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Harris, Trump Target Battleground States With 15 Days Left; U.S. Defense Secretary Meets With Ukrainian Officials In Kyiv; Region Braces For Israeli Response To Iranian Attack; Experts: Elon Musk's $1M Giveaway To Voters May Be Illegal; Israel Targets Hezbollah-Linked Financial Institutions. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 21, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:38]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome, everyone. It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Beirut, 3:00 p.m. here in New York.

I'm Omar Jimenez. Thanks for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get right to it.

We begin with the intense fight for swing state voters. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump only have 15 days left until Election Day. Any moment now, Trump will speak at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina. The Republican nominee has spent the day campaigning in the key southern battleground state there.

Earlier, Trump spoke with victims of Hurricane Helene near the city of Asheville. Many families are still recovering from the devastation left behind from the storm.

Outside of North Carolina, Trump's rhetoric over the weekend reached a new extreme. Topics ranged from, we'll call them comments, about the late golfer Arnold Palmer, to profanity at Harris and doubling down about Democrats and being, quote, the enemy from within.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So you'd have to tell Kamala Harris that you've had enough, that you just can't take it anymore. We can't stand you. You're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) vice president.

Arnold Palmer was all man. He took showers with the other pros. They came out of there. They said, oh my god.

But when you look at shifty Schiff and some of the others -- yeah, they are to me the enemy from within.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

JIMENEZ: And he's mentioned Congressman Adam Schiff there who's running for Senate in California. In response, Harris argues, Trump's latest rhetoric, quote, demeans the office of the presidency.

Joining me now to discuss is our senior political analyst, Mark Preston.

Good to see you, Mark.

So look, we're 15 days out from Election Day. Does any of Trump's recent campaign activity give you a sense of what we should expect in this final stretch?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, certainly, Omar and you spent a lot of time out on the campaign trail. You know, how these things go. Certainly in these closing days, expect Donald Trump to really double down on what has been his message. I know people don't like to think this far back, but it has really been his message since 2016. He goes out there, says what he wants to say. He goes out there, he tries to tear down his opponents, tries to really push them into the ground with the idea that he can get his supporters behind them, and that he can win.

However, it is a very risky strategy specifically with some of the things that he's saying right now. And those few voters that we believe that are left, that could tip this election, those voters, of course, living in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina -- North Carolina, as you said today, he will also be in Georgia and in Las Vegas later this week, Donald Trump will, but we really are in these closing moments here, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, you mentioned the critical voting bloc here is that, you know, a lot of this is playing to people who made up their minds voting months ago, maybe even years ago this point. And so how do you -- how do you win over that small stretch? We've already seen early voting numbers that are setting records in some places. And so, I guess within -- within that realm.

My question for you is, if you are a Donald Trump and you're seeing what's happened over the last few rallies here. How do you attract some of -- some of that voting bloc, some of those suburban voters, in some cases, to try and take you over the edge?

PRESTON: Well, the first thing you do is that everything that you immediately think you should do you should throw out in scrap it because even though Donald Trump has been very successful in his campaigning, it only works up to a certain point and we are at that certain point right now. We are in a general election and yes, to your -- he has the support of his MAGA backers, but I do believe that what he's trying to do right now, Omar, is that he is trying to double down and make sure that even if you'd like Donald Trump, if you wicked like Donald Trump, you will show up to vote for him on election day, if not beforehand, in some of these states and early voting. That's what Donald Trump is doing.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is doing a little bit differently. She's trying to pick off Republicans in trying to pull them into -- into the fold at the same time, trying to shore up some of her own vulnerabilities, but Donald Trump right now, it looks like, Omar, is, in some ways given up on the women vote. That Republican women vote that Nikki Haley vote that we talked a lot about this past year in place of really just doubling down and trying to get his MAGA supporters to the polls.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. And to one of your points, Vice President Kamala Harris has been out campaigning with folks like Liz Cheney, who, of course, is leading the Republicans against Trump charge.

[15:05:01]

Mark Preston, thanks for being here. I like the beard. Appreciate it.

PRESTON: Thanks, Omar.

JIMEEZ: All right, on the Democratic side of the race, Kamala Harris is making an aggressive bid to win over independents and moderate Republicans in the suburbs. She's holding a series of moderated conversations across blue wall states today by her side, as I was just talking about former House Republican Liz Cheney. And earlier today, Harris made a vow to Pennsylvania voters that her administration will, quote, not be a continuation of President Biden's.

Up next on the campaign swing or the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin.

CNN's Eva McKend is tracking Harris's campaign stops, joins us live from Washington, D.C.

So, what more can you tell us about Harris's discussion with Liz Cheney, but also about the strategy around it?

EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, Omar, if you listen to them, this is heavy on country over party. They are essentially arguing that the former president lacks the temperament to return to the White House, that you can't trust him with your family's most sensitive matters, so with the nuclear codes, that he is its fundamentally unfit for the job.

And, Omar, this is a very different argument then debating specific policy matters because there are going to be Republicans like in that audience in Pennsylvania who may not agree with Vice President Harris's tax policy, with where she stands on immigration, a whole host of issues but if the election is instead about the fundamentals, about democracy, about the existential threat. They think that they have a clear case there.

And, you know, there is disagreement in Democratic corners about this. Some Democrats will argue the campaign instead would just two weeks to go should make this about a base election and using all of their resources to juice up Black voters, to make sure that there is just record number of Black turnout in places like North Carolina and Georgia.

But the campaign will tell you that its a both/and strategy, that they're doing that. She did souls to the polls events for faith-based voters in Georgia over the weekend. But they also think there is a lot of value in doing Republican for Harris events as well, that there are Nikki Haley voters out there that would otherwise just stay home.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. We know it's a big bloc, especially during the primary process. There were a lot of people that voted for Nikki Haley, even though, of course, the former presidents swept through.

Eva McKend, thank you so much.

I want to expand this conversation with our political panel today. Joining me now is "Axios" political reporter Stef Kight. I also want to welcome "Semafor" reporter Shelby Talcott, both -- I mean, great to see you both. Thanks for being here.

Shelby, I want to start with you because I know you recently spoke with some of Trump's senior communications advisors and I read through some of that conversation. I thought it was really interesting hearing how they look at sort of Trump's image and getting it out to the general public and various forms. And I wonder how you look at Trump's campaign stops in North Carolina today, for example, or recent campaign stops within the framework of some of what you talked about with his team.

SHELBY TALCOTT, REPORTER, "SEMAFOR": Yeah. So his team's big thing when were talking about Donald Trump doing some of these podcasts and sort of new age immediate platforms is that they're trying to humanize him and they feel like these are areas where he can sit down and he can talk for an hour and he can show voters that he is a normal human being. He can push back on that narrative that we've heard so often from Kamala Harris and Democrats, which is, of course, that he is a threat to democracy.

And so similarly, we've seen him do some of these campaign stops, like the McDonald's stop over the weekend that add to that narrative. So I think that's pretty clear that some of Donald Trump's campaign stops even in North Carolina, touring some of the hurricane damage it at the McDonald's stop, that is an effort to sort of humanize him to those voters.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Stef, I want to bring you into because Harris, as we mentioned, is touring the blue wall states, including with Liz Cheney. I mean, do you think her efforts are -- I mean, I guess some would look at it and say its transparent politics. But do you think her efforts will actually work to win over some independents and moderate Republicans?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: I mean, that's the big question. It's very clear that Harris and her campaign feel that it is imperative that she reach out to independent and potentially more conservative leaning voters, both in the kind of policies that she's been embracing this time around compared to where she was in 2019 and also when you look at where she's campaigning, the tone of her campaign, the fact that she's sitting down with Liz Cheney trying to convince voters that she is a real alternative option to the former president. And, you know, she has certainly tried to distance herself from some

of her more progressive stances in the past, and that was really something that Republicans, when it first became clear that Harris was going to be at the top of the ticket. Republicans were very eager to tag her with that, too progressive, too extreme kind of attack and she has really been trying to avoid that getting stuck. She has been trying to move towards the middle, and appeal to those independent voters that she's going to need to convince in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin, I think it's notable that, you know, Harris and Trump are both spending time in states today that they really need to win if they're going to have a real path to victory.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

Shelby, when you look at the rhetoric in this final stretch, really from both sides, Trump seems to be getting a little bit more explicit in more ways than one and grasping and a lot of different concepts. The vice president seems to be a little more direct and in some ways, attacking his capacity to serve and, go back to some of your conversations with the Trump campaign. Did you get a sense of how they are trying to close out this final stretch?

TALCOTT: Listen, I think it's almost a tale of two campaigns when you talk about Donald Trump's campaign, because when you talk to his advisers, they really highlight and emphasize that they want to be talking about the issues they want to be talking about immigration, about the economy, about the border. And those three things are things that his surrogates are often really good at talking about.

Donald Trump talks about it as well. But then he gets off script and he makes these remarks like we were just discussing over the weekend. And that's sort of where his campaign struggles and he doesn't necessarily make it easy for his campaign. So when I talked to advisers, that's what they want to focus on. And Donald Trump doesn't always make it easy.

JIMENEZ: I mean, his -- his surrogates, as you mentioned, we even saw Senator J.D. Vance out, defending some of these comments as well as he typically does after some of these campaign stops.

Stef, you recently wrote for "Axios" about certain Democrats in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and how they've put out ads highlighting breaks from Biden in some cases, but also mentioning Trump ties without really bashing him. So I guess, along those lines, how does Vice President Harris toe that line? And I guess more broadly, do you get the sense that there is a need to convince voters her administration will be different from Biden's?

KIGHT: You know, there is -- they're certainly trying to distance themselves from the Biden administration recently. When you look at some of the comments Harris has made, of course, you know, she was asked, you know, how would you be different from President Biden? A couple of times, she didn't really have a good answer and you've seen her -- her campaign, tried to clean up from that more recently. I think it's very notable though that we're looking at these

presidential battleground states and seeing incumbent Democratic senators running away from their own party's presidential candidate and instead, even almost embracing Donald Trump. Both Senator Baldwin and Senator Casey include mentions of how they worked with Trump in recent ads. Some very interesting move to make this close to the election and it goes to show just how much Democrats feel like they need to show bipartisanship. They need to show that they are moderate senators in order to hold on to not only the red states, like Montana and Ohio, where incumbents are at risk, but also even in these battleground states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. As we're talking, I believe we have some live pictures of Donald Trump getting ready to take the campaign stage in Greenville. There he is again -- number of stops from both candidates across battleground states in recent days.

Shelby, I want to end on this question because obviously for the Trump campaign and other large force that we've seen loom over it, or with it is Elon Musk. I mean, he recently talking about given away million dollars each day to registered voters in battleground states. There are legal experts that argue it could be illegal.

But I guess my question is, do you think Musk's support helps or hurts him with some of what -- some of what his advisers are trying to portray Trump as you were talking about sort of humanizing him in this final stretch?

TALCOTT: I think it's hit or miss. I really think it depends on the voter, right? Because you have some of these more moderate voters who might not necessarily like the rhetoric that Donald Trump puts out, but felt like they were in a better place based on the economy for four years ago. And so, when they hear Elon Musk, who oftentimes has similar rhetoric to Donald Trump, they might be put off.

But then you have some of his hardcore voters, which is a really big base that Donald Trump is trying to make sure that they actually come out and vote it helps him in that sense. So it just did it just depends on what kind of voters Donald Trump's campaign is really trying to focus on and get its definitely going to be off putting for some people and its going to be positive for others.

JIMENEZ: All right. Stef Kight, Shelby Talcott, thanks for being here both of you. Really appreciate the time and perspective.

All right, everyone. Still ahead, U.S. Secretary Lloyd Austin is visiting Ukraine. We'll have a live report on his trip and what was discussed.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:29]

JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. The U.S. secretary of defense spent today in Ukraine. Lloyd Austin met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also took part in a meeting with Ukraine's defense minister and was briefed on current military operations.

Joining us now is CNN's Oren Liebermann, who's at the Pentagon for us.

So, did Secretary Austin make any commitment to send more than just military aid?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the military aid was key here in terms of a concrete announcement, $400 million, nothing new in terms of weaponry, it's the same sort of critical systems and munitions they have needed to this point. That is 155 millimeter for artillery ammunition, mortar rounds ammunition for the HIMARS rocket launcher. So that's key here.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also made it clear in a social media post afterwards what he was looking for once again, bringing up this idea that Ukraine is trying to convince the U.S. to allow it to use us made long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russia. That's been a longstanding campaign that they've had. That's become more and more public as they've tried to pressure the Biden administration to allow them to carry out those types of strikes? Unlikely they'll make any headway right now, especially with only 15 days until an election, but that remains a goal of Ukraine's.

Austin was also there to get a better sense on the ground of what U.S. aid has done over the course of the past two-and-a-half years, and what Ukraine is looking for right now, what weapons it needs, and what helped the U.S. can give. The U.S. especially under the Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have promised to help Ukraine for as long as it takes. Of course, that could look very different in just a couple of weeks depending on how the election goes, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, it's very true point. I guess along those lines, we've seen obviously, whether their bilateral visits or visits between secretary officials in the president here.

I mean, what is President Zelenskyy looking for with this latest visit? Is it different than what we've seen in times past?

LIEBERMANN: For the most part it is -- it is more of what he has said both publicly and privately. Zelenskyy has put forward his victory plan for how to defeat Russia. So trying to get traction with that, trying to get the U.S. and others to come on board with that plan and give Ukraine the tools he sees that they need for that victory plan to come to fruition. And then once again, trying to convince the U.S. to let them use -- to let Ukraine use that is U.S. made long-range weapons to strike deeper inside Russia.

They've been trying to sort of beat down that door for quite some time now. It hasn't worked. We haven't seen the administration shift its position. But another key here is how the aid will continue even if the

mechanism or the nature of U.S. aid changes. And to that effect, the U.S. has effectively tried to change the aid mechanism from a U.S.- centric one to more of a multinational NATO-based aid to Ukraine mechanisms, such that no matter who wins the election in just a few weeks, there will still be aid flowing to Ukraine as it fights back against Russia -- now, for nearly three years.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Oren Liebermann, really appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

Now, during his speech in Kyiv, Austin said, Americas security depends on supporting Ukraine and standing up to Vladimir Putin. So what does this mean for the future of U.S. involvement in that war?

Joining us now with insight is retired U.S. Army Colonel Peter Mansoor. He's a professor of military history at Ohio State University and a former aide to General David Petraeus.

Thanks for being here.

Look as Oren noted, Defense Secretary Austin has announced another $400 in aid for Ukraine, money for armored vehicles, air support, munitions. But the U.S. and other allies still aren't giving Ukraine the green light to use, you know, the U.S. provided long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

From your perspective, how important is that capability to Ukraine's war effort?

COL. PETER MANSOOR, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, like it's key if we want this war to end with a Ukrainian victory rather than just a long, slogging stalemate, then Ukraine needs the ability to strike inside Russia where their supply bases are, where their air bases are, where their factories are.

And so far, Putin's saber rattling of the nuclear card has worked. United States has, you know, said, don't use those weapons inside Russia. And the only reason is because we're afraid it might kick off a more brutal conflict that would include the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, one of the big, I think, shadows hanging over this is part of why many in Ukraine have looked closely to U.S. politics is a lot of support has been predicated on what comes out of Capitol Hill and spending packages that are passed. Obviously, you've got this election coming up in two weeks time Secretary Austin's in Kyiv, President Biden met with Zelenskyy last week.

How -- when you're in a situation like this, where a new administration could impact the level of support if at all, in the future -- I mean, how do you how -- do you walk that line as an administration? How does the result of an election impact and ally's ability to continue to fight Russia in this case?

MANSOOR: Yeah, I don't think the election will impact immediate U.S. aid. That will continue to flow, that might be a longer-term issue if president -- if President Trump wins another term in office, but he's also said that he could increase aid to Ukraine if there's no settlement of the war.

I think what the Biden administration is doing is exactly the right thing. You want to internationalize this as much as you can, get the NATO countries to step up and make sure that the aid flows regardless of what U.S. policy is, and that way we don't have to just rely on domestic U.S. politics to determine the outcome of this war.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. And look as part of this, we learned last week that relatively small number of North Korean troops appear to be joining Russia's war effort. And yes, it's a headline, but also how -- how serious is that? Is that news?

MANSOOR: Well, I think it is of autocracies is actually has some teeth in it. You know, if Russia is allowed to bring in North Korean soldiers, then why cant Ukraine bring in soldiers from outside Ukraine as well and internationalized the battlefield on that side? And that would be key if it included air power that could help the Ukrainians gain maintain air superiority, which is something they desperately need if they want to turn this into a war of maneuver rather than a war of stalemate.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, I want to turn to the Middle East while we've got you because we're still waiting on Israel's response to Iran. What is your expectation of what that response actually looks like at this point?

MANSOOR: Yeah. From all reports, I think the Israelis are going to hit military targets, which would be a commensurate response to the targeting of their air bases. You know, the recent leak of the means and methods of what Israel's intending to use in that attack has sort of thrown a wildcard into the situation. But I think there will be a response. And I think it will be probably limited to attacks on Iranian military targets, perhaps its missile bases and infrastructure, which would be appropriate in this circumstance.

[15:25:11]

JIMENEZ: Yeah, it does seem the reporting is -- they don't seem to be playing to target nuclear facilities are, of course, some were initially asking for.

And within this realm, I mean, does the killing of Yahya Sinwar, obviously, your of Hamas, the previous one how does that change things here I wonder what your operational reaction was to learning about his killing?

MANSOOR: Operationally, it doesn't change much.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

MANSOOR: Hamas will put someone else in his place. They won't announce who he is. So he can't be targeted effectively. But the war will continue. But it does open perhaps the door just a bit for diplomatic negotiations and a potential ceasefire. I don't hold up too much hope, unfortunately, that one will be

enacted, but events on the battlefield do affect diplomacy. And in this case, the secretary of state is moving to try to take advantage of the latest developments and get some sort of ceasefire on the table.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Colonel Peter Mansoor, I really appreciate your time perspective on both of these wars going on. Thanks for being here.

MANSOOR: Thanks.

JIMENEZ: All right, everyone. Elon Musk is handing out $1 million a day just for signing a petition backing the Constitution. But is his giveaway to voters legal? We'll examine that, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: All right. Everyone, welcome back.

Election law experts say tech billionaire Elon Musk's plan to give away millions to voters might be illegal. Now, while campaigning for former President Trump, Musk pledged to give $1 million a day to registered voters in seven battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

[15:30:01]

The first two winners were presented with large novelty checks at Trump campaign events in Pennsylvania.

I want to bring in our Marshall Cohen for this discussion as well.

So, Marshall, what is in the fine print of this petition here? I mean, is this a million-dollar illegal?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Omar, it might not be legal and I'll explain why. But let me be very clear up front. I'm not saying Elon Musk is going to be locked up or go on trial anytime soon. What I'm saying is that some respected scholars who study election law for a living saw what Musk did an immediately raised legal objections.

Let me play for you a clip, Omar, of Elon Musk this weekend campaigning for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. And then after the clip, we'll break it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA MOTORS: We're going to be awarding a million dollars to -- randomly to people who have signed -- signed the petition every day from now until the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: All right. So he said that the money will go to people who signed the petition, but that's not quite all that you need to do. If you look at the fine print on Musk's super PAC website, it says that you must be a registered voter to sign the petition. And they could only win the million dollars if you live in one of the battleground states.

That's the problem here. And the election experts that we spoke to said that federal law makes it a crime to pay people to register to vote. You can't give the money. You can't give them a chance to win money through a lottery.

Here's what the law says. We can look at it together, okay? Federal law, quote, whoever knowingly or willfully 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.

Legal experts said that musk could be crossing the line, especially for people who heard about the cash prize, and then registered to vote that could be the most legally perilous part of this.

We reached out to Elon Musk's super PAC for comment. They did not respond. And like I said, this doesn't mean he's getting indicted. If the Justice Department has a problem with what's going on. The logical next step would be for them to send something like a cease-and-desist letter.

But, look, there is at least one former prosecutor who is calling this out and that's Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. He's a Democrat and he was the attorney general of Pennsylvania. Here's what he had to say yesterday about this situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: 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: All right, Omar. So a lot of scrutiny for the world's richest man as he tries to play a huge role in the election and get Donald Trump back in the White House.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, we will see how this plays out 15 days left.

Marshall Cohen, appreciate it.

All right. Everyone, maybe you've noticed that the X platform and other social media companies aren't really doing nearly as much as they used to cut through election misinformation, safeguards that were there back in 2021, or they were there, I should say they back in 2021 when crowds stormed the U.S. Capitol. Platform suspended thousands of accounts and posts for spreading lies. Today, that's not happening and its got a lot to do with politics.

CNN technology reporter Brian Fung joins me from Washington, D.C. So, Brian, experts who study election misinformation say their jobs

have gotten harder since 2020. Why?

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Omar, this is all having to do with raising the political costs of social media companies and forcing against election lies. And you may remember back in 2016, there was a huge outcry about Russia's attempted meddling in the U.S. election. And after that, social media platforms invested a lot of time, money and manpower into building the kind of infrastructure that we saw come into play in 2020 with the platforms cracking down on false claims of election fraud and so on.

But since 2020, we've seen the platforms, roles well back some of those policies. For example, Meta and YouTube have now said that they will allow false claims that the 2020 election was stolen once again, on their platforms. You've had platforms like X lay off large amounts of trust and safety staff, that people who are charged with monitoring the platform for misinformation.

[15:35:08]

We've also seen platforms like X and Meta take steps to remove the platforms or make it harder for -- for third party experts and misinformation researchers to see into the platform and to monitor how false claims are traveling across networks. And all of this according to misinformation experts is making it more difficult.

One fact checker told me and I'll read you a little bit of our conversation here is that, you know, they've had a really hard time working with the platforms in recent years compared to in past years. And he said, quote, the impact of layoffs, budget cuts in journals and programs, and the crackdown on trust and safety teams at x and other major platforms have set troubling precedents as we approach the upcoming elections.

Now, Omar, this isn't the only thing that's happened. Of course, we've also seen Republican officials at all levels of government engaged in sustained years-long campaign to discredit misinformation, research, and efforts to for the platforms to enforce their policies. They've done that a number of ways. One is by passing laws at the state level, notably in Texas and Florida that would make it harder for states, excuse me, for content moderation to occur on these platforms by forcing them to take a step back from their rules and treat all content equally, including election lies.

And another way that they've done this as by filing lawsuits against the Biden administration for attempting to reach out to social media companies, flagging election lies or public health misinformation to them. Say, hey, we think these -- these tweets are these posts violate your terms of service?

Meanwhile, we have folks like musk who are taking an active role in U.S. politics using their millions and billions to influence the outcome of the election. And all of this has effectively created the political space for platforms like X, YouTube and Meta to pull back from content moderation, from enforcing against election lies and all of that means, according to researchers, that, you know, this is going to be an election where lives may be more tolerated than in the past.

GW researcher, an academic, told me that really, quote, this -- the platforms only ever took this as seriously as they felt they needed to. You know, this is really kind of the ultimate outcome of series of interconnected and interrelated steps by multiple actors in the political put ecosystem to make it more costly for tech platforms to enforce against misinformation -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. All factors that I know we're going to be dealing with heavily between now and let's push all the way out to even inauguration day.

Brian Fung, thank you so much.

All right. I want to shift topics a bit here back to the Middle East to bring you some updates, including Israel saying it has killed a top Hezbollah member in Syria. The IDF says a strike took out the head of the militant groups money transfer unit in Damascus. Now, Syria says two people were killed in an attack on a vehicle, some of the aftermath there. The news comes after Israeli airstrikes hit more than 15 buildings in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, targeting what Israel says is a Hezbollah-linked financial network.

And this was the scene in southern Beirut, just moments ago. We've -- we saw a large explosion.

You see some of the smoke plume there rising over the city.

For more, I want to bring in Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond, who is live in Tel Aviv for us.

Jeremy, so what do we know about this Hezbollah-linked financial network Israel is targeting here?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, this marks a significant escalation in Israel's war in Gaza. We are seeing, of course, that for the first time, they are not going after just military targets, but instead this financial institution inside of Lebanon, which the Israeli government says is Hezbollah-linked and helps finance Hezbollah's activities.

But we also know that it serves hundreds of thousands of civilians inside of Lebanon as well. And so, last night, the Israeli military went after several branches of this financial institution, targeting it in different parts of Lebanon. And what this is aimed at this is not just going after Hezbollah, but also doing what these really government has been doing in a variety of ways over the course of this campaign. And that is to try and bring the military pressure to bear on Hezbollah, but in a way that will actually put internal pressure on Hezbollah within Lebanese society.

And in this case, it is going after Hezbollah's connections to the Shia community in Lebanon, which relies on this financial institution, which is provided with services linked to Hezbollah.

[15:40:06] And so, the goal here, according to an Israeli intelligence official, is to shake the Shia community's trust in Hezbollah, just another effort by the Israeli military to try and bring more pressure to bear on Hezbollah in an effort to get them to agree to a ceasefire that would be more favorable to Israel's terms, not only agreeing to stop the fighting, to stop firing rockets into Israel, but also to move Hezbollah forces far north of the Israel-Lebanon border, something, of course, that Hezbollah has been unwilling to do so far.

JIMENEZ: And, Jeremy, I know you were just at an event where there were hundreds of Israelis calling for settlements in Gaza. Can you tell us what you saw there? What did you learn?

DIAMOND: Well, as the Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to depart -- is departing today to arrive in Israel, to make a push for ending the war in Gaza, reaching a deal to free the hostages, sensing a window of opportunity in the wake of the killing last week of Yahya Sinwar. Today, we are hearing from multiple members of Netanyahu's governing coalition, including several ministers, as well as members of his own party who are not calling for an end to the war in Gaza, were not sensing an opportunity, but rather are calling for the continuation of fighting in Gaza and also calling to establish Israeli settlements inside of the Gaza Strip.

Now, these really the prime minister himself has said that he -- there are no plans for Israel to establish Israeli settlements in Gaza, which there have not been since Israel remove those settlements back in 2005 under what was known as the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. But nonetheless, we are hearing from multiple members of his party, of his governing coalition, people who hold the keys to power in many ways, were keeping the Israeli prime minister in power, calling for these settlements at a time when the United States is trying to push for something very, very different.

And so, obviously, it is quite a significant split-screen that we are seeing. And you couple that with the fact that we are seeing continued fighting in Gaza, Israel conducting a series of deadly airstrikes in northern Gaza yesterday that killed at least 87 people. The fighting continuing in Lebanon, it really doesn't seem like were heading I did for the kind of de-escalation that the United States is pushing for -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

For everyone else, we're going to take a short break. For our International viewers, "LIVING GOLF" is next. And if you're streaming us on Max, well be right back with more news after the break.

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