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Kamala Harris Gives Fiery Interview to FOX News; Interview With Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL); Israel Attempting to Confirm Potential Death of Hamas Leader. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 17, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:01:09]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: All right, you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We do begin this hour with breaking news, right now, Israel trying to determine if its forces have indeed killed the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, two Israeli sources telling CNN that forces engaged three militants near a building in Gaza and killed all three. The troops then found the man resembling Sinwar and alerted senior commanders.

Sources telling CNN that DNA testing is under way at this point. If confirmed, Sinwar's death would have massive implications on the region, the Israel-Hamas war, of course, and the hostages still being held.

Let's begin with CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, we're not showing these images to our viewers just yet, but there are images that have been posted and have been circulating that we believe the Israelis also have as well that show Israeli forces, for example, standing over the body believed to be Sinwar and so on.

Of course, we're trying to be cautious and not show all that until we have gotten a final determination. But where are we in that process? And is it possible we may hear from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanting to make this announcement that Sinwar is indeed dead?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, Jim, that I have seen those pictures which we are not showing to our audience at this time, and they certainly do bear a striking resemblance to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader.

And Israeli officials are also working with that assumption that Sinwar is very likely dead. They are waiting to get DNA confirmation of whether or not this actually was the Hamas leader. But I am also now learning, Jim, more details about exactly how the man believed to be Yahya Sinwar was killed.

And I'm told that this was not the result of any kind of special operation. It wasn't intelligence-driven. Rather, it was regular Israeli infantry troops on the ground in Gaza conducting routine military operations spotting a group of what they believed were Hamas militants and ultimately engaging them.

And then it was only after the building where this body was found that the troops then noticed that it appeared to be Yahya Sinwar. That then set off alarm bells in the senior ranks of the Israeli military and the Israeli government and set off the process that is now under way to officially confirm through DNA analysis whether or not this was indeed Yahya Sinwar.

Make no mistake, Jim, if indeed Sinwar has been killed in this military operation in Gaza, this is going to send shockwaves throughout the region, and, in particular, of course, in the Gaza Strip and in Israel. Sinwar was the mastermind behind the October 7 attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis, the majority of whom were civilians, triggering the war that we have seen in Gaza where more than 41,000 people have been killed.

And, indeed, we have watched that in Gaza, there has been growing anger at Sinwar in particular in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes, people cursing him because they believe that he was hiding in tunnels below ground while they were suffering above ground.

Also notable, of course, that Sinwar appears to have been -- again, if it indeed it is him, appears to have been aboveground, rather than in tunnels. The working assumption over the past year has been that Sinwar was hiding underground in the maze of tunnel networks, some of which stretch as much as 60, 70 meters underground.

But if indeed this was him, he was aboveground and not surrounded by hostages, which was also one potential belief here, so, a big moment, Jim. We are waiting for final confirmation from the Israeli military and the Israeli government, but certainly going to have a lot of consequences as a result -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. And, Jeremy, we're just getting word from our White House correspondent, Arlette Saenz, President Biden is being updated on the potential developments relating to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, aboard Air Force One.

[11:05:07]

Sullivan and the Secretary of State Tony Blinken are both in route to Germany.

Let me go to Alex Marquardt.

That -- I mean, that obviously is something that we're focused on is what is happening on the American side of this, because I would have to assume at some point the president is going to want to talk to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about what the next steps are if Sinwar is indeed dead.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, he's on Air Force One on his way too to Berlin, but certainly has all the capacities to continue monitoring this and to speak with the prime minister.

Certainly, the U.S. is going to be waiting for Israel to confirm this. Now, the U.S. has been helping very much in terms of the intelligence and the hunt for Sinwar with what we call signals intelligence. So that's intercepts and other kind of electronic signals.

And so if and when this is confirmed, I think one major question that I want to know is whether the Biden administration will then start to pressure Netanyahu in a significant way to be able to declare victory, to say that this war is over, we can reach a cease-fire.

But that is far from certain. But what is clear right now, in speaking with sources, current and former officials, is that they see this as a moment. They see this as an opening to be able to pressure the Netanyahu government.

Now, whether the government actually sees it in the same way -- and then, of course, there's a major question about, if Sinwar is dead, who succeeds him within the Hamas apparatus and whether that is someone who, unlike Sinwar, might be a little bit more willing to come to the table and negotiate the cease-fire.

U.S. officials have been arguing for months that if they can get to a cease-fire in Gaza, get to an end of the war in Gaza, that that could then cascade down to all kinds of other solutions, the hostages coming home, aid going into Gaza, perhaps an agreement with Hezbollah on the northern border, an end to the growing conflicts.

But we now see the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon essentially taking on a life of its own.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MARQUARDT: And even if Sinwar is confirmed to have been killed, we're still waiting on Israel to carry out a retaliation against Iran. Now, this could certainly help bring an end to the war. And it's a big could, big if, an end to the war in Gaza.

But there's still so much going on and a lot of it with a major potential to escalate.

ACOSTA: Yes, but you're right to point out all those big implications. This really could shift in a different direction, absolutely.

Let's go to senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche, who is in Berlin for us.

And if you could pick up on that, because, obviously, there's a political dimension to all of this. The White House, the president, the vice president, Kamala Harris, they have been eager to see the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, move in the direction of accepting some sort of cease-fire agreement that would release the hostages and perhaps start to wind down Israeli operations in Gaza.

Obviously, taking out the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, which would take the Israelis in the direction of the goal set out by the prime minister to crush Hamas' leadership after October 7, I mean, that would certainly change the conversation, Kayla.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And, Jim, that's been a goal of the administration's for months now as those cease-fire negotiations had fits and starts over and over again, with no shortage of frustration from the U.S. side, as it sought to understand more about what Israel's endgame was in this conflict after October 7 and that anniversary passed.

Now, speaking with senior officials in recent weeks, they believed that there could be an opening to revisit those cease-fire talks, not just with Lebanon and Hezbollah, but also with Hamas and Israel at some point in late October. But what's unclear is what exactly the administration saw as the catalyst for reopening those talks and whether the U.S. possessed any information about Israel's attempt to go after Sinwar in this way.

Just as recently as last week, Brett McGurk, who's the White House's coordinator for the Middle East, told reporters that it was the U.S.' belief that Sinwar was in Gaza under tunnels in the vicinity of hostages, which, as you just heard from Jeremy Diamond, is not how Sinwar was found, if in fact it is confirmed to have been him.

You mentioned that President Biden is on his way to Berlin right now. He is with Secretary of State Tony Blinken with his top national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who is briefing him regularly.

We should note that Sullivan was expected to gaggle with reporters and talk about the trip that the president is embarking on, meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, meeting with the leaders of France and the U.K. as well to discuss the future of Ukraine, but also to discuss the situation in the Middle East and what steps would come next.

Now, as you know, Jim, normally, those gaggles happen toward the beginning of a flight, before you lose a signal over the ocean.

ACOSTA: Yes.

TAUSCHE: But I think we can expect that, as they try to wrap their heads around the facts of this situation, they don't want to speak to reporters before they know with certainty what the situation looks like, Jim.

[11:10:02]

ACOSTA: Right.

And one has to assume that there may be a conversation between the president and the prime minister at some stage today, if not, then Jake Sullivan his counterpart in the Israeli government, Tony Blinken and his counterpart in the Israeli government.

We will be following all of that.

Kayla Tausche in Berlin for us, thank you very much.

I want to go to Democratic Congressman of Florida Jared Moskowitz.

Congressman, I know you and I have talked about what has been taking place between Israel and Gaza for many months now. If, in fact, the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, has been killed in this operation in Gaza, routine operation is what it sounds like in Gaza, that is a massive development in this war.

What's your sense of it? And what might be impact of all of this be?

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Well, yes, this would be a major victory for Israel and a victory for the world.

Yahya Sinwar is the Osama bin Laden of his time. He is solely responsible for the attacks of October 7, getting 1,200 Israelis killed, many of them civilians, taking hundreds of hostages, killing Americans.

And, to be honest, he is also responsible for the damage that has happened in Gaza and all of the death of the Palestinian civilians, because he knew he knew very well that when he launched a major attack, that there would be a response.

And so, in the event that this is true -- and it's looking so far like it is -- this is a very big deal and a pivotal moment in this war.

ACOSTA: And have members of Congress been briefed on this? Have you received any briefing on this? Or are we basically all in a wait-and- see mode at this point?

MOSKOWITZ: Yes.

No, the members of Foreign Affairs, which I'm on, would not have been briefed. It's possible that the chairman and the ranking member have been briefed and obviously the Gang of Six. But, no, regular members would not have been briefed at this moment.

We're all just, like you, waiting for the confirmation from either the Israeli government or from the U.S. government.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MOSKOWITZ: But if you're following the online traffic from a lot of accounts that have been extremely accurate since October 7, it really looks like they got him.

ACOSTA: Yes, it does, indeed.

And, Congressman, I wonder if you could pick up on the conversation we have been having over the last hour or so, which is, where do the talks go from here? I mean, one of the things that we have heard time and again from Secretary of State Tony Blinken is that one of the major impediments to getting to some kind of cease-fire deal has been Yahya Sinwar. For all of the criticism of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin

Netanyahu, there's been plenty for Sinwar, obviously. Your sense of it now, now that Sinwar has been taken off the battlefield, potentially? It looks like that's the case. We don't know with absolute certainty just yet. We're waiting on that.

But is that a game changer?

MOSKOWITZ: Yes, it could be. It could be a game changer.

But, first, we got to figure out, where are the hostages, how many of them are still alive and how can we get them back? And I think if we can get to that piece, I think then maybe it allows the Israeli government, Netanyahu to declare victory, accomplish the goal they wanted to, which was to decimate Hamas, degrade their capabilities, remove them from power, and then figure out what the next steps are, obviously, for the people of Gaza.

At the same time, it allows Israel then to solely focus on degrading additional Iranian proxies, like Hezbollah, on the border of Israel. But I think, at this moment, what we need to focus on, in the event that this looks true, that Sinwar is indeed dead, I think the next conversation needs to be where are the hostages, how many of them are alive, and to try to get a deal to get them out.

And once that happens, then I think maybe we can turn the page.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Jared Moskowitz, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

We're continuing to follow the breaking news here at CNN, Israeli officials right now in the process of trying to determine whether or not the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, was killed in Gaza by Israeli troops.

More on the other side of the break. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:18:49]

ACOSTA: All right, we're continuing to follow the breaking news from the Middle East as the IDF continues to confirm whether the leader of Hamas was killed during an operation in Gaza, but, first, another one of this morning's top stories.

Vice President Kamala Harris' first sit-down with FOX News was a fiery one, as she and host Bret Baier spared over everything from the border to whether her presidency will be a continuation of the Biden administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: And it was called the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And -- and exactly. And -- so -- but I...

BAIER: It was essentially a pathway to citizenship for the...

HARRIS: May I please finish?

BAIER: Yes, ma'am.

HARRIS: May I finish -- may I finish responding, please?

BAIER: But here -- but this...

HARRIS: But you have to let me finish.

Let me be very clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency.

And like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership.

BAIER: I hope you got to say what you wanted to say about Donald Trump. There are a lot of things...

HARRIS: There's more to say. I have much more to say...

(CROSSTALK)

BAIER: There are a lot of things that people want to learn about you and your policies.

HARRIS: Yes.

BAIER: And that's why we invited you here.

HARRIS: Yes. I invite everyone to go to KamalaHarris.com.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right, with us now, CNN media correspondent Hadas Gold and CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter.

[11:20:05]

Brian, Hadas, good to see you both.

I want to ask you, Brian, about this other moment between Kamala Harris and Bret Baier.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes.

ACOSTA: It was over whether Trump -- his comments about the enemy from within and so on. Let's play that and talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BAIER: We asked that question to the former president today. Harris Faulkner had a town hall, and this is how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I heard about that. They were saying, I was, like, threatening. I'm not threatening anybody. They're the ones doing the threatening. They do phony investigations.

I have been investigated more than Alphonse Capone. He was the greatest gangster.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Oh, my goodness.

TRUMP: No, it's true.

FAULKNER: We have got a question.

TRUMP: No, but think of it. It's called weaponization of government. It's a terrible thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: So...

HARRIS: Bret, I'm sorry, and with all due respect, that clip was not what he has been saying about the enemy within.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It is the enemy from within. And they're very dangerous.

They're Marxists and communists and fascists and they're sick. I use a guy like Adam Schiff, because they made up the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It took two years to solve the problem. Absolutely nothing was done wrong, et cetera, et cetera. They're dangerous for our country. We have China. We have Russia. We have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled.

The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis. These people, they're so sick, and they're so evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Brian, obviously, what we showed there was the moment that Bret Baier showed Vice President Harris during the interview and then the actual moment that occurred during that town hall that he should have shown during that interview.

STELTER: Right.

ACOSTA: What did you make of that? STELTER: The town hall was softball. The Harris interview was

hardball. And that's to be expected from FOX, because it is an extension of the Trump campaign. That's why it's so notable that Harris showed up and did the interview.

But what she was doing, whether by reading the URL for her Web site or pointing out Trump's actual claims, she was trying to get information through to a pro-Trump audience that rarely hears it.

There's these excuses being made for Trump's enemies comments. People like even on this network are sometimes pretending that Trump's only talking about Marxists and communists. That's not true. He's talking about Democratic politicians, media companies, tech companies. Trump is very clearly threatening to exact retribution if he's elected next year.

And I think it's notable that Harris was going on FOX, going into the FOX den and trying to make FOX viewers hear it for themselves.

ACOSTA: Well, and what was also notable about that, Brian, was that the vice president was prepared for that moment.

STELTER: Yes.

ACOSTA: It seems as though she was able to catch Bret Baier on the fly playing the wrong clip, playing a misleading clip, instead of what actually took place.

STELTER: That's right.

ACOSTA: So that is an extraordinary moment.

STELTER: She was ready.

ACOSTA: And, Hadas, you have some -- yes, he -- she was ready,

And, Hadas, you also have some new reporting about who was in that audience for this all-woman town hall that FOX held with Trump, which seemed like a very friendly audience for him.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it wasn't just friendly. The audience was stacked with Trump supporters.

Now, FOX presented this town hall as just an all-women's town hall, general voters. Never in their press release did they say who was going to be sitting in the audience. But, in reality, the room was not only full of Trump supporters, people who are voting for Trump, but also people who are officially part of Republicans' women's organization.

In fact, the first person who has to question, she presented herself as Lisa from Milton, Georgia. She's actually Lisa, president of the Fulton County Republican Women's group. So she is essentially almost a Republican official.

There was also -- we saw people come up wearing Trump pins. There was somebody who had an RNC delegate hat. But I think the most egregious thing that happened in this town hall was that, in one of the questions by a woman named Alicia, in the middle of her question, she said the following: "I voted for you this morning. I hope they counted it," something along those lines.

FOX edited out those handful of words in her question. So, in the broadcast, when you saw, all you saw was her asking a question. She did make a joke about how the opposition probably sees the room being full of domestic terrorists.

But those handful of words in the middle of the question that took maybe all of five seconds to say, those were selectively edited out. Why did FOX News do that? We asked them. They have not said anything back.

FOX also edited out moments where the entire crowd broke out into chants of "Trump, Trump, Trump."

ACOSTA: Wow.

GOLD: You could argue, OK, that was for time. Maybe that took some time.

But the reason we actually know that this happened is because CNN has an embed, Kate Sullivan, who travels with Trump, and she was there listening to this event live. She recorded it live. And that's where we are able to see the contrast between what was edited out and what was kept in.

Now, it's not a problem necessarily to have a town hall with a bunch of Trump supporters or Republicans. That's fine.

ACOSTA: Sure.

GOLD: The issue is that FOX never disclosed this, not in their press release announcing the town hall.

ACOSTA: Interesting.

GOLD: Harris Faulkner never said it on air. And anybody who got up and asked a question, they never said, I'm president of this Republican group.

Contrast that with the Univision town hall, where they did say, I'm a registered Republican. I'm a registered this. I voted for you in the past. That's the difference. And that's why that disclosure matters, because a regular voter is watching saying, oh, these women, they're just a bunch of regular voters out there.

[11:25:09]

ACOSTA: Yes, they could have called it a pep rally, instead of a town hall.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: And, Brian, I want to play this moment from Univision's town hall with Trump, which was more like a town hall...

STELTER: Exactly.

ACOSTA: ... when a voter confronted him. It was fascinating. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to give you the opportunity to try to win back my vote, OK?

Your, let me say, action and maybe inaction during your presidency and the last few years sort of was a little disturbing to me. You know, what happened during January 6 and the fact that you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol.

TRUMP: This was a tiny percentage of the overall -- which nobody sees and nobody -- nobody shows. But that was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: A day of love.

I mean, a couple of things to point out here.

STELTER: Yes.

ACOSTA: Brian, I mean, obviously, Trump continues to lie about what took place on January 6. I mean, that's astonishing.

But one of -- we can't play the entire clip. But during that clip -- and I don't have you picked up on this, Brian -- I'm sure you did -- when they showed the audience listening to Trump responding to that man, there -- you could see there are women shaking their heads, saying, I don't believe anything that he's saying.

I mean, this was a pretty powerful moment. You don't see Trump confronted like this by voters very often.

STELTER: The audience was also very skeptical when he started lying about Springfield, Ohio.

ACOSTA: Yes.

STELTER: That's what made this a legitimate town hall. And I wish we could see Trump and Harris do one of these real town halls every day between now and Election Day.

We know Harris has agreed to a CNN town hall next week. Trump has not. That offer is on the table. But the window is closing. And Trump has not agreed. I suspect he's not going to do many more of these events, because Univision did not go well for him.

And I also suspect, Jim, that that clip of him saying January 6 was full of love is going to be in a Harris campaign ad sooner, rather than later.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And Brian mentioned this, Hadas, this moment where Trump was asked about the false claims that he keeps peddling about Haitian migrants eating pets. I mean, it's amazing how he will stubbornly hang on to a lie like he's holding on for dear life, but that's what he did. And let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I was just saying what was reported. That's been reported, and eating other things too that they're not supposed to be. But this is -- all I do is report. I -- I have not -- I was there. I'm going to be there, and we're going to take a look. And I will give you a full report when I do.

But that's been in the newspapers and reported pretty broadly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, I'm sorry, I'm trying not to crack a smile here, but I mean, Hadas, when he says that it's been in the news, it's been in the newspapers that people are -- Haitians are eating cats and dogs in Springfield, that is not true.

GOLD: Well, and...

ACOSTA: Go ahead, yes.

GOLD: And it makes a question, what is he watching? What is he reading?

ACOSTA: Yes.

GOLD: Because the places that he is watching and reading, those are not going to be good-quality news outlets, and you would hope that a former president and a candidate for president would be getting good and accurate information, including directly from the Republican officials, from the officials in that state, in those areas.

And it seems as though he either doesn't believe it or he doesn't get that. And that does call into question, what is his information diet, what is his media diet, and why is he still saying this back?

ACOSTA: Such a good point.

GOLD: And, listen, you could all see this as a lost opportunity because there is a lot of potential pickup with Latino voters, and that's why he's doing this with Univision. Univision actually has shifted its tone really in recent years, partly because of demographics.

Univision used to be known as really hard-charging, especially coming up against Trump.

ACOSTA: Right.

GOLD: You think about Jorge Ramos and those moments.

That has changed. There are some other elements. They have had new ownership, but it's also because the Latino demographic is changing. And if they want to also expand their viewership, who is going to watch them and listen to them, they don't want to lose that.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GOLD: That's also a pickup, though, for Republicans and for President Trump to pick up on the Latinos.

But based off of this town hall, you have to question why he just kind of kept peddling these lies.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Brian, just very quickly, because Hadas brings up a great point, that Donald Trump seems to live in this disinformation loop that he feeds into and that he feeds off of constantly.

STELTER: And he said in that answer that he's going to go to Springfield. He keeps claiming he's actually going to go to this town.

ACOSTA: Yes.

STELTER: If that is the case, that is going to be a major campaign event in the same way that when he went to Aurora, Colorado, it stirred up a lot of trouble in Colorado, and there were a lot of denunciations of Trump then as well.

We will see if he actually goes to Springfield sometime in the next two weeks.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

All right, Brian Stelter, Hadas Gold, I'm so glad we were able to fit this into a busy news morning. Thank you both very much.

More news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)