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Airstrikes Hit Beirut; Joel Rubin is Interviewed about the Israeli Strikes; Helene Devastates Parts of Southeast U.S.; Mark McKinnon is Interviewed about the Debate. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 30, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Early this morning, airstrikes hitting the Lebanese capital. It's the first time Beirut has been hit since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in the region nearly a year ago. Israel's military has not yet claimed responsibility, but CNN has reached out for comment.

This just the latest in a series of escalations in the region over the past several days. Over the weekend, Israel killed Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah. And this morning, a Hezbollah official vowed the group would choose a new leader as soon as possible.

And overnight, the Israel military continued its airstrikes against Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon.

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JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR: The command structure has been nearly decimated. Thousands of missiles and drones destroyed by Israel over the last few days. There's no question that the Hezbollah today is not the Hezbollah it was even just a week ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, a U.S. official tells CNN that the Biden administration suspects that Iran is preparing to retaliate and is working with Israel on defenses.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is live on the scene of one of the mornings strikes in Beirut. So, Ben, tell us what you're seeing on the ground.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're in an area, Manu, that is not normally under the control of Hezbollah. But last night, at 1:00 in the morning, I'll just step out of the way, there was a very targeted airstrike on that, the fifth floor of this building. According to the Lebanese ministry of health, four people were killed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has said that three of their members were killed in that strike. Now, it's interesting that the PFLP has not been particularly active

in recent years. And it appears that perhaps Israel is simply slowly, slowly eliminating its enemies beyond Hezbollah, beyond those factions who have been firing into Israel. And, in fact, at this building behind me, it looks like it's structurally unstable. We see one of the columns sticking out.

Now, in the meantime, midday local time, just about an hour-and-a-half ago, Naim Qassem, who's the - one of the senior deputies of Hassan Nasrallah, came out and gave a recorded speech, we believe, for just about 25 minutes long. He did say that - regarding Hezbollah, we did not collapse. We are only - we're going on despite the pain and sacrifices. He said that Hezbollah will continue to confront Israel and support the Palestinians and Gaza and the Lebanese people.

So, the message seems to be from Hezbollah that despite these repeated body blows, the elimination of almost the entire military hierarchy, senior hierarchy within the organization, they are - at the least they say they're going to continue.

Now, above me right now we hear a very low flying Israeli drone.

[06:35:07]

This has become sort of the background sound to Beirut, particularly the southern suburbs where, of course, Hezbollah has a very strong presence.

Meanwhile, we heard, Manu, from the Lebanese caretaker, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, that they excavate now, that there are 1 million people in Lebanon who have had to flee their homes. That's just a little less than 20 percent of the entire population of this country.

Manu.

RAJU: Ben Wedeman, on the ground in a dangerous moment in Beirut. Ben, stay safe. Thank you for bringing us that reporting.

And now to continue this conversation, I want to bring in former deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, Joel Rubin.

Joel, thank you so much for coming in this morning.

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER OBAMA DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS: Thanks.

RAJU: This is - those are some incredible pictures that we just saw on the ground there.

RUBIN: Yes.

RAJU: When is Israel's end goal here as they try to - the U.S. is trying to push to ceasefire. You heard President Biden over the weekend. What is Israel trying to accomplish? RUBIN: Yes, look, this was without a doubt the most stunning Israeli

military success since the six-day war, quite frankly, it flipped the narrative in the Middle East. And what we've seen now is Israel on the offense. But there are a lot of lessons learned from the six-day war, one of which is that Israel did not secure diplomatic gains immediately after. And I think that's what the big question is, is what is the diplomatic strategy to complement these military successes? How is Israel going to leverage this for stability in the north, an agreement potentially with the Lebanese government to provide that stability. What's he going to do to obtain the ceasefire in Gaza, to get the hostages back. That's not clear.

So, right now, what we're seeing is essentially a military first and only strategy. And that's the - the big yellow light right now. Strong military action, effective, good, but there needs to be a way to lock in those gains.

RAJU: Yes, and there's, obviously, real concern about Iran and this retaliatory strike.

RUBIN: Yes.

RAJU: What does that look like, and what are the implications if that happen?

RUBIN: Well, I think right now Iran's on its back heel. I think that there were many analysts for many years looking and just saying, that could be the big one, Israel versus Iran. And that will blow up the region. And certainly that is a concern.

But Iran has to be taking stock right now of what the risks are too it, if it were to engage militarily. Not only does it have in Israel, which clearly sees freedom of action and has decimated the northern hedge that Iran placed in southern Lebanon, but Iran also has to stare down the barrel of American military power in the seas, in the Persian Gulf and in the Mediterranean, saying, if you do attack Israel, we will - we will respond on their behalf.

And I think, for Iran, they have to really recalibrate whether it's worth it.

RAJU: And just very quickly, is it possible, as some Republicans are calling for, to simply decimate and wipe out Hezbollah, don't stop until they're gone?

RUBIN: Hezbollah has been entrenched for 40 years. There is a way to decimate its leadership capacity, as is being done right now, and to try to undermine its military network of rockets. But that is - that is a hard, fanciful idea to measure and ensure that it does - does so without creating a devastating situation in Lebanon.

RAJU: Yes.

RUBIN: And that would be destabilizing for the entire region.

RAJU: Yes, no question. So much (INAUDIBLE). Thank you so much, Joel, for coming in.

RUBIN: Thanks, Manu.

RAJU: And bringing your expertise. We really appreciate it.

And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're just one day away from the one and only VP debate. J.D. Vance and Tim Walz meeting in New York tomorrow. I'll speak with a longtime political adviser, Mark McKinnon, about what they each need to accomplish.

Plus, stay on message. What some GOP allies are urging the former president to do in light of his latest insults on Kamala Harris.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): And here's what I would tell President Trump, when people look at the state of play, they trust you on the economy, the border, inflation and foreign policy by wide margins. Focus on those.

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[06:43:28]

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala is mentally impaired.

Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way.

If you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: In a speech that this weekend that was otherwise centered on immigration, Donald Trump veered off into personal attacks against his opponents, Kamala Harris. He first called her, quote, "mentally impaired," during an event in Wisconsin on Friday, and then repeated that attack in Pennsylvania yesterday.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Sad. But lyin' Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There's something wrong with Kamala. And I just don't know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.

CROWD: We need Trump! (ph) We need Trump! We need Trump! We need Trump!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right, my panel is back.

Scott Jennings, effective line of attack? Would you encourage the leader of your party to continue this route?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I would not use the term mentally disabled. I think it's fine. I mean people in politics call their opponents stupid all the time, or they're dumb, they make bad decisions. I mean, I was just doing a quick review of headlines in the last few weeks this morning. "Trump, blind being led by the stupid." "Trump voters, they're stupid." "Trump unveils idiotic new strategy to win over Harris supporters." "Lazy, stupid, childish. Why Donald Trump is losing."

[06:45:03]

"A simple example of the bigotry and terrible nature of Donald Trump supporters." Harris herself, "Donald Trump unable to comprehend anything."

So, it's not uncommon for people to call Donald Trump, his supporters, and the people around him stupid or idiotic or whatever. So, this kind of rhetoric is - is not uncommon. The term mentally disabled, I would not use. And I think they should not go down that road.

But I just think -- I just - I mean, everybody's up in arms about this when it's pretty common for people to do this to Trump and his people.

RAJU: Is it the same thing?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: No, I don't think it's the same thing. It's like reporters and us making these comments, versus the two candidates doing that. I think it's disrespectful. And I think you expect more from your leadership.

I do agree with you on the mentally disabled. I think that's like - I think really inappropriate term to be using here. And I - but I also understanding that he's trying to make a contrast. I just think that there are other ways and better ways that he could show his leadership in making a different contrast and sticking to the issues, like the economy.

DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": What - what should he say? Should he say, look, I want to talk about the issues. I want to talk about my plan to allow health insurance companies to deny coverage again to people with preexisting conditions. I want to talk about my plan to build a network of concentration camps to hold 10 million people, and then dump them all in Mexico, wherever they came from before, and without regard to what the Mexicans think. I have - I have a plan to make Social Security finances less stable.

I mean the because the issues are not going to work for him, that's why the genus of Donald Trump was to understand, look, the Paul Ryan message doesn't sell. What does sell in America is racialized contempt. So, that is what I'm going to offer. I mean, plus Paul Ryan, but racialized contempt. And that has always been the core of the message. That is the message. So, when he - he's not off message. He's on it. And he's always understood television better than any of the other people in the Republican Party to say, what does galvanize the people who support Trump, who rejected better, cleaner, more decent, more intelligent Republicans in the past, who rejected Mitt Romney, although Mitt Romney got more of the vote. What is Trump's special sauce? Racialized contempt. So, of course he's going with that as his closing argument.

RAJU: What do you think?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I feel like I'm - like I've fallen out of a coconut tree because the idea that I am - that I'm outraged that he said this, this weekend is absurd at this point because we're at a point in politics where, unfortunately, yes, it is disrespectful and, yes, it shouldn't be said, in, yes, we should expect more from our leaders. But the reality is, that's not what we're getting. So, sometimes you have to play the field that you are given.

RAJU: But, you know, even though you say this is somewhat common in your view, people disagree, or at least, you know, with - the real risk is that this becomes a race about character, right, for Trump, instead of focusing on policy. Do you want this race to be about Donald Trump's character versus Harris' character?

JENNINGS: I mean every presidential campaign is a race about character. And I disagree that it's - because I also think it's a race about issues. And I disagree with you that - that the issues aren't working for Trump. I mean the fact is, in all the polling we've done, the Gallup poll, everything that's come out in the last few days, they trust him more on the economy, they trust him more on immigration, they trust him more on foreign policy. So, the issues actually are working for him. To what extent this is the correct vector right now, when you have this issue set that is quite clearly working for you, I think that's a - that's a debating point for a campaign strategy. But I just disagree, I think the issues are setting up quite nicely for him.

HAYS: I think they're working for his base, and I think these comments are working for his base. I'm just not so sure they're going to be working in the battleground states for the undecided voters. I think a lot of people tune this type of rhetoric out and they're just like, I don't want to hear any more of this and they'd rather hear about what he's doing on immigration, what he's doing on the economy.

So, we're - it does work for his base. I don't think it works with independent voters.

FRUM: Donald Trump got 46.1 percent of the vote his first time out in 2016. He got 46 point something, a little bit more, in 2020. There was not a day in his presidency when he had an approval rating at 50 percent in any reputable poll. He's always been a minority president, and he understands that. And his problem - his challenge has always been, how do you activate some of the angriest people in America to enter politics, which they normally abstain from. And the message of contempt is what pulls them there, not the Paul Ryan agenda, which is not going to work. And he - that's what he's offering, but he's - he's offering it plus the contempt, and that's what sells.

JENNINGS: But what is it today? You said he does - he was a minority president. In our own poll last week, 51 percent of Americans said he had a successful presidency. That was true in "USA Today" this summer. Only 37 percent say the same. So, he actually has achieved majority in retrospect.

FRUM: The strategy is to get to 47 percent and pray that the Electoral College works its magic for him. And that's always been a strategy. And that's the only strategy there could possibly be.

RAJU: Right. And will he continue to talk about that, or talking about other things to veer off script, as some Republicans are concerned about.

All right, we're going to discuss a little bit more about that in a minute.

But first, now communities across the southeast reeling from Hurricane Helene's aftermath. The powerful storm making landfall late last week. At least 95 people are dead across multiple states, and hundreds more have been reported missing. Thirty people are dead in just one North Carolina county.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy. The water came all the way up to the top of our driveway.

[06:50:03]

And usually, you know, you might see a little bit of flooding down at the bottom of the street. But it came up, I mean, another 15 feet more than that. It was pretty - I mean all those houses down there had water up to their kitchen cabinets.

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RAJU: More than 2 million people in the southeast are still without power this morning.

So, let's go to meteorologist Elisa Raffa.

Elisa, any relief in sight or are there more concerns along the way?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The rain is stopping, but rivers will still continue to be aggravated and rise in spots because this water has nowhere to go. That's how it destroyed so many roads that have just become impassable, cut off, all of these landslides in the mountains there.

This is what's left of Helene. You still have a couple of showers in northern Virginia, up towards Washington. But you could see a lot of it is light. We are done with the heavy rain. But it was unprecedented for parts of North Carolina.

I mean, here in the mountains, from Asheville up towards Boone (ph), you see this bright, bright purple. We're talking about rain totals that were well over a foot for all of these communities. Thirty inches for one place in North Carolina. Mountain Homes, 17 inches. Greenville, almost a foot of rain. So, just incredible.

The rivers, again, continuing to be at moderate and major flood stage because the water has somewhere to meet - has nowhere to go. And it will continue to work its way down the watershed towards the coast. So, not just the mountain problem. We'll continue to find that rain, again, trying to move east, and the water in the rivers. We do have that slight risk for excessive rain for parts of Virginia today where another inch or two of rain is possible.

Manu.

RAJU: All right, Elisa Raffa, thank you for the latest from the Weather Center.

And turning back now to the VP debate tomorrow night, where Tim Walz and J.D. Vance, two Midwesterners on opposite ends of the political spectrum will face off in their first VP debate. The two perspective VPs never before debating on a national stage. The last time each of them formally debated was when they were running a - for their current offices in 2022.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (2022): Scott was very clear in May. He mocked me and said, no kidding, Sherlock, I'm running for governor to get things done. We're going to ban abortion.

Not on our watch. I trust women. I trust them to make their own healthcare decisions.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (2022): It's actually a pretty - a pretty funny TV commercial, Tim.

TIM RYAN, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: Thank you.

VANCE: Credit to your team.

RYAN: Thank you.

VANCE: Where he says that he - he only agrees with his own wife 70 percent of the time, yet he votes and agrees with Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time. It must - must make things a little awkward in the Ryan household, I suppose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right, joining me now is Mark McKinnon. He's a former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain. He's also the creator of Paramount's "The Circus."

Mark, thank you for joining me this morning.

These are two people who come from the Midwest. They have different backgrounds, different political stances. How do you see that playing into their narratives tomorrow night?

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND JOHN MCCAIN: Good morning, Manu.

Well, the main - the primary mantra for a president - a vice presidential pick is to do no harm. And today the difference is that J.D. Vance has done a lot of harm to the Republican ticket so far. And with his, you know, it's all about cats. Women who - single women who own them and Haitian immigrants who he says eat them, or then he says, no, we made that up to draw attention to it. But - and so that's - that's my - my advice for Tim Walz is, look out, this guy is loaded for bear because they're both trying to validate that they were the right pick. And Vance is the guy who's been under the gun. Everybody in the Republican Party knows that he's been a problem, he's created dissonance, he's done a lot of harm. So, he's going in there to prove to Donald Trump and the Republican Party that he was the right pick.

So, he - I mean I think he's going to be loaded for bear. And that's my advice to Walz is, look at, this guy's coming in loaded and he's coming in strong.

RAJU: So, you write in your latest article for "Variety," "Vance, to be fair, is smart. Just ask him. Yale-educated. Best-selling author. Venture capitalist. And he is reportedly prepping hard. The goa for Walz should be to do whatever he can to preserve and enhance his own stature as genuine. He's not going to outsmart Vance, and he shouldn't try. But he can easily out-human Vance. The recipe for a successful night on Tuesday, for Vance or Walz, is simple, do no harm. But Walz should beware, he's facing a pit bull raring to come off the leash."

That's simply what you're suggesting right now here, Mark. I'm wondering, do you think that Vance - who's hurting or helping their ticket right now? Is Vance hurting or helping Trump? Is he making no difference in this race? And what about Walz?

MCKINNON: Well, I think Walz has exceeded expectations and Vance has not risen to expectations. As I've said, I just - I think he has done harm. I think the whole cat lady thing. I mean it's - there's just - there was video servicing every other day about - with Vance attacking women on some form or another, which has already been a problem for the Republican ticket. S, I - again, I think that this is going to be - I think he's really looking forward to this opportunity to validate that he was the right pick.

[06:55:00]

They're going after each other. I mean Walz's brand is authenticity. So, that's what - that's what Vance is going to try and pick apart. And, of course, Walz is going to do the same to demand - to suggest that he's a phony, that he's simply ambitious, abandoned his principles. There's also audio that surfaced recently about just how - how much that Vance thought Trump was a bad - a bad nominee for the party. So, he's going to have to answer for that.

At the end of the day, maybe it won't make that much difference for the outcome of the election, but it's going to make an outcome for the difference on just how people feel about whether or not this was the right pick for each candidate.

RAJU: All right, Mark McKinnon, appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for your insight and expertise. Really appreciate it.

And continuing this conversation on the 2024 race and a show that has been influencing our national conversation around politics for half a century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoo. Man, it's cool, I'm going to be president. That's wicked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch that language there, sonny.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary and I don't agree on everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald said he was going to be tough on Mexico. But when he met with the president, he choked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wrong. Trademark (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's also said he's going to be tough on Russia, but he's basically Putin's puppet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liar. Trademark (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: "Saturday Night Live" returning to the air this weekend for its milestone 50th season. Just in time for the last leg of the presidential campaign. It's star-studded cold open taking on impressions of every 2024 election season candidate and character.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My campaign is like a Sabrina Carpenter song "Espresso." The lyrics are vague, but the vibe slaps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks, I haven't been this excited since I got a 10 percent rebate on a leaf blower from Menards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I, for one, can't wait to decorate the White House for Christmas. The theme will be Hanukkah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say that me blaming the Democrats for inciting violence is the pot calling the kettle black. But, frankly, I didn't know the kettle was black until very recently. I thought the kettle was Indian. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you what I'm doing here, getting this crowd hot.

CROWD: Whoo-hoo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right, what do we think? This was - it was pretty funny. There were some good ones.

PRESTON: Good stuff. Good stuff. Maya Rudolph, I've got to tell you, my wife is extremely happy that she is coming back.

Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz is (INAUDIBLE) good.

JENNINGS: He nailed it. He nailed it on the wall.

You didn't show it, but you know who else was brilliant this weekend, Dana Carvey coming back. He absolutely could have -

PRESTON: Right.

RAJU: Ah, ah, ah, pause right there. You say we don't have it. In fact - in fact we -

JENNINGS: (INAUDIBLE).

RAJU: We do have it. We do have it. Roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And by the way, the fact of the matter is, the rich don't pay their fair share. They've got to pay their fair share and we've got to build back better. Build back the better, the better are the best (ph), build back the better can't - can't believe it's not butter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you to Biden. Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENNINGS: It'd be funny if it weren't tragic. Tragically true. But, Dana - thank God for Dana Carvey. He's probably one of the top two or three of all time on this stuff.

RAJU: He really is. He's done George H.W. Bush so well.

JENNINGS: Yes.

RAJU: Joe Biden so well.

But you - the interesting thing is, of course this comes - this could always - it could reinforce people's impressions. We laugh about it, but it could have some impact about how people actually view these candidates. HAYS: Yes, absolutely. I mean it's part of pop culture. It's like the

Taylor Swift endorsement. It's just fun. And I - we have a couple more weeks of it. And it's entertaining. And it will be fun to see how it plays out.

JENNINGS: What do people know about Sarah Palin? They know -

HAYS: (INAUDIBLE).

JENNINGS: I think they know more about the Tina Fey impression of, you know what I mean?

HAYS: Exactly. Yes.

JENNINGS: Like, I - it can set in. Like the image of you - this can absolutely make a huge impression.

RAJU: Yes. Right.

JENNINGS: So, like on the Gaffigan thing, he - he nailed Walz. I mean the weird gesticulating and the hand - like, he nailed it. He absolutely nailed it.

PRESTON: But Gaffigan - but Gaffigan's from the Midwest too, though.

JENNINGS: Yes, he got it.

PRESTON: So, and he really - you know, he has it in his blood.

JENNINGS: Yes.

FRUM: Unfortunately, the good Donald Trump impression would be actionable. So, no one does that, because the idea that you play him as like Don Corleone, who - which is what he is, that is something you can't do on TV. Maybe it isn't even funny. Maybe it's just sad.

RAJU: I mean he - you know, you mentioned the Sarah Palin thing. I mean that was - back then, right, it was right. You know, people were tuning into "Saturday Night Live." viewed back then and right? It was right. You know, people who are tuning in to "Saturday Night Live," yes, there's real people who are knee deep in politics who know everything that's going on and watching every that's going on. But some people are just casual viewers, right? And then - and they'll tune in. They'll see someone being ridiculed. Maybe they'll think, well, I don't like him or her that much.

HAYS: And they're also getting their clips on TikTok and Instagram and other places. So it - it has a long, long legs here. And that's - people are going to get their views there.

JENNINGS: You know less about the VPs.

HAYS: Yes.

JENNINGS: So, the impressions of the VPs can take hold because often the performers doing them are just better than the VPs themselves. [07:00:03]

I mean the - I mean the Harris impression, when she was the VP. And so the Maya Rudolph impression of Harris is, I think, for a lot of people, a real thing - you know, a real burning image for them.

FRUM: I think - think many people - many more people are seeing on TikTok the remix of J.D. Vance saying I'm a never Trump guy and people dancing to it. That TikTok is so powerful. And that, we said, what is branding people is the - is the site of hundreds and hundreds of women dancing to J.D. Vance saying, he was going -

RAJU: Yes.

FRUM: I'm a never Trump guy. I never liked him. I'm a never Trump guy. I never liked him.

RAJU: Yes.

FRUM: And I was going (ph) on TV and be at Trump guy and like him.

RAJU: Yes. And I'm sure we will see much more of this in the weeks to come.

All right, thank you panel for joining me this morning. Thank you for joining us. I'm Manu Raju, in for Kasie Hunt. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.