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Israeli Cabinet Could Decide Response to Iranian Attack; New Poll Shows Razor-Thin Harris-Trump Race in Key States; SpaceX Starship Approved for Fifth Test Flight. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 13, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:00]

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all our viewers watching around the world. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong.

Ahead on CNN Newsroom, Israel's cabinet is set to meet later today, as Iran warns that any retaliatory attack from Israel will not go unanswered.

Too close to call, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in several key states. What the polls show.

And SpaceX could soon send its uncrewed Starship back to space in a fifth test launch. The craft may eventually take astronauts back to the moon.

Israel could decide today on a response to Iran's missile attack earlier this month. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with his cabinet as the country faces conflicts on several fronts, from Gaza to Lebanon, to Iran. Iran's parliament speaker was in Beirut on Saturday to meet with his Lebanese counterpart. At a news conference, he relayed Iran's support for Lebanon and Hezbollah.

Well, Lebanon's Ministry of Health says Israeli strikes there killed at least 15 people on Saturday. These images show emergency workers searching rubble for survivors in Southern Lebanon after one of those strikes. Well, meanwhile, Israel says Hezbollah fired more than 300 projectiles from Lebanon.

Over the past two days, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Saturday, expressing what the Pentagon called deep concern that U.N. peacekeepers had reportedly come under Israeli fire. The Pentagon says Austin was speaking with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Austin also said it's important to ensure the safety and security of the U.N. forces and he urged Israel to switch from military operations to diplomacy in Lebanon as soon as it's feasible.

New reporting from The New York Times, Hamas plotted the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel for more than two years and tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to participate. The Times is citing the minutes of secret Hamas meetings found on a computer and seized by the Israeli military in Gaza back in January.

Iran and Hezbollah have vigorously denied the claims. In a statement to CNN, Iran's mission to the United Nations said, while Doha- stationed Hamas officials have themselves stated that they too had no prior knowledge of the operation and that all the planning, decision- making and directing were solely executed by Hamas' military wing based in Gaza, any claim attempting to link it to Iran or Hezbollah, either partially or wholly, is devoid of credence and comes from fabricated documents.

Ronen Bergman is one of the Times reporters who broke the story. He tells CNN that Hamas staged a massive campaign of deception ahead of the attack.

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RONEN BERGMAN, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: What these protocols reveal is that unlike the claim from Israeli intelligence that this was a well kept secret between only six people in Gaza, which, of course, makes the Israeli intelligence failure slightly lighter or smaller, the Hamas shared this secret of the coming attack with Iran, with Hezbollah. They understood from Iran that Iran will help if Hamas attacks, though not a promise to join them in the first minute. As it did happen, Hezbollah joined the war on October 7th.

But they also shared these secrets with people from the political bureau of Hamas. Hamas orchestrated a very sophisticated campaign of deception to convince Israeli leaders, as they say in the protocols, that Hamas is interested in economic welfare, in prosperity, and in calm, while, in fact, they were planning what they call the, the big project. That's their code name for the attack.

So, for example, they make sure, they made sure that they do not join rounds of fighting between Hamas and the other Palestinian jihadist movement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, because they wanted to show Israel that they don't want war.

[03:05:00]

And when you look at the Israeli intelligence document, you see that they fully fall into the trap. The Israelis believed that Hamas is deterred. They believed that Hamas doesn't want and cannot execute such an invasion. They didn't understand that they are just following a script written for them by Yahya Sinwar and his lieutenants

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: CNN's Nada Bashir joins us from London. Nada, good to see you.

As we've said, Israel's cabinet will meet today to weigh up its response to Iran's missile attack. I guess any indication on how this will go and where the divisions within the cabinet are delaying the response to the attack?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have seen earlier cabinet meetings, of course, held in Israel with no clear conclusions as to what the response from Israel should look like when that should take place in response, of course, to Iran's missile attack on Israel on October 1st. No clear conclusions just yet, but as you mentioned, we are expecting yet another cabinet meeting to be held today. No details on when or where that will take place.

And, of course, we will be watching to see if there are any conclusions from this latest meeting. But we have been hearing from Israeli officials, including the Israeli defense minister, who spoke earlier in the week about what he intends to intense Israel's response to look like, or at least reflect. He said in a video statement that the response from Israel would be deadly, precise and above all surprising. That being the key here, of course, there has been a huge amount of questions as to when this response will take place. He went on to say that Iran will not understand what happened and how it happened, that they will see the results.

Now, of course, there has been mounting concern over what this attack by Israel could look like and, of course, mounting concern from international leaders, including some of Israel's allies, including the Biden administration. We know that U.S. President Joe Biden has previously expressed his wish not to see Israel targeting Iran's nuclear capabilities.

He has instead called on Israel to perhaps focus on Iran's oil reserves. There has been real fear around the potential for this attack to deepen this regional war that we are already seeing spreading with deadly and devastating effect now in Lebanon. Of course, U.S. President Joe Biden did hold a call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. No clear details from the White House on the content of that call, but it was said to be an important call. And, of course, that pressure continues to mount.

But we're also hearing from the Iranian side as well with warnings that any attack by Israel will warrant a response by Iran. That has, according to sources in Tehran, been communicated to both the United States and leaders in the Middle East. So, clearly, there is mounting concern, not only internationally, but particularly in the region for there to be a de escalation. Of course, what we have heard in the past from Israeli officials is that Prime Minister Netanyahu does not necessarily want to see an end to this war, that Netanyahu is using this for political advantage. Whether that is the case, whether we see the cabinet swing in that direction, that remains to be seen.

COREN: Nada, as we reported a little earlier, The New York Times has released details on Hamas' planning for October 7th. What more are you learning?

BASHIR: Well, this reporting from The New York Times is citing what The New York Times says to be minutes from Hamas meeting that were obtained from a computer in Gaza by the Israeli military in January. Again, CNN has not seen these minutes. This is according to The New York Times. They have outlined that according to these minutes of what they believe to have been Hamas meeting, Hamas had been planning these October 7th attacks for over two years.

The intention behind the attacks were multiple intentions, according to The New York Times, was to disrupt Israel's plans, to deploy a new air defense system, to disrupt efforts to normalize ties and relations with Saudi Arabia, to respond to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the growing presence of Israeli forces around the Al Aqsa Mosque compound. And, of course, we have been seeing this bubbling tensions and violence by the Israeli military around the Al Aqsa compound, as well as, of course, the expansion of settlements there.

But one of the also key points of The New York Times reporting is that there was an initial sort of delay of this attack. It had been planned to take place, according to these minutes, in the autumn of 2022, but the delay had been put in place in order to bring in Hezbollah and Iran into the fold of that attack.

Now, these have been vigorously denied. These claims have been denied by both Hezbollah and Iran, who have maintained that they were not aware of these attacks. And, of course, The New York Times has said they've reached out to the Israeli military with no response there either.

COREN: Nada Bashir joining us from London, we appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

Well, Israel has ordered more people to evacuate from Northern Gaza as it ramps up its military operations there.

[03:10:03]

But Israeli military strikes have become heartbreaking and personal for a family that just welcomed a baby girl. And we have to warn you the images you're about to see are disturbing.

The girl's home was struck by Israeli fire just 11 hours after she was born on Friday. Her father and uncle were killed while her mother and grandmother were injured. The newborn suffered a head injury. This is video of her being treated at the hospital. Her grandfather described the incident.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter went to Al Masri yesterday for birth delivery at 1:00 A.M. and her husband went with her for support. The baby was born and the husband bought her medicine. When he reached the entrance of the house, they attacked him, his wife and their newborn baby girl, who was just 11 hours old.

We took the baby to the hospital as she was injured. Her father was martyred and her mother was seriously injured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: A Palestinian doctor says the baby is in a stable condition. Her mother is still fighting for her life, and the infant is by her side in intensive care.

Well, meanwhile, the World Food Program says no food has entered northern Gaza since the start of October, which puts a million people at risk of going hungry. Palestinian officials say 90 percent of children in Gaza have been short of food at some point over the past year.

Scott Anderson is the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza. He joins us from the territory. Scott, good to see you. Thank you for joining us.

Describe to us the situation on the ground in Northern Gaza right now.

SCOTT ANDERSON, DIRECTOR, UNRWA AFFAIRS IN GAZA: Good morning. Thanks for having me. Obviously, the situation is very difficult for the people there on the ground. There's, give or take, half a million people that are still in the northern part of Gaza. No food aid has entered since September 30th. People there don't have a great deal of resilience or a great deal of food stocks that they can turn to in such times when food is not available. And then on top of that, we've seen now significant displacement orders. We probably have 100,000 people that are trying to find safety for themselves, for their families, and we see that the operation continues in Jabalya, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia.

There's not a lot of safe places for people to turn to with their family, and we see that people are not moving south. They're moving within the north trying to find food, trying to find water and trying to find safety. So, it's a very difficult position for everybody. We're doing our best to try to get aid to them. But as I said, it's now been nearly two weeks that no food aid has managed to get north.

COREN: Scott, as you say, the IDF is telling the residents of Northern Gaza to evacuate. They say they're planning on using great force on an area that has already sustained repeated attacks over the past year. I mean, how realistic is it for these people to leave who've already moved multiple times and where are they supposed to go?

ANDERSON: I mean, I think that's the exact point. There is really nowhere to go. There's nowhere safe for them in Gaza. We've seen that throughout the course of this conflict over the last year that everywhere people think is safe turns out to not be safe. Every time people displaced, they are a little poor, they lose a little bit more of their worldly wealth and it makes it much more difficult for them to move and try to reestablish themselves and their families.

Nine out of every ten people in Gaza is displaced. Many have been displaced on average once a month. I was in the north a couple months ago and you talk to people and they say simply they cannot afford to displace again. They don't have anything left that they can turn to to try to reestablish themselves.

So, we're trying very hard to get things to the north to take care of people where they are, but it's been very difficult.

COREN: Scott, as we've reported and you just said, there's been no food or aid delivered since the 1st of October to the 400,000 or more people in northern Gaza. Many fear what's known as the general's plan is being adopted by the Israelis that's forcing the people of northern Gaza to surrender or starve. What do you believe is Israel's strategy? ANDERSON: I can't speak to their strategy. What I can speak to are the facts on the ground, which is that we have nearly half a million people in the north, at least 100,000 of those are displaced and on the move, and we've not been able to get food, aid to those people for almost two weeks. The hospitals that we have been able to access and provide fuel to are on the brink of collapse. And we are trying to move patients from hospitals in the evacuation zone to, other hospitals in the north, so they continue to receive care.

So, our focus here, and my focus specifically is on trying to get aid to these people and to make sure we can take care of them and try to meet their basic needs until there's a cease fire, which we hope comes very soon, that would return the hostages home and then allow peace to hopefully settle in Gaza.

[03:15:03]

COREN: Scott, we understand that Hamas is telling the residents of Northern Gaza not to move and many appear to be staying put despite the Israeli airstrikes and aerial bombardments. What do you know about that? And I guess what would be your message to the people of Northern Gaza?

ANDERSON: I mean, again, I don't know and I can't speak to what the strategy is for Hamas. What I can say is that we've had about 150 people cross from north to south over the last week since, you know, the evacuation orders were issued and all this began, you know, what I'd say to the people in the north is hold on as best you can and we're doing our best to try and come and help you. And we hope we'll be there very soon to provide aid to you.

COREN: Scott, we just saw images of that 11-day-old baby in surgery. Mother's fighting for her life. Father, uncle killed. I mean, this is a story we are seeing day after day. Tell us the effect that is having on your staff, on the people that you are working with, just this constant display of tragedy that that in a way is becoming normalized the longer this goes on.

ANDERSON: Yes. I mean, like it's very difficult for staff here to, you know, you have to deal with this every day. It's the constant stress. It's the constant, you know, witnessing the loss of life and is in most conflicts, the people that suffer the most are women and Children. We've seen, you know, a lot of injuries to young children. I personally witnessed some in my travels throughout Gaza during the last 11 months that I've been here. And it's hard.

I mean, we're all here because we're humanitarians. We're here because we care about people and we want to help, but it makes it very difficult to see the constant injuries, the constant death and to not have enough of what is needed so that we can help people that are very much in need. And I hope that this very young baby survives and that her mother also survives. In addition to what we saw with her, I've seen, you know, toddlers that are double amputees and it's just -- they suffer a great deal for something that occurred last October, that really they had no hand in what happened. So, I think, as I said, it's the innocents that suffer. It's very difficult for us as we try to help those civilians. And we're all here because we're humanitarians and we care and we want to help.

COREN: Well, Scott Anderson, we thank you for the work that you and your team are doing. And we appreciate you speaking to us. Scott Anderson, director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, thank you.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

COREN: A giant of Scottish politics for decades, former First Minister Alex Salmond has died. Now, he's being remembered after the break.

And the U.S. presidential election is likely to be a true nail biter. With little more than three weeks to go, the tight polls grow tighter as candidates hit the campaign trail hard. A look at the razor-thin numbers, ahead on CNN.

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COREN: Leaders are paying tribute to former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond who has passed away at age 69. He collapsed after giving a speech in North Macedonia on Saturday. Salmond was a key figure in Scotland's independence movement and leader of the Scottish National Party. He resigned as leader of the SNP after the defeat of the 2014 referendum for Scottish independence.

King Charles said, quote, his devotion to Scotland drove his decades of public service. And U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement, Alex Salmond was a monumental figure of Scottish and U.K. politics. He leaves behind a lasting legacy.

With 23 days before the election, Donald Trump is taking his campaign into some unexpected areas, making stops in several overwhelmingly Democratic states. Trump rallied Saturday in California's Coachella Valley, which plays host to a massive yearly music and arts festival. The mayor of the town was among those who criticized the visit, saying Trump's attacks on migrants and others do not align with the values of the community.

Well, during his speech, Trump pushed his fear mongering message hard, claiming that the very survival of the United States is at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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. I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COREN: Well, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to North Carolina to campaign on Saturday. She spoke to reporters ahead of her departure acknowledging that the race for the presidency is close.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Listen, this is a -- there's no question I say it in my rallies. This is a tight race. It's a margin of error race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: In Raleigh, Harris met with black community leaders and helped pack supplies for hurricane victims. Also Saturday, she released a detailed letter from her doctor summarizing her medical history. The letter says Harris is nearsighted and suffers from seasonal allergies. Despite a family history of colon cancer, the doctor says she is in, quote, excellent health.

Well, the latest polling shows the race for the White House is pretty much a tossup at this point. New figures from The New York Times and Siena College reveal no clear winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Kamala Harris is just slightly ahead, but the gap between her and Donald Trump is within the margin of error. Trump has a similar, razor-thin lead in Arizona.

[03:25:00]

The CNN poll of polls averages the four most recent non partisan surveys of likely voters. It shows Harris leading Trump by one point in Pennsylvania.

Or whether you call it a dead heat, a tossup, or neck-and-neck, the race is extremely close for this stage in the campaign. But one strange thing about it is that it's getting even tighter. Harry Enten explains.

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HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I thought it was close in the month of September. Somehow, it's become even closer. You can see it in these Great Lake battleground states. You go back three weeks ago, it was a tight race in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Three points in Michigan, two points in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. You come today, holy Toledo, holy cow. Look at Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Now, we got a one point race. It's somehow even tighter.

And if we expand it out, we don't just look at the Great Lake battleground states, we look at the Sun Belt battleground states as well. And somehow, I mean, look at, look at these numbers. They're crazy. One, one, one, one, one, one, and then Arizona is a relative blowout at a two point margin for Donald Trump. I mean, all of these states are so close, these seven pivotal battleground states. And as I mentioned, they've somehow become even tighter.

The bottom line is, as we have 24 days until the election, you know, I make my living on trying to tell folks who's going to win. And I got to be honest with you. I haven't got the faintest clue.

You know, there are kind of a few ways you could look at the data, right? I know a lot of folks have been looking at betting markets, and they've shown some movement towards Donald Trump. But, look, if the bettors are giving Trump a 53 percent chance of winning, that's a coin toss. That's a coin toss. If you look at the polling based models, they, on average, give Kamala Harris a 53 percent chance of winning.

Folks, these are in the exact same neighborhood. The only thing you can really take away from either the polling models or the bettors is that it is a coin toss. I love elections. I study elections. I watch old election night tapes. I can tell you that in any point that I've been following elections, at this point in the campaign, there has not been a single one as close as this one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, I'm now joined by Thomas Gift, director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College, London. Good to see you.

As we say, the latest polls indicate how tight this race is. We are, what, 23 days from Election Day. How does either candidate pull away in these key battleground states?

THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTER ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, thanks so much for having me, Anna. It's great to be with you.

I think for Trump, he really needs to focus in on two issues. One is immigration and the second is inflation and the cost of living. He has really gotten distracted in many respects when it comes to his campaign, the kinds of issues that he's talking about. Now is the time as we're in this final stretch to really home in on his message.

I think for Kamala Harris, she really needs to convince Americans that she's not a flip-flopper, that she says what she means and means what she says. You know, there have been a lot of accusations that she's kind of twisted her campaign to fit this general election, that she used to be for Medicare for all, now she's not, that she used to be for looser immigration policies, now she's not, that she used to be against fracking, now she's not.

And so I think both candidates really need to figure out exactly what their message is and just say it over and over and over.

COREN: Thomas, many Democrats had hoped that Harris' candidacy would bring a tidal wave of support from black voters. And, you know, looking at The New York Times/Siena College poll, she certainly has brought many back to the party since becoming the Democratic nominee and yet there is still a gap. You know, we go back to 2020, Biden had 90 percent of the black vote, Harris at the moment, according to this poll, has 78 percent. Can you explain the discrepancy for us?

GIFT: Well, 78 percent seems like high number. But as you suggest, it's nothing compared to what Joe Biden was able to obtain. And, in fact, in one point in this election, it looked like Donald Trump was on pace to win a higher fraction of black voters of any Republican presidential candidate in history.

So, this is a real challenge for Kamala Harris. She knows that she can't win states like Pennsylvania and Michigan without having a significant black turnout and for those voters to come out for her. It's one reason why Barack Obama has been on the campaign trail stumping. Obviously, Barack Obama has very broad appeal within the Democratic Party.

There's a lot of nostalgia for the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, but he has particular appeal with black Americans. And he has sort of been emphasizing this issue that we that Harris really needs blacks to turn out.

[03:30:01]

Otherwise, it's going to be a real challenge for Harris to win.

COREN: Yes. I think Obama had a pretty stern words for black men because there has been an uptick in support for Donald Trump from black men. I think it's 15 percent, according to this poll, which is a six point increase from four years ago. Does this come down to an issue of sex? Is sexism at play here?

GIFT: Well, you know, there are a couple of gender gaps. One is that women are simply more likely to turn out to vote compared to men. And then there's the partisan gender divide showing that women are more inclined to support Harris over Trump on net.

You know, data also show that this is largest among Gen Z voters and younger voters. I think a lot of this reflects kind of overwhelming evidence that young women are increasingly outperforming young men on lots of metrics of success, including obtaining college degrees, home ownership, employment. There are lots of young men who have exited the labor force, remain somewhat disengaged from the U.S. economy. As a result, there's disillusionment, and coalitions within the political right have kind of effectively tapped into that.

So, I don't think that this election is totally about gender, but it is absolutely insignificant part about it.

COREN: And just quickly, and very finally, why is Donald Trump detouring to blue states, including Harris' home state of California, that he knows he cannot win?

GIFT: Yes. I mean, Trump's definitely under no illusions that he can compete in these blue states. I think it could just be that these detours are meant to satisfy his ego, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of it.

But there are a few strategic reasons why Trump spends spending time in places like New York and California. I think one is that these states have lots of wealthy donors and Trump's hoping to secure more fundraising dollars for this final stretch.

Another is that Trump can use some of these blue states almost as a platform to criticize what he alleges are the failings of Democratic governments. So, high taxes problems with sanctuary cities, spiking cost of living, red tape in the business environment, elevated crime, et cetera, et cetera.

Lastly, I think Trump is possibly trying to have an impact down ballot. There are a number of competitive House races, particularly in New York, California, about ten that are competitive, and I think maybe Trump thinks that he could make a difference there.

COREN: Okay. Well, Thomas Gift, always great to get your analysis. Thanks so much for joining us.

GIFT: Thanks, Anna.

COREN: Well, Israel could decide in the coming hours how it will retaliate for Iran's missile barrage on October 1st. The latest on today's planned cabinet meeting and the fallout, just ahead.

Plus, Floridians face the daunting task of cleanup and recovery following back-to-back major hurricanes. But many across the state are still at risk for flooding. Those details when we return.

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COREN: We are waiting for word from Israel about the country's cabinet meeting scheduled to happen today. Well, in that meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers could decide Israel's response to Iran's missile attack earlier this month.

On October 1st, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel. Most were intercepted. Well, now Iran is bracing for retaliation.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen brings us the latest from the Iranian capital.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tensions remain really high here in the Middle East region as Iran awaits whether or not there's going to be a retaliatory strike by the Israelis after, of course, the Iranians launched that missile barrage targeting Israeli territory and Israeli military installations last week.

Now, the Iranians have said that any attack by Israel will be met by Iranian retaliation. That is something that a source that is familiar with these discussions has told CNN. At the same time, the Iranians also say that they have communicated that not just to countries here in the region, but also specifically to the United States as well.

Now, of course, they would do that through intermediaries, because the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations with one another. However, that is what the Iranians say that they will do. It's unclear what Iranian retaliation will look like. However, a deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is, of course, the elite units of Iran's military, has said that if, for instance, Israel decides to target oil and gas installations here in Iran, that Iran could then itself target energy infrastructure inside of Israel.

At the same time, diplomacy also continues here as well. Iran's foreign minister has been traveling the region. Iran's president also was in Turkmenistan on Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And then on Saturday the speaker of Iranian parliament went to Beirut in Lebanon and there said that he had a message directly from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that Iran will continue to support Lebanon.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

COREN: As Floridians begin the long process of recovery from two massive storms in two weeks, many are facing even more flooding in the coming days. Swollen rivers and waterways remain a threat in northern and central parts of the state, and more than 1 million customers are still without power.

U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Florida on Sunday to visit areas impacted by the storm. The trip comes just a day after he issued a major disaster declaration for several counties. The declaration makes more federal funding available, including grants for temporary housing and home repairs.

Our Brian Abel is in one of the hardest hit areas in Western Florida. Here's his report.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Days removed from landfall of this hurricane and the water levels continue to be an issue. I want to show you here this canoe. This canoe has basically become a taxi for people to get back and forth to their homes, to get supplies and other things like that and get valuables to safety.

Now, I also talked with somebody that's been in this neighborhood here, the Bloomingdale Acres neighborhood, for about 50 years or so. They say this is the worst they've ever seen it. And they also tell me that the water levels, you see it here, at one point, were as high as the top of the white of that bus down there. So that's how much the water has dropped. The concern now is where does it go before eventually going back into the bay. It will go to other neighborhoods, and that is a big concern here.

[03:40:00]

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff telling me that of the over 1,000 rescues across the state, his department did about 300 of them. So, that's pretty significant. Power has improved significantly as well. It's gone down nearly half of what it was at one point and improving further.

Also fuel, fuel was a major issue. We've seen some really long lines at gas stations in this Tampa area. And it wasn't a delivery problem or a supply problem, according to the sheriff. It was a dispensary problem at the port because equipment got fried, and that was delaying the fuel getting to the gas stations. Now, those fuel tankers, they have police escorts to get them to the areas that need it most. And so the next chapter of this is, A, where does this water go? When does it eventually subside for everybody, and then, B, the recovery with FEMA, because now people are going to have to make claims for not one, but two hurricanes, and they're going to have to do it separately. That's a big issue.

COREN: Brian Abel reporting there.

Well, Chinese nationalist influencers are spreading rumors on social media about so-called exploding iPhone. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Welcome back. Well, most Apple iPhones are made in Chinese factories, but the brand isn't getting a lot of love from China's nationalist influencers lately. They're spreading rumors on social media, telling people that iPhones can explode.

Well, CNN's Will Ripley tells us what's behind the sudden burst of misinformation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On China's tightly controlled social media, the censors have allowed this 2011 video of an exploding iPhone to go viral, drawing misleading comparisons to the deadly attacks in Lebanon.

[03:45:01]

Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies rigged with explosives.

Chinese social media influencers are using the 13-year-old video spreading rumors about Apple iPhones, suggesting, without evidence, ordinary iPhones that haven't been tampered with can be remotely detonated, making them deadly weapons.

CHRIS BODEN, YOUTUBER AND HOST OF @PHYSICSDUCK: You can't just make an iPhone blow up like that without putting explosives in it,

RIPLEY: We tracked down the man behind the original viral video, American youtuber Chris Boden. He says this iPhone was hooked up to a high voltage machine

BODEN: To make that little iPhone blow up, we had to have a power supply that was bigger than a refrigerator and weighs about half a ton.

RIPLEY: Despite efforts from some Chinese state media to debunk online rumors, fears that iPhones could explode are spreading quickly online. It's a very real threat, one user writes. Another says, if we want to protect our lives, we should use Chinese products.

Some influencers are encouraging users to switch to Chinese brands. Cyber nationalism in China creates fertile ground for false attacks on foreign brands, like Apple. These posts untouched by Beijing's army of online censors.

former CIA operative Bob Bayer points out iPhones are primarily assembled in China.

BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: I mean, if the Chinese government were involved, they could rig any of these phones.

RIPLEY: Baer says there's no evidence any phones are being weaponized.

BAER: Any phone with a chip is insecure. You can blow somebody up if you can put in a detonator and explosive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): He also says there's plenty of easier ways to kill someone without getting a hold of their phone. He says it's actually impossible for a phone to spontaneously explode without adding explosives. The most it could do was the battery overheat and catch fire. But that's not stopping a host of conspiracy theories ever since the Lebanon attacks, especially in China, where one construction company has already banned iPhones at work, saying employees could be fired if they bring an iPhone, even offering vouchers to buy a Chinese-made alternative.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

COREN: After weeks of feuding with federal regulators, Elon Musk's SpaceX just scored a major victory that clears the way for a potential launch attempt. And that could happen within hours. More, just ahead.

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[03:50:00]

COREN: SpaceX has finally won a license for the fifth test launch of its uncrewed Starship as early as today. Starship is the most powerful rocket system ever built. The approval by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration comes after a 30-day delay due to what it says were violations of state and federal laws. It sparked a public feud between the regulator and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX plans to use the Starship capsule to take NASA astronauts to the moon as soon as 2026 and eventually to Mars.

Meanwhile, NASA says it hopes to launch its Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter's fourth largest moon as early as tomorrow. Europa has long fascinated scientists and science fiction fans because it just may be a great place to look for signs of life.

Our Michael Holmes has this report.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): A vast ocean in a moon hundreds of millions of miles away. That's what NASA's new and largest planetary spacecraft is set to explore. Scientists believe that Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, is one of the most promising places to look for life beyond Earth.

The moon, about the same size as our own, is thought to have beneath its icy surface an ocean of water, perhaps encompassing the entire moon.

LAURIE LESHIN, NASA DIRECTOR OF THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY: We scientists have been dreaming about a mission like Europa Clipper for more than 20 years. We've been working to build it for ten years. It's going to be another ten years because Jupiter's so far away until we have all the science in the bag.

HOLMES: The mission is not looking for life on the moon, but rather an environment in which life could survive. The Europa Clipper will gather information on the thickness of that icy shell, investigate the possible ocean beneath it, and study the geology of the surface.

So, how does an icy moon far away from the sun have the energy to sustain life? Well, Jupiter's strong gravity creates tides that stretch and tug the moon, producing heat.

GINA DIBRACCIO, NASA ACTING DIRECTOR OF PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION: Clipper is going to tell us if Europa has all of these ingredients for life. So, what we learned with Clipper and the habitability of Europa, this is going to pave the way for the future, for future missions to Europa and elsewhere in our solar system, where we can search more directly for life.

HOLMES: This big venture from NASA requires very big equipment. The Europa Clipper is about 16 feet or nearly 5 meters tall and more than 100 feet or about 30 meters wide. That's about the length of a basketball court. The scale of the Clipper is primarily due to its massive solar arrays. Another big feat for this spacecraft is a poem.

ADA LIMON, U.S. POET LAUREATE: Still, there are mysteries below sky.

HOLMES: U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon wrote an original poem dedicated to NASA's Europa Clipper mission. The poem will be engraved on the spacecraft as a way to connect the two worlds, Earth and Europa.

LIMON: We point to the planets we know. We pin quick wishes on stars. From Earth, we read the sky as if it is an unerring book of the universe, expert and evident.

HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN.

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[03:55:00]

COREN: A computer programming class in Portugal is setting a new record. Close to 1,700 people filled the University of Lisbon's School of Engineering and Technology on Saturday. Their goal, to set a Guinness World Record for the largest computer programming class in a single venue. The previous record was set back in 2016 when 724 students participated in a computer programming class in Texas.

Organizers say they were hoping to bring more attention to Portugal as a growing hub for computer information technology.

And bodybuilders gathered in Spain on Saturday to pump up their biceps, pecs and glutes at the Arnold Sports Festival. Dozens of athletes flexed their tanned physiques and posed to compete for the win. The event traces its roots to the 1989 Arnold Classic Bodybuilding Competition. Well, it's named, of course, for muscle man and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger who won the Mr. Olympia title and elevated the sport with his movie, Pumping Iron.

The festival includes an expo and competitions and showcases, health and fitness trends. Thank goodness I went for a run this morning.

Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. There's more CNN Newsroom ahead with my colleague, Kim Brunhuber, in Atlanta. Stay tuned.

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