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CNN This Morning

Israel Expands Ground Operations to Whole of Gaza; Trump Says, Biden is Destroyer of Democracy; Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) Says, GOP Has Votes for Biden Impeachment Inquiry. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 04, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israeli military is expanding its ground operations across most of Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel is shifting its focus towards the south.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Southern Lebanon echoing with the thud of incoming artillery from Israel, a cross-border artillery duel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An American warship shot down two drones in the Red Sea and responded after a ballistic -- vessel.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: As Israel defends itself, it matters how.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brutality and callousness across the Gaza Strip, nowhere is safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump tries to flip the script.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Joe Biden is the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- into dictatorship in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is bringing the fight to a place that is good for Joe Biden. It's about who is protecting your freedoms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Six weeks from the Iowa caucuses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Theoretically, he has done everything to -- the state, and yet he appears to be in the same position.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nikki Haley is the most underestimated politician.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Republican primaries are not totally settled.

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone. I'm Phil Mattingly with Poppy Harlow in New York.

And brand new overnight, the Israeli military ramping up airstrikes after announcing it would expand its ground operations to the entire Gaza Strip. That, of course, includes the south where many civilians have fled and are taking shelter.

This morning, we're tracking a growing threat of this war spreading into a wider regional conflict.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And to that point, in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said a U.S. Navy destroyer came to the rescue of three commercial ships that were attacked with drones and ballistic missiles. U.S. officials say the destroyer shot down multiple drones that were launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

We are also keeping a close eye on Israel's northern border this morning, its border Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah and striking targets with fighter jets. And new this morning, the IDF says three Israeli soldiers were hurt by mortar shells fired from Lebanon.

MATTINGLY: Let's start this morning with CNN's Ben Wedeman who is live for us in Jerusalem. Ben, given the fact Israel is saying -- Gaza Strip attention between U.S. and Israeli officials about -- where the civilians are supposed to go now?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's not at all clear. Actually, we know that about 80 percent of the population of Gaza has already been displaced, many of them to the south.

Now, over the weekend, the Israeli military put out on social media a map breaking Gaza up into hundreds of numbered blocks. and on that map is a Q.R. code which people can get on to and see perhaps where they can go that might be safe, where they should leave if it's not going to be safe. The problem is many people in Gaza don't have electricity to power their phones and, secondly, oftentimes, the internet connection is very spotty.

And, certainly, what we've seen is a mounting death toll in Gaza. According the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in a 24-hour period between Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, 316 people were killed, 664 injured.

Now, of course, they always say it's the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, but these are numbers that are widely recognized as fairly accurate. And what we know is that over the weekend, the death toll from the 7th of October in Gaza has now exceeded 15,000.

In fact, this morning I was speaking with a Gaza resident who told me at the beginning of the war, the Israelis were warning people to leave a building, then that building without be struck. He said that that's no longer the case, more or less, and that when the Israelis strike, they don't strike one building, they take out an entire block. And that's certainly what we've seen in places like the Jabalya refugee camp, which is north of Gaza City, and the Shuja'iyya District, which is just to the east of Gaza City. Phil, Poppy?

HARLOW: Ben, to the north, how significant is the shelling that has been going all weekend and continues today between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon? What does it mean?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly what it means, and Hezbollah actually observed the seven-day truce between Hamas and Israel. But once the truce ended on Friday morning, they started to open fire again. And what we're seeing is it's been fairly intense back and forth between Israel and Hezbollah.

Now, until now, both sides seemed to be following what are termed the rules of engagement, whereby Hezbollah only hits targets close to the border on the Israeli side and vice versa.

[07:05:00]

This is sort of perhaps Hezbollah's way of saying, yes, we are part of the fight. We are helping Gaza, but they don't seem to want it to go so far that it might ignite a full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel, given that many people in Lebanon still recall the level of destruction wreaked upon Lebanon during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Poppy, Phil?

HARLOW: Ben, thank you so much for your reporting, especially given all your experience in Lebanon as well. We'll get back to you soon.

MATTINGLY: Ben was just talking about fears of escalation, and they are growing after a U.S. Navy destroyer shot down three drones in the Red Sea yesterday. That is according to the Pentagon. We're told it was part of a sustained attack that saw three commercial vessels come under fire in international waters, and it's yet another potential escalation between the American military and Iranian-backed militants.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN Military Analyst, retired General Mark Hertling.

General Hertling, I think one of the parts of the pause in the hostage exchanges that maybe didn't get the appreciation was that the hostilities and possibility of an expansion and escalation also simmered for that moment. That's changing now. What's the risk here?

GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: And what's interesting about this is it seems that someone, perhaps Iran, told the various rebel, wow, let's see what happens and let's see how long we can keep this pause in place. What we're seeing now is an increase in firing of rockets and missiles from both Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.

You know, the incident this weekend with USS Carney, the Carney is one of multiple ships and one of two carrier strike groups, and they happen to be positioned and have maneuvered in probably one of the hottest spots around the middle of the Gulf of Aden. They are intercepting, they have a lot of air defense capability on board, that Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and they are doing a great job. But they've seen a significant fight in that area, intercepting missiles coming out of Yemen.

HARLOW: Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, with quite a stark warning over the weekend about, again, back to what Blinken has said and Kamala Harris, the vice president, has said, how Israel does this matter? So, let's listen to the defense secretary.

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LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You see, in this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat. So, I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative.

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HARLOW: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been pretty supportive of Lloyd Austin, really went after him in his interview with Dana Bash on CNN yesterday. Listen to what he said about that.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I've just lost all confidence in this guy. How about folks protecting our soldiers, men and women in Syria and Iraq? Strategic defeat would be inflaming the Palestinians. They're already inflamed. They're taught from the time they're born to hate the Jews and to kill them.

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HARLOW: General, Dana pushed back on him and said, what about this issue that you talked about that General Stanley McChrystal talked about of insurgent math? And she was so spot on to do that. Can you explain what that means and what Lloyd Austin is saying here?

HERTLING: Yes, I can, Poppy. And, first, what I'd like to do is give a disclaimer. Austin -- Secretary Austin is both a friend. He was my commander in combat in Iraq, and he's a West Point classmate. I know him well, so I'm a little bit biased. But he was exactly right in terms of what he said. It's an accurate and informed statement that tactical victories in a counterinsurgency operation can turn into this strategic defeat if the force, the fighting force, ignores the treatment of civilians. We learned that multiple times in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Insurgency math, as you pointed out, and Dana Bastard did a great job in doing that yesterday, it says that in an insurgency, you can't kill your way to victory. You have to consider the effects of your actions on future generations, how many more insurgents you're generating by your actions, what kind of hatred does a population have. Now, Senator Graham was right. The issues in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and in other places had been inflamed over the years, and there's a lot of political background. But that's because the Palestinian people have not been treated correctly by politicians, both on their side and on opposite sides.

Austin spent ten years in combat learning the implications of insurgency math, how if you kill so many, many more will come to the aid of the insurgents.

And, unfortunately, that's what the United States and President Biden has been trying to discuss with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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Unfortunately, the Israeli government wants to kill this threat on their border within their own country. And they're on the horns of a dilemma, on a razor's edge, on how do you kill a vile terrorist organization that is using the people as human shields wherever they move? And that's why this operation is likely going to expand in the center and the southern part of Gaza, because as the civilian population has moved, so has the Hamas terrorist.

As you watch the films -- final point I'll make, as you watch the films, there are a lot of what many call military-age males walking around those streets. You don't see a lot of women and children in some of those photographs that are coming out of Gaza. How do you differentiate between the Hamas terrorist and the innocent Palestinian civilians in those areas? It's very difficult in an insurgency operation.

HARLOW: General Hertling, thank you for your expertise this morning.

HERTLING: My pleasure, Poppy and Phil. Have a good day.

HARLOW: You too.

MATTINGLY: Well, Donald Trump is calling President Biden the, quote, destroyer of democracy. We will tell you what else he's saying and who else he's targeting with just six weeks until the Iowa caucuses.

HARLOW: And House GOP has one fewer member, but Speaker Johnson says they still have the vote to open an impeachment inquiry officially into President Biden. We'll explain next.

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HARLOW: So, if you can't believe it, that is a clock to show you that we are six weeks away from the Iowa caucuses. And as President Biden sharpens his attacks against his likely and repeat opponent, Donald Trump, the man facing multiple criminal investigations, including an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, is now flipping the script, accusing Biden of being a huge threat to democracy.

Kristen Holmes joins us now with this reporting. Good morning.

It was really interesting to see him do this over the weekend.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. And I do want to note those signs that we just showed pictures of, those were handed out at that Trump event before he took the stage. Clearly, they are pushing this messaging, and a lot of this is coming from the fact that Trump and his advisers are growing increasingly confident that the former president will not only just win Iowa but that he will also be the Republican nominee, and they want to set the stage for a general election.

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HOLMES (voice over): There's six weeks until the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, but GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is already signaling a pivot to a potential general election matchup.

TRUMP: Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy.

HOLMES: In Iowa, offering his most forceful rebuttal yet to President Joe Biden's argument that a second Trump term would threaten American democracy.

TRUMP: Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.

Thank you very much.

HOLMES: Trump, facing felony charges over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, claiming it was Biden who posed the threat to the country.

TRUMP: They're the wreckers of the American dream. The American dream is dead with them in office. It's sad.

HOLMES: Trump also continuing his renewed attacks on the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

TRUMP: We're going to fix it because it's a catastrophe for family budgets.

HOLMES: His GOP rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, saying he too would seek to replace the health care system that millions of Americans depend on.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Obamacare hasn't worked. We are going to replace and supersede with a better plan.

HOLMES: Democrats seizing on the threats made by Republican candidates, the Biden campaign airing this ad in battleground states.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The idea that we could go back to the policies that helped the rich get richer and left so many people behind, I don't want to go back.

HOLMES: While Trump and Biden are both looking towards the general election, Trump still needs to beat out his GOP rivals for his party's nomination, DeSantis, still trailing Trump in the polls, also in Iowa this weekend, completing his tour of the state's 99 counties, as he pins his presidential hopes on a strong showing in the Hawkeye State.

DESANTIS: By the fact that I'm willing to do this, that should show you that I consider myself a servant, not a ruler. And that's how people that get elected should consider themselves.

HOLMES: The Florida governor projecting confidence that he'll win Iowa, and with it, the nomination.

DESANTIS: We're going to win Iowa. I think it's going to help propel us to the nomination.

HOLMES: Despite a weekend of internal drama, three top staffers exiting the main super PAC supporting his campaign efforts in what one source characterized as firings.

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HOLMES (on camera): And, Poppy, as DeSantis is facing all of this inner turmoil, Nikki Haley has seen a surge in her campaign. And if those polls are correct, it would still be hard for her to beat Donald Trump. It's just too short of an amount of time right now. But, of course, anything could happen. And as we know, Iowa can be a wild card.

HARLOW: There you go. Kristen Holmes, thanks for the reporting.

MATTINGLY: Well, House Republicans are starting off this week, one member short after George Santos was ousted on Friday. Speaker Mike Johnson is now turning his focus to his party's hard liners all while pushing forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill.

Look, I think, you know, again, George Santos, we miss you. We don't. The big question I have is on the impeachment inquiry itself. Does Johnson have the support from the moderates?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is the key question, Phil. And this is obviously just another piece of evidence that we have seen that Johnson is really trying to manage this very delicate balance between giving his right flank something that they're excited about and ensuring that his moderate members have what they need in their re-elections.

Right now, the question is, does he have the votes to move forward with an impeachment inquiry? There was obviously a moment in which former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made the decision that he did not need to move forward with that vote on the House floor.

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What you are hearing now from some moderate members or at least some members who are running in swing districts is the question of whether or not there is enough evidence. That may not be the case yet in their minds, but they do believe that this is an important step in case the House has to go to court in order to get documents and interviews that they want for their impeachment inquiry.

And their argument is this is an important step forward. If we have to go to court, we have to show some precedent that we took every step necessary to try and get this information.

So, they believe that this really strengthens their case in court, which is why some moderates are starting to show an openness.

That doesn't mean that the votes are there yet. Obviously, we're going to be keeping very close track of where things stand. You have people like Representative Ken Buck who still say they are opposed to moving forward with this, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Lauren, just from a -- it has only been a matter of weeks, I'm sure it's felt like years, to some degree, for the new speaker, how behind-the-scenes is he dealing with this very, very divided conference?

FOX: Yes. Obviously, this is part of the very difficult task for the House speaker, and it was going to be true of any speaker. Our colleagues, Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona and Annie Grayer have this great piece out this morning that really lays out behind the scenes how Johnson is trying to make inroads with his right flank, knowing that there are going to be moments where he's going to disappoint them.

One of those members, Chip Roy, has made his dissatisfaction extremely clear on the House floor, repeatedly going after House Republicans and saying that they haven't really accomplished anything all year. That's a really hard sell when you are out on the campaign trail trying to run for re-election, when you have one of your own members saying there hasn't even been an accomplishment for House Republicans to point to.

Obviously, this is only going to get harder for Johnson as he has to move forward with the National Defense Authorization Act, which has major differences with the Senate, and also as he moves forward with what he is going to do when it comes to Ukraine funding, Israel funding, and the like. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thank you.

HARLOW: A busy couple weeks ahead.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

HARLOW: A father on his deathbed reveals something so shocking about a heist of a bank that was unsolved for five decades. His daughter joins us next to talk about her father's double life.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why? What would it prove, Tommy? You don't need the money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the money. It's not the money. It's me. It's me and the system.

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That was, of course, Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen in the 1968 bank heist classic The Thomas Crown Affair.

Now, authorities say that movie was inspired by a bank teller to commit one of the largest and most mysterious bank heists in Ohio history. His name was Theodore Conrad.

Investigators say that in July of 1969, he ended his shift, he walked out of the bank with $215,000 in a paper bag, and he vanished. For context, that's the equivalent of about $1.7 million today.

But for more than 50 years, no one knew he'd done it, not until his daughter says he confessed to her on his deathbed just weeks before passing away from lung cancer in 2021. To her, he was dad, known under a different name, Thomas Randele. Now, his daughter, Ashley, is sharing her story in a new podcast, debuting today called Smoke Screen, My Fugitive Dad.

And Ashley Randele joins us now. Ashley, we really appreciate you joining us this morning.

I think this story is -- one, it's wild, but, two, people are completely fascinated by it. And I guess the question is the idea of doing the podcast. Why did you decide that this was how you wanted to do this?

ASHLEY RANDELE, FATHER ADMITTED ON DEATHBED HE WAS A FUGITIVE: Thank you so much for having me. I knew that it was really important to tell my dad's whole story. There's so much more to a life than just one moment when you're 20 years old. And I think that finding Jonathan Hirsch (ph), who's my co-host on My Fugitive Dad, really gave me the opportunity to tell this compelling story in an exciting medium.

Podcasting allows incredible storytelling. It really feels like you're listening to a movie when you listen to this podcast.

MATTINGLY: And I also think that the story itself feels like it's a movie on several different points throughout, including -- I want to start with how you actually found this out. You talk about how your father was -- you guys watched NCIS and crime shows very regularly, and that was watching an episode of NCIS in 2021 was how this first came to your attention. Explain.

RANDELE: It was. My mom, dad and I were sitting in the living room watching NCIS, and he looked over at us and really calmly said, ladies, just in case anything ever comes up, I had to change my name when I moved here. The authorities are probably still looking for me. I don't want to talk about it, but just so you know, in case it ever comes up, you're not blindsided. And then we went back to NCIS.

MATTINGLY: Okay. And then what?

RANDELE: So, I realized that that was actually not enough information. And the next day, I sat down with him alone and really pushed him on finding out his name. If his name wasn't Tom Randele, I deserved to know my father's name and that I deserved to know my name. And he finally said that he would tell me as long as I promised not to look into it. And that's when he told me that his name was Ted Conrad.

I obviously did not listen to him and I did look into it. And that night at about 2:30 in the morning, alone in my childhood bedroom, I looked up Ted Conrad and then put in the word, missing, figuring it's been 50 years somebody might be looking for him. And that's when I saw the headline, like vault teller heist, and I was absolutely floored, like could not have been more shocked.

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