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Israel Official: Nasrallah Was Target Of Beirut Strike; U.S. Charges Iranian Hackers With Targeting Trump Campaign; NYC Mayor Eric Adams Pleads Not Guilty; New CNN Poll: Harris Up By 11 In Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:34:19]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to major breaking news in the Middle East, Israel says it has struck Hezbollah's central headquarters in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. And an Israeli official tells CNN that Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of that strike.

CNN International Correspondent Jeremy Diamond joins me now from Haifa in Israel. Jeremy, what are you hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Well, we saw this massive explosion in the southern suburbs of Beirut within the last couple of hours of very large plume of smoke. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli military spokesman, Admiral Daniel Hagari, coming out and saying that Hezbollah's central headquarters, according to him, lying underneath residential buildings in that Beirut suburb was indeed the target -- was struck by the Israeli military.

[12:35:10]

And I have now learned from an Israeli security official that Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah was the target of this very significant strike in the Lebanese capital. What we do not yet know is whether or not Nasrallah was actually killed or wounded in this strike.

The Israeli military, I'm told, is still working to verify whether or not Nasrallah was indeed struck in this attack. But I am told that he was indeed the target of what appears to be the most significant strike carried out by the Israeli military in the Lebanese capital.

And what we are -- while we are still trying to get information about the number of casualties on the ground, the extent of the damage, when you look at the plume of smoke here very large over the Beirut skyline, and when you put that together with the fact that Admiral Hagari was talking about Hezbollah using civilians as human shields, and the fact that they were targeting an underground headquarters, that points us to the use of very large munitions.

Most likely as we have seen in Gaza, the Israeli military frequently using those 2,000-pound bombs to strike under -- deep underground beneath residential buildings. And as we have also seen from Gaza, where the Israeli military has made similar claims, we also know that these types of strikes typically result in very heavy civilian casualties.

And so, on the one hand, you have what is likely to be a very concerning and a very high toll of civilian casualties and then also potentially earth-shaking moments here in this conflict. Should Hassan Nasrallah have been killed in this strike, that will, of course, be extremely consequential and likely shape the future of this conflict.

For now, at least, Dana, this has certainly escalated things even further after a week of one escalation after the next and put this region at a very, very high temperature. Dana?

BASH: It sure is. I think we cannot underscore enough how big of a move this was by Israel to target whether or not they got him or not to target Hassan Nasrallah, the head of of Hezbollah.

OK, we want to follow up on that. But stand by, Jeremy, because we're going to come back. Stay with us, audience. We've got a lot going on this hour. Come back to the United States, breaking news out of the Justice Department about Iranian hackers and an alleged plot targeting the Trump campaign.

Evan Perez is with us now from the Department of Justice. Evan, what can you tell us?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Dana. The Justice Department has unsealed charges against three hackers who are associated with the Iranian government. And according to the Justice Department, these are three hackers that have been for months, targeting people associated with the Trump campaign.

They were able to get documents from inside the Trump campaign essentially by targeting people around it. They were targeting journalists. They were targeting anyone associated with the campaign as part of an operation to influenced the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

And one of the interesting things about this, obviously, these three hackers that work for the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, one of the things that we know is that they're not under arrest. But the Justice Department has pictures of these three men who are believed to be behind this hack and leak operation.

They also have a lot of detail in this 50-page plus indictment, including a map showing exactly where in Tehran these hackers were operating from. Even a picture of the front door of the office, a nameplate showing where these hackers were operating.

Clearly, the FBI and the U.S. intelligence agencies have a lot of information and know a lot about what this operation involved. Now, keep in mind, beginning in May, we know from our own reporting previously that these hackers started attacking people or targeting people around the Trump campaign. Eventually, by June, they started sending some of the documents that they were able to get from inside the Trump campaign, things that we've now heard about, including documents related to J.D. Vance and some of the vetting of potential vice presidential candidates, those people, all of those documents were leaked to journalists as part of a replay of the playbook we saw the Russians use so effectively, Dana, back in 2016.

And so, right now, we don't -- again, we don't have any of these people in U.S. custody, but what the government is doing clearly now, compared to what they did in 2016, is they're telling the American public ahead of time what exactly this operation entailed so that voters can keep that in mind --

BASH: Yes.

PEREZ: -- when they see this information. Dana?

BASH: Yes. I mean, wow.

[12:40:02]

And the through line of what you just reported and what we just heard from Jeremy Diamond is Iran and the Iranian regime --

PEREZ: Right.

BASH: -- trying in the case of Hezbollah and of course Hamas as well according to the U.S. government, funding these groups, trying to disrupt the Middle East. And now we have this indictment, Iranian hackers trying to disrupt the U.S. election. There is definitely an interesting pattern there.

Evan, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

PEREZ: Sure.

BASH: Stay with us. We'll see what breaking news is on the other side of the break. Don't go anywhere.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- dismiss --

BASH: You're watching Eric Adams addressing reporters after pleading not guilty.

ALEX SPIRO, ATTORNEY FOR ERIC ADAMS: -- case, similar shaky theory. That case was dismissed. Same prosecutors, same theory, but the spectacle of this so exciting to them that they wanted to bring another one of these cases. This case isn't even a real case. This is the airline upgrade corruption case.

The third thing we said is that we demand that they bring exculpatory information and the discovery to court on Wednesday. As you know from looking at the indictment and from what happened in court, there are no e-mails, text messages, or any corroboration whatsoever that the mayor knew about anything having to do with these campaign donations.

The entire body of evidence is one staffer. One staffer that says there was a conversation. What you have not learned is that, that staffer has lied and the government is in possession of that lie. When that staffer was first interviewed, that staffer said that Mayor Adams knew nothing about this. He was not involved in this and that he is innocent.

They have that information. They have not turned that over to us. They have not turned that over to you. And so it sort of does not surprise us that they did not answer any questions at that press conference. Their little press conference the other day. They have no answer for any of these questions.

And they didn't want to stick around from questions either. Questions like, why are they doing this? Why are they targeting him? The questions you all started to ask as they were leaving. They normally answer questions. They didn't want to stay for questions in this case. And they left and they made this assertion of this.

They implied that somehow he's disappointing people or that people ought to be disappointed in him. It's not him doing this.

BASH: OK. We've been listening to Alex Spiro, the attorney for Eric Adams. You see Mayor Adams standing next to him.

I'm going to bring in Elie Honig again. Elie, you just heard him after the mayor pled not guilty saying that the -- this is all based on one staffer and that the staffer lied and that there's nothing that the prosecution has that truly implicates the mayor.

[12:45:14]

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Dana. Let me address a couple of things that we just heard from the defense lawyer, Alex Spiro. So first of all, he called this the quote, "airline upgrade corruption case." I don't think that's an accurate take on the indictment. That's certainly a part of it.

But the indictment alleges that Eric Adams took free travel, free hotels and yes, upgrades worth over $120,000. So I think there's an attempt to downplay that. Also, the indictment charges something else that was not addressed at all there by the defense lawyer, which is that Adams allegedly took illegal foreign campaign contributions through fake straw donors.

So that's another element of the case that was unaddressed. The defense lawyer also said, as you just mentioned, Dana, that the entire evidence here is from one staffer who has lied. First of all, we certainly don't know that. It reads to me in the indictment like they have more than one person on the inside giving information.

If somebody has lied to the government, to investigators, that happens sometimes. And as the defense lawyer correctly said, the defense is entitled to know that and the prosecution has a duty to turn that over. And finally, the lawyer just said, well, there's no e-mails or text. I don't know where he's getting that.

I mean, the indictment is filled with direct quotes from text, some of which are quite inculpatory, meaning showing Eric Adams potential guilt here. So, look, that's what defense lawyers do. He's doing his job. Alex Spiro is a very good defense lawyer, but I think his characterization of the indictment was lacking in some respects.

BASH: All right, Elie, thank you so much.

And I remind our viewers, Elie, you used to work in that courthouse.

HONIG: Know it well.

BASH: You were a prosecutor there. I know that you do. Who knows what's going to happen. So don't go too far.

Thanks, Elie.

HONIG: Thanks, Dana.

BASH: Coming up, we have brand new CNN battleground polling. We're going to take a look at the race in North Carolina and Nebraska's all important second congressional district. You're not going to want to miss this. Stay with us.

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[12:51:29]

BASH: And just when you thought we were all out of news in this hour, we have more. Brand new CNN battleground polling out right now. In Nebraska's blue dot, Vice President Harris leads Trump by 11 points. Republican efforts to stop the Cornhusker state from awarding its electoral votes by congressional district failed this week. So now that one vote in Nebraska could be key to any Harris path to 270.

Now let's turn to the all-important state of North Carolina. It is a tie, like a real tie there, 48 to 48, evenly split. And this could be why. Democrat Josh Stein leads Republican Mark Robinson by 17 points in that state's governor's race.

CNN Political Director David Chalian is here to break it all down. Where do you want to start?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, let's start in Nebraska. You called it a blue dot and look at those results. You see why it's blue. She has a significant lead there. You see why Donald Trump and his allies were trying to get Republicans in the state to change the rules in the middle of the game here.

BASH: So that it would just all --

CHALIAN: So that it would be a winner take all state for Nebraska. Make it all red. Don't divide it up. As you know, it's one of two states, Nebraska and Maine that divides their electoral votes by congressional district. It's clear why they wanted to do that. That, now, as you noted, Dana, if indeed that's what the results look like on election night, all Kamala Harris needs to win the White House, if she has that electoral vote in Nebraska, is repeating the blue wall victories of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where she seems to be running a bit better than in the Sun Belt.

I want to say one other thing about the Nebraska poll. We asked a question, do you, who live in the 2nd congressional district, the Omaha area of Nebraska, want to change the rules? 60-40 opposed to it. 60 percent of people say in the poll, keep it as it is. Award our votes by congressional district. 40 percent not.

Of course, Democrats and Independents, hugely in favor of keeping it as is. Seven in 10 Republicans want to change the rules.

BASH: Because that's the only way those Democrats and Independents are going to have a say.

CHALIAN: It would be throwing up a huge blockade.

BASH: Yes.

CHALIAN: Yes.

BASH: OK, North Carolina.

CHALIAN: North Carolina, as you said, it is tied. Now, yes. Do I think this poll was taken entirely after the explosive file story here on CNN about Mark Robinson, who already was having trouble? Maybe that is having some effect of depressing Republicans, but I think it's tied for another reason.

I think this state is unbelievably competitive. You know, no Democrat has won it since Barack Obama did in 2008. He couldn't even repeat the victory in 2012. I think of these Sun Belt states, you know, especially North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, I think, Dana, that North Carolina may be Kamala Harris's most competitive state there, which is just unthinkable, given its overall red lean.

But you see it here. She narrowed her numbers on the economy here. She's still losing, I think, by eight points on the economy, but has the race tied. Demographically in that state on the candidate quality issues, I think you are seeing something there that is causing this state to be even more competitive than we thought going into the race.

Take a sip of water. And I'll just also note, we ask in the poll, do you see Donald Trump's policies as mainstream or so extreme that it could harm the country, be a threat to the country? And we asked the same thing about Harris.

By a 10 percentage point gap, North Carolinians see Donald Trump as more extreme and his views could threaten the country than they see at Kamala Harris.

[12:55:03]

I think that extremism argument is resonating to her benefit in the Tar Heel state.

BASH: You're very good at that.

CHALIAN: I'm so sorry.

BASH: I was fine.

CHALIAN: What can I do for you? I want to bring you tea.

BASH: I have honey here. I made it through the whole show.

On Tuesday, the wait is over. Tim Walz and J.D. Vance in their first and only face to face debate. I'm going to stop talking.

Thank you so much for watching Inside Politics. Tune in on Tuesday. Thanks for joining us.

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