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Antony Blinken Meets Israeli Officials In Push To Revive Gaza Talks; Global Leaders Gather In Russia For First Day Of BRICS Summit; Trump, Harris Look For Support From Latino Voters; Former Abercrombie CEO Indicted On Sex Trafficking Charges; Three-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Killed During Aid Drop In Gaza; Celebrity Ad Warns Of A.I. Generated Election Disinformation. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired October 23, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:21]
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The death of Sinwar does create an important opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: America's top diplomat urges Israel to capitalize on the death of the Hamas leader by ending the war in Gaza and bringing the hostages home.
Plus, prosecutors charge the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch with international prostitution. Aspiring male models allegedly forced to perform sex acts at upscale parties.
And the U.S. government issues a food safety alert following reports McDonald's Quarter Pounders have gotten dozens of people sick.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN NEWSROOM, with Anna Coren.
COREN: We begin in the Middle East where Israeli airstrikes are targeting sites in south and northeast Lebanon, and Beirut's southern suburbs.
The Israel Defense Forces claims two buildings flattened by a strike in a Beirut suburb were Hezbollah weapons storage facilities. There's been no word on casualties there, but Lebanon's Health Ministry says at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes on Tuesday. Lebanon reported the highest daily death toll in three weeks on Monday when 63 people were killed, taking the total number to nearly 1900 since the conflict began.
The IDF says a possible successor to the late Hezbollah leader and other commanders of the Iran backed group were killed in an attack in Beirut earlier this month. Well, Hezbollah is yet to confirm that claim. Meantime, the U.N. human rights chief says he is appalled by an Israeli strike on Monday near Beirut's Rafik Hariri University Hospital that caused significant damage and killed at least 18 people. The IDF says it hit a Hezbollah terrorist target.
America's top diplomat is in the Middle East, where he's hoping to revive Gaza ceasefire and hostage release negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Saudi Arabia in the coming hours after spending Tuesday meeting with top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has details from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: In his 11th visit to the region since the beginning of the war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat down with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for over two and a half hours, and it came with one critical message to the Israeli government that right now is a golden opportunity to end the war in Gaza and strike a deal to free the hostages, in particular, in the wake of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The Israeli prime minister, though, we're not sure if he's actually on the same page. In the wake of Sinwar's killing, we've heard a lot of defiance, a lot of bluster from Netanyahu, and certainly that's been reflected on the ground in Gaza where the Israeli military is certainly showing no signs of letting its foot off the gas, carrying out this major offensive in northern Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister in his statement focused much more on updating the secretary of state on the fight in Gaza, focusing on preparations for a retaliatory strike against Iran. The only fig leaf that he did offer was in this statement from the prime minister's office saying that the killing of Sinwar could have, quote, "was likely to have a positive influence on the return of the hostages and achieving the objectives of the war."
Now one other major focus of this meeting, according to a senior U.S. official, was the ongoing and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and Blinken's meeting with Netanyahu came a week after this letter from the United States to top Israeli officials making clear that if there aren't steps taken in the next 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza then U.S. military aid to Israel could be in jeopardy.
And indeed, it was a major focus of this meeting and Blinken focused on the steps that he believes Israeli officials have already begun to take, but also made very clear that it's simply not enough at this stage ticking through a list of items that Israel needs to take care of. We're also told that Blinken actually pressed the Israeli prime minister directly on this so-called island plan, which resembled quite closely what we are seeing in northern Gaza.
This idea of forcing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians living in northern Gaza and then effectively laying siege to those who still remain.
[00:05:05]
And indeed, over the course of the last couple of weeks, we have seen almost no aid getting into northern Gaza and hospitals there now describing absolutely deteriorating situations. But when pressed on that, a U.S. official said that Netanyahu and his top aide, Ron Dermer, denied that this island plan is what the Israeli government is actually implementing. We're told that U.S. officials then urged them to publicly deny this, saying that there is a public perception out there that's really detrimental to Israel.
We haven't yet heard any official statement from the Israeli government or the prime minister himself.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Joining me now from Tel Aviv is Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York.
Alon, good to see you. As we just heard, Antony Blinken held a two and a half hour meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza and a diplomatic solution to the war in Lebanon. How was that received?
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Indifferently, Anna. You know, on the one hand, this is exactly Secretary of State Blinken's job. He's the secretary of state. This is what is expected from him and he's reflecting and expressing and pushing forward American policy and American emphasis. On the other hand no one is ever going to give him back those wasted two and a half hours because in the 13 days between now and the U.S. presidential election nothing is going to happen.
There's not going to be a ceasefire. There's not going to be a truce. I doubt there will be a huge infusion of humanitarian aid into Gaza. And I doubt that any diplomatic negotiations are going to be held between Israel and Lebanon, if there's anyone to negotiate with.
COREN: Well, let's --
PINKAS: The only thing that may happen -- yes, please.
COREN: I was just going to say, let's talk about that because, I mean, aid for Gaza clearly a priority. It follows President Biden's letter earlier this month warning that if humanitarian aid doesn't increase I think by mid-November, then U.S. military aid could be at risk. I mean, is this something that Netanyahu takes seriously? Because, as you say, the U.S. election is --
PINKAS: No.
COREN: Yes, less than two weeks away. He's clearly buying time in the hope that Trump returns to the White House.
PINKAS: Yes, I don't know what his hopes are based on, but that's exactly what he's hoping for. And you're absolutely right. Look, there are two timetables here. There are 13 days between now and the election and then there are 76 days between election day and inauguration day. So supposedly, certainly constitutionally, but supposedly President Biden or the Biden administration has an additional 76 days to do whatever they want. Obviously what they will do also depends to an extent on who gets elected on November 5th.
But Mr. Netanyahu has a track record in the last six months of ignoring American requests. He's not being intransigent or reluctant or refuses to do it publicly. He just says, yes, let me think about it. Yes, we'll see what I can do. Yes. Look, you look at the letter that you quoted from -- and you and Jeremy Diamond before you.
The letter, the American letter to Israel stipulated that humanitarian aid must be funneled or infused into Gaza in 30 days. And I ask you, and I think we've had this discussion before, why 30 days? Why not 24 hours? Why not 48 hours? So the idea was that the administration is afraid that if they set too short a timetable, then they would look bad once Netanyahu ignored it. So they said 30 days. That allows exactly what you just presented. And that is Mr. Netanyahu playing for time.
COREN: Alon, the topic also discussed was how will Gaza be governed after the war. You know, the day after. This is not something that Prime Minister Netanyahu is really willing to entertain. Do you have any insights as to what that discussion would have been?
PINKAS: No. Look, it goes back -- no, I don't have any new information coming out. And I doubt anything will happen in the next days but the U.S. made it abundantly clear ever since in December '23, 10 months ago, President Biden presented his postwar plan and that is the plan. And by the way, it's a good plan. It's not perfect. It requires a lot of moving parts to be synchronized and aligned.
And until now, Israel has refused persistently to entertain, and that calls for a ceasefire, a hostage deal, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and inter-Arab force supported by Iran (PH) to the auspices of the U.S. and perhaps other powers that would govern Gaza temporarily and Israeli willingness to at least begin an engagement with the Palestinian Authority on a political process.
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None of that is going to happen in the next 13 days. And I very much doubt it will happen in the 76 days until the inauguration on January 20th. So no one essentially, Anna, has any idea about post-war Gaza. All people are doing are spewing cliches. Total victory, eradication of Hamas, we will bring about their surrender. None of this, none of this seems to be feasible in the foreseeable future.
COREN: The status quo continues.
Alon Pinkas, we always appreciate your insights. Thank you for joining us.
PINKAS: Thank you, Anna. COREN: The first official day of the BRICS summit is set to begin in
southwest Russia in the coming hours. The gathering of global heavy hitters and emerging economies is being hosted by President Vladimir Putin. It's being described by some as a convergence of nations who want to see a shift in the global balance of power, although President Putin has denied it being an anti-West alliance.
Well, let's bring in CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang.
Steven, good to see you. Explain to us the significance of this meeting and the message, I guess, that it does send to the West.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Anna. You know, before the official start of this summit, the biggest item on the agenda, of course, was that bilateral meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping. She actually made a point of saying to Putin, this was their third meeting just this year. And the two men, of course, have met dozens of times over the years.
It really is a testament to the strength of this relationship, even after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Very much living up to that much touted term of a no limit partnership. You have seen bilateral trade, soaring military cooperation increasing between the two governments, and they are also increasingly in lockstep on many political and ideological issues on the global stage.
But it is worth noting as Xi Jinping emphasized in the Chinese statement after their meeting, that this relationship is non-alliance, non-confrontational, and non-third party targeted. But many analysts would probably beg to differ because of course what has been bonding these two men increasingly closely is their shared desire and willingness to reshape that U.S.-dominated world order and that of course is exactly where this BRICS summit comes in, and the Kazan being this perfect setting to showcase Putin as this world leader, even though he is still very much a pariah in the eyes of the West.
He's playing host to representatives and leaders from some three dozen countries and organizations, and also, of course they're holding the summit as the war in Ukraine continues to rage on. Now, of course, that conflict in the Middle East where Putin and presumably Xi also is trying to highlight the angst and the dissatisfaction of many of these countries in attendance against the U.S. policy in that region.
So this is very much in a way that their united front of the global south trying to trying to express that kind of angst and dissatisfaction. But the problem here, Anna, of course, is there are divergent interests and priorities among the members. So we may see -- we may hear some strong rhetoric, but when it comes to actual solutions and concrete policies that remains to be a big challenge -- Anna.
COREN: Steven Jiang, we appreciate the reporting. Thank you.
Still ahead, sex trafficking charges against the former head of Abercrombie & Fitch. Prosecutors accuse the ex-CEO of using his power to exploit men around the world. Plus, with 13 days and counting, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both need to pick up new support. How they're hoping Latino voters can help them claim victory.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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COREN: Thirteen days from now, Americans will head to the polls to choose their next president. It's a decision that could change the future of the United States. And as Donald Trump continues to claim without evidence that the upcoming election is being rigged against him, there is growing concern about what might happen if Kamala Harris wins the presidency.
With a look back toward the Capitol insurrection of January 6th, 2020, experts worry Trump's attempts to plant the seeds of doubt in election integrity now could be used to fuel his supporters' anger if he loses.
Well, Vice President Harris spoke with NBC News about how her team is preparing for that possibility and what she will do if Trump tries to claim victory before all the votes are counted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well.
HALLIE JACKSON, MSNBC ANCHOR: So you have teams ready to go? Is that what you're saying? Are you thinking about that as a possibility?
HARRIS: Of course. This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo a free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked. Some were killed. This is a serious matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Trump's campaign is angrily denying some harsh new claims made against him in a new story published by the "Atlantic." The article claims that while serving as president, Trump praised Adolf Hitler's military leaders, saying he wished U.S. Military personnel showed him the says deference. The article says multiple sources confirmed that Trump said, I need the kind of generals that Hitler had, people who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.
The article also says Trump was furious when he was told how much the funeral for a fallen service member cost after he publicly offered to pay for it. The "Atlantic" claims when Trump got the $60,000 bill for Private 1st Class Vanessa Guillen's funeral, he said it doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Mexican." Guillen, who was bludgeoned with a hammer on the Texas base where she worked was Mexican-American. Again, the Trump campaign strongly denies both allegations.
With polls showing the race for the White House in a dead heat, Trump and Harris are each looking to pick up new support in swing states, both working to win the votes of Latinos.
CNN's Kristen Holmes has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's an honor to be with everybody and especially this great Hispanic community.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris making a full court press for Latino voters in the final sprint to election day. The former president holding a roundtable with Latino leaders at his Miami area golf resort.
TRUMP: It really is an honor to have you at Doral especially this has been a very special place for me.
HOLMES: The appeals by the nominees highlighting the role the key voting bloc could play in determining who wins the White House in November. Trump, centering his pitch around the economy.
TRUMP: I think the economy is bad, but I think the -- and it's made really bad by the horrible inflation that was caused. The inflation is really the biggest problem.
HOLMES: And his hardline immigration policies.
TRUMP: I really think that the biggest problem this country has is what they've allowed to happen to us on the border. They've allowed our country to be destroyed.
[00:20:08]
HOLMES: Polls show Trump trails Harris among Latino voters, but the vice president's support lags behind recent Democratic nominees. A recent survey from "The New York Times" and Siena College found Harris leading 54 percent to 36 percent among Latino likely voters, with a significant gender gap running roughly even among men but more than 30 points ahead with women.
HARRIS: I come from the working class. I'm never going to forget where I come from. And part of what we have to do is build what I call an opportunity economy to do it all.
HOLMES: The Harris campaign focusing her pitch Tuesday on the economy, unveiling new economic proposals, including more investments in Latino small businesses, expanded job training programs and a push to increase the number of first-time Latino homebuyers.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Greensboro, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: For more I'm joined by Mike Madrid. He's a longtime Republican political strategist with an expertise in Latino voting trends and analysis, and the author of the book, the "Latino Century."
Mike, great to see you. Explain to us what the consensus of Latino voters is towards both presidential candidates.
MIKE MADRID, CO-CHAIR, CO-HOST, "THE LATINO VOTE": Well, I'm not too sure that there's a consensus, but what we're seeing is kind of another gradual movement of Latino voters towards the Republicans, towards Donald Trump. Seems obviously to be confounding. It defies conventional wisdom but it's been going on for the better part of about a dozen years now. This incremental movement to the right.
What we're really witnessing is this generational shift of Latino voters, the fastest growing ethnic group in the country. And as Latinos become more removed from the immigrant experience further generations along, they're becoming much more pocketbook voters as opposed to racial and ethnic voters. And they're really responding to this economic populism, this pocketbook voter, that Donald Trump seems to be tapping into.
COREN: Why this shift towards him considering the insults and racist comments that he continually makes?
MADRID: I think the big part of it is a shift away from the Democratic Party, and I think that's key to understanding it. "The New York Times" just released a poll a couple of days ago showing that even though Latinos believe that Democrats support people like us, people like me, they get very, very poor marks on whether or not they will actually do anything about it. So the quality of life, the economic conditions for the middle class and lower middle class here in the States is -- it's not good.
They're suffering and they do not feel as though life has gotten better under the current administration with inflationary pressures, the tripling of interest rates. It's -- the affordability is really the main problem economically here. And so with that environment, they look back nostalgically at the Trump era and say things were good, things were better, and to a large extent prior to COVID, they really were.
COREN: So end of the day, you think this is going to come down to the economy?
MADRID: I think for this swath of voters, it absolutely will. But that doesn't mean it will for the appeal that Kamala Harris is making to college educated voters who are much more insulated from the economy. They may not necessarily think the economy is doing great, but they're voting more on cultural issues. They're voting more on abortion rights, reproductive rights, support for democracy, fears of some of these authoritarian tendencies that Donald Trump has.
They are much more culturally driven than these -- than the lower classes are right now. This middle, lower middle class is changing dramatically in a way that I've never seen in Republican politics.
COREN: If we turn now to Kamala Harris, she did an interview with Telemundo on Tuesday talking about how her agenda would create more job opportunities for Latino men. And she specifically talks about doubling the number of apprenticeships, removing college degrees for certain federal government jobs. Will that resonate in such a short period of time?
MADRID: That's a great question. I think that's the million-dollar question is, Kamala Harris has made a lot of very significant adjustments in the right's direction but the problem is she's run a 100-day campaign when her party has been moving in the opposite direction for the past 15 years. I just don't know that there's enough time to make the actual incursions that she's going to need to mitigate the leakage of these voters for the better part of about 12 or 15 years now.
So there's a lot of work for the party to do in trying to reclaim the mantle of being the party of the working class. They've forgotten a lot of that. Working-class voters have been moving away from them for some time. And again, that more than anything else, explains this rightward shift of Latinos. It's the economic conditions of the fastest growing and fastest emerging part of the working class in America, Latinos.
[00:25:07]
And they're looking at their political issues through that economic lens, and they're moving again further and further away from the country of origin, from the immigrant experience and from these ethnic and racial ties and becoming an economic pocketbook voter.
COREN: Mike Madrid, we appreciate the context. Thank you so much for joining us.
MADRID: Thanks for your time.
COREN: Kamala Harris will join CNN for a presidential town hall on Wednesday moderated by Anderson Cooper. That's 9:00 p.m. Easten Time, 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong.
The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is due to be arraigned in New York on Friday on federal sex trafficking and international prostitution charges. Prosecutors allege Mike Jeffries and two others exploited young men with promises of modeling and career opportunities while he was head of one of the world's top clothing brands.
CNN's Brynn Gingras has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oozing sex and style in their edgy and sometimes criticized advertising, Abercrombie & Fitch soared in popularity in the early 2000s. Michael Jeffries, who led the company at that time, now federally charged in a sex trafficking and prostitution scheme. Prosecutors accusing the former CEO of targeting men, some aspiring models who wanted to work for the brand.
BREON PEACE, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: The potential of an opportunity at Abercrombie to be in the ad or things like that were one of some of the carrots that I think people perceived as what they would achieve by participating in this activity.
GINGRAS: The 16-count indictment alleges 80-year-old Jeffries, his romantic partner Matthew Smith, and a third man, James Jacobson, worked together to recruit dozens of men in the U.S. and abroad, often paying them to attend sex events.
PEACE: Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson used force, fraud, and coercion to traffic those men for their own sexual gratification.
GINGRAS: The victims were physically groomed, forced to sign nondisclosure agreements, and then pressured to drink, take drugs like muscle relaxers and Viagra before performing sexual acts on Jeffries and Smith, the indictment reads.
PEACE: We think we have a lot of evidence that corroborates the charges in this case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was viewed as a form of genius.
GINGRAS: Allegations like those detailed in the charges began bubbling a year ago, following the release of the BBC documentary, "The Dark Side of Cool."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to me changed my life, and not for the better.
GINGRAS: What soon followed, a civil lawsuit filed by dozens of men who say they were preyed upon by Jeffries and an investigation which led to the new charges. At the time, Abercrombie & Fitch, under new leadership, called the claims appalling and disgusting and were already dealing with another scandal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abercrombie & Fitch said we go after the cool kids.
GINGRAS: After this Netflix documentary accused the brand of rampant racism and discrimination in its hiring process, also while Jeffries was at the helm. In a statement to CNN, Jeffries and Smith's attorney saying they will respond to the new allegations in the courtroom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GINGRAS (on-camera): Jeffries was released on $10 million bond after being arrested in Florida. He and his co-defendants will be in New York to face a judge on Friday for these charges. Now, it's also very important to note that Jeffries retired from Abercrombie & Fitch in 2014. The company says since then it has worked very hard to change its management structure within and also rebrand itself to be more inclusive.
Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
COREN: The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a food safety alert for an e. Coli outbreak linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders. At least one death has been reported so far, and 10 people, including a child, have been hospitalized.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says slivered onions are a likely source of contamination, and that onions and patties have been removed from restaurants in 12 states. Nearly 50 illnesses have been reported across 10 of them, with most of the cases originating in Colorado and Nebraska.
McDonald's says, we are working in close partnership with our suppliers to replenish supply for the Quarter Pounder in the coming weeks. In the meantime, all other menu items including other beef products are unaffected and available.
Airdrops are becoming a dangerous but necessary way of getting supplies into Gaza. Still to come, how delivery of vital aid led to the death of a 3-year-old boy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren.
[00:32:16]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pressing Israeli officials on the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Aid delivery was a prominent topic on Tuesday when Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
The meetings follow a letter last week demanding Israel improve the situation or face potential restrictions on military aid.
Well, all this comes as condition -- conditions continue to deteriorate in the Jabalya refugee camp. The U.N. agency UNWRA says the water supply has run out completely, and food is running low, as well.
The agency also says rescue groups hoping to help those trapped under the rubble have been denied access to the area for five days now. The Gaza civil defense says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military operations in the area over the past two weeks.
Well, getting aid to Gaza by land has been almost impossible. So, some groups are turning to airdrops to deliver lifesaving supplies. Well, some Palestinians have described the airdrops as dangerous and humiliating.
As CNN's Jeremy Roth reports, for one family, the airdrop turned deadly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As aid reaching Gaza by ground is dwindling, countries are dropping food and other supplies by air.
It's a dangerous practice, a last resort of humanitarian assistance, and one that took a tragic turn for one family in central Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: I was sitting here with the boy, and the moment I took him and ran to bring the others, the boy and the girl ran to hide inside this tent, but the package fell on him. There was only a second between me and him. I carried him and started running. We have no hospitals. I ran like crazy, but the boy died instantly. I couldn't save him; blood started coming from his nose and mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: Our children are dying because of beans and not because of the Palestine issue. We don't want it. I am saying we don't want it. Enough, enough! We don't want beans. We want dignity. We want dignity. Here, show them their aid. Take your aid. We don't want it. Here, take it. This is what our son died for. Where is our dignity? Where is our dignity? My son is being taken from one corner to another to drop a pack of tea. My dignity for a pack of tea.
You didn't drop it to help me live. You killed me. You killed my son, my nephew. Until when? We are dying throughout an entire year. Until when?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: I don't want aid. My son is gone. He was standing there telling me to look at the parachutes. He ran away when he saw it coming close to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: Put pressure on Israel and enter through the ground border. It's safer for my life. Our lives are makeshift, humiliation, death, horror. I sleep at night not sure if I will wake up.
ROTH (voice-over): The Israeli agency in charge of aid into Gaza says 81 food packages were airdropped into central Gaza on October 19th in collaboration with the UAE. Neither has responded to CNN's request for comment on the incident.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Absolutely tragic. We're going to take a pause. We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Intelligence experts say Russia is behind a fake video smearing Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.
Officials say the content contains several indicators consistent with Russian disinformation. Some social media posts of the video got hundreds of thousands of views and were amplified by right-wing personalities. The campaign echoes the bizarre and false Pizzagate conspiracy that
smeared Democrats in 2016. Intelligence tying the attacks on Walz to Russia was produced as part of a broader assessment on the state of foreign threats to the U.S. election.
Well, election disinformation is nothing new. The emergence of artificial intelligence is making it more difficult to tell what's real from fake.
CNN's Hadas Gold has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Quick: is this actually Chris Rock? Amy Schumer? Rosario Dawson?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A fake message saying --
GOLD (voice-over): Not all of these celebrities are who they seem to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because this election, bad actors are going to use A.I. to trick you --
LAURA DERN, ACTRESS: -- into not voting.
GOLD (voice-over): With just two weeks left until the election, fears are growing over the influence of artificially generated content.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We already know what they're going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They'll use fake phone calls --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- videos or messages to try to change when, how, or where you vote.
GOLD (voice-over): Warnings like this from the nonpartisan anti- corruption group Represent Us, trying to urge voters to think twice.
JOSHUA GRAHAM LYNN, CEO, REPRESENT US: The risk here is if they trick enough people in, say, one target district in one swing state, in a state that really matters to this election, they could throw the whole election.
GOLD (voice-over): Deep fakes have been keeping campaigns and government officials on their toes. Now having to fight a new front in the battle against disinformation.
Like this fake robocall back in January, with a voice resembling President Joe Biden urging voters not to go to the polls during the New Hampshire primary.
[00:40:05]
ROBOTIC VOICE: Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.
GOLD (voice-over): The FCC fined the political consultant behind the fake call $6 million. He is facing 26 criminal charges in New Hampshire. He's pleaded not guilty.
But not all deep fakes are as targeted. Manipulated images are all over the Internet, some showing celebrity endorsements that aren't always true.
Like these images former President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social, making it appear he has the support of pop superstar Taylor Swift, despite a clear marking on one photo labeling it as satire.
Swift actually endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in an Instagram post after the Democratic National Convention.
GOLD: Many experts aren't as concerned about fake celebrity endorsements. They're worried that manipulated content online will confuse voters, or in some way, keep them from going to their polling stations.
And it's incredibly easy to make manipulated images. I'm going to use a program called Adobe Access to manipulate a real photo into showing something that didn't actually happen.
So, I'll take this photo. I'm going to say, show me a car crash. And here we go. What could be taken -- several options of what could be a real car crash between two vehicles.
Now experts are worried that somebody might take an image like this and share it online and say something along the lines of, "The polling station is closed because of this severe car crash that took place."
And that might not actually be true, but that could keep people home.
GOLD (voice-over): So, this election, be aware and always double check what you see online with your state's election officials.
Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Before we go, superstar LeBron James and his son Bronny made basketball history by becoming the first father-son duo to play together in a regular season NBA game.
The Lakers hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves in Los Angeles Tuesday, which was the league's opening night. The 39-year-old LeBron appeared in the starting lineup, as expected. Twenty-year-old Bronny made his debut in the second quarter.
The final score: Lakers 110, Timberwolves 103.
The James's were joined by some baseball royalty. Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was there with his father, Ken Griffey Sr. They were the first father and son to play in the same Major League Baseball game. Well, thanks for your company. I'm Anna Coren. I'll be back at the top
of the hour with more of CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after this short break.
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