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Harris, Trump Locked In Razor: Tight Race With 23 Days To Go; Biden Thanks First Responders, Local Officials For Storm Response; Drone Attack Injures At Least 60 In North Central Israel. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 13, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:16]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Omar Jimenez, in for Fredricka Whitfield.

We're going to begin this hour with the race for the White House Tuesday, marks three weeks until Election Day, but who is counting? As we enter this critical home stretch, polls continue to show the presidential race remains neck and neck.

CNN's latest National Poll of Polls is out today shows no clear leader, with 50 percent of likely voters supporting Harris and 47 percent for Trump, really no clear leader here, as we mentioned and both candidates are spreading out across battleground states this week.

In the next couple of hours, Trump will hold a rally in the swing state of Arizona. Right now, Harris continues to campaign in storm- battered North Carolina, where she just spoke at a church, and soon, the Vice President will hold a rally in that critical state.

Tomorrow, Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz will begin a week-long campaign blitz of blue wall states. CNN's Poll of Polls in those blue wall states shows Harris and Trump are still locked in a dead heat in the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

We've got a team of correspondents out on the campaign trail covering this race. Alayna Treene is with the Trump campaign in Arizona, but let's start with Eva McKend with the Harris campaign in North Carolina.

I mean, Eva, Harris is going to hold a rally soon, but has already taken a few shots at her political rival during that church visit. What can you tell us about what she said,

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar on the campaign trail, Vice President Harris, routinely argues that the former president lacks the temperament to return to the White House and that he doesn't have a sense of basic empathy, she maintains.

She seemed to lean into that argument again today, though notably, she did not reference the former president by name. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yet instead of offering hope, there are those who are channeling people's tragedies and sorrows into grievance and hatred. And one may ask why? And I think, sadly, frankly, the motives are quite transparent, to gain some advantage for themselves, to play politics with other people's heartbreak, and it is unconscionable. Now, is not a time to incite fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Harris, of course, is referencing some of the misinformation that we have heard about the response to these natural disasters. But listen, Omar, key to the Vice President's strategy is appealing to Black voters in this state. They are a critical part of the Democratic coalition. We saw her meet with faith leaders, community leaders, Black elected in Raleigh.

She is set to address Black farmers here in this state, and then, of course, you saw her at the church.

What I'm hearing from Democrats here is that they're hoping that North Carolinians will vote early. Early voting starts in just four days, and it is there where the Vice President has the opportunity to try to recreate the winning multiracial coalition that led, in part, to President Biden's victory in 2020.

To give you a sense of how this worked, we're in Pitt County, President Biden won this county in 2020 by about 10 points alone.

JIMENEZ: Eva, thank you.

I want to go now to Alayna Treene in Arizona, where Trump is going to hold a rally in a few hours. And Alayna, I mean, this is Trump's latest stop during a western swing. It has also included stops in blue states.

So where he's -- where has he been? What is the strategy behind this? And what can you tell us about what he said?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, I will start off with just why he's coming to Prescott. It's actually interesting. This visit comes just days after we know that mail-in ballots have been going out throughout the state of Arizona.

[15:05:00]

It also comes as Donald Trump's campaign and the RNC at large have really been trying to encourage people to vote by mail, even as we've heard Donald Trump repeatedly, even as late as you know this most, this recent month warn about what he argues is fraud in mail-in voting.

But look, you're totally right. This is just the latest on a big swing of Donald Trump that included two blue states. On Friday, Donald Trump traveled to the blue state of Colorado, where he visited Aurora. Yesterday, he spoke in Coachella.

Now, in all of these visits, Donald Trump has really been escalating his anti-immigrant dark rhetoric, painting this really dark picture of America. I want you to take a listen to what he told voters in California yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will rescue California and every town across America that's been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of the country, which is number one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So Omar, I've talked a lot about this with Donald Trump's team. They recognize that Donald Trump, his rhetoric is getting darker, his language is getting more angry and aggressive, but they argue that they think that strategy is working.

I know from my conversations with those close to the former president, that Donald Trump himself really believes that that type of fear- mongering, about stoking fears about migrants in this country helped deliver him to the White House in 2016 and he believes that it will help deliver him to the White House again come November.

They also recognize, of course, how tight this polling is. As you mentioned at the top that this is a neck and neck race. They recognize that. They think that this election is going to be won on the margins, and they really do believe that this anti-immigrant rhetoric is going to help them.

Now, just to talk a little bit more about Arizona, we know that this is a state that Donald Trump lost, or excuse me, he won in 2016 but lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by fewer than 11,000 points. Now, if you look at the most recent polling from us, but also "New York Times" and others, it shows that Donald Trump continues to have a small lead in this state.

I know from my conversations with the Trump campaign that they really do believe that Arizona is going to be one of the most crucial, crucial states to them in November. That's why you're going to see him spend a lot more time here as we look ahead to November 5th -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: And we've seen from polling going back to even late September that likely voters overall say they trust Trump over Harris when it comes to issues of immigration. Now, we'll see if maybe that could be the reason they're leaning into this rhetoric here.

Alayna Treene, Eva McKend, thank you as well. Thank you both.

I want to turn now to storm-battered Florida, because more reminders of what Florida residents are finding when they return home. A portion of a pier washed up on a beach behind homes on Florida's Anna Maria Island after Milton hit the island just four days ago, while 1.5 million Floridians are still without power. President Joe Biden announced more than $600 million to shore up the power grid in places like Florida.

And after getting a bird's eye view from Marine One of the extensive damage left, this is some of the view there, by Hurricane Milton, today's visit marks the second time in a little over a week, Biden traveled to the state.

We've got a team of correspondents covering this. CNN correspondent, Brian Todd is traveling with the president in Florida, while CNN White House correspondent, Arlette Saenz is in Wilmington, Delaware as well.

Brian, I want to start with you, because a bipartisan group of officials flanked the president during his remarks earlier. How was he received there?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, he was received very enthusiastically. And as you alluded to, this was a reception that was very bipartisan in tone. The president traveling around this area with several prominent Republican officials from this local area, including the St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila, Kathleen Peters, the chair of Pinellas County, both of whom are Republicans, both of them spoke here after the President spoke, thanking President Biden for coming and saying, basically, they could not make it through the recovery process without the president's help, without the administration's help, and without the help of the federal government.

So they were very grateful for the president being here, but also other prominent Republicans from Florida, including Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a staunch Republican, traveling around here with the president and appearing with him, as well as Senator Rick Scott from the state of Florida there.

So he is again flanked by several Republican officials. In turn, the president himself thanked the first responders who showed up to help. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm here to personally say thank you to the brave first responders, now no one underestimate that, brave first responders, men and women in uniform, utility workers.

Look at the number that showed up from around the country, from Canada, California, Nebraska, all over the country, to come here to help. Men and women in uniform, as I said, health care personnel, neighbors helping neighbors and so many more people.

This is all a team effort, folks. We made a big difference and it saved lives.

[15:10:10]

But there's much more to do. We're going to do everything we can to get power back in your home, not only helping you recover, but to help you build back stronger.

God, bless you all. May God protect our first responders and protect our troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And we should note that the president, at this very moment, was scheduled to be overseas. The president had scheduled a trip to Germany and to Angola, that was going to be his first and only trip to Africa while he was president, that trip was postponed. It was postponed on the eve of the day when Milton hit here.

But the president says he still wants to go to Africa at some point before he leaves office -- Omar.

TODD: Brian Todd, thank you so much for the reporting on the ground in Florida. I want to bring in Arlette Saenz because Arlette, House Speaker Mike Johnson doubled down on his stance that Congress won't return early to give additional FEMA disaster relief funding. Do we have a sense of how the administration is responding here?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House has insisted that passing additional funding for FEMA and specifically for the disaster relief program, needs to be a top priority. President Biden has said that Congress needs to deal with this quickly, but really, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer haven't shown any indications that they would consider bringing Congress back early to specifically deal with this matter.

The House Speaker Johnson this morning reiterated this fact that he is not planning to bring the House back early, likely leaving this issue until after the election.

Now, the White House and officials across the administration have said that they do believe they have enough funding to deal with the response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, but it's any disasters that could pop up around the corner that they are concerned about.

Earlier in the week, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said that they have already run through about $9 billion of the $20 billion that Congress had recently appropriated to the disaster relief program with these hurricanes. So it really speaks to the urgency that the administration is facing as they prepare for any other possible natural disasters that could come.

There is also the issue of a program at the Small Business Administration, which officials argue needs to be funded more in order to help small business owners, as well as homeowners, recover some of the property and equipment they may have lost in these hurricanes.

But one big question is exactly how much the administration will be asking Congress to provide. Earlier today, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, would not put an exact figure on what they will be asking down the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, US HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We are still, for example, assessing the damage from Hurricane Milton, which is of historic strength, and it also led to approximately 27 different tornadoes, so we don't know the impact. We don't know what's coming tomorrow, whether it's another hurricane, a tornado, a fire, an earthquake.

We have to be ready, and it is not good government to be dependent on the day-to-day existence, as opposed to appropriate planning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, President Biden says he has not spoken with House Speaker Johnson yet, but he says that he hopes to. We'll see if there is any other pressure that he tries to place to try to get this funding approved down the road.

JIMENEZ: Arlette Saenz, really appreciate the reporting.

We're continuing to follow other breaking news stories, including out of Israel. More than 60 people were injured in a drone attack in North Central Israel. We've been following the story over the past hour. This comes after Hezbollah said it had fired a swarm of drones. We're live in the region with the latest. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:36]

JIMENEZ: We've got some breaking news out of the Middle East. At least 60 people were injured in North Central Israel after a drone attack. Now Hezbollah is claiming responsibility for the attack on an area south of Haifa.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv and Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. So Nic, what more are we learning about this attack?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the attack was in Binyamina. It is about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv. It's in Central Israel. It is 40 miles from the border with Lebanon.

This seems to be the bloodiest attack on Israel, away from the frontline since October the 7th last year. It's a mass casualty event.

Medics on the scene have reported taking away more than 60 casualties, some of them have been taken in helicopter. Indeed, we've seen a few of those helicopters flying into Tel Aviv here this evening.

We've also -- they are also reporting that many were taken away by ambulance, by local medical ambulances, regular ambulances, if you will, and IDF ambulances. The injuries are reported to be from serious to critical to moderate to light injuries.

It's very likely that the toll, the casualty toll, may climb, and we may get more details about some of the precise injuries and about the location. Now, Hezbollah has claimed that they've struck a base of the Golani.

[15:20:08]

They've been threatening that they would use drones to strike at Israeli bases behind the front lines. Social media video that we're still analyzing appears to indicate troops are those casualties, but typically, in a situation like this, if it was an IDF base that was struck, it would take the IDF sometime before they would talk about it, because they need to notify families of some of the soldiers who would be caught up in it. And of course, this is a sensitive site if it is a military base, but all indications seem to point that this is the bloodiest strike yet, apparently it appears on troops many, many tens of miles away from the frontlines. This is a new event here in Israel right now.

JIMENEZ: In these early stages, a lot still trying to confirm, at this moment, and even from the last time you spoke Nic, more details are coming into the fray. So we'll stay close to you there.

Ben, I want to bring you in here, because what has Hezbollah said about where they're sending certain attacks? What are they saying right now at this hour?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not long after Omar that news came out from Israel of that attack, Hezbollah put out a statement saying that the target was the training base of the Golani Brigade in Binyamina, the spot where this incident, this attack took place. And they said in the statement that this was in revenge for the attack on Thursday evening on Central Beirut, which killed 22 people, wounded 117 and what we've seen today is a fairly intense activity by Hezbollah, certainly along the border, but as we can see, striking deep inside Israel as well.

This, despite the fact that most of the senior leadership has been killed by Israel over the last few weeks, and despite the fact that Israel has conducted hundreds -- thousands of airstrikes on what they say are Hezbollah targets in the last few weeks as well -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: And Nic, I want to bring you in one more time here, because, look, this has been part of the back and forth we've seen between Israel and Hezbollah searching back for, I mean, for, really, over a year now at this point.

But in another key development today, the United States says it is sending an anti-ballistic missile system and troops to Israel. Do we have any details about that?

ROBERTSON: Yes, we understand that there will be about a hundred troops coming with this system, which we understand is a sort of a normal figure to operate one of these THAAD systems. That's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system. It's designed to interdict really high flying, 50 kilometers high even ballistic missiles that go up into the atmosphere and come down, can get from Tehran to Tel Aviv in 12 minutes.

So these are high flying, high impact, very heavy payload, very fast missiles that are hard to interdict. And Iran fired 180 of those at Israel just two weeks ago, Hezbollah has fired a handful. The Houthis from Yemen have fired a handful into the center of Israel as well. And this does seem to indicate that the United States and Israel both feel the need to step up the defenses against ballistic missiles.

This, of course, as Israel is mulling just how it strikes back at Iran, following those ballistic missiles here two weeks ago. And of course, Iran threatening to escalate and follow up with their own counter strikes, potentially, if Israel does.

So, it points to an increase in tensions. It points to an increase in potential vulnerability, if you will, across the country, and the need to bolster the defenses here in Israel.

You know what those -- what the THAAD won't do is stop the drones that came in this evening. Now the IDF said they did intercept one of the drones that was coming in from Lebanon, but these -- the drones are perhaps proving some of the trickier weapon systems incoming to take down.

JIMENEZ: Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thank you both.

I want to get a little bit more analysis on this and bring in Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He is a CNN military analyst and former commanding general US Army Europe.

Now General, look this attack on Central Israel today. I mean, is this Hezbollah showing that it still has attack capability far beyond the frontlines. I wonder how you assess what we're seeing here?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. I've been watching the last couple of days getting sit-Republicans -- situation reports -- from the Israeli Defense Forces, Omar. What we're seeing is a massive increase in the number of missiles and drones that Hezbollah is firing into Israel.

The first 10 months of this war, they were firing anywhere from 30 to 50 per day. Over the last three days, they fired somewhere around 300 per day, and it just shows the capability of Hezbollah to launch missiles.

So what you're seeing is the leadership will certain -- the killing of the Hezbollah leadership will certainly have an effect. But there are still the trigger pullers. They can still launch missiles and rockets into Israel, and they seem to be very good at launching some of these missiles at specific targets, the so-called guided missiles, if it did, in fact, hit this military base that you and Nic were just talking about.

[15:25:39]

JIMENEZ: And I want to turn to missile defense here. Because, look, we know that the US is sending this THAAD missile defense system to Israel. Can you just walk us through a little bit what it can do here?

HERTLING: Yes, I think -- let me do that, Omar, because I think it's important. JIMENEZ: Yes.

HERTLING: Most people do not understand what is happening.

The US has conducted a series of exercises called Juniper Cobra with the Israeli Defense Forces since the late 1990s. What it does is integrate different types of air defense systems.

Now everyone knows about the Iron Dome. That's the word that, or the phrase that rolls off of people's tongue that Israel has. The Iron Dome is used against low altitude rockets and some missiles. Israel also has a weapon system called the David Sling that's for medium altitude incoming rockets and missiles. They also have something called the Arrow, which is high altitude, and it was tested up until about the 2012 timeframe, and put into service.

The US before that, when I was commander in Europe, we used to loan Patriot PAC-3s with their crews to Israel, and we used to have those Patriot PAC-3 going against high altitude weapons.

Well, the THAAD system is very, very different. It's something called a kinetic kill technology. It doesn't have a round that goes off against another missile and blows up close by. It has a direct impact with just a kinetic kill against the missile.

So it actually strikes the incoming anti -- the incoming ballistic missile system. The US is deploying a US battery. As Nic said, it has got about a hundred soldiers as part of it. It will have six launchers, and each launcher can fire about eight missiles at a time.

So you've upped the potential to strike the anti -- or to use as anti- ballistic missiles coming in from Iran, if there is a reaction to any kind of Israeli strike against Iran in the coming days.

This is the best system in the world that, and there's only six of them, six batteries of these in the United States inventory. So loaning one and deploying a group of soldiers to Israel is a pretty big deal.

JIMENEZ: And I want to touch on that group of soldiers part because I think people hear that, and they might think, oh, is this a new phase of the war? Is a new phase of the conflict that we're seeing in the Middle East, because we're deploying troops on the ground to Israel?

Can you just explain and give some background on why they would go with a system like this, and how much it either changes the scenario or not on the ground?

HERTLING: Well, the US soldiers were there is because they're the only ones capable of firing this system and employing it. They've been the only ones trained. We have not given this system to the Israelis. So this is a US system only shared by a couple of other countries that have bought it recently. But they need to be there in order to fire this system.

But the other important thing about it, and I'll counter what Nic said, it has a range of about a hundred -- almost a hundred miles in terms of its shoot capabilities and it can range in area about 125 miles.

So if you put these missile systems spread out throughout Israel, a country that's only about 250 miles from north to south and about 70 miles from east to west, you can basically cover the entire country with this one missile battery.

This is unlike something that might go to Ukraine, which is 500 miles from north to south and about 800 miles from east to west. So this is specifically geared toward Israeli defense, and it's something that the US and Israel have practiced multiple times in the last 20 years in something called an Integrated Air Defense System.

JIMENEZ: Wow. General Hertling, that's why we bring you on, because your perspective is unmatched, and I really appreciate you. I mean, you explain to me, I always learn a lot having you on and your perspective is always appreciated. Thanks for being here.

HERTLING: Thanks, Omar. I appreciate it.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right ahead, after two attempted assassinations, former President Donald Trump is asking for military aircraft with anti-missile capabilities and other security measures. That's next.

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[15:24:17]

JIMENEZ: So after two attempts on his life and an ongoing threat from Iran, Donald Trump's campaign has ramped up requests for security during the final weeks of the presidential race. Now sources tell us, they're asking for military aircraft with anti-missile capabilities and additional resources on the ground, including drones with thermal monitoring.

CNN is told the Secret Service is now working on a formal request. We're joined now by Juliette Kayyem, CNN senior national security analyst and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. So one, thanks for being here.

But also when asked about Trump's requests on Friday, President Biden said they should be fulfilled, "as long as he doesn't ask for F-15s." So who has to approve these requests? Are they reasonable? Just sort of what goes in into these decisions here?

[15:35:09]

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, so this first thing, just, let's just, sort of, you know, set the stage right now, after the two assassination attempts, the Secret Service obviously increased its sort of, you know, it's deployment of resources to protect Donald Trump that included a number of both instruments, surveillance and then just protecting -- more people protecting former President Trump.

Fast forward, Donald Trump's campaign had made sort of e-mail requests. That's not normally the way you do it for more assets based on their belief that the former president was still vulnerable. Once that got detangled, now the request, it goes through the normal processes, which is the Department of Homeland Security, which would then pull from the Department of Defense, if it determined, and President Biden seems to agree, if it determined that some of these requests are necessary.

There are legal issues that might be involved. But this is one of those things that it's not clear. No one benefits from this being sort of out in the dialogue, in some ways, because you want to -- you do want to protect Donald Trump, but his campaign made it public. They claim that it was very slow in the making, but obviously this is a determination made by security professionals, not by the candidate, and that's why you're hearing a lot of this, like, is this for real, or is this just a way that he wants to look like the president as we approach the election.

JIMENEZ: Well, and one thing that sticks out too is, you know, this feels like a situation where a request, a security request, was made to the Biden administration, and it didn't seem like there were any politics at play there in approving added security measures.

But when Trump took a detour from the battleground states this week, to hold a rally in California last night, he doubled down on slamming immigration, which we've seen, but he also threatened to withhold federal funds used to fight fires in California over the state's water and environmental rules. Take a quick listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to take care of our farmers. We're going to take care of your water situation, and we'll force it down his throat, and we'll say, Gavin, if you don't do it, we're not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the forest fires that you have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So you've worked in the federal government. What's your take on that threat? I already hear you reacting.

KAYYEM: Yes, so I mean, and I've been writing and on air about this, so I mean, first of all, I just want to talk about the language that Donald Trump uses, you know, "down your throat," this sort of violence language. We're sort of used to it now, but I think it's important that we highlighted every time this campaign, his campaign's rhetoric is getting more violent, more you know, sort of threatening, as he did against Gavin Newsom.

But it's not just against Gavin Newsom, it's against the residents of California who would benefit -- who do benefit from federal support in their anti-fire and disaster management resources. This is no different than Oklahoma benefiting from the federal government when it gets hit by tornadoes or Florida, as we saw last week.

But this is part of the narrative that Trump is pushing right now on disaster and the politics of disaster. He's been pushing these lies about whether the Biden administration is favoring or disfavoring red states, it is not. And he now takes it to California to say California will be punished and he uses violent language when and if he becomes president, it's unprecedented. That's worth saying as well.

It's unlawful. That's worth saying as well. And of course, it's just morally disgusting at this stage, victims of natural disasters, whether they are from red states or blue states, deserve a president's support, but this is the campaign he will run, and the presidency he will run if he wins.

JIMENEZ: And we've seen a bipartisan reception for President Joe Biden, who's been down in Florida at this point, helping, or at least making his presence known as folks there try to recover from Hurricane Milton.

Juliette Kayyem, really appreciate you. Thanks for being here.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, coming up, they said they were utility workers, but when they left the home, the wife was tied up and the husband was dead. The entire moment, or the moment they entered the Michigan home was caught on a doorbell camera. Stay with us. We'll show you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:1]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're DTE. We are checking for gas leaks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: All right, so you can see, the outfits look real, but authorities in Michigan say those men are not the utility workers they claim to be, and when they left the house, a woman was duct taped and her husband was found dead in the basement.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us from New York.

You've been following the story, and as I understand, authorities have arrested one of the men seen in that video. What do we know?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Omar, one suspect has been apprehended, and another one remains at large. And the way in which police say that this happened is what's so disturbing about it, right?

Police in Rochester Hills, Michigan say the two suspects were impersonating utility workers. They arrived at this house last week, claiming to be working for the local utility company and that they were checking on a gas leak. Now they did this once the night before, but they were not allowed in.

[15:45:12]

Then they returned the next day, and that is when 72-year-old Hussein Murray allowed them into the house and into the basement, where they were supposedly checking for that leak. Now police say that is where these two men allegedly killed Murray and his wife, who was also at the house at the same time, was tied up with duct tape. She was eventually able to call 911, and she believed that her husband had been kidnapped.

Now, as you see in the video, it shows the two utility workers arriving at the door. You can see that the man appears to be flashing a clipboard that has the logo of the company. That there's another man in the background, and you hear he identifies himself as a utility worker.

Now police apprehended Carlos Hernandez on Saturday. He was pulled over while driving south in Louisiana, so hundreds of miles from where this incident took place, and the sheriff's deputies there spotted a vehicle that matched the same description of the car that he was seen driving. He is in custody and has been booked on multiple warrants in Ohio, as well as the charge from Michigan.

Now, police are asking for the public's help to find the second suspect. They say that if people may have video or anything they might have seen from the night of the incident last week, to please share it with them.

In the meantime, we also received a statement from the company DTE, in Michigan, saying that their hearts go out to the victims of this horrific and tragic event, and we hope the perpetrators are quickly apprehended and brought to justice. Before DTE makes a routine visit to your home, we will make every effort to contact you in advance -- a really important reminder there, Omar, that if there is ever a utility worker that shows up to your doorstep, you are able to call your local utility company and just confirm that they're supposed to be there before you open that door -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Really, really disturbing story.

Gloria Pazmino, thank you for bringing us the details.

We're following a lot of news this afternoon. Still to come, in parts of Florida, river flooding continues to be an issue days after Hurricane Milton ravaged the state, the areas impacted, next.

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[15:52:03]

JIMENEZ: Today, President Biden surveyed the damage from Hurricanes Milton and Helene in Florida. You can see some of that video there. Thousands of homes and cars were submerged and destroyed.

CNN's Allison Chinchar has more on when we could see the flood waters recede.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well as quickly as that water came into Florida, unfortunately, it takes much longer to go back out. So scenes like this, where you can see buildings and homes under water, you have to understand that Florida's topography plays a big role, and because it's very flat, you don't have that water receding as quickly as say you would for rivers, creeks, and streams that are say in a more mountainous terrain where gravity helps push that water back out.

Now one bit of good news is for a lot of the rivers, creeks and streams on the western side of Florida, those have already crested. We're starting to see those numbers come down, but it's the eastern portion of Florida, including the St. Johns River, where those rivers are still going up and likely won't crest for several more days, providing those folks the relief they desperately need.

There is rain in the forecast in Florida, but today it's mainly going to be focused in South Florida, areas like Miami and Key West. Other areas of rain from an entirely separate system are going to be making their way through the Great Lakes, and it's all thanks to this cold front, but the cold front is going to have more of a widespread impact in the form of temperatures the next few days.

Take a look at Washington, DC, for example, high temperature today likely to make it into the low 80s, but that high temperature Tuesday may not even make it up to 60 degrees, thanks to that cold front.

Look at a city like Atlanta, you're going to see the temperatures dropping back down to 63 for the high on Wednesday, that next morning, low may not even get to 40 degrees. You're going to see those temperatures dropping back into the 30s.

And also, Dallas, take a look at this, going from 96 today all the way down to a high of only 68 on Wednesday. So if you haven't already, you're going to want to take those sweaters and coats out. You will need them this week.

JIMENEZ: Fall is happening. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

All right, shifting gears here, since 2020 roughly 12,000 Haitian immigrants have moved to the Springfield, Ohio area. But Springfield was a city once struggling to find workers.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and running mate, Senator JD Vance has spent a lot of their campaign lately targeting these legal immigrants, spreading claims that haven't been backed up by evidence, and threatening to deport them if elected.

Now, since the presidential debate back on September 10th, I've been to Springfield many times, and I quickly realized there was a bigger story there that existed way before all these national politics got involved.

So in this week's "The Whole Story," I'm going to take you inside this community. I spoke with local residents, business owners, city leaders, and the immigrants who are now facing harassment and threats to their safety.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: When would you say you hired your first Haitian immigrant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, four years ago. Post-pandemic era. As we came out of the pandemic, there was this huge demand for production, and we were struggling to find people to come in and work with us.

[15:55:12]

They might work a day or two, and then we'd never see them again. They just would disappear and that is a real problem. When you are running a production facility, you need to have a reliable workforce that you can count on to be at work every day.

The influx of the Haitian population has allowed companies to expand and grow. From an economy standpoint, for the community, they are shopping, they are paying taxes. It just boggles my mind the people that think that they're just getting this incredible free ride.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, as part of this, I also spoke with the Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, about the impact of Haitian immigrants on the state and what could happen if they were to leave.

Be sure to tune in, all-new episode of "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, one whole hour, one whole story airs tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern and Pacific only on CNN. See you there.

All right in our next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, with just 23 days left until Election Day, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump head to critical sunbelt states as the race remains as tight as ever.

Stay with us.

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