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Fed Slashes Interest Rates 48 Days Before Election Day; Death Toll Rises In Lebanon After Walkie-Talkies and Pagers Explode; Sean Diddy Combs Remains In Custody After Judge Denies Bail Appeal; Inside Reporting On Deaths Tied To Abortion Restrictions In Georgia; Sources: Lebanon Pager Attack Was A Joint Mossad-IDF Operation. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 18, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, the Federal Reserve just slashed interest rates by an aggressive half percentage point. It's a major move that could impact the presidential race as voters rank the economy as their top issue, and with Election Day only 48 days away.

Also breaking, the death toll rising in Lebanon right now after booby trapped walkie-talkies and pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded over two days of attacks. Israel is saying a new era, their words, a new era in its war effort is underway, appearing to tacitly acknowledge responsibility.

And music mogul Sean Diddy Combs was denied bail again, losing an appeal and forcing him to remain behind bars as he faces trial on sex crime charges. Stand by for new details on this breaking story and what's next in the case.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

We're getting new reaction this hour to the breaking news, a jumbo- sized interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. It has the potential to influence the everyday lives of Americans as they cast their votes in a razor close presidential election. Our correspondents are covering all the angles of this rate cut for us, the political implications as well, and the impact on your finances.

First, let's go to CNN Business Editor at Large Richard Quest. Richard, break down the Fed's decision and the real world impact of this.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: The Fed cut rates by half a percentage point. They could have done a quarter. They went for the larger cut instead. Some say that's an indication that the economy is slowing down much faster than people had thought, than the Fed itself had thought.

But remember, Wolf, there were 11 hikes in a short period of time. And for the last two years, the economy has been slowing to beat inflation. So, today, the Fed says, yes, we pretty much have got inflation licked. But now we're worried about full employment, the other side of the mandate. And so we have a half point cut.

And what's more, they're telling us there'll be more rate cuts before the end of the year, possibly two, certainly at least one, whether it's half or a quarter a point. This is all an indication that arguably they've gone too far too fast. And now they need to get things moving before job losses start to increase.

For you, for me, for anyone with a credit card that's holding a balance, it means interest rates are going down, mortgages will become cheaper, car loans will become cheaper, and eventually, the economy starts to speed up.

BLITZER: Richard the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, also addressed the criticism this coming that this rate was actually -- the rate cut was timed to be close to the election. What did he say?

QUEST: You know, he basically said absolute nonsense. You know, they've raised rates and lowered rates near and far from elections. He makes the point that a good economy all round is in America's, for every American, is the way Chair Powell put it.

Clearly, Donald Trump, as you're going to be talking in a moment, is making the point that either the economy is so bad that they had to cut rates by half a point, or that Chair Powell is politically motivated. There's no middle ground. It's not a valid argument per se. They cut rates because they said they didn't want to get behind the curve, they wanted to keep things moving, and that's basically the reality of the Fed's life. The next meeting, Wolf, two days after the election.

BLITZER: All right, Richard Quest reporting for us, I appreciate it very much.

I want to bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes right now. She's covering the Trump campaign, and CNN's Eva McKend, she's covering the Harris campaign for us. Eva, let me start with you. What is the Harris campaign saying about this really important Fed decision?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, they view it as a positive development for working families. The vice president pointing to an array of policies that she champions and says would support, if elected president, to lower costs for families, like bringing down taxes for more than 100 million Americans, down payment assistance and affordable housing overall.

[18:05:08]

She's releasing a statement tonight that reads in part, while this announcement is welcome news for Americans who have borne the brunt of high prices, my focus is on the work ahead to keep bringing prices down.

I know prices are still too high for many middle class and working families and my top priority as president will be to lower the costs of everyday needs, like health care, housing and groceries. Now, Wolf, this, of course, comes on the same day as the Teamsters deciding not to endorse any presidential candidate. I can tell you that there is disagreement though amongst the Teamsters. I had a conversation tonight with the head of black caucus of the Teamsters very disappointed in the decision. He's telling me that the black caucus of the group is going to disregard this and go ahead and organize for the vice president, telling me that any union leader that doesn't support the vice president should go ahead and turn their union card in. Any union leader that sees the former president as an ally of the unions should turn their union card in. Wolf?

BLITZER: Interesting. And Kristen Trump also weighed in on the Fed decision. What did he say?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, remember, Wolf, at the end of the day, Donald Trump knows that the economy is incredibly important to voters, and he and his team believe that he polls better, polls ahead of Kamala Harris on his strength when it comes to the economy. So, it's no surprise that anything that would be viewed as a win for the current economy and for potentially the current administration is not something that he would support. So, he accused, essentially, or suggested that the Fed could be playing politics. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I guess it shows the economy is very bad to cut it by that much, assuming they're not just playing politics. The economy would be very bad, or they're playing politics, one or the other. But it was a big cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Trying there to harp on the fact that the economy would be very bad, or again suggesting that this could be political.

Now, Donald Trump himself also weighing in on the non-endorsement of the Teamsters, saying that it was a great honor, just something to remember is that for the last nearly three decades, the Teamsters have endorsed in a presidential race, and they've almost always endorsed a Democrat. Donald Trump and his team worked very hard to try and win over the head of the Teamsters, Sean O'Brien, and they do believe they have the support of the rank and file members of the union. So, if they weren't going to get the endorsement, which seemed unlikely that the Teamsters would come out and endorse Donald Trump, they were happy to get him not endorsing, or them not endorsing, Kamala Harris.

BLITZER: All right. Kristen Holmes and Eva McKend, to both of you, thank you very much.

I want to get some more on all of these major developments. Our political experts are standing by. And, Gloria Borger, I want to play a bit of how the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, described the state of the U.S. economy today. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: The labor market is actually in solid condition. And our intention with our policy move today is to keep it there. You can say that about the whole economy. The U.S. economy is in good shape. It's growing at a solid pace. Inflation is coming down. The labor market is in a strong pace. We want to keep it there. That's what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And, Gloria, just to be precise, this is someone, we should remind our viewers, appointed to be chairman of the Federal Reserve by Donald Trump.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. And in the past, Donald Trump has said, while he doesn't like him, he'd let him finish out his term. After today if Donald Trump were to win, I'm not so sure. I mean, he says the economy is in good shape, and you heard Donald Trump say that if the economy were in good shape, you wouldn't be able to have this size of a rate cut and imply that there's politics going on here.

So, you know, there's no other way to slice it. This wasn't great news for Donald Trump and he has to spin it, because, of course, the issue that he does the best on opposing Kamala Harris is on the economy.

Although I will point out, that gap is narrowing. There's still a substantial gap, but in a lot of the polls, we're seeing that the gap is getting smaller.

BLITZER: Van Jones, Donald Trump, as we all know, has made the economy under his presidency a central part of his 2024 presidential campaign. So, how big of a deal is this for Harris, even if most voters won't necessarily see any really major tangible benefits of this rate cut between now and Election Day?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's a psychological blow to Donald Trump. For Donald Trump to say this is politics, if it was politics, we would have gotten the rate cut we were begging for over the summer. If Trump is mad, Democrats are madder because we've been begging for this for a while. I'm glad that it's here.

People at home know, but a lot of people don't, Biden has no control over the Fed. Kamala Harris has no control over the Fed. Donald Trump has no control over the Fed. Apparently, nobody in the world has control over the Fed except for Jerome Powell, and he waited until the very last minute to do anything. And it's not going to help us very much economically.

[18:10:00]

If it makes Trump upset, I'm happy for it.

BLITZER: He did it today. Alyssa Farah Griffin is with us as well. Alyssa, Donald Trump reacted to this news by accusing the Fed of, quote, playing politics and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, called the move suspect. What does it say to you that rather than being happy the economy is in good shape that they're attacking the Fed?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. This should be a welcome and relief for millions of Americans who are still struggling, even though the macro trends of the economy are good and trending the right direction, people are still feeling some hurt. But, listen, Trump has kind of predicted this. I think he assumed that there was going to be a fourth quarter rate cut, and he's even talked about if he were president again, wanting to reform and change the Fed from being, you know, separate and something that he would actually have some level of authority over, which would be a massive change, a historic change.

So, I'm not surprised that he's going to frame it as political and also try to make this argument that the economy is so bad, it was necessary. I'm not sure it really breaks through. Voters are going to vote on their pocketbooks, on grocery prices, on gas prices and things are overall trending in the right direction.

BLITZER: And this is a very favorable news, Gloria, about the U.S. economy is coming as new polls just out today from the so-called blue wall states show positive news, very significant positive news for Kamala Harris. She leads Trump by six points right now in Pennsylvania, five points in Michigan. There's no clear leader in Wisconsin where she's up just one point over Trump. These are three key states for Kamala Harris. This economic news potentially could help a lot, right?

BORGER: Right, it could help, but people aren't really going to feel a major impact from this right now, Wolf. And, you know, they have to -- seeing is believing. And they have to see it at the grocery store. They're starting to see it at the gas pump.

But, you know, they really have to feel it. I think these polls, the gap widening, according to this poll is good news for Kamala Harris, but they're still narrow, and you still see other polls in which she's not leading in some of these states.

So, it's, you know, very difficult to say she's pulling ahead, but, of course, the campaign is looking at this and saying, well, we're heading in the right direction. They are worried about Pennsylvania. And this margin may come as a surprise to them, but, again, it's only one poll, it's only a snapshot, and, you know, they're not going to be overjoyed by any one particular poll.

BLITZER: A good point. Van, CNN has also learned that internally, the Harris campaign had been worried about Pennsylvania calling it a rough state for her. What do these new polls, this Quinnipiac poll that's out today, signal to you?

JONES: They signaled that the polls are all over the place and she's still got real trouble in Pennsylvania. And she is doing the right thing now, you're seeing her more, she's talking more, she's gotten off the big stages. You know, we had her on those big Beyonce stages, which was cool for a while, but then people started thinking, she's high above them. I like seeing her on the ground, I like seeing her with students, I like seeing her sitting knee to knee with reporters.

The more people see Kamala Harris, the more they hear Kamala Harris, the more they like Kamala Harris. And so, free Kamala Harris. Let her keep doing what she's doing. But I don't take any of these polls seriously. Until you have a bunch of polls saying she's ahead, she's behind.

BLITZER: All right, everybody stand by. We have a lot more to discuss.

Just ahead, new comments from Donald Trump to CNN after one of his top surrogates takes a swipe at Vice President Kamala Harris for not having biological children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BLITZER: We're back with our political experts, as Donald Trump just claimed, he doesn't know anything about a key ally's jab at Kamala Harris that happened at his town hall in Michigan. Let's discuss this and more. It was a specific comment made by the Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was emceeing that town hall, and how it echoes J.D. Vance's childless cat lady's comments.

Gloria, let's listen to what Sarah Huckabee Sanders actually said. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R-AR): My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: She appears to be attacking Kamala Harris for being a stepmother rather than a biological mother. What's your reaction, Gloria, to that?

BORGER: Well, I honestly don't know what she was thinking. I mean, what political person would say, you know, we have a huge gender gap, as it is in the Republican Party. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to attack Kamala Harris for being a stepmother. And, by the way, her stepchildren's mother tweeted today about what a great stepmother she's been.

It is remarkable to me that the Republicans continue digging this hole. And, you know, I think that it's silly, it's dumb, and, you know, if they want to continue doing it, fine, but this isn't a way to appeal to women in this country. There are a lot of stepmoms in this country who feel very humble about the role that they've been given.

BLITZER: And she does have, indeed, a very close relationship with her stepchildren. They call her Mamala, which is a Yiddish way of saying mommy. They're very close to her, indeed.

Alyssa, this did come on the heels of J.D. Vance mocking what he calls childless cat ladies. Why are we seeing Republicans continue to attack women without biological children?

GRIFFIN: I wish I could tell you, because to Gloria's point, it is strategically disastrous. You're not talking about a small segment of the population. You're talking about 50 percent of the voting bloc. And, by the way, one that Republicans are struggling with this cycle, because reproductive health is on the ballot, and Trump already has ground to make up with women.

[18:20:03]

And, by the way, it's not just stepmothers. It's women who battle with infertility, which is one in six Americans. It's people who want to have families and haven't been able to, or they want to find a partner to have a family with and they haven't, or they made the decision that they're allowed to not have kids.

It's insulting, it's an anti-family message, it's an anti-freedom message, and I frankly expected better from Sarah Sanders. I worked with her and always enjoyed working with her. It's a losing argument and it's offensive to the vast majority of Americans.

BLITZER: And, Van, Sarah Huckabee Sanders used the word humble, her word, humble, in this dig at Kamala Harris about not having biological children. What do you think she was trying to get at there?

JONES: Yes, I'm not sure. I mean, I can't say that. You know, I know Kamala Harris and the relationship she has with her stepkids is a relationship that anybody would want with their own children, stepkids, foster kids, or any kids. She's really a remarkable person in that regard and she's made something work. That's hard to work.

You know, the mom of those kids loves Kamala and loves that relationship. We should be lifting this family up as an example. So many families, you know, after divorce, it's all B.S. and the holidays are horrible and, you know, people can't be on the same WhatsApp group together. It's a whole bunch of nonsense. And somehow Kamala Harris has been able to find a way through.

It's a beautiful family. It's a beautiful example. I think we should all celebrate it a lot more.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you're right. Alyssa, why do you think Trump is actually claiming he doesn't know anything about this latest jab from Sarah Sanders about Kamala Harris that took place during his rally?

GRIFFIN: Well, listen, it's hard to believe that he doesn't know about it, but I actually think Trump has his finger on the pulse pretty well of how much he's struggling with women. He didn't lean into the Vance comments in the same way. He didn't really lean into this characterization of, you know, childless cat ladies. And I think he realizes it's radioactive.

He was sort of ahead of a lot of Republicans in saying, whoa, we've actually gotten a problem around the issue of abortion. Now, he's navigated it terribly since, but I do think he at least recognizes the problem. He may himself not have a solution to it. BLITZER: And, Gloria, we've already seen, as you point out, a large gender gap in the polling in this election, at least right now. How do you think these latest comments are likely to impact that?

BORGER: Well, look, I don't think they help. I mean, they've been echoed in the media. And, you know, maybe the audience didn't catch it right away. Maybe Donald Trump didn't catch it right away. Who knows? But how can they possibly help with women? I mean, it's insulting. And as Alyssa was saying, it's offensive to women to talk about stepmothers like this, to talk about women who don't have children like this.

And I would have expected more from Sarah Sanders, a woman, who, you know, I think she'd think twice about that kind of an insult to Kamala Harris. I mean, it's just so frontal, it's remarkable because it's politically stupid.

BLITZER: Van, do you think Kamala Harris should respond to this latest comment? And do you think she should -- what should she say if she does?

JONES: I don't think that she should because she, her family's fine. Kamala Harris' family is fine. A lot of other American families are not fine. And she's got to keep talking about that. And I think that she still has an opportunity to bring over some people who are just not convinced yet that she understands their pain and is going to do something about it. But she does understand their pain and she's going to do something about it. She should keep talking about other folks' families.

Her family is fine and, frankly, it's an achievement what they've done. And so, no don't respond to stuff like that. Keep on your message. Keep showing the American people you're going to fight for their families, not your own.

BLITZER: All right. Van Jones, Alyssa Farrah Griffin, Gloria Borger, to all of you, thank you very much.

Coming up, a live report from Lebanon, where the death toll is rising after more explosions rocked the country just a day after a wave of similar attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

BLITZER: More breaking news this hour, the death toll rising after a second wave of deadly attacks in Lebanon. Lebanese officials now say 20 people were killed when Hezbollah walkie-talkies exploded a day after similar blasts involving pagers.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has more from Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A funeral for those killed the day before is disrupted by another explosion. A wave of walkie-talkie blasts across Lebanon killed more than a dozen and injured hundreds Wednesday coming barely 24 hours after hundreds of pagers blew up across the country at food markets, in shops, killing at least 12 people, including two children, and injuring around 2,800 others, in what CNN sources say was an attack by Israel's Mossad and military against Hezbollah, unprecedented in its scale and nature.

Outside the American University of Beirut hospital, distressed family members wait for updates on their loved ones.

Friends and relatives of the injured don't want to speak on camera, but off camera, one told us, for instance, that a friend of his received a message on his pager. He looked at it, and the pager blew up in his face, damaging his eyes and his fingers.

[18:30:04]

And, in fact, the chief medical officer here told us the majority of the injuries are to the eyes, to the hands and the hips, where, of course, people were holding their pagers.

DR. SALAH ZEIN-EL-DINE, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT MEDICAL CENTER: We received around 200 patients, and we received them in a very short time, about, you know, within an hour or two, almost all of them went inside our doors. So, this stretched us pretty much too thin.

WEDEMAN: A Lebanese security source says the militant group bought the devices that exploded in recent months from a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. However, Gold Apollo denies manufacturing the devices and says a distributor in Hungary is responsible. A Taiwanese security official said there's no record that pagers were shipped to Lebanon or anywhere in the Middle East.

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, a message echoed by one of the group's lawmakers.

HUSSEIN HAJ HASSAN, HEZBOLLAH LAWMAKER AND FORMER LEBANESE MINISTER: The resistance will continue, the support for Gaza will continue, and the Israelis will regret what they have done.

WEDEMAN: The tension between Israel and Hezbollah is nothing new. For most of the past year, cross-border skirmishes have been common. These device explosions represent a new level of escalation.

In Wednesday, Israel's defense minister said the explosions mark a new era in Israel's war against Hezbollah. Worried citizens are now suspicious of everyday devices, including one found in a parking lot near a busy hospital. Security detonated it in a controlled explosion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (on camera): And there are really two main schools of thought as far as Israel's motives for these attacks here in Lebanon. One is that many people believe that Israel is essentially sending Hezbollah message. This is what we can do and more if Hezbollah does not stop firing on targets within Israel.

The other school of thought is that these strikes, these series, this multitude of blasts that are taking place in these electronic communications devices across Lebanon are really just the first step of what many fear will be a full scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon aimed at crushing Hezbollah. Wolf?

BLITZER: Very serious situation unfolding right now. Ben Wedeman, thank you very much.

I want to turn now to some breaking news just coming into The Situation Room, the FBI unveiling new allegations of Iranian efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election.

CNN's Evan Perez has got the details for us. What are you learning, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is a new update from the FBI. We previously knew that the Iranian hackers associated with the Iranian government were targeting both the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign. In the case of the Trump campaign, they managed to get documents from inside the Trump campaign and have been sending them to journalist organizations in Washington.

What we now know from the FBI is that they also were able to send some of those documents that were stolen from the Trump campaign. They sent them to people associated with what was then the Biden campaign.

Now, those people, we're now told, were receiving those excerpts from these Trump campaign documents. They got them in their personal emails. Now, that information is coming from the Harris campaign, which said that this never actually went to the campaign itself, but to these people's private emails. And then none of them clicked on it or opened them so they didn't even know that they had received this material.

Now, the point of this appears to be to help sow discord in the U.S. political discord trying to, again, influence voters by basically pitting Americans against each other. That seems to be the goal of the Iranians, as well as embarrassing, of course, the Trump campaign by exploiting it some of the information that they have. Now, Wolf, we should note that the FBI is still investigating this and we expect in the coming days that they are going to indict people that they believe are behind this hack and leak campaign.

BLITZER: Very interesting. All right, Evan Perez, thanks for the breaking news.

And just ahead, there's more breaking news coming into The Situation Room, this time from the federal court in New York, a judge just ruling on whether Sean Diddy Combs will remain behind bars while awaiting trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00] BLITZER: Sean Diddy Combs remains behind bars tonight after losing an appeal of a ruling denying him bail. The music mogul now awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges that carry a sentence of up to life, possibly life in prison, if he's convicted.

Let's bring in CNN Anchor and Chief Legal Analyst Laura Coates. Laura, what's your reaction to the judge's decision to reject Sean Diddy Combs' appeal to hold him in jail without bail?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, in many ways, given the severity of the charges and what was argued yesterday as well, it was all but predictable that this could be the likely outcome here. Remember, there is a presumption of innocence, of course, for any defendant, but normally, people think about a flight risk, thinking about whether someone should remain in jail pending their trial.

But there were more factors involved, not the least of which is how prudent it would be and how feasible it would be to prevent the alleged activity from occurring while one is under the supervised release of a probationary period or out on pre-detention release. In this case, they found that it was not going to be viable as a solution to do so. Even though he wanted to post money, even have ankle monitoring, the severity of the allegations and possible obstruction or witness intimidation played very much into the decision.

[18:40:10]

BLITZER: And, Laura, we also all remember that really awful, horrendous video of Combs viciously beating his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel lobby in Los Angeles. How much of that footage actually play in the court today?

COATES: Well, first, that footage is undeniably disturbing to think about what we witnessed and that this may have been a precursor as a civil matter that would lead to the criminal allegations as charged in this. The idea of intimidation or obstruction or the abuse related allegations, which in part are contained in this new indictment, would have weighed into the court's decision as to whether he posed a safety risk to the community specifically.

Now, he has come out, as you recall, after that video to apologize for his behavior, to say that he was disgusted then and disgusted now with what he saw. But when you're talking about violent crimes, violent allegations, that will weigh in the court's overall decision about keeping the community safe.

Now, he will be, as somebody who has some notoriety, he will have some level of protective custody, not in a traditional sense but separation from maybe part of the general population, or thinking ahead to what that might look like for him. But he, right now, is similarly situated with every other defendant who has allegations of this severity and poses a potential risk for intimidation or obstruction.

Remember, some of the conduct they allege is as recently as 2023 later in the year. And as of last week, they alleged that he made phone calls or there were some communication over 50 trying to access a particular witness that he thought might be a part of this entire endeavor. And so all that combined is likely what weighed heavily on the judge's mind.

BLITZER: It was interesting, Laura, that the prosecutor today read a text message one of Combs' victims sent to him after Cassie Ventura's lawsuit became public. She's the former girlfriend who was kicked and beaten up brutally by Sean Diddy Combs in that hotel lobby. The woman said, and I'm quoting now, I feel like I'm reading my own sexual trauma and said she felt manipulated by Combs. What does that tell you about the risk of witness tampering going forward?

COATES: That tells me that this particular indictment might be the floor, not the ceiling of what the allegations would contain. Remember, there are the civil lawsuits separate and apart from what a prosecutor will be able to charge. Those are normally ending in damages, often monetary damages, and a criminal prosecution that can be used to build one's case and to buttress the credibility of other witnesses. This suggests to me given that this is a criminal enterprise being alleged, and they talk about enabling enablers of people who are around Diddy, it might be very likely that part of that enterprise could be to access people who they think might possibly be helpful to the prosecution.

And that is very, very disturbing for any prosecutor thinking about how they're able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, not only for the victims that are alleged, but prospective victims as well in the administration of justice.

BLITZER: And just to remind our viewers, if he's convicted, he potentially could spend the rest of his life, at least decades, in prison. Laura Coates, thank you very, very much.

An important note to our viewers, Laura, of course, will be back later tonight, 11:00 P.M. Eastern, to anchor her excellent show, Laura Coates Live. We'll be watching.

COATES: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, Vice President Kamala Harris heading to Georgia after a new report that two women died trying to access reproductive care. The journalist behind this story is standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:00]

BLITZER: Kamala Harris is taking her campaign for reproductive rights to the pivotal battleground state of Georgia on Friday, and this comes amid disturbing, very disturbing, new reporting about women dying in that state because they couldn't access legal abortions and timely medical care.

We're joined now by the journalist who broke the story, "ProPublica" reporter Kavitha Surana. Kavitha, thank you so much for joining us.

Your incredible reporting revealed the first known preventable deaths of two women tied to abortion restrictions. You're right there's almost certainly more.

I want to begin with Amber Thurman, a single mom to a now orphaned six-year-old boy.

Tell us her story

KAVITHA SURANA, REPORTER, PROPUBLICA: Yes, Amber Thurman was a 28- year-old medical assistant who loved her son and had her whole life ahead of her. She became pregnant right as Georgia banned abortion and that meant she was delayed in going out of state, took her weeks to arrange care. She took abortion pills -- abortion pills, major medical organizations, and studies have consistently found are safe and effective when taken appropriately, but they can cause complications. And if they do patients should go to the hospital right away.

The standard of care is usually a D&C procedure. That's a procedure to empty the uterus of any remaining fetal tissue, and what the maternal mortality review committee found in their summary was, she went to the hospital, but it took 20 hours, for doctors to intervene and provide that care.

They talked about it multiple times. They watch white blood cell count go hire her. Her blood pressure go lower, her organs began to fail, and by the time they intervened, it was too late.

BLITZER: Kavitha, you also uncover the story of Candi Miller, who died at home afraid of seeking medical care for her abortion.

What did you learn about her?

[18:50:02]

SURANA: There's a couple of important things to highlight. One is Candi Miller was a mother of three, who had lupus, diabetes and hypertension. All of those are conditions that can be dangerously exacerbated by pregnancy and she had actually been told her sister says by a doctor that another pregnancy would be really dangerous for her and even life threatening.

These abortion laws, even when they have exceptions, they definitely don't have health exceptions for cases like this unless they've already become an emergency. Candi Miller didn't want this to become an emergency abortion pills online from overseas. There's a number of organizations that are sending these pills to places where abortion is illegal now.

We don't know how far along she was in her pregnancy. Her family says that she was in a lot of pain afterwards. We don't understand exactly what complication she had, but an autopsy found that the abortion hadn't completed and she was later found with fentanyl and acetaminophen in her system. They don't know why, but they do know that she -- the families

understanding was abortion was outlawed, and women could be prosecuted for their own abortions. Georgia courts just to say, have said women can't be prosecuted for their own abortions. But from the headlines and even comments from district attorney who said, women should prepare to be prosecuted for abortions, that wasn't clear to them.

BLITZER: Kavitha Surana, thank you for your truly excellent, excellent reporting. We appreciate it very much.

SURANA: Thanks for having us.

BLITZER: And coming up, as we learn more about the recent attacks in Lebanon, new details on one of the world's most secretive intelligence operations. How Israel's Mossad has been linked to some of the most brazen assassinations.

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BLITZER: There's breaking news up on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives just voted against the government funding bill led by Speaker Mike Johnson. The measure was expected to fail, but this now allows the speaker to pivot as the threat of a government shutdown looms. Congress has until September 30th to pass a spending bill to avert a federal government shutdown.

Also tonight, we're digging deeper into the breaking news on the deadly detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in Lebanon. Sources tell CNN the pager attack on Tuesday was a joint operation involving the Israel defense forces and the country's major spy agency, the Mossad.

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us right now.

Brian, the Mossad has a history of very brazen and very dangerous missions.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, indeed, the Mossad has long fascinating history of using methods like this and even more bizarre tactics to assassinate its enemies. The agency has been conducting operations like this for more than six decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Pagers and walkie-talkies explode throughout Lebanon over the course of two days. The latest in a long line of audacious, lethal, sometimes high tech operations by the legendary Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: The Israelis are the best. If you find your name on one their hit list, you know, you probably can't get insured.

CHRISTA COSTA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL SPY MUSEUM: They have excellent operational security. They don't leak.

TODD: This past July, a bomb secretly planted in a Tehran guest house two months in advance is how a source tells CNN Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed which Iran and Hamas say was done by Israel.

Another assassination in Iran of a top nuclear physicist in 2020 was allegedly conducted by an explosion, plus a remote controlled machine gun in a car parked nearby. And a Palestinian bomb maker nicknamed "The Engineer", was killed in 1996 using a cell phone with perhaps just over an ounce of explosives.

BAER: He put it up to his ear. The phone said, hello, dad, and then the Israelis remotely exploded the phone and blew the side of his head off. So it is a very sophisticated operation that was very precise.

TODD: In the 1970s in Baghdad, according to one historian of the Mossad, an Israeli hit squad placed poison in toothpaste used by a Palestinian militant who later died in excruciating death.

But there have also been unsuccessful operations. In 1997, Mossad agents in Jordan sprayed a lethal dose of fentanyl into the ear of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. But some of the agents were captured. Israel was forced to provide the antidote and to release at least 19 prisoners. Mashaal is still alive today.

One of Mossad's earliest successes in 1960, agents track down notorious Nazi Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust. He was located and captured hiding in Argentina and spirited back to Israel to stand trial.

COSTA: They managed to grab Eichmann, drug him and send them back to Israel as a patient. Eichmann and it was executed in 1962.

TODD: Mossad also tracked down almost every terrorist who killed Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. During operation Wrath of God, suspects were assassinated one by one. But so was a Moroccan waiter in Norway, who, in a case of mistaken identity, was killed but turned out not to have been involved.

Still operations like these recent ones against Hezbollah have a lasting effect on Israel's enemies.

COSTA: Psychologically, they're going to turn on one another who are the informants? How could this happen? They're going to be fearful. They're going to be in short, disrupted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): "The New York Times" citing officials and security experts reports that earlier this year, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah put strict limits on the group's use of cell phones because he thought there were too vulnerable to Israeli surveillance -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Brian Todd reporting for us -- Brian, thank you very, very much.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.