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One World with Zain Asher
Israel Vows To Retaliate Against Iranian Attack; IDF Announces Deaths OF Eight Israeli Soldiers In Lebanon; Tim Walz And J.D. Vance Square Off In VP Debate; Biden heading Out For Aerial Tour Of North Carolina; Scientists: Global Heating Intensified Hurricane Helene; More Sexual Assault Allegations Against Sean "Diddy" Combs; Aired 12:00-1:00p ET
Aired October 02, 2024 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:41]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga. Zain is off today. You are watching ONE WORLD.
As a ground war intensifies in Lebanon, Israel is vowing to retaliate for Iran's largest missile attack ever. We begin with fears that the Middle
East is edging closer to a wider regional war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(EXPLOSIONS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: These are new pictures from the U.S. Defense Department showing U.S. Navy destroyers intercepting a barrage of ballistic missiles fired by
Iran towards Israel yesterday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran made a big mistake and will pay for it.
Those sentiments echoed by other Israeli officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Let me be very clear. We will defend our people. We will act. Iran will soon feel the consequences of
their actions. The response will be painful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Meantime, there's intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel says eight soldiers were killed there. The military
released this video showing troops inside Lebanon.
Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon. And the founder of the humanitarian organization, INARA, Arwa Damon, is in Beirut for us.
Let's begin with Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv, Israel. Jim, as Israel is still assessing the damage from yesterday's unprecedented attack by Iran, what
more can you tell us about the IDF reporting that eight soldiers have been killed fighting in Southern Lebanon.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Listen, as a reminder, this is a multi-front war, right? In addition to that massive Iranian missile
barrage last night, Israel went in on the ground in Lebanon for the first time in 18 years, just in the last 48 hours, and are already suffering
significant losses. Eight soldiers killed, two separate incidents, but quite early in their operations on the ground inside Lebanon.
And I have to say, having covered the 2006 war, the last time Israeli forces went in to Lebanon in numbers 18 years ago and with deaths. Israeli
losses were higher than expected. And then, of course, that war ended with an uncertain outcome. Hezbollah lived to survive another day. It just -- it
gives a cautionary tale about the intentions and objectives of this latest operation.
Now, of course, a big part of the focus here, Bianna, is on how Israel will respond to this Iranian missile barrage with a range of options, some right
up to and including attacks on nuclear facilities, which would seem to bring on the prospect of a much larger war, even with the possibility of
U.S. involvement, whether it wants to or not, right?
So a very dicey time in this country with big decisions to be made. And as I understand it, lots of phone calls now between Tel Aviv and Washington
about that response.
GOLODRYGA: And Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the response to Iran's strikes would be painful.
Arwa, let's turn to you. So many friends that we are covering here and let's talk about the humanitarian situation in Lebanon now.
As we've noted, it was Hezbollah that began launching missiles into Israel on October 8th. Fast forward now when you've got Israeli troops making what
they call limited and precise incursions into Southern Lebanon. But as Jim said, there is a long history of Israeli involvement in that country. And
we've seen over a million people now displaced. Give us a picture of the humanitarian situation unfolding there.
ARWA DAMON, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, INARA: Well, we also need to keep in mind that already right now, we're seeing families being displaced over and
over and over again. And the big challenge is that there isn't enough room in the shelters. There aren't enough basic humanitarian needs. Take it
from, you know, mattresses to pillows to food to hygiene kits.
And then add to all of that, we are going to talk about the history of Lebanon that, you know, people are absolutely terrified on a number of
fronts. They are terrified that, you know, this pledged by Israel that Iran is going to pay is actually going to be a price that is paid by the
Lebanese civilian population because one also needs to remember, as Jim was referring to 2006. That is when Israel's Dahiya doctrine emerged, which is
basically a military strategy that dictates causing maximum harm to the civilian population.
[12:05:17]
The logic behind this, and the Lebanese know this very, very well, is that it will somehow force the population to turn against the entity that Israel
is fighting. This obviously is not a strategy that has worked, given that Hezbollah emerged stronger than it was in 2006.
And then if we go even further back in history, and this is what people are absolutely terrified about, the last time that Israel's Knesset approved a
limited military incursion into Lebanon of 10 kilometers was back in 1982.
And then two weeks later, Ariel Sharon, who was the defense minister back then, ended up in Beirut. So the Lebanese are absolutely terrified of where
this could potentially go. And also we have to remember that they've been watching what's been happening in Gaza.
And even though Gazans have basically been live streaming their own slaughter, nothing has changed for them. And so a lot of people, when you
talk to them out in the streets are just saying, you know, who is going to protect us? Who is going to come and ensure that Lebanon does not turn into
another Gaza?
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that war in 2006 that you and Jim referenced lasted for 34 days. And there are concerns about how long these incursions and how
deep inside the country indeed go.
Arwa, Jim, thank you.
Let's turn to Oren Liebermann with the U.S. reaction. Oren, we're just hearing from the U.S. Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell saying that the Biden
administration, over the next few days, will focus its engagements with the Israelis to try to align its perspectives on a potential response to that
Iranian attack. Walk us through what that means.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The key question here is, how much does Israel want to be on the same page as the U.S.? We have seen the
U.S. ever since the start of the escalation, we have seen in Lebanon urge a ceasefire. In fact, they have pushed for a ceasefire across the region for
much longer than that.
Now, it's even more critical from the U.S. perspective, but Israel sees the advantage it has, knows it will carry out a more powerful attack against
Iran than it did in April. So it's a question of how much can the U.S. and Israel get on the same page for what happens moving forward.
The administration has made clear from national security, Jake Sullivan, on down, that they want to have these discussions with the Israelis and
coordinate, or at least have communication about what the Israeli response will be. Whether the U.S. participates in that in any fashion, from
refueling perhaps to intel sharing, that remains to be seen as far as we know. Those might be parts of the conversations about how this all plays
out.
The U.S. has, however, made clear that its forces remain in the region and will take part in any defense of Israel. We saw that play out last night
with U.S. Navy destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea firing about a dozen interceptors to take out some of that Iranian ballistic missile
barrage. Those forces and many, many others remain in the region.
So we see the U.S. very much working with Israel and coordinated with Israel on the defense and now it's seeing how much -- how much room is
there -- how much is Israel willing to coordinate on Israel's response to Iran.
At least from what we see now, there is some time for those discussions. Israel didn't carry out its response last night. It's now the Jewish New
Year. Israel may wait over the course of this holiday as it tries to calibrate its response. The U.S. will very much want to be a part of that
decision making.
GOLODRYGA: And reports of more U.S. troops also headed to the region, Oren?
LIEBERMANN: Troops are on prepared to deploy orders, fighter squadrons have arrived. Three fighter squadrons have arrived within the last 24 hours or
so. And that's in addition to -- in the Gulf of Oman. There's a carrier strike group in the eastern med. There is a -- an amphibious ready group.
That would be a critical group if it -- if an evacuation of Lebanon is ordered. And I have to stress it has not been ordered.
And then on top of that, there's another carrier strike group heading east across the Atlantic Ocean right now. That too could be sent in, depending
on how this all plays out. Worht pointing out that President Joe Biden, last night, huddled with some of his senior aides that try to sort of play
out different scenarios, different Israeli responses, Iranian retaliations, and how the region might look in the next few days.
GOLODRYGA: Jim Sciutto, I want to go back to you for your thoughts on what we saw unfold yesterday, the unprecedented barrage. You were in the middle
of it, reporting it live for us.
Now, I believe, the IDF confirming that 200 ballistic missiles were sent from Iran. And the difference here is just the time it takes to get those
missiles to their target. Just a couple of minutes stunning that there weren't more casualties.
But just explain to us the mood there in the country as the country begins the Jewish New Year in a very somber way.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, listen, the vast majority of these missiles were shot down, but some did get through. We saw the impacts. We saw two of them
right close to the hotel here, another one just north of us here. In fact, there were two that were quite close to the Mossad headquarters. There were
others that hit near and around to Israeli air force bases.
[12:10:13]
So I think good fortune, as well as preparation, and the fact that people obeyed those take shelter orders played a factor here, some combination of
that because there were impacts and this could have been much worse.
So the question now is, where does Israel go with this? How does it respond to this? And will that response then lead to another response from Iran?
I mean, it's a cycle that is so familiar in this part of the world, and particularly familiar over the course of these last several weeks and
months, that each -- there's a reaction, there's an action and a reaction, and a sort of constant reassessment of what is necessary to reestablish
deterrence, a phrase you'll often hear, but with the, of course, always the danger that another sides definition of proportional might be different
from your own. I mean, that's really where we are right now.
And in addition to that, a feeling among some Israeli officials, it seems, that now is the time to strike for the big targets, including nuclear
facilities. We're going to find out, Bianna, in the coming days, and it will have consequences for this region and may very well have consequences
for the U.S. as well.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. I will ask in just a moment, Israel's ambassador to the United States, just what some of those options the Israelis are rolling
over right now.
Jim Sciutto, Oren Liebermann, thank you.
Meantime, the war in Gaza is raging on. Palestinian officials say at least 90 people were killed and dozens injured in multiple Israeli strikes
overnight. Many people are still trapped in the rubble from fallen buildings. And we warn you, some of these images are quite graphic.
Video from one hospital shows a child badly injured and covered in dust. Now Gaza's civil defense says that some of the Israeli attacks happened in
an area where hundreds of displaced people were taking shelter, including children. Israel says that it carried out precise strikes on Hamas targets.
Let's bring in Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the United States. He joins us now from Washington, D.C. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for taking the
time now. I know you are very busy there.
First, we heard from President Biden last night saying that he fully supports Israel. We know that the U.S. Defense Secretary has spoken a
number of times over the last 24 hours with his counterpart, Defense Minister Ed (PH) Gallant, in Israel.
Do we know whether the president and prime minister have spoken yet?
MICHAEL HERZOG, THE ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Well, they have not spoken yet, but I believe they will probably speak in a couple of
days. We have very close dialogue and consultations between our two governments at very senior levels on a daily basis. We speak many times a
day.
And we highly appreciate the support provided as well by the U.S. administration, by Congress, and by the American people.
GOLODRYGA: Israel, as you know, has never faced a strike of that magnitude like they experienced yesterday from Iran. And even the United States is
indicating that a response will have to take place from Israel.
Now, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan emphasized that Iran's strike, quote, appears to have been defeated and ineffective, but went on to say
that there will be severe consequences. How closely is Israel coordinating what its response will be with the United States?
HERZOG: So first, let it be clear, this was a very, very serious attack on the state of Israel. They fired around 200 ballistic missiles at Israel
directly from Iran. It is a second big strike against us. The first was in April, but then they used less ballistic missiles, more drones and cruise
missiles.
And while we have good defenses, it's not foolproof. And as you indicated, some went in and hit targets in Israel, including in civilian populated
areas. This is a brazen attack on our sovereignty, on our state, on our people, and we will respond.
Iran should know, and I think they know, that whoever attacks us, we strike back. How we do it, when we do it, these things are under consideration as
we speak. Our cabinet is discussing these things.
And while we do it, we are in consultations with the U.S. government as well. And time will tell how this will develop. We do not seek a regional
war, but nor are we deterred by Iran. They should be deterred.
GOLODRYGA: Is the ultimate objective here in terms of what retaliation looks like, reestablishing deterrence in the region and perhaps a strike
signaling that this phase may be over? Or is it something of a larger scale?
[12:15:07]
As Jim was just alluding to, we've heard from former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett saying that now is a rare opportunity to have Israel, once and for
all, attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Is that on the table?
HERZOG: Well, we haven't decided yet on how exactly we're going to respond. There will be a response, as I said. And for us, a lot of options are on
the table. And I expect that we'll take our decisions in the coming days.
But as we said and I said, there will be a response. I don't think such a brazen attack can just pass by without us responding. Because if we don't,
it will just embolden Iran to normalize the use of ballistic missiles against Israel, against U.S. allies in the region, and against American
targets. They have to be -- we have to push back against them.
GOLODRYGA: "The New York Times" is reporting, per U.S. officials, saying on the one hand, yes, Israel does have a right to defend itself and strike
back, but they're also advising not to strike nuclear facilities.
How much is Israel factoring that in if U.S. officials are telling "The New York Times," much less I would imagine telling their counterparts in
Israel, that they do not advise striking targets like their nuclear facilities?
HERZOG: As I said, we have a very close dialogue on a daily basis. We listen carefully to our American friends. We appreciate their support and
solidarity. But ultimately, it's a sovereign Israeli decision, and that decision will be taken in the coming days.
GOLODRYGA: Let me move to Lebanon, because as we've been reporting, Israel just announced that eight of its soldiers had been killed in combat there
in an operation.
What more can you tell us about this incident? And does it raise concerns about a potential high death toll, given that this operation could go on
for days, if not weeks, and perhaps even months ahead?
HERZOG: What we're doing currently is conducting localized limited raids in the close vicinity of the border, on the Lebanese side of the border, in
order to dismantle military infrastructure built there by Hezbollah over the -- over the years to serve as a launching pad for invading Israel.
Basically, they prepared the ground for in October 7-like invasion into Israel from Lebanon. And they built this infrastructure with bunkers. And
we just exposed what we found there over the last year in quiet operations that we carried out.
Now we're going in there. And in order to dismantle the remaining infrastructure so as to advance the goal of returning our people to their
homes. As you probably know, tens of thousands of Israelis, over 60,000 were forced to evacuate their homes near the Lebanese border since
Hezbollah launched its aggression against Israel on October 8th of last year. And they will not return until we dismantle that infrastructure that
Hezbollah built.
There's fierce fighting in that area, but we will continue until we defeat them and dismantle the infrastructure.
GOLODRYGA: And recently, the Israeli War Cabinet added the return of those 60,000-plus residents to the north as part of their ultimate war goals.
Let me ask you about Lebanon's prime minister, recently saying that they are ready to deploy the Lebanese army to the south of the Litani
immediately to put U.N. Resolution 1701 into place.
Would you consider that as an opening for pulling troops out, if in fact you do see that play out?
HERZOG: Well, we are open to a diplomatic outcome. We've been working with the U.S. government on such an outcome for many, many months. I think now
with the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon, this opens new opportunities.
And we're talking about an ultimate outcome that the Lebanese government, the legitimate Lebanese government is a partner to. And again, I think it's
more possible now with the weakened Hezbollah, but ultimately, the devil is in the details. We have to see what kind of initiative we are talking
about.
As I said, we are open to diplomacy as well. But diplomacy has to be based on a weakened Hezbollah and on the dismantling of -- dismantlement of their
infrastructure close to the border, which will enable us to move towards the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which banned
Hezbollah military presence south of the Litani River and was never implemented by them from day one.
[12:20:18]
GOLODRYGA: Ambassador Michael Herzog, thank you so much for taking the time. Happy New Year, Shana Tova. Appreciate it.
HERZOG: Thank you very much. And Shana Tova to us all.
GOLODRYGA: And coming up for us, housing, immigration, gun violence, and reproductive rights. It was all on the table during last night's U.S. vice
presidential debate. So, which candidate walked away the winner? We'll discuss.
And later this hour, new sexual assault allegations against embattled musician, Sean "Diddy" Combs. We'll bring you those details. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: Well, one day after the U.S. vice presidential nominees squared off for their first and only scheduled debate, the Harris campaign is
releasing an ad capturing one particularly pivotal moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Did he lose the 2020 election?
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Tim, I'm focused on the future.
WALZ: That is a damning non-answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Well, for the most part, the matchup between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance was cordial, policy-focused showdown covering mainly domestic issues.
And both men trained their attacks on opposing candidates at the top of the ticket rather than on each other.
The clearest divide of the night was over the January 6th insurrection and Donald Trump's false claim that he won the 2020 election.
But there were other sharp disagreements as well, particularly on the topics of reproductive rights and gun violence. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: As a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party,
we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don't trust us.
WALZ: The fact of the matter is, how can we, as a nation, say that your life and your rights, as basic as the right to control your own body, is
determined on geography?
VANCE: The idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn't fit with recent experience.
WALZ: No one's trying to scaremonger and say we're taking your guns, but I ask all of you out there, do you want your schools hardened to look like a
fort? Is that -- is that what we have to go?
[12:25:09]
Sometimes it just is the guns. It's just the guns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Joining me now to discuss all of this is Republican strategist, Rina Shah. And the former social media director for the 2020 Harris
presidential campaign, Jeremy S. Thompson. Welcome both of you.
Jeremy, let me start with you. This was rather surprising given the civility of the conversation between these two men, focused on policy for
the most part, and really both of them espousing Midwestern charm.
Does it just show how much has changed over the last 10 years, that civility would be the biggest takeaway from a debate?
JEREMY S. THOMPSON, FORMER SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR FOR THE 2020 HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Yes. Thanks for having me today. Really appreciate
it.
Honestly, I think all us breathe a deep sigh of relief once we got to a minute to the debate. And we're talking about policy issues.
It is a sad foray in this country where we have to talk about how civility in politics is simply that's necessary in order to turn down the
temperature.
But, you know, I have to say, both J.D. Vance and Governor Walz took the moment to talk policy, as opposed to personal attacks.
And I think for those undecided voters who are trying to figure out who they're trying to vote for and what both of these candidates in the top of
their ticket stand for, this was a great step in the right direction.
I really hope we can keep this moving forward because we definitely need more of this. And I think Americans are looking for this.
GOLODRYGA: Though I will say, Jeremy, there are some progressives, especially in the Democratic Party, that were disappointed with Walz, in
their view, not taking the opportunity to expose some of what they say are our lies from J.D. Vance, in a sense, sort of normalizing him and allowing
him to come across as a very polite, typical run-of-the-mill campaign. And that's clearly not how he's been behaving over the course of this campaign,
much less Donald Trump.
THOMPSON: I think the rally is we have the next 35 odd days or so to continue making that case for why Kamala Harris should be president.
I will say though, debates are an interesting forum. I think a lot of us like to think that a presidential debate and a vice presidential debate
will change Americans' minds and how they feel about certain issues all the time and that Americans are tuning in nonstop for 90 minutes of coverage.
But the reality is, you only have so much time to get your point across. And I think that, you know, Walz was able to talk about the issues that he
cares about the most. What the opportunity economy is going to look like for America under a Harris-Walz administration, how the administration's
going to lead with compassion, empathy, how we're going to work together to make sure that abortion is a fundamental freedom that all Americans have.
The reality is, there's a time and a place for everything. I think last night was a display of what the future of America can look like on both
sides. I think Walz handled himself really well.
GOLODRYGA: And, Rina, J.D. Vance really came across as a polished debater, much softer around the edges. And I think, objectively, was selling and
giving more information about some of what would be a Trump-Vance policy ticket better and with more clarity than Donald Trump has himself, all
except for on the issue of January 6th, and whether or not he could say publicly that Donald Trump lost.
He sort of danced around this issue. It was finally called out on it. Here's what he ultimately said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: He said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully. And on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the
president. Donald Trump left the White House. He peacefully gave over power on January the 20th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Why don't you walk us through your take on that answer.
RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Without a doubt, J.D. Vance performed better on a debate stage than Donald Trump ever could. And so that was my
biggest takeaway from last night, is that, wow, you've got a really competent VP pick here. Somebody who we had not seen this side of in all
these weeks. He was a better messenger on every front, it seemed. He was very clear, very concise in his delivery of a range of policy points. That
was hugely surprising for me.
I was very overwhelmed with emotion by what I saw, because what I saw was a whitewashing of history.
And look, you don't have to be a never-Trump Republican to feel some kind of way about January 6th. When I heard him talk about it so reductively and
just say, oh, it was as simple as the Biden administration took power. No, it wasn't that. And millions of Americans know that. But that was just a
moment in a very long debate.
So again, I'm emotional about it because it hits home with me and with several millions of voters. But there are a range of other issues that our
fellow Americans were listening for. And on those fronts, J.D. actually delivered.
Walz, I think, came across it awkward at certain moments, but not enough to leave you with the impression that he was not well-spoken and not somebody
very capable of advanced leadership beyond just Minnesota.
[12:30:13]
But at the end of the day, what Vance was able to do was get in a few jabs that I think left a number of Americans feeling like, aha, this is maybe a
competent, a more competent sidekick than most of us had thought.
GOLODRYGA: And most presidential candidates at the top of the ticket would embrace that type of view. But I do wonder how Donald Trump felt if J.D.
Vance, if he's hearing that J.D. Vance did a better job selling his own platform and policies than he did.
Ultimately, Rina, in terms of what matters and whether anything moves the needle this close to an election, does a vice presidential debate do that?
SHAH: Well, let me pick up a little bit of what you just said there. It actually matters how J.D. Vance performed last night because this race is
looking so close in the seven states where we know the outcome is going to come from.
So, regardless of how we feel about both these men, their personalities, what we got last night was hugely substantive and more civil than most of
us would have expected. People went in looking for fireworks. We didn't get that many.
But why it matters is because now Donald J. Trump is the oldest person seeking the U.S. presidency, and he's very close to re-entering the White
House. If something were to happen to him, God forbid, in the next four years, it is J.D. Vance that we would be looking at in the -- behind the
Resolute Desk.
And I think most Americans need to come to grips with the fact that this is a duopoly. This is what we've got. You've got to make a decision on who you
trust more with the priorities for your family.
For me, as a long-time, lifelong Republican, I made the determination that Kamala Harris better reflects my values. But again, so many millions of our
fellow Americans are undecided. I implore them to watch that debate, not just those one-liners, those viral moments, again, where we were talking
about illegal aliens or any of the school shootings, unfortunately. Read between the lines. Go with who you trust. You've got to go with the person
that is speaking to you in plain speak, and you would like to sit with and talk about your family matters with. For me, that's Governor Walz.
GOLODRYGA: Well, listen, just for me -- go ahead, quickly.
THOMPSON: I was going to say, that's what makes the day so difficult, right? Last night, while both candidates talked about policy issues, J.D.
Vance had a real problem with saying the truth last night. He suggested that President Trump had saved the Affordable Care Act. He suggested that
the work done to repeal the Roe versus Wade was to help families grow and thrive.
I mean, these are all things that at face value, he said it with confidence, but the reality is the policy nuance is a lot different. And I
think what we're looking for leaders is more honesty, more of that decorum that we're looking for in civility at the end of the day.
So like, we've got to dig a little bit deeper and we've only got a couple more weeks to make that case.
GOLODRYGA: Listen, civility, no cheap shots thrown. I take that as a win in terms of talking to the American people as adults and about policy matters
that are important to them.
Rina Shah, Jeremy Thompson, thank you so much.
SHAH: Thank you.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, just ahead here on ONE WORLD.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ROBINSON, NORTH CAROLINA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Even if you have seen pictures. Pictures do not do this justice, folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: With no way in and no way out, officials in North Carolina are desperate for relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. We'll have
details just ahead.
Plus, why some scientists are blaming climate change for the damage caused by the hurricane.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:47]
GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
U.S. President Joe Biden is about to depart for an aerial tour of North Carolina to get a scope of the devastation Hurricane Helene left behind.
The president is also set to meet with first responders from both North and South Carolina. Mr. Biden predicts that the recovery will cost him the
billions and is urging Congress to provide more funding for disaster relief.
He has directed the deployment of 1,000 active duty soldiers to deliver critical aid, food, and water to communities impacted by the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to jump start this recovery process. People are scared to death. People wonder whether they're
going to make it. We still haven't heard from a whole lot of people. This is urgent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: In hard-hit North Carolina, desperation grows by the minute to find hundreds of people still missing. It's been five days since Helene
roared through parts of the southeast, leaving more than one million homes and businesses without power.
The death toll has now risen to at least 180 people across six states, and officials fear that number is actually much higher. Hundreds of roads are
closed, hampering rescue efforts and deliveries of relief supplies, especially in North Carolina. Officials there describe the dire situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBINSON: Even if you have seen pictures, pictures do not do this justice, folks. I believe every elected official in this state that feels it
necessary should travel to that part of the state to try to do something and to actually see the devastation. It is immense.
There are hundreds of roads that are out. There are dozens of bridges that are out. Travel in some places is impossible. Nothing can get in. Nothing
can get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Asheville, North Carolina with a closer look at the devastation from the storm in the city's River Arts
District.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is it? This is your first time seeing this?
DENISE MARKBREIT, PRINTMAKER AND MIXED MEDIA ARTIST IN ASHEVILLE, NC: Yes, this is my first time.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Denise Markbreit peers into her print shop studio.
MARKBREIT: I don't think I can recover from this.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Her sales table, it's enormous. Hangs from the rafters.
MARQUEZ: How hard is it to look at this stuff?
MARKBREIT: It looks like a war happened.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Asheville's River Arts District, devastated. The water line two feet or more above the second floor of many buildings near
the French Broad River.
MARQUEZ: Will you and your business survive this one?
PATTIY TORNO, FOUNDING MEMBER, ASHEVILLE ARTS DISTRICT: I'm choosing to not survive this one. I will not continue here. I do not think it is right,
ethical for me as a landlady to rent these spaces. I will not put myself or anyone else through this kind of trauma again.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Pattiy Torno, a founding member of Asheville's world renowned arts district, has seen floods before. Nothing like this.
TORNO: In terms of putting water inside the studios here, the only other one that had happened was 20 years ago in 2004 Hurricane Frances.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): And this is just one area inundated by Helene that left a path of destruction for hundreds of miles.
PETER O'LEARY, MAYOR OF CHIMNEY ROCK, NORTH CAROLINA: I saw the pictures before I got here. I see the damage when I'm here and I just -- I just --
it's just hard to comprehend it.
[12:40:17]
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Getting help to everyone here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. So many roads and bridges washed out, going old school, pack
mules, sometimes the best way in.
GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): We have a beautiful, beautiful mountains in North Carolina, but they are rugged sometimes to get through, even on a beautiful
day. After this catastrophic storm, it is very difficult to get to all of those places.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The losses, unimaginable. The immediate needs, everything from water, food, gas, diapers and medicine as overwhelming as
the rain and the flood itself.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Asheville, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: An unbelievable tragedy and damage inflicted upon those residents.
Well, two separate scientific studies show that climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution made Hurricane Helene worse.
The first from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that global heating caused over 50 percent more rain to fall in parts of Georgia and
the Carolinas.
And in addition, scientists from Europe's climate found storms like Helene are now about 20 percent wetter, seven percent windier than those which
happened decades ago.
CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir joins us now. So, Bill, let's establish that hurricanes have been with us forever. But when you see the
magnitude of these storms and the frequencies of the size and the ferocity of these storms, if hurricane damage can happen in cities like Asheville,
North Carolina, then is any city really safe from natural disasters?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Bianna, just last year, the local paper in Asheville wrote a story about worries that too
many people would come as climate migrants to Asheville, because they're trying to get away from the hurricanes in Florida.
I have a member of my own extended family. She was a meteorologist in Florida who left there for Asheville to get away and part of hurricanes.
And it's this mindset we have that somehow havens are far from the coast. But where it can rain, it can flood. And where it can flash flood, the
floods get flashier on a warmer planet.
It used to be, as we were growing up, hurricanes would hit land and then have no more energy. They would dissipate over land. But it rained for days
before Helene hit land, softening that ground, creating what they're calling sort of a brown ocean effect where the earth is so moist, it
creates the conditions to keep a hurricane going longer.
And then when that storm hits the mountains, it sort of rings the water out into bowl-shaped valleys like Buncombe County is one giant bowl. And, of
course, it flooded there in 1916. This one was so much worse, so much worse. So these aren't your father's storms anymore.
And, unfortunately, Bianna, we have a sense in the United States where after a disaster like this, memories are short and a new crop of people
will move there thinking this might be safe and maybe repeating this disaster all over again.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And just --
WEIR: The mindset -- the mindset has to shift.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And just throwing more and more money at it though was notable to hear in Miguel's piece, at least one resident said, that's it.
I'm not going to be rebuilding after this.
Let's talk more about the science here. We noted those two studies, which linked the size and scale of these hurricanes to climate change. What
exactly is causing that?
WEIR: Well, we have put enough sort of fossil fuel pollution, heat trapping gases, mostly carbon dioxide, methane is in there, into the sky that
creates this giant blanket. So the equivalent of maybe five to ten Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, that's how much energy is entering the oceans
every second of every day. And all of this has been building up, building up, building up.
And it's the kind of experiment you can do in a seventh grade laboratory where test tubes with more carbon dioxide hold more heat. And on a planet
that holds more heat, it just picks up a lot more water.
In the desert regions, that means there's more evaporation, so the droughts are longer and more intense. And in wet regions, it means there's more
water in the sky when that thing opens up overhead.
And most of building codes and, you know, our infrastructure of our cities, especially on the coast, just aren't built for new levels of these sorts of
weather events right now.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
WEIR: So adaptation to the built-in anger of the climate system is equally as important as mitigation, which is getting off of the fossil fuel sources
causing the problem in the first place. But how do you do both at the same time when, you know, budgets are tight?
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And it's another indication of why climate change impacts us all and why they should all be a priority for us as citizens of the
earth. It used to be that a hurricane would hit one state, and that's where all the resources would go.
Here, you have a situation where folks hundreds of miles away, many states away, are impacted more than where that storm initially made landfall.
[12:45:07]
Bill Weir, thank you for explaining it to us. As always, great to have you on the show.
And for more information about how you can help people who are now struggling because of Hurricane Helene, go to cnn.com/impact. We'll be
right back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: Moments ago, before boarding Air Force One, President Biden addressed the situation in the Middle East. He said he will be talking soon
to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. And he was asked whether or not he supports an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The answer is no. And I think -- we'll be discussing with the Israelis what they're going to do. But they have a -- all seven of us agree
that they have a right to respond, but this response is unfortunate. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Well, turning now to Ukraine, a town in Eastern Ukraine that Kyiv had defended for more than two years has finally fallen to Russian
forces. Moscow says taking control of Vuhledar as a major stepping stone as to controlling the entire Donetsk Region.
CNN's Clare Sebastian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the loss of Vuhledar is a pretty stinging blow for Ukraine, partly because of its strategic location at the
intersection of the eastern and southern fronts, partly because Ukraine had spent two years fortifying and defending the hilltop town and holding off
several previous Russian attempts to take it.
But also because these images of a Russian flag being raised over the ruins of yet another town draw attention to a reality that Ukraine's president
had tried in recent days and weeks to gloss over.
Just a week ago, President Zelenskyy said on American TV, Ukraine is closer to peace than we think, appealing to his allies for more aid by trying to
prove that what has been sent so far is working. This undermines that strategy. And it will also raise questions in Ukraine about the merits of
the Kursk incursion, an operation designed in part to ease the pressure on other parts of the front line, including this one.
Now, this is not a huge strategic breakthrough for Russia, nor does it show the collapse of Ukraine's defenses overall. Moscow still, of course, hasn't
taken Pokrovsk, a much larger logistics and transport hub to the north of Vuhledar.
[12:50:03]
But it will reinforce to Russia that its strategy of attrition, of trying to exhaust Ukraine and outlast its allies, has potential. And that makes
President Zelenskyy's plan of forcing Russia into peace look more remote.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs' legal worries keep on growing. A law firm based in Texas says it's in contact with more than 100 men and women
who intend to file civil lawsuits against him with complaints including rape, sexual abuse of minors and false imprisonment.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has the latest from Los Angeles. What more are we learning about these suits, Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bianna. So yesterday, two law firms held a press conference where, as you said, they
claimed that they have 120 new accusers of Sean Combs who all planned to file lawsuits. They say that these lawsuits could be filed within the next
month.
Half of these accusers are women and half of them are men. Now 25 of these accusers alleged that they were minors at the time of the alleged abuse or
assault that they faced.
Now yesterday, Bianna, following this press conference, I interviewed one of the attorneys who was representing these 120 accusers, and they said
that a lot of these alleged incidents happened at auditions, but most of them allegedly occurred at parties that were held by Sean Combs.
Let's take a look at what this attorney told me yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BUZBEE, ATTORNEY: The people that were there that were -- that were allegedly drugged and then allegedly raped passed around woke up the next
morning with just completely clueless about what had happened to them and just in utter shock and injured even.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WAGMEISTER: Now, of course, he is talking about some of his clients, not all. Again, there are 120 alleged accusers who could be coming forward with
lawsuits.
Now, I reached out to Combs's team, and they are denying the allegations. They say that if there is a suit or suits filed, then they will respond to
those suits and not the speculation.
But they say that he looks forward to vindicating and clearing his name in court. Here's part of what they told me, Bianna. They say, quote, as Mr.
Combs's legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus. That said, Mr.
Combs, empathetically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors. Bianna.
[12:55:22]
GOLODRYGA: All right. Elizabeth Wagmeister in Los Angeles, thank you so much.
That does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thank you so much for watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
