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Israel Marks One Year Since Oct. 7 Hamas Attacks; Hurricane Milton Now a Cat 3, Set to Hit Florida Wednesday; Harris Launches Media Blitz With Election 28 Days Away. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: One year later, today marks one year since the horrific Hamas terror attack on Israel, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Survivors and families gathering to mark this solemn anniversary as Israel now stands on the brink of war with Iran.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A historic hurricane takes direct aim at huge population centers in Florida. A state of emergency declared in 51 counties, the rising possibility of evacuations. for hundreds of thousands of residents.

BOLDUAN: And we are now 29 days until Election Day, friends. Vice President Kamala Harris trying something new this week going on a media blitz while Donald Trump is headed back to the battlegrounds.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara Sidner is out today. Erin Burnett is joining us from Israel. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: Happening now, vigils marking the one year anniversary of the October 7th attacks, 1,200 people murdered, 250 taken hostage, 101 still in captivity. And this morning, one year later, new attacks as Israel's engaged in war on multiple fronts.

Let's get right to CNN's Erin Burnett live in Tel Aviv in Hostage Square. Good morning, Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, John. And we are in hostage square and families are gathering here. A somber day and a day of grief, sadness, a day of grieving, but also a day for many of outrage and anger that 97 hostages taken on October 7th are still in Gaza. Many of them believed to be dead, an incredible number, perhaps, believed to be dead. And there is outrage and there is grieving.

That is what we're seeing here, but on a day that Israel may choose, John, to reframe, to reframe as a day where they strike back at Iran, they believe the head of the octopus that struck them when Hamas attacked Israel last October 7th. And that, of course, is the moment that we're in.

You know, when you are in this country, you are seeing rockets coming in from Hamas and strikes today. The northern border strikes back and forth throughout the night here in Tel Aviv already today told to take shelter. It is a country on edge. It is a region on edge. And, of course, as you mentioned, it is a country at war, a war on many fronts and a war with Iran.

You know, whatever you want to call this moment, you hit somebody with 200 missiles and you're going to strike back, that would be a war.

Jim Sciutto is here with me now in Hostage Square and, you know, Jim, this morning, obviously, people told to take shelter here. There is this palpable -- it is not just a moment of a grief. It is a moment of a country that is now fully at war. And there is a lot of anger here. Where are those hostages?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And, listen, the threat of wars constant. I was among those who was sent to the shelter this morning is yet another alarm goes off. It's almost like -- it's like the sun rises, you're going to get an alarm. It's part of daily life here, but that's a very real threat. But the emotions are as well. As we stand here, several of the people behind us that they are relatives of those still held there, for them deeply personal. But as you know, spending so much time here, it is quite a deeply personal issue for Israel as well.

And not just the hostages still held there, but the continuing threat that they see from Hezbollah in the north, Gaza in the south, and, of course, Iran to the east. And that's why, you know, of the many disagreements we run into here over politics, et cetera, approach to the war, it's hard to find someone here who does not want to send some sort of message to Iran, right, about Israel's ability to defend itself.

BURNETT: Right.

SCIUTTO: And, of course, the question is what is that response?

BURNETT: What is that response? And, you know, last night as we're awake through the night, and, you know, there is this sense of it is now. It is now every single night. We know that it will be. And that is the crucial question. You have meetings, you've got the foreign ministers, you've got the defense ministers, you have a military ready to go, right? You have a target list ready to go. Whether they have finalized every one of them, it is ready to go.

And there is -- you know, you talk to us sources who are dealing with the Israelis to Israelis.

[07:05:01]

I know you hear this too. They are chomping at the bit. They want to hit and they want to hit harder.

SCIUTTO: And the sense I get from Israeli officials I speak to is they would like to have U.S. support for this. And that's not -- I'm not speaking about military support but U.S. backing for a strike that they take or the form of the strike that they take against Iran. And there are discussions back and forth and there seems to be pressure applied from the U.S. about how far Israel goes. Some pressure don't go so far as to attack the nuclear sites, concerns in Washington about an expanding war.

But that said, at the end of the day, Israelis are quite confident and I think Israeli leaders are quite steadfast that they will respond almost with or without U.S. support. They hope to get to that point, but it's not a necessity.

BURNETT: Right. And, obviously, you know, Kate, you know, we stand here, when you talk to U.S. military officials who are involved in this, they very much will be honest, and they will say that Israel will do whatever it's going to do, and they will try to work with them. But Israel does expect that the U.S. will back them after they do it in whatever the repercussions are.

And that is a fair expectation at this point. There's been no wavering in that support.

SCIUTTO: We should note, in defense, that doesn't necessarily mean U.S. planes, by any means, are going to be in the air with Israeli jets, et cetera. But certainly one reason that you have such a military presence in the region is to both deter but also respond if there are further attacks on Israel.

BURNETT: Right. And, for example, Kate, you know, I've been told the U.S., for example, will not and does not expect to be involved in anything offensive, like refueling Israeli jets, that they would manage that themselves. These distinctions make a huge difference.

But, Kate, a year ago, as everybody was reeling, I think about how the world has changed. This war that is engulfing the region, engulfing the United States and the tens of thousands of people who have been killed, two-thirds of the building in Gaza destroyed, firebombs over Beirut, it is an incredibly perilous and fraught moment that we are in, even as we stand here. Back to you.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Just how the Middle East has changed, how shaken it is now, one year later after those horrific terrorist attacks and what's happened since then.

Jim, Erin, thank you both so much. We're going to be getting back to them in Israel throughout today's show.

Also today, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, her political opponent, Donald Trump, they are all taking a pause for a moment to commemorate October 7th. The White House says that Vice President Harris will be planting a memorial tree at the VP's residence in DC while the former president, Donald Trump, is expected to speak at a remembrance event this evening in Miami.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is live outside the White House for us on what today could bring and what is President Biden planning.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are each commemorating and marking this solemn day in their own ways, as they are mourning the loss of lives on that October 7th attack by Hamas while also once again reiterating the United States support for Israel to defend itself.

Now, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be joined here at the White House this morning by a rabbi for a yard site candle lighting ceremony. That is a tradition in the Jewish faith to observe the anniversary of a death. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, will be delivering remarks a bit later this afternoon, and also planting a pomegranate tree at the vice president's residence. A pomegranate tree is a sign of hope and righteousness in Judaism.

And it comes as both Biden and Harris are renewing their calls for achieving a ceasefire deal that would bring the hostages home and also put an end to this war. President Biden in a statement this morning writing, quote, we will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for a surge in humanitarian aid to ease the suffering on the ground, assures Israel security and ends this war. He adds, Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity and peace.

Now, there are four Americans who are still believed to be alive in Gaza and several other families are working to secure the return of the remains of their loved ones who have died while in Hamas captivity. Yesterday, I'm told by a source a familiar that several of the families of American hostages spoke with two senior White House officials, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, just one day ahead of this anniversary of October 7th. But it comes at a time when there has been little traction in the talks to try to secure a hostage deal.

Now, Biden and Harris, in their statements, each also acknowledged that the U.S. supports Israel's right to defend itself, including in the face of attacks by Iran. It really speaks to the complicated dynamics at this moment as Israel and the U.S. are grappling with this conflict on multiple fronts at a time when President Biden still remains steadfast in trying to prevent this conflict from widening out even further.

[07:10:04]

BOLDUAN: If that is even possible at this point. Arlette, thank you very much for that.

Coming up for us, we have some breaking news in just moments ago. Hurricane Milton has now strengthened yet again, now a Category 3 hurricane. It's headed straight for some of the very same parts of Florida hit hardest by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. We have an update on that.

Kamala Harris making a media blitz this week with less than a month ago with the election taking on Donald Trump over his position on reproductive rights.

And LeBron James and his son making NBA history, the first-father son duo to play together in the NBA and on the same team, no less.

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[07:15:00]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news, Milton is now a major hurricane, a category three storm heading directly at huge population centers in Florida. Just look at that map. Tampa, St. Pete, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Clearwater, Naples, all right in the cone there. 15 million people under flood watches, dangerous storm surge is expected.

Let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam for a look at the very latest on this really historically problematic storm, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: John, so we are facing down a monster. This is the last thing anybody wants to see at this moment, considering the storm fatigue that we have from our previous major hurricane strike, not less than two weeks ago, that being, of course, Hurricane Helene. So, now we're facing a strengthening Hurricane Milton now as a major hurricane with winds sustained at 120 miles per hour. And notice clearing in the center, we call that a pinhole eye, and that means that this storm is continuing to organize strength and basically the bottom falling off within major Hurricane Helene.

The reason for this updated information from the National Hurricane Center, because, as we speak, the hurricane hunters, their job to fly within the heart of the storm, I have found a central pressure of roughly 954 millibars, so, again, the lower that number, the stronger the storm. They're also finding winds coinciding with Category 3 strength.

Now, we have, as of 5:00 A.M., an updated list of alerts. We have a hurricane watch in place where you see the shading of pink that includes Tampa Bay southward into Fort Myers and Naples. And I want you to hear just what the Tampa Bay mayor had to say about the oncoming hurricane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JANE CASTOR (D-TAMPA, FL): Please heed the warnings. If you can go now, go.

You cannot wait and see. You have been told what's going to happen. We're fortunate if it wobbles one way or the other and we don't take the direct impact. But let's plan on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: It's always a game of miles where the worst impacts will be held. But now is your window to prepare and evacuate. Have a plan.

John, this storm has gone under rapid intensification. Yesterday morning, it was only at 50 miles per hour. Now, we're sitting at a 120 mile-per-hour monster of a storm. And this is really crucial information here. The initial storm surge forecast for Tampa Bay, 8 to 12 feet. That actually eclipses last week or two weeks ago, Hurricane Helene storm served values from a storm that was west of Tampa Bay, and that set record values for this area.

They are still in cleanup mode. It's already raining there ahead of the storm. So, flash flooding is going to be a major concern as well with the storm.

BERMAN: Derek, if I can, can you be explicit as to when landfall is expected at this point? And I understand it's a huge variance. I mean, you could be anywhere from north of Tampa to south of Tampa, but where right now expected landfall could be.

VAN DAM: Yes, that is such an important bit of information to for our viewers because what we've seen in the modeling trend overnight is a slowing of this landfall time. So, it's more of a delayed landfall. We believe that it will be sometime Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, particularly across the central West Coast of the Florida Peninsula.

So, we really need to nail down the specifics of this. But from what we can tell this storm still has a little bit of ways to go before it reaches western coastline of Florida, and that delayed timing is so crucial for people who are still getting their last minute preparations in place ahead of the storm.

BERMAN: Again, millions of people need to pay very close attention to this. Derek Van Dam, thank you very much for that.

All right, this is a quote, not all women aspire to be humble. The new comments made by Vice President Harris on the wildly popular podcast, Call Her Daddy, those comments this morning going viral on social media.

And LeBron and Bronny James, they make NBA history, the first father son NBA duo to take the court at the same time.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: 29 days to Election Day, but today, more people are voting. Early voting begins in California, Montana, and Nebraska, which really reinforces the reality that the presidential candidates have literally zero time to waste to get their message out as people are starting to vote.

On that note, Vice President Kamala Harris is launching a week-long media blitz, something that she has been criticized for avoiding so far. She kicked it off by sitting down with the hugely popular Call Her Daddy podcast.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now for more on this. You know, Alex Cooper, the host of the podcast, she said kind of in the introduction that she was given 40 minutes with the vice president for this interview, which is a long time for anyone who has interviewed a president or a vice president. So, what did Harris say?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A long time, but Call Her Daddy has millions of listeners, many of whom are young women. And while they talked about a range of issues, a lot of the focus was on women's issues, something that Alex Cooper said she was going to stay focused on, given her audience. And over the course of that interview, the vice president was asked about former President Donald Trump's comments that he was the protector of women. And this is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So he, when he was president, hand selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade.

[07:25:00]

And they did just as he intended. And there are now 20 states with Trump abortion bans, including bans that make no exception for rape or incest.

This is the same guy that is now saying that? This is the same guy who said that women should be punished for having abortions? This is the same guy who uses the kind of language he does to describe women?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, this is not unlike the message that you hear from the Vice President at her rallies, but not everyone listens or watches those rallies. So, this is the campaign trying to amplify that message at a moment when polls show neck and neck race between her and Trump.

So, over the course of this week, she has 60 minutes today. That was already taped tomorrow. She will be with the view, the Howard Stern show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Then later in the week, she has Univision Town Hall in Las Vegas. Tim Walls also going to be out there with Jimmy Kimmel Tonight.

Now, she's trying to reach different audiences here, for example, the Howard Stern show, mostly a male audience. The goal from the campaign, they say, is to try to boost turnout, especially in the last few weeks of the election and as some states are already beginning to vote. But, certainly, what we are watching unfold here is a campaign that is trying to reach more voters where they may be, knowing that this race continues to be just so close. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So close so far into the cycle and has proven that there hasn't been a single -- big single thing that's really moved anything in a significant way. It now comes down to the turnout, of course. It's good to see you, Priscilla. Thank you so much.

All right, so scary moments on a Frontier Flight, flames shooting out from under the plane and what is being described as a hard landing.

And new CNN reporting, Kamala Harris looking for ways to break with President Biden on several issues as the campaign heads into this final stretch.

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