right now on "early start," joe biden's top diplomat back in israel. can antony blinken balance support for the idf with protecting civilians in gaza. and the biggest white collar conviction since bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. sam bankman-fried found guilty of stealing billions from customers. sgm to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm kasie hunt. it is friday. thank goodness. november 3. we really appreciate you being here. 5:00 a.m. in washington, 11:00 a.m. in tel aviv where america's top diplomat right now meeting with the prime minister of israel. secretary of state antony blinken is on the first stop of a trip through the middle east and asia. he departed from the u.s. last night and he said a key mission for him in israel is to underscore the need for israeli forces to minimize civilian casualties as they fight to sdoi hamas. >> how israel does this matters. we will focus on steps that need to be taken to protect civilians who are in a crossfire of hamas' making. we want to look at concrete steps to be taken to better protect them. this is something that the united states is committed to. i won't get into the details here, but it is very much on the agenda. >> reporter: sources tell cnn that blinken, president biden and his top advisers are all warning israel that time is running short for the idf to achieve its military objectives in gaza as the global outcry over humanitarian suffering there intensifies. overnight the skies over northern gaza were lit by flares and explosions during a fierce bombard bombardment. idf says they are deepening operations there. clarks also increasing at the border with lebanon. hezbollah's leader is expected to speak with the war. and scott mclean is live for us in london. good morning. always good to see you. secretary of state antony blinken will be pressing israel to take greater care to avoid civilian casualties to try to easy suffering in gaza and to say according to our reporting that the clock is ticking on global support for israel if they don't do those things. how do you expect the message to be received? >> reporter: yeah, based on past statements we've heard from benjamin netanyahu, probably not very well. netanyahu was asked on monday about civilian casualties and he was very blunt in saying that israel is already doing all that it can to protect civilians and any blame ought to be passed on to hamas from preventing them for being able to evacuate the areas where the military operations are taking place. but the reality is even though the israelis were talking about creating possible safe spaces within gaza, those still do not exist. while they have been telling people to move from the northern part of gaza to the south and central parts, they continue to carry out bombing campaigns in those areas as well. and the u.s. now, u.s. officials, white house pentagon, they are finding themselves straining to defend israeli attempts to protect civilians. so now you have the secretary of state antony blinken saying that they will be discussing concrete steps that they can take in order to protect civilian lives. he says as a sdd, israel has a responsibility to do that. despite the fact that hamas is using civilians as human shields. but yesterday blinken was pressed on whether or not israel is exercising any restraint. he didn't answer directly. two weeks ago he was asked whether he thinks that israel is operating within international law and he deflected had question as well. but he will be getting tough questions when he departs israel en route to jordan because much of the middle eastern world, look, they already see the west and the united states as being outraged by the brutal terrorist attacks that took place on israeli soil but not having the same level of outrage necessarily for the civilian death toll that you are seeing in gaza. and emiratis, perhaps summarized it pretty well thoris morning b saying that the temperature needs to be turned down because it risks spilling out into the wider region. of course when that happens, extremists can take over and get their ideologies out and that it keep us trapped in this cycle of violence. >> scott mclean, thank you very much. all right. sam bankman-fried facing a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison after he was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the cloops of the crypto exchange that he created, ftx. manhattan federal prosecutor damian williams praised the jury's verdict saying that the government has no patience for fraud and corruption. >> players like sam bankman-fried might be new. but this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time. and we have no patience for it. it is a warning this case to every single fraudster out there who thinks that they are untouchable. i promise we'll have enough handcuffs for all of them. >> prosecutors of course said bankman-fried stole billions and defrauded lenders. sentencing is march 28th. what a fall from grace. up next here, leader of hezbollah about to break his silence, why the world watching for his first public comments since the start of the israel hamas war. and eric trump on the witness stand with his father soon to follow. and ron desantis trying to get a leg up in the presidential race and take the focus off specifically the heels of his cowboy boots. in a few hours the leader of hezbollah is expected to break his silence and make his first public remarks since the hamas attack on israel last month. even though hezbollah has fired dozens of missiles into northern israel, the white house does not believe that they were looking to fully enter the conflict. still the u.s. not backing away from its warnings to hezbollah to stay out. >> our message to him and anybody else is that if they are thinking about widening and escalating the conflict, you shouldn't do it. >> prospects of a wired regional war have put lebanon on high alert. ben wedeman has that part of the story for us from beirut. >> reporter: message on clips circulating on social media, ambiguous but ominous. they are stoking anticipation for a televised speech by the hezbollah leader scheduled for friday afternoon. daily since the 8th of october, hezbollah and israel have been exchanging fire across the border. it is not a full blown war -- yet. >> i feel a sense of doom in lebanon. >> reporter: this professor has lived through all his country's travails. >> some are afraid that we might be on the verge of the apocalypse. so i have never seen this much attention in this country. >> reporter: tensions rising higher thursday afternoon and evening with the heaviest bombardment yet both sides of the border. hezbollah's leader has been unusually quiet but his allies in iran have made it clear if israel crosses red lines in its operations against hamas, new fronts could open. and what are those red lines? >> these red lines for hezbollah, hamas leadership, hamas remaining intact as an organization and of course the palestinian people themselves preventing another from occurring. and they are iran red lines and hamas and jihad's red lines. they are everyone's red lines. >> reporter: and in 1948, hundreds of thousand of palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now israel. as the fighting in gaza intensifies and civilian death toll soars, the prospect of regional war looms and that could spell disaster for lebanon, a country already in a state of economic collapse and political paralysis. >> a war with israel would send the country back not to the stone ages but pre-stone ages probably. unfortunately. it is not something that the country -- it would take ages to recover from. >> reporter: and in beirut, this 70-year-old retired bank employee waits for the fish to bite. nobody knows what is going to happen, he tells me. everyone is worried. the situation is not reassuring. the sea appears calm. but a storm may be coming. ben wedeman, cnn, beirut. for more on what we might hear from the leader of hezbollah this morning, let's bring in shawn turner, formerly with the u.s. national intelligence. great to have you here. is there any way for this address, for hezbollah to come out and talk publicly that won't escalate the conflict here? i mean, what do you expect from this? >> yeah, it is a great question. there is a lot of speculation that he will come out and he might call for a direct attack on israel. but i don't think that he needs to do that in order to escalate this conflict. i think saying anything short of this is not our fight is going to have the impact of escalating the con flinlgts. and there is a direct reason why. he understands that israel has clearly stated its objective with regard to hamas and gaza. israel wants to once and for all eliminate hamas. he knows that israel sees hamas as part of a sort of axis of evil that involves hamas, hezbollah and iran. so what he is thinking is that if israel is successful in neutralizing hamas, it is just a matter of time before israel turns to the north to eliminate the threat to the north. so i think that even if he does not call for a direct attack on israel today, his rhetoric, the words that he uses will certainly communicate the threat that they feel and will escalate the violence. >> so according to cnn reporting, the u.s. has assessed that as of right now iran is still looking to avoid a wired regional conflict here. how much drebirect control or influence do iranians have over what unfolds today? can we take that as iran speaking or are they similarly potentially nervous about what might than? >> reporter: yeah, you know, iran is one of those places where the united states intelligence community views it as a hard target. it is difficult to collect intelligence that gives us a clear picture of how much influence they have and what they are doing. but i do think it is the case that the influence that tehran has over hezbollah will play into the decision to directly escalate the conflict. but there are some elements of hezbollah that will act independently and then there are some elements of hezbollah that does care what tehran wants. but that notwithstanding, at the end of the day, hezbollah is going to seek to survive and to blunt any attacks from israel. so at the end of the day, i don't think that it really matters. i think what is really happening here with regard to sort of calibrating and holding back has more do from hezbollah's perspective, more do with assessing israel's response to the attack that happened on october 7 and assessing whether or not and how israel is going about its operations. i think that we have repeatedly underestimated hamas and hezbollah and the coordination between these two. i think one of the things we have to be mindful of here, if they could simply be watching israel wear down as it takes this urban fight in gaza and waiting for the opportunity to get more heavily involved in the conflict. >> very interesting. shawn turner, thank you very much for starting your friday morning with us. really appreciate it. >> thanks, kasie. just ahead here, new york's mayor eric adams responding after the feds raideded the hom of hisis chief funundraiser. (car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) quick hits across america. eric trump will be back on the stand today at the fraud trial. he acknowledged that he provided financial information to former controller who is also a co-defendant in the trial. eric and brother don jr. are accused of knowingly participating in a scheme to inflate their father's net worth. and new york city mayor eric adams making his first public comments since the fbi raised the home of his chief fundraiser. adams is he he has not been contacted and claims that they will comply with any inquiry. sources say investigators want to know if adams 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with a brooklyn based construction company to funnel foreign money into campaign coffers. the pacific northwest bracing to get drenched this morning thanks to another atmospheric river event. let's get straight to our weatherman derek van dam. you mentioned this yesterday in your forecast. and i will say i had not previously heard of an atmospheric river, but it sounds like it means a lot of rain. so help us understand what is going on. >> yeah, quite a phenomenon. we talk about it typically in the fall and winter seasons throughout the pacific northwest. it is a river of water, a river of moisture in the upper levels of the atmosphere. what it does, it produces a lot of rainfall for the areas that this fire hose from the ocean basically reaches. and i'll show you why. so this is the first atmospheric river we talked about yesterday. the sektscond one is approachin quickly. you can almost trace the line of moisture, it is aimed right at the pacific northwest. and of course that will bring a very wet weekend to places like eugene, all the way northward into seattle. seattle by the way getting quite the bang for their buck this autumn. you receive about 150 days of rain per year generally light. but this is far from light. look at the rainfall totals in and around washington state. they have exceeded 6 inches in some locations. therecond atmospheric river. level five is the most intense. so is this a moderate event that will bring more precipitation to the northwest, roughly 2 to 4 inches. but this is welcomed rain for many locations because the summer was actually dry. they got to enjoy some of the dry days, sunny days in seattle. 65% of the state of washington under drought conditions. 48% of the state of oregon under drought conditions. but there is the rainfall coming in, the snow for the northern rockies. east coast though, you are waking up to a cool start to the morning. you are feeling it too. about you bundle up this morning? >> definitely did. you know, fingers crossed the weekend will be a little warmer. derek, thank you very much. coming up next, the biden administration publicly backing israel's war with hamas while privately urging a pause in gaza. we'll have more on antony blinken's mission under way right now in tel aviv. and hunter biden defends himself. the president's son talking publicly about his battle with addiction anand d lashing out as crcritics. . sgood morning. thank you for being up early with us. i'm kasie hunt. secretary of state antony blinken is in tel aviv meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. as he got on his plane last night, he said that he will be underscoring the need for israel's military to minimize civilian casualties in their war against hamas. >> we see in recent days palestinian civilians continuing to bear the brunt of this action and it is committed to making sure everything is done to protect civilians. >> sources tell cnn that blinken, president biden and his administration are warning israel that the clock is ticking on israel's war aims. the concern, public support for israel could erode as the suffering in gaza increases. overnight flares and explosions lit the skies over northern gaza during a fierce bombardment. let's go live to tel aviv. gustavo, they say they are intensifying operations. what does that mean in terms of israel's progress? >> reporter: it means that they see this as an opportunity to try to go after the hamas leadership. but the question right now is how much benjamin netanyahu is willing to listen to antony blinken as they meet and try to find a solution to help those who are trapped in this operation, this attack. i mentioned how the americans who have said that they support israeli's right to call for a pause to allow aid to get into the areas being hit hardest by the israeli activity in the area. we keep hearing reports of hospitals being hit. people -- more people getting wounded. and the warnings that this could turn into a real humanitarian crisis. and also the regional leaders, they are making increases calls to have some restraint to try to avoid a larger regional crisis. especially as we are expecting an important message, proclamation later today by leader of hezbollah, that is going to perhaps change the dynamics of what is happening in the region. that message later today could have larger implications. you ababout but right now the expectation is what is netanyahu going to do as he is listening to the u.s. secretary of state. >> gustavo, thank you very much. joel rubin is joining us now. good morning. we have this picture from the meeting that is going on right now or has been going on this hour between benjamin netanyahu and antony blinken. you see them there. netanyahu's office just tweeted that out. what i want to dig in here with you is the difference between what diplomats say in public and the message that they are trying to send behind closed doors. because we can show you what brinken emphasized last night again in public as he was leaving for israel. take a look. >> israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself. and again, to try to make sure that what happened never happens again. as democracies, the united states, israel, other democracies, have a responsibility to do everything possible to protect civilians who may be caught in harm's way. i expect that you will see a focus there and particularly how we can get over time two states for two people. >> so he mentioned there obviously israeli side, palestinian civilians looking at a two state solution. but frankly, cnn's reporting is that blinken and the biden administration are being much more blunt with the israelis in private. what is your sense having been in some of these rooms and understanding kind of how this difference might play out what it may look like in private and how that is going over with the israelis? >> yeah, great to be with you. let's call it tough love visit. what secretary blinken is doing is speaking to multiple audiences, first and foremost to the israeli public. what he's doing there is reassuring the israeli public that the united states stands with israel in its war against this blood thirsty terrorist organization in hamas, but also to your -- he will talk tough to prime minister benjamin netanyahu behind the scenes. of course outlining the support to try to ensure that iran is deterred, but also what is your plan. and this has been the consistent theme throughout. what is your plan for winning the peace, for securing dynamic after this conflict and how are you going to provide the palestinians -- this reflects the last crucial audience, which is the american public, it is not a secret that american politics are roiling over this, and the response by israel, and so he will be very firm that there is an unending level of support without questions or conventions on israel right now and he will have to make that very clear behind the scenes. >> yeah, things really have shifted pretty quickly here in terms of that. and in fact to this point, in just the last couple hours overnight, 13 democratic senators published a letter urging a short term cessation of hostilities. i'll go with that means pause to bring in aid and minimize harm to civilians. mark warner in particular signed on to this letter, that really stood out to me because he is not typically known as someone who is always in kind the most progressive corners here. what does this kind of -- this group and the sending of this letter say to you? >> certainly congress is in a continual dialogue with the white house and state department and other agencies about what is happening. and feeling the heat domestically, but also concerned about the broader picture for national security in the region. we just got out of a couple decades of war in the middle east and nobody wants to see us pulled in. this means that our strategy has to ensure that we support israel but that also we understand that israel knows that we have nights too and that we need to keep the region from flaring and having it become a regional war. and i think that you will see senator warner coming in thinking about the broader national security question, understanding that the threat environment is not so simple as one country versus one terrorist organization. we've been through that in the united states. one country versus a terrorist organization be it al qaeda or isis, it doesn't resolve all the problems. so they are getting some support from president biden and secretary blinken that can say our friends and congress telling us that we need hard answers and so that will strengthen him on this trip. >> so perhaps it should be viewed as cover for the biden administration to say hey, this is kind of where things stand and it is not just us. joel rubin, thank you very much for being up with us. appreciate your time. all right. house speaker mike johnson makes the first move in a fight with democrats and the white house over war funding. the house passed a $14.3 billion standalone emergency aid package for israel. it does not include funding for ukraine and it includes cuts at the internal revenue service to pay for some of this emergency aid. chuck schumer called the bill deeply flawed and says it won't even be considered by the senate. this was the first time that aid to israel has been conditioned on other policies. and cornell university has canceled classes today to acknowledge the, quote, extraordinary stress its campus has been under. one of their students is arrested after being accused of violent anti-semitic threats. since the conflict started last month, jews, palestinians and muslims in the u.s. have expressed growing fears in reported spike of hate motivated attacks. anti-defamation league says compared to a year ago, they have reported a nearly 400% increase in anti-semitic incidents in the days following the has mass athamas attacks. joining us to help us understand is ethan fine, a junior at indiana university.mass hamas a. joining us to help us understand is ethan fine, a junior at indiana university. ethan, thank you for getting up early. i know when i was in college, 5:00 a.m. would not have been a fun wake-up for me. but i know what we're here to talk about is obviously pretty serious. so i want to hear from you what your experience has been on campus in recent weeks and especially how it has changed since the conflict broke out. >> yeah, absolutely. good morning, i appreciate the opportunity to be here. so jewish students across the country are facing a wave of anti-semitic intimidation, harassment, physical violence. unlike anything i think that anyone has ever seen before. we're being attacked on campus by anti-israel pro hamas students who just are spreading horrific messages. at indiana specifically, we've seen anti-semitic graffiti littered around campus, lisa a begans like from the river to the sea palestinian will be free, calls to wipe out the state of israel from the mediterranean sea to the jordan river. you know, on campus specifically at indiana, jewish students have been censored. our newspaper on campus published an op-ed that literally called for the elimination of the state of israel. and that is just unacceptable. jewish students tried to respond by publishing op-eds, but also some rebuttal pieces they were denied. and so there is really an effort not only to censor jewish students but to intimidate them. and the same newspaper completely defended the terrorist attacks by trying to contextualize them. and imagine if a jewish student wrote an article saying that gaza should be destroyed. that would be absolutely abhorrent and there would be no safe place on scam pus. they would be ostracized because that is just really a horrible position to take. but that is exactly what is happening on campuses across the country. people are calling for annihilation of the state of israel, they are calling for more dead jews. and it is really scary. and we're not going to be intimidated. and you spoke about what happened hat cornell. and that rhetoric is being repeated across the country.hat. and that rhetoric is being repeated across the country. >> what would you like the administrators at your university be doing? >> phenomenal question. and i'll start by saying indiana has been a phenomenal flies jewish students. that is one of the main reasons that i decided to go here. but there is a lot that can be done in addition to condemning hamas and issuing statements of support for jewish students. first and foremost, there has to be really strictly enforcing the student code of conduct. intimidation and harassment are not allowed. and students on campuses have the right to free speech, but there is a limit. the code of conduct needs to be enforced. indiana university in 2018 formally endorsed the international holocaust alliance working definition of anti-semitism. and when i was in student government, we worked to pass this student government as well. and that blatant -- that very clearly lays out what is and is not anti-semitic. and so there is a ton that the university can do while still working within the confines of the student rights to clearly say if you call for the destruction of the state of israel that is anti-semitic. if you hold israel to the double standard that 1 anti-semitic. refusing jewish students or jewish people the right to self-determination, that is anti-semitic. holding jewish students accountable for what is happening in israel is anti-semitic. all those things are happening. and that needs to be addressed and students who are harassing and intimidating other jewish students need to be held accountable. we had a professor here at indiana university just yesterday rip down posters of hostages. he himself called it tribalist propaganda, said jews are using our pain for propaganda. we are facing a hostile environment in the class him room, the dorms. students are being harassed for being jewish and reporting israel. and so universities need to address it beyond just saying we condemn hamas. >> all right. ethan fine, thank you very much. an important perspective to bring. have a wonderful day. up next here, ron desantis trying to stomp out what some are calling boot gate. why are we talking about foot fetishes? that i is next. (car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) this is no time for foot fetishes. we have serious problems as a country. >> not unfair. not an unfair statement. if the shoe fits, i guess, wear it. ron desantis has been trying to quash rumors that he wears lifts in his boots to appear taller. you see the boots in question right here. there we go. the florida governor was confronted over this by a podcaster this week. watch. >> what they are trying to say with this is that in your boots you have heels. >> no, these are just standard off the rack. >> let's take one more look at the boots. take the banner down. that is him walking across the stage. so he might lose an inch or two with a pair of plain old loafers. i guess he has not lost his sense of humor about this. take a look. >> i know donald trump and a lot of his people have been focusing on things like footwear. i'll tell you this, you know, donald trump can summon the balls to show up at the debate, i'll wear a boot on my head. >> okay. let's bring in daniel strauss. i don't know if i quite want to say gutter politics, but not that far off. the desantis campaign is selling golf balls around this to try to underscore the point that he was making. i will say he askhe does seem t trying to be a little more humorous than perhaps in the past. what do you make of this? >> you are clearly loving this. look, there is always some sort of silliness or like quirkiness to a campaign season. remember in 2016 marco rubio and drinking water or there was a discussion about the size of hands of republican candidates. and this is just that. i guess you could argue that this is really the deeper question here is that whether ron desantis is phony even about his shoe size and heist and l h admit to who he is i guess, but this is just what happens. kind of fun. >> yeah, well, obviously the undertones of masculinity, who is masculine, who is not. i appreciated nikki haley being like i can run in high heels. i don't know about you boys. >> just embrace -- as he said short king yet? just go for it. come on. i mean, the golf balls is -- that is part of it, right? >> of course. and so speaking of desantis on a more kind of serious note, he yesterday was -- he did an interview where he essentially said that it would be fatal for republicans to nominate someone who was convicted of a crime. that obviously is different from what happened when he raised his hand on the debate stage to say that he would vote for a convicted felon in donald trump were he to be the nominee. i talked to chris christie about this yesterday. take a look at what he had to say. >> then i wonder why he raised his hand at the first debate and said that he would support him even if he was convicted. if he was a convicted felon, he said that he would support him. desantis had to cheat off everybody's paper before he made that answer on the debate stage and was the last to make a decision on that one. but now maybe he is changing his mind? i don't know. we don't know which ron desantis to believe. we don't know which nikki haley to believe. she raised her hand saying she would support him even if he was a convicted felon. >> it is a pretty remarkable switch for desantis. >> yeah, i mean, look, the truth about this is that among the supporters, some of the supporters of both desantis and trump depend on, they don't feel that any of the alleged crimes donald trump faces are actually things that he perpetrated. they feel this is part of a larger quote/unquote witch hunt to undermine trump and his desantis. so -- his candidacy. and so desantis is trying to not alien nature those voters that he needs that say that they will vote for him if trump were out of race.nature those voters thae needs that say that they will vote for him if trump were out of race. but trying to contrast himself from trump. a tough road to navigate. >> next debate is wednesday. is this ron desantis' last chance? >> no, i don't think so. look, he is one of the more -- his name i.d. is higher than most candidates. this is not an ideal position for any candidate to be moving most of their operation to one state as desantis has done with iowa, but look, at the same time, the oxygen is leaving the room. each time -- there are fewer and fewer so-called chairs on stage for the debates and trump has maintained a significant lead throughout his entire primary. and so we're running out of time here for some kind of surge of another candidate. >> and while he is very much at risk if not already in a position where nikki haley is basically surpassing him in the race for second place. daniel strauss, happy friday. thanks for being here. and coming up this morning, we're hear from joe biden's top didiplomat in n israel rigight . (car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. steelers pull off the fourth quarter rally to beat the titans. andy scholes has the bleacher report. >> terrible towels were out for thursday night football and sending fans home happy with the win but it was not easy. they were down 16-13. pickett leading pittsburgh on the 92 yard drive ending on this touchdown pass. steelers take the lead. it was a scary moment for tennessee as they did try to answer. their wide receiver will go up trying to catch the ball and his head will hit hard on the turf. he would remain down. a stretcher would come out to get him. burkes did give the thumbs up on his way out and after the game mike vrabel said he was alert and moving. pittsburgh would get the late interception and hold on to win. to the nba, victor wembanyama and the spurs, leading san antonio to a big 27 point lead before the suns came storming all the way back. they tied the game in the fourth quarter. but wemby would then score ten points in a two minute stretch. going off for the career high 38 points and ten rebounds. and wemby now just the third teenager in league history to put up those kind of numbers joining lebron and kevin durant. finally last night's match-up between tcu and texas tech interrupted by a possum on the field. did not go quietly. it was hanging on to the turf with those sharp claws as he was dragged out of the stadium. 7-7 when the possum took the field. tech went on to win. so maybe they need to keep it in the stadium off to the side or something. >> it is the new mascot. oh, my god, i love this. he is like i want to watch the game too. what are you doing with me. that is a great way to start the weekend. thank you very much for being with us this morning. and thanks to all of you for joining us. i'm kasie hunt. "cnn this morning" starts right now.