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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Fed Slashes Interest Rates By A Half Percentage Point; Second Straight Day Of Deadly Device Attacks In Lebanon; ProPublica Abortion Laws Leading To Deaths; DOJ Seeks $100M From Corporations Responsible For Bridge Disaster. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 18, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:17]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Off the top, we have breaking news on two fronts today.

In the world lead, a second straight day of deadly explosions in Lebanon apparently targeting members of the terrorist group Hezbollah. Yesterday, it was their pagers that blew up, killing at least 12 members. Today was walkie-talkies and at least 14 were killed.

Video captured one of the dramatic moments of carnage. A warning the video we're about to play for you maybe difficult to watch. But what you're about to see is devices set off at a funeral earlier today.

Here is some of that moment.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

TAPPER: In both yesterday's attack and today's, the targets appear to be members of Hezbollah, the group backed by Iran that the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization. CNN has a team in Beirut, Lebanon, and we're going to go there in just a moment amidst fears that this could turn things into a wider war.

But, first, breaking news in the money lead. Markets are closing now on the heels of the highly anticipated decision by the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in the United States by a half-point. That Dow finished slightly down 102.75 after that initial bounce when the news came out two hours ago.

CNN business anchor Julia Chatterley is falling all this closely.

And, Julia, this is a significant move for anyone looking to borrow or save money.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Huge, and full plus years in the making. For borrowers first, if you own a credit card, your rate on that card will adjust pretty quickly. The problem is the average rate on a new credit card right now is around 25 percent. So even with a big cut today, its sort of a rounding error on a rounding error, and you might not notice the difference. For auto loans, for example, the hope is that this will now start to bring them down from incredibly high levels. But your rate that you're offered depends on your credit history, it depends on what car you're buying. So, my advice on both of those things, shop around.

For mortgages, we've already seen mortgage rates coming down the around 18 month lows for 30 years. This is good news today if you have an adjustable rate mortgage, if you have a home equity line of credit, because those rates will tick down. What it doesn't help with is the overall level of high prices. That unfortunately is not fixed by interest rates.

And finally, if you're a saver, Jake, to your point, this is crucial lock-in high rates now before we see rates come down further, certificates of deposit savings rate, if you've got the money invest it.

TAPPER: This is the first rate cut in four years, as you noted. Inflation was the main reason for not doing so before. In theory, does this mean that the Central Bank anticipates inflation is going to keep slowing down? Are there any potential concerns that this move might suggest?

CHATTERLEY: Not according to the Federal Reserve today. What they're saying is they think inflation will continue to come down just a little bit more and that's what's giving them all the room now to support the jobs market. And what they hope to do is prevent the unemployment rate rising much further from here.

Again, it doesn't ultimately have an impact on the overall level of prices, grocery prices, for example, of what 20 percent over the last three years, it doesn't help bring those down, but we have -- we seem to have contained inflation rises.

TAPPER: This move comes 48 days before the election in the United States, the Fed generally tries to stay away from politics or so they claim. Does this rule out the chances of another rate cut in October or November?

CHATTERLEY: It doesn't. The Fed said today that they hope to cut a further half a percentage point this year and they have to meetings left in November and December.

In fact, the next week I think its just two days after the presidential election. If we don't have a result, if there is financial market turbulence, they will stand ready to act. Now when he was asked today, Jay Powell said, look, it's all about the economy ultimately, and they do try to be politically agnostic as you pointed out.

But look, rate cuts at the margin, they help the White House and they help the incumbent.

TAPPER: Yeah, I'm sure we'll hear from Mr. Trump on that.

CHATTERLEY: Exactly. TAPPER: Julia Chatterley in New York, thank you so much.

We're going to dig more into the politics of this all in just a few minutes, but let's turn now to the other big story in our world lead and the two consecutive days of attacks in Lebanon. Dozens of radios exploded earlier today. They were carried by members of the Iran- backed Hezbollah terrorist group. Just one day after deadly blasts using thousands of the organization's pagers.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut and filed this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

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

Friends and relatives of the injured don't want to speak on camera, but off camera, one told us, for instance, that a friend of his received a message on his pager. He looked at it and the pager blew up in his face, damaging his eyes, and his fingers. And in fact, the chief medical officer here told us the majority of the injuries are to the eyes, to the hands, and the hips, where of course people were holding their pagers.

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

WEDEMAN: Lebanese security source says the militant group bought the devices that exploded in recent months from a Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. However, Gold Apollo denies manufacturing the devices and says its distributor in Hungary is responsible.

A Taiwanese security official said there's no record the pagers were shipped to Lebanon or anywhere in the Middle East.

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, a message echoed by one of the groups lawmakers.

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

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

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (on camera): And, Jake, CNN has learned that Israeli officials actually informed their American counterparts on Tuesday of an operation that they were going to conduct in Lebanon without actually providing details of this unprecedented operation. That of course, left at least 2,800 people injured. And this comes at a time when Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way back yet again, to the Middle East to try to work out the possibility of some sort of progress in achieving a ceasefire, not the first time that Israel has conducted operations that to have seriously complicated American diplomatic efforts in the region -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah. Indeed, I just spoke with some hostage families whose loved ones are being held by Hamas in Gaza and they were very distressed by this operation, which they said doesn't do anything to get their loved ones home.

Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Our veteran law enforcement officer and CNN chief legal and intelligence analyst, John Miller standing by.

John, thanks for joining us.

Here's my -- the very first question when I heard about this, are you surprised that members of Hezbollah are still walking around with electronics after what happened yesterday?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: You know, I think yesterday was their worst day until today. Yesterday, they had to worry about these pagers being compromised as a targeted operation against one piece of equipment that came from one place when the walkie-talkies blew up today, Hezbollah had to come to the full realization of what had only been as suspicion, which is what if there's more?

Now as an organization, they have to look at every device they have, figured out where it came from, how they got it. If it's compromised, which means paranoia, and fear has to be very, very high inside that organization.

TAPPER: Yeah, maybe put down the Game Boy.

What should we and Hezbollah expect tomorrow?

MILLER: Well, that is the root of this operation, which is there's two theories on that. One, if you're Israel and you have converted multiple pieces of equipment that Hezbollah uses, you know, they're going to be looking inside everything they own. So now might be the time to degrade the organization further by setting them all off.

On the psy-ops side, Jake, just let them wonder and be on the backfoot but because if you look at it, they understood their phones were compromised. So they moved to pagers, then their pagers were revealed to be self warn hand grenades controlled by an adversary. Then they move to walkie-talkies, which started exploding, with even larger caches of explosives because the larger device could fit them.

So, now, are they down to the point where they have to be sending guys on scooters, carrying notes between different commanders in order to communicate, in the most old school way possible. If you're Hezbollah and you're getting ready to attack Israel, that means your communication slows down to a crawl, which in war time is bad.

If you're Israel and you're about to attack Hezbollah, that means that their ability to communicate, to fight back is also degraded. So basically, Hezbollah is reassessing everything about what it's able to do and how it's able to work right now.

TAPPER: And what about the psychological effect of these attacks? What does this do to the operatives, the terrorist of Hezbollah? How does this impact their morale and their effectiveness?

MILLER: You know, Jake, this might in the larger picture, be a better -- better psychological operations job by the Israeli intelligence and military than it was a tactical success for taking out that number of players, which is at the bottom of the organization, they have to be asking themselves, do our leaders know what they're doing? Do they know what they're buying? Do they know where it's coming from?

And at the top of the organization, the leaders have to be he asking, what do we do to fix this? Do we have to throw out everything we own and start from scratch in the middle of a time when were expected to be largely at the behest of Iran attacking Israel as the surrogate we have been for that government for a long time. It's really got them off balance and questioning their own ability to function.

TAPPER: All right. John Miller, thanks for those insights. Appreciate it.

Some big news just in rocking the 2024 race. The key endorsement neither candidate is going to be scoring this election year.

Plus, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, called out by a top adviser to Donald Trump's campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: I found offensive -- that comment to be actually offensive. I don't know what more to say about than disappointed with Sarah who was saying that, I'm sure I'm going to get criticism from the campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The comment from Governor Huckabee Sanders that sparked that reaction from an adviser to the Trump campaign and why she might have said it in the first place. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:14]

TAPPER: In our 2024 lead, the economy is the number one issue in the 2024 election. Voters tell pollsters all the time and today's decision by the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a half point will make it less expensive -- a bit less expensive to take out a mortgage for a home, cheaper to borrow money for a car loan and lower interest rates on credit card balances.

So how might this impact the race for the White House?

Let's bring in our panel.

So a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that U.S. adults give Trump a seven-point edge over Harris on who they trust on the economy. Do you think this rate hike will change that at all or have any impact on the race?

MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, SPEAKER MCCARTHY: I don't think its going to change it one bit. I think when you look at what is impacting the American families, it is the economy, the economy, the economy, oh, and inflation, too.

So while the rate cut will help a little bit, it does matter and it is something we should be talking about a why we need a rate cut right now. And you look the cost of groceries at more than 20 percent, and the cost of electricity up more than 30 percent, the cost of gas up over $1 since the Biden-Harris administration came in, that's what people are going to be thinking about when they go to the polls, and this rate cut, while good, isn't going to be enough to bring it back to stable.

TAPPER: So far, we haven't heard anything from President Trump, former President Trump on this rate change, but vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance, did just say something at a campaign event in North Carolina. Let's roll that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A half a point is nothing compared to what American families have been dealing with for the last three years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think?

SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yeah, I mean, look, I think this is good in the sense that the Democrats are going to be able to say, look, things are going in the right direction. It's certainly better than it going the other way. And Kamala Harris has its been, I think almost surprisingly, has been doing better and better in each poll with people on the economy, that gap between where Trump was in terms of people thinking that he was better equipped to handle the economy versus her, that gap has been closing.

TAPPER: Seven points is not nothing but its more narrow than I remember it being.

LONGWELL: Yeah, used to be a lot bigger. I mean, it was but that's the thing one of them sort of unbelievable things about the Harris campaign is that and I think it must be because they called it Bidenomics and they call it Bidenomics before the economy was improving at all. And so Joe Biden, the economy was like an albatross around his neck and because he was so defensive around the economy, he couldn't see forward. He couldn't see a way to talk to the people who are still hurting when it came to inflation. She's done much more to go right directly at the middle class.

She's done a lot more to say that we need to do more and I think things like this allow her to say see, were starting to move things in the right direction.

TAPPER: And yet bad news for the Harris campaign. On Monday, she met with the teamsters union, which has only supported Democrats since Dukakis somebody said.

MEGHAN HAYS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.

TAPPER: And moments ago, they just announced that they're not going endorsed anyone for president in 2024. That's a blow for the Harris campaign. She needs those union voters to turn out for her.

HAYS: Right, but I again, I don't think the endorsement necessarily matters who these people who are actually going to go vote for. I think a lot of unions endorsing their rank and file members don't support who they are. The top leadership is endorsing.

I do think it is a little bit concerning, but I also think that this is part of maybe they haven't had enough time to understand who she is. She's only been at the top of the ticket for a short amount of time and Joe Biden with such a middle-class and union person, that it made sense to endorse him.

So I don't think it is a blow in terms of she's going to now lose Pennsylvania or Michigan, but it is something to take note of. And I think she still needs to be messaging the economy.

TAPPER: I assume you disagree?

CARR: Well, I think it does matter the Teamsters not being willing to endorse, I think shows a representative of where the Teamsters members are. This isn't just an inside the beltway talk about getting enough people to sign a letter. These are -- this represents 1.8 million registered Teamsters members. Those are voters, those are voters who are going to show up. And I think its like a two to two-to-one for Donald Trump.

And I agree with Sarah that the Harris campaigns been a decent job trying to distance herself from her own economic record.

[16:20:00]

But remember, she was the tie casting vote on the Inflation Reduction Act which led us to the position we are right now needing this rate cut.

TAPPER: So, Arkansas governor and former White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, did a -- they called it a town hall. I don't know what it actually was. A campaign event, let's call it, with former President Trump. And she took a shot at Vice President Kamala Harris in interesting way. Let's roll that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(BOOS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, Kamala Harris is a step mom, but did not have biological children of her own. What is the point? Does not win any voters over? And I just -- as a campaign strategy, what's the point of it?

I mean, go after Harris, sure. But going after all women who haven't had biological children?

LONGWELL: Well, even going after Harris for not having biological children, that doesn't make any sense. And I think this is why Republicans are just getting killed with women and right now, if you're the Democrats and look, Republic -- Democrats are having a lot of trouble with men.

But if they can blow out this gender gap, and every time I do a focus group with swing voters, they bring up J.D. Vance talking about childless cat ladies, like this is the kind of thing that's breaking through and is really causing, I think independent voters to say, why are they -- why do they keep attacking women?

I hear women talking about this and especially when abortion is now one of the most salient issues in the election, to keep going after women and pushing them, I've never seen a campaign do more to alienate a single -- one of the single -- the single largest voting bloc in an election.

HAYS: Yeah, I mean, it's -- it -- first of all, changed the way she pronounced her name. She is a sitting governor. She should show some respect --

TAPPER: I'm sure she knows how to pronounce Kamala.

HAYS: Well, she's still not doing it, but here we are.

TAPPER: OK.

HAYS: And secondly, making people feel less than and making people second-class citizens is just a mean -- it's horrible to do. It's mean. It also is alienating to people, Why Republicans, independents and Democrats.

You're just making women second-class citizens and it's disgusting that they're doing this.

TAPPER: I don't -- you don't think this is a legitimate topic for conversation even, right?

CARR: I don't. I think the four-second clip that we just heard ignores everything that it came before that and everything that came after.

TAPPER: But you heard Bryan Lanza, who is an adviser to the Trump campaign on CNN last night, saying that he was offended by it?

CARR: Yes, I've heard many, many words and tons of ink has been spilled about that four-second clip, I think what is more interesting is the words that came afterwards was talking about the failure of this administration that has led us to the economic situation that we are in right now. And that is what I think we should have a little bit of humility about before we talk about wanting to take a giant government control steps about regulating prices, about banning help private health care.

You know, these are really bodacious and aggressive positions to be taking on the government when we're looking at a failed system right now.

LONGWELL: OK. But the reason that people are making it an issue is because it's not an isolated comment, right? This is in the context of the fact that Democrats are -- that Republicans have very weirdly decided to center the idea of women who don't have children and maybe have cats being the reason the country is bad.

And I just could not fathom -- if I was running a campaign and I was like, who are the biggest voting bloc in the country? Well, it's women, women vote, slightly higher proportion than men. We've been doing terribly with them.

Let's figure out how we push them away completely and also humiliate and degrade them in the process. It is -- it really emphasizes just the cruelty and the disregard and the way that the Trump campaign has I think now for years, treated women, but also just the way that they decided to treat people, which is nastily.

CARR: Yeah, and the Republicans are not centering this. I think corporate media and Democrat strategists are quite effectively trying to center it.

LONGWELL: How does J.D. Vance talk about it all the time?

CARR: Well, we have --

LONGWELL: He talks about it all the time.

CARR: We have two comments that you're referencing but I think what they're trying to make the point that is that they are fighting for positions for families. And when you look at the some of the progressive positions that Democrat politicians are pushing are position is that they're insulated from, they are talking about rent been more than 20 percent up.

Vice President Harris hasn't paid rent. Gas being at more than $1. She's got a security detail. We're talking about electricity been up 30 percent more than it was when they came in, she doesn't pay electricity.

LONGWELL: And those too mattered to people.

HAYS: But then say that, don't insult women, like there's a difference. You can have an economic argument and you can say all those things. Say that. Why do you need to insult women?

It just fundamentally does not make sense because they're isolating people.

TAPPER: Just as a representative of the corporate media here, can I just ask a question, do you really think Governor Huckabee Sanders made that comment thinking that we wouldn't cover it the next day?

CARR: You know, I heard the comment and I listened to it because it was pointed out, I think what came before that was a woman talking about wanting to fight for her family and fight for her children, and trying to stay humble. And there was a transition there when she then went and talked about --

TAPPER: You really don't think she was trying to point out that Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris doesn't have biological children?

CARR: I don't think that that's how people think. I don't and I didn't hear that until it was told to me that this is how we're going to discuss it, which of course I've seen on TV all day, but what she followed it up with was the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration, which I think Sara points out really well, she is running from and almost successfully.

[16:25:01]

TAPPER: Nobody is taking issue with that part of her remarks.

Sarah, am I -- am I -- is corporate media, are we being unfair here?

LONGWELL: No, and I think that part of this -- so first of all, I don't know how you can interpret her comment any other way. But more importantly in that, it's not two comments. J.D. Vance has been going on every weird bro podcast to make sure to talk about not just childless cat ladies, that's almost the funny part, but also that women in abusive relationships should stay in those relationships.

The way that they defend people like Laura Loomer who are talking about how if Kamala Harris is in the White House, its going to smell like curry, this has become the most -- the way that they are currently terrorizing the people of Springfield with their racist smear about eating dogs and cats, like this is the most vicious, despicable, lie-filled campaign I've ever seen. And that is comparing it to what was a pretty significantly indecent campaign that Donald Trump ran in '16 and '20.

TAPPER: Hold that thought. We're keeping the panel, but I do have to pay -- pay some bills. There's a lot more to talk about.

Coming up, "ProPublica" is out with a report about two women in Georgia who reportedly were denied abortions that were medically necessary, according to this report. And the editor in chief behind that story is going to join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know if anyone here has heard most recently the stories out of Georgia, tragic story about a young woman who died because it appears the people who should have given her health care were afraid they'd be criminalized after the Dobbs decision came down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in Philadelphia yesterday brings us to our health lead. "ProPublica" reports the two Georgia women, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, both died just two weeks after the states six-week abortion ban went into effect in 2022, reportedly keeping them from receiving the lifesaving treatment they needed.

"ProPublica" senior editor is Ziva Branstetter is here and the article is called "Abortion bans have delayed emergency medical care in Georgia, experts say this mothers death was preventable," unquote.

First, Ziva, tell us briefly how "ProPublica" found the stories of these two women that the article spotlights and why you did the story?

ZIVA BRANSTETTER, PROPUBLICA SENIOR EDITOR: Well, first of all, thanks so much for having us to discuss this important reporting by Kavitha Surana and others at "ProPublica".

We knew immediately when the Dobbs decision came down, and we heard doctor saying that women would become ill, would die, eventually, we felt like as an investigative outlet, that measures harm, that we should look for any harm that might be occurring.

So we looked in places like Georgia that have abortion bans at records. We talked to sources and we found two cases that are clearly related to the states abortion ban and we're continuing our work and, you know, we think it's important that the public understand the potential harm that is occurring because of these abortion bans.

TAPPER: And why exactly were they denied care? BRANSTETTER: Well, in the case of the first case, Amber's case was a

story we published Monday. She was a medical assistant. She went after Georgia's abortion ban passed, had to go to North Carolina to obtain abortion medication, took it as directed, was well within the time period to take it and in very few cases, not all tissue was expelled from the body. And there's a simple medical procedure that a woman can have are supposed to have under the standard of care to prevent an infection that could kill them.

Amber went to the hospital. She, for 20 hours, doctors did not provide that one simple procedure which as a crime under an almost all cases in Georgia now. We don't know what was in their heads in the first case, in Amber Thurman's case but it took 20 hours before they decided to perform this D&C. They didn't do it and she died. It was too late.

The second case, this Candi Miller was 41-year-old mother of three. She ordered abortion medication online because she had lupus, diabetes, hypertension, and a pregnancy could have killed her, her doctor said, and she took it at home and was afraid to even go to the hospital because her family told the coroner after her death that due to the current legislation on a pregnancies and abortion, she was afraid to seek care.

So I think the committee found these preventable.

TAPPER: So Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's office has responded to the reporting saying, quote, they would likely both be alive today if partisan activists and so-called journalists had not spread such egregious misinformation and propaganda that fostered a culture of fear and confusion, unquote. And Kemp's office added that they provided guidance to health care providers on how to navigate the new laws.

What do you make of this response to your reporting?

BRANSTETTER: All I will say is that two weeks before Amber Thurman died, the state of Georgia, it's called doctors warning things that women would die, fearmongering, and two weeks later, Amber Thurman died. And then several weeks after that, we have Candi Miller's death.

We are -- as we said in the story, fairly certain that there are other cases out there across the United States in which women have died in ways that maybe related to abortion bans. We think there needs to be more transparency, not more name-calling of journalists who are trying to inform the public.

TAPPER: And now that you've reported on these two horrible cases, has "ProPublica" approached you and your reporters with other similar stories?

BRANSTETTER: Yeah. I mean, "ProPublica" is very interested in hearing from people who whose loved ones have died since the Dobbs decision, in ways that they would like more information on.

[16:35:11] Maybe their care was delayed. Maybe they had a chronic health condition and no exception in the state law that maybe they took abortion medication, went to a hospital and didn't get help. Like I think that we need to look into these cases and hear from people.

An important point is that these state maternal mortality committees that are supposed to be reviewing deaths are about two years behind and so, they're only just starting to look at these cases.

TAPPER: Ziva Branstetter from "ProPublica", thank you so much. Appreciate the excellent reporting, even if some people don't like the facts that you're providing them. Appreciate it.

BRANSTETTER: Thank you so much. Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Today, nearly five months after that key bridge collapse in Maryland, a new $100 million lawsuit has been filed by the U.S. Justice Department. The allegations and who is in the crosshairs? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:24]

TAPPER: In our national lead, the Justice Department is seeking $100 million from the two companies that owned and operated that container ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge and killed six construction workers in Baltimore earlier this year.

CNN's Gabe Cohen takes a look at what the Justice Department says the money would be used for, and speaks to the families who lost loved ones in this disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stunning new allegations against the companies that own and operate the Dali cargo ship that brought down Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge. In a new civil claim, the Department of Justice is accusing the companies of extraordinary negligence, claiming they sent an ill-prepared crew on an unseaworthy vessel to navigate U.S. waterways.

Documents show the Dali had longstanding problems with excessive vibrations, which had previously damaged its electrical systems, well before that March morning when those troubles triggered the ship's power outage, which led to a cascading series of failures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The entire Key Bridge is in the harbor.

COHEN: According to the Justice Department, the companies were aware of the issue instead of taking steps to eliminate the source of excessive vibrations, they jury rig their ship, welding together crack components like this still bracket on a transformer and wedging this metal cargo hook between the transformer and a steel beam. A recent inspection found the ship had loose nuts and bolts and its electrical equipment was in such poor condition that the testing agency stopped its testing due to safety concerns.

A spokesperson for Synergy Marine, the ship's operator, tells CNN they won't comment, but look forward to their day in court to set the record straight. The Justice Department's claims seeking at least $100 million from these companies is just the latest.

The families of the six construction workers who died that day filed their own civil claim Tuesday. The wife of Miguel Luna, one of the workers killed, demanding justice.

CARMEN LUNA, WIDOWN OF MIGUEL LUNA (through translator): Real justice means that no son has to miss their father, no wife has to navigate this world alone, and no grandchild has to know their grandfather through a distant picture.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (on camera): Now, we don't know with criminal charges are coming at some point. What we do know is that eight members of the Dali crew are still in Baltimore to this day pending these investigations. And, Jake, we have also learned and that the Dali has a sister ship that is still operating in U.S. waters. It's just another reason that prosecutors really trying to hold these companies feet to the fire here.

TAPPER: All right. Gabe Cohen, thanks so much. Really appreciate the reporting there.

A world renowned writer went to Israel as soon as he got words of the horrors inflicted by Hamas on October 7, what he saw and the message of his new book, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:40]

TAPPER: Our world lead now. The horrors of Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sent shockwaves around the world. It sparked renowned writer, philosopher, and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy to immediately get on a plane to go to Israel. Levy has chronicled his observations and thoughts on this major global event in a new book called "Israel Alone" published this week.

Bernard-Henri Levy, who we last interviewed in France after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015. We both look a little younger in that video right there.

He joins me now.

So why did you immediately go to Israel and what did you see in those first few days?

BERNARD-HENRI LEVY, AUTHOR, "ISRAEL ALONE": Why? Because I wasn't shock, because I understood that it was a huge event, that our future will be reshaped completely -- we, the Jews, Americans, French, and the Arab world. That's why. And what did I see? I was on the ground. I was in the kibbutzim on the 11, so very, very quickly and I saw radical (INAUDIBLE). I saw pure barbarism, pure cruelty. I have images which I saw really on the field, which will never be erased from my -- from my memory and I saw -- I saw a few things in my life.

I have been a war reporter. I was in Darfur. I was in Rwanda. I was in Somalia, Mogadishu, but what I collected -- my -- what my memory collected from Kfar Aza, Be'eri is beyond possibility of erasement of the memory.

TAPPER: You wrote, more than the Israeli or Jewish soul was murdered here. It was our common conscience, unquote.

What do you mean by that?

LEVY: I think that it was a shock for the world, the entire world so this -- you know, generally in you have cruelty in any war, but there is a motive, there is a reason you want to territory, you want a political victory. These -- these atrocities were just for nothing, just for atrocity, raping women, burning children, killing entire families, taking hostages while hostages today as if they were cattle, cows, this is rather unprecedented.

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The hostage capture is unprecedented, probably since antiquity, since the hostages -- the Sabines and the Romans equals a very incredible moment, an event with a capital E, with, you know?

TAPPER: So, in your book, here it is right here, on Israel alone, showing it right there. You take aim at the United Nations for how they responded to the sexual violence, the rapes, and the sexual crimes by Hamas against Israeli women. This is something that we've covered a lot on the show. There a lot of people out there who deny that these atrocities happened.

LEVY: You did more than cover. You made justice here, because a lot of people, as you say, turn a blind eye to that. They did not want to see.

They asked confirmation. They asked confirmation from women who sometimes were already dead. It was a shame,

And not only average people, in the U.N., you had people who are really a shame for international community like Mrs. Francesca Albanese, who is supposed to be a special envoy for human rights in Palestinian territories or her comments about that event are a pure hate.

Even yesterday after the publication of my book, of course, what she said yesterday, day before yesterday, that Israel should be expelled from the U.N. I never heard that for any criminal regime or in any -- which is it is not, Israel is waging a just war of self-defense, anti- terrorist war, and you have this lady from U.N. asking for Israel to be expelled. It's unprecedented, honestly. TAPPER: What is your take? Obviously, there has been a line of civilian death in this war and I don't know how many people have been killed, but I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged that the 40,000 number was a roughly correct a couple of weeks ago, although he thinks about half of that is Hamas terrorists, and Islamic Jihad fighters.

Do you -- what is your hope for the -- for the region, for the end of the war, for the Palestinian people?

LEVY: Every Palestinian civilian victim, like you, breaks my heart, prevents me from sleeping, of course.

But who is responsible for that? Who is guilty, for these civilian casualties? Hamas, because they put it on frontline, because they, forbid them to evacuate when Israel wants that there will be a strike. They're responsible for that. It's a nightmare, of course.

So, number one, when the Hamas give the figures, they never say that most of them are terrorists there.

TAPPER: No, they don't -- they don't -- they get casualty numbers.

LEVY: Except in some media like here, a lot of media does not pay the distinction. I covered a lot of wars. Generally, there are always -- we never take for granted the figures of one part and especially when it is a terrorist organization.

TAPPER: Right.

LEVY: Now, never taken for granted. Here with the Hamas, a lot of media in Europe, in America, everywhere, take them for granted. No, we don't put the figure, we don't know how many combatants. My take that a majority of them and I know the situation are fighters, terrorists, killers.

And again those who are not terrorists and who are killed, Hamas have the terrible responsibility and guiltiness on their own consciousness of that, not Israel, alas.

TAPPER: And you wrote in your book about how October 7 spurred a gale of antisemitism in the U.S. and across Europe. How big a threat do you think this is in France specifically, the antisemitism you see?

LEVY: In France, like in America. And it is a wave. It is more than a blast. It is the blast and a wave. It is liberation.

Antisemitism has always existed in our countries, even in America, but it was contained and the paradoxical effect of October 7 is that these containment was broken. We could have expected -- I expected that solidarity with the victim, a solidarity with the hostages.

What I wait for since when -- is the world pressing on Hamas to liberate the host -- to free the hostages and to capitulate. No, everyone is pressing on Israel. Everyone is urging Israel to make a compromise. [16:55:03]

Did you American make compromise with al-Qaeda? Did we France after our last interview in 2015, did we make a compromise with ISIS? Did we make a negotiation with the killer of Bataclan or for Charlie Hebdo? Of course not.

TAPPER: Yeah.

LEVY: So, Israel, that's what I say in my book, in this -- in this war against Hamas, which is more difficult that you again, against al- Qaeda is alone to wage that just fight.

TAPPER: Bernard-Henri Levy, thank you so much.

LEVY: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: It is really good to see you. The book again, "Israel Alone", and it's out now.

Donald Trump is out it again, putting pressure on House Republicans, this time urging them to shut down the federal government if they cannot tack on a controversial provision on elections. Is this a productive strategy? That debate coming up.

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