Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Good morning. Welcome to cnn this morning. Its saturday, october 21st. Im victor blackwell. And im amara walker. For the first time in weeks asia has made its way into gaza. This morning the Rafah Boarder between egypt and israel has opened but not for long. 24 trucks made it through before it was closed again. The trucks were carrying medical supplies and canned food. Its been two weeks and now the idf says its preparing for the next stages of the war. Idf tanks are lined up near the border with gaza where the prospect of a Ground Incursion is looming. Now, in gaza, the hospital says israel has demanded the immediate evacuation of the building ahead of a possible strike. The World Health Organization said that would be impossible to carry out because it houses 12,000 displaced people plus hundreds of patients. Also, an American Woman and her teenaged daughter are free. 17yearold Natalie Rah Han who had just graduated high school and her mother judith are from illinois. They were visiting family at a kibbutz close to gaza when they were taken hostage. In a news conference, the spokesperson said the priority is to return all of the hostages. Cnn chief correspondent Clarissa Ward is joining us now. Clarissa, you were in the thick of it where people were waiting on the gaga side of rafah. Walk us through what happened and i would imagine the logistics of getting this limited amount of aid to people who desperately needed it is going to be quite complicated. Thats right, amara. Just to clarify, we were on the egyptian side of the rafah Border Crossing yesterday. That was when the hope was that those trucks would start to move. They didnt. But at about 10 00 this morning local time, those 20 trucks of aid did manage to go through. Basically they go into this sort of no mans land, they unload. The aid is loaded onto a palestinian truck, which then goes inside gaza. I want to be very clear though. Before this war, before two weeks ago, approximately 455 trucks of aid would arrive in gaz every single day. You now have two weeks of no aid followed by one day of 20 trucks. This is a drop in the ocean, the World Food Program saying this aid may meet the needs of some 30,000 people and they need to meet the needs of 900,000 people. The u. N. Is very emphatic about this. Theyre hoping this is just the very first sign of things to come and that tomorrow or on monday, u. N. Trucks, because these trucks were ee vipt chan bread crescent trucks, theyll be able to start moving through the border in a sustained and continuous humanitarian corridor. One of the issues here is the issue of fuel. The idf has already said there was no fuel or petro in this 20 trucks worth of aid. There are reservations on the israeli side about allowing fuel in, but from the humanitarian organization side, fuel is essential. Fuel is whats powering the generators that are keeping the hospitals functioning to the extent that they are even functioning. Without that fuel, generator cant work. Theres no activity at present in gaza. So theyre emphatic fuel needs to be part of these Aid Deliveries as well as water, food, and medicine. Still several other wrinkles to be ironed out as well. There have been some disagreements over issues of verification. The israelis want to have eyes on every single truck to verified theres no weaponry or anything like that inside of these trucks, but trying to set up the mechanism to do that, where does it happen, where are the eyes on it, what is the system in place, how can it be expedited, all of this takes time. People in gaza do not have time. Some small piece of relief for people inside gaza today with the arrival of those 20 trucks, victor. Those israeli suspicions of potentially weapons in these trucks, the need for their decision to not allow fuel in because it could reach hamas, does that explain why just the 20 of hundreds of trucks were allowed in . Why just those 20 . Reporter so i think that basically 20 was the number that Secretary Of State blinken and President Biden and various other actors who have been sort of furiously involved in this to make it happen, 20 trucks was the sort of opening number, the sort of test or trial if you will. Lets just get 20 trucks in. Lets see how it can be done. Lets see how it goes. And then lets try to broaden that and get more trucks in and ideally set up they had talked about setting up this socalled humanitarian zone inside of Southern Gaza where Hundreds Of Thousands of people could potentially take refuge. And that requires a huge amount of material and personnel to make that happen. So i think the idea with the 20 was it was just a starting point, but the u. N. , when i was with them yesterday at the rafah Border Crossing, they really underscored it cant be a oneoff, not just because of the dire situation inside gaza, which, lets be clear, is at a critical, critical stage, but also more generally speak, the worry is if you have this drip drip approach, whenever u. N. Trucks go in or any aid trucks go in, youre going to have frenzied scenes, youre going to have mobs and panic and crushes and chaos because everyone is worried that the next truck could be the last. You need to set up an orderly and continuous humanitarian corridor to try to manage that and prodevelopment that from happening. If this initial bash does not have fuel, that obviously would be just a very terrible sign for the hospitals that are running out of fuel to continue to generate power. Clarissa, let me ask you about i think the estimate was 500 Oer 600 Palestinian Americans who are on the gaza side of the rafah Border Crossing waiting to get into egypt and on their way back home. What do we know about the possibility of their exit . Reporter So Hundreds Of Americans but also many other foreign nationals as well have been sleeping out in areas that are close to that rafah Border Crossing. Theyve been given assurances that that i will be allowed to leave, but there still seems to be a holdup. And i have to say initially the suspicion or the hope had been that once the aid is let in, they would also let the foreign nationals out, and yet we know from people on the scene that many of those foreign nationals were waiting there at 10 00 this morning, desperately hoping they would be allowed out, and now it appears there will be no evacuation of International Citizens from gaza into egypt today. Its not entirely clear, amara, what the holdup is on this point. We have spoken to people who have been waiting there. You can imagine as so many people inside gaza are. They are terrified. They are exhausted. They are hungry. They are desperate to get out. Theyre being given constant assurances that this will happen soon, but we dont yet have an exact timing of when that may be. Clarissa ward for us there with the latest from cairo. Thank you so much. Hamas has released two american hostages, a mother and daughter, nearly two weeks after they were abducted. Judith and Natalie Raanan were handed over the Gaza Border By The is rah i will defense force. President biden spoke with judith and natali, and he vowed the full u. S. Government as they recover. Cnns Kayla Tausche has the latest from the white house. Reporter President Biden speaking by phone with the two hostages freed by hostages, judith and Natalie Raanan. He said he was overjoyed at their release and was told the call went well. In a statement he said he pledged the full support and said our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal these past 14 days, and im excited that they soon will be returned to their family that has been racked with fear. Theyll have the full support of the United States government as they recover and heal and we should all respect their privacy as they recover. Its been weeks of violence and tensions in the middle east, and while there is relief that these two hostages have been freed, there are still ten american hostages who remain, according to the administration, and Secretary Of State Antony Blinken said the work to free them will continue. We share in the relief that their families, friends, and loved ones are feeling, but there are still ten additional americans that remain unaccounted for in this conflict. We know some of them are being held hostage by hamas along with another estimated 200 hostages held in gaza. They include men, women, young boys, young girls, elderly people from many nations. Every single one of them should be released. Reporter Secretary Blinken thanked the qatari government for its help in brokering a deal to free the hostages in qatar. Several members of hamas leadership are based there, which is why that country is a critical mediary. President biden was not willing to share any more details of its involve management or conversations on freeing the other hostages. He says that work continues but he does support the Israeli Ground forces to see if they can secure the other hostages relief. Joining me now rue Tent Colonel Leighton and kim dozier. Colonel leighton, let me start with you. We heard about the 20 trucks that just got in as we heard from Clarissa Ward that got in from the gaza side egyptian side from Southern Gaza. First off, why 20 trucks, and do you suspect a sustained humanitarian corridor to be opened . And, of course, the logistics surrounding that is going to be huge. Yeah, it certainly will be. Good morning to you. I think the reason for the initial trucks is to make sure they could do this and they had the logistical capability that the roads were open in the sense that they were able to handle the volume of trucks, the weight of the trucks. Some of that may be just Road Construction issues based on the strikes that the israelis, you know, had done, the air strikes that they had done in that area. So i think 20 trucks, a very limited number, of course, but this is a truck hopefully a test run will be followed by a Major Movement of other trucks into the area. Kimberly, clarissa raised a very good point in terms of security and trying to prevent any chaos as the humanitarian aid is being distributed. If its just a drip, drip and no one knows more is coming, this could be a freeforall and people could die. Talk about the logistics and also the Security Concerns expressed by israel, because they want to be able to check every single truck thats getting in to prevent any munitions and weapons from getting into the hands of hamas. Well, they cant check every truck. Theyre not print at the Border Crossing, so theyre going to have to rely on egypt to check the trucks coming in. This is a Border Crossing controlled by hamas officials on the one side and egyptian officials on the other, but there was some israeli Air Strike Damage nearby on the gaza side. The egyptians had sent repair crews through to repair that, so to double down on what colonel leighton was saying, yes, they probably had to make sure the repairs would hold before they cement a whole bunch of trucks through, but the other thing thats happening is i dont think that egypt and the other arab countries want to reward President Biden and israel right now with more than 20 trucks. Theres a Peace Summit Today Going On In Cairo with more than 30 countries. The European Union is going to be there. At the conclusion of that summit, youll see a lot more trucks go through. Whats not clear, is there is Hundreds Of Thousands of Palestinian People on the other side. How do you hold them back once you open that Border Crossing to more truck traffic. You can presume when they just let 20 through and quickly close the gates on the egyptian side, that quickly stops the cross into no mans land between those two gates, but if that gate ends up opened longer, youre going to have a much bigger problem with those kinds of surges, and as you say, thats when the panic can happen, crushes can happen, and people can get killed. Colonel, what do you say to that . How do you hold the foreign nationals who have been waiting for days in Southern Gaza . This is going to be a, really, po e ten chal nightmare for egyptian officials on the other side of the border, but more importantly for the people themselves. There really has to be some kind of a force that goes in there in terms of a peacekeeping course. I nknow there are desires, but think its really important for there to be some kind of humanitarian border that on the one side allows a logistical group with everything from fuel to food and other medical is up ploys on the one side and then allow the foreigners and maybe others to leash on the other, but the egyptians are not willing to do that, and thats going to be the real problem. We are potentially going to seed the need for some kind of noncombative evacuation. Kimberly, lets talk about the two hostages from chicago, the mother and daughter, judith and natali who will soon be reunited with their families. What was hamas calculus for what they call a release on humanitarian grounds. What are they hoping to get out of this . Look, it is wonderful that theyre back with their families and safe, and they had usisrael relatives, and thats how they were taken. I think hamass calculus is there are ten american hostages left roughly. By releasing them perhaps by dribs and drabs and having President Biden saying he would like the Ground Invasion to hold until theyre all released, that delays the Ground Invasion just possibly, and it also could introduce some tension between israel and u. S. As allies because if all the american israelis get released and the rest get help, what does that mean in terms of who is more important . That could that could inspire some bitterness on the israeli side. I dont think, though, that the hamas calculation on that is going to hold in terms of inspiring enmity between the two. It could hold a Ground Invasion. Each day they think they found where they think many of the pockets of hostages are and each day of delay i moved again. Colonel cedric, we have a few why you think the hostages were released and if this is a good sign that more hostages are set to be released. Cikimberly is right. This delays the invasion. So delay the invasion, dont fight with the u. S. , keep the fight with israel. For the moment thats what hamass calculus is. Colonel Cedric Leighton and kimberly dozier, thank you very much. Still ahead, why President Biden is urging the people in israel and jordan to leave immediately, but as israel strikes, there are protests across the arab world. Were live in jordan next. Israel and jordan to leave for the First Time Since the Israeli Hamas War started, gaz has finally opened a border. Supplies in the 20truck convoy are provided by the crescent nation. On these trucks include medical supplies for 1,200 people and trauma bags for more than 230. This comes as things continue to deteriorate and theres desperation from hospitals. As we heard from Clarissa Ward, theres no fuel on these trucks and the hospitals are running out of feel for the generators. The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs tell cnn there are more than 1 Million People displaced in gaza and more than half a million sheltering in dire conditions inside u. N. Shelters. Israel is urging its citizens to leave jordan and egypt as tensions remain high. Antiisrael protests have spread across the arab world in just a few days. In istanbul, cairo, and beirut, palestinians have waved the flag, denouncing israel. Tensions are high. Have been high now for two days between israel and its neighbors. Reporter they certainly have. There is a real sense of concern, amara. Amongst World Leaders in the region, this could spill over into a regional conflict because that will be the focus today as the cairo peace summit gets under way. We know the World Leaders and top officials, particularly those from the region as well as from europe are in attendance. The key focus is for president S Cici Of Egypt and also King Abdullah of jordan to prevent the war from spilling over. There are particular concerns around lebanon. As you mentioned, tensions are running high on the Popular Front as well. For more than a week, we have seen people taking to the streets in solidarity with the Palestinian People. Theres been a huge amount of outrage and condemnation with the situation in gaza, real anger being directed toward is israel and israels western allies particularly the United States with regard to the continuation of the bombardment of the gaza strip and the continuing deterioration of the situation. We have seen protests taking place almost every day now, certainly for the last day now. Huge crowds are taking to the streets every evening near the israeli embassy. But what we saw yesterday was an enormous march through downtown. Thousands of people, families with Young Children draping the Palestinian Flag scarf, rather, in support of solidarity of the people. There were chants of anger, many calling on the jordanian government to close down the u. S. Embassies. There has been a warn telling israeli nationals to leash. There is a concern that these protests will continue to is ka lap. That feeling of anger toward the state of israel with regard to this ongoing bombardment is suddenly not waning. Nada bashir in gaza. Thank you. If you want to help, text relief to 707070. So the war between israel and hamas is escalating. There is serious tension across the arab world and President Biden has requested funding to help both israel and ukraine, but over on capitol hill, republicans are back to the Drawing Board to find a new speaker and actually get to work. A lot held up there. The latest next. Is it possible my network could take my business to the next level . It is with comcast business. Powering all your devices with gigspeed wifi. And you get fast downloads and uploads. Pick it up pick it up oh we got this because its powered by The Next Generation 10g network. More speed for your business . Its not just possible. Its happening. Get started for 59. 99 a month for 12 months. Plus, ask how to get an 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Its been 18 days with no speaker. Jim jordan is out and then ousted by his fellow republicans in a secret ballot. Monday theyll try again. Cnns melanie is back with more. Their gop nominee has failed to win enough support. Jim jordan tried to take another vote to the floor on friday. He failed to win enough vote to win the speakership gavel. In fact, he bled even more support. After that vote they huddled Behind Closed Doors and took a secret vote to dump him as a potential nominee. There are questions about whether who if anyone can get the 217 votes required to win the speakership. A lot are upset about the situation they find themselves in. One of those members is dusty johnson. Hes a more moderate leaning representative. This is a time we need problemsolving, not selfaggrandizement. Its time for big boys and big girls to stop with the nonsense and get back to work for the United States. Lawmakers will go home for the weekend. Theyll have another Candy Data Forum on monday. Thats when well see a new candidate emerge. There are those who have jumped into the race, tom emmer, byron whos part of the Freedom Caucus and kevin hearn who leads the party whos the largest conservative caucus. But as of right now its shaping up to be a messy candidate race. Its going to be a while before theyre able to unify around a candidate. Right now no speaker, no consensus, no ability to govern. Melanie zanona, cnn, capitol hill. Lets bring in political commentator and cnn contributor errol louis. Former speaking Majority Mccarthy suggested tom emmer. Does he have a better shot, i guess, than any of the other candidates thus far . Good morning, victor. He has a bit of a shot. Its unclear whats going to happen when they have this beauty contest, if you want to call it that, on monday. Look, the reality is theres a question underlying all of this turmoil theyre going to have to answer. Whether they answer it on monday or any other time, theyre going to have to e decide whether this chaos caucus is going to be what the party stands for, at least the congressional delegation. The congress has to decide whether they actually want to legislate or whether or not they want leadership. Its remarkable when you think about it. If they want leadership like jim jordan whos never authored a piece of legislation that actually passed, what theyre really saying is legislation is not what the conference is going to be about. Now, there are a number of people there who think that is shockingly ir responsible and thats a good thing, but until they make their voices known and make that stance clear, i dont think theyre going to get anywhere. I think emmer is going to be a good solid guy who has conservative credentials and so forth. But if there are those openly canvassing for legislation, theyve got to be pushed off to the side, beaten, pushed out of contention for leadership. Until we get that, i think were going to see a lot of backandforth. At what point does exhaustion enter . Were now 2 1 2 weeks into this since mccarthy was ousted. At some point youve got to get someone, pick somebody to do the job. Lets go back to january. It took a week and 15 ballots. I hate to tell you, victor, the record is 139 ballots over a twomonth period. That was a longing long time ago and shortly before the civil war, frankly. Thats how divided the country was and congress at the time. Things could get a lot worse before they get any better unfortunately. Lets say they pick one of these six candidates and there are two other potentials looking around, making calls to test their viability. Whomever they pick still has to in a matter of what, less than a month now, reach a deal with the white house on passing a budget to fund the government. So theyre going to be in the same place, having to make the same deal that elements of the party do not like. What does this twoweek period, threeweek, who knows how long it goes, when does it get there . Yeah. It does do some of what you suggested. In terms of gamesmanship, you could try to run out the clock just to put pressure on your adversary, on your opponents. There may be some candidates trying to do exactly that. It looked like jim jordan was going to fold his arms and outwait everybody, but the conference moved on beyond that strategy. I think what were going to see is even more urgent issues are going to come up. Student loan repayments have resumed, victor. Weve got urgent pay requests from our allies, israel and ukraine. There are packages that the president put forward that also approved a lot of border money that Border States are going to be concerned about. This cant go on for much longer, and those who want to delay, again, as a strategy, theyre going to find that strategy is not going to work. We have to have a functioning congress. Congressman matt gates who led the eight, who voted with democrats to oust former speaker mccarthy. Right before that last vote on jim jordans candidacy or nomination for speaker went to some in the house. Jim jordan said well accept the consequences. Whether youll expel us from the conference, well accept jordan. That did not work. T can the conference afford to lose those eight . If you lose them in any way, youve got four or five seats here to get anything passed. Is that realistic theres going to be some consequence for these eight . I think there will be some consequences. Here, again, this is the chaos caucus. Theyre in heavily save conservative districts, so they dont have to do anything to compromise in order to win reelection and theyve decided theyre going to sort of ride that safe Conservative Seat on ideological grounds not so much but really on personal selfadvancement, playing to a National Conservative base, raising a lot of money, stopping anything in its tracks from actually happening. Matt gaetz is the poster child for that, and i think theyre going to sit there lodged as a problem. The suggestion that gaetz put out there, oh, you can do something to us. They may get their wish and they may, in fact, be censored or curtailed in their ability to do anything. Thats probably going to be where this ends up if enough people get fed up. Well get a sense of that again when they meet next week. Still ahead, another lawyer who tried to help overturn the 2020 Election Results in georgia pleads guilty. What all of this means for former President Donald Trump. Donald trumps inner circle flips. Attorney kenneth chesebro. He was one of the Masterminds Bhie behind the fake blot. He pled guilty as the jury was getting underway. Nick valencia has more on what this means for the former president and what comes next. Nick. Reporter victor and amara, this was a stunning development, and as part of this plea deal, Ken Chesebro Has pleaded guilty to a felony, a conspiracy to create false documents. Hes committed to pay a 1,000 do fine and community service. As he committed to the plea deal, i spoke to his attorney and asked what hes saying when many say he turned his back against the president and snitched. He didnt snitch on anyone. He went in there and accepted responsibility for what i would do as one of the minor kind of tagon charges in the indictment and that was that. I mean i could absolutely tell you, again, if hes called, hell go testify and answer their questions, but i would disagree. I dont think mr. Chesebro snitched against anyone. I think he simply decided this was time for him to put this behind him and go on with his life. Reporter make no mistake about this, this is a huge, huge win for District Attorney fani willis. When this started we were sure the Jury Selection would begin on friday. We were looking at a prospect that would last three to five months, but instead on thursday Sidney Powell took a plea deal and then it was on friday that ken chesebro did the same. A huge win as i mentioned for fani willis because she has not only one but two key witnesses as she narrows her case on the former president. Cnns legal analyst and defense attorney joey jackson is here right now. Two of the former Defense Attorneys for former President Donald Trump pleading guilty to racketeering. Ken chesebro and Sidney Powell. This is remarkable. What do you think turned them and what is your reaction . Good morning, amara. Its certainly a significant development. The reaction is certainly its something tas compelling for the prosecution. I think what turned them are a number of things. Number one, the prospect of facing significant time in jail, number two, the prospect of facing evidence, which is certainly contrary to your narrative as we look at miss powell and mr. Chesebro. I think at the end of the day with the overwhelming evidence and the evidence submitted to the court saying it should be dismissed and the judge saying no, i think it was time, and if youre a defendant in this case, thats really the only out you would have. Looking forward is what this means to the president himself. So just to refresh their roles in the Georgia Election. Chesebro played a major role in the Georgia Election scheme. Sidney powell assumed her role in coffee county, georgia. I guess they accessed and copied information from the Election System to somehow prove that the election was rigged against trump. Who presents a more serious threat to trump . I think really both of them do. You have to look at this in tandem and heres why. I know Sidney Powell pled guilty to Misdemeanor Charges as you know, looking to breach the system, to determine if there was any election fraud. There was not. Remember she certainly had access to the president in terms of the white house, a number of meetings after the election, and thats important because that breach is, as we know, in the si circle of the president. What was about it, what was she plotting, what was the president s state of mind. Pivoting to mr. Chesebro and with respect to the fake electors, trying to certify the election process, certainly trying to disrupt it and his plea to indictment the team implicated giuliani, mr. Eastman, implicates the president himself. So when the prosecutors try a case, its never in isolation. Its about the collective weight of the testimony. When you have two president ial lawyers advising them. One is eastman drafting memos with a fake elective plot and the other trying to breach the security system. Both in tandem spelled very much trouble for the president himself who as we know was charged in this and three other cases, amara. What about jack smiths federal election case . Both of them are unindicted coconspirators. What kind of impact could their testimony in the georgia case could there be an impact onto the federal case . I really do. I think thats an important case, the jack smith case, dealing with this issue. That is, jack smith pared down his case. Remember what this means. When you plead guilty, youre acknowledging that and you say in open court, yes, in the case of chesebro, i attempted to place fake electors. I was acting in conspiracy with others who were mr. Giuliani, who were mr. Trump, who were mr. Eatman. Thats damaging to jack smith. When you have a chance of breaching the Security Systems and otherwise looking as it relates to what was Sidney Powells guilty plea, that also helps. I think in any way you slice it, however you want to spin it from a guilty plea Sper Speck Tib in georgia or jack smith, the testimony would be damning against a president. These lawyers were giving advice, and we know the advice was unlawful in an attempt to circumvent and vilify a system of democracy. Joey jackson, thank you. Ahead, our coverage of the israel war continues. Were live from egypt with more humanitarian aid to head into gaza. This weeks cnn hero is focusing on families waiting to enter the u. S. Legally. When she learned some children are out of school for weeks, months, or years, this native colombian, once a migrant child herself, decided to bring the classroom to them. I kept feeling like the weight of this crisis was on my shoulders. Schools are the way to be able to help them heal. I thought we could turn a mobile bus into a classroom. We currently have three Mobile School Buses and we have opened more School Locations along the border. We partner with shelters the provide bilingual education for Migrant Children and mexican children at the u. S. colombia beeian border. People are surprised i was a migrant child myself. I also want children to realize being a migrant is not something they need to be ashamed of. I want our efforts to be something permanent. And when its all said and done, that well be proud to look back and say that we were there when people needed us the most. If you want to see her work in action and learn about her journey, go to cnnheroes. Com