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CNN This Morning

House Pushing for Speaker; Tom Tugendhat is Interviewed about the War in Gaza; Off-Duty Pilot Tries to Cut Engine Power Mid-Flight. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 24, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Emmer is a yes. Everybody else is a no. This isn't one of the top issues within the conference right now, but what this underscores, this entire kind of range of issues, is that this isn't necessarily an issue-based election. This has been more of a personality run up to this point.

And the big question for Emmer, who is a member of leadership, who does have some high-profile support already, including former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, is, where does Trump stand? His endorsements haven't won out up to this point. He's zero for two right now in these races. However, Emmer and he have a history. And it's not exactly a great one. They've had some phone calls. Whether or not that will help him get over the line over the course of the day or days or weeks at this point, we'll have to wait and see.

Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Please, please don't say weeks, Phil.

Listen to what Donald Trump said when asked if he'd support Emmer's bid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Would you endorse Tom Emmer for speaker? He hasn't historically been your biggest fan, but he is the most likely candidate right now.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I think he's my biggest fan now because he called me yesterday and he told me, I'm your biggest fan. So, I don't know about that.

Well, we're looking at a lot of people. And, you know, I'm sort of trying to stay out of that as much as possible.

I said, there's only one person that can do it all the way. You know who that is? Jesus Christ. Jesus came down and said, I want to be speaker. He would do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That's a high bar. With us now, CNN's chief national affairs --

MATTINGLY: I don't think he's running. We'll see.

HARLOW: Analyst and "Early Start" anchor -

MATTINGLY: He wasn't there last night at the conference meeting.

HARLOW: Maybe today.

Kasie Hunt.

MATTINGLY: Maybe today.

HARLOW: Good morning.

OK.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Hi, guys.

HARLOW: OK.

So, Tom Emmer, Trump likes him. I thought it was interesting. I had to ask one of our --

HUNT: But he's no Jesus Christ, Poppy.

HARLOW: No. No. Nope. Nope.

HUNT: Sorry.

HARLOW: Like I said, high bar.

But I had said yesterday - I had asked about the fact that he and Austin Scott did vote to certify the election and does that hurt them in the conference. But then there's also the fact that he questioned a lot about the election. And that, for example, that amicus brief in Texas, back in 2020, a number of the efforts to try to overturn it.

Listen to this from then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM EMMER (R-MN): This president is making sure that he stays focused and his team stays focused on these - these questionable election practices that, you know, we're - we're going to find out if - if so and if it's accurate how much they skewed the outcome of the election in Georgia and elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So, he did vote to certify, but that brief in Texas was to basically throw out the results of the election in a number of swing states. So, I suppose he didn't upset the president too much, former president.

HUNT: Well, Poppy, look, I think - I think that that was in the context of, you know, when the Trump campaign was going through the legal challenges. And I think for a lot of Republicans in that period, they were willing to say, OK, sure, anyone has the right to go to court to talk about this stuff. Of course later we learned over time that the courts rejected all of these appeals, right?

And then you get to January of 2021 when we faced these certification questions and, of course, what happened on January 6th. And, you know, while Trump was up in New Hampshire saying those things that you showed about Emmer, saying, I'm not trying to get involved, like, only Jesus Christ could win, he was actually reposting later that day attacks against Emmer on his social media. So, it's clear that there's an issue here.

I -- you know, I think the challenge - you know, and, Phil, you've pointed this out, we don't fully understand how much influence Trump has here. He obviously wanted Jim Jordan to be speaker. He didn't have enough juice to get Jordan into the - to get him the gavel. I think it's more likely he does have enough juice in the conference to sink somebody that he doesn't want. And if he really applies himself to sinking Emmer's bid, that could happen.

But I do think that exhaustion factor is really setting in. And I think you saw last night member after member telling our team, look, we got to get this done. We are - we are over this. I think they are starting to see in their polling just how bad it looks for the American people and they are realizing that they're going to start to get punished for it if they don't actually move. Now, whether it's enough, you know, we'll see.

MATTINGLY: Yes, the pain threshold has been much higher than I suspected given the fact we're at 41 days.

HUNT: Me too.

MATTINGLY: But that's a great point. When are they going to break? It feels like it's about there. We'll have to wait and see.

Kasie Hunt, thank you, as always.

HUNT: Thanks, guys. Great to see you.

HARLOW: Also this update, a Russian court is extending pretrial detention for a U.S. journalist by another six weeks. Alsu Kurmasheva works in Prague for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She was arrested and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. That carries up to five years in prison. She went to Russia in May for a family emergency, but had both her U.S. and Russian passports confiscated in June while she was waiting for a flight home to the Czech Republic. She is now being ordered to remain in detention until the 5th of December. She is the second American journalist detained by Russia this year, along with Evan Gershkovich. We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

MATTINGLY: Well, an off duty pilot charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after trying to cut the power on an Alaska Airlines flight.

[06:35:05]

We're going to tell you what happened.

HARLOW: And CNN is on the ground in the West Bank where the war is driving a wedge between generations of trust between Jews and Palestinians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something is being cracked. That something is not the same anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett, live in Tel Aviv.

In the last hour we heard from one of the two Israeli hostages who were just released by Hamas with her daughter by her side. Yocheved Lifshitz told the world about what she experienced after being kidnapped by Hamas fighters on that horrific day, October 7th, that Saturday morning. Yocheved, along with Nurit Cooper were released last night after being held captive in Gaza for more than two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARONE LIFSHITZ, MOTHER RELEASED BY HAMAS: There are a huge -- huge network of tunnels underneath. It looks like a spider web.

When she first arrived, they told them that they are Muslims and they're not going to hurt them and that they shared -- they ate the same food that their -- that Hamas was eating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: This morning, Israel Defense Forces gave an update on the war effort. So, the IDF's latest update, 400 terror targets they say they struck yesterday, including Hamas commanders and numerous operatives. That's in the past 24 hours. We keep emphasizing this, over 400 in the past 24 hours. More than 250 in the 24 hours before that. That is the number of strikes going on in Gaza.

They are, by and large, incredibly priscisionly -- precision targeted at Hamas targets. And the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is actually here in Israel today. There's been a parade of world leaders coming through. The Dutch prime minister yesterday. The French prime minister today. Macron telling the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that France shares Israel's pain and understands what it's like to experience a terrorist attack. Of course, referring to the Bataclan. The French president is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And that should happen later on today. Of course, it is about 1:30 local time here in Tel Aviv.

I spoke to a woman who was taken hostage. And she was sure she wouldn't come out alive. Now, she didn't end up going to Gaza. She's here. She survived. She thought she would never see her children again. She was used as a human shield, she says, for a Hamas commander who actually surrendered. She's been reunited with her children, but, of course, so many lives - she says all the lives of the hostages around her, including her boyfriends, were lost. All were killed. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASMIN PORAT, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: I don't know from where I have this courage to do what I did, but the terrorists that talk Hebrew, he see me that I'm looking at them.

[06:40:08]

I, you know, I looked at them. Like, he told me, calm down, calm done, we don't want to kill you, we just want to take you to Gaza. And he tell me -- he asked me, you have friends from the police or the army? And I said to him, yes. So, he told me - so let's call one of them.

After two hours, the police is arrived. We saw jeeps. Everybody get to, you know, stress, the terrorists. Pull the guns, you know. Shots starting to - to happen between the both sides. And it's one, two, three. And then, wow, 100. We all -- after this end, the terrorists, we all lay, you know, lay down.

BURNETT: Lie down, yes.

There's a bruise. You have a bruise there.

PORAT: Yes. He - do like me -- like this. Not like - yes.

BURNETT: Yes.

PORAT: I feel something very hot. And then I understand that I'm really, really -- that's what - that's when things happened to me. I understand that I'm going to die. That I'm not -- it's not possible to get alive from this situation.

And because I was calling to the police, they know that there is woman with - with the name Yasmin. So, they told him, go with Yasmin outside. Put your clothes out. And it take four minutes. He put out of --

BURNETT: Pull off the vest.

PORAT: Of - yes. He was naked. And he's going with me slowly to the police.

BURNETT: An he's -- how does he go with you? How does he - how do you walk?

PORAT: He hold - he hold me in the back like this. OK. It's --

BURNETT: So it's like a - like - so you're a shield. PORAT: Yes, I'm a shield. Yes, a human shield. And he goes with me to my telephone (ph) the police, but it's taking us four minutes there -- everybody is -- and I'm telling them, don't shoot, don't shoot because I -

BURNETT: What does the Hamas do then? Do they see him then do that?

PORAT: They see him. And they -- they told him that they will - if we were going to do this, they will shoot him. But they didn't do that.

BURNETT: And they didn't do it?

PORAT: Yes. They --

BURNETT: I guess you'll never know why.

PORAT: Yes. Because I - no one there stayed alive (ph).

And then we are two meter (ph) from there and I - 20 policemen from Israel, he pushed me a little bit. I'm running to the police. He get arrested. And I'm safe.

But I understand that my boyfriend and the others are still there with 40 terrorists because just one surrendered.

Three days after the attack, they - they have an announcement. And that's it. And he was dead. And everybody was dead.

I think it's a dream that maybe I'm going to wake up. I don't understand it.

BURNETT: Yes.

PORAT: You understand what I'm saying?

BURNETT: Yes. Yes, I do.

PORAT: I know the - I know the information, but I don't feel the information. I know he's dead, but I -- I think he's OK.

BURNETT: You can't feel yet? Do you - he's not -- you don't have the emotions yet.

PORAT: I don't - yes, I don't - yes. Sometimes I have the emotion, but most of the time I living in denial but I know I'm in denial but it's not -- because it's weird for me that he's gone. He was younger than me. I'm 44 and he's 37. So, it's weird to me that you won't get to my age today, you understand.

BURNETT: He'll never be 44.

PORAT: Yes. Never. Never be 40. It's very strange.

BURNETT: Never be 40.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: This is the trauma that she's going through. Of course, she - she did say that Hamas, as she described him, a commander, did turn himself over. All of the other hostages, except for her and an older woman, were killed that were in that group. Every single one of them, including her boyfriend.

Well, the White House says it does not believe that this is the time for a ceasefire. Although, of course, these words start to become confusing because of course there has been a serious delay in a full- on assault. The White House, though, is calling on Hamas to release all of the hostages held in Gaza before any talk of an actual ceasefire as, of course, constant bombing rains down on Gaza.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council will meet this morning to address the situation in the Middle East. The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will be there. We'll be speaking with someone else who will be in that room. That's ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:38]

HARLOW: Happening this morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will participate in a U.N. Security Council ministerial on the situation in the Middle East, the war. This comes as the Biden administration is calling on Hamas to release all hostages being held in Gaza before any discussion of a ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should get - no, we should have a ceasefire - not a ceasefire, we should have those hostages released, and then we can talk.

JOHN KIRBY, NSC SPOKESMAN: That needs to be the first move here, they've got to release all the hostages. We're not talking about a ceasefire right now. In fact we're - we don't believe that this is the time for a ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Up to this point, four hostages have been released but more than 200 people are still being held in Gaza. And that includes British nationals according to the U.K. government.

Joining us now is Britain's security minister, Tom Tugendhat. This morning he'll be speaking at the U.N. Security Council meeting on the Middle Ease.

Sir, we appreciate your time this morning.

I want to start with the idea of the ceasefire, the balance between humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, trying to separate them from Hamas, and last night another 400 strikes as the Israelis prepare for what appears to be a ground incursion. We don't have a timeline on it yet.

Do you believe -- or do you agree with the president that a ceasefire simply can't be on the table so long as hostages are still being held?

TOM TUGENDHAT, BRITISH SECURITY MINISTER: So, the British government has been absolutely clear about this. The cause of this incident, this awful moment, is Hamas. Hamas has captured Israeli citizens, has brutalized Palestinian people, has murdered Israeli civilians only 17 days ago. And what the U.K. government supports is extremely clearly, the right of the Israeli government to defend itself, to defend itself people against, let's be clear what it was, the largest pogrom we've seen since 1945.

So, this is an absolutely horrific moment in Israeli history and the Israeli government has the right to defend itself.

We're also, of course, calling for the ability of aid to get into Gaza. And that's why the British government has committed some $40 million to aid for the Palestinian people, who are, of course, victims of this gruesome Hamas regime as well.

HARLOW: You have such experience in the region. Not only did you deploy to both Iraq and Afghanistan, you served as an officer, as an Arabic speaking intelligence officer in the Middle East.

There is concern, CNN's reporting has it, and "The New York Times" has it, just concern among those in the Biden administration that Israel has not yet expressed, at least publicly, a clear objective if they are able to wipe out Hamas, what the end goal is in Gaza for the long- term. CNN's reporting is that the U.S. and its allies has been urging Israel to be strategic and clear about those goals.

What would you say to that and what we've learned in the past in Iraq, for example, and Afghanistan, about the end game is?

TUGENDHAT: So, I think we all know that the military operation is not the end game. The end game is a peaceful, sustainable situation. But we also know that Hamas is not a partner in that peace. We've seen the Iranian money that has funded Hamas into murdering not just Israelis but Palestinians. We've seen the Iranian money that's gone into Hezbollah and other organizations in the regions, including the Houthis that have murdered Saudis. And we've seen this pattern of violence that means that we know that Hamas is not a partner for peace.

Now of course it's true that what we need to see is a peaceful resolution of this conflict so that Palestinians and Israelis can live together. But I'm not going to be giving military advice to people like General Ganc (ph), who have done an extraordinary job in defending Israel.

[06:50:02]

HARLOW: Beyond - beyond the now, the question is, you heard President Biden say on "60 Minutes" that it would not be wise to have a reoccupation of Gaza by the Israeli military. So - so then what long term for Gaza and the Palestinian people there?

TUGENDHAT: Well, that's exactly why the prime minister of United Kingdom and the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, have been going around the region. Our foreign secretary has been in Qatar, in Egypt, in Jordan, in Turkey and many other places talking to leaders and talking to partners in search of peace. Because you're absolutely right, the reality is, what we need to see is we need to see the Palestinian people able to govern themselves and the Israeli people able to live in safety and security alongside them. And that's exactly what the U.K. government is working towards. That's exactly why I'm here to talk to the United Nations because we can only do that if we work with partners and allies, including, of course, important allies in the region.

MATTINGLY: I think the geopolitical kind of power play to some degree, or power plays plural, will be on display at the U.N. Security Council. That's not new, but I think it will be pretty vivid today to some degree, but also in the travels that you were talking about, U.S. officials, U.K. officials around the region. There are new players, there are new leaders and there are vacuums, to some degree, that have been filled over the course of the last couple of years. When it comes to spillover and concerns about escalation, how significant is that to you and the U.K. government right now?

TUGENDHAT: Well, the U.K. government is always worried about conflicts escalating. It's one of the reasons why our foreign secretary devotes so much time and effort into building up diplomatic partnerships in the region. We have some extremely close partnerships in the region. Allies like Jordan and Egypt have been extremely important partners for many years, as they have been in different ways for you, too.

And so what we're looking to do is to make sure that we're working together with others so that we can resolve this crisis, we can get aid into the Palestinian people, we can get security to the Israeli people, and we can resolve this without it escalating.

But let's be absolutely clear who wants this to escalate. It's not Israel, it's not even the Palestinian people, it's Iran and Hamas who want this to escalate. And it's up to the free counties, the countries like ours and our partners in the region, to make sure that escalation does not happen because if there's one piece of advice you should always follow is don't do what Iran wants you to do.

HARLOW: To that point about funding Hamas and Iran, Wally Adeyemo, the deputy treasury secretary, just confirmed to me he is going to Europe later this week to specifically meet with European leaders about what can be done to go after Hamas' financial network with such backing from Iran. What more do you think can be done on that front?

TUGENDHAT: Well, this is a conversation that we have with partners in many different ways. And clearly closing down finance networks that fund terror groups like Hamas is incredibly important. And it's something we devote an awful lot of time to. But, of course, terror groups also devote time to and try to use new currencies and new systems to get around it. And that's why we constantly got to update our systems, constantly got to update our laws to make sure that we're working alongside partners like the United States, but also the European Union and many partners in the region to close down those routes, those funding channels that don't just fund terror in Israel, but also fund -- let's not beat any - let's not, you know, skip over it, the murder and brutalization of the Palestinian people.

Hamas is an organization that has literally dug up water pipes to turn them into rockets. It has stolen aid off the Palestinian people while its leadership lives in luxury abroad. This is a brutal regime that has done more to destroy the lives of Palestinians than anything else.

HARLOW: British Secretary Minister Tom Tugendhat, thank you. We know you have a big day at the U.N. I'm glad you're here.

TUGENDHAT: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, an off duty Alaska Airlines pilot is accused of trying to cut engine power on a flight. We're going to tell you how, and the crew's quick response that saved everyone on board.

HARLOW: Take a look at these pictures. A deadly crash in Louisiana involving more than 150 vehicles. How super fog managed to cause so much devastation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:16]

MATTINGLY: An Alaska Airlines pilot is being charged with 83 counts of attempted murder for trying to shut down a plane's engines mid-flight. Joseph Emerson was off duty Sunday and sitting in the jump seat when authorities say he tried to cut fuel to the engines by pulling the fire extinguisher handles. That's when the crew jumped into action, quickly resetting the handles to keep the engines from failing completely and subduing Emerson.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now.

Pete, this is a horrifying incident. What are authorities saying right now?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're learning a lot more about the nature of this incident, Phil. Actually a passenger says a flight attendant announced to the plane that Emerson appeared to have a breakdown of some sort. And that same passenger actually saw Emerson and said he looked well kept but, quote, "dead in the eyes."

Now, Emerson was an Alaska Airlines pilot flying on this Alaska Airlines regional flight in what's known as the jump seat. That's a small, third seat in the cockpit. It's behind the captain of the first officer. It is used all the time by airline employees, often to commute between their home cities and bigger airline hubs.

Now, this flight left Paine Field, near Seattle, in Everett on Sunday afternoon. It was bound for San Francisco. And at 31,000 feet, the pilots radioed air traffic controllers in Seattle to declare an emergency. And I want you to listen now to what they said after the captain and first officer subdued Emerson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PILOT: We got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit, and he doesn't sound like he's causing any issues in the back right now. I think he's subdued. Other than that, you know, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and parked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: This flight diverted to Portland, Oregon, where police met the plane and arrested Emerson. He's now charged with 83 counts of attempted murder, one count for each person on the plane, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, one count of endangering an aircraft.

Now, sources are stressing to us overnight that this had no link to terrorism. The FAA is telling airlines it's not in any way connected to world events. And the FBI says there's no continuing threat.

But one more interesting detail here, Phil. Alaska Airlines says Emerson attempted to engage the engine fire suppression system for both of the engines on this Embraer 175. When that system is first engaged, it first cuts fuel off to the respective engine causing that engine to begin to shut down. Those big red tea handles there you see at the top of the screen.

Now, Alaska Airlines says the captain and first officer acted really quickly to reset that system. And that kept the engines from failing completely.

Phil.

HARLOW: Wow. Pete Muntean, thank you for the reporting. Pretty scary.

CNN THIS MORNING continues now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Two women release after being held hostage by Hamas for more than two weeks.

[07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't even express how happy I am and relieved to see her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a small ray of light in a big story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The story is not over.