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CNN International: John Kelly: Trump Fits "Fascist" Definition, Praised Hitler; Harris To Take Voters' Questions At CNN Town Hall; Deadly Terror Attack On Major Turkish Aerospace Firm; Blinken on Regional Tour, Pushing For End To Gaza War, Pursuing Israeli-Saudi Normalization; U.S.: North Korean Troops In Russia; Officials Fight Misinformation As Election Nears. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 23, 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]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Moscow, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington. I'm Jim Sciutto. Thank you for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM.

And let's get right to the news.

Today, Donald Trump's former chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly, warned in an interview with "The New York Times" that Trump fits the definition of a fascist and prefers what he called the, quote, dictator approach.

Kelly also recounted to "The Atlantic" magazine that Trump praised Adolf Hitler and envied the loyalty of Hitler's Nazi generals. This is consistent with what Kelly told me for an interview published in March this year.

Kelly said Trump told him Hitler, quote, did some good things.

Have a listen now to how Vice President Kamala Harris framed these remarks in the choice voters face in the upcoming election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a window into who Donald Trump really is, from the people who know him best, from the people who worked with him side-by- side in the Oval Office, and in the Situation Room.

Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Those comments come as Harris prepares to take questions from voters in CNN's presidential town hall in the battleground state of Pennsylvania and this is the stage where Harris will make her pitch in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, which is in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The audience will include Democrats, Republicans, and independents,

all of whom say not only do they tend to vote in November, but also that they remain undecided and persuadable. We should note that Trump declined to take part in a proposed debate with Harris on CNN, as well as a CNN town hall of his own.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN's Kevin Liptak live in Washington, D.C.

And I wonder, if the vice president clearly took a moment today to respond specifically to these latest eyewitness accounts of Donald Trump's praise for Adolf Hitler. Remarkable as it may be, but firsthand accounts from his former chief of staff. Do we know how she plans to connect that to her broader message at the town hall tonight?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And I think you've already started to see her doing that today and it is interesting where she's doing it tonight actually relates all of this because these suburban counties are places where the Harris campaign really does think that they can peel off some moderate voters, conservative leaning voters, particularly women who may be turned off by some of what Donald Trump has been saying, not only in the last few weeks, but what his closest aides have conveyed that he said when he was in office. And certainly someone like General Kelly would act as a credible voice to those specific types of voters who they are looking for, who they still believe can be persuaded to vote for Kamala Harris.

And so I think that that is connected to exactly what she's trying to do in this town hall. And as she travels with people like Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman, trying to make the case that Donald Trump is unfit for office, and that if he were to be re-elected to another term in the White House, he would come with him, this lack of guardrails that you heard her talking about earlier today. And so, I think this is all connected.

Her main goal at this town hall today is to kind of fill in the blanks for some of these voters who say they don't know enough about her personality, about her policy, about her character she of course, has been running an extraordinarily truncated campaign. It is quite rare to see one of these town halls take place so late in the general election campaign, of course, she had once hoped that this would be a debate against Donald Trump because he didn't agree to it. It's now a town hall.

And it does show you this imperative that the Harris campaign fields to try and introduce her to some of these persuadable voters who feel like they just don't know enough about her to fully commit to vote for her until this point. And so, the -- where -- where this is taking place very important for that overall goal of trying to convince some of these moderate, some of these conservatives that she would act as a superior president and that Donald Trump by comparison, would be an unfit and unstable commander in chief.

[15:05:12]

SCIUTTO: Yeah, and we should note that be on Kelly, of course, she has been traveling with, for instance, Liz Cheney and other prominent Republican who is supporting her as opposed to Trump along with several former members of Trump's own administration.

Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

Well, returning now to Kelly's remarks. The retired marine is more than just a former top officer. In fact, he reached the highest rank in the marines, four-star general, and former White House chief of staff. He also lost a son, a young marine lieutenant, to a landmine in Afghanistan. He's a Gold Star father. Now, General Kelly is telling "The Atlantic" that while Trump was president, he said, quote, I need the kind of generals that Hitler had, people who were totally loyal to him that follow orders.

This is quite similar to remarks that he made to me for a book that came out in March where he said, well, but Hitler did some good things and he pointed out loyalty issues with his own generals that he said wish were more like Hitler's Nazi generals.

We should note that the Republican nominee Trump, is set to speak as well this evening, just a few hours from now.

CNN's Alayna Treene is tracking his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jim, former President Donald Trump has two stops here in Georgia today. The first is with faith leaders and Zebulon, and then he's later coming to Duluth, where I am now for a rally a hosted by Turning Point Action. I think its notable that that group is one of the largest and most crucial outside groups that is helping Donald Trump's campaign with their ground game strategy and other resources, not only here in Georgia, but also in the other battleground states.

Now, that group's founder, Charlie Kirk, is due to speak at that rally. This evening, but also you're going to hear from people like Tucker Carlson, RFK Jr. Tulsi Gabbard, country music star Jason Aldean. So they are planning for this to be a very large a moment for Donald Trump's campaign. But I do want to get to some of those comments that we have heard from John Kelly because I think the timing of them just two weeks now but even before election day is pretty striking.

Now we know that John Kelly, of course, served as Donald Trump's former White House chief of staff. And these comments aren't exactly surprising given that we know Kelly has been critical of the former president, but a lot of those critical comments have been made behind closed doors. Its notable that he's saying this its publicly end in the 11th hour before November 5.

But many other officials as well have been sounding the alarm on what it would mean for Donald Trump to be back in the White House. That includes people like John Bolton, Mark Milley, Jim Mattis, a lot of people who had served in very high role in Donald Trump's former administration. Now I think the context as well around Kelly, I am someone who, you

know, has covered for Donald Trump for years. I was covering the White House when Kelly was serving for the former president, he is a military general whose son also served and was killed in combat. This is something that is deeply personal to him and I think one thing was very notable from what he told "The New York Times" was that he had a conversation with Donald Trump where he had to remind him that I don't serve you. I serve the Constitution.

I think that speaks to some of the broader conversation he was having with "The New York Times" about his, his belief that Donald Trump meets the definition of being a fascist. Now, we have heard very strong pushback from a number of Trump campaign advisors as well as people like Mark Meadows and Kash Patel.

I want to read for you some of what Stephen Chung, a top Trump adviser, told me in response to this reporting, he said that Kelly, quote, had totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories. He has fabricated because he failed to serve his president well -- well, while working as chief of staff and went on to criticize him as having Trump derangement syndrome.

This is basically what I'm hearing in all my conversations with other top Trump advisors that they think the people who are speaking out critically of Donald Trump who had served with him previously are doing so because they have since lost Trump's favor. But again, I can't emphasize enough the context and the timing of these remarks.

One other thing I just I want to point out is because a lot of people may know sometimes, they say they don't trust reporting or whatever not, I think you have to look at Donald Trump's own words on some of these things. One is that he has made very clear. He has said this publicly, that he wants to massively expand the power of the executive branch if he is elected, once again. He talks about wanting to use the military to round up migrants in this country and deport them.

He often praises authoritarian leaders like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. He calls them tough. He says that he admires the way that their people respond to them.

[15:10:00]

So these are some of the things from Donald Trump's own words. And I think it's important to keep all that context in mind as we talk about this further -- Jim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks to Alayna Treene.

Just 13 days left to Election Day, for more analysis on where it all stands, the impact of this latest news, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic", Ron Brownstein, and CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson.

Good to have you both on. I think the comments bear repeating. I'm going to quote from what General John Kelly told me for my book that came out in March regarding Trump's praise of Hitler, he said the following he said, and this is quoting John Kelly. Well, but Hitler did some good things. I said, well what? And he said, well, Hitler rebuilt the economy.

But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world. And I said, sir, you can never say anything good about the guy, nothing, Kelly recounted. I mean, Mussolini was a great guy in comparison. Kelly went on to say, its pretty hard to believe he missed the Holocaust, speaking of Trump.

Stephen Collinson, that is not the first time we've heard that Trump has praised Hitler and the loyalty of his generals. And, of course, it's not the first time Trump has said something that in any other time would be considered -- well, just unsayable by a candidate for the highest office.

What does it say that Republicans are sticking with him through this? And, by the way, I should note, this is General John Kelly who is sharing a firsthand account as Trump's chief of staff as to his comments.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Republicans are intimidated by Donald Trump's power. If you want to have a career in the Republican Party, you have to follow the line of Donald Trump and praised Donald Trump. We've seen that repeatedly over the last eight years.

Those comments are disgusting and they're absurd and they raise very profound questions along with many of other Trump's recent comments about what it would be like in the White House if he wins a second term without many of the guardrails that he faced in his first term in terms of more orthodox establishment, Republican advisers, he's left no doubt that he's going to put people in positions of power who will do exactly what he says. But at the same time, there's another question of whether this will have a political impact on this election.

You know, Donald Trump tried to overturn an election to stay in power. It seems unlikely that a few comments as egregious as they are going to change the minds of his supporters, even if they, you know, give some voters pause who are more moderate, who are thinking about showing up for the election.

If you look at the polls, the issue of democracy is in low single figures terms of the concern of voters compared to other issues. That perhaps is not what the Harris campaign would like it to be, but it's the fact.

SCIUTTO: Ron Brownstein, when you heard Harris's response to those comments today -- which by the way, she took time. She went out to the podium outside the vice presidents residence here to respond specifically to Trump's praise of Hitler. In your view, from a political standpoint, is she making it clear to voters how this -- how Trump's view of the world affects them, affects voters in their lives? Or is she doing it too much from Washington, 30,000 feet view? RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, as

you did, I think it is really important to take a beat and underscore what we are watching, which is unprecedented in American history. The former chief of staff, a retired four-star general, who also served as the secretary of homeland security, is telling voters that he believes the Republican nominee Monday for president is someone who is not committed to the Constitution, the rule of law, or a democratic system of government, is going to qualify as a fascist and believes in an authoritarian approach.

Now, you know, the magnitude of that is real and I differ from Stephen a little. I mean, there's no question that for most voters, the economy looms larger. But if you look at where Harris is most likely to improve on Biden and where as I wrote this week, she is most likely to win this race if she does win the race, it is precisely in the kind of place where she going tonight, Delaware County, outside of Philadelphia.

It is the white collar suburbs of Philadelphia, Detroit Milwaukee, and Madison above all, that are her pathway to the White House. It's where she was on Monday with Liz Cheney and the -- it is among predominantly college-educated voters of all races, but especially flights in those counties that she has to improve her vote from Biden in 2022 to offset what might be further erosion in Trump country smaller towns and rural places and maybe some erosion as well in inner cities.

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And for those voters, Jim, I believe this is relevant and what, what John Kelly is telling them is that they put everything else that goes with Trump, can't sweep it under the rug. I mean, there are a lot of voters who prefer Republican policies on tax cuts or immigration who, as I've met, are telling themselves that none of this other stuff is going to happen and I think what John Kelly is telling them is you can't kind of rock yourself to sleep with that conclusion that this is not someone who's in the Constitution and thus may do many of the most extreme and agree just things that he's talking.

SCIUTTO: What we should note, Stephen Collinson, right, is that this is not just Trump. Looking back to the dictator from the middle of the last century Donald Trump has a habit, a quite consistent one, for years of praising the autocratic leaders of several of America's biggest adversaries. That includes Russia, China, then North Korea.

This was just last week. Put the quote up on the screen. Trump told his supporters that Xi Jinping is brilliant, that Vladimir Putin is tough, that Kim Jong-un thinks Obama was a real jerk, a real jerk, and I think he's the real jerk. And by the way, Kim Jong-un loves making nuclear weapons.

This is the way he speaks about the leaders of America's adversaries who also happen to be autocrats. Can we connect that those statements that infatuation it seems as described by Trump's own former senior advisors -- can we connect that to the way that Trump would govern as the commander in chief? COLLINSON: I think you can definitely connect it and say that's exactly how he'd like to govern. Donald Trump admires strongmen who operate without restraints to whom all the other people in the government pay feasance and loyalty. He'd love to be able to govern like that.

His praise for those strong man is absolutely antithetical to what American governance is supposed to be and against the Constitution, and I think that is why so many people are concerned about a second term, which is openly said he would dedicate to retribution against his enemies, that he got the government, the civil service, the Justice Department that he'd go looking for generals that wouldn't as Kelly was talking about in the New York Times article be loyal to the Constitution, but would instead be loyal to him.

There is no at least in modern American history and I think probably across the span of American history, there has been no American president who has come into office saying these kind of things. And who is clearly of the belief that he has unlimited powers as president.

SCIUTTO: And we should note that during his first term, we already have a track record of Trump and his own advisers, for instance, recount how he very nearly withdrew the United States from the NATO alliance. And it was only through the last-minute intervention of someone like John Kelly that that didn't happen. So one can imagine a second term where he doesn't have folks like that around him.

Ron, Harris has chance tonight to make the case to voters and particularly the ones you were describing, not just about this, but about why she should be president. But on this particular issue, what do you need to hear from her tonight to change the minds of those voters?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I don't know if its so much changing the minds as enveloping them and bringing in more of the voters who are uneasy about, about Trump. Look, I thought that I wrote last week that she probably waited too long and October to kind of enlarge the frame and raised the stakes of this election, they put a lot of focus on introducing her to voters and they put a lot of focus on trying to convince voters she would fight for them on the economy that all of that is important and she has made significant progress on it.

But when you reach the end of the line, Jim, as we saw again in an economist poll today significantly more Americans say they were better off in the Trump presidency before COVID than they are toward the end of the Biden presidency. And what that says is that if you have a conventional election on who is going to be better for your bottom line, it is going to be very hard for Harris to win. But there is no reason for that to be the dominant question in the election, especially as you see, the kind of comments from Trump about going out after the enemy from within.

John Kelly, describing him as someone who is fundamentally fascist and not in agreement with the Constitution. I mean, heard job, I think above all, is to raise the stakes in this election. There's a political analyst saying Mike Potter is or who is calculated using data from catalysts. There are 91 million separate individuals so people who have come out to vote against Trump or Trumpism since 2016, only about 83 million have come out to vote for him.

The voters at the edge of that coalition have not had the same level of urgency or feeling of risks that they had in 2020 as reflected in the fact that his retrospective job approval is going up. Her job, I think is to remind them that there is more that comes with electing Donald Trump, then potentially lower prices on gas and groceries and to raise that sense of alarm in the broadest definition of the MAGA coalition.

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll be watching tonight.

Ron Brownstein, Stephen Collinson, thanks so much.

You can watch the presidential town hall tonight moderated by my colleague Anderson Cooper right here on CNN airs live 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 2:00 a.m. in London.

Well, a deadly attack on a state-run defense company has rocked the capital of Turkey.

You can hear the gunfire there. At least five people killed, 22 wounded, this at the aerospace industry's headquarters near Ankara. A social media video verified and geolocated by CNN showed the moment an explosion rocked the area.

After the blast, a person holding a firearm is seen running it. See there in what appears to be a parking lot, turkeys interior minister is blaming Kurdish militants and says the two attackers, a man and a woman were killed.

Salma Abdelaziz is following the developments from London.

Salma, quite a deadly attack and the kind of attack, terror attack we have not seen in Turkey for some number of years.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Turkey is no stranger to terror attacks, as you know, but it has not seen these types of attacks and that's why there's so many questions being raised right now. If you don't mind, I just want to go back to that social media video that you were airing just moments ago in break it down a little bit just to see how intense this attack was.

You can see in that video that huge explosion, this plume of smoke going up in the air and then you've seen individual who's moving through that area with a gun, you hear the gunfire going off. This is happening in broad daylight at this aerospace company that is state owned, that was described to me by one analyst as the crown jewel of Turkey's defense industry.

It is a company that provides fighter jets, drones, other military supplies to Turkey's army. So it's very much attack on the very heart of Turkey. Several people killed so far I know the death toll has gone up more than a dozen people killed, several people wounded. You mentioned the two attackers that authorities say were killed, a man and a woman. Investigations are underway to identify who they are, but already authorities are pointing the finger at PKK, that Kurdistan Workers Party. There has been a longstanding conflict between this organization, the PKK, and the Turkish government. And everyone in Turkey is pointing to the timing of this attack, Jim, because just 24 hours ago, President Erdogan's ally issued an olive branch to the PKK. He appeared to signal the possibility of talks of negotiation, something that could have put to bed a conflict thats been ongoing for decades now.

President Erdogan has vowed to go after those who are behind this attack. He says the attack targeted the very safety of the nation and its peace.

SCIUTTO: It'd be a shame if that effort to de-escalate was derailed.

Salma Abdelaziz in London, thanks so much.

Well, both the U.S. and Israel are now issuing security alerts about a potential terror attack targeting tourists in Sri Lanka. The U.S. embassy says it has received credible information that the Arugam Bay area could be targeted, urging citizens to avoid the area until further notice, Israel advising its citizens as well to leave the area immediately. Neither of those alerts goes into more specifics about the actual exact nature of that potential attack. Still quite serious warnings.

Just ahead, the U.S. secretary of state is in Saudi Arabia to try to build support for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, is also redoubling efforts to secure what he calls a strategic prize.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:34]

SCIUTTO: As he pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also pursuing what he describes as an incredible opportunity for the whole region. Today, he met with the Saudi crown prince in Riyadh, the U.S. trying to resurrect talks of a normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Those talks were getting along the way. It seemed before October 7th, before the terror attacks blew up that.

The State Department says they also discussed efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon. This as Hezbollah has now confirmed the death of a top official who might have been the success for -- successor to Hassan Nasrallah killed in an Israeli strike a number of weeks ago.

Jeremy Diamond, following developments from Tel Aviv.

And, Jeremy, question for you, quite a basic one, if there are any ceasefire negotiations underway involving Lebanon and potentially Hezbollah with Israel and Hezbollah officials are getting knocked off every other day it seems, who -- who would be negotiating on Hezbollah's part here? Would they be part of these negotiations even through third parties? What's your understanding of how such a deal would come together?

I suppose the same question could be asked about Hamas.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's a good question, Jim. I mean, our understanding is Hezbollah's deputy leader is still very much alive and he has -- he gave a speech a number of weeks ago saying that Hezbollah was open to a ceasefire negotiations. So it does appear that there is at least someone who could engage in those negotiations. Of course, the United States with the special envoy, Amos Hochstein has been in Beirut this week is not speaking directly to Hezbollah, but rather through the speaker of the Lebanese parliament who is a member of a Shia party that has connections with Hezbollah.

As far as Hamas, the picture is far, far murkier. We still don't know who's going to succeed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. There had been some speculation that it might perhaps be his brother, at least in terms of day-to-day Hamas operations inside of Gaza, there are a number of Hamas officials externally, but the question then becomes, do they have the sufficient buy-in from Hamas forces on the ground and sufficient ability to communicate in order to transmit orders if a ceasefire needs to go in place, for example?

But it speaks to a broader question, which is as Israel is killing these top Hezbollah and Hamas officials, who will be left to negotiate?

[15:30:05]

And are they increasing their leverage in doing so or simply making the picture more complicated in terms of negotiations, the Israeli certainly believe that when it comes to both organizations, that by killing the senior leaders of these groups, that they are making it more difficult for these groups to operate and dealing quite heavy blows. And I think that there is some logic and some voracity to that notion, but it's also very clear that as we hear these reports of the United States looking, for example, at a kind of smaller deal with Hamas to see if there is a viable pathway to get some hostages out in exchange for a short ceasefire, that's because of the uncertainty that exists about who exactly are they going to be negotiating with, with Hamas?

So, certainly, I think in the short term, we have a much more complicated picture. But ultimately, the question is whether or not Israel has actually gained more by killing these top leaders? And certainly, it seems like they've dealt heavy blows to both organizations.

SCIUTTO: No question as to why are there any negotiations move forward to track record over the last year is such that -- well, not a lot of progress.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. Well, the U.N. is issuing a dire warning once again about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. And U.N.'s Palestinian Relief Agency said this week that the Jabalia refugee camp is under siege, cut off from vital supplies, including food and water.

Israeli airstrikes are continuing there.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now with the latest.

We do want to warn you, some of the images in her report once again, maybe disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds stand in the midst of what looks like a post-apocalyptic world.

Civilians being evacuated from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza by the Israeli military after being trapped for days without food or water.

Perpetual expulsion of desperate civilians. The United Nations human rights office warned the population in northern Gaza may be destroyed through, quote, death and displacement.

U.N. teams on the ground claim forceful transfers of people. Israel says Hamas is regrouping and rebuilding in the area, which it is fighting to prevent. The wasteland illustrates the intensity of the military force being used.

There was bombardment every minute, explosions, every second, gunfire, this woman says. We never experienced such fear and horror. It was one of the darkest nights we ever lived through.

Remarkable that the hell civilians have lived through for more than a year could still get worse. The reality increasingly resembles the so- called generals' plan, a proposal to force civilians out of northern Gaza and block aid going in. Sources say the Israeli cabinet declined to adopt the plan earlier this month.

But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken felt the need to ask Israel's prime minister about it this week.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya runs the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, which he says is now surrounded by the Israeli military and under constant shelling.

He says they ran out of blood and medication on Monday, calling the constant stream of injured a massacre.

The medical staff are few, he says, and the volume of injuries high. We have had to implement a difficult triage system. We have to let some die, so some can live."

He turns to the children's ICU himself to show the impossibility of evacuating, despite IDF orders. This boy arrived with burns covering more than 70 percent of his body,

he says.

Israel says 47 humanitarian aid trucks entered northern Gaza within a 24-hour period this week.

And Gaza's health ministry no medical supplies or food have entered the area for 18 days, claiming aid is being diverted to central Gaza.

U.N. aid workers cannot find food, water or medical care, according to the head of the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, adding, the smell of death is everywhere, as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble.

Gaza's civil defense says almost 600 have been killed in the more than two- week Israeli campaign. No breakdown have militants versus civilians. But the innocent are among the hardest hit in this never- ending war.

This young boy, Adam (ph), was pulled alive but injured from the rubble last week. The man who saved him says his greatest pain was when he heard his parents did not survive.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:30:03]

SCIUTTO: Just the enormous suffering there.

Our thanks to Paula Hancocks for documenting that.

We do have some new images just coming into CNN. These from Lebanon, have a look occurred just moments ago.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SCIUTTO: Now, that explosion happened just moments ago south of Beirut, this as Israeli strikes have continued on southern Lebanon, but also on the capital Beirut. No other information specifically about this explosion.

We will continue to monitor as I'm watching it there. I see what appear to be secondary explosions. But we are looking for more information. Once we have it, we will share it and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

CNN's Clarissa Ward and her team were sent to Sudan's Darfur region to report on the ongoing humanitarian crisis there when they unintentionally became part of the story. While on assignment, Ward and team were detained by some of the militia at the center of this conflict, 48 hours held captive, not knowing what would happen to them.

Clarissa Ward joins us now with the story.

Clarissa, I wonder if you could share the circumstances of what happened and particularly what the conditions were like as you and your team were held.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, I mean, first of all, I just want to talk a little bit about the story that we wanted to tell. We wanted to go to Darfur. Sudan is the site of what has been described by the U.N. as the world's largest humanitarian crisis at the moment.

[15:40:01]

More than 10 million people displaced. There is disease, a famine has been declared in the Zamzam, displaced peoples camp outside of the city, the besieged city of Al-Fashir in Darfur and basically it's been impossible for international journalists to get into Darfur.

Some journalists have been able to get into Khartoum and on Thurman and Port Sudan but only a handful have managed to get into Darfur. So, that's where we were trying to get to. That's the story we wanted to tell.

Unfortunately, the people that we were supposed to be meeting who were going to take us to a town called Tawila. That's become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the fighting in Al- Fashir, they never turned up to the meeting point. Another militia was in the town and they stopped us and interrogated us for hours, wanting to know who we were and why we were there and what we were doing there.

They lead our driver off in chains to the town jail. And then finally they kind of bundled us into our vehicle and we drove in a convoy with them. We were hoping to leave Darfur, but suddenly, they took a different turn and it was clear we were going deeper into Darfur.

And for the next 48 hours, we were held mostly in fact, entirely out in the open underneath an acacia tree for the most part, we had our own food and water, which was fortunate because we weren't really offered much in the way of food, certainly, or water by our hosts. We were not harmed but at the same time, of course, it was a very stressful situation for the entire team and also just bitterly disappointing because as a journalist, you never want to become the story. You want to tell the story. And unfortunately, we weren't able to tell the story of the people whose lives in Darfur have been so impacted by this vicious civil war.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen, I mean, first of all, so happy that you and Brent and Scottie are safe.

I wonder as you continue to cover the conflict there, which is, by the way, I mean, its been going on for so many years as you know, is there any credible international effort or intervention underway to end this conflict there, given all the suffering of the many people who brought into it?

WARD: There were U.S.-led talks in Geneva in August. The UAE was present at those talks. The UAE has played a nefarious role, are seen by many as nefarious because it is backing one of the warring factions, the Rapid Support Forces, or the RSF, who have been found culpable of extremely serious and vicious war crimes.

But more broadly speaking, there is very little hope that were going to see a swift resolution to this crisis and particularly that's compounded, Jim, by the fact that the worlds attention has understandably been galvanized or overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine, by the conflict in Gaza. And that has meant that it has simply not been on the front pages the way that the war in Sudan should have been.

And then of course, on top of that, you have the fact that it is just so difficult, not just for journalists, but for human rights organizations, international aid agencies to get inside the hardest hit areas and particularly to get inside Darfur where there was as you alluded to, a genocide perpetrated from 2003 to 2005 and where many fear that the worst could be realized once again, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. The suffering goes on. Clarissa Ward, thanks so much for sharing the story.

Well, the U.S. confirms that North Korea has now sent troops to Russia, unclear exactly what they're planning to do, but is raising concern about what it might mean for Russia's war on Ukraine. North Korea has already sent artillery shells to help Russia there. Could these soldiers you're seeing beyond their way to fight for Russia? We're going to be live from the Pentagon next.

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[15:47:27]

SCIUTTO: Secretary of State Lloyd Austin is the first us official to go on the record confirming North Korea has now sent troops to Russia. However, he says exactly what they are doing is left to be seen.

Pyongyang's move, part of an increasingly friendly relationship between the two countries. This sense, Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, a senior administration official tells CNN, if the soldiers are sent to help fight inside Ukraine, its a sign of Russia's desperation.

I want to go now to the Pentagon, and CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann, there.

And, Oren, I wonder, of course, the U.S. is watching very closely what these troops are up to. And I know there are satellite images showing them training. Is it the Pentagon's belief that they might be sent to the front in Ukraine? And do folks that you speak with in the Pentagon believed that this shows Russia is running short of its own forces to fight there? OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the Pentagon is not willing to say that yet. They're not willing to go as far as to say, North Korea has sent troops to Russia to fight in Ukraine, but they certainly see that as a possibility. There aren't all that many other options for what they could be doing in Russia in the first place. They could help man Russian bases so that Russian troops could go fight in Ukraine, or they could simply go fight in Ukraine on their own on behalf of Russia.

And that is the concern that the Pentagon and the U.S. are looking at. It would mean the conflict in Ukraine between Ukraine and Russia has spread to the Far East involving combatants from other countries. You are right to point out just a moment ago that until this point, North Korea has sent artillery, ammunition and other types of weapons to Russia as has for example, Iran.

But sending troops to partake in the fighting on behalf of Russia, that is very much another step and the U.S. sees that as essentially a sign that Russia is in more trouble than was previously known. According to the U.S., Russia is suffering about 1,200 casualties a day, killed and wounded in the fighting in Ukraine. And this would be an indication that perhaps they need to tap another country's military to fight on behalf of Russia and essentially to fill the gap that they need to fill.

But again, they're not willing to say that that's happened yet. That's something the U.S. is watching very closely. One of the other key questions, why would North Korea be doing this? Why is there this agreement with Russia and what's North Korea getting in return?

Jim, we've seen over the past several months and even years that North Korea has tried to advance not only its nuclear program, but also its satellite program. They've had some successes and some failures with their own launches. That's very much an area where Russia could very much help them. And that too would be another major sign of concern.

[15:50:02]

The U.S. looking for that as well, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. Listen, what the rocket that gets a satellite into orbit is also a rocket that could send an ICBM --

LIEBERMANN: Absolutely.

SCIUTTO: -- into the heavens.

Oren Liebermann, thanks so much.

As the U.S. presidential election goes down to the wire, officials keep an eye on false and misleading claims misinformation, and disinformation. We have the battle against it when we return.

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SCIUTTO: With less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election, the fight against election interference, in this case misinformation and disinformation, is well underway as battleground state and local officials monitor attempt to stamp out as best they can the many false and misleading claims circulating.

CNN political correspondent Sara Murray, she's in the Washington bureau, wrote a piece about this.

Sara, listen, you know what strikes me about missing disinformation in this cycle is that if you go back to say 2016, the primary actors, suppliers were foreign, right? I mean, Russian interference in 2016 election, but so many of them are now domestic purveyors of this kind of material. So, I wonder what kind of examples you found.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, it's sort of the same story lines is what we saw in previous elections, certainly is what we saw in 2020. But again, it's Americans who are sharing this and its claims that voting machines are flipping votes. That is something that has come up in Georgia. It's something that's come up in Texas. It's not happening.

Officials are knocking this back. There are claims that if it takes a while to count the votes, that these election officials must be doing something nefarious, that they must be up to something, that there must be fraud being committed. This has come up in places like Arizona where a lot of mail-in ballots come in on Election Day. So it could take them a little while to process those.

It's come up in Georgia because the secretary of state there pointed out that, look, if this is a really tight race, we still have overseas and military ballots that come in for a couple of days after election day. So those might matter again, if it's a really tight race. So these are the kinds of things that we are seeing really across battleground states. And even some not so battleground states across the country, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Should we view this not just as an effort to mislead voters in the run-up to the election, but also to lay the groundwork to challenge the results?

I think it's impossible not to look at it like that given what we saw happen, you know, in 2020, especially if we see Donald Trump come up just short. We've seen just this avalanche of lawsuits from the Republican Party, from the Trump campaign about a number of these related issues.

[15:55:03]

So I'm sure they are going to seize on these kinds of social media reports, claims that this stuff has happened to try to challenge batches of ballots or tried to challenge the outcome and states.

And, you know, again, state election officials have really made it their second job to try to battle back this misinformation, disinformation in real time as much as they can, while actually running these elections, and, of course, trying to count the votes when we get to that step. SCIUTTO: No question. And I wonder briefly before we go who is leading

the way and fighting this information, if anyone?

MURRAY: I really think it's the officials at the state level, but there are obviously begging their partners in media, too, you know, if you see something, bring it to us, and if you're a citizen, bring it to us, don't just tweet it out.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, yeah, we all have agency.

MURRAY: Uh-huh.

SCIUTTO: Sara Murray, thanks so much for covering.

A programming note before we go, you can watch the CNN presidential town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris moderated by Anderson Cooper right here on CNN, live tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 2:00 a.m. in London.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.