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Israel Vows Iran 'Will Pay' for Missile Attack; Walz, Vance Face off in Civil Debate. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, October 2. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:00:20]

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HUNT: An unprecedented attack. Israel vows retaliation following Iran's largest ever attack against Israel as fears of an all-out war reach new heights.

Plus --

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I actually think --

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I agree with you. I'm in agreement with him on this.

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HUNT: Vance and Tim Walz keep it civil on the debate stage. But will the last expected matchup between the campaigns change any minds before election day?

And --

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WALZ: I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect, and I'm a knucklehead at times.

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HUNT: Misspeaking. Tim Walz's admission after new reports undercut his personal story of being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests.

And -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are scared to death. This is urgent.

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HUNT: Viewing the damage. President Biden and Vice President Harris set to visit areas hurting the most in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Wednesday morning. It really is already an intense news day, and that is in no small part because of what CNN's Erin Burnett is covering for us live, now in Tel Aviv, where she traveled overnight.

Erin, of course, I know we were supposed to be covering the debate last night together, but of course, what's happening in that region, now driving history.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Right, it certainly is. And you know, even here on the way here, seeing some of these craters in the ground here in Tel Aviv from that massive Iranian barrage, the largest ever, ever from Iran against Israel.

The world now waiting on how Israel will respond to that massive missile attack.

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BURNETT: Iran launching somewhere between 180, they say 200 missiles towards Israel Tuesday in response to recent attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And Israel and the U.S. said the majority of those missiles were intercepted. Some did get through, though, and we saw some of those impact sites, as I said, Kasie, near Mossad headquarters. You know, you see the blown-out cars, melted windshields, and holes in the ground, between 20 and, I'd say, 35 feet in two cases. One of them already filled in in the early hours of this morning.

In terms of injuries, we understand at least one person was killed, several others injured.

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BURNETT: The attacks met with celebrations in the streets of Tehran. Crowds were singing and dancing as the missiles were flying towards Israel.

Iran's military says that this may only be the beginning.

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MAJOR GENERAL MOHAMMAD BAGHERI, IRAN'S ARMED FORCES CHIEF OF STAFF (through translator): If the Zionist regime, that has gone crazy, is not controlled by America and Europe, and wants to continue these crimes or wants to do anything against our sovereignty and territorial integrity, tonight's operation will be repeated several times stronger, and all their infrastructure will be targeted.

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BURNETT: So, Israel seemingly undeterred by the threats from Iran's generals. This is how escalation happens. This is why the fear of such a wider war.

Overnight, Israeli warplanes continued airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut. Obviously, a small taste of what is likely to come.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, meantime, here vowing to retaliate for the damage inflicted by Iran.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Iran made a big mistake tonight, and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.

We will stand by the rule we established. Whoever attacks us, we will attack him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, joining me now to talk about this latest phase in the war is Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces.

And Jonathan, here we are again, speaking together. A year ago, obviously, when this horrific phase of this conflict began. So what does, when, when Prime Minister Netanyahu says that there will be reprisal, but it will be severe, that Iran will pay a price. What does that mean?

JONATHAN CONRICUS, FORMER SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Yes, hello, Erin.

We were supposed to be commemorating a year from October 7 this weekend and thinking about the casualties, the Nova Music Festival and what Hamas did to Israel on the 7th of October.

[06:05:00] But instead, it is, as you said, a very, very dense news cycle, with ground troops in Lebanon and strikes in Dahieh. And of course, the Iranian strike on Israel yesterday.

I think that what the Iranian attack, the second massive Iranian attack on Israel does, it opens up a lot of opportunities. And at this time, I think Israel can choose between different groups of targets, all depending on, really, what the strategy is and what Israel wants to achieve.

And, very importantly, what kind of support Israel can get from the U.S. and other Western countries. And in more detail, one group of targets would be -- yes, Erin?

BURNETT: No, go ahead with the groups of targets. I was curious, obviously, also about the likelihood of striking nuclear targets in Iran.

CONRICUS: Yes. Yes. So that's exactly what I -- where I was going to. So, there's one group of targets which are more regime-related. Seats of government, places of control, perhaps whereabouts of leaders, et cetera, in Iran, with the desired effect of unstabling -- unstabilizing the regime and striking the regime itself.

Another group of targets could be economic infrastructure, military, economic infrastructure, which is part of how the Revolutionary Guard is able to export weapons and money to different terror organizations around the world that are attacking Israel, like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad in Syria, and the Houthis, et cetera. That's the second group.

And then a third group, which of course, is perhaps the most sensitive currently, would be all of the infrastructure related to Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program.

I think that Israel has had a lot of time over the years to collect intelligence, to assess and to prepare. Israel definitely has had a lot of time to prepare an air force attack against them.

But I think it will boil down to what will Israel' s strategy be in, as in, where do we want to be half a year from now or a year from now? And perhaps most importantly, what will be said and agreed between Washington and Jerusalem.

BURNETT: And that is the most important thing.

Do you think that that the United States would back Israel on, specifically, nuclear -- nuclear facility attacks? But also, what you mentioned at the beginning, which I think anyone who hears has a lot of fear of a much wider conflict. And that is if you're actually going to be targeting government buildings and government leaders in Tehran itself? Do you have U.S. backing for that?

CONRICUS: Yes. So that -- that remains to be seen. And I think that there is -- I'm trying to read the American administration, the Biden administration. And I'm trying to understand how much of an opportunity they sense that there is here.

I understand that it's an election cycle, close to elections in the U.S. And of course, the entire region is following every word from the presidential and the vice-presidential debates and all of the communications coming out of Washington and the U.S., looking for clues to see where the U.S. is standing, where the candidates are standing.

But I think that there's a big, big opportunity here to perhaps do more regarding Iran's nuclear program than the world has failed to do in the last, I would say, seven to eight years. Perhaps more can be achieved.

Yes, albeit with a certain rich [SIC] -- risk attached to it, no doubt.

But looking at how the Iranian regime has been operating, what they've been doing is advancing steadily with their nuclear weapons program, despite complaints, despite oversight, despite agreements, et cetera, et cetera. But at the end of the day, they are advancing towards it.

BURNETT: All right. Jonathan Conricus, thank you very much.

And Kasie, I will say, you know, just being here and obviously, you know, when you're down near the Gaza border, as we all spent so much time there, you know, you would see where missiles had hit.

But seeing them here, near a Mossad building, seeing those giant craters in the ground, it is clear that something different has happened and that we truly could be entering a very different stage of all of this.

HUNT: And that critical question that you were just asking there at the end, it does seem -- and we've -- we've had -- several former Israeli officials were on with Wolf Blitzer last night, raising this specter of striking Iran's nuclear program.

And it was very interesting to listen to the texture that Conricus offered there as you -- as you asked him whether or not the U.S. would back him.

Erin, we'll be back with you throughout the -- throughout the hour.

Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a surprisingly civil debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz. But where do voters stand on last night's performances from the running mates? We're going to break down fresh CNN polling from debate night.

Plus, the moments that may stick at the front of some key battleground voters' minds as they head to the ballot box in just 34 days.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the stark sort of aspects of that debate that really stuck with me was when they were talking about January 6th. J.D. Vance didn't really give us a definitive answer. And I -- I'm disappointed in that fact. And I don't think that I can trust someone, you know, with my vote if they're not going to respect it.

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WALZ: You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater. That's -- that's the test. That's the Supreme Court test.

VANCE: Tim, fire in a crowded theater. You guys wanted to kick people off of Facebook for saying that toddlers shouldn't wear masks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator, Governor --

VANCE: That's not fire in a crowded theater. That is criticizing the policies of the government, which is the right of every American.

WALZ: I don't run Facebook. What I do know is, is I see a candidate out there who refused -- and now again, and this -- I'm pretty shocked by this. He lost the election.

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HUNT: The big night in the Big Apple. The vice-presidential candidates, Senator J.D. Vance, Governor Tim Walz, met last night in New York for their one and only debate. Here's a little bit of what happened last night.

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WALZ: Israel's ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. Getting its hostages back, fundamental.

VANCE: It is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. And we should support our allies, wherever they are, when they're fighting the bad guys.

Look, a lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns. I think it's important for us, first of all to say Donald Trump and I support clean air, clean water.

WALZ: Donald Trump called it a hoax. And then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in.

VANCE: The real family separation policy in this country is, unfortunately, Kamala Harris's wide-open Southern border.

WALZ: As soon as I was getting ready to pass and actually tackle this, Donald Trump said no, told them to vote against it, because it gives him a campaign issue. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. With just 34 days between now and November 5th, this meeting was the last major campaign event that is currently scheduled between now and election day.

A CNN poll of registered voters who watched last night's debate found that they were pretty evenly split over who gave a better performance. The numbers could be explained, in part, by something we have not seen at debates like this in a while: an abundance of agreements and, at least outwardly, being nice to each other.

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WALZ: I agree it should not take seven years for an asylum claim to be done.

VANCE: I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris does.

WALZ: I agree with a lot of what Senator Vance said about what's happening. His running mate, though, does not. And that's the problem.

VANCE: Governor, I agree with you. Amber Thurman should still be alive, and there a lot of people who should still be alive. And I certainly wish that she was.

WALZ: I'm in agreement with him on this.

VANCE: First of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting, and I'm sorry about that. And I --

WALZ: I appreciate you saying that.

VANCE: Christ, have mercy.

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HUNT: CNN's Phil Mattingly conducted a focus group with undecided voters in the critical battleground state of Michigan, and those voters noted just how different this debate felt.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't seen a debate like this in a very long time. They supported each other. They were kind, and it was warm and fuzzy. I mean, you could watch it and not be offended by the words they were using towards each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was not much fear. There was not much hesitancy. They showed their character for each other in a way. And as was mentioned, they kind of supported each other as they're going within debate and not attacking each other personally, but more of the policies. And then what they stand for.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: "You could watch it and not be offended," she says. What a change.

Joining us now to discuss: Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter at Axios; Mark Preston, CNN senior political analyst; Bakari Sellers, CNN political commentator, former South Carolina Democratic state representative; and Brad Todd, Republican strategist and a partner at the public strategy firm On Message.

Thank you all for joining us this morning on what is already a very busy news day.

Alex Thompson, I want to start with you to get a sense -- it was clear that J.D. Vance came into this debate trying to push reset on his public image. And that's part of why we saw so many "I agree," "I agree," "I agree."

It was a different vibe since, you know, we're talking -- we talk so much about vibes now.

What was your takeaway? Because I mean, a lot of the people we talked to said Vance won the debate. Frank Luntz is out there tweeting, saying all of his focus groups thought Vance won the debate. And it was a different kind of profile from him.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. Vance, the first last -- the last two months has presented himself as the pit bull for Trump, and he was more poodle this last -- you know, last night.

And you saw even, like, from what he was wearing, you know, the pink tie choice, the fact that he wasn't overly aggressive. You know.

And there was sort of a head fake going on from the Trump side in the last two weeks that, you know, J.D. Vance was really going to try to get under Tim Walz's skin, that he was going to try to, you know, make him red in the face.

And that really just didn't happen.

And, you know, I don't know exactly that this is going to have a huge effect on this race. But I can tell you, just talking to Republicans, that it's going to have a huge effect on the 2028 race.

The fact is that J.D. Vance has really set himself up as the sort of MAGA heir apparent for the 2028 Republican primary already.

HUNT: Brad Todd, do you agree with that?

BRAD TODD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think J.D. Vance helped J.D. Vance last night. Tim Walz also helped J.D. Vance, by the way.

I'm not sure either one of them bled out the top of the ticket which is the job. The vice president -- we don't have vice-presidential debates. You know, their job is to come out and do damage to the other side's top of the ticket. I don't know that J.D. did that.

But I do think he showed a lot of competence, and I think that Republicans are a lot happier with his performance than Democrats are with Tim Walz's.

HUNT: Bakari, is that true?

[06:20:02]

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. In fact, Tim Walz went out there and did his job. I mean, we're talking about the tone and the tenor of the debate, but we have to acknowledge the reason that the tone and the tenor and the manner was the way that it was, is because Tim Walz was on that stage.

There are a lot of Democrats who wanted Tim Walz to go out and be this pit bull, but that's just not who he is. I mean, you saw someone who was humble. And I don't know the last time we've seen a stage where we had a level of humility. Someone who admitted that he misspoke on a particular question, somebody who approached answering questions with their own life stories, with personable stories.

I mean, he looked like Coach Walz. He looked like Tim Walz, the leader of the great state of Minnesota.

He is not going to be J.D. Vance. When you read the transcript of this debate, J.D. Vance is a skilled debater. He's a skilled lawyer. But what also came across about J.D. Vance last night is a problem that many people have, which is that he's somewhat dishonest, but he doesn't stand for much.

It was a draw last night. I don't think that it -- it moves the needle for any candidate one way or another. And we'll take that. As days go by on the campaign, the Harris campaign will take another good day, a good performance by Tim Walz.

HUNT: Mark Preston, for our viewers who may not know, you do a ton of behind the scenes work for us here at CNN in setting up debates. I say this just to let people in on the idea.

I mean, you know what these standing on these stages are like. You know what it's like to stand in. And -- and try to help other people understand what the debate is going to look like.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

HUNT: Tim Walz was really nervous at the beginning of this. Is there anything they could have done to help mitigate that? Because the reality is he hasn't been doing interviews. He hasn't been out there in the ways that J.D. Vance, who was happy to say that about himself. But it does happen to be true that he's been doing more of that.

PRESTON: Well, no doubt. And let me first start by saying that we are in praise of politeness. How far we have come that we are just so dumbstruck that two

gentlemen, you know, two United States -- two Americans can stand on stage together and not want to punch each other out? But I guess that's where we've come to, you know, in this day and age.

I have. Look, I've prepped moderators for 20 years now, 30 debates. And I've got to tell you, he was almost over overprepared. Tim Walz, what he didn't do was he didn't take a step back, and he didn't allow himself to fall into the moment. And that's what J.D. Vance did.

J.D. Vance was very calm, very collected. Putting aside anything that was said last night. And I know that will drive people crazy, but forget about the facts. Forget about what was said. Just focus on the delivery.

And I do believe folks who were watching last night, who might have had concerns about J.D. Vance and his crazy comments about women and cats and what have you would probably feel a little bit better after watching last night's debate.

Having said that, let us acknowledge that this debate will actually mean nothing except for what Alex said at the very top of the show, at the very top of this segment. And that J.D. Vance really has positioned himself for 2028, no matter what happens.

HUNT: Very interesting. Go ahead.

TODD: Well, you know, I think Mark hit on one thing that's pretty important there. And that's that Tim Walz was not -- has not been doing the combat that J.D. Vance has been doing on the trail.

I think partly that's because Kamala Harris is not doing many interviews, and they don't want Tim Walz out doing interviews when she's not doing them.

And I think you saw that last night. J.D.'s already been kicked around by hostile journalists for two months, and Tim Walz was in the hot seat for the first time. I thought that was a detriment to him, and that's Kamala's fault.

SELLERS: I just want to jump in, Kasie, if I may.

HUNT: Go ahead, go ahead.

SELLERS: There -- there are a couple of things that we forget.

First, let's level set for a moment and recall the fact that even in his interview with Kamala Harris when he was going through the process of being vice president, Tim Walz, looked Kamala Harris in the face and said, there are two things I don't do well. One, you're going to have to teach me how to read off a teleprompter. Your team is. And two, I don't debate well.

And so, that's something that the campaign knew coming into this, that he himself was a soap self-professed individual who does not debate well. J.D. Vance has that skill. Tim Walz does not, which leads to a little of that nervousness.

And then the second thing is we have to disabuse ourselves of this notion that, all of a sudden, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are not talking to the media, because that's just fundamentally inaccurate.

In every single swing state that Tim Walz goes to, he sits down with local media. He sits down with the press. He sits down with reporters. He does local news interviews. I mean, that is the fact.

I mean, Kamala Harris does the same thing. Its funny people say Kamala Harris doesn't talk to the press when the fact is, she talks to the press. She just doesn't talk to the beltway press. And so --

TODD: She hasn't done a hostile interview yet. She's not -- not even one.

SELLERS: Listen, but the fact that she talks to the press. She talks to the press, local press, and she's out there meeting the voters.

And the second thing is, if we want to have that -- if we want to have that standard with Tim Walz and Kamala Harris, that's fine.

But when Kamala Harris sits down for a "60 Minutes" interview next week, and Donald Trump doesn't, we're moving away from the debate. But this is where we are. Then I want that same -- I want that same smoke for Donald Trump that you have with Kamala Harris.

[06: 25:00]

Last night, Tim Walz did everything he was supposed to do.

THOMPSON: Really quick. If I could just jump in really quick.

HUNT: Yes. Go ahead, please. Yes.

THOMPSON: The other week -- the other week, we actually ran the numbers. And what Bakari is saying is true, is that Tim Walz does speak to more local media. Kamala Harris has done a Wisconsin Public Radio interview. She did an affiliate TV interview.

But if you actually look at the aggregate numbers, the fact is that, even on local television, J.D. Vance and Donald Trump are doing several times many more interviews than both Kamala Harris and -- and Tim Walz.

And that's a deliberate part of the strategy. Maybe it will work. But the fact is that they are getting in front of the media and taking more questions and getting more reps in.

J.D. Vance by himself has done ten times more interviews with mainstream reporters, not friendly media -- mainstream reporters -- than Tim Walz has done since July 21.

HUNT: Well, and Mark Preston, the reality is there's a big difference between and look, Bakari, I take your point, and I love my friends in the local media. They are -- our country is-- honestly, like, we need them. We need more of them.

But I will also say that, Mark, when I was covering, say, Senate campaigns, sometimes I would wonder why politicians would stumble in interviews with me. I was asking what I thought were questions that they would pretty easily expect.

The reality is, it is different. And then I sort of processed, Oh right. I learned how to do this on a presidential campaign, which is -- you know, these are crucibles and situations that are different. And I thought something of that shone through last night.

PRESTON: You know, Kasie, that -- Let me just add to that. When I was a young reporter, a young reporter in Marietta, Georgia, I did an interview with Newt Gingrich. I was the local newspaper reporter.

He didn't think I would ask him about running the president back in 1997. I know nobody cares about this now. At the time --

HUNT: I do.

PRESTON: -- it was a major story that I got the speaker of the House to acknowledge that he wanted to run for president. He didn't -- he thought he could get away with it. And he stumbled, because he was in this local interview.

But to your point, most of these interviews, though, that Walz is doing --

HUNT: This is why you now have been prepping debate moderators for 30 years.

PRESTON: It's because a I'm old. Look at my hair.

No, but the reality is, I mean, the reality is -- is that these local reporters don't get a lot of time. And when these candidates come into their state, they don't have the ability to ask about what's going on with Israel and Iran because they need to ask about what's going on in their state, what is -- what are these candidates going to do for their state? This is the issues that are affecting their state.

They only have a few minutes to do so. So, to your point, we can't be critical of the local media for not asking the very tough questions because they're asking the questions that are important to them at their time.

But Walz clearly was not comfortable enough on-stage last night. And perhaps if he'd gotten battered around a little bit over the past couple of weeks, he may have been.

HUNT: Yes. Now, again, we're not throwing any shade at all on our local colleagues, who just do incredible, amazing work every single day. It's just a different, different kind of stage.

All right, 27 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

President Biden, Vice President Harris set to view damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Kamala Harris will survey damage and receive a ground -- on-the-ground briefing in Georgia, while Biden is set to travel to both North and South Carolina and is expected to take an aerial tour of Western North Carolina.

As the mayor of Asheville says, the city can't support a visit on the ground.

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MAYOR ESTHER MANHEIMER (D), ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: The only highway into Asheville of the four highways into Asheville that's open is the one yard (ph) airport, and we can't shut it down for a motorcade.

So, we're glad that he's going to be able to be here and see the community from the air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The president will also visit Florida and Georgia in the coming days.

The White House calling on striking dock workers and their employers to return to the negotiating table until they reach a deal.

The strike entering its second day and involving almost 50,000 workers could impact the shipping of everything from fruit to liquor, furniture, and vehicles.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you remember Lesley Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument on the camera, talking about that and other things.

And, you know, they really owed me an apology.

I'd like to get an apology, so I've asked them for an apology. Let's see if they do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, because of a moment four years ago, Donald Trump is refusing to do a scheduled "60 Minutes" interview. He says he needs an apology for this moment. You see him standing up there. And for CBS's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop.

This might have been one of the last opportunities for a wide swath of voters to see Donald Trump in a primetime slot before election day.

All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, waiting for the response. Israel vowing Iran will pay for Tuesday's deadly missile attack.

Plus, the abortion battle playing out on the vice-presidential debate stage. How J.D. Vance urged his party to address one of the Democrats' strongest issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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