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Striking Port Workers Returning To Work After Tentative Deal; Two Dead, Four Missing After Tennessee Factory Workers Swept Away; Iran's Supreme Leader: Will Attack Israel Again "If Needs Be." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 04, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Our colleague Kayla Tausche reporting that President Biden instructed his administration officials to really put the pressure on USMX -- that is the group that represents the ship lines -- to make a better deal.

And ultimately, they sort of met in the middle. They decided that they were willing to offer $4.00 an hour of an increase year-over-year on a six-year deal if the workers were willing to work under their current contract as they worked out the rest of the deal.

And ultimately, what this did was get them a tentative agreement on wages but allowed them to work through some of the other nuances while folks went back to work. And that was so critical for these workers, in particular, though because they were not getting strike pay. They were not bringing in any money. And the longer this dragged out for the workers they were going without a paycheck.

And then obviously for the overall economy the Biden administration did an analysis and found that if this strike last -- lasted two weeks this would have an impact on the October jobs report, which is the last jobs report that anyone was going to see before the election, and it could have an impact on the race for the White House.

So there was a lot of pressure from all sides trying to make this deal happen.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And look, this was a big deal, potentially, and people were treating it like a big deal -- like, it could really cripple the economy. But they fixed it in three days. Will consumers feel those three days?

YURKEVICH: No, they shouldn't. Really, what we were hearing was that if this dragged on past a week, that's when you were going to start to feel it. Perishable items -- things that just wouldn't keep -- fruits and vegetables -- those would be harder to find and that ultimately could have led to higher prices.

But a three-day port strike, we probably won't feel that. Yeah, there's going to be a little bit of a backlog at the ports obviously, trying to bring these containers off ships. But for the average consumer there is not a toilet paper shortage right now because of three days of port strike.

But ultimately, this has to be ratified by the rank-and-file members. And we just saw with Boeing that their officials recommended a deal to them -- to the union -- and the union members voted it down. So we'll have to see what happens. There's still a little way to go on this but right now everyone back to work.

BERMAN: That would be January.

YURKEVICH: Yeah.

BERMAN: And the deal does call for a slightly higher endpoint on wages than they got on the West Coast, so there is something --

YURKEVICH: It does.

BERMAN: -- there is something for these workers to grab onto.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

YURKEVICH: Thanks.

BERMAN: Great coverage on all this -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning, a second investigation has been opened against a Tennessee plastics factory after 11 of its workers were swept away in floodwaters from Hurricane Helene. Two workers died and crews are still searching for four others. Five of the factory workers were rescued.

One of the surviving employees took this video we're showing you right here. Just look at what they witnessed. This is moments before he was rescued. And he and other workers now claim that their employer wouldn't let them leave work until it was too late.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUILLERMO MENODZA, SON OF FACTORY WORKER KILLED IN TENNESSEE: I'm broken, and my heart is broken. I lost my mother and my grandmother and my children. My father lost his wife of 38 years --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marriage.

MENODZA: -- of marriage. We are not OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This morning the company is responding. CNN's Gustavo Valdez is following all of this from Tennessee. And you were headed there as soon as these reports really started coming out, Gustavo. What is the company saying?

GUSTAVO VALDEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the company finally has spoken out. First, they just released a series of statements in solidarity with the families of the families affected, but last night the CEO released a video in which he explains the company's side of the events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALD O'CONNOR, PRESIDENT AND CEO, IMPACT PLASTICS: That employees were told to leave the plant at least 45 minutes before the gigantic force of the flood hit the industrial park. There was time to escape. Employees were not told at any time that they would be fired if they left the plant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALDEZ: The company also released a timeline starting at 10:35 a.m. when they said the water begins pooling in the parking lot. Just four minutes later the power goes out on the factory. And a minute later public warnings go off on the cell phones.

At 10:50 a.m. the employees are directed to leave, both in English and Spanish. I'm told that about half the workforce is Hispanic, so the Spanish language is a necessity in this business. And also, at 11:35 is this final senior management walkthrough and departure.

The versions I've been hearing on the ground is that at least some of the supervisors were not very helpful telling the employees to leave. And at least the employees say that they felt like they had to stay.

Now, the company also says that they have video that some of the victims stayed in the parking lot up to 45 minutes after the water started to rise, and that is going to be part of the investigation, Kate.

[07:35:05]

BOLDUAN: I mean, a major investigation now. I mean, we have people who have -- who are -- confirmed deaths. You have people still missing. And you have a community that's not only shattered by the impacts of Hurricane Helene but now what's happened here as well.

Gustavo, thank you very much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, the Boss is backing Kamala Harris. Bruce Springsteen endorsed Harris and Tim Walz in a new Instagram video, and he kind of has done this before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "No Surrender."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So that was Bruce Springsteen with John Kerry on election eve in 2004 in Cleveland. Kerry lost Ohio and lost the election. Born to run.

With us now, Joe Walsh, former Republican congressman from Illinois, and former Trump White House associate counsel, May Mailman.

I actually want to talk about an endorsement that may matter a little more than Bruce Springsteen -- forgive me.

Barack Obama going to Pennsylvania for the Harris campaign allegedly a lot over the next month, Joe. Now, to stipulate, you spent your entire congressional career beating the snot out of, or trying to, President Obama. I think you're in a different place right now.

What kind of a difference do you think Obama in Pennsylvania over time can make?

JOE WALSH, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, HOST, "THE SOCIAL CONTRACT" PODCAST (via Webex by Cisco): John, good to be with you.

I think it'll make a big, big difference, Look, there's so much enthusiasm for Kamala Harris across the board. Barack Obama remains the most popular Democrat.

I've spent a lot of time on the ground in Pennsylvania -- in all the battleground states -- and there's great receptivity among Republicans, Independents, and -- all the way down -- all the way across to progressives for something to stop Trump.

Barack Obama will really help to make that case. I think a lot of people are waiting for him to come out.

BERMAN: May, rate for me in order the importance of Springsteen, Obama going to Pennsylvania, Elon Musk going to Butler, I guess, Pennsylvania this weekend with Donald Trump. Rank them in importance.

MAY MAILMAN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ASSOCIATE COUNSEL (via Webex by Cisco): I mean, I've got to with Elon Musk. He's somebody who can actually point to doing something for the American people right now versus Bruce Springsteen, you know --

BERMAN: Careful.

MAILMAN: What do you know about the life of a Pennsylvanian, right? Where have you been?

And I think that issue of the common man -- that there -- that there is an elite class in Washington, D.C. that does not know the American people, that does not care about them, that spent $43 billion on rural broadband internet to not provide it to one single person out of a vindictive anti-Elon Musk motive.

Like, that message to the American people I think is super powerful because people just want their government to work for them. That's it. I pay all these taxes; I want the government to work for me.

Bruce Springsteen, what are you going to do? I think Barack Obama is actually maybe harmful because it reminds people that Kamala Harris is part of the incumbent party and incumbent class.

BERMAN: Joe?

WALSH: I just -- I was having a hard time, John, putting Elon Musk and the common man in the same sentence. I just -- I need a break. That was a tough one for me.

BERMAN: Elon Musk -- I will say, if you're on Twitter or X, or whatever it's called now, which frankly, I am too much -- I mean, that guy is in this thing that he owns every minute of every day pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing for Trump.

Do you think that has no impact, Joe?

WALSH: Oh, no, I think it does. Look, it's a free country. He owns Twitter. He can do whatever the hell he wants with it.

Yes, it makes a difference. He's out there every single day, John, echoing the lies and the disinformation that Trump puts out. Remember, Elon Musk was out there right at -- you know, with the 'they're eating the cats and the dogs' -- these Haitian migrants. Elon Musk is always peddling. He's reinforcing all the bull crap that Trump puts out there. It does make a real difference. I'm not denying that.

BERMAN: That's an interesting segue into something else that seems to have happened this week. Look, Trump's election denialism has always been there but after it came up again in the debate with Tim Walz and J.D. Vance -- J.D. Vance refusing to say that Trump lost the election.

I want to play some sound that -- one of the bits here is Trump at his rally in Michigan yesterday. The other is when some comedians caught up with J.D. Vance. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, last time -- last election we did great in 2016. A lot of people don't know. We did much better in 2020. We won. We won. We did win. It was a rigged election.

[07:40:05]

JASON SELVIG, COMEDIAN: Did Donald Trump win? Yes or no?

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: yes.

SELVIG: He did win?

VANCE: Yep.

SELVIG: So will you -- will you concede? Will you concede? If your opponent gets -- if you opponent gets more votes, will you concede?

VANCE: I really feel bad for you, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, May, it's interesting because Republicans claim Democrats are obsessed with this. Trump was at his rally saying, "We won. We won." That's something. He didn't.

MAILMAN: It's -- you know, it's tough to watch because obviously you're not going to get any new voters by trying to relitigate the 2020 election. And J.D. Vance is just trolling. I mean, it -- I wouldn't -- I don't put too much stock in that.

But, yeah, there is a lot to campaign on and as a Republican you just know that if he had gone quietly into the night in 2020 and run again I really -- you couldn't campaign on January 6. You couldn't trot Liz Cheney out and say this guy is a threat to democracy. I -- it would be a blowout. I think people would just say was I better off four years ago or am I better off now?

So it is frustrating but he's going to keep doing it. And so you go with the candidate you've got.

BERMAN: I do wonder if it's something -- everyone talked about the traps that Vice President Harris set for Donald Trump in their debate. I do wonder, Joe, if this was sort of a subtle trap. It certainly was in the moment, but if it will have legs over the days and weeks. If Trump saw that moment and now is going to say things like this on the trail that I'm not sure help him.

WALSH: John, here's all I know. It's not just trolling and it's nothing to laugh at, not that you or May or anybody's laughing at this. This is -- I mean, this is it right here. This is an attack on our democracy. My God, you cannot acknowledge who won an American election? That's utterly disqualifying. That's bigger and more important than where you stand on the border, or taxes, or health care.

We have these things every two years or every four years. We have winners and we have losers. And the thing that keeps America going is we all respect the will of the people. We acknowledge the winners of the -- and the losers, and we move on to fight another day.

Trump and Vance are still there. And it's wrong and it is an attack on our democracy. It's not trolling.

BERMAN: All right, Joe Walsh, May Mailman. Great to see you both this morning. Thanks so much for coming in -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

WALSH: Thanks.

SIDNER: Ahead, don't wait. Get your flu, COVID, and RSV shots now. That's the message from U.S. health officials who say October is the prime time to get vaccinated.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is joining us now. Meg, respiratory viruses -- this is the season for it. It's here. But the peak months won't hit -- the peak months for this won't -- it's not now, right?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, that's right. So we typically see the peak for both the flu, and COVID, and RSV closer to the winter months. But right now is the time respiratory or -- that public health officials say because it takes a little bit of time for our immune systems to react to that vaccine and build up the protection. And so, the saying for the flu shot if "flu before boo." Typically,

they recommend getting your flu shot before the end of October or before Halloween.

And for COVID, of course, there's a new updated vaccine out now. And the recommendation there is that if you've had a recent sort of older COVID shot -- a lot of older folks have gotten those more recently -- wait at least two months since your previous COVID shot to get the updated vaccine.

For RSV, everybody over 75 is recommended to have an RSV shot, although if you got one last season you don't need to get another one now. There's also recommendations for people over the age of 60 who are more vulnerable and for women who are pregnant. There's also an immunization for babies for RSV. So folks are hoping that those really make them -- make it out there this season and can make this a less severe season.

The recommendations for flu and COVID is that everybody over the age of six months get an updated vaccine every season, and now is the month to do it if you haven't already, Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Meg Tirrell.

I remember as a kid the flu shot, but now we've got COVID-19 and RSV. Those are things I don't remember having to deal with. Of course, COVID, a new thing -- COVID-19.

Appreciate your time. Appreciate your reporting. Appreciate you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on oil and gas prices. Is a spike at the pump the October surprise that no one wants?

And Garth Brooks is now speaking out, breaking his silence after being accused by a former makeup artist of sexual assault and battery. Why he says the lawsuit has been like having "a loaded gun waved in my face."

We'll be back.

[07:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL)

BERMAN: This morning a hair and makeup artist is accusing country music star Garth Brooks of sexual assault in a new lawsuit. The woman says Brooks raped her in a hotel room during a work trip in 2019. Brooks denies the allegations and says the woman is trying to extort him for "hush money."

[07:50:00]

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark is the WNBA Rookie of the Year. We have video of the moment she got the call. She got 66 first place votes -- almost unanimous. One vote went to Chicago Sky's Angel Reese. Clark had the WNBA single season assist record of 337 and scored the most three-pointers by a rookie, 122.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMINEM, RAPPER-SONGWRITER: The Real Slim Shady video.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Eminem is going to be grandfather. His daughter Hailie Jade is pregnant with her first baby. Eminem revealed the news in a music video for his song "Temporary." Hailie Jade gives him a Detroit Lions jersey with "Grandpa" written on the back. And if it wasn't obvious enough already, she also handed him a sonogram. The baby is due next year. Grandpa Shady, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Is -- what is that? Say you're old without saying your old is that video right there. It has me feeling quite old.

Anyway, back to this. Also new this morning as conflict in the Middle East has escalated the oil market has been relatively and remained relatively calm. But there are new fears that could change. What experts now fear could send oil prices through the roof.

CNN's Matt Egan is tracking all of this. And that would be what?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well listen, Kate, this is a very serious situation and it's happening in the most critical region on the planet for energy. There is a growing risk that this becomes not just a security disaster or humanitarian disaster --

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: -- but an economic one just weeks before the election.

What's surprising is how relatively calm the oil market has been. Yes, prices have gone up but not dramatically so.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: You can see lower than other points during this year. A few years ago this is the kind of scary situation that would have caused oil prices to go well past $100 a barrel.

Only in the last 24 hours or so have investors started to wake up here to the danger. There is a boy who cries wolf mindset because investors have been burned in the past by security situations that did not cause actual disruptions.

BOLDUAN: But the threat of, like, direct conflict with -- direct conflict with Iran is greater than ever.

EGAN: Yeah, it's massive. I talked to Bob McNally, a veteran energy analyst, and he told me, "This is going to get worse before it gets better." And he said, "The story of the village boy who cried wolf did not end well for the village or the boy." The big question here is how is Israel and the West going to respond to the attack by Iran? If this is just sanctions from the West, then we could see a muted response in oil prices. But if this is something bigger, like an actual attack from Israel on Iranian oil facilities, Clearview Energy says we could see oil prices go to $86 a barrel.

The big fear -- the big danger though is that somehow this gets out of hand and there is a disruption to the Strait of Hormuz. That would cause oil prices to above $100 a barrel. Citigroup says maybe up to $150 a barrel, all-time highs because the Strait of Hormuz is the most critical chokepoint for oil on the planet. And that is the kind of situation that would cause a major, major consequence for the economy and even for the election potentially.

BOLDUAN: Where do gas prices stand right now?

EGAN: Well, you know what, Kate, that's the good news. The good news is gas prices are continuing to go down because they move with a lag to oil. So the national average, $3.18 a barrel (sic). That's about the lowest that we've seen in eight months -- sharply lower than this point last year.

And there's a growing number of states that are below $3.00 a gallon -- 17 states. Not just the typical ones that you would expect like Texas and Louisiana, but Iowa, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and even my home state of New Jersey. Of course, the point here though Kate is if there's a price spike for oil this could all change very quickly.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thanks for tracking it, Matt. I really appreciate it.

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. New this morning, Iran's supreme leader warning that Iran will attack Israel again "if needs be." He issued that warning while leading Friday prayers for Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated by Israel a week ago.

Joining me now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, and CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier.

All right. Israel is promising major retaliation against Iran directly. Iran's supreme leader is now vowing to respond with potential vast destruction. These threats are clearly not empty, as we've seen.

So, Kim, are we closer than ever, in your estimation, to a sustained regional war directly between Iran and Israel?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (via Webex by Cisco): I think we're closer to a sustained tit-for-tat where everyone is on tenterhooks waiting for the next response.

[07:55:00] Israel has vowed a response to the 180 ballistic missiles. So I think in the next coming days -- maybe early next week because we've got this Geostorm this weekend that could mess up communications and satellites -- but we're probably going to see them choose from hitting ballistic missile sites. Where they were launched from, where they're manufactured.

And then look at what they did in Yemen this past week to punish the Houthis for firing missiles at Israel. They hit three different power plants and an oil port installation, which makes it harder to transfer oil, sell oil. That's the kind of thing that they're likely looking at to hit Iran with.

If they hit Iran's secret facilities that is much less of an embarrassment to the regime because the regime could just tell its people it didn't happen. But if they hit the oil facilities of some manner or sort that creates a knock-on effect on the market and also, it's visible. It's hard to hide.

SIDNER: Colonel Leighton, I'm curious as to what -- you heard this idea from Kim about the tit-for-tat and that would be sustained.

At what point do you see this turning into the United States becoming very involved in this? They are already involved trying to keep the missiles from Iran from hitting -- from hitting Israel. But at what point will you see more involvement by the United States getting drawn into this?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Sara. I think the biggest point is exactly what Kim was alluding to, and this would be one of the things that also Matt Egan was talking about, and that is if there were a disruption to the oil flow we would definitely get involved if the Straits of Hormuz were closed by the Iranians or they attempted to close them.

And if that happened the idea would be that we could get in there and try to prevent something like that from happening, kind of like what we were doing in the 1980s when Iraq and Iran were fighting and there was a huge impact on oil flows from the Persian Gulf at that particular moment in time.

So that's the kind of thing that I would suspect we would get involved in. And, of course, all of the air defense and missile defense systems would be put in place not only to protect our assets but to continue to protect Israel as well.

SIDNER: Colonel Leighton, this one's for you. You know, it appears when it comes to the war in the north that Israel has decimated much of Hezbollah's leadership. It is trying to crush it out of existence. They have tried this before with Hezbollah and Hamas but both groups regrew.

Can this be solved militarily?

LEIGHTON: Not really. I mean, there are certain things you can do militarily and we're seeing them in action, and that is the attacks on the -- on the Hezbollah leadership and on the Hamas leadership as well. But the ideology stays. These people have many reasons to feel the way they do even if we don't agree with what they are -- what they are -- the way they look at the world.

So this is one of the areas where the Israelis are going to use as much force as they possible can. They're going to try to move the danger from Hezbollah north of the Litani River so it's less of an impact on northern settlements in Israel. They're going to do things like.

But the ideology will stay. The group will morph into something else -- maybe a less dangerous version of itself but still a danger that Israel must contend with probably far into the future.

SIDNER: And it's very clear the involvement of Iran with Hezbollah where they stand side-by-side often.

Kim, I want to ask you about an Israeli military doctrine laid out by an Israeli official around the 2006 war with Hezbollah called the Dahiya doctrine. It's named after an area of Beirut.

Essentially, it allows for military to use disproportionate force when there is an attack on Israel and says the military should target not just military assets but other infrastructure and try to crush the economy that supports it, essentially putting civilians in the crosshairs.

What do you make -- are we seeing this play out right now, especially when you look at what's happening in Gaza?

DOZIER: Well, Israel has been explaining many of the strikes and every time it explains what it hit is lists a military reason for what it hit. And if you're on the message board from the IDF, there -- they list a bunch of photos of weapons that they got at each site that they raided, for instance. So I think Israel is very conscious of the fact that in this particular conflict they have to be seen to be going after legitimate targets under the laws of war.

So, yes, that doctrine has been out there and it's pushed, especially by some of the far-right members of Netanyahu's cabinet. But it's not widely accepted because I think also in Israel they understand while they think there should be a disproportionate response to a new attack on them that every time you hit a civilian area you are creating insurgence that you will have to deal with in future generations.

I think what we're seeing right now is they're trying to mow the grass. That's the counterterrorist term.