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CNN This Morning

Drone Launched At Netanyahu Home In Northern Israel; Lizzo, Usher To Campaign For Harris In Key Battleground States; Harris And Trump Hold Dueling Events In Battleground Michigan; Iran's Supreme Leader Mourns Sinwar Death. Power Plant Failure Plunges Cuba into a Blackout; New Details Emerge After Autopsy for Yahya Sinwar; Trial of Man Accused of Killing 2 Indiana Teens in Delphi Indiana Resumes Today. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 19, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:27]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, October 19. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker, good morning, everyone. Our colleague, Kaitlan Collins is in Tel Aviv as we follow developments in the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. We'll have more with Kaitlan throughout the hour. Here's what's also happening today.

Both presidential candidates and their high profile surrogates are on the campaign trail this weekend the arguments they are making to voters with just over two weeks until election day. What we know about just how many votes have already been cast.

BLACKWELL: We're following breaking news out of Israel, a drone was launched toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu home, plus we're now hearing from Iran after Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, as we said at the top of the show.

WALKER: There are new details about the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, we are live in Argentina with what we have learned from police and the message Payne's family has for fans.

BLACKWELL: 17 days away and with races so tight in the key battleground states, both campaigns are spending A lot of their time right there. Former President Trump will be in central Pennsylvania. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Detroit and Atlanta.

WALKER: So far, more than 11 million Americans across 42 states have already voted in this year's election. Now, the Harris campaign is leaning on star power in the closing weeks to draw more attention and get people to the polls. She will be joined by Lizzo in Detroit and Usher in Atlanta today.

Meanwhile, former President Obama will be in Las Vegas, and former President Clinton will continue a four-day tour through the south.

BLACKWELL: Trump and Harris held dueling rallies in Michigan hoping to secure the state's 15 Electoral College votes. Now, Trump campaigned in Detroit a week after taking a swipe at the city. CNN's Alayna Treene reports on this about face.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor and Amara, Donald Trump returned to the crucial battleground state of Michigan on Friday, the same day that Vice President Kamala Harris was there. It offered a bit of an interesting split screen, but luck, I actually saw something on Friday that I hadn't seen while covering Donald Trump's campaign thus far, and that's -- that just a couple moments into his remarks, his audio and his mic completely cut out. You could see him trying to continue on with his speech, but nobody could hear him. Watch.

Now, Victor and Amara, that ended up taking place for about 18 minutes, during which Donald Trump had paced up and down the stage while the crowd was chanting and cheering for him, but once they had resolved the issue, Donald Trump picked right back up again and continued with his remarks.

Now, it was pretty much a typical stump speech. He spent a lot of time talking about energy, touting his tax cut proposals, talking about immigration, all things we know that Trump's campaign believes will help him win in November.

But one thing that I was watching for was whether or not he would directly address some of the comments that he had made when he was in Detroit just a week earlier speaking to the city's economic club, and that was really when he had insulted Detroit while being In Detroit, he called it a more developing city than countries like China.

Donald Trump did not specifically get into those comments, but he did repeat them in some way. He said, quote, we're going to, you know, Detroit has such great potential, but Kamala and the Democrats have been wreaking havoc on this place. Trump went on to say that he would make Detroit great once again. And his campaign had put up signs as well as showed this on some projectors with the sign, make Detroit great again.

Now, just to take a quick step back, Victor and Amara, and tell you why this state is so important to the Trump campaign. It's not just because it has 15 electoral votes, which is, of course, so important in their pathway to reaching 270 electoral votes, but it's also because out of the three so called blue wall states, the Trump campaign, I'm told, believes that Michigan will be the easiest for them to win. So that's part of why you've seen him aggressively campaigning here in this final few weeks before November 5 try to shore up support with these voters. Victor. Amara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:02] WALKER: All right. Alayna Treene there. Thank you so much. Now Vice President Harris also looked to shore up support in Michigan. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez was there as Harris tried to appeal to key voting blocs in the state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Vice President's trip to Michigan on Friday provided a glimpse at what the Harris campaigns, he says, their path to victory in this crucial battleground state. The Vice President visiting three counties, one of which voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but then for President Biden in 2020 those two other counties, one is that President Biden won by wider margins in 2020. So the Vice President, her campaign tried to emulate that, but also build on it.

Now their messaging on Friday was more pointed to union workers and manufacturing. The vice president again trying to appeal to union voters, as some rank and file members have lead toward former President Donald Trump.

Now the vice president elevated and criticized some of the former president's anti-labor comments and also talks about the former president making, quote, big promises, but not delivering on them, as she talks about manufacturing.

The vice president also kicked off her remarks here at her rally with a message for the Arab American community. Of course, her campaign trying to make inroads with that community which has grappled with the Israel-Hamas war, and some of whom have peeled off and at least hesitated to vote for the vice president or support her, and this is what she had to say.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And listen, I know this year has been very difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon, it is devastating, and now Sinwar's death can and must be a turning point.

Everyone must seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all. And I continue to believe diplomacy is the answer to bringing lasting stability across the Israel-Lebanon border and as vice president, and with your help as president, I will do everything in my power to achieve these goals.

ALVAREZ: Now the vice president, of course, also delivering quoted attacks of former President Donald Trump saying that he was, quote, unserious. That's the type of messaging that campaign officials say will be part of the closing weeks of this election, as the vice president also notes that he has been quote, ducking debates and canceling interviews.

So again, the vice president trying to lock down the coalition in Michigan as they try to fortify the blue wall, but also trying to peel off those Republican voters from former President Donald Trump. Amara, Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Priscilla Alvarez for us there. Thanks so much. Let's bring in Stef Kight politics reporter at Axios. Good morning to you. And I want to start where Priscilla left off, in large part, on this attempt to bring those Arab American voters who supported Biden in 2020 back into the fold of the Democratic Party and for her campaign

Is there any evidence that the outreach and we're seeing more pointed language from her there than we've heard in a while, that it's working with those voters?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: We haven't seen very clear signs just yet. We know it's so important for Harris to be able to win over Arab American voters, especially in a state like Michigan where they do, where they are, a large voting block for that state, and when you talking about a state like Michigan, where the polls show Harris and Trump really neck and neck tied right now, when you look at the average of the polls in that state, winning over these voters, who have historically been Democratic voters, will be critical.

We're talking again about turnout. It's not as likely that some of these voters were would turn out and vote Trump. However, it's about turning out every voter that Harris, the Harris campaign, can to ensure that they can win in November. And if Harris can't win Michigan, that essentially closes off her easiest path to the White House.

BLACKWELL: Yes, for that population, maybe there's more than just turnout. It's now she still has some convincing to do before she gets them to turn out.

All right, let's turn now to the former president back in Detroit, a week after he called Detroit a developing -- compared it to a developing nation, warned that if the vice president wins, the whole country will look like Detroit. Here's what he said last night.

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TRUMP: Detroit has such great potential, but Kamala and the Democrats have been wreaking havoc on this place this very, very, in many respects, it's a sacred place.

[06:10:02]

So many things happened in Detroit, and it's been treated so badly, and they've been talking about comebacks for so long, but we're going to bring it back better than it ever was, better than it was many, many years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Clean up on aisle 45 attempt at least Harris campaign ran with those comments from a week ago. How problematic did the Trump campaign and Trump's allies believe those comments about Detroit were in Detroit?

KIGHT: I mean, the fact that Trump himself seemed to be addressing those past comments, trying to clean it up himself, indicates that they felt like it was a huge issue, that they were not -- they did not like the fact that the Harris campaign pounced on those comments and have been using them on the campaign trail.

And again, when you're talking about races this closed, any kind of hiccup like that, any kind of you know of comment that's going to turn voters away from someone like the former president is going to be perilous for their campaign, and in the same way that Harris has been trying to woo over Arab American voters, who have been critical the by administration's handling of the war in Gaza, Trump hasn't very focused on winning over working class union voters.

Union voters, of course, have historically voted Democratic, but Trump and Republicans over the past several years, have been making a concerted effort to try to convince those voters that they are they really should be voting for the Republican Party.

BLACKWELL: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is now saying that of the more than a million people in Georgia, there are reports that some million people in Georgia voted early. I should say there are reports from some in her district, according to her, that the Dominion voting machines are flipping votes. Of course, is what we heard after the 2020, election.

But what is the theory, or at least the justification before the election. I mean, I can't imagine that this motivates their voters to get out. If she's saying that your votes won't count because the machines are not working, and we should say it's been debunked. Fox paid more than $700 million as part of a settlement because these were lies. But what's the strategy here 17 days out before the votes are counted?

KIGHT: I mean, it's hard to see what the real strategy is when it comes to turning out Republican voters. And we know that Marjorie Taylor Greene has repeatedly questioned the 2020 election results, and it's notable that she is already beginning to plant those seeds now as we get closer to election day. It's something that she has been consistent on. She is one of the most prominent voices that have been kind of sowing distrust in the nature of our elections in the US.

And, you know, they have been debunked. And, you know, apparently there was one small issue that was user error, according to Dominion, who responded in some of the local election officials who responded to the allegations there. But it just goes to show that this is going to continue to be an issue as we move closer and closer to the November 5 election. We still have yet to hear widespread commitment from some Republicans that they will accept the election results. We've seen a lot of people being very careful with the way they respond to questions like that from the media.

And so, you know, it -- as we get closer and closer to election day, you know, we are going to continue to see some of these questions raised from people including Marjorie Taylor Greene, but also even Elon Musk began to raise concerns.

BLACKWELL: They didn't make sense -- they don't make sense now. I mean, they were lies after the 2020 election, but I don't know how these get voters out if you're saying, well, the machines are changing your votes anyway, which has been debunked, I should say every time. Stef Kight with Axios, thanks so much.

Anderson Cooper moderates a CNN Presidential Town Hall with Vice President Kamala Harris, will face voters and take their most pressing questions, Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

WALKER: All right, still to come, the Israeli Prime Minister's vacation home in northern Israel has been the target of a drone attack. We'll have the details of the incident after this break.

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[06:18:55]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Kaitlan Collins in Tel Aviv, where right now we are following the latest developments on Israel's war with Hamas. As all of this is coming, we have some breaking news out of Israel this morning, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, says that a drone was launched towards a residence of his from Lebanon today.

I should note, Netanyahu and his wife were not home at the time. We are told that there are no injuries that as a result of this attack, but that it comes as something that we are following amid major questions of what's next in this war.

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is mourning the killing of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this morning, and in a post on Twitter, he called Sinwar's death a painful loss for the Resistance Front, but he also vowed that the movement would continue.

Israel believes that Sinwar was the main planner of Hamas' deadly attack on October 7 that began the war in Gaza. Israeli forces killed Sinwar during a routine ground patrol in Rafah on Wednesday. And tonight, we're learning new details about autopsy that were not previously revealed by the IDF.

[06:20:00]

CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance is here with me now, and initially there was a bit of confusion over how exactly Sinwar died, but now there's been an autopsy report and we've gotten confirmation of what exactly happened.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yet there's still a bit of a discrepancy between what the Israeli military say happened and what the pathologist who carried out the autopsy says happened. You know, he's been speaking to CNN, and he said that basically, the cause of death was a shot to the head. And that's in sort of contradiction to what the account of the Israeli military was earlier, who told us that he died, Yahya Sinwar, after a tank shell was fired into the house, the destroyed house where he was -- where we saw him in that remarkable drone video.

We've also learned some other grisly details from the pathologist as well. For instance, you after he was dead, one of the soldiers cut off a finger of Sinwar because they didn't know who it was, and they needed to be identified through DNA analysis. And they set that finger to the lab to sort of double check who he actually was.

Also for my sources, I've learned that the Israeli authorities are potentially looking at the body, the remains of Yahya Sinwar, that Hamas leader, as a bargaining chip for a potential swap with Israeli hostages, more than 100 of whom are still being held inside Gaza. So a lot of little developments taking place.

COLLINS: Which wouldn't be extremely unusual for Israeli officials. I mean, they've held the bodies of Palestinians before, but this one obviously carries so much more weight and significance, especially in the eyes of a lot of Palestinians, how do they make a decision on, you know, what are they weighing when they're calculating whether or not to send his remains back to Gaza?

CHANCE: It is a dilemma that they face. I mean, yes, you're right. They routinely keep Palestinian bodies with a view to swapping them at some point in the future. Sometimes they're useful trading assets, if I can put it in that way, but they haven't had anyone for years of such seniority, and so that that presents its own challenges and its own opportunities as well.

It's a challenge because if give the body back, there's a possibility that could rally support at the funeral. His burial site could become a shrine, which the Israelis say to us that they want to avoid. At the same time, you know, it's obviously significantly more valuable in terms of what they can get in exchange for this set of remains, if they can get Israeli hostages out for the remains of Sinwar, then I've been told by my sources, then that's something they'd be prepared to consider.

COLLINS: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you for that reporting. Obviously big questions of what's going to happen next now. I'm joined now by Daniel Levy. He's the president of the U.S. Middle East project, and CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton, joining us now,

Daniel, obviously this is a big question here in this moment, because initially when Sinwar had been killed, there was hope for a ceasefire, for a hostage release, for what that was going to look like as we're getting away from the immediate reaction of this. And let me bring you in Colonel Cedric Leighton on this as well, because as we're getting further away from Sinwar's death, that seems less likely as of this moment, based on what we have heard from Hamas and what we have heard from the Prime Minister's office here in Israel.

As you're looking at this moment strategically, what do you think it means for where this goes next?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, this is a really great question Kaitlan, because it looks like everybody is entrenched in their positions, in spite of Sinwar's death, in spite of the death of all the other leaders in Hamas and in Hezbollah, there is this great intransigence, I'll call it, that we see, not only within the proxies, but also within Iran itself. You showed the tweet from the Supreme Leader earlier, and that kind of indicates where things are, at least publicly.

Now, underneath that in the diplomatic phase, there is the possibility that there might be some negotiations that will start, but there's really basically an ice jam that is, you know, right now present where negotiations would normally be, and that ice jam would have to be broken before any negotiations can have any meaningful result that we can see outside of that.

So I think it's going to take a long time, in spite of the Biden administration's efforts, to get these negotiations going and to really reach an end to this terrible conflict in Gaza and in other places.

COLLINS: What's your view on Matthews reporting about how Sinwar's body could be used as a bit of a bargaining chip in this situation when it comes to getting the hostages back, that's, you know, I was talking to a hostage family last night. Their son, Omer Neutra, you know, is 23 years old. He's been held there now for two birthdays of his. He's been in Gaza. They said, do whatever it takes. Essentially, was their view on this matter.

If you're an Israeli official, though, what are you weighing in that situation?

LEIGHTON: Well, you're looking at several different factors. You know, obviously the hostage families that do play a role in this, but the way Prime Minister Netanyahu has been handling this you, you know, really look at the military piece as well.

[06:25:03]

And you want to make sure that the Hamas, in this case, is going to be at a disadvantage in any negotiation. Clearly, they are at a major disadvantage with Sinwar's death and the death of others. But what you're doing as an Israeli official would be to make sure that you have all those bargaining chips, including Sinwar's body ready to go. And Matthew, I think, is reporting has been spot on. In this case, the body being a, in essence, a bargaining chip for this. I think will make a really big difference in what happens next, but it's going to take some time, and we may not see those results very quickly.

COLLINS: Yes, and with Sinwar's death and the death of other, you know, the senior political leader in Hamas, we've seen other senior figures who been taken out by Israel. We're still waiting to hear who is going to be next, who they are going to elevate that is going to be the new senior leader who is speaking for Hamas actually even conducting these negotiations, because U.S. officials had seen Sinwar as this major obstacle.

I mean, what does it say that you were here, you know, now 48 hours out from this, and they have not -- we haven't heard anything on that front. What does it say about Hamas right now?

LEIGHTON: Well, they're in big disarray, Kaitlan right now, and when you look at, you know, what has happened to them, it's no wonder that they don't have a succession plan in place, at least that we're publicly aware of. I think what, you know, when you have an empty seat across from you in a negotiation that gives you an inherent advantage, and the Israelis have that at the moment, Hamas will certainly have a leader, will have somebody who will be a negotiator, probably someone who is in Qatar currently.

There's a spokesman that has shown up and will probably be in a position to be that negotiator, or someone close to that person. On the military side possibility of Sinwar's brother Mahmoud Sinwar (ph) will be a possible, excuse me, Mohammed Sinwar will be a possible replacement for him on the military side in Gaza, if, if he's still alive.

COLLINS: President Biden is sending Secretary Blinken here, where I am right now, to Tel Aviv this week to meet with Israeli officials. What are those conversations look like on Blinken then? Because, you know, it's a big question of the level of influence the U.S. has on what Israel does here.

Obviously, they're in a critical moment with the election happening in two and a half weeks in the US. But what kind of message is Blinken able to bring here, because they very clearly want to leverage this moment. It's just a question of whether or not they can.

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's going to be really difficult, I think, Kaitlan, for them to do for Secretary Blinken to do, clearly, what the United States wants is an end to the fighting, especially in Gaza, but also in Lebanon. So the message from Blinken is probably going to be, let's use this opportunity to, you know, declare victory. In essence, Israel has created a situation where they've decimated the leadership, both of Hamas and of Hezbollah, and that is a big advantage.

Both these groups are going to reconstitute in one way or another, but this is their moment of weakness, and it's up to the Israelis to take advantage of that, both diplomatically as well as militarily, and certainly from a PR perspective.

So Blinken is going to try to use that to convince the Israelis to move in this way. There, of course, are domestic political imperatives on the Israeli side, and those domestic political imperatives include Prime Minister Netanyahu's desire not only to prosecute the war, but to survive politically, because the longer he stays as Prime Minister, the less chance he's going to be charged criminally, and that, of course, also has an impact on what happens next.

COLLINS: Yes, huge political implications here for him as well. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you for that. Daniel, we will reconnect with him later on. Victor, obviously, big questions here of what's going to happen next. A lot basically still to be decided as of this moment.

BLACKWELL: Yes, lots of questions and increasing tensions there. Kaitlan, thank you for being there and your reporting. All right, Liam Payne's fans are mourning his death, and there are lots of questions about what happened during the final moments of his life. We have details of the investigation. Next.

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Almost all of Cuba and the 11 million people who live there are in the dark this morning after one of the country's aging electrical plants failed, that shut down the power grilled -- grid across the entire country.

AMARA WALKER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Yes, people are setting small fires in the streets to provide some light there. Cuba's aging infrastructure is run down and blackouts have occurred since the 1990s. CNN's Patrick Oppmann shows us how people are coping.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So, all of Havana, pretty much all of Cuba is like this street right now in total blackout. And you can see people are hanging out on the side of the road, getting the last little bit of light, but other than hotels, hospitals, a few other places that are looking at generator and fuel. Most Cubans are in total darkness at this moment.

That's not something that's gotten new because there are blackouts all the time. But the entire island is in blackout because there's a severe fuel shortage, and that the remaining power plants that were working were locked up because there were so much demand.

[06:35:00]

Officials say they are working around the clock to restore power. But as the hours go on, as the -- we go into the first night of this island-wide blackout, people are increasingly frustrated. Someone said to me just a minute ago that if they could get on a plane right now, they would.

And that is really the sentiment that people are afraid that if this continues on for hours or days more, their food will begin to spoil, still quite hot in Cuba, and it is going to becoming more and more uncomfortable. You can't get water in your homes if there is no power, and so this becomes something of a domino effect where life gets harder and harder.

Cubans are used to blackouts, but for one to take place across this entire island without a hurricane or natural disaster taking place. First, it's really somewhat unprecedented when the fuel shortage was announced ahead of the blackout, Cuba's Prime Minister promised people that this island was not going to fall into what he called an abyss. But at this moment right now, that's what it feels like. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Well, awful situation there, Patrick Oppmann, thank you. Coming up, we're going to show you drone video, photographs and open source Intelligence CNN used to piece together what we know about the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. That's next.

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[06:40:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kaitlan Collins on the ground in Tel Aviv, Israel, where today hopes for an immediate ceasefire seemed to be dwindling as U.S. officials are hoping to put new momentum behind talks for a hostage release. Right now, we are learning more about how Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces after a drone captured some of his final moments alive following a chance encounter during a routine patrol.

CNN's Katie Polglase reports now on high the -- how the IDF located Sinwar in southern Gaza. A warning that some of the footage you're about to see is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER (voice-over): New video and satellite images are providing a clearer picture of Yahya Sinwar's final hours. CNN has geo-located the house shown in this August satellite image to the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah. In August, the area had less destruction, you can see houses still standing.

But during September, you can see more tank tracks through the area as the destruction grows. By October 16th, the morning before he died, IDF tanks were 250 meters away, you can see them here in this satellite image surrounding the place Sinwar spent his final moments.

The IDF later said they were not aware he was in the area, but spotted a man fleeing from another house in the area and sent a drone to follow the fleeing man up to his new location. This video is likely the last footage where we see Sinwar alive, staring into the drone's camera from the second floor of a rubble-strewn building.

Back down on street-level, this IDF video shows a tank firing at the building where Sinwar is inside.

(on camera): We don't have any images of what happens after that. But in the next images, we do have Sinwar is dead.

(voice-over): In this photo, visibly taken in the same location, we can see Sinwar's body surrounded by IDF soldiers.

(on camera): But we noticed a change in some videos we assume were taken later that reveal some details about what happened to his body.

(voice-over): Take a closer look here at Sinwar's hand and watch, in this next video, the watch is gone and one finger is missing.

(on camera): The pathologist who conducted the autopsy on his body told CNN his finger was taken to Israel to identify it was Sinwar. The IDF are yet to confirm this. You can also see a serious head injury in this photo, we're blurring it because it's so graphic, which would fit with what the pathologist said, that it was a gunshot wound to the head that was the cause of his death. Again, the IDF are yet to confirm.

(voice-over): For now, these photos and videos are our main clues as to how this operation unfolded as the world waits to see the political consequences of his death. Katie Polglase, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And thank you, Katie, for that report. I should note we asked the IDF to comment on the pathologist findings, they told CNN, there was an exchange of gunfire, and that the combat did end with the firing of a tank shell. The IDF is still working to learn the full details of what happened to Sinwar according to the spokesperson, Victor, obviously, a moment here, just that it was this chance encounter that happened. But now has such massive implications for what could happen next year.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and so many questions will likely be the answer over the next several days to weeks. Kaitlan Collins for us there in Tel Aviv, thank you. Seven years after two teens were brutally killed, the start of the Delphi murders trial brought new details and some heart- wrenching testimony. Details of day one in the courtroom. That's next.

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[06:45:00]

WALKER: In just a few hours, court will resume in the trial of the man accused of killing two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana in 2017. Richard Allen has pleaded not guilty to murder and felony murder charges. In an opening statements yesterday, the prosecutor told the jury, Allen forced the girls off a hiking trail and then killed them.

The defense sought to raise doubts about the evidence in the case. Criminal defense attorney Katie Jackson-Lindsay joining us now. Hi, there, Katie. Let's first off talk about the major takeaways --

KATIE JACKSON-LINDSAY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning --

WALKER: From the opening statements from yesterday, especially when it comes to the evidence that the prosecutors said the jury will see during the course of this trial. Does it sound to you like the prosecution has a strong case?

JACKSON-LINDSAY: Good morning. I think what we realized from opening statements is that the prosecution definitely has some issues with their evidence. What we saw from the prosecution was a very broad overview of their evidence, where on the other hand, the defense gave us a lot of significant details about the evidence and challenges with that evidence.

[06:50:00]

So, I think we learned from a combination of both opening statements that there are going to be some significant evidentiary challenges for the state.

WALKER: Like what?

JACKSON-LINDSAY: So, for example, we've always known in terms of this case that the cellphone evidence will play a large part. Before yesterday, I think the general public was pretty aware that there was audio taken from the cellphone, from Libby German's cellphone, where she had captured a voice.

It's often called the down-the-hill audio. And we also know that she was able to take some video footage of a man walking on the bridge known as the bridge guys footage. But we learned yesterday that there's also going to be cellphone pinged data that comes into play, that could bring to light some evidence about the location of that phone, that could potentially cause issues with the state's timeline as it relates to Richard Allen's guilt.

WALKER: Interesting, but when it comes to Richard Allen's whereabouts on the day that these two teenage girls disappeared in that wooded area, didn't he tell investigators that he was on the same trail as those girls?

JACKSON-LINDSAY: He did. And that's why that cellphone evidence is significant because it's -- the defense's position that the time that he indicated that he was on the trail, and the time that his vehicle was allegedly seen near the trail does not line up with the evidence that's found in that cellphone.

The defense presented to the jury yesterday in opening statements that they will see evidence that they filed was potentially moved well after Richard Allen would have left their trail. And so, I suggest that potentially, the bodies were moved at some point, and that these murders may have even happened at a different location.

WALKER: Interesting. So, let's talk more about these evidentiary challenges that you think that prosecutors will face, because according to Allen's arrest affidavit, it also shows that there was an unspent 40-caliber round that was found between the two victims. But the prosecutor also said in the opening statements that these two girls, the way they died, or at least, partially, that played a factor was the fact that their throats were cut. So, how do you reconcile the two?

JACKSON-LINDSAY: I don't know yet how you reconcile the two. That's been a mystery from the beginning, right? Because we didn't know for certain the cause of death until yesterday. And now, we know that for certain, but we also know for certain that the state is really hanging their hat on the idea that this bullet is connected to Richard Allen, and that bullet is -- they're smoking guns so-to-speak, as it relates to his kill.

Another bombshell that we heard on that issue yesterday was from -- related to the forensic analysis of that bullet. Before now, I think the general public has had the idea that the evidence on that bullet was solid. We now know that the defense is really going to challenge whether they can link that bullet to Richard Allen's gun after all. And it seems they're pretty confident that they are going to be able to raise doubt on that issue.

WALKER: It looks like the defense is going to have a lot to play with here in terms of trying to poke holes. Lastly, prosecutors did say that Allen, has confessed or admitted to the killings over dozens of times. So, what will -- what kind of strategy do you think the defense will employ there regarding these confessions if he's now saying he didn't do it.

JACKSON-LINDSAY: Well, I think you will -- we will learn that a significant amount of time in this trial is going to be spent on that issue. It's any defense attorney's nightmare for your client who confessed or make any incriminating statements. But I think what we'll learn here is that it's the defense's position that Allen was under extreme duress.

He was being held pre-trial in extraordinary circumstances. He was being held in a prison facility versus a normal pre-trial detention county facility for his own fit (ph) keeping. And so, I think we're going to learn through the defense's evidence --

WALKER: Yes --

JACKSON-LINDSAY: That he was held out there really less than ideal conditions which costs issues with his mental state and prompted those confessions that were simply what they have said to simply --

WALKER: Right --

JACKSON-LINDSAY: Want true.

WALKER: Well, we'll leave it there. Katie Jackson-Lindsay, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Pop-star Liam Payne's family, friends and fans are still trying to make sense of his death. This week he fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Simon Cowell helped launch the career of Payne's former band, One Direction, and he said in an Instagram post that he feels empty.

Meanwhile, Liam's father has now been to the site of his son's death. Jeff Payne saw the flowers and the photos and the letters left by fans in tribute to Liam outside the hotel. We'll be right back.

[06:55:00]

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BLACKWELL: A lot of pets are surrendered because their owners can't find temporary homes for them when they're needed. That's where this week's CNN Hero steps in.

WALKER: Stephen Kight (ph), a former meth addict -- Knight, I should say, Stephen Knight, a former meth addict agreed to rescue one dog to help a friend who was going to rehab. That experience turned into his life's mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHEN KNIGHT, PROVIDES SHELTER FOR PETS WHOSE OWNERS ARE IN REHAB:

When somebody makes that decision to go into treatment, it's one of the bravest decisions they'll make. Let me see you're OK. When people, they need to go to rehab and then have a place to put the dog, what we're finding out is how big of a need it is. We provide free temporary fostering services for people --