
There have certainly been mounting concerns around Israel targeting energy infrastructure, oil fields in Iran. Particularly concerned around what the potential follow up response then would be from the Iranian regime targeting perhaps Israeli territory and other locations as well.
So significant concern. Take a listen to this message to reporters from the U.S. President just yesterday.
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BIDEN: The Israelis have not concluded how they're -- what they're going to do in terms of the strike.
If I were in those shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking offense.
The Israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them. Not just from the Iranians but from everyone, from Hezbollah, the Houthis.
But the fact is that they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties.
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BASHIR: The Biden administration has been very clear that they are in contact with Israeli counterparts, constantly, really, on a daily basis. That call for deescalation clearly continuing from the Biden administration.
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But that, of course, stands in contrast to the actions and substantial efforts of both the Biden administration, other international allies of the Israeli government. Of course, mounting concern, of course, about what this war will also mean for others in the region, particularly in Lebanon.
Of course, we've also been hearing from Iran as well. We heard yesterday from the deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corpse (sic), warning that Israel's power plants and gas refineries could also be hit in response.
There is still a huge potential for yet further escalation in what already is a desperate and precarious situation in the region.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. I noted earlier the intensity of the bombardments in Lebanon. So take us through what effects those are having on Hezbollah, even Hamas as well. And importantly, civilians there as well.
BASHIR: That's right.
I mean, the scale, the intensity of the bombardment has been unprecedented. We've been hearing from monitoring groups, including Airwars. We've been hearing from Emily Tripp at Airwars, describing the intensity and severity of bombardment we've been seeing really unparalleled with recent conflicts.
And, of course, this is having a devastating effect on civilians, in particular. Important to underscore, we are talking about a very small country, densely populated. These areas that we are seeing, these heavy bombing campaigns are all densely populated with civilians.
And of course, we have been seeing that further push of the ground incursion by the Israeli military in southern Lebanon as well. Now, of course, the Israeli military claims that it is targeting Hezbollah targets, Hezbollah infrastructure. They claimed to have killed at least 250 Hezbollah militants so far.
That has not yet been confirmed by Hezbollah but that is, of course, the figure that Israel is putting out since the beginning of the bombing campaign and ground incursion in Lebanon.
We also, of course, in the last hour or so have received reports from Hamas-affiliated media, that Hamas' -- the leader of the al Qassam Brigade, Hamas' military wing, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon near the city of Tripoli.
Of course, that would be a significant development. We are still waiting to hear from the Israeli military on that. But again, just to underscore the civilian impact here, around 1 million people displaced, unprecedented death toll so far in just a short space of time.
And there are fears that this is only going to get worse, that the situation is only going to grow more desperate. And these red lines that we keep hearing about in Gaza, in the West Bank and now of course, in Lebanon, they really don't seem to stand right now.
So there has been a real focus on what the international reaction is going to be, whether we see a shift, whether we see more pressure put on the Israeli military to actually lead to some sort de-escalation in the region, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: We shall see.
All right, Nada Bashir live in London. Thank you so much.
And as Nada mentioned there, Lebanon says more than 1 million people, 20 percent of its population, are now displaced because of Israeli strikes. And they include refugees from Syria, who fled the war in their country, only to see it in Lebanon now. As Ben Wedeman reports they're running out of options.
, effectively closing a route through which Lebanese officials say more than 360,000 Lebanese and Syrians have fled in the last two weeks. Here, problems are more immediate.
WEDEMAN: They have no bathrooms. Many of the children and the elderly need medical attention. They're not getting that.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): "Lots of the women go behind the cars for privacy," says Arla (ph), "It is a matter of dignity. We care about our dignity, just like you."
The Lebanese government is struggling to take care of its own and has opened schools and other buildings for the displaced. Syrians are not a priority.
Abdesalem's (ph) greatest worry is his daughter, Maleshem (ph), who has a brain tumor and can barely walk.
"It has been 15 days," he says, "since she took the medicine, the nutrition she needs."
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So they wait until help comes or until this war ends -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Sidon, South Lebanon.
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BRUNHUBER: The death toll from Hurricane Helene continues to rise and the search goes on for many missing in flood-affected areas. And more than a week after the hurricane made landfall, major efforts continue to bring recovery to those affected. More details when we come back.
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BRUNHUBER: At least 218 people have died as a result of Hurricane Helene with five more deaths announced Friday in South Carolina. Searches continue for those still missing in flood ravaged areas.
The aftereffects of the hurricane continue to cause hardship, with countless homes, businesses and lifetimes of personal belongings destroyed. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says it has enough money for current disaster relief but fears it could run out if there's another storm in the current hurricane season.
President Biden is urging Congress to replenish the funding quickly.
Now, more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path through the southeastern U.S. the focus is on recovery, as large numbers of people endure catastrophic loss.
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CNN's Ryan Young reports.
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RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The pictures from above, just incredible.
The before, the after.
BRITTANY NEAL, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: I haven't seen my kids. I'm tired, hungry, still have no power.
YOUNG: Ripped up roads, destroyed homes and power lines down everywhere, making the recovery process and the search for the missing very difficult.
SHERRYE TRICE, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: It's the not knowing what's happening around you. It's not knowing if help is coming.
YOUNG: Helene is the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland in the past 50 years, a week after at least 200 people are still missing and just one North Carolina County and more than 200 people are dead across six states.
MICHELLE COLEMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASHEVILLE DREAM CENTER: We've never seen this before and I know that we don't really truly know the numbers of the loss of life here.
YOUNG: Questions remain about a tragic incident at the Impact Plastics plant in Tennessee, where workers tell us they were not allowed to leave the factory in time to escape the storm.
ROBERT JARVIS, EMPLOYEE AT IMPACT PLASTICS: I said, can we leave and a woman said, no, not until I speak when Jerry. About 10 minutes later she came back and said, you all can leave. It was too late. Why did you make us work that day?
Why?
YOUNG: Eleven workers were swept away. Five were rescued. And sadly two were found dead.
The company issued a strong statement denying any wrongdoing and says all employees were told to leave the facility, at least 45 minutes before the flood hit the area.
Stories of survival and neighbors jumping in to help neighbors are inspiring.
Floodwaters from Hurricane Helene were taking Leslie Worth downstream. Eddie Hunnell (ph), who was preparing for his sons wedding, heard Leslie screams in the water and jumped into a canoe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I jumped in and started swimming to her.
YOUNG: Others also springing into action. This championship kayaker brought supplies to residents trapped by floodwaters.
Across six states, the work to clear an open roads to help power crews get the lights back on while small businesses and families hope for a timeline to get life back to normal, it's just realistically not there for so many right now.
There are many families that are in critical need of that power because without the power, they have no air; without the air, a lot of the food is going to spoil. And on top of that, we talked to families who are barely making it by.
And they are wondering where they can get their next meal. We saw a lot of free food giveaways in these affected areas. And they're hoping that, soon, the power comes back on -- Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: One of the most popular tourist attractions in North Carolina, the Biltmore estate, suffered extensive damage in the floods and officials say it won't reopen before October 15th at the earliest. The historic house is the largest privately owned mansion in the U.S.
Built in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, it was largely spared but the town surrounding it and parts of its 8,000 acre estate were flooded and damaged. At least 72 people died in the county where the estate is located. More than 78,000 homes and businesses there are still without power.
All right. We are one month away from the U.S. election and President Joe Biden issued a stark warning, saying, he's not sure if it will be peaceful. We'll have that story just ahead.
Plus we'll have more on the fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East as Israel presses its offensive in Lebanon and weighs options for retaliation against Iran. All that and more right after the break, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: Early and mail-in voting are already underway in parts of the U.S. with just one month until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris heads to North Carolina today to survey the impacts of Hurricane Helene while former president Donald Trump returns to Butler, Pennsylvania.
That's the same venue where he survived an assassination attempt in July. Meanwhile, President Biden says he thinks the election will be fair but he's raising concerns about what might happen afterwards. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm confident it would be free and fair. I don't know whether it'll be peaceful. Things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I only can hope that it's going to be free and fair. And I think in this state it will be and I hope in every state it will be and I think we're going to do very well.
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BRUNHUBER: Vice President Harris met with leaders from the Muslim and Arab American community while in Michigan on Friday. They asked her to break from President Joe Biden's Israel policy and pushed harder for an end to the war in Gaza.
The CEO of Engage Action, a group aimed at boosting the Muslim American vote, says Harris didn't make any promises but told them that she will do all she can. Michigan, of course, is a crucial battleground state and home to a large Arab American population.
After months of barely being seen, as her husband runs again for president, former first lady Melania Trump suddenly seems to be everywhere. She has a book releasing next week. And as Brian Todd reports, she's even having an impact on the election campaign, even contradicting her husband on a key issue.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More reaction to Melania Trump's newly revealed stance on abortion rights, this time from Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance.
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Melania is entitled to her own views, in the same way that people of Georgia are entitled to their own views. And I don't believe I have to attack or disagree or criticize anybody on this issue.
TODD: The former first lady coming out in favor of abortion rights ahead of her forthcoming memoir "Melania."
MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to these essential right that all women possess from birth, individual freedom.
TODD: It's a position seemingly at odds with her husbands but former President Trump doesn't seem to mind.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We spoke about it. And I said, you have to write what you believe. I'm not going to tell you what to do. You have to write what you believe.
TODD: One first lady historian calls Melania Trump's position, jaw- dropping.
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR, "FIRST WOMEN: THE GRACE AND POWER OF AMERICA'S MODERN FIRST LADIES": First ladies do not show any daylight between themselves and their husbands. But in modern history, we've had Laura Bush, Barbara Bush.
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Both women who were pro-choice, married to men who were not pro- choice. And so they wouldn't have ever said it during a campaign season.
TODD: This as the former first lady is also shaking up the political and media landscape in other ways, in an interview with Fox News, criticizing Secret Service leadership before the assassination attempts on her husband.
M. TRUMP: Our team asks many times for more -- more security, more -- more help. And they were denied for the top leadership, you have a question marks and that's all on this administration that they could give permissions what to do.
TODD: CNN has reported that Donald Trump's security detail had complained prior to the assassination attempts that they were not being given enough resources by the Secret Service. The agency has acknowledged it didn't provide some of what Trump wanted but has since ramped up his security.
Melania Trump also telling Fox in a separate interview this:
M. TRUMP: I think both of the events they were really miracles if you really think about it -- the July 13 was a miracle. Like that much and he could, you know, he could not be with us.
TODD: And there is more controversy surrounding the former first lady. CNN's Hadas Gold and Pamela Brown report that when CNN recently reached out to Melania Trump's publisher to request an interview with her ahead of her upcoming memoir, the publisher of Skyhorse demanded $250,000 for the interview.
CNN did not sign the agreement.
Later, Skyhorse said it had sent the payment demand by mistake. Spokespeople for Melania Trump and CNN declined to comment -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Officials in Oklahoma wrote very specific requirements for a Bible that can be placed in the state's classrooms. Two of the few that meet those requirements are endorsed by Donald Trump. The state's school superintendent says school Bibles must contain the Pledge of Allegiance, U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Lee Greenwood's God Bless The USA Bible has those. Thousands of other editions don't. The Lee Greenwood Bible cost $60. Standard versions of the Bible are available online for less than $10.
And because Trump endorsed the Greenwood Bible, he receives some of the proceeds from sales. The other Bible that meets the requirements costs $90 and it was also endorsed by Trump.
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BRUNHUBER: The Middle East is bracing for a possible Israeli retaliation against Iran for its recent missile strike, all while Israel continues to bombard Lebanon and Gaza. Officials around the region are keeping an eye on the possible timing.
Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. A State Department official says the U.S. hasn't received any assurances from Israel that it won't target Iran's nuclear facilities.
Speaking from the White House press room for the first time as president, Joe Biden said Israel hasn't yet decided on a response and that he assumes he will hear from Israel's prime minister when a decision is made.
Meanwhile, huge crowds turned out in Tehran as Iran's supreme leader led Friday prayers in a memorial ceremony for slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah was targeted and killed in an Israeli bombing in Beirut last Friday. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's certainly a big deal for the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to himself be holding and leading the Friday prayers in Tehran.
We certainly saw on some of those images that were coming in from the Musalla compound in Tehran with the grand mosque that there were thousands of people apparently in attendance there. A lot of them, of course, with Palestinian flags, a lot of them also with Hezbollah flags as well.
And if we look at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that he was very close to the leader of Hezbollah, to Hassan Nasrallah. And certainly over the past couple of years, we've heard a lot of support coming from the supreme leader for the Hezbollah organization and specifically for Hassan Nasrallah. One of the interesting things about all this is, this is the first
time that the supreme leader has held the Friday prayers himself at that compound since 2020, with the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, who, of course, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.
And Soleimani and the Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and the supreme leader were known to have extremely close and extremely important relations. And so, therefore, the supreme leader also said that he wanted to rally support among Muslim nations against Israel and against the United States. Here's what he said.
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AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER: I'm stating that the enemy of the Iranian nation is the enemy of the Palestinian nation, the same enemy of the Lebanese nation. The same government is the enemy of the Iraqi nation, the enemy of the Egyptian nation, the enemy of the Syrian nation, the enemy of the Yemeni nation.
The enemy is one, the ways of the enemy in different countries is different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Now all this comes as tensions remain extremely high in the Middle East and the Iranians certainly are bracing for what could be a massive strike by the Israelis in retaliation for those Iranian missile strikes onto Israeli territory.
And the supreme leader picked up on that as well. He said that he believes that the strikes that Iran conducted were, as he put it, legitimate and were in self-defense. He also warned the Israelis that there would be a severe response from Iran if they did strike back at Iranian territory.
And the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard also said that, if the Israelis strike Iran's energy infrastructure, the Iranians might in turn strike Israel's energy infrastructure -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Al Qaeda militants went on a killing spree in a town in Burkina Faso, spending hours gunning down innocent civilians. Now we're learning the massacre may have been far deadlier than initially thought. We'll have that story ahead.
And a horrific and deadly gang attack unfolds in the country already grappling with outbreaks of violence.
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BRUNHUBER: A gruesome massacre in Burkina Faso may have left twice as many people dead as initially believed. Well, that's from a new French government report about the mass killing of civilians in the town of Barsalogho in August.
Militants affiliated with Al Qaeda went on a shooting spree there in one of the deadliest attacks Africa has seen in decades. Nick Paton Walsh has the story.
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But we warn you, the images are disturbing.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): You're driving to the site of one of the worst massacres in years filmed by one of the killers. First reports said Jihadis shot dead 300 people here in rural Burkina Faso in August.
But CNN has obtained a French government security report that says up to 600 were murdered slowly here, echoing survivor accounts. Civilians, women and children all told by the military to dig a trench like this to protect their town, Barsalogho, from jihadists.
The men shot dead for doing so by those same jihadists. Shovels laid down, you can see here, as civilians then lay face down in the dirt themselves, suggesting they surrendered before being shot.
Al Qaeda-linked JNIM are raging unchecked across this area of Africa, the Sahel, where the French military were kicked out after military coups.
Here, before the attack, locals were filmed being told to take charge of their own security and dig the trench network. You can see on these satellite images how vast it is. One survivor talked to CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I started to crawl into the trench to escape. But it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches. So I crawled out and came across the first bloody victim. There was screaming everywhere. I got down on my stomach under a bush until later in the afternoon, hiding.
How can you cry if there are no tears to shed?
We, the survivors, are no longer normal. I see my late friends when I'm asleep. It's more than 300 dead. Anyone who denies it should come and see me.
WALSH (voice-over): The French government report adds the president, coup leader Captain Ibrahim Traore, is recently himself hard to spot in public.
His personal bodyguards, supplied by the Russian paramilitary group, Wagner, the report says, were shipped off to Russia to stop the Ukrainian advance in Kursk, leaving him yet more isolated.
Traore launched the trench digging program here in June.
IBRAHIM TRAORE, PRESIDENT, BURKINA FASO (from captions): All the villagers need to dig the trenches. We don't have machines to do that so everyone needs to work together.
WALSH (voice-over): And the army, they fled the massacre, the report adds, suffering already a huge credibility gap after their soldiers were filmed engaged in cannibalism here, apparently, of a dead jihadist's body parts.
Across the region, horrors unimaginable, yet commonplace enough they sink into obscurity fast, deepening the spiral -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: The United Nations says at least 70 people are dead following an attack by gang members in central Haiti. The attackers, carrying automatic rifles, stormed through the agricultural town of Pent Sonde on Thursday, gunning down residents and setting fire to homes and cars. Three infants are among the dead.
The U.N. says more than 6,000 people fled their homes in the attack. The gang's leader claims the massacre was in retaliation for people remaining passive while police and vigilante groups killed his soldiers.
Gang violence in Haiti has spread in recent years, with attacks becoming more brazen and violent. The U.N. reports at least 3,600 people have been killed so far this year.
Well, 100 frightened elephants endangered by flash floods at a sanctuary in Thailand. We'll have details of the rescue operation coming up after this break. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: In Thailand, floods have now claimed the lives of at least two elephants, including a blind elephant named Ploy Thong, who you're about to see in this next piece. Flash floods swept through a popular elephant sanctuary in northern Thailand on Thursday.
About 100 elephants had to be evacuated and the Royal Thai Air Force is now involved in the search for two others, who remain missing. We've got the story now from CNN's Anna Coren.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One by one against rising floodwaters, these giants of the land push for higher ground.
"Come, come this way. Keep going, quick," yells the mahout.
But it's a slow and arduous process, especially for the elephants trapped in their enclosures, waiting to be rescued. For days now, heavy rains have been falling across Northern Thailand, causing flash flooding and landslides.
But for the Mae Taeng Valley just outside Chiang Mai, home to the Elephant Nature Park, it is now completely underwater, threatening the lives of the animals it provides sanctuary for; 100 elephants who live here, along with a menagerie of thousands of other animals, have all been rescued from injury and abuse.
But this natural disaster only adding to their trauma.
As these three elephants quickly move through the floodwaters, another follows a distance behind. Her name is Ploy Thong and she is blind, an injury from her former days in the logging industry. Unable to see, she's caught in the fence. The other elephants calling out the sound of distress.
But Ploy Thong, who's endured too much in her life, manages to break free and rejoins her herd.
Thailand's Department of National Parks and Wildlife has sent teams to help with the rescue operation. But so far, they're unable to reach the valley that has been cut off. It's calling on volunteers to help with the evacuation of the 100 stranded elephants and thousands of other sick and disabled animals.
And fear they are working against time and Mother Nature with more rain on the imminent horizon -- Anna Coren, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: The European Space Agency is getting ready to launch its Hera spacecraft. It will be the agency's first planetary defense mission. Hera will look at the effects a NASA mission had on asteroid Dimorphos and assess if efforts to deflect the asteroid were successful.
It's part of the ongoing international effort to find a way to take action if an asteroid were on a collision course with Earth. Hera is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Nine rocket in Florida sometime this month.
Now specifics on the launch haven't been announced but the launch window opens on Monday. The spacecraft's mission is expected to last two years.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken Jeff Bezos and is now the world's second richest person behind Elon Musk. Zuckerberg is only the third person to ever surpass the wealth of $200 billion, sitting now with $206 billion. That's according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Meta operates some of the most popular social media sites in the world, including Instagram and Facebook. Zuckerberg says that Meta AI is on track to be the world's most used assistant.
Forward Napheesa Collier scored 26 points and took 11 rebounds to help the Minnesota Lynx to a convincing 98-81 win over the Connecticut Sun. The victory last night in game three of the WNBA semifinals put Lynx one win away from the finals and they lead the best of five-game series 2-1.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in a moment. Please do stay with us.
