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Heavy Strikes Pound Beirut Overnight, Israel Issues New Evacuation Orders; Source: Hezbollah Has Lost Contact With Man Seen As Potential Successor To Nasrallah Following Attack; Trump Returns To Site Of First Assassination Attempt; Harris Campaign Targets Voters With Major Media Blitz. 227 Plus Deaths Blamed on Helene; FEMA Fights Conspiracy Theories; Harris on Massive Media Tour; Another Hurricane Set to Make Landfall in Florida. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 06, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:42]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good Sunday morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: I'm Amara Walker. We start with breaking news out of the Middle East this morning. Tensions are high across the region with growing fears of a wider conflict.

BLACKWELL: New video for you this morning, shot overnight from a Beirut suburb. CNN crews there have reported near constant blast around the city overnight into this morning and Israel says it targeted Hezbollah weapons facilities and issued new evacuation orders for parts of Beirut, suggesting that more strikes could be on the way.

WALKER: But Hezbollah has continued to launch rockets into Israel and Israel's military says about 30 projectiles were fired into Israel this morning. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant tone in a message late Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Today, Israel is defending itself on seven fronts against the enemies of civilization. We're defending ourselves against this barbarism. Israel is defending civilizations against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us. Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won for our sake and for the sake of the peace and security of the entire world.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: In Gaza, Israel's military has reportedly surrounded the Jabalia refugee camp there. IDF says that it's detected Hamas operatives trying to rebuild operational capabilities. This as an overnight airstrike on a mosque in Gaza reportedly left 21 dead.

CNN has reporters across the region. Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. And former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller is also standing by.

WALKER: All right, let's start with Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, tell us more about what we're seeing in Gaza.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, on the eve of the October 7th anniversary, the Israeli military is stepping up its operations in Gaza once again. For the fourth time over the course of the last year, the Israeli military now beginning to carry out another major offensive in northern Gaza in the Jabalia refugee camp after it says that Hamas militants have begun to regroup there.

It is just the latest instance of the Israeli military being forced to go back into areas that it had previously carried out an offensive in which it said it had cleared. But then Hamas rebuilt speaking of course to major questions about Israel's long-term strategy in Gaza and the lack of an alternative to Hamas governance inside the Gaza Strip.

Overnight, the Israeli military striking more than a dozen targets in Jabalia from the air as well as from artillery strikes to prepare the ground for Israeli infantry troops to move in. As it is doing so, it is also once again, forcing the displacement of thousands of Palestinians living in northern Gaza.

Hundreds have already begun to flee the area of Jabalia expressing concerns about what they will find in these humanitarian zones, which have been struck themselves as they head to those areas. But the Israeli military has actually now issued evacuation orders for the majority of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people are currently believed to be living. And so major impacts to this.

And just another reminder that as we are now approaching this one year anniversary of the October 7th massacre, a year of the war in Gaza, the fighting in Gaza very much still continuing Hamas. While it may have been defeated as a military structure, as the Israeli military has said, very much still fighting as a guerrilla force, as the Qassam Brigade, Hamas's military wing, saying that they are engaged in fierce fighting with Israeli troops in northern Gaza.

As all of this is happening, of course, the Israeli military is also stepping up. It's military offensive in Lebanon, where ground troops are also now engaged there as well issuing additional evacuation orders for Lebanese villages in southern Lebanon raising questions about how much more that operation will expand.

And in addition to that, of course, we're still waiting for the Israeli retaliation for that barrage of ballistic missiles fired by Iran earlier this week. The Israeli government vowing it will retaliate, but we don't yet know when or how severe that retaliation will be.

WALKER: Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. Ben, what have you seen overnight?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, overnight we saw, Victor, more than 30 Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

[07:05:00]

And, in fact, in just the last few minutes, yet another strike. We were hearing the Israeli drone overhead, which all -- which normally presages a possible Israeli strike. So basically, every hour since the morning, there has been a strike on the southern suburbs.

Now, normally, Israel gives a warning of strikes coming basically evacuation orders for specific buildings. And as I said before, they hit at least 30 times overnight, but we only saw seven specific warnings. So these airstrikes continue. Certainly last night was probably the most intense so far.

Now, there's still speculation about the whereabouts of Hashem Safieddine who was one of the senior Hezbollah leaders expected perhaps to be the successor to Hassan Nasrallah, but he -- the Israelis say he was targeted in an airstrike several days ago.

A Lebanese security source tells CNN that Hezbollah has lost contact with Hashem Safieddine. So, there's still very many questions at the moment about who is actually leading that organization. Now, Jeremy touched on new Israeli evacuation orders for southern Lebanese villages. We counted 25 villages in that new order.

At this point, the number of villages that have been ordered to evacuate by the Israelis is around 135. And this is definitely getting very reminiscent of how Israel orders a population out of an area in anticipation or ahead of a military operation. And certainly what we've seen until now is that they haven't gone into very deep into Lebanon because we're seeing, of course, Hezbollah is actually putting up a fight.

Its forces are adept at guerrilla warfare. They're -- they were not really ready for a year of exchanges of missiles and Israeli airstrikes, but where they excel is at guerrilla warfare. And it does appear that the Israeli operation in the South is being impacted, perhaps even delayed in terms of its magnitude by Hezbollah's fighters.

Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: Ben Wedeman for us in Beirut, thank you.

WALKER: Let's get some analysis now from former State Department Middle East peace negotiator Aaron David Miller. Aaron, good morning to you. Why are we seeing this escalation from Israel's military activity in Lebanon and also stepped up operations in Gaza? AARON DAVID MILLER, SR. FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Thanks for having me, Amara. Look, I think the Israelis have made a strategic decision that the last several weeks have decimated Hezbollah's comms. Its intelligence network assassinated its leaders, and now they're following up.

I suspect in an effort incrementally to be sure right now to push what remains of the Radwan forces, Hezbollah's elite forces north of Litani River and to destroy as much military infrastructure as they possibly can. And this front, though, the key is how to secure long term gains, which is their ultimate goal to return to 60,000 to 70,000 Israelis have been relocated, dislocated from their villages, communities and keep it seem in the north of the country.

So this is not going to be a short conflict, Amara. It's going to endure.

WALKER: Yes. I mean, we heard from Netanyahu yesterday saying that Israel is fighting a, quote, "seven front war." You have extensive experience in the Mideast. Is there an off ramp? Should we even be talking about that right now as it seems like things are just getting worse right now?

MILLER: Well a year after October 7, a year after the Hamas terror surge, a year after Israel's efforts to prosecute its war against Hamas and the deaths of thousands of innocent Palestinians and a humanitarian catastrophe, I think it's safe to safe to say that of the three basic fronts out of the seven, that present the real strategic challenge Israel-Gaza, Israel-Hezbollah, and of course, the beginning of what the Haaretz military correspondent described as the first Iranian-Israeli war.

None of these conflicts show any promise right now of de-escalation. None of them show any sense that there could be transformative diplomatic outcomes that would leave this pocket of the Middle East more stable, more prosperous and more secure. So, again, I think, frankly, a year in, I never would have believed it, the situation. It might actually get worse before it gets worse.

And speaking of which, the region is also bracing for retaliation from Israel towards Iran after those ballistic missiles were launched this past week. We heard from President Biden warning Israel, don't target, you know, oil facilities or nuclear facilities. But do you think Netanyahu is listening? Does it influences calculus in any way?

[07:10:14]

MILLER: Look, I think the first round in the Israelis are going to respond. It was 180 plus ballistic missiles, which impacted over the urban areas north of Tel Aviv and it's an effort to strike military bases and Mossad headquarters. It's really is going to respond.

The question is, do they go for limited strikes against military facilities? IRGC, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, command and control, the ballistic launchers, the missile depots, the above ground production facilities, factories. Or do they broaden to economic and nuclear sites?

I'm thinking this round because this is not going to be the end. The Iranians are going to respond. If they do respond to the initial Israeli strike, then I think the target set that the Israelis have in mind will be broader, which could include export, oil exporting facilities and of course key nuclear sites.

WALKER: What about this report that Hezbollah has not been able to contact one of their senior officials Hashem Safieddine after an Israeli airstrike. He's believed to be the successor to Hassan Nasrallah. How debilitating has this been for the organization, because it really seems like Israel is going to be playing whack a mole when it comes to, you know, getting rid of Hezbollah's leadership?

MILLER: I mean, the main difference between this Israel-Hezbollah conflict, the one in the summer of 2006, is that the Israeli intention -- the Israeli intelligence here is incredibly deep. I mean, they've identified and continue to identify the movements of key Hezbollah official.

Hashem Safieddine, my understanding is the -- Hezbollah did not want to formally validate his appointment as a successor precisely because they thought the Israelis would go after him. And now that's what they've done. So, again, I think that's the difference in this round. It's intelligence and it's demonstrating with a terrifying ferocity, the capacity of the Israelis to strike.

Unfortunately, there are too many civilian casualties as they go after these Hezbollah leaders. But I suspect that's going to continue an effort to decimate the organization, prevent it from recreating itself with any serious sense of command and control.

But as Ben Wedeman pointed out, Hezbollah's strength here may actually be in an insurgency and guerrilla tactics, and that's what the Israelis are going to face as they push farther north in Lebanon.

WALKER: Aaron David Miller, appreciate having you this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, the candidates are in the battleground states and the morning after Trump's returned to Butler with Elon Musk, a question, what does Musk mean when he says he's dark MAGA? We'll get an answer to that.

WALKER: Also, FEMA has launched a website to stop the spread of misinformation about Hurricane Helene disaster released by extremists online.

BLACKWELL: Plus Florida is in the eye of another possible hurricane. That's after the break.

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[07:18:06] WALKER: Less than a month from election day, and the Trump and Harris campaigns are zeroing in on, of course, key battleground states. Early in-person voting begins this week in a number of states, including the battleground of Arizona. That is where Vice President Harris is expected to campaign later this week.

BLACKWELL: The Vice President has also taken a message to voters in a major media blitz this week. In addition to the previously announced 60 Minutes interview, she will make appearances on The Howard Stern Show, The View, and the Call Her Daddy podcast. First time I heard of that this morning.

WALKER: It is the number one podcast for women.

BLACKWELL: Number one podcast for women in the country. Now, the media blitz follows a trip by Harris in North Carolina yesterday to see hurricane relief efforts. She'd met with volunteers at a primary care facility and helped them pack essentials for hurricane victims. She also thanked members of the Air National Guard for their work that they've been doing during this relief for the disaster.

Former President Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania for a rally yesterday. It was the site of the first assassination attempt. He also honored the victims of the shooting.

WALKER: But he also suggested that his political rivals may have tried to kill him without providing any evidence. CNN's Alayna Treene has more.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor and Amara, former President Donald Trump returned to Butler Pennsylvania on Saturday, exactly 12 weeks after that first assassination attempt on his life on July 13th. Now, he came back to the exact same venue.

Many people in the crowd had actually been at that first rally. Some of them had not, they told me, but they weren't too worried about security, particularly because -- and we know this as well, that Secret Service and local law enforcement had really ramped up the protocol in place for Saturday.

But I want to focus on what Donald Trump came to Butler to do, and that was in large part to honor some of the victims and specifically Corey Comperatore. He is the man who was killed on July 13th by that spray of bullets.

[07:20:08]

Corey Comperatore's family was in the audience and Donald Trump spoke about him at length, talking about the type of man that he was and how he had shielded his family members. And that is how he died. He died dying a hero.

Donald Trump also thanked some of the other victims who were injured that day, as well as Secret Service and Butler law enforcement and Pennsylvania law enforcement overall. Now, I will say he spent probably the first 30 minutes or so of his speech doing what his campaign had said he would do, which is make this a remembrance.

However, after that, his speech became very political and it reminded me of his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just days after his first Butler appearance, where he had promised a speech about unity and he did give one until he quickly turned the speech into an attack on some of his allies. It was very similar on Saturday.

I want you to take a listen to what he and both his running mate J.D. Vance had said.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot, and who knows, maybe even tried to kill me.

SEN. J.D VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: First, they tried to silence him. When that didn't work, they tried to bankrupt him. When that didn't work, they tried to jail him. And with all the hatred they have spewed at President Trump, it was only a matter of time before somebody tried to kill him.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

TREENE: Now, Victor and Amara, we know that both Trump and J.D. Vance have tried to argue in the past that perhaps Democrats rhetoric about Donald Trump, particularly arguing that he may be a threat to democracy, may have been what had led to that first assassination attempt or even the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life.

Of course, there's no evidence to support that, but that was the case that they were making. I also want to just note that we saw someone at this rally on Saturday that we hadn't seen at Donald Trump's rallies before, and that is Elon Musk. Of course, remember, Musk actually endorsed Donald Trump just moments after the gunmen had opened fire in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

It was almost a full circle moment. Musk came on stage and said that he believes that the 2024 election is the most important election of our lifetimes. He praised Donald Trump. And really, Musk has become a top surrogate for the Trump campaign. I think it was very clear that they were making that even more official on Saturday.

Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene for us there in Butler Township.

Joining me now is Max Cohen, congressional reporter for Punchbowl News. Max, good morning to you. So since Alayna ended with Elon Musk, I'm going to start there and then broaden out to the larger rally yesterday. Elon Musk came on stage jumping around the richest man in the world. Damn near said, yippee.

He started his speech though, by saying, I'm not only MAGA -- look at this picture -- I'm not only MAGA, I'm dark MAGA. What is that?

MAX COHEN, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: I think that's the Republican version of Joe Biden's Dark Brandon meme. The kind of way to say, look, I'm for the Trump movement, but in a more kind of hardcore, to the point way.

I looked into this dark MAGA actually started around 2022 on social media and it was used by Republicans to say if Trump gets elected for a second term, he's going to be, quote, "dark MAGA," which means he's going to, you know, pull no punches, be more vicious perhaps in the treatment of people who don't agree with him in a more hardcore version of the MAGA brand.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's talk about the broader rally here, because Pennsylvania, as we know, is a crucial swing state. But this rally, you brought in J.D. Vance and Elon Musk and Lee Greenwood singing and thousands, tens of thousands of people. Was there anything outside of an appeal to the diehards? Was there any outreach at this event to bring in those additional, maybe undecideds in Pennsylvania?

COHEN: It's a good question. I mean, that's what the election is all about, right? It's about juicing up your base, but also appealing to the undecided voters. I would argue that the Elon Musk rally appearance is what separates us from a normal Trump rally, right?

Elon Musk is one of the most famous people in the world, one of the most wealthy people in the world and has this tremendous platform owning X. And for voters who might not be tuning into politics every day like we are, an appearance by Elon Musk does set this apart from a normal rally.

So I'd say maybe if you're an Elon Musk superfan, you don't know a lot about politics and you saw him on that stage, you saw that photo you just showed on screen, if I'm jumping up and down, that might make you tune in and consider Trump when you might not have had in the past.

[07:25:03]

BLACKWELL: Maybe. So Trump and Musk and others who were at the rally. In the coverage of the Hurricane Helene recovery, there's been all this disinformation about FEMA funding and $750, I mean, President Biden actually fact checked disinformation from the former president about FEMA and Helene aid on Twitter.

Trump spreads a lot of disinformation. But this really has caught fire, his claim that the administration's out of money because they gave it to immigrants that they want to vote for him, which is not true.

COHEN: Yes, that's correct. And this has been a consistent theme of Donald Trump's campaign in recent months, which is to blame all the problems facing the United States and say, this is because of undocumented immigrants and illegal immigration.

To be clear here, what happened is FEMA has two separate funds, right? There's one fund for disaster relief. And that's what Secretary Mayorkas said, because Congress hasn't appropriated us a full year funding plan, because we're operating on short term funding, we're going to need a more robust package to make sure all the victims of this terrible hurricane have what they need to rebuild.

There's also a separate, much smaller fund that FEMA distributed to cities that were being overwhelmed by migrant surge in the past couple years. And those two things have been conflated among some circles. Just another example, right, of how the information environment online so easily, someone can post an unverified claim.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

COHEN: And if that backs up your prior beliefs, it spreads like wildfire.

BLACKWELL: It's just disinformation is what it is. Let's talk about the vice president. This media blitz. We know that there's going to be the 60 Minutes interview that's actually going to air on Monday, tomorrow night. Former president Trump first accepted an interview from 60 Minutes and the producers say he then withdrew.

But Harris will do the Howard Stern Show, The View, Colbert, Univision, Call Her Daddy podcast. What explains this shift because for several months, the campaign has avoided these high stakes, large platform, one on ones and now we're seeing this flood?

COHEN: Yes, I think if you notice a lot of the venues you just mentioned, which Harris is going on to or more non-traditional political media, you could argue, and I think you've asked the Harris campaign. They'd say, look, we're in the final month of campaigning. This is when a lot of the undecided low information voters start tuning into politics.

So it's a perfect time to hit these shows like Call Her Daddy, like Howard Stern Show, which might not be political focused all the time. So I think they're trying to perfectly time this to get the maximum impact, and also to respond to criticism from a lot of her allies saying, the vice president is a great communicator. Why are you treating her like President Joe Biden, who famously has struggled to get his message across?

So I think it's the home stretch they're trying to reach out to as many voters as possible in addition to the pretty vigorous rally campaign schedule she's kept up in these swing states.

BLACKWELL: All right, Max Cohen, thanks so much. Enjoy the Sunday.

Still to come, rescue workers are continuing to deal with the entire communities wiped out by Hurricane Helene. FEMA is working to stop extremists who are exploiting the disaster as we discussed with this disinformation on social media.

WALKER: And just days after Helene, communities in Florida are preparing for another possible hurricane. The warning from the governor is coming up.

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[07:30:00]

BLACKWELL: The second deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland of the U.S. has now claimed at least 227 lives. Power crews are working to restore electricity to just under 400,000 customers this morning. And FEMA is not only leading rescue and recovery efforts in states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, now the government agency is also doing rumor control.

WALKER: Yes, FEMA launched a Helene rumor response webpage on its website to battle conspiracy theories and misinformation regarding the federal government's response to the disaster.

Let's discuss with former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. Craig Good to see you this morning. First, can we talk about just the potential dangers of this? The fact that FEMA now has to take away some of its very valuable resources away from these disaster areas just to focus on controlling these rumors and how these rumors can also be potentially life-threatening.

CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, two things. First of all, it doesn't take a lot of resources to do this. So, it's not taken away from the response. What it's really focused on is misinformation that's harming people.

Look, FEMA is used to being criticized. And quite honestly, that's part of the response and disasters. This isn't about, you know, defending criticism, it's about making sure people have good information, especially we start recovering. And the first thing is, he was not leading this response. FEMA is supporting the governor. Every one of these states that are hit is led by the governors and FEMA is in support. And that's not a cop out, that's how the system works.

So, when you talk about this response, I think FEMA has become a verb in this nation for disaster response, but it's really a team approach. So, yes, FEMA is addressing rumor control, but it's not about their reputation, it's about making sure people have good information and not false information that can slow and hinder their recovery.

BLACKWELL: Vice President Harris was in Augusta last week, and she announced a portion of support that's coming from FEMA. I want to play what she said, and then, you know, we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: And the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula and the like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:35:00]

BLACKWELL: That's 750 and all the misinformation and disinformation around it. Explain what that is and what it is not.

FUGATE: And it's not new. This has been done in previous disasters. We did this in Superstorm Sandy. Because there's so much extensive damage and it's almost impossible to get in there and do any surveys and try to do the full program that FEMA can do, they're doing an immediate assistance. They're taking this, this is a grant, and if you're in the area of impact, they're with very little information trying to get money into your accounts.

Now, this opens up a lot of potential for fraud, and I'm going to hear about this, you know, Congress talking about these years later, about how much fraud takes place in all these disasters. But FEMA understands the important thing right now, without getting in the way of helping people, it's just giving a little bit of cash just to get started.

This is in no means limiting what they can get, nor is this a loan. This is a grant that FEMA has provided, and this is not new, it's been done before.

WALKER: Let's put some of these rumors to rest. And some of the stuff that I found online, I'll read it out, FEMA distributing aid based on demographic characteristics. FEMA seizing and confiscating property from Helene survivors who applied for disaster assistance and their land was deemed unlivable. FEMA spending disaster relief money on helping migrants around the country illegally. Can you help set the record straight on these?

FUGATE: Yes. First of all, FEMA is not even -- I mean, the only people you're seeing on the ground from FEMA are people that were either on the response teams for the urban search and rescue teams or people that are going in to set up to start registering people. So, you know, the ability for FEMA to go in and confiscate anybody is not even within their jurisdiction.

Reappropriating funds for other things. Again, Congress is fairly observant of FEMA spending money. They're not supposed to be spending in places they're not allowed to spend. So, again, the House didn't even act on this, and there's no evidence to suggest that the Disaster Relief Fund was being used to fund this.

And again, there's so many things that people are talking about, but I want to hit one thing that I think a lot of -- why these rumors get started. This is an area that got heavily hit, and quite honestly, if my home got destroyed, I lost family members, my community is wiped out, I don't want to hear about the great job everybody's doing. I'm hurting. And in that environment, it's easy for misinformation to spread.

I got cousins in this area that have had significant impacts, they're trying to help their neighbors. And they were texting me going, hey, we're hearing all this stuff. And we don't think it's true, but in the absence of any information, people are wanting to grasp something that explains why this was so bad. And so, I get that. The important thing is to get past the information. Quite honestly, none of these people in this area are worried about where FEMA spent their money. They just want to know FEMA's there to help them. So, I think some of this attention is nationally. Think about the areas of impact, they have hardly any communications. This broadcast isn't reaching many of the people that have lost their families and homes.

So, we're talking to ourselves. We really should be focused on the people we're trying to help. Focus on the survivors and the programs getting in there. And deal with misinformation when it harms that response, but not try to say everything's OK, or there's no problem, because that's a fallacy as well.

BLACKWELL: Former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, thank you so much for helping us clear up some of the rumors and to dispel some of this disinformation that's floating around on social media.

WALKER: Yes, how do you get -- like he's saying, how do you get some of the correct information out there, right, when people don't have homes, they don't have power, may not have cell service?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Or internet access or anything.

WALKER: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: They're just kind of working on rumors. But hopefully they get some of this good information.

WALKER: All right. Well, we are less than 30 days out from the presidential election and Vice President Kamala Harris is kicking into high gear. Harris is on a massive media tour, sitting down with lots of big names, including the Most popular female podcaster, Alex Cooper. She's the host of "Call Her Daddy." We'll take a look at her campaign's media strategy after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00]

BLACKWELL: This week, Vice President Kamala Harris is embarking on a media tour in an effort to connect with voters. Now, as we mentioned earlier in the show, she'll appear on "The Howard Stern Show," "The View," the top podcast for women, "Call Her Daddy," in addition to her 60 Minutes interview.

WALKER: Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will also be making rounds with appearances scheduled on Fox News Sunday, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and interviews with local outlets in key battleground states. Now, both Harris and Walz will be visiting Arizona to rally support and encourage people to vote as early voting starts on Wednesday.

Joining us now is Brian Stelter. Yes, first of all, let's talk about this media blitz, you know, that Harris is going to embark on and very different types of outlets and vastly different audiences. BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: I believe Kamala Harris is the first person to ever go from "Call Her Daddy" to 60 Minutes in the span of a day.

WALKER: Exactly.

STELTER: You know, for viewers who are not familiar with Alex Cooper and "Call Her Daddy," it's one of the most popular podcasts in the country. It's usually about sex and relationships, sometimes risque, even raunchy conversations about sex.

[07:45:00]

But in this case, for Harris, it's about reproductive rights. She taped this interview a number of days ago and it's going to be coming out later today. That's the kind of interview going to reach millions of women, especially young women, in a format that is not about politics, that is not about, you know, the campaign trail. So, that's a big deal for the Harris campaign. And the campaign this morning announced all these other interviews that are coming up in the next few days, I think almost as a package to send a message about the media blitz that's coming this week.

BLACKWELL: So, that's what Vice President Harris is going to be doing. I want to ask you about Governor Walz because he's going on Fox News Sunday. Is that a strategic choice, do you believe, to send Walz instead of Harris to Fox?

STELTER: Yes, and Fox believes it is as well. This is the first time he's going on one of those big Sunday public affairs programs, and he's doing it in what the Harris campaign believes is the opposition, going to the opposition, going over to Fox.

Now, you know, tomorrow, he's on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" doing his first late night show. So, he's going to have friendlier territory tomorrow. But yes, I do think it's strategic for Walz, not Harris, to be doing an appearance on Fox News. We know Fox has been trying to get a debate, and Trump and Harris have not been willing to get together at the same time for a debate. So, Fox is having an interview with Walz instead.

But, you know, that's all part of this media blitz that Harris is also promoting. I think, you know, we view it all as one package deal where both of these candidates, as October begins, they are trying to get to send a message that they are willing and able to appear pretty much everywhere.

WALKER: But why this change now, right? I mean, I get now, obviously, because we're so close to the election, but Harris was so hesitant, right, to do a sit-down interview. It took a while until she did her first and then now, you know, we're seeing a handful of them happening, you know, just a month before the election.

STELTER: You know, I do think it's fair to say that as much as news junkies like yours truly have been paying close attention for many months, more average voters might only be tuning this fall. We know that the first debate on September 10th was a big tune in moment for many people to start to pay attention.

So, if you're the Harris campaign, now it does make sense to appear on "The View," or to appear on the "Howard Stern Show," or appear on Colbert, you know, as opposed to doing that a month or two ago. Maybe it makes sense for the campaign to, quote/unquote, "hold their fire" until now when early voting is actually getting underway.

And while a lot of these interviews are going to be on friendly territory for Harris and Walz, I do want to recognize 60 Minutes, the biggest news magazine in the United States, some tough questions were given to Harris -- were offered to Harris yesterday, that was taped yesterday, it's going to air tomorrow. It's really notable that Donald Trump backed out of that 60 Minutes appearance because, again, it's the most popular news magazine in the country. Trump initially agreed to be on it, then he withdrew. So, all of a sudden, CBS still has this big primetime special, but only one of the two candidates.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

STELTER: So, as much has been made of Harris avoiding interviews in the past, I think it's also notable that Trump is avoiding the scrutiny of 60 Minutes this week.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And there is some bad blood there because the 20 -- the interview in 2020 with 60 Minutes, he canceled at the last minute. So, that's some important context here. Before we go, Stelter, let me ask you what you think about this. Elon Musk appearance in Butler, with him on stage, jumping behind the former president and what he said.

STELTER: Musk is an example of what's happened to many American men who have gone from being Obama voters to Trump supporters. He is an example of what happens. I think when he spends a lot of time online, looking at his own social media feed, I would argue he's been radicalized, and he is obviously now an outspoken Trump supporter. But it looked like he had a lot of fun yesterday. Gotta give him credit for that.

WALKER: Yes. He looked like he was having fun jumping up like that, showing his navel. All right. Brian Stelter, good to see you this morning. Thanks.

STELTER: Good to see you. Thanks.

WALKER: All right. Ahead, Florida is on alert just days after Helene. Another hurricane set to make landfall in Florida. We are tracking its path.

And don't miss a new episode of "TV on the Edge: Moments that Shaped our Culture." That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

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BLACKWELL: Breaking news, the latest National Hurricane Center advisory on Tropical Storm Milton is just in.

WALKER: Let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar. What is it saying, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. So, we have hurricane hunters in the storm right now that they've been able to give us some real-time data. So, the sustained winds are now up to 60 miles per hour. That's still a tropical storm, but it's showing you that it's continuing that strengthening trend and it will continue to do so as it moves off to the east at about five miles per hour.

So, here's a look at that plane. They've been out there for a little while now, kind of going through the storm. They will continue to do so. And there's more of these missions planned, not just for today, but over the next several days where it will help u details about this.

Now, the storms is expected to continue to intensify, likely becoming a hurricane at some point later today and eventually a major hurricane, especially once it gets out over these very warm open waters of the Gulf of Mexico before taking aim at Florida. This could be the third landfall of a system for the state just this year alone.

Now, right now, landfall could be anywhere from the Big Bend region down through Naples. So, again, we'll be able to narrow that down a little bit more in the coming days. But regardless of where this makes landfall, this is going to be a tremendous rainmaker for pretty much the entire peninsula. You are talking widespread rain of four to six inches, but it is not out of the question that some of these areas could get 10 inches or maybe even a foot or more of rain.

[07:55:00]

Now, part of that is we, what we call a PRE, a pre-event rain event that's going to occur. So, they're already going to start to get some rain showers tonight, tomorrow, and the next couple of days leading up to this. That's going to saturate the ground. That's going to increase the potential for flooding in a lot of these areas. That's why you have that flood watch in effect.

There's that PRE right there. But then you can see the bulk of the heavy rain coming from Milton itself that will arrive as early as Tuesday for some of these areas along the coast. And then as it continues to make landfall on Wednesday.

WALKER: A lot's going on for Florida. Thank you so much, Allison Chinchar. Thank you for being with us for another CNN This Morning Weekend.

BLACKWELL: Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju is up next.

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