Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Blinken Presses for Ceasefire and Hostage Deal; Barack Obama, Eminem Stump for Harris in Michigan; Trump, Harris Look for Support from Latino Voters; UNRWA: Thousands in Jabalya Refugee Camp Without Water. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET
Aired October 23, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There's only two things left to do. Get the hostages home and bring the war to an end. It's absolutely essential that humanitarian assistance get to the people who need it in Gaza.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kim Jong-un, North Korea, nuclear weapons all over the place. He loves
producing nuclear weapons. That's what he likes producing. And he's got a lot of them.
EMINEM, RAP ARTIST: His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already. Mom's spaghetti.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm nervous, but on the surface I look calm and ready to drop bombs, but I keep on forgetting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live form London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Wednesday, October 23rd, 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. across Lebanon, where the Israeli military now says it has killed three Hezbollah commanders in the past 48 hours as it pushes forward with its military operations. The IDF is also warning residents in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate some areas due to ongoing military operations against Hezbollah.
FOSTER: On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in south and northeast Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs. The Israel Defense Forces claimed two buildings flattened by one strike 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 other strikes. MACFARLANE: All this as America's top diplomat continues his trip to the Middle East with the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, now headed to Saudi Arabia after his visit to Israel.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who's been following all of this, joins us now. Salma, confidence was always low that Blinken's visit was going to result in any change of course from Benjamin Netanyahu, whether it be Lebanon, whether it be Gaza. They did meet for over two hours yesterday. What if anything has come from that?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't seem like we have any concrete commitments from Prime Minister Netanyahu. One of the primary topics, according to the readout, was the issue of humanitarian aid in northern Gaza. Northern Gaza right now, I simply don't have the words to describe just how acute the suffering is there.
There's been nearly no aid, no food, no water, no medical supplies that have entered that portion of the enclave for more than two weeks, for several weeks now. The doctors, the nurses on the ground, the aid workers on the ground themselves can't find food. Antony Blinken was pushing Prime Minister Netanyahu to allow that support in, and said this is a moment, this is an opportunity to make some changes.
I want you to take a listen to what he said after his meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: In the space of a year, it's managed to dismantle Hamas's military capacity. It's destroyed a bunch of its arsenal. It's eliminated its senior leadership, including, most recently, Yahya Sinwar.
This has covered the cost, great cost, to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success, and there are really two things left to do. Get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: But Prime Minister Netanyahu is not backing down. In fact, he is doubling down, expanding his offensive in Lebanon, where Israel claims it's made gains. It says it's killed three top Hezbollah commanders in the last 48 hours.
It continues to press on in Gaza as well. There, Israeli forces say that they're fighting a resurgence of Hamas in northern Gaza. That's why you see the renewed activity there.
But what you're hearing from Palestinians, from Lebanese families, from aid workers, from the United Nations, is that the conditions are simply appalling. That bloodletting, that violence has become the daily reality for so many people.
One of the other issues I want to bring up that was part of the discussion as well for Secretary of State Antony Blinken when we're talking about northern Gaza is this so-called General's Plan.
So there's been this reporting around a plan which would essentially -- Israel's plan being to force out all civilians from northern Gaza and then lay siege, essentially starve, cut off whoever remains in that area. Prime Minister Netanyahu, his officials denying that that's the plan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried to say, essentially, look, you need to say this publicly.
[04:05:00]
Because there is a perception that that's what's going on. No commitment from Prime Minister Netanyahu to go out publicly and say, no, that's not what we're doing. That is not the plan.
MACFARLANE: Presumably because it may be in part true. Salma Abdulaziz, thank you.
Now trying to get aid to Gaza by land has been inconsistent, so some groups are turning to airdrops to deliver life-saving supplies.
FOSTER: Some Palestinians have described the airdrops as dangerous and humiliating, as CNN's Jeremy Roth now reports. For one family, the airdrop turned deadly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY ROTH, CNN DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCER (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 (translated text): I was sitting here with the boy, and the moment I took him and ran to bring the others, the boy and 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.
MAHMOUD AYYAD, FATHER OF BOY KILLED BY AIRDROPPED AID (translated text): children are dying because of beans and not because of the Palestinian 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 you aid, we don't want it! Here, take it, take it. This is what our son died for. Where is our dignity, where is our dignity? Me 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?
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. Put pressure on Israel and enter through the ground border. It's safer for my life. Our live 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 19th in collaboration with the UAE. Neither has responded to CNN's request for comment on the incident.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: All right, coming up, we speak with a former U.N. official about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region.
FOSTER: Yes. In the U.S.
MACFARLANE: But already more than 20 million ballots have been cast in early voting across the country, and people are lining up every day to get their votes in ahead of schedule.
FOSTER: Yes, in the key battleground state of Georgia, nearly 2 million voters have cast their ballots. The state's top election official says he expects 70 percent of all Georgia votes will be cast before election day.
MACFARLANE: And early data suggests Republicans may be getting into the early voting mix at a higher rate than usual.
FOSTER: Experts say the entire election could come down to a handful of swing states, including Michigan, where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are running neck and neck.
MACFARLANE: And that's where former President Barack Obama spent his evening campaigning for Kamala Harris. For his appearance at the campaign rally in Detroit, Obama was introduced by one of the city's favorite sons, rap star Eminem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMINEM, RAP ARTIST: President Barack Obama.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Obama had plenty to say about why Harris is the right person to lead the country. But before getting down to business, the former president had a little fun with one of Eminem's most famous songs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have done a lot of rallies, so I don't usually get nervous. But I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem. My palms are sweaty. Knees weak. Arms are heavy. Vomit on my sweater already. Mom's spaghetti. I'm nervous, but on the surface I look calm and ready to drop bombs, but I keep on forgetting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:10:00]
FOSTER: Well after that, Obama jumped back into politics, taking aim at Donald Trump's claims that he is the one best equipped, really, to fix the nation's economic problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The economy, when he first came in, it was pretty good. And I say, yes, yes, it was good because it was my economy.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: I know folks in Detroit remember it. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans left me. Y'all remember, the auto industry in America was flat on its back. They didn't want to lift a finger to help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: And when Eminem had the microphone, he also called out Donald Trump for his recent threats to seek retribution on those who've opposed him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMINEM: I also think that people shouldn't be afraid to express their opinions. And I don't think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution or what people will do if you make your opinion known.
(CHEERING)
EMINEM: I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, Donald Trump spent his Tuesday night campaigning in North Carolina, a key swing state he won in both 2016 and 2020. There he launched into a series of personal insults against Kamala Harris, calling her a low IQ, slow and stupid person.
FOSTER: At a rally in Greensboro, Trump responded angrily to President Obama's comments about him and dismissed the star power of the Harris campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Obama was a real jerk, a real jerk. And I think he's a real jerk because I've watched him campaign over the last couple of -- over the last couple of days. They bring in so-called stars, stars that I've never even heard of. You know, these are not stars to me. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Kamala Harris will also make her case to voters tonight in a CNN town hall as the race for the White House hurtles towards the finish line. Both Harris and Trump are looking for every opportunity to win over undecided voters. This is a decision that could change the future of the U.S.
MACFARLANE: And as Donald Trump continues to claim without evidence that the upcoming election is being rigged against him, there is growing concern about what he might do if Kamala Harris wins the presidency. Harris spoke with NBC News about how her team is preparing for that possibility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So your team is 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)
MACFARLANE: Well, 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 same deference.
FOSTER: The article says multiple sources confirm 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 costs after he publicly offered to pay for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And if I can help you out with the funeral, I'll help you financially.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the military will be paying -- taking care of it.
TRUMP: Good, they'll do it, meet the military. That's good. If you need help, I'll help you out. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
TRUMP: OK, if they need something, we'll take care of it. We'll make sure she is very respected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, The Atlantic claims when Trump got the $60,000 bill for private first class Vanessa Guillen's funeral, he said: It doesn't cost $60,000 to bury an effing Mexican.
FOSTER: 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.
Now, 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.
MACFARLANE: And they're both working to win the votes of Latinos. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: It's an honor to be with everybody and especially this great Hispanic community.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN 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.
[04:15:02]
TRUMP: It really is an honor to have you at Doral, especially this has been a very special place to me.
HOLMES (voice-over): And he appeals by the nominees highlighting the role the key voting block 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 and it's made really bad by the horrible inflation that was caused. The inflation is really the biggest problem.
HOLMES (voice-over): 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.
HOLMES (voice-over): 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)
FOSTER: And don't forget, you can watch the "PRESIDENTIAL TOWN HALL" moderated by Anderson Cooper right here on CNN. There's live tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern Time or 2 a.m. here in London.
Thousands of Palestinians are trapped in the Jabalia refugee camp without water or food as well. We'll speak with a humanitarian relief expert about the catastrophic conditions right now in Gaza.
MACFARLANE: Plus, a major ruling against former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. What his latest lies will now cost him.
FOSTER: And later, a new honor for Paddington Bear, just in time for his new movie, Paddington in Peru. It's quite extraordinary what they've done.
MACFARLANE: Yes.
FOSTER: Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The U.N.'s main agency in Gaza says living conditions continue to deteriorate for thousands of Palestinians trapped in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. UNRWA says water supply has run out and food is running low. And Jabalia is, quote, under siege amid an ongoing Israeli military operation.
FOSTER: The agency also says Israeli authorities on Tuesday denied an urgent request by rescue teams to access those trapped under the rubble for a fifth straight day.
Joining us, Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a former U.N. Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs.
[04:20:00]
And you've been in the region a lot this year. When we describe the situation in northern Gaza, would you describe it as a siege? How would you describe the Israeli strategy there?
JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: I would call it a real besiegement of 100,000 people. Most of them totally innocent civilians, mostly women and children. Of course, there would be Hamas fighters also among the people.
But I think this siege on northern Gaza and the general stranglehold of the whole Gaza Strip is definition of indiscriminate warfare with Western arms. This will come to haunt both Israel and the Western powers supporting them, because it's counter to everything we stand for and everything in humanitarian law.
MACFARLANE: Jan, you'll know that there is this general concern and belief that what Israel is doing in northern Gaza is enacting something called the General's Plan, which is to essentially drive people out of northern Gaza by restricting water, by restricting food, starving them. And if they do not go, then they will be besieged by the IDF.
I mean, your teams are there. Can you give us any evidence that that is happening? What is your perception of that?
EGELAND: Well, I really hope that this crazy plan of depopulating parts of this small strip of land full of Palestinians is wrong. And then to bring in extremist settlers instead. This would be an atrocity crime under international law, because it would be forcible relocation of civilian populations. It's a crime. It's a war crime.
MACFARLANE: War crime, yes.
EGELAND: There's no doubt that it is a war crime. But it hasn't happened yet. It can be prevented. And I hope that Secretary Blinken understands that the credibility of the West is at stake here.
I mean, the rest of the world is shaking the hands of what is unleashed on both Gaza and on Lebanon. It's clear that these extremist groups who have sent rockets into Israel and who went on a rampage on the 7th of October need to meet justice, but not this kind of a totally indiscriminate warfare.
FOSTER: Blinken does seem to recognize some of the issues you're talking about. Isn't the bigger issue that Israel's ignoring him?
EGELAND: Yes, they are. They are. And still it continues. So it is -- I mean, the tail wags the dog. Isn't that what you're saying in English?
It is very strange to see this total diplomatic impotence of the United States, Germany, U.K., European Union in this case. And of course, the credibility, as was written in a report from the House of Lords here in the U.K., said we are losing the battle also for the hearts and minds for Ukraine. Because of how we are perceived as West and the rest of the world.
MACFARLANE: Yes, the implications here are vast. What then do you make of this 30-day plan put forward by the U.S. to push Israel to allow aid to enter the Strip? I mean, Israel already saying that a trickle, you know, there is some aid now coming in.
But I mean, is that a hollow threat from the U.S.? Do you expect Israel -- do we expect Israel to pay attention to it? What do you think?
EGELAND: Well, the 30 days expires the day of the election. So perhaps then some real muscle would be exerted from the United States. But we've heard now promises since end of October of last year that we would get humanitarian aid in. There would be protection of civilians. And it hasn't happened. In this month of October, 25 aid trucks have entered Gaza per day -- 25. We need 5, 6, 700 per day. There hasn't been one week since October last year that we got in enough aid trucks.
So even that has been instrumentalized in this warfare on Hamas, which is basically taking down the whole population with them. It is beyond belief what has happened.
FOSTER: Are we seeing in Lebanon what we've seen in Gaza? Is it going to end up like Gaza?
EGELAND: We fear that that could happen. We hope not. Lebanon is a bit bigger as an area. You don't have this kind of a --
FOSTER: And they're not trapped.
EGELAND: -- Stalingrad kind of destruction.
[04:25:00]
And well, people are now fleeing into Syria. It's pretty bad in Lebanon when people flee into Assad's Syria. 400,000 people, not 40,000. 400,000 people have left for Syria. Syrians who fled Syria and Lebanese, that we need a ceasefire tomorrow, both in Lebanon and in Gaza, we as humanitarians cannot cope with the suffering.
MACFARLANE: And I read that 60 percent of those fleeing back to Syria, in fact, children and adolescents often unaccompanied as well. It is another front of the humanitarian crisis.
EGELAND: Because the men do fear to go back. And in Jabalia camp where you showed the images, men are held back, it's women and children who can possibly leave.
MACFARLANE: Jan, it's an impossible task what you're doing. But we appreciate you being here with us today. Thank you very much.
FOSTER: Still to come, President Vladimir Putin showing off his political relationships, proving Western powers can't isolate Russia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today.
Before leaving Israel for Saudi Arabia today, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel to turn its military success in Gaza into enduring strategic success. Blinken says there are two things left to do, get the hostages home and end the war. Kamala Harris will make her case to voters tonight in a CNN town hall.
With just 13 days until Election Day, more than 20 million people have already cast their votes. And right now, there is no clear leader in the polls.
A massive fire is ripping through a protected wetland in New Zealand, threatening its delicate ecosystem and the rare species that live there. About 50 firefighters are working alongside helicopters and airplanes at the site south of Auckland. Authorities say it could take days to get the blaze under control.
FOSTER: Global leaders have assembled in Russia for the first official day of the BRICS summit. They came together for a group photo before meeting together. Meetings getting underway just a short time ago.
This year's event is being hosted by President Vladimir Putin. It's been 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's an anti-West alliance.
Clare Sebastian's here in London, but first we're going to go to Marc Stewart in Beijing. And it is, you know, the power of those images is really what we're speaking to here. It doesn't really matter in a way what comes out of that meeting. It's just the fact that these very powerful people are working together.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Max. I think there is no question that at this point --
END
