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Secretary Austin Visits Ukraine Unannounced; Harris and Trump on a Campaign Blitz in Battleground States; North Korea Deploys Troops to Russia; Moldova Elections for President and E.U. Referendum; Israel Strikes Beirut and Gaza. Sources: At Least 7 Medical Aid Groups Banned From Gaza; Cuba's Power Grid Collapses For Fourth Time Since Friday; Donald Trump Doubles Down On "Enemy Within" Comments; Ferry Dock Collapse Kills Seven On Sapelo Island; Fans From Around The World Pay Tribute To Late Singer. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 21, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world and streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, with just 15 days to go, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are on a campaign blitz through the battleground states, hoping to pick up the support they need to pull ahead in the race.

Israel launches a wave of airstrikes across Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah-affiliated financial institutions.

And Oscar hammers Cuba, complicating efforts to restore power on the island after three days in the dark.

We start with breaking news coming to us from Kyiv. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital. This follows a meeting in Brussels last week with his counterparts in NATO. High on the agenda, questions from allies about the upcoming election and how it might impact Ukraine aid. Specifically concerns that a potential Trump victory could jeopardize future USAID to Ukraine.

Sources familiar with the meeting tell us Austin said that while he can't predict the future, there is still bipartisan support for Ukraine in Congress. NATO officials say they are preparing for the U.S. to take on a lesser role. Well, CNN's Natasha Bertrand is traveling with the Defense Secretary and joins us now on the phone. So Natasha, what is the significance of this visit?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yeah, Rosemary. I mean, this is probably most likely the final time that a senior U.S. official is going to be visiting Ukraine before the election, which of course is in just over two weeks. And so this is really an opportunity for the Secretary of Defense to meet with his counterparts, including President Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Umarov, to get a better sense of what they will need not only right now in terms of fighting the Russians, but more importantly, through the next year, how the U.S. can continue to kind of funnel supplies to them and help to best achieve their war aims.

Now, of course, one of the biggest questions but paying over all of this is whether any of that is even going to be relevant in a few months' time because there could very well be a new administration and Donald Trump had questioned openly whether the U.S. should continue supporting Ukraine, he recently called President Zelenskyy a salesman and that Zelenskyy should never have let the war start. Of course, we know that it was Russia that invaded Ukraine.

And so, there's a lot of anxiety, of course, here in Kyiv about just what comes next, what is going to happen in the next year. But particularly, you know, heading into the brutal winter months when, you know, Russia is bound to start attacking critical infrastructure in Ukraine, the efforts to shore up those power grids are happening right now. And the U.S. has already started shipping winter weather gear, for example, to Ukrainian soldiers.

And so this meeting is going to be a chance for Secretary Austin to kind of, you know, go over the arc of the relationship between Ukraine and the U.S. over the last two plus years of war, and also, you know, kind of try to reassure them that U.S. support is going to continue. However, it is anyone's guess just how robust that support is going to be over the next -- over next year.

CHURCH: And Natasha, that is the big issue, isn't it? There is panic in Ukraine about the possibility of a Trump win in this election just two weeks away from that. What is the sentiment overall, do you know?

BERTRAND: Yeah, I mean, the Ukrainians are somewhat on the back foot right now just in terms of the war that they're fighting against the Russian. I mean, the Russian are continuing to make small but tactical gains in eastern Ukraine. They are throwing its thousands and thousands of men per month as many as 30,000d men per month at the front lines. Ukraine, meanwhile, is suffering from a manpower shortage.

And you know, all of this, you know, added to the fact that it's unclear just how much the U.S., their big biggest, you know, military supporter is going to be able to continue to do that over the next year, is creating this very palpable sense of anxiety.

[02:04:55]

And I think that is why Secretary Austin wanted to come here to Kyiv to try to reassure Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Umarov that there is still bipartisan support in Congress, at least, for supporting Ukraine and that, you know, if nothing else, then he is confident that that support is going to continue regardless of whoever is the president, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Natasha Bertrand joining us on the line from Kyiv. Many thanks. Let's turn to U.S. politics now and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have 15 days left to convince voters they are the right choice to lead the U.S. for the next four years. And the candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard, trading barbs and sometimes personal attacks as they look to pick up the support, they each need to pull ahead in the extremely tight race.

The entire election is expected to come down to just a few battleground states. And that's where Harris and Trump will be focusing their attention in the time that remains. Trump will spend Monday traveling in North Carolina, making an appearance in the storm- ravaged town of Asheville, and holding a campaign rally in Greenville.

Harris will be joined by former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney on a swing through the key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin where the Vice President will speak to Republican-leaning voters.

Donald Trump spent Sunday on the stump in Pennsylvania and after making headlines on Saturday with a meandering story about Arnold Palmer that included a vulgar reference to the golf legend's genitals, the former president kept it more low-key, this time focusing mostly on attacking his opponent. Danny Freeman has a report.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Sunday evening, frankly, we saw a more disciplined former president, Donald Trump, on the campaign trail here in Pennsylvania. There were far fewer tangents. The event was even shorter than normal. And it certainly seemed like the former ESPN host who moderated the event, plus the campaign-selected voters, who asked the candidate questions really were able to keep former President Donald Trump more on track throughout the evening.

He emphasized his proposals on the economy, including no taxes on tips and overtime, talked about supporting fracking, and of course he mostly railed against the Biden administration when it comes to immigration. Now, there were of course several exaggerations when it came to the subjects of the economy, immigration and crime, and there were some of his normal asides.

He spoke about bragging about his poll numbers. He also aired some of his grievances against ABC News for the last presidential debate, but there was nothing particularly vulgar or odd like we saw at Saturday evening's rally in Western Pennsylvania, for example, that odd Arnold Palmer story.

Trump did, however, continue to boost his new campaign surrogate, Elon Musk, the billionaire who has been stumping for him in Pennsylvania over the course of the weekend, in fact, even including offering a raffle of a million dollars to supporters who signed a petition to get into some of the events which some Legal experts tell CNN it might be illegal, but take a listen to what the former president said this evening about both Harris and Elon Musk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDIATE: This woman is so incompetent. She's so bad you cannot -- and I would normally not like to speak like that. If they get chosen our country is finished. You know, Elon Musk is a very smart guy. You got to see his endorsement. He said if this election isn't won by Donald Trump, our country is essentially finished. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And early on Sunday, former President Trump stopped by a McDonald's in all important Bucks County in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He was seen doing a photo op, making fries in the fryer, and also serving some patrons from the drive-thru. Danny Freeman, CNN, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

CHURCH: Kamala Harris focused her campaign efforts on the key state of Georgia at a church in suburban Atlanta. She urged Georgians to cast their ballots as soon as possible. She also sat down for a conversation with MSNBC's Al Sharpton where she explained why she feels Donald Trump is simply not fit to lead the country. Eva McKend has more.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: In an interview with Al Sharpton, the Vice President arguing when the former president demeans her, he is denigrating the office of the presidency and that he lacks a basic standard to return to the White House. And we have seen the vice president employ this argument with increasing frequency over the last several days.

It seems targeted to a very specific type of voter. A voter that perhaps doesn't agree with her on every policy matter, but is in alignment with this broader argument that the former president is unfit for the White House. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know, we, as representing the United States of America, walk into rooms around the world with the earned and self-appointed authority to talk about the importance of democracy, rule of law, and have been thought of as a role model, imperfect though we may be, but a role model of what it means to be committed to certain standards, including international rules and norms, but also standards of decorum.

[02:10:03]

And what you see in my opponent, a former president of the United States, really is -- it demeans the office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: A big component of this Georgia swing over the last two days was for the vice president to reach black voters in this critical battleground state. She did that through these Souls to the Polls events. They are targeted to the faith community where essentially black voters; they organize and mobilize in church and then immediately after church take advantage of early voting.

And this comes at a time when Democrats have been accused of taking black voters for granted, the base of the party, but the campaign is not operating in that space. They will argue that black voters are persuadable voters and that the campaign is doing all that they can to reach them in these pivotal closing weeks. Eva McKend, CNN, Stonecrest, Georgia.

CHURCH: And earlier I spoke with political analyst Michael Genovese about the state of the race, just over two weeks ahead of Election Day. With both sides mobilizing their supporters, I asked him what Trump's strategy was, with some states supporting record turnout for early voting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Trump has sort of baked into his own identity and his campaign this notion that early voting is bad. And so there are a lot of Republicans who are reluctant to vote early because they still can hear the voice of Donald Trump resonating in their heads. Don't vote early, it's corrupt, it's fixed. Trump has changed his tune for obvious reasons, because he needs those votes and wants to get people out.

And some people just can't get out on one particular day, Election Day, November 5th. So you want to have more flexibility. Trump is trying now to change gears and move to an encouraging of his voters to get out and vote early. Generally speaking, if past is prelude, early voting tends to favor Democrats. It's probably going to favor Democrats again this time around, but maybe not as much, by not as much.

And so Donald Trump is trying to close that gap and in a race that's going to be decided by one, two, three tenths of a point, that could be the difference in winning and losing a state.

CHURCH: And just finally, we keep hearing from Donald Trump. He's talking about the enemy within. He's not talking about countries outside of the United States. He's talking about Americans. How is that resonating, do you think?

GENOVESE: That is quite alarming. We don't talk like that in America. We don't -- we see each other as perhaps rivals and adversaries, but not enemies. And the enemy within, Donald Trump has said, he wants to bring the military in to help solve this problem, to take care of them. And he's mentioned people by name. Nancy Pelosi, for example. He's mentioned California's candidate for Senate, Adam Schiff.

And so he's putting names to these folks who are the -- he calls the enemies. What happens if Trump loses? Will his base be so outraged, so enraged that they take up violence, that they start to break the windows and start smashing in the doors, as they did January 6 when they had a treasonous violent insurrection against the Capitol where people died.

And so we know that violence is a possibility and so that's probably one of the most nightmarish scenarios post-election that we might very well face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And be sure to join us next hour to see the rest of my interview with Michael Genevieve on the 2024 U.S. presidential election. And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Returning to our breaking news out of Kiev, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital. It comes as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns his country faces, quote, "a new threat" after reports North Korean soldiers may join the war to support Russian troops.

This video was shared with CNN by the Ukrainian government showing what appears to be soldiers lining up to receive supplies and uniforms. They are thought to be speaking Korean, but the audio is low quality and hard to understand. Another video from social media shows troops at a training ground in Russia's far east. The U.S. Defense Secretary could not confirm any of these reports, but President Zelenskyy says the evidence is clear and he expects a response from Ukraine's allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Now we have clear evidence that people are being supplied to Russia from North Korea. And these are not just workers for industries, but also military personnel. And we expect a normal, honest, strong reaction from our partners to this. In fact, this is the entry of another state into the war against Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me now live from London with more. Good to see you, Clare. So what more are you learning about North Korean troops potentially being trained by Russia to deploy to Ukraine?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary. For context, this is obviously from the point of view of Ukraine and Ukraine's allies, if they do eventually confirm it themselves, a major escalation, but not completely out of the blue. We have for months been seeing reports and hearing of this burgeoning defense partnership between Russia and North Korea.

NATO and senior NATO officials has told CNN that North Korea has supplied some 2 million rounds of artillery shells to Russia, which is roughly equivalent to what Ukraine's allies can produce in a year. So this is a very significant sort of trade in ammunition and weapons. We know that, of course, Putin visited North Korea back in June to immense fanfare.

And they signed what they called this comprehensive strategic partnership pact which included this sort of Article V style mutual defense agreement where one side would come to the aid of another if they were subject to some kind of aggression. So it may be that we are seeing part of that in practice.

[02:19:59]

Zelenskyy says that he thinks that North Korea is deploying some 10 thousand troops to be used in Ukraine. South Korean intelligence has put that number at 12,000. It's not a huge number if you think that Russia has at any given time several hundred thousand troops involved in the war in Ukraine, but it is significant if they have this now as a sort of a pipeline for people that they can tap as they need to replace losses on the battlefield and continue with this strategy of aggression.

So we have these two videos, as you said, that show what purports to be North Korean soldiers involved potentially in training at a training ground near Russia's border with China. We have no evidence as yet showing them on the battlefield, but obviously for Ukraine, this comes at a critical point in the war, a point of maximum danger essentially where Russia is inching forward on several fronts. And of course the U.S. election has thrown the future of U.S. assistance into doubt.

So this is why you see Ukraine emphasizing this. I think they're hoping that this will change the calculus for the U.S. in particular when it comes to new weapons to be supplied and in particular the issue of lifting restrictions on using Western long-range missiles on Russian soil. This will be closely watched of course during Secretary Austin's visit.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian joining us live with that report from London.

Well, voters in Moldova casting their ballots Sunday in two crucial votes. Early results show that half the electorate voted yes in a referendum to confirm the country's European Union aspirations. Just under 98 percent of the votes have been counted. For President, the incumbent, Maya Sandu, received just under 42 percent of the vote, with just under 98 percent of the votes counted as we mentioned.

Her opponent, the former prosecutor general of the country, got just over 26 percent. Since neither reached 50 percent, the vote goes to a runoff on November 3rd. There have been allegations of Russian-backed interference in the election.

Well, coming up after the break, it's a move that could worsen an already dire situation. Sources say several medical non-profits have now been banned from Gaza. We'll have details for you on the other side of the break. Do stay with us.

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[02:25:00]

CHURCH: Lebanese state media reports a new round of Israeli airstrikes overnight caused casualties and damage. Right now, efforts are underway to rescue people trapped under the rubble. This video, geolocated by CNN, captures the moment a strike hit a building near Beirut's International Airport on Sunday, sending it crumbling to the ground on Sunday. And you can see the airport in the background of another video with plumes of smoke rising from a building in front.

The Israeli military says it targeting financial institutions linked to Hezbollah. The Lebanese Health Ministry says more than 1,800 people have been killed since Israel ramped up attacks on the Iran-backed militant group last month. The IDF is vowing to continue defending the Israeli people, saying Hezbollah fired about 200 projectiles into Israel on Sunday.

Well Gaza's health ministry says at least 87 people, including children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza on Saturday. CNN's Matthew Chance has more from Tel Aviv. But a warning, some of the images in this report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDETAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli forces patrolling the labyrinth of narrow streets in the central Gaza Strip. These latest images from the Israeli military, what they say is their continued activity amid the devastation to dismantle Hamas. To the south in Rafah, where the Hamas leader was recently killed, drone footage of strikes in what Israel says are more Hamas fighters and infrastructure.

While across Gaza, civilians are paying a heavy price. At this hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, an influx of casualties from a new Israeli strike at Bet Lahia where Palestinian health officials say dozens of people, including women and children, were killed. Among the shrouded bodies of her family, this woman calls her father to grieve their loss. I swear, Dad, nobody is left, she sobs.

Israel says the casualty figures are exaggerated and that they operate against Hamas in a precise and targeted manner. But eyewitnesses at the scene say the Israeli airstrikes felt like an earthquake. It was just Wednesday when an Israeli drone captured the final moments of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's life. His killing fueling hopes of a hostage release, even a ceasefire in Gaza and beyond.

In fact, the region seems to be plunging further into chaos, with Israel stepping up strikes, and pressing deeper into neighboring Lebanon, hitting what it says are strongholds of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, like here, the town of Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon.

Back in Israel, Hezbollah rockets have been striking the country's north. One drone even hitting near the Israeli Prime Minister's private house in the coastal town of Caesarea. He called it an assassination attempt by agents of Iran, vowing to press ahead with military action. Iran denies involvement and Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: We're going to win this war.

UNKNOWN: So will something deter you?

NETANYAHU: No.

CHANCE (voice-over): Amid fears of an even wider escalating war, all sides seemed bent on pressing ahead. Matthew Chance, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Sources tell CNN Israel has banned at least seven medical aid groups from entering Gaza. As for members of those organizations who are already inside the enclave, they will not be permitted re-entry once they leave. All of this comes as the U.S. demands that Israel improve the humanitarian situation within Gaza.

Dr. Mosab Nasser is the CEO of FAJR Scientific, a non-profit providing medical care for Palestinians affected by the war.

[02:30:01]

It's also one of the organizations that has now been banned from entering Gaza. And Dr. Nasser joins me from Houston, Texas. Appreciate you talking with us.

DR. MOSAB NASSER, CEO, FAJR SCIENTIFIC: Thank you, Rosemary. Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So, and your team have spent significant time in Gaza. So what is your reaction to news that at least seven medical nongovernmental organizations, including your own and have now been banned from entering the enclave. And what impact could this have on critical medical services that you and these other NGOs provide in Gaza?

NASSER: Rosemary, the decision has been really shocking, especially it comes at a time where the operation, they Israeli operation in the north of Gaza has been really, really devastating to over 400,000 people in the north and that is the tie more than ever before where we needed to be on the ground. According to the WHO, which is the organization we operate under its umbrella in Gaza, it says that 29 percent -- over they say close to 30 percent the health care services provided by the organizations in Gaza will be cut because of the denial of those seven organizations.

So think of it like the fact that we are not on the ground. This could be translated into thousand those of deaths over the next couple of months if this decision is not reversed immediately.

CHURCH: And that, of course, is shocking. I did want to ask you why you think these seven NGOs, including Iran, had been banned from entering Gaza while others are still able to do so at a time, as you mentioned, when Israelis' renewed military offensive is ramping up in the Palestinian enclave.

NASSER: Honestly, this is $1,000,000 question. I -- we still don't know the reason. The Israeli authorities did not communicate with the WHO, the reasons for our denial. We initially -- when we received the news as an organization, FAJR Scientific, we thought it could have been -- it could be something related to something that maybe you've seen on social media or something we have talked about.

But when we discovered that several other organizations actually a total of eight have been banned, effectively denied entry rather than banned it came shocking to all of us we are we are apolitical organizations where humanitarian organizations, primarily medical federal, scientific specifically is specialized in complex surgeries. And it's highly needed in Gaza at this time because 80 percent of the injuries that are brought to the hospitals in Gaza are blast injuries and primarily women and children. This is what we have seen and we continue consistently see back to hospitals.

CHURCH: And as you point out, your organization is apolitical, is focused on providing this life-saving medical treatment in countries with limited access to health care and your teams risked their lives to perform lifesaving surgeries.

But you also document the ongoing events in Gaza. Could that perhaps by Israel has banned organization do you think?

NASSER: Again, I'd like to stress on the fact that we have not been banned. We've been denied entry and that's why we're hoping that this is temporary, is not permanent.

And yes, we are a humanitarian organization. Part of our work is to document what we see on the ground. We don't take sides. We don't -- I know -- the only thing that we report for our own research and analysis and publications will report what we see on the ground.

We document it, and we publish it. That is the minimum that we can do as humanitarian organizations on the ground without taking any sides. So we maintain our apolitical position and we maintain our new neutrality similar to the organization that we operate under assembly, which is the WHO, and we have seen consistently over the past 12 months that those organizations have effectively stayed in their lane, which is that humanitarian medical lane, taking care of women, children. Those who require immediate attention due to the blast injuries that we see literally on a daily basis, when we are -- when we are in Gaza.

I can tell you our team on the ground in the north has reported that the Indonesian hospital, the Al-Awda hospital in the north, as well as Kamal Adwan Hospital, have been bombarded. A multiple times, are bombed multiple times in the past few days. The upper floors of the Indonesian hospital, as well as Al-Awda Hospital have been destroyed.

[02:35:03]

The Indonesian hospital does not have electricity. Patients are trying to, trying really hard to effectively survive in this terrible environment. And many families had to pull their loved ones out in literally in cross, in the cross fire and it's just as humanitarian organizations, especially American organizations, to be denied entry especially at this point, it really breaks our hearts and I call upon the U.S. government specifically since we are U.S. organizations to help us reverse this decision as soon as possible.

CHURCH: Dr. Mosab Nasser, thank you so much for talking with us and for the work that you do. Appreciate it.

NASSER: Thank you.

CHURCH: Cuba's blackout continues with millions in the dark and tropical storm Oscar hampering efforts to restore power. We'll have details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Oscar remains a tropical storm hours after making landfall as a category one hurricane on the northern coast of eastern Cuba. The slow moving storm has brought heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding. The National Hurricane Center also warns it could cause mudslides. It's expected to continue moving across eastern Cuba through Monday, eventually turning to the Northwest. It's then expected to make another turn to the northeast on Tuesday when its forecast to move near the southeastern and central Bahamas.

Well, Oscar's landfall comes as Cuba continues to cope with ongoing power outages. The countrywide blackouts are causing worry about food spoilage and a lack of water as the storm is expected to delay urgent efforts to restore power.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports from Havana.

[02:40:04]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People here say they've been waiting all day and no power has come yet. They're killing time by playing dominoes in the street. People have said that the food is already begun to go to waste. That they're hungry, that there has been no power or water.

The kids are sleeping in the streets because it's just too hot to sleep inside and people, you know, are making jokes, but they're also really uncomfortable and really unhappy, and are very upset, that they still don't have any idea when power is going to come back on here or anywhere else, already four times the Cuban government has been in the process of restoring power and had it all come crashing down, complete loss of power on this island.

So that is what worries peoples at a longer this goes on, we already know that school is going to be canceled here for several days.

Life really can't return to normal until the power gets on. In this point, nobody can say when that will happen.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For our International viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next. And for those of you here in the United States and Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:34]

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in North America, I'm Rosemary Church.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is not backing down from his "enemy within" comments. In recent days, Trump has said he would use the military to quell any post-election unrest, and the backlash was almost immediate. During an interview with Fox News, he further defined the comments by making references to his political opponents, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Adam shifty Schiff, he's a crooked guy. He's a crooked politician, hundred percent. And he's going to be a senator now, can you believe it?

INTERVIEWER: But again --

TRUMP: No, no.

INTERVIEWER: -- he's a political, but is he an enemy?

TRUMP: No, he's a -- well, he's, of course, he's an enemy. He's an enemy. He wanted to put my son in jail and my son didn't even nobody was talking about.

These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at shifty Schiff and some of the others -- yeah, they are to me the enemy from within. I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION", Jake Tapper asked Republican speaker of the U.S. House, Mike Johnson, about Trump's comments and here's that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: In multiple interviews this week, Donald Trump repeatedly referred to prominent Democrats and others on the left in the United States, American citizens, as, quote, "the enemy from within", unquote.

And he suggested as president he would want to use the National Guard or military against them.

One of the first things you did when you joined Congress was to create the Honor and Civility Caucus. Does wanting to use the military against political opponents, would that pass muster with the Civility Caucus?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That's not...

(LAUGHTER)

JOHNSON: Jake, you know that's not what he's talking about there. What he's talking about is marauding gangs of dangerous, violent people...

TAPPER: No.

JOHNSON: ... who are destroying public property and threatening other American citizens.

TAPPER: No, he talked about Adam Schiff and the Pelosis.

He's not talking -- Governor Youngkin tried this with me too. That's not -- he was very clear.

Let me play -- because he was asked about this later on, because FOX always likes to give Donald Trump an opportunity to clean it up. And he always says, no, no, I said what I meant. Here's what he said when asked about it the next day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It is the enemy from within. And they're very dangerous.

They're Marxists and communists and fascists and they're sick. I use a guy like Adam Schiff, because they made up the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It took two years to solve the problem. Absolutely nothing was done wrong, et cetera, et cetera.

They're dangerous for our country. We have China. We have Russia. We have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled.

The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis. These people, they're so sick, and they're so evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He's -- that's what he's talking about using the U.S. military against, not marauding gangs of Venezuelan...

JOHNSON: Wait a minute. Wait. Hold on.

TAPPER: Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul.

JOHNSON: That's...

TAPPER: So, let me just say, if a Democratic presidential candidate said that you and your wife were evil and that the military should be used against you, I would say that's disgusting. JOHNSON: Well, thank you. And some have said that about us, because they don't like my politics.

I did not hear President Trump in that clip say he's going to sic the military on Adam Schiff. That's not what he's saying. You have got two different clips in two different contexts.

What President Trump is talking about is that they have been attacking and maligning him from the day he came down that golden escalator. Everybody knows that's true. In 2015, 2016, that's when this began. He's been the most attacked, maligned political figure in U.S. history. They have tried to kill him twice in the last few months.

TAPPER: Who is they?

JOHNSON: This is real. And he feels that acutely.

And, Jake, you would too...

TAPPER: What do you mean they?

JOHNSON: ... if you were under attack like he is all the time, every day.

They, I mean Iran, who has assassination attempts out against him.

TAPPER: Sure. But that's not...

JOHNSON: I mean crazy, dangerous people in the country who get on rooftops and take shots.

TAPPER: But Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi are not trying to assassinate Donald Trump. There's this conflation of anybody...

JOHNSON: They're not, Jake. They're not.

But -- no, but the political attacks have been relentless and they have been baseless. And they made up the Russian collusion hoax. And they went after him and they have been going after him ever since. They tried to impeach him twice.

I mean, they have done real damage in the American psyche. What I'm talking about is the political attacks that are so over the top. Kamala Harris has used language saying he's so dangerous to the country.

I mean, I have had colleagues in the House say he must be eliminated, he must be extinguished.

TAPPER: He's literally talking about taking the military...

JOHNSON: I mean, this stuff is over the top. Now, you know my...

TAPPER: ... and using it against Democrats.

[02:50:01] I mean, he's literally talking...

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: No, he's not. No, he's...

TAPPER: Yes, he is.

JOHNSON: No, he's not, Jake. No, he's not.

No, he's talking about using the National Guard and the military to keep the peace in our streets. In the summer of 2020 that my Democrat colleagues call the summer of love, it was crazy. It was mayhem. And Democratic progressive mayors and governors allowed it to go on, including Tim Walz, who allowed Minneapolis to burn and it's still not rebuilt.

Look, Trump is talking about restoring law and order. And I'm telling you, you can mock it. People in the media can mock it, but that resonates with the American people. They are sick of being afraid on the streets of their cities.

Donald Trump can bring order back to the chaos. They know that. So they're willing to give a little on his social media posts and some fun language he uses at rallies.

TAPPER: And he's -- he called January 6 a day of love. He said that the January 6 criminals, the prisoners who violently attacked your place of work, he compared them to the victims of Japanese internment camps.

And that guy is in favor of law and order?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The American TV news magazine "60 Minutes" is rejecting Donald Trumps claim that the shows recent interview with Kamala Harris was deceitfully edited at the direction of her campaign. "60 Minutes" ran and a short version of houses answer to a question, and her full response answer ran in a segment on CBS's "Face the Nation".

Trump claims the network edited the segment to make Harris, quote, look like she's normal. "60 Minutes" says that's false explaining when we added any interview, we strive to be clear, accurate, and on point. The portion of her answer on "60 Minutes" was more succinct, allowing more time for other subjects in a wide-ranging 21-minute long segment.

Now, Trump originally pulled out of his own scheduled interview with "60 Minutes". The show says he's still welcome to come back.

Well, at least seven people are dead and several others critically injured after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Sapelo Island in Georgia on Saturday. Authorities are urgently investigating the cause of the tragedy.

CNN's Rafael Romo has our report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORREPONDENT: It's still very early in the investigation, but there are several things officials are focusing on, including why the gangway had a catastrophic failure, weather, the increased number of people might have been a factor and the age of the gangway itself, CNN has obtained video of the dark leading to the gangway that shows how the whole structure collapsed.

You see the ferry in the background of the same one guests we're trying to get to where the tragic collapse happened. We later see people by the shore trying to rescue those who had fallen into the water. What we know is that the gangway collapsed this shortly before 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, as crowds gathered on Sapelo Island for a celebration of the Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.

According to Walter Raven, the commissioner of Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the gangway that led from the dark to the ferry collapsed when about 40 people were on it. Commissioner Raven said that there was a significant increase in the number of people visiting on Saturday, although he doesn't yet know if that was a factor in the gangway's collapse.

WALTER RAVEN, COMMISSIONER, GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL RESOURCES: Typically, less than 100. Yesterday, I'm told that we had around 700 people on the island that resulted in us offering additional ferry runs, with both of our ferries, the KD Underwood and the Anne Marie.

At least 20 people ended up in the water and tragically, seven died, including Charles Houston, who served that chaplain for the DNR, city of Planes volunteer firefighter, and also worked with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Officials also said there are three other people in critical condition.

President Biden also reacted to the news saying that he and the first lady are heartbroken to learn about the ferry dock walkway collapse on Georgia's Sapelo Island. What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation, the president said. Sapelo Island is a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, accessible only by boat. It's home to about 70 full-time residents and most of them are descendants from slaves who worked on plantations.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: Fans from across the world are paying tribute to the late singer, songwriter and former One Direction member, Liam Payne. In Indonesia, hundreds of mourners held a prayer vigil in Jakarta on Sunday.

And in Spain, dozens of heartbroken fans gathered in central Madrid to honor the late singer's impact and legacy. Payne was just 31-years-old when he died after falling from his hotel room balcony in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

[02:55:00]

Investigators in Argentina are working to reconstruct his final hours. However, the public prosecutor believes Payne was potentially experiencing some kind of episode due to substance abuse at the time.

Our Camila Bernal brings us the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Even though Liam Payne's father has been in Buenos Aires since Fridays sources telling CNN that the body has not been released to the face family we are being told that they will release that body to the family as soon as they complete the last clinical test needed, we were being told by a sources that the father was able to see the body at the morgue.

But what he wasn't able to do was go into the room where his son was staying. They allowed him to go into a similar room on another floor because of this ongoing investigation. While there, the father also going outside and speaking to the fans. Thanking them for their support.

The fans have been gathering not just in Buenos Aires, but also all over the world, including in London, in Japan, and Australia. And here in the U.S. a lot of these fans bringing letters and photos and flowers and candles. A lot of them singing together, singing One Direction songs, and expressing how meaningful the band has been for them as they've grown up with them, we've also seen an outpouring of support on social media including from Liam Payne's sister, who expressed the fact that he was her best friend, saying she is in disbelief and, of course, also expressing her love for her brother.

We also learned that one of the other former members of one direction Zayn Malik, announcing that he's postponing his U.S. portion of the tour. And of course, thinking his fans for understanding.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we want to thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.