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New Israeli Airstrikes In Southern And Eastern Lebanon; U.S. Sees Possibility Of Israeli Ground Incursion Into Lebanon; Israel, Hezbollah Trade More Cross-Border Fire Overnight; Israel On High-Alert For Possible Retaliation After Nasrallah Killing; At Least 62 Deaths, 2.5 Million Without Power In Helene Aftermath. U.S. Sees Possibility Of Israeli Ground Incursion Into Lebanon; Trump, Harris Back On The Campaign Trail Today To Wrap Busy Weekend; New Israeli Airstrikes In Eastern And Southern Lebanon; Robinson Treated For Second Degree Burns; 120+ Dead In Nepal After Two Days Of Heavy Rain; SpaceX Launches Rescue Mission To ISS. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 29, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:42]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta. Jim Sciutto is live in Tel Aviv as we continue to follow breaking news out of the Middle East.

Fears are growing that the exchange of fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon could turn into a ground incursion and potentially a regional war.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. U.S. officials say Israeli troops have mobilized at Israel's northern border in preparation for a possible ground offensive. Israel says that crossing the border is only one option it is now considering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. PETER LERNER, IDF SPOKESMAN: We need to understand there's a huge amount of different tools that we have in our toolbox. Ground operations is one of them. We are preparing for that if it is required, if we receive the instructions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The IDF has not let up in its air offensive. Lebanese officials say four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.

In Beirut, smoke visible above the skyline this morning. Several Israeli airstrikes have hit the capital in recent days including, of course, the one that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Saturday's strikes in Lebanon reportedly killed more than 30 people and wounded close to 200 others. Caught in the middle of it all, the residents of Beirut. More than a million have been displaced by those strikes since Monday. Hundreds of families have now resorted to sleeping on beaches and in public squares. Health care workers say they are now stretched to their limits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MOHAMMED DAOUD, TRAUMA SURGEON (through translator): The number, extent, and severity of the injuries that we've seen, which I believe the whole world has seen, are terrifying. The medical and nursing staff are overwhelmed and we appeal to international organizations for help. Our survival depends on it.

MARWA QUBAISI, NURSE (through translator): We left our families, our children, everyone so that we could provide humanitarian and nursing services and standby our people who are sacrificing, who lost their homes and were forced to leave. It's very tiring. We worked 36 hours, without sleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is standing by in northern Israel. We begin, though, this morning in Beirut with Jomana Karadsheh. Jomana, the airstrikes continuing today. I wonder if you could describe the situation in Beirut, including civilian casualties.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Jim, we are right on the edge of the southern suburbs of Beirut that has been the focus of these intense Israeli airstrikes especially in the past 48 hours, almost. These airstrikes continuing and as a result of that we have seen this mass exodus of civilians, of the people of the area known as Dahiyeh, Beirut.

And I think you can see behind me -- right now, we're starting -- we're still seeing people who are either now getting the chance to leave with the little they can carry or who have tried to go back and pick up some belongings and get out of there.

We're right outside a school that has been turned into a shelter. This is one of several of those shelters around Beirut. But the authorities are struggling to keep up with the number of people who have been displaced.

In a matter of days, Jim, according to authorities, about a million people have been displaced across Lebanon. Mostly in the southern part of the country. The southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as the eastern part of the country. And if you look at Beirut's southern suburbs this is one of the most densely populated areas, or was of Beirut.

It had Hezbollah presence. As we saw this is where the Israelis killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders of the group. But it is also home to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who have now been forced out of their homes. As I mentioned, some are in the schools but then you also have so many others who don't know where they are going to go. [06:05:05]

For days now, they have been on the street. I mean, just a short time ago, we were in central Beirut in the heart of the capital, and we found people still camped outside on pavements, in parks, families with little children.

We spoke to Lebanese families, Syrian refugees who have been in this country for 10 years, who fled the civil war in their country and now they're here displaced again with nowhere to go. We met migrant workers from Bangladesh, from Ethiopia, an absolutely desperate situation.

And we're talking about people on the streets with no toilets, no facilities. I mean, we heard from some people saying they've had to go down to the sea to wash because they have nowhere else to go.

And I met an elderly woman from Syria. And she said that she fled the airstrikes. She didn't even have shoes on. All she grabbed was a little plastic bag with her medications and a little pack of tissues because that's what she does to survive. She sells those tissues, Jim, and she lives off of that.

And now she broke down crying, saying she just doesn't know what is going to happen to them now. She doesn't have a home in Syria. It was destroyed in the civil war. And she has no money, no place to go to here.

And it's story after story, like this. An absolutely desperate situation here, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Of course, it's a sadly familiar story. So often civilians caught in the middle of this conflict paying a high price. Jomana Karadsheh in Beirut, thanks so much.

I do want to go now to Jeremy Diamond in Haifa, in northern Israel. Jeremy, I understand the U.S. perspective here is that they are watching, at least for the possibility of an Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Israeli officials today have said that's just one option on the table for them. What is the latest and has Israel put in the preparations to allow for a force to cross the border?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the preparations are certainly underway, whether they have sufficient troops or not, depending on the scale of this ground incursion is another question altogether. And beyond that, of course, what is clear, Jim, is that the Israeli government has yet to actually make a final decision about whether or not a ground incursion is indeed the next step.

U.S. officials telling us that they are indeed seeing the preparations being made for a limited ground incursion and they're seeing that based off of the mobilization of troops along Israel's northern border, as well as clearing certain areas that could be used to send troops into Lebanon.

My team and I, actually, filmed video of Israeli tanks near the border with Lebanon on Friday. We saw them amassed in a field off the side of a highway. We were told that they had just arrived there in the hours before we passed by.

And so, clearly the Israeli military has activated two additional reserve brigades, sent them to the north in recent weeks. They had also sent the 98th division, which was fighting in Gaza, redirected it to the northern border.

So, it's clear that the preparations are being made. And the messaging is quite clear from Israeli generals as well, who said as recently as -- or as late as last Wednesday, that they were indeed preparing for that eventuality.

In the meantime, though, what the Israeli military is doing right now is that they are continuing to carry out dozens of strikes in Lebanon. Most of those strikes happening in southern Lebanon as well as the Baalbek region. But we've also seen, of course, an increased pace of attacks in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well.

That's because Israeli officials tell me that they believe Hezbollah right now is in disarray, that their operational capabilities have been extremely debilitated by the rounds of Israeli airstrikes over the course of the last week. And of course, the killing of many of its senior leaders, including of course, on Friday, its leader Hassan Nasrallah. And so, they believe that this is the moment to do as much damage to Hezbollah as possible.

But they are also quite clear-eyed about the fact that Hezbollah can reconstitute and likely will at some point. And so, that's also why they are watching to see what Iran does, what remains of Hezbollah does, and what the decision-making is eventually about how much of a wide-scale retaliation will be planned for Israel and when that might come, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's a legitimate question. How could Hezbollah even communicate plans for retaliatory strike given the decapitation strikes, we've seen the series of them, but also those pager attacks which took out, it seems, what was their backup communication network. Jeremy Diamond in Haifa, thanks so much. Joining me now, Jasmine El- Gamal, former Pentagon Middle East adviser.

[06:10:00]

Also, joining us retired Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton. If I could begin with you, Jasmine, and it's good to have you both on this morning, you know, this phrase we hear which is -- which is another familiar one, limited ground incursion, at the end of the day, that would be sending Israeli forces across the border into Lebanon. A step we have not seen in numbers for 18 years going back to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war. When, one, the outcome of that incursion, invasion, whatever you want to call it was uncertain but the cost for Israeli forces was high.

Is it possible to have a limited incursion or once you're in is it -- is it something quite big, especially concerning an expansion of this conflict? JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: Good to see you again, Jim. Thanks for having me. I think it's exactly as you said. I mean, it's very difficult to control these things once they actually happen.

This happened in 2006 where Israel thought it was going to be a really quick war. It ended up lasting for over a month and doing much more damage to them than they expected.

Now they've obviously, you know, trained better. They've learned a lot of things from that 2006 war with Hezbollah that you imagined they would be applying today. But again, you know, the Middle East to the best of intentions -- or the best laid plans, I should say, not the best of intentions, never seem to go quite as planned because you don't actually know what the reaction will be.

We don't know the status of Hezbollah's fighting force right now, how organized they are. Obviously, as we spoke about yesterday, their communications with each other has been severely degraded. So, you don't know how they would be communicating in such an invasion or in such a conflict on the ground with Israeli forces.

There are a lot of unknowns that wouldn't actually be revealed until Israel goes in. And by that time, you have to -- you have to sort of understand that it would be too late to dramatically shift their plans. They would just be in it.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Colonel Cedric Leighton, we've seen an enormous number of Israeli airstrikes, not just on Hezbollah leaders, but also Hezbollah weapon storage facilities both in Beirut but also across southern Lebanon. Dozens of them going after positions and the weapons themselves.

What could ground forces do that those airstrikes have not yet done? What would be -- and I know you're not in the room there -- in the situation room as they planned this on the Israeli side but what would be the likely additional mission of ground forces on top of the airstrikes?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: One of the big aspects of a ground incursion, Jim, would be the idea of actually taking territory and holding it. So, what could happen in a case like this is the air campaign has soften up targets. They've destroyed some things. The ground forces would then move in. They would then see how badly it would be -- Hezbollah weapon systems have been destroyed and to destroy them even further if they -- if they could, if they're right there with them. Or they would make sure that they could not be used in a -- you know, an attempt to attack the northern part of Israel.

So, ground forces become really important to hold territory as well as to ensure that any damage caused by an air campaign is basically a permanent form of damage.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, there you go. The incursion then becomes an occupation, right, for an uncertain period of time. Jasmine, there has been talk and, of course, a concerted U.S. effort to come to -- not just a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah but some plan going forward to provide security along the southern border, the southern portion of Lebanon, to give Israel a sense of security and allow those more than 60,000 Israelis to go back to their homes in northern Israel, but also to prevent this from expanding into a broader war.

Is there a substantive conversation underway to come to some sort of agreement, perhaps the Lebanese military coming in to secure the southern part of Lebanon short of an expansion of the war? Is there any path to that or has that largely gone away?

EL-GAMAL: That's a great question, and I think it all depends on what the response is. I think people -- yes, those conversations are happening, you know, the short answer. But of course, there are so many unknowns in terms of what Hezbollah is planning as a response in terms of what the Iranians are planning in the response.

We touched a little bit on the Iranians yesterday. I mean, they're right now in -- you know, between a rock and a hard place, and the sense of needing to do something to respond, but not wanting to do something so massive that it actually causes the expansion of the war, as you said.

[06:15:08]

And so, people are really -- you know, you have to imagine all the different actors are really just kind of waiting to see what the other one will do before they start to realize what the parameters of something like a ceasefire would look like. And the Iranians haven't done anything yet, and you have to imagine that they have something planned. So, a lot of unknowns at this moment, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, unknown certainly. And some public signaling from Iran that they might let Hezbollah do the retaliation. We'll see if it sticks to that. Jasmine El-Gamal, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much to both of you.

And, Amara, so much to watch here in terms of what are the next steps. Does Israel expand the war on the ground? Does Hezbollah retaliate? Does Iran retaliate? So many hard questions.

WALKER: A lot to watch for, Jim. Thank you.

Meantime, Hurricane Helene has left a trail of death and devastation across several states this morning. Straight ahead, we're going to take you to Asheville, North Carolina, one of the hardest hit places facing months, maybe even years of recovery.

And we are just two days away from the first and only vice presidential debate between Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D. Vance. We're expecting -- we're breaking down what to expect in the face off a little later.

Plus, the two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station are a step closer to coming home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:12]

WALKER: At least 62 people have died because of Helene. President Biden has issued disaster declarations for North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee, where cleanup efforts are underway. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said, quote, "It looks like a bomb went off and it's not just here."

In North Carolina, emergency responders rescued more than 200 people from floodwaters, while more than 60 people in one county are still unaccounted for. Even getting safe drinking water is a challenge in North Carolina since 17 water plants have no power. More than 2.5 million people are still without power across five states this morning, and downed trees, landslides, and communications issues are still continuing.

Many Florida residents have been left homeless by Helene. And there are boil water orders in multiple counties. The state also has about a quarter of a million customers without power.

In the storm pummeled area of Asheville, North Carolina, emergency services are overwhelmed by calls for help and basic services are hard to come by.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MIKE CAYSE, CITY OF ASHEVILLE FIRE RESCUE: I can tell you the city of Asheville is in dire straits right now. We've lost communications capabilities. We -- it's very difficult for us to move around the community.

Many, many of the roads are closed. Trees are down. We're clearing those as quick as we can. And a lot of the critical infrastructure that we've become used to every day in normal times is now gone and we have to work around it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: CNN's Rafael Romo takes us to Asheville as it struggles to get a handle on the devastation.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Danny, the impact of Hurricane Helene is going to be felt across the southeast for many months to come, perhaps even longer.

Take a look at the devastation behind me. That is a mobile restaurant, a taco stand that is still submerged. But what you see behind me is not water. This is mud and it's several inches that is -- that are covering the wheels of that taco stand.

Now, let me show you something else. The level of the water, the debris can show you that. This is a debris line which means that the water got up to this level, several feet above the street-level that you saw right behind me.

And we are also hearing from education officials, the University of North Carolina, Asheville, announced that they will suspend classes until October 9. We heard from Chancellor Kimberly van Noort, who said that there are so many fallen trees and there are so many areas of campus that are inaccessible that it is not possible to be able to hold operations normally.

Also, mobile service and internet are down. And we've been talking to people here who tell us that they had never seen anything like what they saw in the last few days.

Earlier, I spoke with a gentleman who told me that he's been living 40 years here in Asheville, and he's still amazed at the devastation of Mother Nature. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a railroad bridge just north of town and that's never been underwater even -- even in, I believe, it was 1916 was a big -- that wasn't under water. And yesterday, it was underwater.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Another main problem here in Asheville is that water service has been disrupted pretty much across the city. And people are wondering when will we get the service back. What officials are saying, and that's what they said in a statement on Saturday, is that they are assessing. They are sending crews across the city to assess the damage caused by the storm.

[06:25:01]

And they have, at least, one water main break that they have to deal with. And they're taking a close look at the system to see what they can prioritize to make sure that they do it slowly but the proper way so that they do not contaminate the water even more.

Again, that process may take several days before people can get water back up. Also, cell phone service, and internet services are down for most of the population. Danny, Amara, back to you.

WALKER: Just a really difficult situation still. Rafael Romo, thank you. And for more information about how you can help Hurricane Helene victims go to CNN.com/impact.

The death of Hezbollah's leader is adding to fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East. Coming up, what we're hearing from the White House and the steps the U.S. military is taking in the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:24]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Jim Sciutto live in Tel Aviv. Some U.S. officials have celebrated the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. House Speaker Mike Johnson released a statement saying, in part, Hassan Nasrallah's reign of bloodshed, oppression and terror has been brought to an end and, quote, the world is better off without him.

Like many of its Western allies, the U.S. designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. President Joe Biden called his death, quote, a measure of justice for his many victims, including, we should note, Americans. He also urged de-escalation.

Joining me now is CNN White House reporter Camila DeChalus.

Camila, I wonder what else you're hearing from U.S. officials, because, of course, this strike came in the midst of a concerted U.S. effort for a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. Of course, the chances for that one seem greatly reduced as the war escalates.

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (on-camera): Well, Jim, President Biden and other top U.S. officials have really stressed that they believe that Israel has their full support and has the right to defend itself against terrorist organizations. But they also stress a need for a ceasefire deal in order to mitigate some of the escalating tensions in the region.

Now, just yesterday, President Biden put out a statement, and this is what he had to say. He said, in Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the UN Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon.

Now, Jim, as you can see from that statement, Biden did not go into detail about what this deal would entail. But it's very clear that the President and also U.S. officials believe that the only path forward is for a diplomatic solution in order to just ease some of the rising tensions in this region.

Jim, back to you.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And it seems that might explain some of the deliberate effort by U.S. officials in the wake of the strike, putting daylight between the U.S. and the strike, making clear they were not involved and, in fact, didn't get advance notice.

Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.

With Hezbollah's top leader dead, there is growing fear of an expansion of the war between Israel and the terrorist group.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has more on what the U.S. Pentagon believes could happen next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. sees the possibility of a limited Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon, according to two U.S. officials. But crucially, the U.S. believes Israel hasn't made a final decision on whether to carry out a ground incursion into Lebanon.

Now, Israelis have signaled quite openly that they're preparing for that possibility. The top Israeli general said as much on Wednesday. And crucially, a senior Israeli official said on Friday, just before the strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, that Israel hopes it doesn't have to carry out a ground incursion into Lebanon.

But the officials say that the U.S. has seen the mobilization of more Israeli forces, the clearing of areas along Israel's northern border that would be in preparation for a ground incursion. And so that possibility is widening, is growing as the U.S. continues to try to head off a regional war and tries to signal to Israel that a ground incursion is very much not the way to proceed here.

Crucially, and this is important to note, Israel's goal when it comes to Lebanon and Hezbollah is not the elimination of Hezbollah or the destruction of Hezbollah completely. That would almost certainly require a very large ground incursion. Its goal here is to return more than 60,000 residents to their homes in northern Israel, which they've been displaced from basically since October 8th and since Hezbollah started firing rockets and drones into northern Israel.

The question, of course, is what does it take to make that happen and at what point does Israel feel comfortable doing that? And that's where a ceasefire, an agreement, may very well be necessary. And that's why the U.S. keeps pushing in that direction. Still, Israel very clearly has the advantage over Hezbollah and it's going to push that advantage.

Israel has long believed that another war with Hezbollah was inevitable, basically ever since the end of the 2006 war. And because of that, the Israeli security establishment has been working on its intelligence when it comes to Hezbollah, working on preparations and plans for that war. And now that it seems we're at that point, Israel is very much pressing the advantage that it has. How far it will go, that's what the U.S. is trying to figure out and that's what it seems Israel itself is trying to figure out as we see the continuation of Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians in southern Lebanon, in Beirut and beyond. U.S. trying to steer off the regional war, but of course, part of that question is, what does Iran decide to do at this point?

[06:35:15]

The U.S. has significant forces in the region, a carrier strike group in and around the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, an amphibious ready group in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. They've had fighter squadrons, additional fighter squadrons in the Middle East for several months now, and President Joe Biden ordered Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to further enhance force posture, so we'll learn over the next several days what exactly that entails. The region bracing for a response, the U.S. State Department pulling some personnel from Lebanon, that being said, a NEO, a noncombatant evacuation order, the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Lebanon, that has not been ordered yet. The region very much bracing for what comes next.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Oren there at the Pentagon.

As I sent it back to Amara in Atlanta, of course, one question is not just, do Israeli forces go into southern Lebanon, but if they do, how long do they stay? And that's another question about the progress of this war, Amara.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Jim, thank you, and of course, we'll check back with you in just a few minutes from now.

Also coming up, both Vice President Harris and former President Trump are campaigning in critical battleground states today as we are getting a new snapshot of where both candidates stand, just over a month out from Election Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:13]

WALKER: Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are on the campaign trail today as their busy weekend wraps up.

Harris will be stumping in Las Vegas, while Trump heads to Erie, Pennsylvania. Last night, he was in another battleground state, Wisconsin, where he ramped up his rhetoric. He called undocumented immigrants who commit crimes, animals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You remember when they say, no, no, these are migrants, and these migrants, they don't commit crimes like us, no, no. They make our criminals look like babies. These are stone-cold killers. They'll walk into your kitchen, they'll cut your throat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Wow, that is some really disturbing language. Joining us now is Associated Press national political reporter Michelle Price.

Michelle, good morning to you. Let's hear more of Trump not only leaning into these anti-immigrant rants, but also more personal attacks on Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Kamala is mentally impaired. Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way.

And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country. Anybody would know this. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Michelle, it's a tight race in Wisconsin. According to our CNN Poll of Polls (ph), Harris has 49 percent support compared to Trump's 47 percent. Is that how you went over Wisconsin?

MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I mean, I guess we'll be finding out in about five weeks. But, you know, this is one of those issues where we're seeing people, even not in border states, that they are concerned about immigration, but the language that the former president is using, it is dark.

And it is something that he himself even acknowledged last night. There was a point in his speech where it seemed like he wasn't getting maybe the reaction he was expecting and kind of said, you know, this is a dark speech. And he's like, you know, we'll get to something more lighthearted later, but this is a dark speech.

This is not exactly the language that some of the swing voters seem to be, you know, as receptive to. You know, you'll talk to some of those folks and they'll say that they want people to come over, they want them to come over legally, but they have concerns about people who are crossing the border without legal permission. But using language like animals or using, you know, the personal attacks in the former vice president is something that even Donald Trump's campaign advisors have kind of discouraged him from doing because it could become a distraction.

And frankly, it sets a whole tone like that speech last night that just had a bitterness running throughout all of the remarks.

WALKER: Yes, absolutely. Vice President Harris, we were saying she'll be in Nevada today following her trip to the Arizona border on Friday. And these are two swing states where Latinos, as you know, make up a significant portion of the electorate. She's been going on the offensive on immigration against Trump, promising a tougher stance on border security more than any other Democratic presidential candidate.

Can you talk about how Vice President Harris also needs to strike a balance, though, and also voicing support for legal pathways for undocumented people? Has she been able to strike that balance?

PRICE: Yes, I think there are some of the activists in both Arizona and Nevada are looking to see a little bit more of that balance from the Vice President.

I mean, these are states where some of the most active groups have been focusing on getting some legal status, some permanent legal status for the DREAMers in this country. You know, those have been big players in both the Democratic Party, the Democratic base. But that's also something, you know, these are neighbors to voters who are even not directly affected by immigration status.

[06:44:58]

So it is something that, you know, you're seeing her acknowledge this when she's going to the border, when she's delivering this tough speech at the border wall. But it's going to have to be a balance to kind of strike that appeal to some of these folks. And that venue that she's actually going to be at today in Las Vegas is one where Donald Trump was speaking just a few weeks ago.

So, we're seeing her not only trying to answer him on some of these policies, but her campaign seems to be kind of taking a direct tack to show that they can fill the same venues as the former president as she's making this campaign against him.

WALKER: And looking ahead to Tuesday, that is when the vice- presidential debate will be held. CNN is reporting, and this is reporting from our Edward-Isaac Dovere, that Tim Walz is quite nervous about the debate. You might remember he even told Harris during his running mate interview that he's a bad debater. Tim Walz, for his part, has been holding these mock sessions with Pete Buttigieg standing in as J.D. Vance. Is it fair to say Vance has the advantage, given that in the past he has shown himself to be a pretty nimble debater?

PRICE: I don't know if it's fair to say the advantage, but it sounds like there's a lot of confidence coming from the Vance camp. The Walz camp is clearly lowering some expectations here. You know, J.D. Vance's team has talked about that he's doing all these news interviews. He's doing interviews that are combative, sometimes just by him taking it there, but that are tough interviews.

And we have not seen Tim Walz doing those interviews. So that not only is the debate prep part of this, but just facing tough questions, being ready on your feet. We'll have to see how they play out.

Tim Walz is able to have some zingers. That was one of the ways he got on the map here. But, you know, whether that will be in their back and forth and their pairing on the stage, we'll see what we'll get on Tuesday.

WALKER: How much might this debate matter, considering that the vice- presidential candidates unusually will have the last debate word, because there isn't another presidential debate scheduled, at least for now?

PRICE: At least for now. I mean, both of these men are still, in a way, introducing themselves to America. Not everybody knows them as well as some of us who are watching politics more closely.

You know, it's a proxy debate for the top of the ticket. The biggest thing with these debates is to not have some kind of catastrophic performance that becomes a distraction from the candidate, something that is seen as a major flub or just something that is bizarre and puzzling, rather than, you know, shifting the race dramatically.

WALKER: Michelle Price, it's good to speak with you this morning. Thank you.

And be sure to watch Tim Walz and J.D. Vance in their first and only face-to-face debate, A "CNN SPECIAL EVENT, THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE" simulcast hosted by CBS News airs live on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

Also, be sure to tune in to "INSIDE POLITICS" Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Manu Raju will be joined by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

All right, still ahead. Heavy rain triggers landslides in parts of Nepal, closing schools and killing more than 100 people. We'll have details on that story and some of the other headlines we are following.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:18]

WALKER: And, welcome back everyone. You're looking at live pictures out of Beirut. You can see some smoke in the air there as we continue to monitor developments out of the Middle East following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Beirut is just one of the cities hit by Israeli airstrikes in recent days. You can hear explosions there just slightly in the background. And one of those airstrikes killed Nasrallah. We'll take you back there live in just a few minutes.

But let's talk more about what's making headlines this morning. We're learning more about an incident that sent North Carolina Lieutenant Governor and current GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson to the hospital. Robinson told supporters he suffered second degree burns when he accidentally touched an exhaust pipe of a big rig at an auto show Friday. Robinson was treated at a hospital and he says he is feeling fine.

More than 120 people have been killed and at least 60 are still missing in Nepal following two days of heavy rain there. The Kathmandu Valley, home to four million people, has been hit the hardest.

The weather was triggered -- has triggered widespread flooding and landslides, forcing the closure of major roads and canceled flights. In response, schools in the affected areas will be closed for the next three days.

The space --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) and lift off --

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WALKER: (INAUDIBLE) yesterday, a two-man team is now on the way to bring two NASA astronauts' home from the International Space Station. So, two of the seats were empty as it went up. Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stranded on the ISS since June after their Boeing Starliner capsule was deemed too risky for the flight to return to Earth.

A NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut will now join Williams and Wilmore for five months of work aboard the floating lab, and then all are due to head home in February of 2025.

The WNBA's New York Library Liberty, I should say, are set to tip off the semifinals today in a rematch of last year's finals against two- time defending champion the Las Vegas Aces. The team is led by owner Clara Wu Tsai, who is currently spearheading the most successful franchise turnaround in WNBA history.

But she is also a difference maker for women off the court, breaking research barriers into the study of female athletes.

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CLARA WU TSAI, CO-OWNER, BROOKLYN NETS & NEW YORK LIBERTY: A few years ago, we started the Human Performance Alliance, which is a six university scientific research collaboration. And almost everything that we know about human health comes from studying disease.

And so, we created this alliance to change that approach. And we study peak performance in elite athletes. And the hope is to uncover the biological principles underlying human performance and apply them to everyone, to all of us, so that we can achieve our own optimal health and well-being.

[06:55:20]

A major initiative of the Human Performance Alliance is the Female Athlete Program. It was important to do this because I think less than 25 percent of all health studies are done on females, even though, of course, we're, you know, 50 percent of the population. You know, our approach is to take a more holistic view of female athletes.

So, we study hormonal cycles, we study nutritional needs, and we even study some psychological stressors, you know, that might arise from team sport settings. Females suffer ACL tears at two times the rate of men.

And so, you know, this alliance tries to uncover why that is and then to develop preventive measures to make sure that that doesn't happen. It's really rewarding to be a part of something, you know, that's going to address an important need that we have.

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