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Interview With Fmr. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC); Will Republicans Shut Down Government?; President Biden to Tout Inflation-Fighting Efforts; Hezbollah Vows Revenge. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 19, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Hezbollah's leader hinting at retaliation after back-to-back attacks across Lebanon targeting wireless devices. He says the deadly explosions crossed a red line, as tensions escalate across the region, with Israel making new moves.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And House Speaker Mike Johnson says he has to draw up another play after the GOP's government funding plan failed the pass, but it doesn't even look like he's the one writing the playbook. Why former President Trump's obsession with election fraud falsehoods could lead to a shutdown.

And a promising new trend in the fight against fatal drug overdoses, the number of deaths actually falling fast and hitting their lowest levels in three years. We will look at what is behind the drop.

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Our top story this afternoon, the Israeli military says it is targeting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon right now and that its top commander has completed approval of plans for the northern arena, as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah intensify.

This all comes following two days of attacks weaponizing the militant group's own pagers and walkie-talkies. The booby-trapped devices detonated in coordinated explosions, killing at least 37 people and injuring thousands. That's according to Lebanon's health minister.

Today, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, hinted at retaliation, warning -- quote -- "The reckoning will come." The escalating violence leading to growing fears of a wider Middle East conflict amid new cross-border attacks.

Let's take you now live to Tel Aviv with CNN correspondent Jeremy Diamond, who's following these developments.

Jeremy, do we know specifically which targets Israel is seeking out in Lebanon?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't, but we do know that the Israeli military is continuing to carry out airstrikes in Southern Lebanon. That has been the focus of Israel's aerial campaign in Lebanon since the beginning of the war.

And, certainly, we have witnessed an intensification of the cross- border clashes today, earlier today Hezbollah drones hitting targets in Northern Israel. Two soldiers have been -- two Israeli soldiers have been confirmed dead by the Israeli military. Several others were injured in that attack.

And there's no doubt about it that we are at a moment of heightened tension in this region once again, as the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, saying today, for the second day in a row, that Israel is now entering a new phase of this war. Yesterday, he talked about the center of gravity of this war moving northwards, away from the Gaza Strip towards Israel's northern border as Israeli troops from the 98th Division were diverted away from the Gaza Strip and towards Israel's northern front.

There's no question that the Israeli military and the government are focused on being able to return some 60,000 Israeli residents in Northern Israel who have been displaced from their homes, to get them back home.

Doing so, of course, will require a much more intensive military campaign if a diplomatic solution cannot be achieved. And so far, we know that diplomacy has not succeeded as of yet to achieving some kind of a sustainable calm between Israel and Hezbollah.

Instead, we see that things are ramping up, particularly after those attacks caused by exploding pagers and walkie-talkies over the last two days resulting in one of the deadliest periods for Hezbollah since this conflict began.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy, we heard from Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's commander, earlier today. As I noted before, he hinted at retaliation, but he stopped short of declaring all-out war.

DIAMOND: Yes, that's right.

And at a moment when he certainly could have escalated things a lot more with his words today, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, very much making clear that he believes these Israeli attacks have crossed red lines. He called them unprecedented. He talked about that the scale of the damage, the casualties that were caused, and the fact that it was across Lebanon, calling it an attack on Lebanon, talking about Lebanese unity.

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So, certainly, there was an attempt there to kind of rally the Lebanese people around -- in the face of this Israeli attack, as he called it. And you have to keep in mind that nearly three dozen people were killed in these attacks, almost all of them Hezbollah members, although certainly several of them were civilians, including at least two children that we know of.

But what was interesting was that, even amid that rhetoric of retaliation and revenge that Nasrallah was talking about, he was also very much downplaying this attack in some ways as well, when he talked about the fact that he believes the intent here by Israel was to kill thousands and that instead only several dozen were actually killed.

That could be aimed ultimately at stepping back from the edge. And so even as that retaliation is possible and will likely come, the question is it -- will be, how will that retaliation land and what will it then trigger?

But, certainly, the intention from Hassan Nasrallah at this point seems to be similar to what we have seen in the past, which is to say, we will retaliate, we will respond, but stopping short of pushing for all-out war. As we have seen time and again, we have come close to the brink and yet both Israel and Hezbollah have ultimately decided that all-out war is not in their interest. We will see whether that is the case this time again -- Boris.

KEILAR: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that.

Let's talk about these developments, there are so many, with CNN global affairs analysts Kim Dozier and CNN military analyst and retired air force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel, Israel's military says that it is striking Hezbollah targets and Lebanon, says plans for the northern arena have been approved. What do these movements, all of these movements, what do you make of them here in the last 24 hours?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Brianna, there are several different aspects to this.

Right now, you're looking at some Israeli airstrikes that have occurred in Lebanon. And it shows that the Israelis are moving forward. They're ramping up in certain areas. You can see Israeli air force jets, among them, F-15s, coming in and not only dropping flares like you see here, but also dropping munitions in certain areas.

And the fact that these things are happening indicates that what the Israelis are trying to do is, they're trying to make it very clear that, by moving forces from Gaza, from this area here, to the northern part of Israel right here, they're getting ready possibly to go into Southern Lebanon, which is, of course, Hezbollah's stronghold right now.

SANCHEZ: So, Kim, after these twin days of attacks on mobile devices, how does that sort of set the table for what Israel is doing now? It seems like a precursor to something larger.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It certainly does seem like they have done a step by step, laying the table for some sort of invasion or incursion.

I mean, over the weekend, they added clearing out Northern Israel so that Israelis could come back to their official goals of the war. And when you look at first hitting the enemy's command-and-control with the pagers and then the walkie-talkies and now perhaps softening up targets that might be used in a response, it all looks like they're preparing.

You have seen some troop movement to the north, but we don't see Israeli troops massing on the border as if they're going to do some sort of 2006-style invasion yet. But the other thing we have seen is, the Israeli government made public a couple of plots by Iran to attempt to assassinate Israeli leaders.

They have done that in just the past couple of days. Again, it's like they're creating a reason to go in, but Hassan Nasrallah in that speech also said, if any Israeli troops come in, we will take advantage of that.

So, basically, each side seems to be goading the other one, but doesn't want to get the blame if all-out war on that border breaks out.

SANCHEZ: Colonel, to you. What is the military impact on Hezbollah now of those attacks on communications devices? Are they still capable of communication?

LEIGHTON: Well, that's going to be a big challenge for them, because one of the key things, Boris, is that these pagers and these walkie- talkies are the devices that they have used, in essence, to go in and allow themselves to communicate without being tracked by the Israelis.

The Israelis were known to track smartphones. And that's why Nasrallah said go off the cell phones, get to pagers, which, of course, is 1980s-style technology, and move to pagers, as well as to these walkie-talkie-type radios.

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The very fact that they have now been targeted by the Israelis through supply chain methods indicates that one of the key things that you're dealing with here is a very significant cutting of the communications links that Hezbollah has established for its people. They may have to result to -- resort, I should say, to landlines and to couriers.

And that could, of course, significantly impede their ability to conduct military operations, because, when you look at the vast expanse of the area that they're dealing with here, they're going to have to communicate in order to respond to any moves that the Israelis make.

And if they can't respond, they're not effective.

KEILAR: And yet, Kim, Nasrallah says they're not going to stop unless the war in Gaza is over. So where does that leave things? Is this just sort of a short-term setback for Hezbollah as it plans to reconstitute?

DOZIER: Well, as Colonel Leighton was saying, they have to recover from this body blow to their communications, even though Nasrallah is saying it didn't affect their infrastructure.

We don't know how many commanders have been taken out. But, on Telegram channels, Hezbollah has been posting name after name after photograph of people in its command-and-control who've been taken out. However, as we know from watching this for a while Lebanon, Hezbollah, Israel, they don't telegraph their punches beyond, we're going to do something at some point.

They will take a few days to absorb this blow and then figure out what their response will be. Will it be something like firing a missile at a populated area in Israel, which Hezbollah could do, but has chosen not to do? It's chosen to hit military targets. That is one type of escalation it could choose.

But, again, then that's escalation, and with that comes blame. And they have been wanting to do so far things that go below the radar. But let's just remember that all of this Israeli military response is slowly improving Benjamin Netanyahu's political standing in the country. So expect to see this Israeli friction continue.

KEILAR: And, Colonel, take us through this video of one of the walkie-talkie blasts and what it means about how complex this was.

LEIGHTON: So what you're seeing here, Brianna, is a blast that occurred at one of the funerals, and you see how the people are dispersing.

The thing that was hit here was a walkie-talkie. They were using a walkie-talkie like this one. This is an IC-V82. And, basically, what this is, is what we would in the military call an intrabase radio, or, in civilian terms, a walkie-talkie.

And it's produced by a Japanese company called ICOM. They say that it was impossible to get into the supply chain at the factory itself, that part of the supply chain, so the manufacturing process was apparently not compromised, according to the company. However, what they must have been able to do on the Israeli side is get into the actual distribution point and alter the receivers and the transmitters here in order to actually go in and put that explosive in there, and then use that explosive to actually conduct the blast once it was triggered by a message or another trigger of that type.

So what you're seeing here is the ability to go in and take out something that really is part of the communications network, part of the command-and-control link, and the very fact that they were able to do that means that everything that Hezbollah does when it comes to this kind of technology is at risk.

SANCHEZ: Really stunning tradecraft in that operation.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, Kim Dozier, appreciate you both. Thanks so much.

KEILAR: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: At any moment now, President Biden is likely to take credit for fighting the inflation that came when the government spent billions to keep the economy from collapsing during the COVID pandemic. KEILAR: That's right. The president will be speaking at the Economic

Club of Washington a day after the Fed cut interest rates by a half- of-a-point, sending stocks to record highs earlier.

CNN's M.J. Lee is at the White House.

M.J., what are you hearing from officials there?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna and Boris, as far as the White House is concerned, there is little subtlety around this moment.

They are saying that this is a milestone in the U.S. economy, and they're saying that everything really points to this idea that inflation is falling, interest rates are falling, and we're seeing improvements in wages and the jobs market.

And, certainly, the timing of the president's remarks, which will begin any minute now at the Economic Club, that is no coincidence, coming, as you said, just one day after the Federal Reserve cut rates for the first time under the president's watch.

Officials here say that this speech is not going to be a victory lap, but we do certainly expect that the president is going to try to paint a picture of an economy that has come around full circle. And some of this, we are really familiar with.

The president talks about this quite often, mentioning how, when he first took office, we had the pandemic that was at its peak. We had record high prices. We also had supply chain problems that were certainly exacerbated by various geopolitical problems.

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And I think the president is going to be arguing that all of his economic policies seen as a whole over the last 3.5 years were precisely designed and built to try to get rid of those major problems. And I think he will certainly argue and try to make the point to the American people tuning in that he was able to successfully get the country out of those problems.

And, of course, all of this is so politically important for his vice president, who herself has to own this record, while at the same time trying to paint an economic message that is entirely her own as well.

SANCHEZ: M.J. Lee live for us from the White House.

Thanks so much, M.J.

Ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: The chances of a government shutdown are going up, and some Republicans are now sweating the possibility that they will lose control of the House in November's election. We're going to take you live to Capitol Hill, where the former president is pressing his allies to shut it all down.

KEILAR: Plus, another defection. We will talk to the latest lifelong conservative to endorse Vice President Harris. He has a warning for the GOP.

And the Coast Guard releasing more images of the Titan submersible wreckage scattered along the seafloor. What this newest video reveals.

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KEILAR: Stuck between the leader of the party and a shutdown, pressure building on House Speaker Mike Johnson to come up with a plan B,as government funding dries up at the end of the month.

But former President Trump's grip on the GOP and obsession with false election fraud claims are proving a major obstacle.

CNN Washington correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is with us now from the Hill. She has more details on this.

What are you learning from lawmakers, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, there certainly is this growing sense of frustration up here on Capitol Hill that they are now 11 days before a potential government shutdown and there is at this moment no path forward that exists.

You have Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. After his proposal failed last night in the House, he has not yet revealed what his next move will be, much to the concern of many in the House. Now, he has not said what way he will go. He will not say what he will put his voice behind.

But there is certainly a growing sense among those up here on Capitol Hill that a clean C.R. without the voting provisions that Speaker Johnson added is likely the only viable option going forward. But, put simply, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, he is not there yet.

Now, meantime, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, he took some procedural steps today to kind of set up a move if the Senate needs to go before the House on this. Very clear he's trying to send the sign that the Senate is not going to wait on the House while they get their act together -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Sunlen, there's talk of lawmakers including extra funding for the Secret Service in this spending bill in response to the second apparent assassination attempt of Trump last weekend.

Is that likely to receive bipartisan support, I would imagine?

SERFATY: Well, right now, leadership both sides of the aisle say that this is a good idea, that acknowledging that more money -- that the Secret Service does need more money. More funding potentially could be part of the answer.

But it's unclear if it will be included in this government funding or potentially at a later date. And many acknowledging, like, let's not just throw money at the problem, many saying that they have to better manage their resources.

So, very clear that there is still a lot of debate about this subject, but also that it's a pressing concern to give the U.S. Secret Service more money, more resources -- Bri.

KEILAR: All right, Sunlen, thank you so much for that -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: This week, another longtime Republican has announced that, on November 5, he will be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Former six-term South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis is the latest conservative to come out against the Republican Party's nominee, recently telling the Charleston City paper that he feels sorry for Trump, though he called him a clear and present danger to the public.

Former Congressman Bob Inglis joins us now live. We should note he's also executive director of republicEn.org, a conservative nonprofit promoting solutions to climate change, republicEn, as in energy.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

Is your endorsement of Harris more about your approval of the vice president or a rejection of Trump?

FMR. REP. BOB INGLIS (R-SC): Well, it starts with a rejection of Donald Trump.

I think he's disqualified based on his character, but also based on rationality. A lot of what he says just doesn't square with the facts. And so I don't know whether that's a processing issue as he ages or whether it's something else.

But, in any event, it's pretty obvious that we're not dealing with a totally rational actor, but we're also dealing with somebody with real flawed character traits.

SANCHEZ: So I can imagine what your response might be to a question about his calls for House Speaker Mike Johnson to shut down the federal government over this part in the bill about voting and getting law into place that would prevent people that aren't citizens from casting ballots.

INGLIS: Yes, I can give this advice.

I was there for some government shutdowns. They never work for the party that's in power. So that's a sure path to a loss of the control of the House, actually. And I do hope, as you were just reporting there, that House Republicans are aware that, jiminy, that's a real problem.

I mean, we have Donald Trump out there insisting on a government shutdown because it sort of sells newspapers or something. Yes, it does that. But the blame usually falls on the party that's supposed to be getting those budgets passed.

[13:25:15] And so it's really bad advice from a guy who seeks publicity really because of his narcissism, I think. I really do feel sorry for Donald Trump. He doesn't think of anybody but himself. And I think that's his problem. He really needs some help, actually, I think.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I want to play a sound bite for you from a Republican colleague, Scott Jennings, here at CNN talking about January 6, 2021. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Because that happened does not mean I or Katie or any other Republican has to give up on every single value that we have ever had, whether it has to do with taxes or the court or any other policy.

You're asking Republicans to turn over the government to absolute radical liberals over one day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Part of your support for Harris, I understand, has to do with a desire to watch the Republican Party move on from the Trump era and move forward.

But I'm curious about how far Trump has remade it, and January 6 and the revisionist history, the denialism that's followed being a glaring example of that. Do you think that return to the Reagan era is still possible?

INGLIS: Well, I think there's -- there will be a return to rationality at some point when this idolatry of Trump fades away and we find out that he's not the second coming, he's not really a messiah, that then the Republican Party will have a rethink.

And, hopefully, we will return to a party that is a free enterprise party, that believes in smaller governments, believes in balancing budgets, and that believes in playing a role in the world. And so I think it's coming. And I think that it will come as a result of really moving away from this radicalism.

It's not that Kamala Harris is radical. It's that Donald Trump actually suggested in 2022 the suspension of the U.S. Constitution. That's not conservative. The Conservative Party that I'm -- always been a part of says, no, we really stand for the Constitution.

And so when Donald Trump suggested that we suspend the Constitution, really, that should be a tipoff that's something wrong here and Republicans need to rethink this and move away from really a bad direction we have been going. The true north is toward those free enterprise, small-government values.

And we can get there if we just think clearly.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I do have one question for you about a strategy from the Harris camp. In the roughly 60 days since she started leading the ticket, she has

done three interviews with the press, while Trump has done 14, J.D. Vance has done 60. Polls show that voters are eager to get to know more about her and about her policies.

Do you think that strategy of restricting engagement with the press is a winning one?

INGLIS: Well, I'd suggest that she go on networks, particularly that she join Pete Buttigieg and going into places that you wouldn't expect Democrats to be.

And so that would make sense, because she does need to reach out to people who are uncomfortable with Donald Trump. There are a lot of Republicans who are uncomfortable with Donald Trump. And so if she can just reach out to those through outlets that will give her that opportunity, I think it could be very productive for the Harris campaign.

And it would begin to show that Donald Trump is the extremist here. He's the one that denies facts. He's the one that makes stuff up. She needs to be the rational adult in the room that still has her faculties about her, that isn't going off into some sort of lack of rationality, maybe based on advanced age or something that Donald Trump is dealing with.

But she can be the alternative, the rational one that cares about people beside herself.

SANCHEZ: Former Congressman Bob Inglis, we appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective.

INGLIS: Great to be with you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks much.

Up next: A Kentucky couple intrigued by the possibility of a $35,000 reward say they spent days scouring dense woods for an armed and wanted gunman, and now they possibly found him. Their search was actually livestreamed for the world to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got him! Here he is!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You found him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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