Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Biden Flying Over Carolinas Viewing Helene's Devastation; Hard- Hit Towns Deal With Scarce Water, Food, Cell Service; Biden Says He Doesn't Support Israeli Attack On Iran Nuclear Sites; Harris In Georgia To See Hurricane Damage And Recovery; Fact-Checking Vance And Walz' VP Debate; Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) Discusses About The Vice Presidential Debate. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:48]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Biden getting a first-hand look at the devastation from Hurricane Helene. He is in the Carolinas today, where the storm has killed nearly 100 people. How the federal government is helping the recovery effort, as hundreds of citizens still remain without power and cities are running low on food and water.

Plus, as the world awaits, Israel's response to a ballistic missile attack from Iran, the IDF ramping up its ground war in Lebanon. Another major question amid heightened tensions, what role will the United States play?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And 10s of thousands of port workers hit the picket lines, a strike that could have a huge impact on the economy and things that you buy every day.

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

KEILAR: Right now, President Biden is flying over the devastation from Helene, the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina back in 2005, a total of 180 victims so far. That has been reported across six states. And the largest number of those, 91, were from - pardon me - North Carolina. Regional, state and local officials have described this hurricane as leaving historic destruction with major parts of roads and power grids wiped out.

The President has ordered a thousand active duty soldiers to help out in the relief in areas that have been hit very hard. Let's get to CNN's Miguel Marquez, who is in Raleigh, North Carolina, following the President's visit here.

Miguel, tell us what the President is going to be doing and what he's seen so far today.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we speak, Brianna, he is flying up over Western North Carolina, where some of the hardest hit areas are. And, you know, the stories that you hear from people and to see it with one's own eyes is shocking. Entire livelihoods, homes, businesses, in some cases, entire communities just swept away out of existence from the water and the debris that followed it, incredible amounts of damage. We were in Asheville, North Carolina.

This is a vibrant city of about a hundred thousand in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We spoke to some of the artists and the business owners there about where they go from here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ (on camera): This is it?

DENISE MARKBREIT, OWNER OF ASHEVILLE STUDIO AND GALLERY: Yes.

MARQUEZ: This is your first time seeing this?

MARKBREIT: Yes, this is my first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ (voice over): Denise Markbreit peers into her print shop studio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKBREIT: I don't think I can recover from this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Her sales table, it's enormous, hangs from the rafters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ (on camera): How hard is it to look at this stuff?

MARKBREIT: It looks like a war happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ (voice over): Asheville's River Arts District devastated, the water line two feet or more above the second floor of many buildings near the French Broad River.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ (on camera): Will you and your business survive this one?

PATTIY TORNO, FOUNDING MEMBER, ASHEVILLE ARTS DISTRICT: I'm choosing to not survive this one. I will not continue here. I do not think it is right, ethical, for me as a landlady to rent these spaces. I will not put myself or anyone else through this kind of trauma again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice over): So the President will be in the air for a bit longer over North Carolina, and then he will come here to Raleigh, where they have the statewide sort of resources and federal resources gathered in Raleigh, where he will go through several hours of briefings to try to figure out how they go from here. Because the immediate needs are one thing, the electricity, the water, the water systems, the water pipes, the, you know, entire roads and bridges are washed away.

So getting water to people, even if electricity is reestablished, your sinks, your toilets, your baths, none of that will run for a lot of people. So there are very big lines for water in many places like Asheville and many smaller places as well that they're trying to get to. So all of those resources they're bringing on today, lots of helicopters as well, will be necessary in this very mountainous area. Back to you guys.

KEILAR: And, Miguel, Vice President Harris just arrived a short time ago in Augusta, Georgia, one of the storm-impacted areas there.

[15:05:04]

She is going, obviously, to be seeing the federal response. Tell us about her visit.

MARQUEZ: Yes. It is all hands on deck. So she's in Georgia today. She will also come to North Carolina later in the week. And this is going to be a full-on effort by the administration to get not only the immediate needs of people met, everything from food, water, electricity, diapers, all the - and medicine as well and moving people from place to place.

And even, still many people have not been heard from. So she will be coordinating efforts there and then she'll be coming up here in North Carolina, where it was probably the worst hit of the many states that were hit. But this will be ongoing, not only today, but next week, months, years to come. Back to you.

KEILAR: All right. Miguel Marquez, thank you for that report for us from Raleigh. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Joining us now is Pete Gaynor. He's a former FEMA Administrator. He's also the vice president for Resiliency and Disaster Recovery at Hill International.

Pete, thanks so much for being with us. There's growing frustration in the region over a lack of cell service. I'm wondering what kind of obstacles cell companies have as they work to restore service.

PETE GAYNOR, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Yes. So I think, you know, the response is still happening down there. That will go on for a number of days. And then they're going to start looking at things like, how do you do - restore cell service in some of these communities. I have some friends in Asheville that I've talked to. There are no infrastructure left in some of these communities. So no water, no telecommunications, no power and so it's going to be a monumental effort in some of these communities to kind of get some of the basic necessities back, like being able to talk on your phone.

And I think that leads to some of the frustration is and maybe some of the challenge of accounting for people is the lack of cell service, among many other things: food, water, basics for survival are an issue right now.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that question of accounting for folks is part of the reason that that's a priority. I wanted to ask you about President Biden deploying a thousand active duty soldiers, up to a thousand from North Carolina at FEMA's request. What is that mission like for them? How can they help?

GAYNOR: Yes. So, you know, FEMA - it's not FEMA alone responding to these disasters. It's all of government. It's the private sector. It's volunteer organizations like the Red Cross and National Guard, so National Guard units and active duty units.

And I think for North Carolina, especially in Georgia, lots of active duty army and Marine Corps units down there that are able to do this. They train for it. They have the equipment to do it - have the equipment to get in there, you know, and create access to some of these communities where you - where they haven't been able to get in by land. So a lot of helicopter missions are part of this. I would imagine that the active duty participation, this will grow in the coming days and weeks.

SANCHEZ: We heard from our reporter there on the ground, Miguel Marquez, who spoke to several local business owners. We heard from a restaurant owner in Asheville who says they don't know when they'll be able to reopen. What can the government do to help those small business owners get back on their feet and perhaps intervene before they wind up shuttering their doors?

GAYNOR: Yes. I mean, they're going to have a long road, there's no doubt about it. And so in order to stay in business, I think you need to have access, you need to have power. You need to have water, wastewater. You need to have all those critical community lifelines that make communities livable. And until you get there, then I think you can start thinking about how do you keep businesses in business.

So there's many federal programs. The Small Business Administration is one of our partners at FEMA that help businesses stay in business through grants and loans. That will happen, I think, down the road a little bit. But right now, it's getting the essentials that humans need to survive: food, water, power and telecom to make sure that they can get information and give information.

I think one of the critical aspects of this is, again, talking to some of my friends down there, the only way they've been getting information is through AM/FM radio. And when you think about it, that is kind of the last resort kind of device that people think about. We take it for granted. But it's critical in disasters like this where you have to rely on that really simple AM radio to get information. So that's what it's like on the ground right now.

SANCHEZ: Good information to keep in mind, especially as there's still a month left or so of hurricane season. Pete Gaynor, thanks so much for the time.

GAYNOR: Correct. Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Brianna?

[15:10:05]

KEILAR: New details now on Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel yesterday. An Iranian envoy to the United Nations saying that the assault was a, quote, "necessary response" to what it calls Israel's aggressive acts in the Middle East over the past few months. Right now, Israel is weighing its next move and expanding its ground war in Lebanon following the attack, with Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants engaged in fierce combat today.

Earlier, we heard from President Biden amid the growing escalation. And he said that he'll likely meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon and that the U.S. will discuss with Israel what it plans to do.

Let's go live now to CNN Chief International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson. He is live for us in Tel Aviv.

Nic, what are you hearing about the latest there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the offensive on the ground by troops into Lebanon, which has been targeted, it's been localized, it's been focused, these are characterized as raids, is already in day two meeting stiff resistance. We've seen video released by the IDF of the troops walking across the mountainous terrain, going into buildings, searching buildings.

But Hezbollah claims to have engaged the IDF forces inside of Lebanon in several firefights. And the IDF says now that eight soldiers have been killed, 47 injured in a number of these fights. Some of them they describe as being face-to-face fights against Hezbollah.

One of the hospitals where the casualties were taken to declared a medical emergency earlier in the day, three different hospitals picking up the casualties and the injured soldiers. This is a very significant blow for the IDF, because, of course, it reawakens the concerns and the differences between airstrikes, which have been very successful in Lebanon over the past few weeks against Hezbollah versus going in on the ground and clearing the buildings where Hezbollah fires weapons systems directly into Israel.

So there's no sense that that mission is slowing down. More reservists have been called up. But I think the dangers of it and the potential for further losses, that has become very, very clear today. KEILAR: And what's also become clear today is that President Biden has said the U.S. does not support Israel responding by targeting Iran's nuclear facilities. What exactly are Israel's options for a response, including that one?

ROBERTSON: That one would be at the top of the target list, if you will. You know, a maximal target, one that - Israel has wanted a target for a long time because it believes it's the only way to stop Iran's growing intention to build its own nuclear weapon, despite that it says this is just for civilian use, for power generating use only.

So there's - there is that and there would be many security experts in Israel who would see this as an opportunity because Hezbollah is weakened from firing missiles into Israel, which would be part of a deterrence that Iran could try to use here. But it may be under the pressure from the United States. And we saw this back in April when Iran targeted Israel for the first time with over 300 missiles. Israel didn't respond at full throttle under pressure from the United States facing that similar pressure. Now, they will want to insist that what they do gives a credible deterrence to Iran.

KEILAR: All right. Nic Robertson, live for us in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much for that.

And still ahead, fact checking the vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz. What both candidates said about abortion and the economy.

Plus, striking dockworkers, waging a battle against automation. Why workers in other industries may want to take notes.

And the doctor charged in Matthew Perry's death expected to plead guilty. What is next for the other's charge and how long the doctor could spend in prison?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:31]

SANCHEZ: Just in to CNN, Vice President Kamala Harris is at an emergency operations center in Augusta, Georgia.

KEILAR: Yes. She's in the southeast to tour some of the damage from Hurricane Helene. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mayor. And I am here in Augusta to thank all of the folks who are here on the ground doing this extraordinary work. And, you know, I've been reading and hearing about the work you've been doing over the last few days.

And I think it really does represent some of the best of what we each know can be done, especially when we coordinate around local, state and federal resources to meet the needs of people who must be seen, must be heard. These are very difficult times. And in a moment of crisis, I think that really does bring out the best of who we are. And you each epitomize that important good work. So I'm here to thank you and to listen.

And Senator, I want to thank you for the work that you've been doing on behalf of the state. Because I know you've been talking to me, and the President, and many others about making sure that the federal resources get to this beautiful state. So, thank you all.

And Mayor, I am now listening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

HARRIS: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Thank you for the press for joining us. And now we will excuse you from the room so we can get down to business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And as they get down to business, we should note that CNN has learned the Vice President is planning to also travel to North Carolina, according to the campaign, in the coming days. No specifics on that, but obviously it comes at a sensitive time following more than 180 people killed by Hurricane Helene.

[15:20:03]

And obviously, only a few weeks from Election Day, Georgia and North Carolina could play a big role in this election.

Speaking of the upcoming election, vice presidential candidates Ohio senator, JD Vance, and Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, both earned positive reviews for their debate performances last night. That's according to CNN's instant polling.

KEILAR: Yes, I guess nice sells, because both of their favorability ratings have jumped double digits among debate watchers, despite giving a number of false or misleading claims. We have CNN's Tom Foreman here to fact check for us. What stood out, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's look at some of the big issues people are into. And we'll start off with abortion rights. Listen to what Vance said about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JD VANCE (R, VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE): Well, Norah, first of all, I never supported a national ban. I did, during when I was running for Senate in 2022, talk about setting some minimum national standard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: On his website and in interviews, before Trump picked him as a VP candidate, Vance repeatedly said he would like abortion to be illegal nationally. He wanted it eliminated. So this claim, he said that he never supported it, that's just false.

Now, Walz said about this Project 2025, this roughly 900-page conservative plan of action, if Trump wins, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Well, this plan is firmly against abortion rights, but it does not call for some kind of federal register of all pregnant women in this country. And we should note, Trump has at least publicly tried to distance himself from this plan.

SANCHEZ: Tom, obviously, reproductive rights on the minds of many voters. Another top issue is the economy. What kind of claims were made there?

FOREMAN: Yes, that's a big explosive one out there. Walz said Biden's Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which you'll recall included several measures to deal with the economy, created 200,000 jobs in this country. This claim needs some context here, because that number includes jobs that are projected to come out of it, that might come. So they haven't been created yet. A little misleading in saying that.

Vance, meanwhile, said Donald Trump's economic policies delivered 1.5 percent inflation. So much lower than what we've generally seen under Joe Biden.

Also some really bad missing context here, it was up about two - over 2 percent under Trump. The pandemic came along and that's what drove it lower. And recovering from the pandemic is largely what drove it a lot higher, too, for Joe Biden to deal with. Overall, we found more falsehoods on the side of JD Vance than on Walz. But a lot of that was tracking to things that Donald Trump has said and now his running mate is saying it, too.

KEILAR: Yes, defending what he's said. Tom, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it, Tom Foreman.

Joining me now to discuss is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan.

Congresswoman, first, I would like to talk with you about the tone of the debate, because Vance and Walz were so nice last night. You can almost forget that these two guys have made their names on the trail, disparaging the other's military service and making couch jokes about the other/calling him weird, respectively. Why do you think the tenor of the debate was so different than the tenor of the campaigning that we've seen?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Good afternoon, Brianna. It's good to be with you. I would sort of agree. I thought it was great. I was a very happy woman. You know I'm someone that deeply believes in civility and respect and it was nice to see the tone of last night.

But, I would argue that the way that you framed it, I think Tim Walz is just a genuinely nice guy from the Midwest who is not somebody that's mean. He's just not somebody who does that.

JD Vance is an interesting soul. You never know which JD Vance - his personality that's going to bring to the game. I've seen him just vicious in Michigan, as you have. You've seen him publicly at some of these rallies. And I think he must have recognized that a lot of people have been turned off by a lot of the things that he has said. He was trying to show people or to tell people, hey, look, I'm really a nice guy.

But I will say that it was good to see both of them civil towards each other.

KEILAR: And clearly, a lot of people who watched agree very much with you. There was a key departure, and that was on January 6th, between these two candidates. We definitely saw that. And on the outcome of the 2020 Election. I want to play that key moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just ask that, did he lose the 2020 Election?

VANCE: Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation as she tried to ...

WALZ: That is a damning non-answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:25:00]

KEILAR: For you, as someone who was there in the Capitol on January 6th, what did you think of that?

DINGELL: Look, I think that was Tim Walz's strongest moment in the debate last night. And the fact of the matter is people need to think about what they heard. And we have a vice presidential candidate who will not commit to accepting this year's election results right along with the man that he's running with.

And he - I think it's a fair question to ask someone, did you - do you believe that President Biden was legitimately elected? Which, by the way, he did not support. But more important than that, the defending of people that came to the Capitol, threatened people's lives, policemen who lost their lives, whose lives have never been the same, the damage that was done, this kind of fear, and anger, and hate, and vitriolicness should scare all of us in this country. And instead of denouncing it or saying, hey, we got to pull together for the future of our democracy, he did none of that. I think it was Tim Walz's strongest moment of the debate.

KEILAR: At a fundraiser last week, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate, Elissa Slotkin, said, quote, "We have," Harris, "We have her underwater in our polling." You are someone who sounds alarms when needed inside your party. Is this one you're sounding?

DINGELL: I said on Saturday before that became public on Sunday that neither candidate has won Michigan yet. At this point, and nobody was listening to me, I told you, as you know, Donald Trump's going to win Michigan. I know that neither candidate has yet won this state, but they're both competitive. There are issues. There's a lot of things going on the ground. And both of them have a lot of work to do. You're seeing them both come to Michigan. I think Kamala Harris can win Michigan, but we haven't it yet.

KEILAR: So John - our John King, as he's been out and about in the country reporting, spoke with a recent University of Michigan grad, formerly a head of the college Dems there. And she said that if Harris comes up short in Michigan, it's not going to be because of young voters not delivering, but because Democrats waited too long to switch candidates. How much is riding on young voters in your state? And do you think that the Harris-Walz campaign is doing enough to win them over? Is there something else they need to be doing?

DINGELL: So I'm going to tell you that there are four factors in Michigan. Our young people are excited. The campus he was at, U of M, they're turning out votes and there's a lot of energy. She's got to get into the union hall. She's got to talk to the union voters. Donald Trump is targeting them. We've got a far better story to tell. He doesn't - he lost jobs when he was president in the auto industry and we've got to make sure people know that.

Two, the Mideast situation is just tearing the state apart. Just what you're seeing in the Mideast is happening in this state and it's very difficult. People - that people have known have been dying. We had a Dearborn resident, his wife's a school teacher in Dearborn, died yesterday. Everybody knew him. It's just tearing people apart.

The Jewish community, as we're approaching October 7th, is just - it's a major issue and quite frankly, I don't know where it's going to go, if you want to know the truth. Jill Stein's doing a rally in Dearborn on Sunday.

And three, young African-American men are somebody that they want to be talked to. They want to be respected. They don't want to be taken for granted.

Now, I'm not - they're not necessarily going to go to Donald Trump either. We have to work those constituencies right now.

KEILAR: Yes, they can decide to stay home. That is also an option.

Congresswoman Dingell - yes, sorry?

DINGELL: No, I was going to say, I think, I fear a lot of people may stay home and that's our job, turning voters out. KEILAR: Congresswoman Dingell, always great to speak with you, with your insights, especially about Michigan. Thank you for being with us.

DINGELL: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still ahead, workers at dozens of ports on the east and gulf coasts on strike. How this strike has a lot in common with the recent Hollywood actors and writers strike.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)