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CNN International: Netanyahu's Residence Targeted in Drone Attack; Liz Cheney on the Trial for Kamala Harris; Elon Musk's $1M Giveaway to Voters may be Illegal; Investigation into Leaked U.S. Intelligence Docs Underway; Inside Singapore Prison Where Drug Offenders are Executed; King Charles Heckled Inside Australian Parliament. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired October 21, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Hi everyone, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is CNN Newsroom. Just ahead, Israel ramps up its attacks in Lebanon and vows to keep pounding Hezbollah until it collapses. And the U.S. Defense Secretary makes a surprise visit to Kyiv, amid warnings, North Korea is planning on sending thousands of troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine. And the Turkish Muslim Preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Turkey for an attempted coup against the president, dies at the age of 83.
Israel is intensifying military operations in Lebanon and Northern Gaza even further. Across Lebanon, the IDF says it is broadening its attacks to include financial institutions linked to Hezbollah. The Israeli military says the Iranian backed group fired about 200 projectiles into Israel on Sunday.
At the same time, the United Nations is warning that Israel may be destroying the Palestinian population in Northern Gaza. And as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens, some Palestinians are now describing air drops of aid as both dangerous and humiliating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They dropped parachutes of aid and the aid killed our children. We don't want this aid. A little boy who is running for safety in his tent, a ton fell on him and killed him. Look at this little girl. Her mother was injured. What for? I don't want aid. My son is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what her child died for beans. Take your aid. We don't want it. Is this our dignity? Packs of tea, packs of sugar?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 87 people were killed in a single Israeli air strike in Northern Gaza on Saturday night. CNN's Matthew Chance has more from Tel Aviv, and we warn you, some of the images in his report are difficult to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL 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 and 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 that eye witnesses at the scene say the Israeli air strikes 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 fuelling 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to win this war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, will something deter you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
CHANCE (voice-over): Amid fears of an even wider, escalating war, all sides seem bent on pressing ahead. Matthew Chance CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:05:00]
WALKER: All right. Now I want to bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz. Salma, bring us up to speed with the latest after these renewed strikes on Hezbollah from Israel, and of course, his comments from Israel's Foreign Minister that they will keep striking Hezbollah until it collapses.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. So overnight, there were more strikes on Lebanon, specifically, as you mentioned there in Baalbek and in Tyre now, there were still rescue workers trying to dig through the rubble, trying to find survivors this morning.
And it comes as Israel says that it issued what it called evacuation orders just right before these attacks and it's part of this wider push that we have seen. Israel says it's targeting financial institutions that belong to Hezbollah but those financial institutions, which Israel says provide payment to Hezbollah fighters, provides its ability to buy weapons, allows it to evade sanctions, those same financial institutions are also a lifeline for the Shia community in Lebanon.
They provide interest free loans to the poor. They pay out salaries. And Israel says that this is part of the objective, not just to destroy the brick and mortar of these financial institutions, but to actually evade erode the trust between Hezbollah and the Shia community in Lebanon, and the consequences of this, of course, have been dire, as we see them play out on the ground, but Israel is only doubling down.
Yoav Gallant the country's Defense Minister was on the border with Lebanon just the other day, speaking to Israeli troops, saying that the operation intends to quote clear that area in Southern Lebanon, in Southern Beirut, essentially to destroy Hezbollah and make it safe, in the words of Gallant, for Israelis to return to their homes in Northern Israel.
But that operation is very much still ongoing, and the death toll continues to climb. Some 1800 people killed in Lebanon since the start of this latest uptick, with more than 9000 wounded. And the firepower is still flying in towards Israel. Israel says that some 200 rockets over the weekend were fired towards Israel.
And you have to remember that any attempts at peace, negotiations, at ceasefires, talks, all of those have stalled. There have been some backdoor channels. The Intelligence Chief of Egypt met with Israel's Intelligence Chief, but these are still very nascent attempts, especially when we know that the temperature is only going to rise, that this is only going to escalate, because Prime Minister Netanyahu is preparing his response to Iran's ballistic missile barrage from just a couple of weeks ago.
WALKER: And that leads me to -- you know our next point and question. You know, in the days after the killing of Hamas Yahya Sinwar, of course, there was the hope, at least expressed by President Biden that his killing -- his death, would open an opportunity for talks to help end the war. But clearly that's not the direction that things are going in right now.
ABDELAZIZ: Absolutely not Amara. Absolutely no indication that that's the direction that it was going in. And I have to clarify that that push, that rhetoric that we were hearing mainly came from the White House. You have to remember President Biden has absolutely been pushing to see some sort of ceasefire, some sort of deal, take place before he leaves office. He's been pushing Prime Minister Netanyahu on this as well. There was hope among those White House officials that Yahya Sinwar's death was that prize that Prime Minister Netanyahu was seeking in order for this war to at least have the temperature come down, to some extent.
U.S. officials were also hoping that Yahya Sinwar's death would open the way to Hamas being more lenient in negotiations, potentially no indication that any of that is happening. Of course, Yahya Sinwar will likely be replaced with a figure that would only carry out those tough negotiation stances that he had insisted on, Hamas has insisted on those stances since his death as well, which is the withdrawal of all Israeli troops before the release of hostages.
And for Palestinians, absolutely, there is no hope on the ground that the death of Yahya Sinwar will change anything when it comes to the daily bloodletting that they are suffering through every single day Amara.
WALKER: Yeah, it seems like we're just hearing more of all sides digging in. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you. America's top diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is heading back to the Middle East today to try to kickstart stalled ceasefire negotiations we were referring to, to end the war in Gaza following the death of Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar.
Now this will be the U.S. Secretary of State's 11th trip to the region since the October 7th attacks by Hamas last year. Also, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has arrived in Kyiv. His unannounced visit comes with barely two weeks to go before Americans go to the polls and the future of U.S. aid to Ukraine is widely thought to be hanging on their choice.
[08:10:00]
Now last month, Donald Trump declined to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war. On the battlefield, Russian forces continue to make small but steady gains. They have come at a high price. NATO estimates that more than 1200 Russian casualties a day just last month, the highest rate of losses in the entire war.
Meanwhile, South Korea summoned the Russian Ambassador to Seoul in protest after South Korean intelligence said thousands of troops are being sent by North Korea to support the Russian war in Ukraine. CNN's Clare Sebastian has been following the story from us. She's joining us now live from London. Hey there, Clare, let's start with Lloyd Austin's surprise visit to Kyiv.
We're just what two weeks out from the U.S. election, and he has announced a new funding package for Ukraine. Tell us more about that and what we can expect to come out of these meetings between him and Zelenskyy, obviously Zelenskyy is feeling a bit of uncertainty as he looks forward to the U.S. election.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think this will be a critical visit, Erica. The Ukrainians will be looking for reassurance that aid is locked in for at least a period of time, as we've seen, the Biden Administration tried to sort of run down the allocated congressional funding, and like we saw today, for the third time in a month, announce a funding sort of military aid package worth 400 million that's the third of a similar size in the last month.
So, they are really trying to front load this aid ahead of the election. It includes things like artillery ammunition, anti-tank weapons, all the kinds of things that Ukraine needs to sustain its defense on the front lines. But obviously, as you say, this is less -- is just over two weeks out from an election which is existential for Ukraine. That's how the Ukrainians see it.
They are following this extremely closely, and they have experienced life in the not too -- not too distant past without U.S. aid, when Congress delayed that supplemental aid package for six months, and Ukraine paid the price quite heavily in territory, so they are very nervous about that happening again.
And of course, that's what we're going to see, I think, dominate the conversations during this visit. They're going to continue to lobby, I think, for more aid. Air defenses will be top of the agenda, daily, almost daily, attacks by Russian drones is what Ukraine is experiencing right now.
Just overnight into this morning, as Lloyd Austin was heading into Ukraine, Russia fired 116 drones, of which just over half Ukraine managed to shoot down. So, they are really up against it. In terms of this aerial war, it has increased exponentially.
And I think another key topic on the agenda will be the issue of restrictions on those long-range Western missiles. The U.S. is a sort of critical element when it comes to the unanimity between the countries that have provided those missiles and whether or not they would consider lifting those restrictions. We're not seeing any sign of that as of yet Erica.
WALKER: Amara here, by the way. But, you know, a lot of eyebrows obviously being raised hearing about this report that North Korea potentially is sending what, 12,000 troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. And if that's confirmed, I mean, that would underscore just how desperate Russia is with its fight and its manpower lack thereof. And also, it begs the question, well, then what is North Korea getting in return?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, apologies Amara. This, I think the backdrop here is that, of course, we saw President Putin head to North Korea in June. They signed this sort of common defense pact, which included this Article V style clause whereby one country would come to the aid of the other if they were threatened in any way.
So it may be that we're starting to see that in practice. We haven't seen evidence of North Korean troops on the battlefield in Ukraine yet, but this is a video that was provided to CNN by the Ukrainian government, which purports to show North Korean soldiers at a training camp in Russia, far eastern Russia, near the Chinese border.
Another video has surfaced on social media, which CNN has geo located to that same training camp South Korea says that they think about 1500 North Korean troops are already training in Russia, and that eventually they are preparing to send around 12,000 which is not a big number, if you think this is a war where at any given time, Russia has about several 100,000 deployed in Ukraine.
But it's unnerving for the West. It's unnerving for South Korea because it speaks to a potential pipeline that Russia could tap North Korea to replenish its ranks, avoiding a controversial mobilization at home, and continuing with this strategy of attrition, trying to outlast Ukraine, exhaust it, and out lost its allies, so it is a real concern, both for Ukraine and the West.
WALKER: It sure is. Clare Sebastian, thanks so much for watching this for us. Appreciate it. Well, the days are ticking down, and that means the rhetoric is getting dialled up. After the break, we're going to catch up with the Harris campaign, which is getting some big-time help from a prominent conservative you see her there. And Elon Musk says he is awarding a million dollars a day to a lucky voter from a battleground state yeah. Only problem is, his plan may be illegal.
[08:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris is getting some help from a prominent conservative as she campaigns in key battle ground states. The vice president will appear with Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. They will be making their case to disenchanted Republicans.
Meanwhile, Republican Nominee Donald Trump was in another important battleground state. He stopped at McDonald's in Pennsylvania Sunday not to eat, but to help man the fryers. After a quick lesson, the former president cooked up some fries and even served them through the drive thru window. Trump will spend his day in North Carolina, which is still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene.
We have the campaign covered Alayna Treene has the latest on the Trump campaign, but let's begin with Kevin Liptak with news from the Harris campaign. Kevin that's significant to have Liz Cheney joining Kamala Harris on the campaign trail today, trying to court independents and moderate Republicans. What should we expect?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and she's probably the most prominent Republican who has endorsed Vice President Harris until this point. So, it will be an interesting moment to see them. They're not delivering speeches. It's going to be a moderated conversation. But just as interesting is where she's going to do these conversations.
These are three battleground counties in the blue wall state. She's hitting all three of those blue wall states, and each of these counties had seen big swings away from Donald Trump between 2016 and 2020 but you also saw in these counties thousands of votes cast for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary this year, including after she had dropped out. And so, when you talk to Harris campaign advisors, they really do
think that there are persuadable votes in these places, particularly conservative leaning women who are turned off by some of the rhetoric that we've been hearing from Donald Trump.
And it just goes to show how the Harris campaign is really methodically looking for votes in all of these places, going sort of demographic by demographic, trying to squeeze as many votes as possible in the lead up to Election Day. She does have the benefit of an enormous cash advantage.
We just saw that overnight. She raised a billion dollars in the last quarter. That's far and away a record for any presidential candidate. But what you're not hearing is her campaign kind of crowing about that. They are taking a cautious approach to this sort of fearful that big and small donors alike might see a cash advantage and think that she might not need any more help in the lead up to Election Day, when, in reality, when a race is this neck and neck, she will continue to need to raise money at a pretty rapid clip all the way up until Election Day.
[08:20:00]
One of the big advantages for her, though, is that she won't have to spend time courting donors. She will be able to be out on the campaign trail making her closing argument, and what you'll hear from her and Liz Cheney today is trying to make this argument that Donald Trump is unfit for office, that he's potentially even mentally unstable. We heard her making this argument last night in an interview on MSNBC. Listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And what you see in my opponent, a Former President of the United States, really is it demeans the office. And I have said, and I'm very clear about this, Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States. He has not earned the right. He has not earned the right, and that's why he's going to lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: So that right there is the closing argument for Kamala Harris that Donald Trump is not fit to serve again as president. You've heard her sharpening that contrast over the last several weeks, and certainly it's something that she will be continuing to argue right up until Election Day, Amara.
WALKER: Yeah, she sure has been sharpening that contrast and those attacks on Trump. Kevin, thanks for that. Let's turn it over to Alayna now, who has been tracking Trump, as we know he was in Pennsylvania this weekend, and talk about sharpening attacks Trump taking it to another level with some vulgar language when he was describing Vice President Harris, but today he will also be in North Carolina, another battleground state. ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. I do want to just start with this weekend, because similar to what Kevin was saying, Donald Trump's trips and different speeches across Pennsylvania over the weekend was really framed by his advisers. We spoke with Jason Miller, one of Donald Trump's most senior advisers, who said this is going to be the start of his closing pitch to Americans.
However, Amara, I will say what we heard him do this weekend, and really what we've heard over the last couple weeks now from Donald Trump is that his speeches are getting more meandering. They're kind of all over the place. They're getting more vulgar. He's using profanity.
Over the weekend, when he was in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on Saturday, just after Jason Miller had given that talk about this being his closing pitch, he went on a nearly 15-minute -- you know story. He told a nearly 15-minute story about Arnold Palmer and described his genitals. So, some of these speeches are a bit odd.
They're getting darker with his rhetoric. All of that to say, though some of those speeches as well, though you are getting glimmers of what that closing pitch will be when he reads the teleprompter, he read something about wanting to return American dominance, pride, all of that to America.
It will be the return of the Golden Age if he wins that one 100 years from now, when people look back on this election, they will see it as the greatest American victory. That is what the closing argument is. However, he is having difficulty, I think, really pinpointing it and making it very clear throughout these remarks.
But I will say, you know, I do want to transition to what he is doing today, because we are seeing Donald Trump really aggressively hit these battleground states in a way that we haven't seen him campaign really up until recently, right? Like, remember, I've been covering Donald Trump's campaign for about two years now.
He used to do only one or two rallies a week. He has been doing multiple stops a day, and you'll see that when he goes to North Carolina. He's going to be in North Carolina this afternoon. He's going to start in Asheville, where he'll survey some of the hurricane damage, will also later do a rally in Greensboro, and then also meet with a faith leaders roundtable.
Now, one thing about North Carolina that I actually I find fascinating. We just learned this yesterday, that as of yesterday afternoon, by 04:00 p.m. more than 100 excuse me, more than 1 million people have already voted early in the state. About 900,000 of those votes have been cast early in person.
So, I'd keep that in mind, but it's actually been pretty remarkable to see, especially when you look at the first day of early voting in 2020 this has completely beat that turnout, even as we know that the state has been really ravaged by Hurricane Helene and so Trump will be there today. He's going to be delivering that pitch. I'd also remind you that, of course, both campaigns are going after
North Carolina aggressively, but Trump won it both in 2016 and 2020, really. You know, it used to be thought of as a Democratic state that would normally go for the Democratic Nominee, but Donald Trump has proven that to be different. So, I'd keep an eye on that today, Amara.
WALKER: All right. Yeah, early voting numbers are definitely impressive. Kevin Liptak and Alayna Treene, good to see you both. Thank you. Well, the world's richest man has an idea to engage registered voters, cold, hard cash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: We are going to be awarding a million dollars to randomly to people who have signed the -- signed the petition every day from now until the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: So, that's Elon Musk obviously trying to get signatures for a petition that, in his words, supports the first and second amendments.
[08:25:00]
So, his announcement over the weekend in Pennsylvania has a state's governor wondering if that is even legal. CNN's Marshall Cohen is joining us now. You've been looking into this. First off, walk us through Marshall exactly what Elon Musk was offering in exchange for what? So, you know, what did the people have to do to even be a part of this?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Sure Amara. It might not be legal. Just let's get that out of the way, and I will explain why. But I want to be very clear before we get into the nitty gritty, I'm not saying Elon Musk is going to be locked up or put on trial anytime soon.
What we're saying is that some very respected scholars who study election law for a living saw what Musk did and immediately raised legal objections. So, you just heard that clip of Musk saying that the prize, the million-dollar prize, will be given to people who sign his petition, which, as you mentioned, was affirming your support for the First Amendment, and the Second Amendment sounds harmless, but that's actually not all you need to do to win the money.
If you look at the fine print on Musk's Super PAC Website, it says you must be a registered voter in order to sign the petition, and that you can only win the million dollars if you live in one of the battleground states, like Pennsylvania and North Carolina, et cetera, that's the problem Amara.
We spoke to a bunch of experts, and they said that federal law makes it a crime for to pay people to register to vote. You can't give them money or a chance to win money through a lottery. Here's what the law says, I will read it to you specifically quote, whoever knowingly or wilfully pays or offers to pay or accepts payment, either for registration to vote or to vote, can face up to five years in prison. That's the law, and legal experts said Musk could be crossing the
line, especially for anyone who hears about the cash prize and then registers to vote. We reached out for comment to Musk's Super PAC. They did not respond, and like I said, this does not mean that Musk is getting indicted.
If the Justice Department has a problem with what he's doing, the logical next step would be something like a cease-and-desist letter, but there is at least one former prosecutor who is calling this out in very strong terms, and that's Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. He's a Democrat, and he was the state attorney general before becoming governor. He slammed Elon Musk yesterday on "Meet the Press" listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race? How the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning. But when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So, a lot of scrutiny Amara for the world's richest man Elon Musk.
WALKER: It's interesting how he framed it, right? You just have to sign the petition, but when you read the fine print, like you said, you actually have to be registered to vote to sign that petition, and --
COHEN: That's the problem.
WALKER: -- that could be the problem, exactly. Marshall Cohen, appreciate it good to see you. All right. Still to come, Israel escalates its offensive in Lebanon, even as it weighs a retaliatory strike against Iran. More on our top story and some analysis when we come back. U.S. lawmakers release their initial findings on the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump. What the investigators found after the break?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:00]
WALKER: Israel's Foreign Minister says his nation will strike Hezbollah, quote, until it collapses. Israel Katz posted a statement on X as a series of Israeli strikes overnight targeted a Hezbollah linked financial institution in Lebanon. A senior Israeli intelligence official says the aim of the attacks is to sever trust between Hezbollah and the Shia community.
Now, other Israeli strikes also caused casualties and damage. The Lebanese Health Ministry says more than 1800 people have been killed since Israel ramped up operations last month. Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, announced that the missile defense system sent to Israel is now in place as Israel prepares to retaliate against Iran after its attack on October 1st.
Now U.S. officials say an investigation is underway into the leak of the highly classified U.S. intelligence on Israel's preparations for that retaliation. For more on all these developments in the Mid East. Let's bring in Trita Parsi. He is the Executive Vice President at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
He's also the author of three books on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with a focus on Iran and Israel. Trita, it's good to see you again. I do want to ask you about this, that anti-ballistic missile system now that it is in place, as Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin said today. What do you make then of the potential timing for Israel's retaliation against Iran?
TRITA PARSI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AT THE QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: Israel is looking to attack Iran sometime before the U.S. elections, and it has, in some degree of desperation, sought this system from the United States, because what the previous exchange of fire between Israel, Iran revealed is that, of course, we knew that Israel has the capacity of striking Iran.
We knew that Iran's air defenses are pretty weak. What we did not know is that the Iranians have the capability of penetrating Israel's air defenses, everything from the iron dome to the various arrow systems, David's sling. And as a result, the Israelis are asking for this help from the United States.
What is critical here to understand, though, is that with these systems, the U.S. also have to send more than 100 U.S. troops to operate these different systems inside of Israel. So, the Biden Administration is moving U.S. troops into an active war zone without the authorization of Congress and without any understanding or any leveling with the American people.
What will happen if the Iranians strike back and you have American soldiers being killed in this war zone, when this war is actually not our war?
WALKER: What do you make then, of these leaked pair of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents pertaining to Israel's potential strike on Iran, from the analysts that we heard from this weekend, it doesn't seem like there was much serious damage as a result, or anything that was revealed was too serious.
Then what do you make of a potential motive, and are there concerns that there may be more leaks to come?
PARSI: Well, I think it's very difficult to assess whether how much damage has been done, because you would essentially have to know what the Israelis have planned and then compared it to what's in these documents to be able to make that assessment, and I think that information, I don't think many analysts actually are sitting on. However, I do think that everything in terms of who and how and why and where this was leaked, points to that whoever did this, there seems to be a design to forestall the Israeli attack. And one of the things that is concerning some folks is that, because this was a five eyes intelligence document, meaning that this is something only shared with some of the U.S. closes allies.
[08:35:00]
It raises the suspicion as to whether one of those allies actually did leak this precisely because they wanted to foresaw the Israeli attack, which potentially, is because of a degree of frustration that exists amongst even some of the closest U.S. allies that the Biden Administration has not put pressure on Israel to stop the escalation in the Middle East.
WALKER: You know, on Friday, President Biden in Germany, he was asked, you know, if he knew the timing of Israel's retaliation against Iran and what kind of targets might be chosen? And he said yes to both questions. But we know the state of this relationship between Biden and Netanyahu have been quite strained for some time.
And you know before attacks have occurred from Israel, whether towards Hezbollah, Hamas they were not -- the U.S. was not always given a heads up. Do you expect Netanyahu will steer clear, as the Biden Administration has been pushing him to steer clear of nuclear and energy facilities and its retaliation?
PARSI: I think actually, it's somewhat irrelevant, because yes, the Biden Administration has pushed to make sure that the Israelis do not strike economic infrastructure or installations and nuclear sites. However, mindful of the fact that the way they're likely going to hit Iran will ensure that the Iranians will strike back.
It indicates that in the second round of this, Israelis very likely will go after some of these targets that the Biden Administration has said no to. So where does escalatory cycle begin, is not as relevant as where it will lead to and where it will end. And this is again, where why Biden's failure to put pressure on Israel to stop the escalation.
Mindful of the fact that the U.S. is putting pressure on the Iranians and on others. But this won't work unless you're putting pressure on everyone, including the Israelis.
WALKER: Do you think there are -- Secretary of State, Antony Blinken is on his way to the Mideast? Do you believe that a ceasefire and hostage release deal is now in Gaza is now more in reach after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, or farther out of reach.
PARSI: I fear that it's farther out of reach. But we also have to be quite honest, the Israelis have not been pursuing a ceasefire deal and the release of the hostages for several months now. And this is one of the big topics that is being discussed in Israel. The anger that exists amongst many quarters there that they know that the Israeli government for quite some time or have completely abandoned any effort for a ceasefire and a release of the hostages.
And it still is going for a military victory on the battlefield, even if it comes at the extends of the lives of the hostages.
WALKER: All right, we're going to leave the conversation there. Trita Parsi, thank you. Appreciate it.
PARSI: Thank you.
WALKER: Well, the tragic and shocking events of July 13th were preventable and should not have happened. That is a takeaway from a new congressional report on the first assassination attempt against Donald Trump. The U.S. House task force based its interim report on 23 interviews with local law enforcement officials and thousands of pages of documents.
CNN's National Security Reporter Zachary Cohen has the latest from Washington. Zach, what are you learning?
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Amara, another damning assessment of those security failures at Donald Trump's July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. And look, this includes new testimony from local officers who really walked the joint task force through the moments from the time that the shooter was first seen by local law enforcement to the time that shots run out.
And that includes one bit of testimony from a transcribe interview with a local officer that helped lift that other officer up onto the roof. And it was the first moment they saw Thomas Crooks up there and identified the fact that he had a gun in his hand. That interview says, quote, I tried to get him up to the roof.
He's kind of on the side, however, he's up there talking about the officer. He comes back down screaming, 'There's An AR! An AR! A Guy with an AR!' speaking about the automatic rifle. And this is important, because to date, the task force has not received any evidence suggests that that message that the shooter had a gun reach Trump's security detail before shots were fired.
So ultimately, the shots being fired were what alerted Trump's detail to the fact that there was a gunman on the rally grounds. And look, this speaks to the broader communication breakdowns that occurred that day. There was a series of them detailed again in this interim report.
And it really comes to the same conclusion that we've heard from other investigators who have been looking into these assassination attempts against Donald Trump, and that this was preventable. This should not have happened. And frankly, the Secret Service is the entity to blame overall here.
And the Secret Service is already facing immense pressure after an independent panel recommended a complete overhaul of its leadership. It remains to be seen when that could take place. Maybe more of a long-term goal, given the election is just days away, but look big changes coming from the Secret Service. There's a culture problem, according to that independent panel. So really, there has to be a systematic change in how they go about assessing threats and how they protect potentially, people that could be the next President of the United States. And it raises additional questions too, right?
We're only a couple days away from the presidential election. Can the Secret Service continue to keep Donald Trump and Kamala Harris safe?
[08:40:00]
In the meantime, these reports suggest that. They've hopefully have learned from those failures and those problems that happened on July 13th.
WALKER: Sure, as a damning report and a lot of questions about the Secret Service's credibility. Zachary Cohen, thank you. The man who Turkey blamed for trying to overthrow its president in a deadly coup in 2016 has died at the age of 83. The Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen was a bitter rival of the Turkish President. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has more.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To his followers, he was a peaceful man of God, preaching inter faith dialog, but to many in Turkey, Fethullah Gulen was a man who spent years building an opaque and vengeful movement to take over the Turkish state.
And eventually the force behind a failed coup attempt that claimed the lives of more than 240 people in July of 2016. Turkey's President condemned Him and compared him to ISIS, Gulen always maintained he had done nothing wrong, saying, in a 2016 statement, quote, I have repeatedly condemned the coup attempt in Turkey and denied any knowledge or involvement.
Born in 1941 to modest circumstance, Gulen climbed the ranks of Turkey's religious bureaucracy to become an influential Imam. Over decades, he built a fervent and loyal base of followers. Gulen's work was represented in all facets of Turkish life, including business associations, media outlets and financial institutions.
But the linchpin of his movement was a vast network of schools that spanned across more than 100 countries. The schools in Turkey served as the main recruitment and placement tool for the movement. Many of its members were lower middle class, pious Muslims, disenfranchised by Turkey's staunch secularist power circles.
Many of them took jobs in the public sector. In 1999, Gulen moved to the United States, settling in the State of Pennsylvania. His supporters say he left Turkey for medical treatment, but critics say he went into self-imposed exile, as he had come under scrutiny, accused of trying to undermine the secular government and replacing it with a religious one.
They were allegations he denied. In 2002, when a religiously Conservative government was elected, Gulen found an ally in Turkey's New Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was a match made through political expediency.
KADRI GURSEL, JOURNALIST: The common adversary was the Kemalist Republican pro secular, military and civil democracy.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): For nearly a decade, the alliance worked together using the Gulen's movement's presence in the police and judiciary to stifle the opposition. Hundreds of secularist military officers were detained, arrested and dismissed in shadowy court cases.
GURSEL: As Gulenist networks, they were closely cooperating and fabricating some so-called proofs to be presented, to be put in indictment. And at the end of the day, nearly 10 percent of the active generals of the Turkish Armed Forces, a NATO member country, were put in jail.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): In 2013, prosecutors launched a corruption probe targeting Erdogan's inner circle. It was a break in the alliance, and perhaps the first public sign of a power struggle between the two men. Erdogan later outlawed Gulen's movement and branded it terror group.
But it was the events of July 15, 2016 that would change the country for years to come. F-16 bombed parliament in the capital city, and armor tanks rolled into positions on the main bridge connecting Asia to Europe and Istanbul. Erdogan quickly blamed Gulen for that failed coup, and his government began a major crackdown.
Thousands of people suspected of having links to Gulen were fired from their jobs and arrested. Gulen, meanwhile, lived a quiet life in Pennsylvania, despite multiple requests to the United States to extradite him back to Turkey, leaving behind a devout following and a controversial legacy that made him one of the most influential men in Turkey's modern history.
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WALKER: Ahead an exclusive look inside a Singapore prison where drug traffickers await execution.
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WALKER: Singapore has some of the harshest drug laws in the world. A narcotics conviction in the city state can carry a death sentence. Four people have already been hanged for drug offenses so far this year. CNN's Ivan Watson went inside a prison where Singapore's death row is located. And here is his exclusive report.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crime and punishment. In the short distance from normal city streets to the depths of a prison, you enter another world, a fortress carefully designed to strip convicted criminals of their freedom.
WATSON: This is a maximum-security wing in the Changi prison complex in Singapore. The inmates incarcerated here have been convicted of felonies ranging from drug trafficking to violent crimes, and CNN is getting a rare look at this country's criminal justice system.
WATSON (voice-over): Under the constant gaze of guards and security cameras austere cell blocks where rules are strict and meals arrive through a small shutter in each prison cell door. During my visit here, officials allow me to interview one prisoner, a 41-year-old former teacher named Matthew.
He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and seven strokes with a cane for trafficking methamphetamines.
WATSON: In Singapore.
MATTHEW, CHANGI PRISON INMATE: Yes.
WATSON: You can be sentenced to death for that.
MATTHEW: Yes.
WATSON: Was that a potential threat for you.
MATTHEW: At that point of time, I wasn't thinking about it. In fact, I was actively avoiding the whole issue of consequences.
K. SHANMUGAM, SINGAPORE'S MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS & LAW: I see this as an existential threat to the social fabric.
WATSON (voice-over): K. Shanmugam leads Singapore's war on drugs.
SHANMUGAM: You look around the world, any time there has been a certain laxity in the approach to drugs, homicides go up.
WATSON (voice-over): Flying into Singapore, visitors get a stern warning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drug trafficking may be punishable by death.
WATSON (voice-over): While Singaporean citizens may also face testing for drugs on arrival. This small city state in Southeast Asia is per capita, one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
SHANMUGAM: The amount that a drug trafficker or drug barons can make by trafficking drugs into Singapore is because the people of Singapore can afford to pay for it.
WATSON: What do you want me to take away from being able to visit the prison?
SHANMUGAM: That our philosophy on prisons is not the same as, say, the Scandinavian philosophy. You won't find air conditioning. You will find it to be quite a tough regime. WATSON: This is a standard cell for a single prisoner. Inmates can spend from 14 to 23, hours a day in here, and as you can see, right behind here, and there's no air conditioning, and in this climate here in Singapore, I am dripping with sweat.
WATSON (voice-over): Authorities did not give CNN permission to enter death row. Under Singaporean law, those caught trafficking certain quantities of heroin, meth or even marijuana face mandatory execution.
WATSON: How does Singapore execute criminals?
SHANMUGAM: They are hung.
WATSON (voice-over): Officials say most Singaporeans support the death penalty and argue this is an essential part of Singapore's system of deterrence.
WATSON: What do you want to say to the government here?
[08:50:00]
NAZIRA LAJIM, SISTER OF EXECUTED PRISONER: I want the state of government to abolish this hang system. It's very cruel to take one's life. Just put a life sentence, that will do. That will deter them from committing the crime.
WATSON (voice-over): Nazira Lajim's brother, Nazeri was executed in 2022 for trafficking heroin. He was a lifelong drug addict, she says, and not a violent man.
WATSON: These are portraits.
LAJIM: These are portraits, yeah.
WATSON: OK.
WATSON (voice-over): In Singapore, the government organizes a professional photo shoot before execution for each prisoner to share with their families.
WATSON: How does it make you feel him looking happy?
LAJIM: No, no, I know it's fake. It's fake happiness. I know it's fake.
WATSON (voice-over): But Singapore's zero tolerance approach to drugs remains very real. Since August, authorities have executed four men convicted of drug offenses. As for the prisoners and maximum-security, statistics show that after completing their sentences, one in five of these men will likely commit crimes. And end up once again, behind bars. Ivan Watson, CNN, Singapore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Wow. Still to come heavy rain and floods bring destruction across Italy. We're going to bring you the latest in a live report. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: At least one person has died in Northeastern Italy after heavy rain caused extensive flooding. Emergency Services and volunteers are working to help people stranded in the country's north, including a three-month-old baby who was rescued by a fire service helicopter.
Over the weekend, the Island of Sicily in Southern Italy was also inundated by heavy rain. It caused severe flooding and triggered landslides. Let's bring in CNN's Barbie Nadeau, who's joining us now, live from London. Yeah, tell us more about these rescue operations and the baby and I saw video of a dog.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, you know, I mean, these are just incredible videos that we're seeing of rescues, of the heroics of these first responders. You know, we're also seeing serious, serious damage to infrastructure, even on the mainland, in the south in Calabria, there's other imagery out there of giant sink holes, you know, sort of opening up in the highway, swallowing cars.
You know, we've seen these landslides. We've seen streets turned into rivers. You know, in the town of Bologna, in the center of the of the city, you know, this is a university town. They've had to call off school. They've really had a hard time managing people, keeping them safe, because this is a city that's filled with canals, and when this inundation of water, sort of, you know, put the rivers over their banks, basically all those tributaries flooded the city in those canals.
So, it's really putting a lot of people at risk. And the rain is still forecast for another two days. They're still under serious flood warning until at least the end of today, tomorrow, Amara.
WALKER: Yeah, such a difficult situation, and there's a video of that poor dog being dragged out through the flood waters. Barbie Nadeau in Rome for us. Thank you so much. Good to see you. A noisy protest against Britain's King Charles during his visit to Australia.
[08:55:00]
The king had just given a speech to Australia's parliament in Canberra when Lidia Thorpe, a senator of indigenous heritage, shouted at him, saying, you are not my king. As well as being Britain's head of state, Charles is also the monarch of Australia and the other Commonwealth countries.
In his speech, Charles had praised Australia's first nations people for, as he put it, sharing so generously their stories and culture. And that's our time. Thank you so much for being with me here on CNN "Newsroom". I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Eleni Giokos is up next.
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