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Race Continues To Tighten With 24 Days Left Until Election; River Floodwaters Still Threatening In Florida; Trump Pushes Anti- Immigrant Fears In Final Stretch Of Campaign; Interview With Representative Raul Ruiz (D-CA) About Trump's Rally In California; Interview With Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA); US Military Has Targeted ISIS Camps Inside Syria; Netanyahu Cabinet Meeting Set For Sunday As Israel Weighs Response To Iran. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 12, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:04]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we are 24 days away from election day. With this race coming down to the wire a newly released "New York Times"-Sienna poll showing a very tight race with Vice President Kamala Harris having a slight edge in must-win Pennsylvania, though it is within the margin of error. And former president Donald Trump ahead in Arizona. Harris tonight addressing concerns from some Democrats with just weeks to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Listen, this is -- there's no question I say to my rallies. This is a tight race. It is a margin of error race. And that's why I'm out here and will continue for the next 24 days to be traveling around our country, talking with folks about the issues that matter most to them, and offering them what I believe to be solutions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The candidates are showing different strategies on the campaign trail this weekend with Trump in historically blue California tonight, while Harris doubles down on swing states. The Harris campaign also seeking to draw a comparison after Harris's doctor detailed her medical history in a new letter saying she was in, quote, "excellent health." The campaign hoping to put pressure on 78-year-old Trump to be more transparent.

And as this race for the White House comes down to the wire, many are looking to the polls to get a sense of where this race stands.

Look, there's one person right there, Harry Enten, our CNN senior data reporter.

Harry, this race is incredibly close. I don't have to tell you that. Everyone I know asked me, what's going to happen, and the bottom line is, it's just really close. We don't know. HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: I have no clue what's

going to happen. And you know, what's so amazing to be about this race is I thought it was close in a month of September, somehow it's become even closer. You can see it in these Great Lake battleground states. You go back three weeks ago it was a tight race in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Three points in Michigan, two points in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

You come today, holy Toledo, holy cow, look at Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Now we got a one-point race. It's somehow even tighter. And if we expand that out, we don't just look at the Great Lake battleground states. We look at the sunbelt battleground states as well. And somehow -- I mean, look at these numbers. They're crazy. One, one, one, one, one, one, and then Arizona is a relative blow out at a two-point margin for Donald Trump.

I mean, all of these states are so close, these seven pivotal battleground states. And as I've mentioned, they've somehow become even tighter. The bottom line is, is we have 24 days until the election. You know, I make my living on trying to tell folks who's going to win. And I got to be honest with you, I haven't got the faintest clue.

DEAN: It is so close. And you're also seeing some potential historic movement among certain voting blocs specifically black men.

ENTEN: Yes. So, you know, if the top line is so fascinating because it's so close, the underneath the hood is so fascinating because of the great movement that we're seeing. So let's talk about black male voters. All right? Look at the margins. And what we see is we see, compare it to where we were four years ago, compare it to where we were eight years ago.

Look, Hillary Clinton won among black male voters by 71 points. Joe Biden won amongst them by 69 points. Those are within the margin of error of each other. But take a look, The "New York Times"-Sienna College poll that came out this morning has Kamala Harris ahead but by only 50 points. You know, if I were to go back through the history books, I think you'd have to go back to probably the early 1960s, probably the election between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy back in 1960 to see a Democratic candidate leading among black male voters by this small of a margin.

It's truly something that we've seen across the surveys, something is going on whereby, look, we're used to seeing a gender gap among white voters, but now we're seeing a very large gender gap among black voters. You see it right here. Kamala Harris again ahead, but doing historically poorly for a Democrat among black male voters. Donald Trump, give him some credit doing historically well for a Republican candidate, at least in the polling so far among black male voters.

DEAN: On the other side of this, though, Harris is doing historically well among other groups.

ENTEN: Yes. So this is fascinating, right? Giveth, taketh away. So look at white college voters, all right. This is a group that Democrats have been historically not -- didn't do so hot with them, but have been doing better the last few cycles. Hillary Clinton won them by five in November of 2016. You go back to November of 2020 Joe Biden won it by nine. You look at the polling now, you see Kamala Harris up by 18 points among them.

I went back again through the history books. You know, if you have to go back since 1960 to see a Republican doing as well as Donald Trump is among black male voters, you couldn't find an election in which a Democrat did as well among white college graduates as Kamala Harris is doing so far up by 18 points.

[19:05:02]

And of course, if you know anything about your battleground maps, you would know there are a lot of white college grads in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. And that is why Kamala Harris by the slightest of margins is ahead there, while by the slightest of margins is behind in those sunbelt battleground states where they don't make up as large of a proportion of the electorate.

DEAN: So we have three weeks to go. Is there any favorite between these two candidates in the data?

ENTEN: Yes. So, you know, there are kind of a few ways you could look at the data, right? I know a lot of folks have been looking at the betting markets and they've shown some movement towards Donald Trump. But look, if the bettors are giving Trump a 53 percent chance of winning, that's a coin toss. That's a coin toss. If you look at the polling based models, they on average give Kamala Harris a 53 percent chance of winning.

Folks, these are in the exact same neighborhood. The only thing you can really take away from either the polling models or the bettors is that it is a coin toss. I love elections. I study elections, I watch old election night tapes. I can tell you that in any point that I've been following elections, at this point in the campaign, there has not been a single one as close as this one with 24 days left to go.

Again, the thing that I tell our viewers is I don't know who's going to win. You can flip a coin, you could rub, you know, whatever you want to rub for good luck, that may work out for you because at the end of the day, this race is far too close to call.

DEAN: Right. It's unbelievable.

All right. Harry Enten, as always, our thanks.

ENTEN: Thank you.

DEAN: And joining me now is Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, and editor of the book "Return to Normalcy: The 2020 Election That Almost Broke America."

Larry, we just heard Harry walked us through all of these numbers that we have until right now. This is just razor-thin and as someone who has such a rich history in covering elections, what do you think about that?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Yes, I am old, Jessica.

DEAN: You are not old.

SABATO: The fact that the 1950s and I've read a lot about campaigns before then. Yes, I'd point out that while the 2000 election didn't look this close 24 days out, it came down in the end to 537 votes in Florida. 537 votes in Florida. So you never know whether a race that looks very, very close will actually end up very, very close, or a race that looks like there's a decent margin for one candidate will end up that way.

So we're much better off, as much as we love the numbers, and certainly Harry and I are two people who love the numbers, but people are much better off focusing on their choice and trying to get their choice elected in whatever ways are open to them. So that's what I would say about that.

Now, look, it is close but none of the polls are the holy grail. You know, they were not handed down by God to Moses on the mountain. So -- and they changed from day to day. And we can all site contradictory polls, even in Arizona. I agree three with Harry, there's a plus five in "The New York Times"-Sienna poll for Trump in Arizona. But we've also seen other decent polls recently where Harris was ahead by one or two, or Trump was ahead by one or two. So you never know, and it's well within the margin of error.

So my message to people is calm down. Take a chill pill, and go to work for your candidate. And we'll all find out together, whenever that is. It may not be election day. I hope it's over that week. But if it isn't we'll eventually find out.

DEAN: Yes. Let us hope, let us hope that it is -- that we find out those results within that week.

As we close in on these last three weeks, Larry, tonight is a good example. We're seeing Vice President Harris, she's in North Carolina, obviously a battleground state. Former president Trump is in Coachella, California, not a battleground state, but his campaign making the case that it doesn't really matter where he physically is in this particular situation that his message will get out to a battleground state voters.

He is going to those, but he has a lot of events in not battleground states coming up in the next few days. What do you think of that strategy?

SABATO: Well, on this one, he may be right. In this stage of the election, final days of the election, every campaign event is covered extensively and so people who are dedicated to politics or to a candidate can pretty much find out what's going on. But of course you're right. Trump's chances in California are about the equivalent of Kamala Harris's chances in North and South Dakota. That is zero.

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So you're not going to carry where you are. You may have some side effects. The whole point of this right now is to energize and enthuse your backers so that the turnout is higher. There's hardly anybody who's truly undecided. There are people, though, who can be mobilized, who aren't yet mobilized or for that matter de-mobilized who thought they were going to run, but may find out some unpleasant information about one of the candidates and decide they have other things to do November 5th or in the days prior to November 5th for states that have that available to them.

DEAN: Yes. That is so interesting because at this point, yes, it's about motivating these people to vote and making sure that people vote as opposed to staying home on the couch.

We're also seeing Trump really zero in on this immigration rhetoric that keeps being a prevailing theme at these rallies. More than the economy. And it seems as if he's made the calculation that's a better closing argument.

SABATO: Yes, and looking again at the polls, the polls I've just criticized so let me cite one for you. But if you look at it, you'll see that he's got a lead. I think it was in the "Wall Street Journal' poll. He's got a lead that is people trust him more on the economy by nine or 10 points. Well, that's substantial. But people trust him on the border by about 16 percentage points. And while people aren't happy about inflation, it's not something that they get up in the morning and start screaming and yelling about immediately.

But in the border and immigration, those are subjects that really get Trump's people exercised. The more emotional he can get them, the angrier he can get them, the more likely they are not only to vote, but take 10 friends with them to the polls.

DEAN: And has Harris done enough to try to combat what could be a vulnerability for her?

SABATO: No. But she's got 24 days. I think she has to increase the level of her rhetoric and energy, but it's also up to a lot of other people who are out there serving as her surrogates. You know, this is -- this is not a race. No race against Donald Trump is about rationality. If you stick to rational arguments, you're not going to win. You have to give people clear reasons, including emotional reasons to oppose your opponent, Donald Trump.

Now, there's been some of that. There probably is more today than there was yesterday. There'll be more tomorrow than there is today. But I think Democrats could do better on that score.

DEAN: All right. Larry Sabato, always good to see you. Thanks so much for your time.

SABATO: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: There are still more than a million people without power across Florida and the lines for gas are long as residents tried to recover after Hurricane Milton hit that state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:46]

DEAN: Tonight many in Florida are still facing dangerous flooding, even as many others are starting the long process of recovery after Hurricane Milton. New images just in to CNN show the devastation caused by a powerful EF-3 tornado that hit a Lakewood, Florida, neighborhood. Meanwhile, rivers are swollen, running several feet higher than usual after that record rainfall from Milton. And since the storm made landfall, more than 1200 people have been rescued statewide.

Joining us now is CNN's Brian Abel from just outside Tampa, Florida.

And Brian, I know so many people have been through so much where you are. I see the water behind you. Flooding still a big danger, though. Tell us more.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is, Jessica. And of those more than 1,000 rescues, more than 300 of them were done by the sheriff's office in this county, Hillsborough County alone. One of them was the homeowners here.

I want to show you some of what is still here. You see this water in the yard up to the door and even inside the garage. And at one point the homeowners I just spoke with moments ago, they told me that the water was up to here. They had to be rescued yesterday about 8:00 in the morning. It was the husband, the wife, their daughter, as well as a handful of animals.

And follow me over here where you see that the water still continues. This fence line, it becomes -- goes from steel to wood and then to chain-link the airboat from the sheriff's office, they actually had to plow through the fence in order to get this family out. They say that they've been here for seven years. It took them off guard and they also didn't have insurance for this home. So that just adds to the heartbreak of this situation.

And this is indicative of what this entire area looks like. A mile in east direction for the most part here. This is not the only issue, flooding, also gas has been a big concern in this area. We've seen long lines at gas stations and people have really had to use word of mouth in order to find out which gas stations have fuel. That has become less of an issue the longer we get past the landfall of this hurricane because there are supplies, fuel tanker starting to come in.

[19:20:03]

They are being escorted by police in order to get to the places that are needed most. And also, Governor DeSantis saying that there are free gas sites throughout the state, at least three in this area as of right now in Bradenton as well as St. Pete, more coming online soon. So that is the good news, and I do want to add a little bit of a silver lining to all of this here, just about a mile away from us. We saw at a church a free food pantry. So free gas, free food.

This community coming together to try to help the start of the recovery here from this hurricane -- Jessica.

DEAN: That's so nice to see those neighbors helping their neighbors.

All right, Brian Abel for us in Florida. Thank you so much.

Foreign president Trump taking a break from battleground states tonight to hold a campaign event in blue state California as his campaign doubles down on immigration as his winning issue.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:23]

DEAN: Let's go back to the campaign trail. Vice President Kamala Harris is tonight in North Carolina as the campaign continues to focus on swing states with a swing through Pennsylvania on the schedule for Monday. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump opting to spend significant time in solid blue states for a rally in California's Coachella. Trump was also in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday, again stoking anti-immigrant fears with rhetoric that included referring to the city as a war zone.

CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now from Coachella with the latest.

And Kristen, this is part of a new strategy that you have talked to the campaign about.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we expect Donald Trump to continue doubling down on this issue of immigration and using that same dark rhetoric. There have been some calls for him to change his language around immigration, around the economy. But we know that Donald Trump believes that the issue particularly of immigration, propelled him to the White House in 2016. And he and his team believed that it could help propel him to the White House in November.

Now, one of the things to pay attention to here is just how dark he has begun. As you said, he referred to Aurora as a war zone. At one point, he referred to the country as occupied America. We talk about this idea of him using this fear-based rhetoric and it has been incredibly ramped up. Even on the stage before he took the stage in Aurora, Colorado, they had giant slides behind him, images that looked to be AI of hooded figures with guns saying, your apartment complexes under Kamala Harris. The next slide was your life is better under Donald Trump.

But again, this fear-based messaging is something that they believe is working for them and if you look at the recent poll numbers, it's not clear that it's not working for him. We have seen how tight this race is. We have seen how close those margins are. There are thousands of people here. There were thousands of people in Colorado. That does not give an indication to them that they should change the method that they are delivering. Instead, they believe he will be doubling down on this narrative ahead of November.

DEAN: All right. Kristen Holmes there for us in Coachella. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Trump's rally today has drawn the ire of some local officials, including Coachella's mayor and Democratic Congressman Raul Ruiz. Ruiz represents California's 25th District which covers parts of the predominantly Latino Coachella Valley. And he said the following in a statement, quote, "It's truly appalling and yet another demonstration of his cluelessness and ignorance that Donald Trump would stage a rally in Coachella."

And for more on Trump's visit, were joined now by Congressman Ruiz from Coachella Valley, California.

Congressman, thanks for being here with us.

REP. RAUL RUIZ (D-CA): It's nice to be here. Thank you.

DEAN: I just want to ask you first, going back to your statement we just read. Why is this ignorant? Why is it clueless? Why would you use those words?

RUIZ: Well, first, you got to understand that the Coachella Valley is predominantly Latino-Latinas communities, and the city of Coachella 40 percent of the population are either immigrants or are related to immigrants. And we know that there's hardworking families that are struggling with the cost of living and his hate-filled and driven immigration policies of shutting down the border, separating families, massive deportations, rounding millions up in detention camps, would hurt our local agricultural industry, our tourism industry, our construction industry, and would devastate our economies that rely on a stable immigrant workforce.

Furthermore, his cluelessness on climate change and clean energy would devastate our renewable energy production. My district, California's 25th District where he stands, has the most renewable energy production than any other district in the state of California or the entire nation for that matter. In fact, his tariffs, his indiscriminate tariff policies would cause a trade war, which would cause our farmers, our farmworkers, and local businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in increasing export costs, which would be translated into $4,000 increase in cost of living for American families throughout our nation.

DEAN: And so, Congressman, I hear you on all of that. And yet Trump has made inroads, obviously the Latino vote is not monolithic. We know that. But he has made inroads with some Latino voters. Why do you think that is?

RUIZ: Well, you know, I think that he's going out into different communities. But what's lacking is a clear understanding of -- that we have a two separate visions. One of the ex-presidents who wants to take us back to the Trump administration's chaos and extremism one that took away reproductive rights and freedoms for women.

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One that wants to give at tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and a failed trickle-down economy that would hurt the middle class, and, the Kamala Harris economic opportunity, economy that will that will lower the cost of childcare, give new families with newborns a child tax credit which will expand the startup expense tax credit from $5,000.00 to $50,000.00, reduce the cost of groceries, gas, and housing, and really made sure that families aren't just getting by, but they're getting ahead.

She will also strengthen our democracy while Trump has attacked our democracy. I was one of the last to be evacuated from the gallery during January 6th, so I've experienced it firsthand and she is going to make sure that we bring back the freedoms and liberties especially for women and their decisions regards to their own bodies.

DEAN: And your district shares a border with Mexico and of course, a key focus of Trump's has been the southern border, he has zeroed in on that. When you talk to your constituents, what are their concerns when it comes to immigration and the border?

RUIZ: Well, the first concern is Trump's draconian, cruel, inhumane, family separations, and complete block of immigration because the local industries -- the top industries on tourism and agriculture rely on a stable workforce.

That's why last Congress under Democratic leadership, I was the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. We passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act by the -- with the endorsement of a lot of growers in the Farm Bureau. The second concern is to make sure that any immigration policies have comprehensive immigration reform that will have a pathway to citizenship and that will secure the border so that we prevent drugs, guns, or people who want to harm people from entering our country.

But one of the things that's very important, and this is what Kamala Harris has excelled on, is to address the root causes of immigration, that will lead people to flee an authoritarian, violent government, that will lead people to flee from starvation due to natural disasters, or a failed government where there's drug lords who are terrorizing their communities, and invest in hope by bringing in the American private industry to also open up transparency and fight against corruption.

Look, I was there with Kamala Harris at the inauguration of the first woman president of Honduras, where she specifically fought for our country and said that we need you to have more transparency, have anti-corruption policies, so that American businesses can come and invest and to create hope and opportunity so that people in Honduras will stay in Honduras. That's something that's not even in the discussion within the Trump hateful, fear-based immigration rhetoric, that wants to lie about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio; lie about immigrants in Aurora, Colorado and which only causes division and fear in our communities.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Raul Ruiz, thank you so much for being here, we appreciate it.

RUIZ: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, the latest on Russia's war on Ukraine as Ukrainian forces push inside Russia for the third month in a row, while Vladimir Putin downplays their counteroffensive.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:42]

DEAN: New tonight, the US military has targeted ISIS camps inside Syria. US Central Command saying airstrikes hit multiple known ISIS hideouts, disrupting the terrorist group's ability to plan attacks on the United States or its allies. US officials say no civilians were hurt in those airstrikes.

Last month, US strikes killed 37 terrorist operatives, including ISIS leaders in Syria.

Germany, is sending a message to the Kremlin, time is not on Russia's side when it comes to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin, announcing a new one-and-a-half billion dollars military aid for Kyiv.

Scholz says it's a message to Moscow that the west will not quit on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin met his Iranian counterpart for the first time on Friday. Putin saying Moscow and Tehran see eye-to-eye when it comes to global events and are working together.

CNN, military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton joins us now.

I just want to pause there for a second with what I just said, which is that Putin says he met with Iranian officials and they see everything eye-to-eye. That kind of tells you everything you need to know, doesn't it?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Sure it does, Jessica, and good to be with you. There's something to be said here for this axis of resistance sort of expanding itself and what we're seeing is you've got countries like Russia and Iran as we see here getting together. Of course, Russia has its relationship with North Korea; also has a relationship with China and all of these countries are working together in one way or another to achieve goals that are at least somewhat congruent with each other. And they are in essence trying to forge an alliance where there has really been no direct alliance of like a NATO or something like that equivalent between these countries.

[19:40:31] They've had good relations with each other in recent years. But now they're upping the ante and it's not going to be long before we see an agreement between these Russians and the Iranians that is going to be a much more formalized set up in this case. So, they will have an alliance of sorts.

DEAN: It is interesting to just knowing that as we await to see what Israel does with US backing to strike back against Iran after they struck them with those ballistic missiles, that Iran is trying to kind of work the phones as it were there in the Middle East and it's just interesting to kind of see this all happening together.

LEIGHTON: Yes, it certainly is, indeed, and you're right about working the phones, because the Iranian foreign minister, the new Iranian president, that when we just saw with Vladimir Putin, they've been very busy courting people within the Middle East, countries like Qatar, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia.

All of these countries they're basically trying to align on their side, or at least get them to put pressure on Israel, not to mount a severe attack against Iran.

DEAN: And I want to go to Ukraine for a second because Russia incursion is now entering its third month. I remember when it first happened, you and I talked, they were they were surprisingly very successful there at the beginning. We know Putin is trying to downplay this.

It really marks the first time foreign troops have entered Russian territory since World War II. Where do you see this going, three months now on?

LEIGHTON: Well, it has kind of stalled out, the Ukrainians are still controlling about 300 or so square miles of territory in the Kursk Region of Russia. They've got little footholds in a few other areas that are near that area. The Russians are trying to mount somewhat of a counteroffensive, but it's not going very far. It's not very successful.

And when you look at how the Ukrainians are reporting the military engagements there, it is basically somewhat similar to what's happening in the east of Ukraine in the sense that there's not much movement. But the Ukrainians are maintaining their position. Putin is trying to figure out how to handle this. So what he's doing now is he's downplaying it within his population.

But he can't do that for long and it's going to be one of those areas where he's going to have to make a decision. Does he move troops from the east into this area? Do we get them out and get the Ukrainians out of the Kursk Region or does he let things be as they are and then settle for something later on?

DEAN: And worth noting, as I said, just before we were coming to you, that the Germans have now given one-and-a-half billion dollars saying the west will not forget Ukraine. Of course, we are three weeks out from an election. The US has been supportive of Ukraine. President Biden, of course, very supportive. We know President Trump has said he would not want to continue the war and it's very questionable if he would support Ukraine.

How are Putin and Zelenskyy watching what is happening here in the US?

LEIGHTON: Well, they're watching it very carefully. It's the lead story on local news camps in each of these countries and its one of those things where the Ukrainians are, obviously, hoping that they're going to get some kind of a friendly administration or at least a friendly Congress in the United States.

The Germans are putting out a marker with Chancellor Scholz in the $1.5 billion because Scholz also possibly facing an election pretty soon and so, the Russians are thinking they perhaps can outlast countries like Germany or the United States. But the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of resources in the west and there's still a lot of support from Ukraine it remains to be seen how our elections come out.

But if they come out anywhere near what Zelenskyy wants, then it's going to be something that the Ukrainians can probably hang their hat on for at least another year or so.

DEAN: Well, we are soon going to see. So many implications, Colonel Cedric Leighton, as always, thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jessica.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:49:10]

DEAN: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a ca Binet meeting tomorrow amid fears about how the country will retaliate against Iran after Iran's missile attack against Israel. Iran is making intense diplomatic efforts across the Middle East to organize support and minimize any Israeli retaliation. Iran also warning the US and other Middle Eastern countries that it will retaliate against any new Israeli attack.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Tehran where leaders are trying to gauge whether it can reduce the scale of Israel's response.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jessica.

Well, the Middle East certainly remains very much on edge as the Iranians are bracing for what could be an Israeli retaliatory attack had after of course, the Iranians launched that missile barrage targeting Israeli territory and Israeli military installations last week.

Now, at the same time, the Iranians have said that any attack by Israel will face and will mean retaliation by Iran. The Iranians have also said that they have communicated that not just to countries here in the region, but specifically to the United States.

[18:50:12]

Now, they would do that through an intermediary because of course, these two countries do not have direct diplomatic relations with one another. However, that what a source who is familiar with these discussions here in Iran has told us.

At the same time, you do have the diplomacy still very much going on. Of course, we saw that the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with Vladimir Putin of Russia on Friday in Turkmenistan. However, also, the parliament speaker of Iran today went to Beirut in Lebanon and there said he was carrying a message specifically from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that Iran will not only continue to support Lebanon, but specifically will also continue to support the Hezbollah organization as well -- Jessica.

DEAN: Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much.

Israel says more and then 300 projectiles fired by Hezbollah have crossed into Israel so far this weekend. This, as Israel weighs how to respond to Iran's recent missile attack with President Biden urging Israel to be wary of hitting Iran's nuclear facilities or oil fields.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv for us tonight and following news on the Israeli Cabinet meeting, that's expected tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So that Cabinet session now expected for Sunday has a lot to talk about and it's worth saying that the country has now come out of the High Holy Days of Yom Kippur and a week ago, Rosh Hashanah in the middle of that, the October 7th commemoration. So, the sort of political landscape going forward doesn't have any sort of big national bumps in it, if you will.

We know that there is going to be discussion or we're expecting there to be discussion about how Israel should respond to Iran's ballistic missile strikes over a couple of weeks ago under extreme pressure from the United States to keep the response proportional, and not escalate tensions in the region.

It is still not clear what the strikes will look like when they'll come. I think the only certainty at the moment is that they will come, but in the midst of all of this, you know, the Cabinet has to deal with a war on two fronts, the one in the south and the one in north.

And in the north against Hezbollah, they've expanded the operations across the Lebanese border there, declaring another close military zone, telling another 24 Lebanese villages, 19 of them new ones adding totaling the list.

Now, villages that they've told this, given them evacuation orders, to move away from the border for an extended period up to 30 miles away, 136 villages now fall into that category. So, the northern border -- the airstrikes as well, continuing so the pace of operations on that northern front, likely getting discussion as well because that is heating up.

And over that period of the Yom Kippur, the IDF saying that incoming that was from 6:00 PM Friday to 6:00 PM Saturday, incoming 320 missiles and on Saturday, some of those missiles or intercepts from them, raining shrapnel down on villages in the north, three people there, three civilians were injured in that.

And in Gaza, more evacuation orders being issued by the IDF telling tens of thousands of more people to evacuate their homes in the North of Gaza to get out of the way of what they described as forceful military operations. This could last for an extended period.

More and more people in the North of Gaza facing these evacuation orders right now, as the IDF says, that its going after Hamas there, that is trying to reconstitute. So a lot for the Cabinet to be discussing. But center focus for the people of Israel and of course for the region, the discussions about how to respond to Iran.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Nic, thank you. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and we'll be right back.

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[19:03:37]

DEAN: Tonight, catch a brand new episode of "Have I got News for You" with host, Roy Wood, Jr. and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black. Guests this week will be Joanna Coles and John Hodgman. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY WOOD JR., "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" HOST: Gang of 100 'blank' leave woman too scared to leave house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I know this one.

WOOD, JR.: Don't say Black people.

AMBER RUFFIN, AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND WRITER: The real answer is raccoons.

WOOD JR.: Yes, points. Correct.

Gang of 100 'Angry' Raccoons Leave woman too scared to leave her house.

Give me the video. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than a hundred raccoons. She told deputy, she had been leaving food out for them since the 80's but all of a sudden this just blew out of control.

WOOD JR.: How much do we blame this person for feeding raccoons since the 80's?

RUFFIN: One hundred percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One percent for every raccoon.

RUFFIN: Leave those raccoons alone. They have little fing'ies. They can do whatever.

WOOD, JR.: Do you think like the original raccoons that dined at this restaurant in the 80's are pissed at how much it has become gentrified --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WOOD, JR.: Small family restaurant all of a sudden, it's franchised down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Be sure to tune in. A new episode of "Have I Got News For You" airs tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

I want to thank you for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean I'm going to see you again tomorrow night. We start at 5:00 Eastern, an encore presentation of HBO's "Real Time" with Bill Maher is up next.

Have a great night.

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