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CNN This Morning

Israel At War; Trump Co-Defendant Kenneth Chesebro Pleads Guilty In Georgia Election Case; Biden Requests $105 Billion Aid Package For Israel, Ukraine And Other Crises; Manhunt For Suspect In Killing Of Maryland judge. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 21, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:32]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning, Saturday, October 21st. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker. Thank you so much for joining us.

New this morning, for the first time in two weeks, much needed aid has been delivered to Gaza. But international groups warned that those supplies are just not enough and needs are far higher than what is being given right now. This morning, 20 trucks loaded with medical supplies, food and water have passed through the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and into Gaza. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Force says none of the trucks are carrying fuel.

BLACKWELL: It's been two weeks since Hamas launched its attack on Israel, and now IDF tanks and lined up on the border with Gaza where the prospect of a ground incursion is looming.

And then, American woman and her teenage daughter, they're free after their surprise release late yesterday. They were visiting family at a kibbutz close to Gaza when they were taken hostage by Hamas. The IDF said today believes that 210 People are being held hostage in Gaza. The group says the current priority is the return of all of the hostages. CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward is with us now.

So let's start at this convoy of trucks coming in, 20 passing into Gaza. But officials in Gaza, and those who are watching from outside of the Strip, they say that it's just not enough. What do you know?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Essentially before this latest spasm of violence, so let's say three weeks ago, Victor, more than 450 trucks of aid according to the UN would go into the Gaza Strip every day. So now it's been two weeks of no aid, relentless bombardment, mass displacement, 20 trucks is obviously just a drop in the ocean. But officials are saying that they're hopeful that this is the start of something more sustained, more continuous.

The UN believes and hopes that potentially tomorrow or on Monday that more of their trucks could go through. Today those 20 trucks were Egyptian Red Crescent trucks. They drove through the Rafah Border Crossing. They unloaded that aid which, as you say, was food, water and medicine. Palestinian trucks then loaded the aid and drove it through to the Gaza side.

Now there's a meeting today of Arab leaders here in Cairo. It's called a Conference of Peace. President Sisi, the Egyptian president spoke in the last hour or so. He said, this is a welcome sign but it's not enough. We need to build on this and establish a sustained humanitarian corridor. We need a humanitarian ceasefire as well. And beyond that, we need to work on establishing some kind of a peace process, a two-state solution, so quite a long list of things that need to happen.

Right now there seems to be consensus, at least on that first step of trying to establish a more continuous or sustained humanitarian corridor, but there are conditionalities on all sides. And that is what is making it difficult. As you mentioned, the Israelis have been reluctant to allow fuel in. Fuel is needed to power generators. Generators are needed to keep the hospitals going. The hospitals at this stage are barely functioning. The fuel supplies according to one UN person who I was speaking to will be out or depleted in two or three days. So that is a vital resource that is desperately needed and negotiations ongoing to try to get at least 100 trucks in every single day, in what would be the beginning of a continuous corridor.

And hopefully eventually also, the establishment as the Israelis had previously mentioned, and also President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have some kind of humanitarian zone, where some of the 900,000 displaced people inside Gaza could find some refuge and some respite. We are still though a long way from that.

WALKER: So, like you said a lot of questions about the aid, how it's going to be distributed and, of course, will there be a sustained humanitarian corridor. What about the foreign nationals, Clarissa, who are waiting there at the border in Southern Gaza?

[08:05:03]

WARD: So they have been waiting there for many days now. The US Embassy in Cairo says there's at least 235 Americans among them, possibly more. Not to mention other foreign nationals as well. They've been trying to sleep near that border area, waking up early every day with the hope that potentially they might be evacuated. Obviously waking up this morning to the news that at 10:00 AM, Local Time, some of those trucks would be going in, and then getting the bad news that no international evacuations for today.

These people, obviously, have been through a horrific time over the last two weeks, continue bombardment, mass displacement, chaos, confusion, lack of basic vital supplies. They want to get out. At this stage it's not clear when they will get out. But again, the hope is that within the next couple of days, there would be an opportunity to get those foreign nationals out. That, of course, does not do anything to help the more than 2 million people who are still in Gaza and cannot get out. Not on the Israeli side and not on the Egyptian side.

BLACKWELL: Clarissa Ward with the latest there, joining us from Cairo. Thank you.

WALKER: Now, Abood Okal traveled to Gaza from Massachusetts with his wife and their one-year-old son Yousef on what was supposed to be a two-week trip to visit family. But obviously that quickly turned into a nightmare. Okal and his family are among the hundreds of Americans that have been trapped in Gaza since the attack by Hamas on Israel two weeks ago.

Abood Okal is joining me now over the phone. He is at the Rafah Border Crossing, obviously on the Gaza side. Rafah, tell me about your situation. I understand you have tried multiple times to get through but it's been unsuccessful, what's happening?

Abood, are you there? Abood Okal, it's Amara Walker in Atlanta. I'm just trying to see if you can hear us. Obviously, the connection there is going to be spotty as -- we do have him or we don't? OK, we do not have him, Abood Okal, obviously, a tough situation. We'll try to reconnect him.

Well, Hamas has released two American hostages, a mother and daughter, nearly two weeks after they were abducted.

Judith and Natalie Raanan were handed over at the Gaza border to Israel Defense Forces on Friday. Right now they're at in Israeli military base. They're going to be reunited of course with their family. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now from London.

Salma, tell us how this happened and what happens next?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this really does begin to offer a sliver of hope for potentially some 200 hostages that Israel says are being held inside Gaza. Judith and her 17-year-old daughter are soon going to make their way to the United States. They are Chicago natives. They were visiting their family in Southern Israel when this horrific, horrendous surprise assault by Hamas took place. They were released on humanitarian grounds, we understand.

Now, Qatar was the country that was primary in this release, in negotiating. This release Qatar being a major backer of Hamas and able to speak to that group on the ground, but there was a lot of wrangling, diplomatic wrangling that happens in order to get hostages out.

And President Biden has said that this is absolutely a priority for the US administration. He says he's been working around the clock to get more hostages out. But when you look at that situation on the ground, that must be absolutely horrifying for families who believe their loved ones are trapped inside Gaza, a place that is being bombed in besieged, hundreds of airstrikes falling there a day. I think there is a signal, a sign in this of hope. But again, it is that fear from Israeli officials that some of these hostages could be used as human shields that continues to worry families, and there is no letting up. There is no slowing down of Israel's military offensive that puts potentially many of these hostages in the crossfire.

Qatar says it's going to continue negotiations with Hamas. Egypt is involved as well in an attempt to try to get more hostages out. Hamas also released a statement saying that this is a sign of their goodwill, essentially a sign of showing that US-Israel are liars and that they're willing to let people out, especially because this is on humanitarian grounds. But again, serious concerns, serious worries, we're talking about potentially 200 hostages trapped in a warzone.

WALKER: All right. Salma Abdelaziz, appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much.

[08:10:03]

BLACKWELL: Israeli troops are still waiting for the expected order to start their Gaza ground assault. We'll discuss what that operation could look like, and the dangers for both the Israeli soldiers going in and for civilians in Gaza. Plus, President Biden makes the case for billions to aid Israel at this moment. What's in the request and which lawmakers are already coming out against it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: All right. We have reestablished our connection with Abood Okal. He's joining me now over the phone. He is an American citizen. He traveled from Massachusetts to Gaza for two week trip, now he is stuck there with his wife and one-year-old-son Yousef. Abood, appreciate you joining us, sir.

First off, you're at the Rafah Border Crossing. You tried multiple times to get through. Can you tell us what your situation is right now?

ABOOD OKAL, US CITIZEN STRANDED IN GAZA WITH FAMILY (via phone): Yes, absolutely. First of all, thanks for having us on. And we're at the Rafah Crossing right now. Based on instructions that we received late last night and again early this morning from the State Department that the crossing would be open and that we should head over there, for those American families that would like to exit.

[08:15:12]

So we followed that accordingly, and we came up here at the crossing. Have been here since 9:00 in the morning, and message said that it should open at 10:00. It's basically 3:15 right now and there's no sign of crossing open. That aid trucks have come through and have entered Gaza and yet, there is no updated information from the State Department or the US Embassy in Cairo regarding (inaudible).

This, as you mentioned, is our third or fourth attempt at least across least three confirmed messages from the State Department that we should head Rafah Crossing only to be taking this risky drive up here, burning whatever fuel reserves we have left in the cars, to try to get here, being in the sun all day, and then no communication thereafter. Only to have the sunset on us and basically force us to leave back to whatever we're sheltering for few of our lives as this is an extremely dangerous area.

WALKER: Yes, what a scary situation. Yes.

OKAL (via phone): -- the border then (inaudible) before.

WALKER: Yes. Your voice, Abood, sounds so calm and that's probably you being a father trying to keep your family together. You have a one- year-old son and your wife, we just saw photos of them. Where are they and where are you sheltering at night?

OKAL (via phone): Yes. This is -- we have no option, my wife and I, but to be strong. I think we would be in a different situation if we didn't have a one-year-old son with us. Basically have had to run for our lives. We -- being in northern Gaza with my wife's family at the beginning of the war, and then when the IDF announcement came in to basically asking everyone in northern Gaza to leave south for their safety and to save their lives.

We did -- we actually started diving down with no place to go down south. It's like asking someone to pick up from Massachusetts and go to Ohio in 24 hours, and just plan to be there indefinitely. So we're staying at a friend of a friend's house, someone that we've never met in our life, who happened to have their home close to the borders. We thought that strategic that we could stay close to the border because we have faith that the State Department would work on extracting us or getting us out of Gaza through some type of an arrangement.

We've been here for a week. We're staying in a normal single family home, two floors with about 40 people sharing everything we can share, from food to drinking water supplies. Because basically about a 1.1 million people were asked to leave northern Gaza and heads out, many of whom are in a similar situation like us, and including American, hundreds of American families that have made at the crossing that basically even some cases switch locations every night because they don't have a place to stay at.

WALKER: Ah, it has to be such a frightening situation as you're trying to keep your family. Abood. Let me ask you about the aid that you said you saw coming in from the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing. What have you seen and do you need aid?

OKAL (via phone): We've -- I couldn't tell what type of aid came in because all the trucks are covered. But I can tell you what I see whenever we have to make a run for food supplies for the household that were sheltering in, I can't find milk for my son. That's his main source of nutrition. I have to go to 6, 7, 8, different markets at times under shelling, during airstrikes to try to secure milk.

Drinking water, we basically find drinking water that's sufficient for a day or two at tops. As you know, there's -- power has been cut off from Gaza, water has been cut off, fuel has been cut off, so even the few filtration stations that generate drinking water have been shut down. Food supplies in the markets are basically running out.

And right now, another example is we ran out of cooking gas. So basically all of our food supply moving forward and has been for the last few days or had to rely on canned food or things that do not require cooking. Because it's either we rely on that as a source of nutrition or we light up firewood, which we are preparing for. This is kind of the frustration.

On one side, we're dealing with the war that is basically coming down on everyone in Gaza, including us and many of the hundred American families that happened to be visiting Gaza at a bad time to say. And then on the other side, we're having to prepare because we've been let down so far by the State Department of being at the borders and for extraction, or for exit into Egypt.

[08:20:11]

And it hasn't panned out. So we're also preparing ourselves for God knows how long this will drag. There's news of ground invasion that is imminent, and that's probably our biggest nightmare is also how to deal with this. We're trying to keep our one-year-old son safe as much as we can. We're trying to stay strong in front of him because he might not be able to comprehend everything that's happening, but he does pick up on fear. When an airstrike happens like it did yesterday about 100 meters away from where we are. The day before, the entire house shake. Walls cracked and the window shatter and fly glasses -- pieces of glass lay everywhere. And my wife jumps and every grownup jumps out of the house.

There is no way to try to fool a child that that is not safe. Despite that, we tried to we tried to stay calm with him and keep him, you know, isolated from this mess, this unfortunate.

WALKER: Abood, oh my gosh. You know, just to hear what you're going through, the uncertainty. How are you making it through each day, I mean, emotionally? And what are you and your wife saying to each other and how are you keeping safe? Is any place safe?

OKAL (via phone): There is no place that's safe. We left northern Gaza where bombing was a lot more intense than southern Gaza. We thought, relatively speaking. And we came to what was supposed to be a safe zone in southern Gaza Strip, Rafah. We're about 10 minutes away from the borders. And as I mentioned, the day before yesterday, there was a bombing, an airstrike about 100 meters away from the house.

There's constant shelling, constant airstrikes in the area where we are. So we pretty much are cooped up indoors all day. No power. Power, we rely on solar panels that last (inaudible) that we try to charge our phones so that we stay in touch with the outside world. And there's no internet, the entire internet network has been taken down. So we try to rely on cell phone signal.

We're fortunate that we have our US number roaming with us that we could pick up different cell phone providers that allow me to speak to you right now. But others are living completely in the dark. My wife and I tried to calm each other down every night. (Inaudible) sleepless nights since day one of the war.

I think my wife's biggest pain as well is we try to avoid seeing footage on the TV. We actually try to avoid watching news because when you see that man of civilians and innocent people, and life lost, and you see children among them, our biggest nightmare is that our son Yousef would be potentially one of those children one day. And that's something that we can think of.

We took us three years to have Yousef. We've been married for several years and had tried to make a baby and things didn't work out. And we had to go through artificial insemination and IVF basically, and three years of trying during COVID with many canceled cycles. For anyone who's been -- who's had to go through it, they can relate the emotional trauma that comes with it, and only to be in a situation where we're not even considering fear for our lives. We're mostly concerned about -- fear for our son's life.

So all -- dealing with all of this while not getting enough support from our US government is just unthinkable right now. It's the last thing that we thought (inaudible) the US government (inaudible) we thought we had no issues from day one that we were fortunate enough to exit, but that's not how things are translating on the ground. We keep getting promised that we'll cross over to Egypt and that's not happening.

And I don't know why we're stuck in this situation. We mourn every civilian and innocent life death on all sides, no matter what belief or religion, or faith they have, or even no faith at all. That's our moral values. That's how we've grown up as Palestinians. That's why I'm proud to be an American because that's what we live by. Yet, we feel like we're -- our lives has little to no value. (inaudible) does really want to get through things with all the mighty influence they have on all the different parties.

WALKER: Abood Okal, I really appreciate your time. And I do hope that you can get you and your family, and your precious son out of there safely.

[08:25:04]

And I do understand what it's like to try to have a baby and takes many years at the -- same situation for me. And I know what it's like to just appreciate your child even more because of the struggles. Abood Okal, we are thinking of you and we hope to see you once you crossover. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring it now Major General James "Spider" Marks. General, good to see you.

So, I obviously prepared a list of questions to ask you but you've been listening to that conversation. What's your reaction to what you just heard?

JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, FORMER US ARMY: Clearly, what was described as the human face of combat, human face war. It's timeless. It's been like this forever. Innocent folks get wrapped into it. And his predicament is clearly one that will not be resolved quickly if the gates are open, and he can get his family through God bless him. And we certainly would pray for that.

I look at this and I go, you know, the circumstance is horrible, it's tragic. All you need to do is go back to the Hamas leadership and say, okay, guys, you brought this upon yourself when you murdered 1,200 Israelis directly across the gates of Gaza. And this is where we are right now. So clearly, the timing is horrible for that great young American family visiting other family in Gaza.

So we need to pray and we need to work as hard as we can to ensure their release. But there will be, I would suspect, Victor, there will be a ground assault., It will occur, I would imagine, within the next day or so, who knows what the timing looks like. The IDF is building up its forces. It will probably be a ground assault that probably has multiple avenues of approach that all link up at the same location. In other words, you want to secure the perimeter of where you want to fight.

And then after you do that, and that's very swift, you then begin the reduction. Really there are three, I would say three targets. First, it's the political and military leadership of Hamas. The IDF knows who those folks are. If they have phones, they know where they're located. At least they know where the phones are located. And they're going to do their best to find those guys. I don't know if that's a capture or kill type mission. Probably it's a kill mission.

The second thing is, they need to be able to go after the, what I would call the command and control structure. That tunnel complex that allows Hamas to work with impunity and to maneuver, and to keep hostages in multiple locations and never the same location. And for them to conduct the necessary steps of command and control that they've had in place. And this is a tunnel complex that is immense, as we all understand, that is problem. That's the biggest problem that the IDF has to confront, because that's the one that's going to cause the most destruction.

And then the third thing is, they need to go after the kit -- the stuff, the mechanisms of war, the ammunition, the vehicles, the communications network, the cyber capability. So those are the three targets and that is an immensely difficult task, because this is urban warfare, which is the most difficult warfare of all.

And in our past, we know how hard that is. Comparisons have been made to Fallujah. This is going to be orders of magnitude more difficult, and bloody than Fallujah in Iraq in the early portions of the war, 2004-2005.

BLACKWELL: Do you think the freeing of those two American hostages yesterday delays the beginning of a potential grand incursion?

MARKS: That's certainly the intent, Victor, of Hamas, is they want to throw a bone and God bless those that mother and daughter that released. I mean, that's just a blessing. But clearly, what is also happening is, bear in mind that there are about 30 other nations that have hostages in Gaza. And I guarantee you those nations are now communicating with Israel and say, look, let's give a piece of chance here. We got two Americans out. Let's see if we can get some other folks out, which the clear intent there by Hamas is to pause, put a lid on at least the timing for the ground assault, maybe letting diplomacy come up with some type of a solution before the ground assault.

I'm not optimistic that that's the outcome, but at least you could pause it. So your question is spot on.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you to respond and react to something that the Israeli President Isaac Herzog told, I believe it's Kaitlan Collins last night about -- we've talked about Israel's demand that people move from the north of Gaza to the south as they target the north.

[08:30:00]

The W.H.O., many other organizations have said that it is impossible for that number of people to move. Also there are hospitals that are occupied by people who are or have been pushed out of their homes, patients as well. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY DANON, ISRAEL'S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: So we will try to minimize the civilian casualties. But we are determined to eliminate Hamas, it will not be easy. We encourage the tabulation to move out of Northern Gaza, because we intend to come in. And when we come in, we're going to hunt down Hamas, we will eradicate them. So the population must move south. They can ignore our warning, but then they shouldn't come in and blame anyone else by themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Blame no one but yourself if you cannot move south first, let me say that was the former ambassador to the U.N., not the president. But there are people who cannot move south. Second half of that is the IDF is still bombing the south.

So where are people supposed to go? And if we're blaming the people in the North for what happens, because they could not leave? Who's to blame when civilians die in the south where Israel has told them to go?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, the discussion of blame is an easy discussion to have, because fingers can point in 1,000 different directions. Right?

BLACKWELL: Let me remind everyone. Not my word.

MARKS: The issue is the terrorist organization. No, no, I got it. No, I got it. No, I'm just saying that when you talk about blame, it really goes to, Victor, is you have to speak about accountability for all of this. And what Israel is dealing with is a terrorist organization that essentially wraps itself and its own civilians. This is not a Palestinian issue. This is a Hamas issue. And Israel

would reinforce that. There will be targeting that takes place. There will be no intentional targeting to go after a hospital. We've already determined what happened to the hospital a few days ago, right? That was the Islamic Jihad that did that. That was not Israel.

Israel is a professional force. They will do everything in their power. And I've trained with the Israelis. They will do everything in their power to avoid civilian casualties. But civilian casualties will be an inevitability of combat in this type of area. And that is going to mitigate and will adjust the type of engagement profile that the Israelis take.

But it will also be one of those things that will not be totally eliminated. There will be civilian casualties. They have to -- they're trying to eliminate Hamas. There could be a discussion that says let's just turn northern Gaza into glass. I'm not optimistic. The Israelis are going to do that. They've got the capacity to do that. They've got some significant, you know, massive ordinates airblast weapons, the MOAB bomb that was used in Afghanistan and that thing could do some incredible damage.

I am confident that Israelis won't do that they. Till be targeted in terms of how they approach but yes, the very sad outcome is there will be civilian casualties.

BLACKWELL: Major General James "Spider" Marks, thank you so much. We'll take a break. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:17]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump has been dealt another big legal blow. Kenneth Chesebro and attorney who helped orchestrate the Trump campaigns 2020 fake electors plot in Georgia flipped and took a plea deal Friday. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to file false documents. Six other felony charges against him were dropped.

The Fulton County DA charged Trump and 18 others in the Georgia election subversion case as part of his plea deal. Chesebro gets no jail time but he must serve five years of probation and pay $5,000 in fines.

BLACKWELL: On Thursday, a former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell she also pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The former president now faces the prospect of both Powell and Chesebro taking the witness stand against it.

Let's bring in CNN senior legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig for some perspective. And what can happen next. Elie, on a Saturday morning, it's good to have you, sir. So what are these pleas mean for Donald Trump gives a little more on that.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Victor, anyway, you cut this, this is bad news for Donald Trump because prosecutors now have two new witnesses to people who were lawyers for or in favor of Donald Trump, people who were to varying extents insiders are present for key conversations, people who the prosecutors are now going to be able to put these two on the stand Chesebro and Powell and have them walk a jury through exactly what was happening on the inside of these criminal conspiracies.

And importantly, Victor, as part of these deals, both of these folks, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, have had to admit that yes, what I did was criminal. And yes, it was part of a broader conspiracy. And so these are two more problems that Donald Trump has to worry about. It's been a rough couple days for him.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they have to admit that what they did was wrong. They've got to write letters to the people of Georgia, but no jail time, relatively small fines and restitution. In the case of Chesebro, he pleaded guilty to a felony. But after completion of the probation and other elements, he can legally at some point say he was not convicted of a felony.

Are these reasonable deals and what do you think the message is to other members or other people who've been indicted there in Georgia?

HONIG: I think that's a very fair question to ask of the DA here, Victor. Look, the DA made a big deal at the time of these charges about how serious these crimes were. And yet now we've seen three people actually the two you've mentioned and also Scott Hall, all plead out and none of them have gotten a day in prison. They've all gotten probation deals or better.

By the way, the apology letters, just silly. That's not a normal part of this. The way you apologize is by admitting are guilty in court taking a plea and testifying.

[08:40:00]

I don't know what this apology letter stuff is. But I think it raises a question about just how much is the DA willing to give up to get their testimony? Now, it is normal prosecutors do give defendants sometimes very substantial breaks if their cooperation is important enough.

But I think the question is, is the prosecutor doing this here because the testimony is so important and so valuable? Or is the prosecutor doing this here to just make these cases go away to avoid having to try the early case, which now won't start it was supposed to start next week? And I think ultimately, that's a question that the DA want to answer. Are these fair deals, or are they overly lenient.

BLACKWEL: Speaking of next week, Michael Cohen will be on the stand. This is in the New York case related to the president allegedly through the Trump Organization manipulating the value of property. And, of course, this started in 2019 with Michael Cohen's congressional testimony alleging this he is obviously a problematic witness has admitted to lying in the past. Is he a net positive for prosecutors here do you think? HONIG: Well, that's going to be some kind of moment, Victor. When Michael Cohen walks into that courtroom that Donald Trump may choose to be there as well, there's obviously no love lost between them. You know, a lot of this started with Michael Cohen, as you said, he testified in Congress in 2019, that this is something the Trump organization would do.

To me the make or break question for Michael Cohen is, does he have the specifics because we know we've already heard Michael Cohen testify. This is sort of a pattern in practice that the Trump organization would over inflate their assets.

But what I want to see is, Can Michael Cohen pinpoint specific transactions that he was part of and explain that they were overinflated and that they were done specifically at Donald Trump's direction? As you say, Michael Cohen is a fraud witness. He does have those convictions for perjury and fraud, but I also think Michael Cohen has had a pretty sharp record since he turned on Trump of telling the truth and being supported in the things that he's alleged.

BLACKWELL: Elie Honig, good to see you. Thank you.

WALKER: President Biden wants Congress to sign off on billions in more aid to Israel but he's getting some pushback from progressives in his own party. We'll have more of that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:46:36]

WALKER: The Biden administration is asking Congress for $105 billion in security funding for Ukraine and Israel. Some of the money would also be for Taiwan and the U.S. southern border.

BLACKWELL: But the President has some work to do. First, the House is now on day 18 with no speaker so it can't even pass legislation. Second, dwindling support among Americans and Republican lawmakers too for Ukraine as the war in that country drags on. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the White House is well aware of these challenges as they asked for this 105 billion.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: They are and it's part of what factored into President Biden delivering a primetime address this week to make a direct appeal to Americans and build up support as these conflicts are ongoing. And as Americans have become more hesitant or more in doubt about the U.S. aid to these conflicts.

Now, this funding package that the White House has sent over to Congress is $105 billion. And it breaks down to the following which is $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, or a $9 billion for humanitarian aid and then to funding for the U.S.-Mexico border and the Indo Pacific region.

Now, the White House has believes that there is enough bipartisan support in Congress to get something like this through. But the big challenge in all of this is that the House remains without a speaker. House Republicans ended the week scrambling yet again, to find a speaker after pushing Republican Representative Jim Jordan out of the race.

Now there are new speaker hopefuls who will emerge in the coming days. And the question is whether they can get someone into that position so that this funding package can come to fruition and that this aid can get to Ukraine and Israel among the other asks.

Now the White House has called all this playing out on Capitol Hill quote, chaotic infighting, but it's chaotic infighting that they too have to grapple with as they tried to show the support. President Biden last week with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just yesterday over the phone where they again talked about support, as well as of the hostages still held by Hamas.

The two of them are going to remain close, as the President has said before, as all of this unfolds and really remains a challenge for the administration as they tried to show support for these conflicts. Amara, Victor.

WALKER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez. Thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: Right now there is a search for suspected killer a judge in Maryland was killed in what police call a targeted attack, what we're learning about this suspect and the reward being offered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:24]

BLACKWELL: In Maryland police are searching for the man they say shot and killed the judge outside his home.

WALKER: Authorities believe he targeted the judge over a custody battle. A $10,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to his capture. CNN's Danny Freeman is in Hagerstown, Maryland with more.

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DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, Victor, Amara, a really challenging and difficult end of week here in Hagerstown, Maryland is that all out manhunt continues for the person who shot and killed a state circuit court judge in his driveway went behind me. Law enforcement emphatically saying that this was a targeted killing specifically because of a ruling this judge had made earlier in the week.

So here's what we do know at this point. On Thursday, there was a divorce hearing here in Hagerstown, Maryland, Judge Andrew Wilkinson, he was presiding. He's 52 years old, had been a judge for nearly four years in this area. And he ruled on a custody battle in between Pedro Argote and his wife, he ultimately gave custody to the wife.

Well, then later around 8:00 p.m. this Judge Wilkinson was coming home. He was shot and killed right here in this driveway. He was killed while his wife and son were actually inside the home at the time. And police believe that it's specifically because of his ruling in that custody battle that he was killed.

Now this whole community here they really have been shocked and shaken by this incident. Take a listen to what the sheriff had to say about all of this on Friday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're, you know, we're small community here close knit so we pull together when something like this happens. So you know, it was a concerted effort last night. We had more resources than then we needed but that's all is a good thing.

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FREEMAN: Now Victor, Amara, law enforcement said their spare no resource when it comes to finding this judge's killer. They say that Pedro Argote might have been driving a silver Mercedes. They're using federal state and local law enforcement to try and track him down. They say at this point, he's considered armed and dangerous. Victor, Amara.

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BLACKWELL: Thank you, Danny and thank you for joining us this morning. We'll be back in about an hour.

WALKER: Newsroom starts at 10:00 a.m. Eastern with the latest from the Middle East. Smerconish is up next.

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