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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Judge Unseals New Evidence In Federal Election Case Against Trump, Trump Says Special Counsel's Election Case Is A "Scam"; Young Voters In Michigan Still Divided Over Israel-Hamas War; IDF Confirms It Intercepted Aerial Target Over Central Israel; Biden Tours Hurricane Helene Damage In North And South Carolina; Helene Death Toll Hits 189, Second Deadliest Hurricane In 50 Years; Harris Tours Hurricane Recovery Efforts In Augusta, Georgia. Aired: 8-9p ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 20:00   ET

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

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But apparently, they were wrong and what we've seen in addition to that is a variety of strikes in almost. There's only been one strike where the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military put out a specific warning on a specific location, only one warning this evening.

And we've had six, seven, eight strikes perhaps where there has been no warning whatsoever and particularly that strike on the central part of Beirut. It is a very crowded working-class neighborhood even before this war, jam packed with people -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you very much in Beirut, as we are watching the skyline now, as the situation continues. Thank you so much for joining us. AC360 begins right now.

[20:00:48]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, just 33 days before the 2024 election, a judge unsealed Jack Smith's 165-page argument for why Donald Trump should still face charges from trying to overturn the last one.

We'll tell you what's new and whether or not his revised case might survive the Supreme Court challenge.

Also, tonight, John King, "All Over the Map" talking to young voters in Michigan, whose ties to the Middle East could determine their vote and with the race so close, perhaps tip the election.

And later, Gary Tuchman walking some of the worst hit parts of Hurricane Helene's path of destruction, where even almost a week later, the only way in its by air or on foot.

Good evening, thanks for joining us.

We begin with breaking news in the case a conservative Supreme Court majority put on hold, if not on ice. Late today, Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed Special Counsel Jack Smith's argument for reviving the election interference case against Donald Trump. Now, Smith has reframed the charges in a way he hopes will now conform to the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity and withstand what will all but certainly be more scrutiny from the nine justices.

The brief filed under seal last week is heavily redacted, but still reveals plenty of new evidence that Smith intends to use. Some of it, apparently confirming the worst about the former president's reaction upon learning his vice president and his family had been forced to flee a mob of Trump supporters bent on hanging him.

That's Pence in his security detail and his family fleeing right now.

Quoting from the filing, "Upon receiving a phone call alerting him that Pence had been taken to a secure location, Person 15 rushed to the dining room to inform the defendant in hopes that the defendant would take action to ensure Pence's safety. Instead, after person 15 delivered the news, the defendant looked at him and said only -- so what?"

The filing also focuses on the Trump tweet, which arguably put Pence in such jeopardy in the first place and argues extensively for why it should be considered an un-official act, therefore, not immune from prosecution. That tweet, you'll remember said Pence, " ... didn't have the courage to do what should have been done."

So, those are two highlights. Joining us now with more CNN chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid. What more are we learning from this new filing?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, in this new filing, we're really seeing the complete picture of how the special counsel believes it could convince a jury that Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election were private actions, that he was acting as an office seeker, not an office holder. And this is key because in July, the Supreme Court ruled Trump cannot be prosecuted for official actions.

And in this filing prosecutors write, "At its core, the defendant's scheme was a private one. He extensively used private actors and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office."

Now, this filing also includes some never before seen evidence. Prosecutors argue that things like conversations with Vice President Mike Pence or then chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, could all be used in their case.

Anderson, it's not clear that's going to work because the Supreme Court also said official actions cannot be used as evidence.

COOPER: And why is this coming out now?

REID: Well, this was up to the judge, Tanya Chutkan. It was her discretion to release this enormous filing from the special counsel. The special counsel short time ago, seven weeks ago, they submitted this approximately 200-page argument laying out what they believe their case looks like after the Supreme Court's immunity ruling and it is Judge Chutkan's job to look at the Supreme Court ruling, look at the case, and determine what survives.

But it was her choice to make this public again, just over a month before the election.

COOPER: And how is the Trump campaign responding?

REID: Well, of course they're not happy and they are pivoting to the political. Former President Trump calling this "a hit job" and they're trying to tie it to the campaign even to last night's debate.

In a statement from the campaign, they're saying, "The release of this falsehood-ridden unconstitutional January 6 brief, immediately following Tim Walz's disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American democracy and interfere in this election."

So I'll repeat, even though this was the special counsel's argument, it was the judge's decision to release this, and I also want to note the Supreme Court really had a big role in delaying a possible trial here because they waited from December of last year all the way to July to weigh in on this immunity issue, making it impossible for Special Counsel Smith to bring this case to trial.

And this, this filing is really the last opportunity voters will have likely to see the evidence in this case. If the former president is reelected, this case will be dismissed, even if he's not, it will proceed, but it's unclear, Anderson, what lies ahead for this prosecution.

[20:05:24]

COOPER: All right, Paula Reid, thank you.

The former president has been posting about this online, including this warning accusing the Justice Department of violating its own guidelines. And I'm quoting from him now. "For 60 days prior to an election, the Department of Injustice is supposed to do absolutely nothing that would taint or interfere with the case. They disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference."

He goes on, "I did nothing wrong, they did. The case is a scam, just like all the others, including the document's case which was dismissed."

That's not all just moments ago he posted this: "I didn't rig the 2020 election, they did."

Joining us now, two former federal prosecutors, bestselling author, Jeffrey Toobin, CNN anchor Laura Coates, also with us former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and retired federal judge, Nancy Gertner.

Jeff, first of all, what do you make of the details that Jack Smith has laid out and do think they'll survive Trump's claims of immunity? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This is an incredibly difficult task for Judge Chutkan because these categories, official and unofficial, are very difficult to define and the Supreme Court didn't really come up --

COOPER: They were really vague.

TOOBIN: They were vague in defining what they are. Some of this is I think clearly on the line of unofficial.

Trump's meetings with his campaign staff, with his campaign lawyers. I think that certainly will count as an unofficial.

The toughest thing for Jack Smith and the most difficult question for Judge Chutkan is what about the conversations with Mike Pence? Because Smith argues that Pence was operating either as a campaign worker, essentially working with Trump on the campaign or as president of the Senate, as in the legislative branch in his oversight role on January 6.

Those are tough arguments for Jack Smith to make, but the evidence from Pence is very damaging to Trump. So, Smith is going to try very hard to get that stuff in.

COOPER: Laura, the special counsel says that Donald Trump "explicitly excluded" a White House attorney in favor of private counsel in one of the meetings in which then president allegedly tried to convince Pence to reject the electoral votes.

The filing reads and I'm quoting, "It is hard to imagine stronger evidence that conduct is private than when the president excludes his White House counsel and only wishes to have his private counsel present."

What kind of pushback do you think Trump's legal team might offer on that point?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR, "LAURA COATES LIVE": Well, whatever pushback they offer is going to pale in comparison to the role of what White House Counsel is. White House counsel is not the private attorney of Donald Trump or any particular president. It's for the office of the presidency.

They're concerned with what's happening in the current administration and in the prospective administrations. Why? They want to preserve things like what would be the conversations, presidential privileges, and the like, things that would go to the very heart and core mission of the office?

And so, if you exclude that particular person and say, I want my personal attorney instead, you really undermine your ability in the future to say, no, no, no. I was asking because I'm the president of the United States.

Yet and still, they'll likely say, well, counsel was counseling perhaps Donald Trump was not essentially knowledgeable about the distinction, he had an attorney present that's what he was trying to do and could then later go back to White House counsel.

What we see in this filing though, does not suggest that they will be able to have a successful argument.

This comes down to one very basic thing and Jeff is right, that its vague, but either you were acting as somebody in pursuit of an office or you were in office holder. If you are an office holder you have to abide by the parameters of the office and you cannot have these frolicking detours into personal behavior.

COOPER: Andrew, I mean, you see the complaints from Trump tonight, the DOJ is violating its own rules about not making public statements about an investigation too close to an election. Obviously, Trump didn't care about that when James Comey informed Congress, inevitably it became public when the FBI was reopening the Clinton e-mail investigation days before the 2016 election.

You were part of the Clinton investigative team. I'm wondering what you make of the former president's argument tonight.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't find it particularly persuasive as you might guess. So, a couple of reasons: One, this is a DOJ rule, it's a policy and it's certainly one that can be waived by the attorney general anytime he thinks it's necessary to do that or in the interest of justice.

And the second big piece here, Anderson, is that policy is specifically directed at the investigators, right, the FBI, the US attorneys, the line attorneys who are working with agents on an individual cases. And it's a caution to not take any overt public actions, things that would be seen in the run-up to an election.

We are long past that point in this case, these are not decisions of the Department of Justice. These are decisions of the court and the judge decided to release this filing today and that is not something that the Department of Justice can control.

[20:10:10]

So, it's really not a matter that comes within the scope of that policy whatsoever.

COOPER: Judge Gertner, on the special counsel is arguing Trump's interactions with Pence should be allowed as evidenced because the constitution specifically excludes the executive branch from the certification of electoral votes.

And according to the filing, the former president "sought to encroach on power specifically assigned by the Constitution to other branches to advance his own self-interests and perpetuate himself in power contrary to the will of the people."

Do you think that argument will hold up in court? I mean, the then president tweeting about Mike Pence which Mike Pence in danger. Was that not an official act of the president? NANCY GERTNER, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: Well, first of all, I think I disagree with Jeff because I think the Pence accusations here, the Pence data, I think is new and that's the difference between what we saw with respect to the January 6 committee and now.

So, what Jack Smith is trying to do is show that Pence was not -- Pence and Trump were not acting in any official capacity because there was no official capacity beyond certifying -- a ministerial just counting the votes and nothing more.

I also want to follow up what Laura Coates said, which I think is very telling, which is that in many of the conversations with Pence, it was not just -- excluding the White House counsel, but it was also campaign workers were in many of these conversations.

It was clear then or it should be clear to a jury that what Pence was again, acting as an office holder -- as office seeker rather than office holder.

Smith goes into great detail about how the Constitution expressly limits the sitting president and the sitting vice president's role in the electoral counting process, so, that someone can't continue their authority beyond the time that their term runs out.

So, both the constitutional line as well as an evidentiary line and evidence line here that what Pence was doing in these conversations with Trump were not official. They were campaign discussions.

COOPER: Jeff, a big part of the special counsel's argument is that a law called the Hatch Act allowed Trump's White House staff to basically wear two hats essentially separating their political advocacy from their official duties.

The special counsel claims and I'm quoting, "When the president acting as a candidate engaged in campaign-related activities with these officials or in their presence, he too was not engaging in official presidential conduct."

TOOBIN: Well, the Hatch Act is a law that says you know, high-level government employees can't do politics, they have to do their job. And so, what Jack Smith is trying to do is say that's the line between official and unofficial.

It's an understandable effort because these vague categories, at least the Hatch Act gives some form to those distinctions, the problem with that argument is that the president himself is not covered under the Hatch Act. The president is allowed to do both his official duties and of course to campaign.

So, I think it helps him somewhat to try to draw this line, but since the main character in the drama is not covered by the Hatch Act, it's not quite as helpful as he wants.

COOPER: Laura, the filing references, contemporaneous notes that Vice President Pence at the time wrote during a meeting with the former president and lawyer, John Eastman was asked to explain to Pence why he should reject the electoral college votes. How important would those contemporaneous notes being at trial?

COATES: Well, you know, we've almost always gone back to what the Jim Comey contemporaneous notes things was, right. And that was because contemporaneous notes actually buttresses the credibility of a person who actually wrote them. Why? It's close in time to when their memory would have been freshest, they would not have essentially time to concoct a story or change it and it lends itself to feeling more truthful.

That's great in front of a jury or whoever is the trier of fact because the judge in this case solely because it shows you they're not trying to go back and shift the narrative or have revisionist history.

The contemporaneous notes written close in time are very important. It also shows you that there was manipulation that they're arguing was trying to happen there.

They were trying to look at him, not as somebody who was in executive role, but his legislative administerial capacity and that could bode very well for the prosecution to suggest that they went to lean on him as a running mate, as a candidate, not in his role as the vice president.

COOPER: Andrew, prosecutors say that they have a witness who's going to testify that the former president said to the First Lady, Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, quote, "It doesn't matter if you won or lost the election, you still have to fight like hell." Is a statement like that, I mean, is that evidence, is that admissible?

[20:15:13]

MCCABE: I think its admissible. It's how persuasive it would be to a jury if in fact we ever get in front of one, is the bigger question that I have.

On the one hand, this statement purportedly shows the former president acknowledging that he doesn't actually care about the actual results of the election.

The only thing that matters to him is fighting to keep the job. And that certainly is consistent with the entire theory of this prosecution. So, it's good in that way.

On the other hand, you could certainly see a competent defense attorney standing up and saying, this is a man speaking to his family, trying to tell them the value of standing up for your rights, standing up for what you believe in and fighting on when you think you're right.

I think it kind of -- it is powerful, but it could be softened under the right circumstances.

COOPER: And Judge, what happens, if Chutkan rules in favor of the special counsel and agrees the behavior in the filing is not subject to presidential immunity. What then? I mean, I guess there'll be an appeal by Trump's team and what would that mean for any kind of a timetable?

GARTNER: I just have to preface the 'what then' question which is, you know, we're in new territory here. So, who knows?

But clearly the Supreme Court is telling Judge Chutkan to thread the needle here and describe what's in the appropriate category and what is not, what is in the non-immune category, and what is immune.

I would imagine she will issue a decision. There will be an argument. Both sides will say what they want to say. She would have to issue a decision saying this is in and this is out.

People have asked whether there would be an appeal. Again, were dealing with new issues. I have no doubt that the Supreme Court would, I want to say stick its nose in this no matter what and the timing of it at this point doesn't really matter, but there certainly is not going to be a trial before the election.

TOOBIN: There's one very simple answer to, at least one of these questions, which is if Donald Trump wins the election, this case is going away.

COOPER: Jeff Toobin, thank you. Laura Coates, Andrew McCabe, Judge Gertner, thank you.

A reminder. You can watch "Laura Coates Live" at 11:00 PM Eastern tonight.

Coming up next, the presidential race, which this filing just dropped into with little more than a month until election day. We'll have the latest on the race and CNN's John King revisiting young Michigan Democrats who had misgivings about President Biden over Israel and Gaza when he was in the race.

The question tonight, how has a new Democratic ticket changed their voting plans?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:21:33]

COOPER: Tonight's breaking news, the unsealing of Jack Smith's case and a word for his election interference case comes with the defendant still not accepting the bedrock factual foundation underneath it all, namely that the 2020 election was free and fair.

Donald Trump still does not accept that and when confronted about it on the debate stage last night, his running mate dodged the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), VICE PRESIDENT NOMINEE: He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just ask that. did he lose the 2020 election?

SEN. JD VANCE (R) VICE PRESIDENT NOMINEE: Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind and the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?

WALZ: That is that is a damning non-answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Senator Vance last night deflecting and here he is again today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Why didn't you answer the question last night during the debate about who won the 2020 presidential election?

VANCE: Well, look, here's the simple reason. The media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: It's all the media,

CNN chief national correspondent, John King joins us from the magic wall. Also, 2020, Trump senior campaign official, Erin Perrine and former Harris communications director, Jamal Simmons.

Do you think this filing will have any impact on the race?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, I think the American public is pretty clear and they've seen the video from January 6. They have had a couple of years of people talking about Donald Trump and his involvement in it.

I don't know if this is going to be the thing that moves them. I think that the negatives on Trump are what they are. The question now is, are people who ready to hand the reins over to the Harris-Walz team? And I think that's why the vice president is spending so much time going to every venue she can find, talking about what her plans are, putting out an 85-page booklet.

It's helpful to have something like this out there so that people can maybe get a little refresher for those who are looking for it. But I think the deal gets closed when the Harris-Walz team closes the deal.

COOPER: John, I mean, how do you see it? As much as Trump is complaining tonight, is this going to help him fund raising or rallying the base?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jamal makes a key point about the closeness of the election and is this where Harris wants to spend her time? The question is how the voters process this?

So this is the 2020 map. I'll just go to 2024 Republican primaries.

Let's look in the rearview mirror first. This has helped Trump in the past. Ask Nikki Haley, ask Ron DeSantis.

Remember when Trump was indicted on fraud charges in New York or when some of these federal cases came down, the political reaction was, and even some of the Republican reaction was this will hurt him.

Instead, we got this, we got this. It helped him with the Republican base. It helped him raise money, and it helped a rally around Trump movement because a lot of Republican voters agreed with that. They're after, me, the deep state is out to get me, Joe Biden is orchestrating all of this. That's the rearview mirror. It helped him and it helped him enormously.

Here's the question and Jamal just made the key point. So, let's just use battleground Pennsylvania, the most critical of the battleground states. Will it help Trump in all these red rural counties where his base is strong? Most likely. He'll probably raise some more small dollar donor donations and rally, here they come, and that is critical in a close race to turn out your base, anything that can motivate them.

Attacks on immigrants, attacks on the prosecutors, anything to motivate your base helps. My question is what about down here in the Philadelphia suburbs where you've seen our pieces, Anderson.

We have a number of Nikki Haley voters. They are Republicans by DNA. Some of them are thinking about voting for Trump, but this stuff bothers them. There's not a ton of them, but it doesn't take a lot of people. So that's the question.

COOPER: Erin, I mean, this Smith filing, it comes a day after the exchange between Vance and Walz to the debate. I want to play what Walz said today about former Vice President Pence who was referenced many times in this new filing. Let's play that.

[20:25:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: There is a reason Mike Pence was not on that stage with me. And let me just say this, let me just say this, I served with Mike Pence in Congress.

We disagreed on most issues, but in Congress and as a vice president, I never criticized Mike Pence's ethics and commitment to this country and he made the decision for the Constitution.

Mike Pence did his duty. He honored his oath and he chose the Constitution over Donald Trump.

Understand in that 88th minute last night, with that damning non- answer, Senator Vance made it clear he will always make a different choice than Mike Pence made.

And as I said then and I will say now, that should be absolutely disqualifying if you're asking to be the vice president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I mean, do you think, Erin that the Trump campaign should be concerned about any kind of a renewed focus on the 2020 election aftermath.

ERIN PERRINE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I don't think that they should be, and I think both John and Jamal hit the points that a lot of this is already baked into voters. They've already seen this information as of this point. I don't think it's going to move anybody in either direction.

And I think that it could help bring out those smaller dollar donors, those who are going to give less than $200.00.

To John's point, during the primary, we saw big fundraising opportunities for Donald Trump with each indictment and polling bumps. Now, his numbers are pretty solid and locked in at this point. But every little inch matters at this point in the election.

And one thing that Tim Walz did there that I will not be surprised if I see Republicans seize on, is when he was pushing JD Vance on his fidelity, right? When he's talking about that, he would be loyal to Trump.

Let's remember JD Vance served in the united states Marine Corps, and has already promised his fidelity to this nation. This is a treacherous track for Tim Walz especially given the back-and-forth we had already seen between Vance and Walz regarding service to this nation.

SIMMONS: I think that's actually a good point, but it's a different -- I'd make a different conclusion which is that the American people actually do want a vice president and a staff that are going to stand up to the president and tell them when they're wrong and move it.

That's why I think this is really about the future, right? So we know what happened on January 6th. We know that people stormed the Capitol. We know that Donald Trump helped egg them on.

The question is, if this comes up again, how is it that we expect them to behave? And we are -- Vice President Harris and Walz, what want to do, Governor Walz, what you want to do is say we're going to behave differently and we're going to hold up the country that it is that you want and the system that you want. That is the point I'm trying to make about the future of the American democracy, not about what happened the last time.

COOPER: John, I mean, you speak to voters in battleground states all the time. How much do Trump's legal issues actually come up resonate with them, I mean, it doesn't seem like it's high on the priority list, is it?

KING: Among most voters know, but I just want to bring up Georgia because we were in Georgia recently for again, a piece on swing voters, or persuadable voters in the Georgia suburbs and two of our voters did bring it up. I did not ask the question.

Christine Winn (ph) runs a tea shop just out DeKalb County just outside of Atlanta. She was undecided before because she didn't vote of Biden nor Trump. Now, she's for Harris. I asked one of the reasons why -- she said ethics. Ethics, she didn't bring up the legal issue specifically. She said ethics.

Then, Suresh Sharma (ph) from Cobb County. He's a trademark Independent, voted for Trump in 2016, voted for Biden in 2020. He said he has a three-step test for picking a president, didn't have an answer after the first two steps. The third step was is the president a role model? Can I look at my son and my daughter and say be proud of that person. He's going to vote for Harris because of that.

Now, if there are tens of thousands of those that can swing a close state like Georgia, settled by 11,000 votes. That's my question.

You know, it fires up Trump's base and you know what it also fires up the Democratic base. The Democrats who don't want Trump will see this and say that's a reason to go knock on another door, sign up another voter, makes sure I cast my early ballot.

The question is for that tiny slice of persuadable voters who might vote for Trump because of the economy or immigration,, but the ethics stuff bugs them. So that's something to watch.

COOPER: Erin Perrine, Jamal Simmons, thank you. John King is going to stay with us.

Coming up next, his "All Over the Map" series, John's return to Michigan. What a young voters there are telling him now about who they're going to vote for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:33:10]

COOPER: King's "All Over the Map" report tonight takes him back to Michigan where he revisits a group of young student voters that we've met before. They are passionate about the Middle East. And when John last spoke with them, President Biden was on the ticket. Now that vice president Harris is, he went back to see what, if anything, has changed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Fall in campus means football. In Ann Arbor, that means go blue, whatever your politics. Fall in campus also means election crunch time and here the push to vote and vote early is just about everywhere you look.

JADE GRAY, MICHIGAN VOTER: You are not getting to the White House unless you get Michigan and you're certainly not getting the White House unless you get Gen Z.

KING (voice-over): Jade Gray and Anushka Jalisatgi are former presidents of the College Democrats. Jalisatgi is now a first-year law student, born in Missouri, but this time voting in Michigan.

ANUSHKA JALISATGI, MICHIGAN VOTER: A lot of my out-of-state friends are switching their registration to Michigan because they know it's a battleground state. KING (voice-over): The university art museum doubles as a voting hub. Outside, this registration desk stands out, as does this school day concert. That very spot on our last visit in May was home to a student encampment protesting Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack and Biden Administration weapon shipments to Israel. The university won't allow another encampment, so it's harder to judge the depth of student anger. Gray now works in digital organizing and sees a dramatic shift.

GRAY: Huge is an understatement. I think there's a drastic difference in support amongst young people for Vice President Harris versus President Biden.

KING (voice-over): Attendance at College Democrats meetings is strong. This night, spent phone banking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm calling with the Michigan Democratic Party --

KING (voice-over): After a little pep talk from Michigan's Democratic governor. But resentment lingers, the October 7th anniversary is at hand; the election just a month away now.

[20:35:00]

This is a meeting of the Syrian Students' Association at Wayne State in Detroit.

KING: How many are hesitant? Having a hard time voting for Harris because of these policies? That's just about everybody.

KING (voice-over): Trouble for Harris is also easy to find in majority Arab American Dearborn. Wahbeh Nuseibeh is Palestinian, a 26- year-old Wayne State student who voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

WAHBEH NUSEIBEH, MICHIGAN VOTER: I'm not voting for Kamala Harris, not in good conscience. I cannot vote for someone that uses my hard- earned tax dollars to kill my friends and families overseas.

KING (voice-over): Nuseibeh plans to vote third party.

NUSEIBEH: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and threat to our society.

KING (voice-over): The campus divide goes well beyond picking a president, at both Ann Arbor and Wayne State, anger at school officials for how protests have been handled. And among students, a divide over how we got here.

NUSEIBEH: Yes, there were atrocities on October 7th. But again, these people are fighting for their land and for their families.

KING: So on October 7th, they weren't fighting on their land. They crossed into Israel.

NUSEIBEH: Yeah. So even though -- again, we go back to -- this didn't start on October 7th, it really didn't.

KING (voice-over): Maya Siegmann is a Wayne State junior, active in the Campus Hillel Chapter, just back from a summer in Israel.

MAYA SIEGMANN, MICHIGAN VOTER: The propaganda war, the social media award, the news war that Hamas and Israel are fighting, Hamas is winning. It is hard because when people talk about being on the right side of history, and then they don't educate themselves enough to figure out which one is the right side, it's a bandwagon effect.

KING (voice-over): Siegmann will vote Harris, though she wishes the vice president would give more details.

SIEGMANN: The debate was hard because she didn't directly answer most of the questions. And when the topic of the Israel-Hamas war came up, then there wasn't really a solid response as to how she would solve it.

KING (voice-over): There are few signs of Trump support on either campus. His green light to Israel isn't what most students want to hear.

KING: If you, in a perfect world, wanted to recruit some of those disaffected Democrats, he's not helping you?

MAX SCHESKE, MICHIGAN VOTER: No, probably not.

KING (voice-over): Max Scheske is a member of the Michigan College Republicans. He will vote for Trump, but he is hardly a fan.

SCHESKE: He is a bit of a grafter. You know, if you can kind of get him to say you believe anything, as long as he thinks that's where the votes lie.

KING (voice-over): Scheske says GOP energy is up a bit as the election draws near, but that many students planning to vote Trump just can't wait to move on.

SCHESKE: We certainly do have kind of have kind of a Trump is -- Trump is basically Jesus wing of the club, but we also -- we do actually have a very sizable, very critical of Trump.

KING (voice-over): There's no doubt Harris is running strong here. Strong enough, is the question.

GRAY: If she comes up short in Michigan, I don't think it's because of young voters. I think it's probably because we waited too long to make a switch. I sure hope she doesn't come up short in Michigan because I don't really want to be talking to people about how young people should have done more when I feel like we are doing a lot.

KING (voice-over): Game time in a state Harris needs to keep blue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: John King joins us now. How is Vice President Harris performing with young voters compared to how President Biden did in 2020?

KING (on camera): Some numbers, Anderson, to help with that question. Number one, just look at this choice for president. I want to stretch this out a little bit, excuse me for turning my back. This is our recent New York Times-CNN poll. It shows Donald Trump and the vice president tied -- tied among voters aged 18 to 29. Joe Biden carried that group by 24 points in 2020 in the exit polls. Being on the ground, remember, when you poll a smaller subgroup in a poll, there's a bigger margin of error. I can't quite believe it's a tie from being on the ground several times in Michigan, but there's no question, the vice president is doing better than President Biden was doing earlier this year, when a lot of young voters didn't want him to be the candidate anymore.

But she's not doing as well as he did back in 2020. There's no doubt about that. Absolutely no doubt about it. Let me get that to move the other way. Here's one of the things about it. The disaffection over the Israel-Hamas crisis, their anger at the administration about this, among all Michigan voters in that poll, 67 percent said they're almost certain to vote. Only 55 percent of this year younger group said that. Young people, generally more activist, your first election, your second election, in most cases, a little not sure they're going to vote. That's part of this, 'eh'. And a lot of that 'eh' comes from the Israel-Hamas conflict.

COOPER: And so, they seem more divided than in the past?

KING (on camera): It's interesting, you got to college campuses, it's a great place to debate things, to talk about things, more open. This conflict has shut down a lot of those conversations. You saw at the end of the piece there, a Muslim student at Wayne State and a Jewish student at Wayne State. Maya says she's trying to get to know some of her Muslim classmates better this time because -- this semester, because it was so hard to have conversations on campus last semester.

[20:40:00]

So, you have active Democrats who say, I'm mad about the war too. I'm mad at the administration. Why isn't there a ceasefire? Why isn't there an arms embargo? But, what about the climate? What about abortion? What about LGBTQ issues? They sometimes are reluctant to talk to the students who they know are most mad, most angry, some including the Arab and Muslim students, because they just end up in a fight about this because some of those students say, I agree with you on all those issues, but I feel my tax dollars are funding -- in their view, funding a genocide.

So, conversations you would expect near the end of a campaign, you still sense some tension over doing it because students who want to reach consensus, instead, their experience on this issue has been it's a divide.

COOPER: Yeah. John King, thank you.

Coming up, we have breaking news, more explosions in Beirut and over Tel Aviv tonight as Israel expands its war in Lebanon and debates how it will respond to Iran's missile attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:00]

COOPER: A short time ago, our CNN team witnessed explosions over Tel Aviv in Israel. Israel's military has now confirmed it intercepted a suspicious aerial target off the coast of central Israel. Also late tonight in Beirut, Lebanon, our CNN team their witnessed other explosions, this one in central Beirut. Lebanon's health ministry says at least six people were killed. Explosions were also witnessed in Beirut's southern suburbs tonight.

Israel has expanded its presence in southern Lebanon with thousands more troops. And as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year begins, still no answer to the question how Israel will respond to yesterday's ballistic missile attack by Iran. President Biden today said he'll speak with Israeli prime minister relatively soon. He also says he doesn't support an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Israel's long slog into Lebanon turning deadly for the IDF on its second day. The limited, localized, targeted raids as the IDF characterizes them, triggering fierce resistance. Helicopters inside Israel, picking up the casualties, a nearby trauma hospital declaring a mass casualty event. The IDF confirming eight dead and several others injured in attacks, Hezbollah claims took place in three villages.

Hours earlier, overlooking the area of at least one of the attacks --

ORA HATAN, NORTHERN ISRAEL RESIDENT: Jabal el Blat and behind it -- (inaudible).

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Israeli border resident, Ora Hatan already worrying about the troops.

HATAN: I think that it's very dangerous to the army to go to the Lebanon because many, many traps waiting for them.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): She refused to evacuate last year, was busy preparing the troops' holiday dinner for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and hopeful their raids would bring her respite from Hezbollah attacks.

HATAN: I feel more safe, I feel more protected because of the army inside.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The whole country however, entering a new era of uncertainty following Iran's ballistic missile attack Tuesday. The United States and other allies blunting the impact, intercepting the majority of the fast, long-range, high-explosive ballistic missiles. BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Iran made a big mistake tonight, and it will pay for it. We will stand by the rule established -- whoever attacks us, we will attack them.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Israeli officials say all the bases targeted a fully operational, including their long-range combat mission airfield, the scale of Israel's response likely determining the pace of escalation. Israel's combat operations on other fronts continuing uninterrupted. Palestinian health officials claiming Israeli strikes killed more than 90 Palestinians in Gaza Wednesday, as a new operation against Hamas opened up in Khan Younis.

In Syria, smoke rising after a strike near Damascus, unclaimed by Israel but blamed on them by Syrian state media. Airstrikes continuing deeper into Lebanon too, targets in Beirut and beyond. Civilians in parts of the capital warned by the IDF to evacuate their homes as the country's death toll passes 1,300 and a million people displaced.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Nic Robertson joins us now. What have you seen in Tel Aviv tonight?

ROBERTSON (on camera): Yeah. We've seen what appear to be intercepts of some kind of missile or drone out to sea. These were not the sort of intercepts where you have multiple launches up into the sky where they're going really high. This was sort of more straight out which makes us think it was probably a drone, but there were several of them, several launches of the intercepts, several explosions were heard in the distance some time apart, maybe a minute or two minutes between the different explosions.

So, very hard to say. The IDF is saying that they intercepted a suspicious aerial vehicle out to see. We heard fighter jets as well at one point out over the sea just here and helicopters as well. Now, the IDF says and this is correct, they don't normally sound alarms when the threat is out over the sea, but it's not often that we've seen drones coming in off the border on to Tel Aviv.

[20:50:00]

Houthi drone perhaps a couple of months ago did impact here coming in off the sea. So, not clear precisely what was being targeted, where it was coming from, who was it that was targeting Tel Aviv.

COOPER: Yeah. Nic Robertson, thanks very much. Be careful.

Still to come tonight, friends taking care of friends in hurricane battered North Carolina. Our Gary Tuchman reports on the recovery efforts and the search for survivors still in the western part of the state next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: President Biden visited both Carolinas today, inspecting the recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene, including taking this aerial tour in the interior part of South Carolina. That's about an hour or so drive south of Asheville, North Carolina. Now, North Carolina officials say that 26 people remain unaccounted for right now in Asheville. The western part of the Carolinas was particularly hard hit.

Vice president Harris, meanwhile, was in Augusta, Georgia today, surveying recovery efforts.

[20:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a lot of work that's going to need to happen over the coming days, weeks, and months. And the coordination that we have dedicated ourselves to will be long long-lasting to get families, to get residents, to get neighborhoods back up and running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The White House says she is expected to travel to North Carolina in the coming days. The overall death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to 189 people. It's now the second deadliest hurricane in the past 50 years behind Hurricane Katrina. Our Gary Tuchman is in the western part of North Carolina tonight, with more on the look, on the hunt, and the search for survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I walk with a man who plans to deliver two five-gallon cans of gasoline and food to a friend whose storm-damaged house is at the bottom of a North Carolina gorge. The only road in and out was largely destroyed in the storm. So now, you can only leave via emergency helicopter or by taking a vigorous and muddy three-mile hike out about 1,000 feet up.

TUCHMAN: It will undoubtedly be a very long time before our vehicles are safely able to use this road again. Josh, how much farther you think we have here?

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The man I'm walking with, Josh Parker hasn't been able to get in touch with this friend, Brian, and is worried. We run into other civilians who have been hiking down in order to help survivors who are either stranded or don't want to leave.

As we approach the bottom of the Green River Cove Gorge, we run into Fred Russock. He was among many gorge residents who rode out the storm.

FRED RUSSOCK, GREEN RIVER COVE RESIDENT: The older people with infirmities have been airlifted out. My place, total loss, but --

TUCHMAN: I'm sorry.

RUSSOCK: -- I expected that.

TUCHMAN: I'm sorry about it, man.

RUSSOCK: But I'm alive and my loved ones are alive and kin folk and so. So we got everybody.

TUCHMAN: I'm glad you're OK.

RUSSOCK: -- safe that night.

TUCHMAN: I'm glad you're OK.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): We arrive at the bottom after about 90 minutes of hiking. Houses, RVs, cars, trucks destroyed. Roads have disappeared into the Green River, which is now so wide it is unrecognizable to residents.

TUCHMAN: Your house, you can tell, is beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was. We will get back there again.

TUCHMAN: You are going to rebuild?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, if they let us. We don't even know what's --

TUCHMAN: If they let you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As we make our way farther into the gorge, a helicopter starts flying directly towards us. Aboard the chopper are members of the South Carolina Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team. Two of the rescuers being rappelled down to the ground to make sure people are OK. As of now, there have been no reports of deaths in the gorge or serious injuries.

We see Fred Russock again at his property. He was in his home when the storm hit but found higher ground.

TUCHMAN: This is where your house was before the storm?

RUSSOCK: Yes. This is where my house was, the front corner, the kitchen, right across that money grass, door be facing right out, it is just to the left of that push mower.

TUCHMAN: OK. And there's this huge tree.

RUSSOCK: Yeah, the house got pivoted down this turn.

TUCHMAN: Here is where it is (ph).

RUSSOCK: Arrived there against those trees, before this debris trapped (inaudible) continue going down and around back into the river like most debris did.

TUCHMAN: It is incredible.

RUSSOCK: It is incredible. I mean, it is epic. It's sad. I mean, I pretty much lost everything.

TUCHMAN: The house has been in Fred's family for more than a half century. His late grandmother lived there.

RUSSOCK: I wholly intend to rebuild, I feel that much (ph). My sweet grandma, Katie, would have expected me to do so. She got me hooked on these whitewater rivers and the lovely great outdoors. This was beyond my control, Grandma Katie.

TUCHMAN: So, you're doing this for your grandma, for yourself? This is your life.

RUSSOCK: This is it. This is in my blood.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Before hiking out of the gorge, Josh Parker finally gets to his friend, Brian's house, only to find he's not there. We are told Brian was airlifted out just hours earlier when his health became a concern.

TUCHMAN: Do you want to leave the gasoline here anyway?

JOSH PARKER, FRIEND LIVES IN GREEN RIVER COVE GORGE: I am going to leave it for somebody.

TUCHMAN: Yeah, somebody can use it.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Brian's dog, Maggie, wasn't taken on the chopper, but volunteers are about to take Maggie on the long hike out of the muddy gorge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Gary Tuchman joins us now. I mean, it's so nice to see so many neighbors, friends helping each other. I mean, how long is it going to take until, I mean, even getting road access to that community?

TUCHMAN (on camera): Well, even if the gorge below us, Anderson, was the only community in the state of North Carolina that suffered storm damage, the damage is so extensive that it is anybody's guess how long it will take. There is so much to rebuild. And the fact that there are so many communities, some big and some small, that have suffered immense damage just like that. So, residents we talked to in the gorge tell us they are fully expecting that it will take years to come to some sort of normalcy. I will tell you, lots of people, thousands of customers are still without power throughout the state of North Carolina for five-and-a-half days now.