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CNN International: Ukraine's Zelenskyy Addresses U.N. General Assembly; Zelenskyy To U.N.: Do Not Divide The World, Be United; CNN Speaks To Iranian Vice President Javad Zarif. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired September 25, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ERICA HILL, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

Our breaking news this hour, Volodymyr Zelenskyy warning about a potential nuclear disaster. The Ukrainian President just wrapping up a major address to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he said he is worried that Russia is, in fact, planning attacks on Ukraine's nuclear power plants, and also stressed for support for what he is calling his victory plan to defeat Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Any parallel or alternative attempts to seek peace are, in fact, efforts to achieve an out instead of an end to the war. As a global initiative, the peace formula has already existed for two years, and maybe somebody wants a Nobel Prize for their political biography for frozen truths instead of real peace, but the only prize is Putin will give you in return are more suffering and disasters.

We must restore nuclear safety. Energy must stop being used as a weapon. We must ensure food security. We need to bring home all our captured soldiers and civilians, possibly deported to Russia. We must uphold the UN Charter and guarantee our right, Ukraine's right to territorial integrity and sovereignty, just as we do for any other nation. We need to withdraw the Russian occupiers, which will bring an end to the hostilities in Ukraine, and we must hold those responsible for war crimes accountable. We need to prevent ecocide and stop --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: And of course, we are covering this race only CNN can.

CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour here in New York. CNN Senior United Nations Correspondent Richard Roth is at the UN. It's good to have both of you with us.

Christiane, as we hear now for a second day in a row from President Zelenskyy, really drilling down on a little bit of what we heard in his address to the Security Council yesterday, what is your big takeaway in terms of the message that he wants out there? There is certainly, I would say, a marked shift a little bit in terms of how much more direct he has been in certain interviews.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, look, this is his moment to, as he says, present his victory plan, which he will do to President Biden this week, in the next couple of days, when he goes to the White House, and he wants the rest of the world, the U.S. and allies, to remove restrictions on the long-range missiles and other capabilities that they've given, Ukraine, in order to hit Russian targets inside Russia, the military targets that are actually launch pads for attacking Ukraine infrastructure.

His second biggest warning and take, as you just played, was a warning about a potential nuclear disaster. We all remember Chernobyl at the end of the 1980s. It was a catastrophe, and Russia has been systematically threatening the integrity of the power plant, for instance, at Zaporizhzhia. And actually, at the beginning of this month, I met with the IAEA Chief, Rafael Grossi. He was in Ukraine. He had visited Zaporizhzhia. And he was saying, it's a really dicey and tricky and very dangerous time, because Russia has cut off some of the electricity to there, and if that proceeds in that way, it will end the cooling ability of the reactor, and that could lead to a Chernobyl meltdown. So, it's very, very real problem, and the West really needs to understand it.

HILL: Zelenskyy pointing out too that that is -- any sort of nuclear problem, of course, would not be contained by borders, as he drilled down on that.

Richard, he was also talking very specifically about, saying again and again, this needs to be a piece, but also pushing back on the UN, in some respects, talking specifically about the Security Council. I want to play that moment.

[11:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: Unfortunately, at the UN, it's impossible to truly and firmly resolve matters of war and peace, because too much, too much depends in the Security Council on the veto power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: What is the conversation right now at the UN, Richard, given all that is happening in the world for this particular meeting of the UN General Assembly?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, as we know, the world's attention span is a nanosecond these days, and I think that for Zelenskyy, it's a tough road. We've seen him at the General Assembly before. He is making the case of he wants the long- range missiles. He needs money, ammunition. I don't know what this victory plan is going to have. It seems to be leaking in some ways or forms.

But, he warned -- he makes his case. Look, he is warning about radiation to take up the whole world from a spillover, disaster at Zaporizhzhia, the nuclear plant, or some of the other plants. I think he called Putin, in fact, almost insane with his land grab. He said Russia is 20 times the size of Ukraine, and he is saying the war is over, in effect, that Russia has to realize that. So, the fighting goes on there and the disasters, but the Middle East, Gaza, Lebanon, definitely taking away from discussion of Ukraine here at the UN.

HILL: And in terms of those discussion, Richard, are you noticing any difference in the way that world leaders are interacting with each other at this UNGA versus years past?

ROTH: It's very hard to tell, because we're not allowed to be near or have access to too many world leaders. So, we don't know what they're saying privately. For Zelenskyy, it's the U.S. Congress which will visit and the White House, and he knows what's going on here. He has the world at his back, Israel, the opposite. He questioned China and Brazil's peace plan for Ukraine, saying, what are your true intentions?

HILL: Christiane, I do want to shift to the Middle East, because that, of course, is so important today and at this hour as well. You actually just spoke with the Iranian Vice President. What did he say to you?

AMANPOUR: Well, this is Javad Zarif, who is well known to the international community, well known to the United States. He is the one who, as Foreign Minister, negotiated the nuclear deal, the JCPOA, in 2015 with Secretary Kerry in the U.S. side. And what he is saying is that Iran and Hezbollah are being, as he put it, kind of forced into a trap by Israel. He has basically said that nobody wants to escalate this war. He called on the, quote, "international community" to do something to stop the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.

But now, you see that Israel has called up a couple of reserve brigades, and people are concerned that that may be a precursor to a ground war into Lebanon. And you saw that Israel has said that it intercepted its first missile from Hezbollah coming towards Tel Aviv, and that is a very dangerous escalation.

So, this is what I spoke to the Iranian Vice President about. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Tell me, is Iran going to get dragged into the current Hezbollah-Israel fight?

MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRAN'S VICE PRESIDENT FOR STRATEGIC AFFAIRS: Well, as you have noticed over the past 11 months, the Israelis have tried really hard to drag others into the war, because what happened was an end to the Israeli claim or illusion of invincibility, and they thought that by -- either by increasing the violence, atrocities, war crimes, whatever, crimes against humanity, they could restore that aura of invincibility of Israel, and by dragging others into the conflict, they could expand the war, probably bring the United States in and change the dynamics of the situation.

Everybody in the region understood that, and has tried while supporting the people in Gaza, who've been under basically the most inhumane system of warfare mankind has ever seen, the -- to avoid falling into the trap of the Israelis. And Hezbollah has done a great deal of self-restraint over the past 11 months. But now, the Israelis are crossing the line, in my view, and there is every prospect of the world getting more difficult to contain. And I think the international community has to do whatever it can as soon as possible in order to end this most recent escalation by Israel.

AMANPOUR: Some of the international community, not only Israel, but the United States and others, say, well, yeah, but also Iran is backing Hezbollah, and Iran has its own responsibility to deescalate. So, you said that you didn't want to fall into any Israeli trap. But, things are getting worse.

[11:10:00]

Could you -- is there a red line that would bring Iran into this war?

ZARIF: Iran has exercised restraint when Israel conducted military operations against Iran, conducted terrorist operations, killing the leader of Hamas, who was attending the inauguration of our President, of all things, and we exercised restraint. We believe that Hezbollah is capable of defending itself. It has been exercising restraint in not doing so. It is the responsibility of the international community to come in before Hezbollah has to take its defense into its own hands, and maybe the situation will get out of hand at that time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So, Erica, very clear analysis and warning about what could happen next. And it's not just the Iranians who are saying that. It's across the board, the Americans, the Europeans. Everyone is super, super concerned that this could spill over into a real catastrophe.

And just on the issue of the veto power, this is something that President Biden addressed yesterday as well on the veto power of the Security Council that Zelenskyy correctly pointed out cripples and paralyzes the Security Council. The U.S. wants to increase the number of members on the Security Council in order that there isn't this constant veto power, whether it applies by the U.S. and the Israel, Palestinian and regional debacle, or Russia and Ukraine. It's very crippling and prevents the United Nations from doing the business of waging peace and ending humanitarian suffering around the world.

HILL: Absolutely, and such an important point. Christiane, Richard, thank you both.

And just a note too, tune in tomorrow, Thursday, to see Christiane's interview with Iranian Vice President Javad Zarif in its entirety. That airs right here 01:00 p.m. Eastern. That's, of course, 06:00 p.m. in London. Also with me this hour, Oleksiy Goncharenko, who is a member of

Ukrainian parliament, joining from Odessa at this hour. It's good to have you with us. I hope you were able to see some of President Zelenskyy's speech today to the UN General Assembly. I'm curious, as we talk about President Zelenskyy's efforts to bring Ukraine back to the forefront of the global conscience, in many ways, how effective do you think he has been so far this week?

I think we're having a little issue with the audio. So, we're going to try to get him back. But, stay with us while we do that.

Also just ahead here, as we were talking about, escalating tensions yet again in the Middle East, an unprecedented attack by Hezbollah. Tel Aviv waking up to sirens, as the Israeli military intercepts a ballistic missile. Plus, an investigation into Boeing finds tremendous pressure on workers to prioritize speed, an effort that led to safety and quality taking second place. Those incredible details just ahead.

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[11:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Thanks for staying with us here. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine just wrapping up a short time ago his remarks to the UN General Assembly.

With me now, Oleksiy Goncharenko, who is a member of the Ukrainian parliament, joining from Odesa. President Zelenskyy has been forceful in his comments over the last two days, sitting for more interviews as well here in the United States to plead Ukraine's case. Is it effective?

OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I hope so. We will see. But, it's very important for us to spread our message, to speak with our partners, and the United States of America is our ally number one, and especially now when the United States are in their elections and in very turbulent political waters, it's very important to remind that whoever will win the elections in the United States, support of Ukraine is not just in the best interest of Ukraine, but in the best interest of the United States too.

HILL: Speaking of those looming elections here in the United States, President Biden has said, changing his words a bit recently, he will support Ukraine until they win. For his part, former President Donald Trump was asked at a recent presidential debate whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war, and he declined to answer. How is Ukraine preparing for these two possible outcomes, the presidency -- a second presidency of Donald Trump, or a Kamala Harris presidency?

GONCHARENKO: That's the choice of American people whom to elect. So, we can't intervene in any way. We will work with any President of the United States who will be elected. But, I'm sure that President Trump as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, they know exactly why support of Ukraine is important. They know that for Russia, this is the war against the United States of America and its allies. They know that China is watching. They know that if Russia will be successful in Ukraine, international order will be over, and there will be more cost in the world, China will attack Taiwan, Iran will attack, North Korea will attack, and so on and so on. So, we need to stop them, and we have this opportunity.

So, I hope that whoever will win the elections, we will have support of the United States. But, we clearly understand that we need to speak with people. We need to explain to American people why this matter.

HILL: President Zelenskyy, in an interview with a magazine here in the United States, The New Yorker, was asked about Senator J.D. Vance, who is, of course, running for Vice President with Donald Trump. President Zelenskyy said, quote, "He is too radical", going on to say "His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice." And then said, "For us, these are dangerous signals coming, as they do, from a potential Vice President. Whichever President or Vice President raises this prospect that the war -- ending the war hinges on cementing the status quo, with Ukraine simply giving up its land, should be held responsible for potentially starting a global war, because such a person would be implying this kind of behavior is acceptable."

Senator Vance has not been as supportive as other U.S. lawmakers in the past, has called, of course, for Ukraine to give up some of its land. There is a lot of pushback from some Republicans on these comments from President Zelenskyy. Are you concerned about those comments and their impact on potential future support or funding from the U.S.?

GONCHARENKO: I think we need to be called. Elections are elections. And what is very important for Ukraine is to be as far from American elections and from internal politics as possible. Speaking about Senate events, I know him. I met him in person in Munich Security Conference. I spoke with him. He is a smart man. And I don't think that we need to be super concentrated on what he is saying now. I just want to remind you, some time ago, he was a very vocal critic of Donald Trump. Now he is a very big ally of Donald Trump and he is vice presidential nominee.

So, I think that we need to be far away from the elections, and in 45 days, when American people will make their choice, we will speak with another people, and they would have watched the situation already, not as a politician, but as a statesman, and from a statesman, for a person who cares about the state, the United States of America, this is the best thing to do, is to invest in Ukrainian army and to stop Russia in Ukraine. That is absolutely clear, and I'm sure that all smart people understand this.

HILL: Oleksiy Goncharenko, really appreciate your time today. Thank you.

GONCHARENKO: Thank you.

[11:20:00]

HILL: Our other top story this hour, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalating yet again today with an unprecedented missile attack aimed at Tel Aviv.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

That is a sound many in the Tel Aviv area woke up to today, as Israel intercepted a ballistic missile. Hezbollah says it was targeting the headquarters of Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad, in defense of Lebanon and the Palestinian people of Gaza. This is the first time a missile fired by Hezbollah has ever come this close to Tel Aviv. Israel, meantime, is keeping up its attacks in Lebanon for the third day of what it is referring to as "extensive" strikes, saying it has now hit more than 280 Hezbollah targets just today. It's also calling up two reserve brigades. Lebanon says nearly 600 people at this point have been killed by Israeli airstrikes. That's since Monday.

Israel says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does still plan to address the UN General Assembly this week, although he has delayed his departure for New York several times. He also issued another warning to the Lebanese people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (Interpreted): I say to the people of Lebanon, our war is not with you. Our war is with Hezbollah. Nasrallah is leading you to the brink of abyss. I told you yesterday to evacuate the houses where he put a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage. He who has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his garage will not have a home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is in Beirut. Jeremy Diamond is in Haifa in Israel.

Jomana, I want to begin with you. We're hearing these are being referred to as "extensive" Israeli strikes inside Lebanon again today, 280, I believe. What more do you know about those strikes and their targets?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned there, Erica, what we're hearing from the Israeli military and as we've heard throughout the day that they are continuing these massive airstrikes that are mostly focused on southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa region. They say that they hit 280 Hezbollah targets. Now, what we're hearing from Lebanese authorities a short time ago, we heard from the country's Health Minister, who says that 51 people, at least, have been killed in this new wave of airstrikes today, more than 200 others injured.

Now, we don't know how many of those casualties are civilians, how many of them are Hezbollah fighters. But, we have seen over the past week or so in these Israeli attacks and strikes, according to Lebanese authorities, there have been many women and children among the dead and the injured.

And when we talk about the injured, Erica, when you were talking about thousands of people who have been injured in this past week, with the pager attacks, the walkie-talkie attacks, the airstrikes in Beirut, and then these airstrikes on Monday, the deadliest day in Lebanon in decades, and the continuation of these airstrikes, when you have thousands of people who are injured, you have the country's medical institutions, the hospitals, the health sector here that has already -- it's been on its knees for a very long time, going from crisis to crisis, whether it is the COVID crisis, the Beirut Port blast, the brain drain, the financial and economic crisis that this country has faced over recent years. They are just overwhelmed, and they are struggling to deal with the number of injured.

And everyone that you speak to here, Erica, is just so afraid of what is going to come next, and a lot of people fear that this is only just the beginning.

HILL: Questions about whether it is, in fact, just the beginning. In terms of those who are fleeing, who are trying to make their way to safety, as I understand it, Beirut is providing shelter for, I guess, about 10,000 people who have been displaced from southern Lebanon, but where is -- where can everyone go?

KARADSHEH: Well, Erica, we not had official statistics coming from the Lebanese government on how many people have been displaced. You've had a lot of people who have fled their homes in the south and the eastern part of the country, in Beirut's southern suburbs as well, either fear of strikes or heeding the Israeli warnings to leave these areas, where they are told that Hezbollah is operating, by the Israelis in these warnings. And the United Nations now is estimating that more than 90,000 people have been displaced.

But, keeping in mind, these are only the official registered internally displaced people that the UN is reporting. We've heard from the country's foreign minister saying that the number of people displaced is approaching 500,000, half a million people. That's nearly 10 percent of Lebanon's population, and the country is really struggling to deal with that.

[11:25:00]

You have a lot of people who have turned up in Beirut in the hotel where we are staying, for example. We have had many families who have come in from the south, from the southern suburbs as well, from different areas. A short time ago, we were speaking with a young man who only fled southern Lebanon today after this wave of airstrikes, and he was describing the fear that he lived through today, saying that it was like seeing all that he had seen happen in Gaza, happening here right now, and the only way he had to leave his home and flee to Beirut today, and so many stories like that, because, as with every conflict, Erica, it is the civilians who bear the brunt of these conflicts.

HILL: Yes. It really is. Jomana, appreciate it. Thank you.

I want to bring in my colleague, Jeremy Diamond, who is joining us from Haifa. So, Jeremy, this moment in Tel Aviv, an intercepted missile, this would understandably rattle residents. What are we hearing from Israeli officials? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, no doubt about it that the residents who woke up this morning in Tel Aviv to the sound of sirens, were certainly rattled by that ballistic missile that was fired towards the city, the first ever to be fired by Hezbollah towards the city of Tel Aviv, and the furthest south that a Hezbollah missile appears to have reached. That was just one ballistic missile, though, and it was indeed intercepted by an air defense system known as David's sling.

As far as Israeli officials are concerned, frankly, they have been expecting more from Hezbollah. They had been expecting more from Hezbollah. As Israeli officials -- as I've talked to Israeli officials over months now about potential scenarios for an all-out war with Hezbollah, or certainly a very severe intensification of the conflict, they have talked about this notion of hundreds of missiles being fired simultaneously by Hezbollah, multiple long-range missiles fired simultaneously in order to try and disrupt and evade Israel's very advanced air defense systems. And instead, that is certainly not what we have seen.

We have seen Hezbollah fire a few hundred rockets a day over the last couple of days, but certainly not that amount of rockets and missiles being fired simultaneously, and part of that appears to be because the Israeli military has certainly severely degraded Hezbollah's ability to carry out command and control operations to fire its rockets, and certainly destroyed a significant portion of its rocket arsenal, although it is not clear how much exactly.

And what also remains unclear is the extent to which Hezbollah will be able to regroup following this last week of attacks, and should it have the capability and the willingness, importantly as well, to carry out have -- had been expecting, but have yet to see actually be carried out by Hezbollah so far.

HILL: Jeremy, really appreciate it. We will continue, of course, to monitor the situation there. Stay with us here.

Just ahead as well, a new bipartisan report from the U.S. Senate on the first Trump assassination attempt, what they say went wrong in Pennsylvania. Plus, residents of Florida and throughout the southeastern U.S. now preparing for Hurricane Helene. CNN's Allison Chinchar in the Weather Center with more for us this hour. Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. It is now a hurricane. We are talking Hurricane Helene with wind gusts already at 80 miles per hour. We'll detail where the forecast is taking this, coming up.

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[11:30:00]

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HILL: Welcome back. This is CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill in New York. A breakdown in communication with nobody who was clearly in charge.

That is just one of the stunning conclusions from a new report from the U.S. Senate about the first attempt on the life of Donald Trump. Other highlights from that report about the July shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, that Secret Service agents did not request a surveillance team. There were no visual barriers put in place around the rally to block the shooter, and there was confusion about who was responsible for securing the building that the gunman climbed onto.

CNN's Annie Grayer is tracking this story for us, joining us now live from Capitol Hill in Washington. There is a lot in this report, and it doesn't look great, to put it mildly, Annie.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN REPORTER: No, it doesn't. I mean, so many of the security failures that happened at that Butler rally, this report says were foreseeable and preventable, and that nothing has been done to prevent it from happening again, and that's largely because this report from the Senate found that no one was really in charge that day. Secret Service couldn't say who was in charge for securing the perimeter of that big rally. They couldn't say who was in charge for securing the building that the shooter actually fired from during the rally.

So, this just meant that a lot of things, Erica, were falling through the cracks, where key resources were not requested. Some resources were denied when requests were made. And this just -- is just building on what we are learning from these investigations that secure -- that these security failures were really caused, in this situation, by a breakdown in communication at every level. Take a listen to the Chairman of the Senate Committee who released the report on CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): That should be a very clear answer. And the problem is, there is no answer. That was astonishing to us, is the fact that we could not find one point of contact who said this is the person in charge of making sure the plan was adequate and making sure there was supervision, that it was being implemented properly. So, we found a lot of finger pointing of saying, well, was a collaborative plan. Many people worked on it, but no one individual --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: Now, even more concerning, Erica, is that Secret Service isn't pushing back on anything in this report. In fact, they're saying it aligns with their findings of the Butler rally that day.

HILL: Really important report and more fallout one would expect to come. Annie, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, Boeing has been under pressure in recent years amid a slew of safety and quality control issues, and now an FAA investigation concludes Boeing's factory workers are actually pressured to put production speed over quality, and that some were even poorly trained for their jobs. Now, tough to forget what happened when the door plug -- about the door plug that led to that door blowing off, of course, a plane in the air back in January. Now, thankfully, no one was killed. But, that is just one of the many incidents raising concerns.

CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean has more on these findings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Erica, some egregious findings in this never before published audit of Boeing's plant in Renton, Washington, the same plant where that brand new 737 MAX 9 rolled off the production line without the critical door plug bolts installed, leading to that terrifying door plug blowout on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The findings include the results of an FAA survey of 2,100 Boeing workers on the 737 line, and about half said that schedule pressure is still significant, essentially putting speed over quality, which is huge, since it was a quality control failure that led to the door plug incident. One more big finding, workers said they felt inadequately trained by Boeing to do their jobs, and some said that Boeing was not providing them with the proper tools to do their jobs.

The FAA audit found that one worker was using a tool he made himself to check the gaps between certain parts of the airplane. The report says this, "This tool is mechanic-made, unauthorized, uncalibrated, unmarked."

[11:35:00]

And "When asked how other door mechanics take this measurement, that mechanic stated that they all do the same thing." Now, these findings were released by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and in just a few hours, it will grill the FAA Administrator, Mike Whitaker, saying that agency has not stayed on top of Boeing. Yesterday, during a different hearing on Capitol Hill, Whitaker insisted the FAA has ramped up its oversight of Boeing, and that Boeing has made some strides. But, I want you to listen now to what he said about a turnaround of Boeing's culture when it comes to safety.

MIKE WHITAKER, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: I think it's going to take years of delivering that safety message, and the employees actually seeing that safety is more important than production before that culture to change. So, it's going to take a very long term, sustained commitment.

MUNTEAN: Boeing underscores to me that it has taken big steps to empower its workers, but it's a journey. Remember, Boeing workers are still on strike, now in its 13th day, and interestingly, the FAA chief said yesterday that Boeing had a new safety plan to roll out of new employees, but that rollout has been delayed by the strike. Erica.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Really appreciate it. Pete Muntean for us there.

We are also very closely monitoring what is now Hurricane Helene. We have a live look at the storm for you right now, Helene really gaining strength just a short time ago. You can see it's off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula now, expected to continue growing in size and in power as it crosses over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, expected to slam into Florida late Thursday.

Patrick Oppmann joining me now live from Havana. Allison Chinchar is tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center.

Patrick, first to you, I sort of watched things change for you, posted a lovely sunrise, but things are definitely starting to shift.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. The sunrise, that beautiful view we had this morning is no more, as the weather conditions just continue to deteriorate throughout the day. We are on the right side of the storm. But, what a storm. It really is, because it is battering Cozumel, Mexico, and Havana, Cuba, at the same time, a distance of more than 500 kilometers. So, that's how big it is, and it is gaining in strength, as it travels over the warm waters of the Yucatan channel.

So, throughout the day, we expect, and we are already feeling the weather conditions just to get worse and worse here, as these outer bands continue to go through. So, more rain, some more wind, and it will just continue to soak us throughout the day. And the dangerous thing there is, even if it doesn't make a direct hit on Cuba, of course, the city of Havana has so much aging infrastructure in it, that as the storm passes, as things begin to dry out, that is when a lot of the old stonework here begins to collapse and fall. So, even if you don't get the heavy winds the storm will bring to Florida, it still can cause a lot of damage and destruction here.

We expect to have storm surge, having flooding along the coast of the city, as typically happens when you have a storm pass by close to here, and then it travels on to Florida as a much stronger hurricane, as potentially a major hurricane. Having covered those is much different than what I'm experiencing. That is when you cannot be in many types of structures. That is when you have to get away from the coast because of the dangerous storm surge that it brings. That is when many homes will not stand up to that kind of wind speed.

So, certainly to the people in the storm's path that are going to get a lot more serious blow than we're receiving right now in Cuba. They need to finish up their preparations, because the storm they're going to be facing in the next day or two will be a very different one than what's currently taking place here in Cuba.

HILL: Yes. Certainly, it is storms like that that, when I have covered them, have caused me to call Allison Chinchar directly in the Weather Center at times for guidance on where our teams should be moving. Let's bring Allison in now. As you're tracking this storm now, Allison, and watching where it's going, give us a sense of what folks can expect in the coming hours.

CHINCHAR: All right. So, the big news at the top of the hour is we mentioned it is that it has now become a hurricane. But, the key thing here to note is it's not done strengthening. We expect to see further strengthening as we go through the next 24 to 36 hours. Sustained winds right now were at 80 miles per hour, but it's now going to head into the Gulf of Mexico, those nice warm waters that is fuel for storms like this.

Now, in anticipation of the storm coming, we've also started to see an expansion of some of the tropical alert programs. Even Atlanta, Columbia, Asheville, North Carolina, all under a tropical storm watch. This is key because none of those cities are remotely near the coast. So, it just goes to show you how widespread and how inland the impacts are really going to be from this particular storm. Now, we talked about it. It's going to go into the Gulf of Mexico. That warm water is going to help it continue to intensify further. We expect this to become a major hurricane, likely very early Thursday, and then continue and likely make landfall by Thursday evening, somewhere on the Big Bend region of Florida before continuing its trek inland.

The thing is, right now, it's moving at about 10 miles per hour forward speed. At landfall, that may jump to 25 miles per hour.

[11:40:00]

That is incredibly fast for a tropical system, and important because it means it can spread very far before it really starts to loosen a lot of its impacts. You're going to have portions of South and Central Georgia that are getting hurricane force winds, areas of North Georgia and even Tennessee that have tropical storm force winds. So, you're going to see a lot more of those impacts make it a little bit further inland than you normally would, especially compared to storms we've had already this year. Storm surge is going to also be a big impact, pretty much up and down the entire west coast of the Florida Peninsula. The worst of it will be right through here, along the Big Bend region, where we could see storm surge of 10 to 15 feet.

Rainfall, also going to be a big component, not just near landfall, but also spreading inland. You can notice here a lot of this area of Georgia, portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and even Tennessee, you're talking widespread rain of four to six inches, but not out of the question for some of these areas to get eight, 10, if not even as much as 12 inches of rain just in the next few days. Because of that, we have a high risk for excessive rainfall and flooding. We have a new one that's popped up here today. It's not showing up in the map yet. Takes it a couple minutes to come in here, but we do have a high risk for extreme portions of Northeast Georgia and then again, on Thursday, same location, but also expanding into portions of North and South Carolina.

The big concerns here are going to be not just the potential for flooding, but also mudslides and landslides, especially in some of that higher terrain.

HILL: A lot to keep track of there. Allison, appreciate it. Thank you.

Just ahead here in the CNN Newsroom, a visit to a town in Ohio that has seen a major employer close and a new facility come online to build batteries for the future. What they have to say about this shift and how it may impact their vote? Plus, a new CNN nationwide poll revealing some interesting finders among voters. We'll take a closer look at those numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Just under six weeks to go now until Election Day here in the U.S., and a new CNN poll finds the presidential race is still a statistical dead heat. No clear leader here. Let's take a look at some of the findings from the poll. As you can see, the choice for President there among likely voters, Kamala Harris holds a 12-point lead over former President Donald Trump. This is specifically for voters under the age of 35. When you look at that, an interesting note for those young voters. Back in 2020, Joe Biden had 20 -- was up 21 percent ahead of Trump among the same age group, according to exit polls.

The poll also finds Harris and Trump, well, they're roughly even with voters who describe themselves as independents. Harris, you see there, 45 percent to Donald Trump's 41, although when broken down by gender, women tend to break more for Kamala Harris, men more for the former President. Overall, where do things stand on the economy? As you can see there, Donald Trump taking a larger share in that question. And we know that among likely voters, the economy is far and away the most important issue in terms of who they plan to vote for, for President.

[11:45:00]

And that may be why we're about to hear more from Vice President Kamala Harris today, who is set to focus on the economy at a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is expected to outline more specifics on her plans for U.S. manufacturing, and we're told she is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump on the American middle class by saying, and this is a portion of her speech that's has already been released, in her words, that, quote, "For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers, not those who build them, not those who wire them, not those who mop the floors."

Donald Trump, for his part, is back in the battleground state of North Carolina today. On the campaign trail in Georgia on Tuesday, he issued a warning to voters about the future of manufacturing jobs, should Harris win in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Kamala Harris gets four more years, she will deindustrialize the United States and destroy our country. We will become virtually a banana republic. We will be destroyed. There will be no car industry, no steel industry, no significant manufacturing of any kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Well, with the economy and jobs, of course, in the forefront of voters' minds, CNN is taking some time to speak with people around the country, including in one community in Ohio, which has seen tough times come and go in recent years. A new plant to make electric vehicle batteries is now restoring a measure of hope in that community. But, as Phil Mattingly reports, there are still a number of people who believe it would be Donald Trump in a second term, who is the best for their employment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a beleaguered Ohio community, this is the picture of hope, 2.8 million square feet of cutting edge green manufacturing.

GEORGE GORANITIS, LOCAL UAW 1112 PRESIDENT, & ULTIUM CELLS EMPLOYEE: All the mills shutting down, packers shutting down, the last thing here for a good-paying job was General Motors Lordstown, Ohio.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Hope for the factory workers at that GM factory, like George Goranitis, forced to leave the only plant and homes they knew, and in many cases, their families, after it closed its doors in 2019.

GORANITIS: Members weren't able to handle some of the news. And the situations they were in at that time, they took their own lives. There was divorces because of it. Families were ripped apart.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Lordstown story, a plant closure ripping clean through the last remaining threads from the fabric of a once vibrant community isn't new, nor is the story of how Donald Trump tapped into those communities with bold promises to bring back the manufacturing of old.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, Ohio. We love you. Thank you.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): But, Trump is once again the GOP nominee --

TRUMP: We are going to bring so many auto plants into our country.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- back with grandiose promises of a Midwest manufacturing renaissance --

TRUMP: You're going to be as big or bigger than you were 50 years ago.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- keenly aware union voters, especially auto workers, hold the keys back into the White House, and that's why the story of this town.

GORANITIS: Our plant, honestly, is they're a Trump plant.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): It's so unique --

TRUMP: Don't sell your house. Don't sell. Do not sell it. We're going to get those values up.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- because that 2017 promise was made just a few miles away from the GM plant.

DAVID GREEN, FORMER LORDSTOWN LOCAL UAW PRESIDENT: People take it literally. Your words are important.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Then GM shuttered the plant and left workers desperate to hold on to pensions. One option, leave Lordstown. GREEN: I've lived here pretty much my whole life, until I had to move away when the plant closed.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): David Green followed his dad onto the Lordstown factory floor, starting as a summer helper. The local UAW President during Trump's first term, Green says, his letters to the White House pleading for help were ignored.

GREEN: I don't think it has been enough.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): This Fox News appearance was not. Trump fired off his response on Twitter shortly after, aimed squarely at Green.

GREEN: I ignored it because my mom had told me, don't give it any credibility, and it goes nowhere.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Trump claimed credit when a startup electric vehicle company bought the plant, touting the deal with a major event at the White House. Then that company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

MATTINGLY: A lot of promises have been made to the community, to the workers over the course of the last several years. When did you kind of believe that this was going to come to be?

JOSH AYERS, CREW LEAD, ULTIUM CELLS: Probably when they actually broke ground.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Josh Ayers now stands inside the cutting edge Ultium electric battery plant, steadfast about its future --

AYERS: This gives people in the valley another chance.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- built in the shadow of its GM predecessor, where Ayers once worked, Ultium opened its doors in 2022, just two weeks after Trump successor, President Joe Biden, signed a sweeping clean energy investment law used to send billions to bolster plants like this one.

[11:50:00]

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, also unapologetically pro- union.

MATTINGLY: Calls himself the most labor-friendly President in history, and I don't think many of you would argue with that.

AYERS: I agree with that. Yes.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The backdrop, as the UAW clinched a series of major wins that directly impacted the new plant's workers, the biggest, hundreds forced to relocate to other plants in 2019 --

GORANITIS: I teared up quite a few times having these conversations with my brothers and sisters that I used to work with here in Lordstown.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- could finally come home.

GORANITIS: I never thought it was going to happen.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And yet --

GORANITIS: A lot of the members that I do speak with that time that the Trump was in office, they'd state to me that just our economy at that time, the jobs were better at that time, and businesses were booming. A lot of the members just say at that time. That's why -- I'm not good at talking about politics.

MATTINGLY: You're actually doing a fantastic job.

GORANITIS: Well --

MATTINGLY: No. This isn't like a -- I don't want you to --

GORANITIS: Well, it's new to me.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: But, this is the point. It's like, I don't actually -- I don't want you to be like an expert analyst.

GORANITIS: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: I talked enough of those guys on a day-to-day basis. I won't understand how people are actually -- like the conversations you're having. It's disgusting.

GORANITIS: It's just -- it's a hard time right now, right, because the unions have always backed Democrats --

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

GORANITIS: -- always have, and it does look like it's starting to take a turning point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And our thanks again to Phil Mattingly for that report.

Well, two of the most well-known music stars have known each other for years. It turns out, though, Dolly Partlan (ph), Dolly Parton, pardon me, and Miley Cyrus are actually even closer than they knew. A look at their family tree, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: President Joe Biden stopping by "The View" on ABC a few minutes ago with the election countdown in full swing. The U.S. President very vocal about Vice President Kamala Harris and her accomplishments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- be herself. Look, she is smart as hell, number one. She is tough. She was a first-rate prosecutor. She is a United States Senator of significant consequence. And as Vice President, there wasn't a single thing that I did that she couldn't do. And so, I was able to delegate her responsibility on her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: President Biden going on to say he is confident if he had stayed in the race, he would have beaten Donald Trump, but said he also understood the calls that were made for him to step aside.

One more thing here before we go.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

That, of course, is Miley Cyrus singing Dolly Parton's classic hit "Jolene". And if you thought the two singers had a lot in common, it turns out you were really on to something. It's, of course, well known Miley Cyrus is Dolly's goddaughter.

[11:55:00]

Now it turns out, though, we're learning they're actually blood relatives, seventh cousins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, MILEY CYRUS' 7TH COUSIN, OBCE REMOVED: Well, we're so close, Miley and I, would have thought, would have been at least third cousins, 10 times removed. And I'm sure she'll get a kick out of that. But, it doesn't surprise me, because she does feel like family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: There you go. It feels like it, and that's the case. The genealogy tracking site Ancestry.com found that Dolly and Miley have a common ancestor who was born back in 1740. That would be Parton's sixth great grandfather and Miley Cyrus' seventh great grandfather.

Thanks so much for spending part of your day with me here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill in New York. CNN continues next with One World.

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