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The Situation Room
New CNN Poll Shows Harris, Trump Locked In Tight Race With Six Weeks To Go; Trump Tells Women, I'm Your Protector, As Poll Shows Big Gender Gap; Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) Won't Endorse Harris In Split Over Filibuster, Shame On Her; Biden Urges "Diplomatic Solution" In Israel- Hezbollah Fight; Hurricane Warnings Issued For Parts Of Florida. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired September 24, 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, exactly six weeks to Election Day, CNN's exclusive new national poll is driving home the historic closeness of the presidential race, this as Donald Trump is trying to boost his flagging support among women by promising to be their, quote, protector. We're breaking down his remarks and the backlash.
Also tonight, independent Senator Joe Manchin declares he won't endorse Kamala Harris, slamming her call to gut the Senate filibuster for a national abortion rights bill. We'll get reaction from Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.
Plus, as Israel and Hezbollah trade new attacks, President Biden insists peace in the region is possible in his farewell speech to the U.N. General Assembly. We'll discuss the conflict with the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Samantha Power.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.
We begin with the razor close battle for the White House, CNN's exclusive new national poll showing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump running neck-and-neck with only six weeks left in the campaign. As CNN's Kristen Holmes reports, some key polling results may have been on Trump's mind as he campaigned in the battleground state of Georgia today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former President Donald Trump making an economic pitch to voters in Savannah, Georgia, today.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Not only will we stop our businesses from leaving for foreign lands, but under my leadership, we're going to take other countries' jobs.
HOLMES: As polls continue to show, the economy is a top issue for voters. A trip to the critical battleground state coming as the former president seeks to make gains with women voters.
TRUMP: I always thought women liked me. I never thought I had a problem. But the fake news keeps saying women don't like me. I don't believe it.
HOLMES: A new CNN national poll today finding a significant gender gap among likely voters, Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump 53 to 43 percent among female voters, while Trump holds a nine-point lead over Harris among male voters. The poll also finding among independent women Harris with 51 percent support compared to 36 percent for Trump.
In campaign stops, Trump reaching out directly to women.
TRUMP: So, let's talk about our great women, all right, because women have gone through a lot.
HOLMES: Monday in Pennsylvania, casting himself as a, quote, protector of women, while claiming they would forget about reproductive rights under a Trump presidency.
TRUMP: As president, I have to be your protector.
You will no longer be abandoned, lonely, or scared. Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion,
HOLMES: The comments come as Trump has grappled with how to handle abortion this election cycle, both wanting to take credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, while casting all responsibility onto states.
TRUMP: We did a great thing when we got Roe v. Wade out of the federal government, got it back to the states.
HOLMES: Trump's allies have also received backlash for recent comments about women.
GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R-AR): Thank you, Mr. President.
HOLMES: In Michigan, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders swiping at Harris, a stepmother, for not having biological children.
SANDERS: My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble.
HOLMES: And Ohio Senate Candidate Bernie Marino quipping that women over 50 didn't need to care about reproductive rights, in a recording first obtained by WCMH from a viewer.
BERNIE MORENO (R), OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: There's a lot of suburban women. A lot of suburban women that are like, listen, abortion is it. If I can't have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else. Okay, a little crazy by the way, but, especially for women that are like past 50, I'm thinking of myself, I don't think that's an issue for you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): Now, Marino's campaign has issued a statement saying that it was, quote, a tongue and cheek joke about Marino's opponent, who he says acts as though abortion is the only issue women care about when Marino says they care about the economy or immigration just as much.
[18:05:00]
Now, of course, all of this coming on the heels of those recently unearthed comments by Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance from 2020 -- or 2021, excuse me, where he said that the U.S. was being led by childless cat ladies. Those comments have been widely rebuked by both parties, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kristen Holmes reporting for us, thank you very much.
Tonight, the abortion issue also is making an impact on Kamala Harris's campaign. The vice president failing to get the endorsement of independent Senator Joe Manchin after she said this in an interview that aired today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe and get us to the point where we 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Let's bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez for us. Priscilla, this is not necessarily a new position for Kamala Harris.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not, Wolf. But it certainly tells us that she is going to double down on this message that Democrats think is the galvanizing one for voters, which is that she is the candidate that would protect reproductive rights. Now, in 2022, the vice president also said that she would support ending the filibuster to protect reproductive rights and voting rights.
So, this is an extension of that. This is something that we've also been hearing about a lot on the campaign trail. And, of course, it's notable that this was with a radio in Wisconsin. This is an issue that she is hammering in that critical state. But as you just mentioned there, it lost her the endorsement of Senator Joe Manchin, who had this to say today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOE MANCHIN (I-WV): Shame on her. Shame on her. She knows that filibuster is the holy grail of democracy.
REPORTER: You're not going to do endorse her?
MANCHIN: I'm not endorsing, never. I think that's basically something that can destroy our country, and my country is more important to me than any one person or any one person's ideology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: Now, defenders of the tool say that this forces consensus in the upper chambers, so some division over her comments today, but certainly the bottom line here is that the vice president is not shying away from this issue of reproductive rights and trying to convince voters that she will do anything if she were to get that sign that legislation codifying Roe v. Wade. Wolf?
BLITZER: Interesting. All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.
Let's get some more on all of this. Our political experts are joining me right now. Let's start with David Chalian. What does Trump's direct appeal, David, to women tell you about how he sees the state of this race right now?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, he certainly knows he's running a deficit with women voters. There's no doubt about that. But what was really interesting in our poll today, Wolf, is that if you look specifically at white women, Kamala Harris is running about even. She's three points behind, 47 percent to 50 percent, Trump among white women. That's a group that Hillary Clinton lost to Trump by nine points, that Joe Biden lost to Trump by 11 points. If indeed that mirrors what will be come election night when the votes are counted, that would be pretty good news for Kamala Harris if she's able to narrow the gap with Trump among white women. And that is largely who he's talking to when he's making this appeal.
BLITZER: Yes, an important point indeed. Ana Navarro's with us as well. Ana, what do you make of Trump's comments that women no longer have to feel scared because he will be their, quote, protector?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, I'm a woman and I don't need protection from Donald Trump. I need protection from what Donald Trump is going to do and has done. You know what I think is weird in all of this, that he is talking to women, trying to appeal to women, but he's got no women validated.
The two most important women in his life, his wife, Melania, she's busy selling trinkets and tchotchkes and Christmas ornaments and memoirs and whatever she can. And his daughter, Ivanka, who were very present in the last campaigns, 2016 and 2020, are completely MIA. So, he's standing there as a man alone without the two most important women in his life flanking him and validating what he is saying about how he feels about women. And now we've got what we know he's done. We know he appointed three Supreme Court justices that led to the overturning of Dobbs. We know he has bragged about that result. We know there are times when he has said that women should be punished if they have an abortion. We know he has been accused of sexual assault and sexual abuse.
[18:10:00]
These things are not going to go away just because he stands there and says, I like women.
BLITZER: Let's bring in Scott Jennings for his analysis. Are these Trump comments, Scott, about women and abortion rights for women going to help close the gender gap in this election? What do you think?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I doubt it. His best vectors, I think, for talking to women and really all voters are to continue to talk about the economy, it was better under Trump, to talk about immigration. he can get that under control, to talk about crime, which he'll argue he's better on than the current administration. I mean, there are vectors here to talk to women voters. I don't think the abortion issue is the one on which to fight, frankly.
If you look at the CNN poll that came out today, economy, immigration, those are all great for Trump. Abortion was the best issue for Kamala Harris. Traditionally in a campaign, you want to talk to about issues and give yourself a chance to fight from the best policy ground for you. So, my advice to the former president would be keep it focused on cost of living, food prices, inflation, and immigration, and you are probably going to be able to reel in some women voters who maybe don't like you on some issues but like you better on others.
BLITZER: Alencia Johnson is with us as well. Alencia, Kamala Harris is winning with female voters but she's behind where Biden was with women voters in the 2020 exit polls. Why do you think that is?
ALENCIA JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look, I think it's partly because again, we are in this unprecedented election where people are still trying to get to know her. And, you know, look, I think this is the issue as we're talking about abortion, care, reproductive freedom is actually the issue that sets her apart from not only Donald Trump, but I think, quite frankly, almost any presidential candidate, because not only is she a woman that can talk about this, she has actually been on the ground doing something about this issue even before she became vice president, when she was senator, when she was attorney general. And so I think the more that women and I think as we continue to see her throughout these next 40- some days, they will move towards her.
I will caution viewers and listening to the polls, right, like polls are indications, they're not going to tell us how voters will vote in the ballot box, you know, sometimes these polls have shown that white women appreciated a certain candidate of another one and then they got into the ballot box and actually did not vote for the Democratic candidate, right? And so we will see what happens on Election Day. But I think as she continues to talk about this issue of abortion and if Donald Trump keeps talking about women the way that he does, knowing that he has this track record of, quite frankly, being someone that women aren't afraid of, I think we can see more women come to her between now and Election Day.
BLITZER: Let me get back to David Chalian. David, as Kristen Holmes, as we heard her report, among independent women, Harris does enjoy a strong advantage, right?
CHALIAN: She does. She extends her advantage with women voters, among independent women to a 15-point advantage. And actually, when we looked at likely independent voters in our poll, Trump's advantage with men narrows a little bit, so whereas overall, Wolf, you see a ten-point advantage among female voters for Harris and a nine-point advantage among male voters for Trump.
When you look at likely independent voters, she's able to press that gender gap advantage a little bit more to her favor. And you know, of course, that independent voters are going to be a group that we watch over the next six weeks very closely.
BLITZER: Ana, I just want to get your reaction to those comments from Bernie Marino that women over 50 don't need to care about reproductive rights. Nikki Haley tweeted this quote, and let me put it up on the screen. Are you trying to lose the election? Asking for a friend. What do you make of this?
NAVARRO: It's drip, drip, drip, right? It's the comments made by J.D. Vance. It's the horrible misogyny by Mark Robinson. It's the things that Donald Trump has done during his entire lifetime and now it's this. Wolf, I'm a 52 year old woman.
I'm in the throes of menopause. And guess what? I am past reproductive age, but I care enormously about the rights of women. And I want women. I want the little girls in my life. I want the little girls in your life. I want all American girls to have the same rights that I did. So, it is very stupid, shortsighted, and offensive for somebody to think that because you reach a certain age, you stop caring, because you no longer can have children, you stop caring.
I know this might be a foreign concept to Mr. Moreno and some Republicans, but there are people who care just because they care about their fellow American and their fellow human. And that is most women. Because we know that any of us could have had a pregnancy emergency. Many of us did. And we don't want that pain, we don't want the distress to be had by other women.
BLITZER: Scott, what do you think?
JENNINGS: I usually advise candidates, don't be flippant and don't be a pundit. I listened to the clip from Marino. I think he was doing both in that case.
[18:15:00]
I think it's perfectly fine to run as a pro-life Republican. It's perfectly fine to have those views. But when you veer off into flippancy and trying to, you know, be something of a tongue in cheek pundit or whatever he was doing there, you're no longer being a good candidate. And so my advice would be to talk about all these issues with care and respect for everybody and you'd be better off in the future.
By the way, I do think Republicans are trending in the right way in Ohio. I think it's a good chance to give Republicans maybe the 52nd seat. So, it's an important race.
BLITZER: We shall see. Alencia, how do you see it?
JOHNSON: Look, I want the Republicans to continue to say exactly what they think about women so that it can continue to drive this wedge for young people and women and people of color who don't act -- and men too who also don't want women to be in a predicament of choosing between their lives and actually having a child in this country.
I need the Republican Party to continue to tell us what they actually think about women and people who can have families so that we can continue to build this coalition of folks that are just more than Democrats that want to make sure that women have bodily autonomy in the United States.
BLITZER: All right. Everybody stand by. We have more to discuss.
Just ahead, will a new effort by Kamala Harris to boost her support in Arizona make a difference? I'll speak with the top Democrat from that battleground state, Senator Mark Kelly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:00]
BLITZER: Tonight, Kamala Harris' views on changing the Senate's filibuster power are in the spotlight after Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said it's the reason he won't endorse her.
We're back with our political experts, and, Alencia, let me start with you. Is Manchin declining to endorse Harris a blow to her campaign? What do you think?
JOHNSON: I don't think so. I mean, I'm sorry. Democratic Party has kind of been like goodbye Joe Manchin since he thwarted some of President Biden's achievements. And, quite frankly, we do need to get rid of the filibusters who take care of some of these critical issues related to voting rights, abortion rights.
And, look, Joe Manchin isn't running for re-election, he's not going to be in the Senate, and I think it's unfortunate that he can't really get in line, especially when you think about the fact that there are prominent Republicans who are behind Kamala Harris' candidacy for president.
And so, this, honestly, for me, was just Senator Manchin trying to stay relevant in the news when, honestly, right now, his opinion, quite frankly, it doesn't matter for our agenda as we want to move the country forward.
BLITZER: Let me get Scott Jennings to weigh in. Scott, Republicans have defended the legislative filibuster, as you know, but Trump has called for it to end. What kind of dynamic could that set up if Trump wins in November?
JENNINGS: Well, it's amazing to me that Harris is calling for the end of the filibuster when anyone with a, you know, access to the internet can see Republicans are about to take over the U.S. Senate. West Virginia's done, Montana looks good for Republicans, Ohio's been trending, and they might have 51 or 52. So, I was shocked to learn that Kamala Harris wants Republicans to get rid of the filibuster today and do goodness knows what.
Look, the dynamic is this. The Republican Party will defend the filibuster and thank God because we do need it. I think Manchin is exactly right. Trump tried to pressure the Republicans to get rid of it, but they should not because it is one of the last tools in Washington to drive bipartisanship. It is how you get bipartisan outcomes in one of the two chambers of Congress.
Now, Harris has been on a journey. She signed a letter saying she supported it in '17. Then she came out against it. Today, she says she wants to get rid of it because she wants to codify Roe. But that's not how it works. You can't get rid of it for one issue.
BLITZER: Yes, you can, Scott. They got rid of it for Supreme Court justices.
JENNINGS: If they get rid of it, they won't be getting rid of it for one issue.
BLITZER: And she was very specific. She says she wants to get rid of the filibuster in order to bring back Roe v. Wade and let women have the right to choose if they want to have an abortion.
JENNINGS: If you think the Senate is going to get rid of it for one issue, especially a Senate that's not controlled by Democrats, I find this answer to be a total mess. I agree that I don't know that Manchin's word is going to mean that much today, but the issue is live, and the issue is we shouldn't be changing the rules of the Senate. It's a terrible idea. She's come out for a terrible idea.
BLITZER: Let me get Ana Navarro weigh in. Harris has held this position on the filibuster for years and Joe Manchin told me last week that Harris was quote saying all the right things. So, what do you think changed?
NAVARRO: I have no idea what may have changed with Joe Manchin. I think Joe Manchin's endorsement matters to anybody -- very little to anybody other than Joe Manchin. This is a man who himself toyed with the idea of running for president and just didn't have any popularity or any support or any backing to be able to do it.
She has had this position for several years. It's a position I don't agree with. I find myself -- I call myself an institutionalist and I don't like it when you start messing around with the long held rules of -- parliamentary rules of Congress, but you see there's many more issues. And what I don't understand is how Joe Manchin can say that this makes for a threat to democracy, when he was at the Capitol on January 6th, and he knows the threat to democracy that Donald Trump posed that day. He says, shame on Kamala Harris. I say shame on him for forgetting the threat to democracy that he lived through on January 6th brought on by the words of Donald Trump.
BLITZER: Yes, these subjects are not going away by any means. Guys, thank you very, very much.
Coming up, Senator Mark Kelly is standing by to join us live in The Situation Room with his take on the presidential race and the importance of his state, Arizona.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:25:00]
BLITZER: Tonight, CNN has learned that Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to visit the U.S.-Mexican border while in Arizona on Friday. It's part of the campaign's efforts to close the gap with Donald Trump on the key issue of immigration in a state where polls suggest Trump has the advantage.
Joining us right now here in The Situation Room, Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Senator, thanks very much for coming in.
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Great to be on.
BLITZER: I know you got a lot going on.
KELLY: Yes. In our brand new CNN poll that was just released today, voters trust Trump to handle immigration, the issue of immigration, better than Harris, 49 percent to 35 percent. What does she need to do when she comes to your state on Friday, goes to the Mexican border, what does she need to do?
KELLY: Well, they shouldn't trust Donald Trump on the border. I mean, we were about to pass. A bipartisan border security bill, Democrats and Republicans coming together to solve this problem, and Donald Trump told my Republican colleagues that they couldn't vote for it because he wanted it for the election.
[18:30:09]
He made it very clear he needed to just continue to talk about this. She wants to solve this problem. She said she would sign that into law on day one of her presidency, if we can pass that in the Senate. And I think when Donald Trump's gone, we can.
BLITZER: Very conservative Republican senators endorsed that legislation.
KELLY: Negotiated it, and Kamala Harris negotiated this for the White House with Ale Mayorkas. The White House worked on it with us. And Donald Trump told them they had to walk away from it, the most hypocritical thing I've seen while I've been in Washington.
And, by the way, Wolf, what that did, it was going to raise Border Patrol pay, that's why the Border Patrol Union endorsed it. Hire more Border Patrol agents, more fentanyl detection machines at the border. Those machines are not there now because Donald Trump told them that they could not vote for this bill. What that means, more illicit fentanyl gets through, more people die of overdose.
BLITZER: He thought if this legislation in the Senate passed, it would be seen as a victory for the Democrats and the Democratic ticket. And that's why he told Republicans to go ahead and oppose it.
KELLY: That's right. And it's classic Donald Trump. All he wants to do is talk about problems. He doesn't actually want to solve them. When he comes to my state, when he comes to Arizona, what does he do? He goes down to the border. He takes a picture.
BLITZER: So, what does she need to do when she goes to the border in your state of Arizona on Friday?
KELLY: Well, I think she's going to talk about, you know, how do you solve this problem. I mean, how do you fix the issue? You hire more Border Patrol agents. You pay them more so you get better retention. You build the infrastructure you need at the border, fentanyl detection machines, upgrade our ports of entry.
Our ports of entry in Arizona are so important to our economy. So, the message beyond the border security, comprehensive immigration reform, the other message that she has where she clearly stands, you know, head and shoulders above Donald Trump is on the economy and what her presidency could mean to American families.
Donald Trump just wants to drag us back into the past. What did they do when he was president? He's going to double down again on big tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
BLITZER: In your home state of Arizona, Trump is leading Harris 50 percent to 45 percent right now, but in the Senate race there, and this is interesting, the Democrat, Ruben Gallego, leads Republican Kari Lake 49 percent to 43 percent. How do you explain that?
KELLY: Well, statewide elections are going to be close. I mean, it was close in 2020 in my race, in 2022. By the time we get to Election Day, she's going to win Arizona. She's going to be the next president.
BLITZER: She's going to win Arizona. You're making that prediction.
What did you think of Senator Manchin today saying he's not going to endorse Kamala Harris because of her support to carve out the Senate filibuster rule when it comes to abortion rights for women?
KELLY: Well, I think he should endorse her. I mean, she is clearly, when you look at the contrast between the two candidates, I mean, it couldn't be more clear who needs to be and should be the next president, who's ready to be president. On the other issue, I mean, she's fighting for American women to get back a fundamental right, which, by the way, was taken away by Donald Trump.
BLITZER: You know, here's another result of our poll. There's no clear leader right now in this election. It's very, very close. But when voters are asked about the candidates policies, it's interesting, 54 percent of voters say Trump's views are too extreme compared to just 42 percent for Kamala Harris. Given that, why do you think this race is right now, nationally speaking, and in so many states, neck- and-neck?
KELLY: I don't know. I mean, when you compare the two candidates, you know, I hope the American people in some of these battleground states, when we get, and I think they will, when we get to Election Day, they're going to realize the right choice is Kamala Harris. I mean, it's, you know, by a lot.
BLITZER: I want to get your reaction on a separate issue, a very important issue, to something Trump said today about Russia's war against Ukraine. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States, he walks away with a hundred billion dollars. I think he's the greatest salesman on Earth. But we're stuck in that war unless I'm president. I'll get it done. I'll get it negotiated. I'll get out. We got to get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: What do you make of him, that statement?
KELLY: Yes, I mean, it's ridiculous and it's always been that way. I have a hard time understanding what his connection is and his affinity for Vladimir Putin is and how he thinks it is not in our best interest to support our ally.
If he was ever to get close to the White House again or in the White House, that's going to weaken our national security. The American people will be less safe, you know, for that reason. I mean, it is clear to me that Kamala Harris needs to be commander-in-chief.
I mean, his total lack of respect and disregard for veterans, calling deceased veterans suckers and losers. I served in the United States Navy for 25 years.
[18:35:00]
And it is -- you know, I mean, just the level of, I mean, sort of contempt that he even holds to us. And he doesn't get us service members, people that, you know, spent their lives serving this country and in some cases paid the ultimate price.
I think Donald Trump thinks of, you know, people in two categories. You're either the con man or you're the person getting conned. He feels those that have of us that have served were somehow tricked to serving in the military. So, he certainly doesn't understand the conflict in Ukraine because that's about our allies, our relationships. You know, I --
BLITZER: He suggested that those American service members who died in service are suckers and losers, not necessarily everybody who served in the U.S. military
KELLY: He talks about 1,800 Marines that died of Belleau Wood as being losers.
BLITZER: Yes. All right, Mark Kelly, Senator Mark Kelly, thanks very much for coming in.
KELLY: Thank you. I appreciate it.
BLITZER: I appreciate it very much.
Just ahead, there's breaking news in the most recent attempted assassination of Donald Trump. We'll update you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:40:00]
BLITZER: We're following breaking news right now. Federal prosecutors have just charged the man accused of pointing a rifle through the fence of Donald Trump's Florida golf course with trying to assassinate the former president.
CNN's Evan Perez is joining us right now. Can you update our viewers? What can you tell us, Evan?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, federal prosecutors have added four new charges against Ryan Routh, and one of them is attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, that is, of course, the former President Donald Trump.
And this is something we knew that prosecutors were working towards. Previously, he was charged with a couple of gun charges, and those counts were intended to essentially keep him in jail while this investigation continued. And, of course, now we have seen in the last couple of days, including at the detention hearing yesterday in Florida where they believe they have enough evidence to bring these charges. So, if he is convicted of these charges, Wolf, he could face life imprisonment, according to the government.
Now, one of the things we know in the last few days is that the government says that Ryan Routh spent weeks, essentially, stalking the former president, including b being outside his golf course, tracking his movements, trying to figure out when he would be at that golf course in West Palm Beach.
We also know that he left behind a letter that they filed in court right here. You can see a part of it in which he said this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I'm sorry, I failed you. Again, that's according to the government. And according to this letter that they say he left behind. One more thing, Wolf, that is noteworthy is that this case is now in the hands of Judge Aileen Cannon. She's the federal judge who was overseeing Donald Trump's case in the classified documents investigation. Of course, she dismissed those charges and that decision is now on appeal. Wolf?
BLITZER: So, if he's convicted, he's 58 years old now, he potentially could spend the rest of his life in jail. Evan Perez, thank you very, very much.
Coming up, our live report from the Middle East as the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah clearly escalates and does so substantially.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:46:30]
BLITZER: President Biden delivered his final address to the United Nations General Assembly today, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and urging de-escalation in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest, even a situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The president's speech comes as the conflict in southern Lebanon boiling over with Israel launching a fresh round of attacks today.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chaos and dust moments after an Israeli airstrike on south Beirut. Israel claimed that target was an important Hezbollah operative. Hezbollah said nothing.
At least six were killed, 15 injured.
Hezbollah continues to fire unabated rockets over the border.
After Monday's punishing Israeli bombing, Lebanon suffered its highest daily death toll since the 1982 Sabra and Shatila the massacre. A fourth of the dead, women and children.
South of Beirut, the funerals have begun. The coffins draped with Hezbollah's banner. What was the border war is looking like a full-on war. In like the last war, tens of thousands again, are fleeing for their lives.
No easy task for the elderly and infirm, to dozens of schools in the capital turned into shelters for the displaced. Shades of Gaza, most left everything behind, some including their dead.
It's true, he left, but material things can be replaced, says Zainab. Lives cannot. Losing someone is incredibly hard, home for Abu Ali and his family of six, now a bare classroom.
I asked him if as Israel says, it was only striking Hezbollah targets.
Liars, they're liars, he shoots back. Entire families are gone. They're not Hezbollah targets. We live in the south. We don't know where Hezbollah is, and I don't know where the Hezbollah fighters are.
Dr. Jihad Saadeh treated the injured in the 2006 war and here at this hospital in Beirut, he's doing it all over again.
DR. JIHAD SAADEH, BEIRUT: All of them are civilians. They are families where their houses -- they're buried in their houses, yes, in the south. Three of them had head traumas and the rest had different trauma because of the body like we see in every war .
WEDEMAN: It's happening again, all too familiar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (on camera): And, Wolf, in the beginning of the report, I mentioned that strike on Beirut and Israeli -- Israel's claims. There a senior Hezbollah operative was hit. Now, Hezbollah, just minutes ago, has come out with an indeed a senior operative was hit. That was Commander Ibrahim Kobeissi, who apparently was responsible for his butlers network of missiles and rockets.
And in addition to that, we're hearing from the British defense ministry that Britain is deploying 700 troops to Cyprus in preparation for contingency plans, probably evacuations.
[18:50:08]
BLITZER: Yeah. I think U.S. is sending additional troops to the region as well to help with that.
Ben Wedeman, thank you very much for that report.
I want to continue this discussion right now with USAID administrator, Samantha Power.
Administrator, thank you so much for joining us today.
A series of strikes, part of this reported Israeli strategy of what they're calling escalate to deescalate. But how dangerous potentially could this be for civilians on both sides and southern Lebanon and northern Israel? SAMANTHA POWER, USAID ADMINISTRATOR: Well, we've already seen over
these last weeks of 70,000 Israeli civilians more than 110,000 Lebanese. We see the human toll in some of the images that have come out today and over the last few days. In Lebanon, our focus is USAID, of course, is how do we ramp up the humanitarian response, if people are in fact displaced from their homes, if they're taking flight.
But President Biden's message today was crystal clear, which is de- escalation is the only path that can actually we want these consequences of that keep occurring. I mean, we see the conflict in Gaza, the conflict in Sudan, what this human toll is, and it this is why U.S. diplomacy has been so focused on taking down the temperature.
But, of course, recent events make that very challenging.
BLITZER: And I just want to clarify, is the U.S. moving additional troops and equipment to the region in order to help evacuate American citizens from both Lebanon and Israel.
POWER: I am not involved in the evacuation plans. Again, just focused on the humanitarian response. So would refer you to our defense colleagues and the White House to get the latest on that.
But, of course, we all have to be thinking in terms of contingency planning.
BLITZER: All right. We'll watch that and see what happens, "ProPublica", the news publication is reporting that in April, your organization, USAID, wrote a memo that Israel deliberately blocked food and medicine from Gaza and that the U.S. should therefore pause arms sales to Israel.
Was that you're doing determination and as the administration listening and abiding by U.S. law?
POWER: Well, Wolf, as you know, over many, many months, indeed, almost a year now since October 7, we have been pushing to get the hostages released in the first instance, but also to get as much humanitarian assistance as possible to the people of Gaza. The circumstances particularly heading into winter now, are absolutely desperate.
We remember last winter how bad it was for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Flash forward when so such a high percentage of the buildings and the structures and the agricultural land has all been destroyed. And that's the situation we're in today. And you see these flimsy tarps on the beach? And imagine when those temperatures go down and the seas come up, its just really human misery.
So that has been our posture. We've been pushing the Israelis. We've been, of course deliberating interim only about how best to bring about the most forward-leaning posture. So, as much assistance comes in, as possible. I'm not going to comment on any report from long time ago, but we've been very, very clear and the president, of course, has really focused on these humanitarian issues in all of his engagements with Prime Minister Netanyahu. BLITZER: And on another very sensitive humanitarian issue that's unfolding right now. I'm talking about Sudan. President Biden today said in his address before the un general assembly that the war must end there. But he just named the UAE a major defense partner despite UAE support for the paramilitary group in Sudan.
Does that undermine us efforts?
POWER: Well, I myself have had engagement with UAE senior officials in these last days, President Biden, of course, that announcement comes out of bilateral meeting that occurred this week with the president, the UAE, a major topic of the engagement is Sudan.
A major topic with all countries that are putting weapons into that conflict, or who've been providing political support, that has been a topic of all of our engagements in the U.N. General Assembly, high- level week, of course, is really useful because so many stakeholders are here.
But those two parties, the Sudanese armed forces, the rapid support forces, they are not putting their country first, they are putting their own self-interest first and no member state of the United Nations should be supporting them in their efforts, which are resulting in large scale civilian casualties and indeed mass atrocities in many cases.
BLITZER: It's a horrible situation there.
Samantha Power, administrators sure. Thank you so much for joining us.
And we'll be right back.
(COMEMRCIAL BREAK)
[18:59:06]
BLITZER: We're following more breaking news.
Florida is now bracing for a major hurricane strike just two days from now.
Chad Myers is in the CNN weather center for us.
Give us the forecast, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is going to be a big storm that hits the Big Bend area of Florida, but it does not leave the west coast from let's say, New Port Richey, all the way down to Sarasota unscathed.
Here's what we're seeing right now, and what's disturbing me at this hour? We're seeing convection, thunderstorms around at least half of the center. Now all day today, we saw nothing around the center. That means this storm is getting stronger and getting stronger quickly.
Hurricane hunters are in it right now, finding the pressure that is going down, that means the storm is getting lower in pressure. And even like a winter storm is getting higher in wind speed.
So yes, we do have hurricane warnings already in effect. This storm could get a lot and ll get an awful lot stronger with storm surge somewhere between 10 and 15 feet.
The models now are completely agreeing where it's going. And yes, 110, maybe 120 miles per hour, especially with gusts right here through parts of Texas and into parts of Florida rather. This is the area that is going to see the heaviest rainfall. There will be significant, significant areas with ten inches of rain or more 500 miles from landfall.
BLITZER: We'll watch this very, very serious storm developing, indeed.
Chad Myers, thank you very much.
And to our viewers, thanks for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now
