11,779. Thank you very much. Jeff zeleny. And thanks to all of you as always, ac36ts now tonight on 360 mile after mile destruction, heartbreak, and you have live reports and where helene hit the hardest and people from near and far who are answering the call for help. North carolina's governor joins us. So does chef jose andres also both presidential candidates address the disaster which won the former president playing politics with the relief effort by claiming the biden administration is playing politics with the relief effort. Plus israel ramps up airstrikes on lebanon and launches. Would they call a limited ground operation? good evening. Thanks for joining us. What began with exploding pagers and walkietalkies than the israeli air force killing hezbollah's leadership is now entering a new phase. Cnn's jeremy diamond is on the ground in northern israel right now. What are you learning tonight? is that israel begins this ground operation for months now, we have wondered whether or not israel would expand this conflict against hezbollah, whether it might send ground troops into the sovereign country of lebanon to go after hezbollah. And tonight, anderson, for the first time, the israeli military is confirming that they have indeed started a ground operation inside southern lebanon to go after hezbollah positions near the israel lebanon border. Now these really military is taking pains to try and describe this as a limited ground operation in a statement, they said that this is limited localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence to go after hezbollah targets forgets but make no mistake. Anderson, what we are seeing tonight is israeli troops in a very official capacity for the first time since the 2006 war with lebanon, sending ground troops into lebanon and going after hezbollah targets. And that is of course, a very significant escalation following several weeks of escalatory actions by the israeli military, a slew of very heavy airstrikes in southern eastern lebanon, as well as in the lebanese capital of beirut. And of course, the killing of hezbollah's leader hassan nasrallah. But israeli officials who i've spoken to anderson say that they see this as the moment to go after hezbollah at a time when they are in disarray, when they have been significantly weakened by those airstrikes. And so tonight, anderson all around us, we are hearing that ground operation in action. We have been hearing the helicopters overhead. We have been hearing outgoing artillery fire from very near our position, just a couple of miles away from the israeli border. And then over the hill in lebanon, we have been and seeing some of those explosions happening, plumes of smoke, flares as israeli ground forces under cover of night advance into lebanon. Do you know how large a force israel has amassed to conduct this operation? well, we know that over the course of the last several weeks, the israeli military has increased its force along the border relatively significantly. They've redirected the 98th division, which was a key fighting force throughout much of this war in gaza to the northern border. They also activated to reserve brigades. That's thousands of troops being moved to the northern border as we were driving here today, we saw about 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers are raid along a highway headed for northern israel. And of course, there are forces that we are not seeing in this area as well. We don't know exactly how large the forces that and he's actually going into lebanon right now, israeli officials who i've spoken to declined to get into exactly how many forces there are, but they are trying to emphasize that this is limited. They say that it is targeted to take out immediate threats along the border, including the threat of hezbollah carrying out some kind of incursion into northern israel. One senior israeli official also telling me that they do not intend to carry out any kind of longterm occupation of southern lebanon, but they're also not saying anderson exactly how long those israeli troops are going to be remaining inside lebanon, how long this operation will last or how deep into lebanon they intend to operate? jeremy diamond. Thanks. Will check back with you later this hour. Also talked to tom friedman of the new york times. Now, back home, the aftermath of hurricane helene, not so long ago, the foothills and mountains of west western north carolina are considered a place to flee from dangerous storms like helene aisle today, the evidence that it's no longer a storm haven is everywhere you look, including this vacations bob, this pictures from sunday, it was left. This is what was left of it and sunday all across the southeast in georgia, tennessee, the carolinas, the destruction, much of it from so much rain falling on already rain, so ground would be almost unimaginable if not from the video coming in from asheville and chimney rock, north carolina where everything from all allies to highways have been destroyed. And parts of the area cut off from help so far the death toll across the area hit by helene stands at 128 and climbing many more on accounted for right now, president biden will travel to north carolina on wednesday. And as we mentioned, both presidential candidates weighed in today before dealing with that, though the latest and what is like in some of the hardest hit places, unions, isabel rosales begins our coverage this widespread of view from the air brings into focus the full scope of the destruction wrought by hurricane helene have you, trees and downed power lines are blocking major roadways? hampering the delivery of badlyneeded supplies, and overturn semitruck laying upside down in the river and numerous landslides all spotted from above cnn flew by helicopter with a nonprofit serving inaccessible towns badly in need of aid on the ground in black mountain outside of asheville city manager, josh herald says, it could take years to get over this devastation is catastrophic black mountain may never look the same again. It's just total destruction, but just getting by for now, the focus for so many, it's hours of waiting for gas at the few pumps that are still running and, asheville lines of cars waiting for basic supplies let's just rough as hard as the in the city like this, some families, celsius, then they've run out of drinking water without electricity. Their food is rotting gary o'dell is sharing everything he's got his home with his daughter who lost it all to the catastrophic floods and even lifesaving oxygen tanks with his neighbor. My nextdoor neighbor ran out of oxygen. He's worse shape than i am. That's my problem. I've got lung cancer now too. And you don't, you don't realize oxygen is is very important nonprofits teaming up to serve 2000 residents in the first four hours how are you guys doing? this is one of the first semitrucks full of desperately needed supplies to arrive in asheville this is the most devastating thing i've ever seen her whole city think that the loss of life fact that if you don't have cash, you can't get anything. We've gotten to stores, waters out, isis out people slept overnight at gas stations like i feel like we've never seen this before. And three days into this disaster, north carolinians praying that more help is on the way. Isabel rosales joins us now, from asheville, just talk a little bit more about what you've been seeing on the ground there biltmore village in a place so loved and known by tourists. They would have been entering their busiest season, right now in october and said they're dealing with this. I mean, this is a gas station it would've been so busy right around this time and now it's just this muddy mess and random debris like this this right here reads still tank for oil burner fuels and other combustible liquids. So a bunch of gas tanks, fuel tanks all over the place down power lines, tree limbs, all sort of stuff but anderson, what caught my attention today was a desperate need of so many that i spoke with thanks so we need for everyday life, water, food, baby formula, no diapers. The need is tremendous. Neighbors are helping one another, but they're taking this day by day and as they are trying to do that, there are still people stuck in these mountain towns. I've seen helicopters just filling up the sky all day long. That's the only way that they can get to them attempting to get them out, or at least help them go day by day by giving them those items just so they can figure things out. Anderson regardless. Thanks very much joining us right now is asheville assistant fire chief jeremy knighten appreciate you being with us. What is an am just so sorry for what you and the community is going through. Can you just talk about what you have been seeing about ongoing rescue operations, what's the situation on the ground now? absolutely we've got our hasty searches done. Now we're doing more targeted searches as the water recedes were having a really coordinated response with our county and state partners. Also the federal government and the fema urban search and rescue teams are here on the ground working with us, integrating with us, and we're doing a systematic search from the some of the worst hit areas to our east all the way through it's we're moving but we're having to move at the speed that safe. And where we can get into these places is the topography is already working against us with the steep terrain. And you add on the mud the rain, the water it's a mess do you do like grid searches? i mean, is that in an area where the topography is you said is is really steep and mountainous. That's got to be really difficult it is luckily, we have some our drones are integrated with the urban search and rescue teams as well as the locals for that local situational awareness and so we've lived in this community for a long time. We work here however, it looks way different than it did four days ago so even though we've lived here, the changes that that water and the speed of that that water has created in our city. It's almost unrecognizable and then my right and bullying the water has largely i mean, has the water most and proceeded back to normal back to the streams and the rivers that normally is yes. However, in many cases the river traveled is traveling a different way than it did last tuesday, where the river was on the right side of the road in many cases, now the river is through the road and completely on the left we're also dealing with mudslides. And then just the mud we're having to cut several trees that are in intertwined with power lines just to get access so that we can get in there and get a full picture of what's going on. And just in terms of resources that you need i mean, i know you said you're working a lot of different partner and people from local, state, and federal governments do have what you need need of resources obviously water food fuel power connectivity and we were making plans now, the local communities all through the mountains are banding together. And we're working in a coordinated manner to get that stuff resources and beginning to pump resources every day more and more into our community. We have help from other places that are here, organizing what that helped looks like, and making it. So were organized and efficient. And we can really speed the service delivery up but our folks have been at this now for four days. So a lot of the locals here, we've got firefighters here that haven't seen their families. We've got some firefighters, their families have gone to different locations and were they can just come here and work. There's a lot of responders, public works our water resources that are all standing on the front lines that are that are personal sacrifices that are making this happen along with those partners, assistant chief knighten you must be exhausted and everybody there must be. But i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us and i wish you the best alright. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Well, neither our chef jose andres nor his organization world central kitchen probably needs much in the way of an introduction by now, their remarkably quick to arrive on scene where human need is greatest feeding hungry people trying to help bring local communities back to life. This time no difference is teams are in georgia, florida, tennessee nessie, and north carolina. Chef andres trump just now from asheville jose. What are you seeing on the ground were how were you deployed well, anderson, everything everybody has spoken before me very much describes what's going on but they want to say that obviously the best is that i always say in the worst moments of humanity, the best of humanity comes up i only see communities coming together i see obviously the work that fema is doing, the work that the national guard is doing, the operation. I see in the airport. Here in nashville is something quite frankly, i've never seen in many operations in the last few 15 years that they've been dedicated to this. And we are talking about many helicopters, big one, she knows these events, bringing a lot of goods into asheville delivering to the communities. This is what was andragogy and we've been doing we have already i'm here speaking from one of our restaurant partners one of the chefs that is being with us in many other operations around the world, who was going to say that this chef, jamie mcdonald, hearing his restaurant, was going to open his restaurant not only to feed the field, but to feed the people in need in nashville, we are reaching communities that are almost impossible to reach by car here's where the biggest need is obviously the destruction of the roads is real. The breaches that broken makes very difficult to get by car and that's why he's very smart to be in this moment reaching those communities by helicopter arriving with food, arriving with water, arriving with baby formula it's so much more need. But overall we need to remember that these very much, we are in nashville itself on day three, day four, only i do believe that the aid is going to be reaching everybody. Obviously, when somebody loses their home, when somebody loses their lifestyles, when you said he the destruction around is very hard, but they do believe because the people of north carolina, that people are as we large so shawn mason, they come together so well daybyday things will get better. We always need to be thinking that tomorrow will be better. That's why everybody comes together to look at the future. Sure. Where hope is what wins the day. The model of your organization really was, was when she created was mobilizing local restaurants that might be shut down but my the kitchen might still work to make food that can then feed and you can bring to surrounding populations. Does that model work? in asheville right now? i mean, you said you're in a in a restaurant right now. You're using that same model here obviously is the only way. Listen, we began responding in florida more than 30 foot drugs kitchens that we are opening, that we are able to be doing 102030000 meals a day at the same time, remember, acapulco was hit by a category three hurricane. We are also in acapulco where we are simply recreating the same model of the same hurricane that hit acapulco a year ago these models work, they're simple, they're efficient, they allow the local community to come together as one. And this is probably the biggest power of what watson rockets and brings is now watson rugged can helping the people of north carolina or the people of tennessee, or the people of your area, is actually the people of those communities coming together. And as simply empowering to bring to their citizens what they need. The feeling that weaker, the feeling that we are here again, yes, these moments are hard for everybody, but every day i believe to get better, every day will be little bit better than yesterday. And hopefully before we now this beautiful city that i know so well, i've been hearing vacation before some people that used to work with me open a restaurant here called good at the fairly eggs it's been unbelievable what they've done that restaurant that i came to help them open many years ago, 40 years ago. Right now is one of the restaurants were using to provide meals to the people of asheville and the people in the surrounding areas. But again, this is massive. We are going to places that by car will take us four and five and six hours were using helicopters because we can get there intent on 20 minutes. This is the type of response is happening. And as we'll an either we live day by day thinks will be little bit better tomorrow. We're bringing five water drags we are going to be able to bring close to 100 100,000 elements of water to put it in the communities in places we know is necessary. You see, every day you come up with a better solution to solve the problems of yesterday. This is what humanitarian aid should always be. Chef jose andres. Thank you. As always, appreciate it coming up next our gary tuchman on the ground will be joined also by north carolina in as governor later campaign politics and the former president calling his opponent mentally disabled and advocating for police violence against crime. One rough hour. 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Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first i intend to be a president for all americans and focus on investing right now in you, the american people. And we can chart a new way forward. I'm kamala harris and i approve this message passage. I'm adding downey unstoppable us to my wash. Now, i'll be smelling fresh all day long still fresh stefl's, you just toss wash wow. For all day freshness. We really don't want people to think of feeding food like ours yes, boiling their dogs. Good real food is simple. Looks like food. Smells like fooling. Make the rules kaitlin collins tonight at nine it's bad as many of the images from the state today are north carolina state health officials today say that 22 acute care hospitals, they are now reconnected to the power grid after being on generator power for several days. They also say they're maintaining close contact with the facilities and keeping them supplied with food, water, and other supplies that they need to stay operational that is certainly welcome news. But only as our gary tuchman reports, a glimmer in what our for so many right now, some very dark days this area is known as green river cove. It's right near hendersonville, north carolina, southeast of asheville, this road is treacherous even in the best of times that it rains, it's even more treacherous. But now it has been devastated from the remnants of the storm. You could see the guard rail is gone. The drop here off the side of the road, which has been so heavily damaged about 100 feet down cars were not supposed to be on here anymore. There are also house is below. We've talked to some people who live in the area. They said they were trying to get down to the house to see if people they know are still there because they haven't been able to find out what happened to those people, but they weren't able to hike down and neither are we. We have been told that there had been helicopter rescues of people who we'll live in the homes below. But there's absolutely no way to know for sure if there are still people who are in those homes that have been damaged below us we decided to go down the hill farther and what we saw is the literal and figurative end of the road of a station of the storm will what led to this is the street right here you can see that the street just comes to an end before plunging down here. These boulders that are right here, the locals here say these boulders actually moved from the force of the storm all the houses in front of mine on the river side of the road are gone brad mcmillan and nick wolf both live in this area. Their homes are okay. But the experience has been dramatic. We moved here because the green river narrows is an iconic piece of classified whitewater and where whitewater kayakers. So we moved our whole lives down here for this area nice, these riverbeds and they've all been completely destroyed and rearrange it's extremely emotional on a lot of different levels near green water cove is the small town of saluda, north carolina population of only about 800 people. We don't know of anyone who was killed or injured in this town. There's lots of damages to the businesses the homes right over here. This is the green river barbecue, local restaurant known for its ribs this business is more than 40yearsold, but the people who own it right now only bought an eight months ago. You can see all over the floor this mud keeps getting deeper and deeper as you walk in because there was a mudslide in this it's part of the bill and you could see how deep the water has gotten right here the mud came in through a crevasse inside this wall bring in tom has the restaurant owners his overwhelming that's really a taunting trying to think of what our next steps are insurance doesn't cover mudslides, so that's no help. We've talked to people about getting the tree off the building and it's going to be weeks before we know it can get to us. How is this going to be financially for you that devastating yeah. Gary, i mean, were there emergency personnel on the scene when you were in green river po so while we were there, anderson, we didn't see any emergency personnel, but that doesn't mean the men and the women who are doing the emergency worked aren't heroes. There so many neighborhoods throughout western north carolina where they have to be that can't be everywhere all the time. We did mention there were helicopter rescues over the weekend. One thing i think is very important to mention because we cover so many hurricanes and tropical google storms and tornadoes i think a lot of drivers believe there will always be a gate or a sign telling you not to use a certain road and so many roads are destroyed, you can't have gates are signs we were on that road. We are on today while we were driving, there was no gator sign and at one point, we hit a mud patch and we slid over way closer to the cliff then i wanted to be i think important to warn people about that, please be careful when you're driving after the storms. Very youtube, gary, thanks very much. As we mentioned, president biden will visit the area on wednesday. Vice president harris cut short of west coast trip, return to washington, visiting fema headquarters over the past few days, our nation has endured some of the worst destruction and devastation that we have seen in quite some time and we have responded with our best with the best folks who are on the ground. And here doing the kind of work that is about rising to a moment of crisis to do everything we can to lift up folks who deserve to be seen and heard the former president also weighed in from georgia with a lie about the republican governor in georgia not getting the help he needs from washington its ally made all the more brazen because of what the governor himself had already said just a couple of hours earlier. Here's what both men said i think abbott is doing a very good job. He's having a hard time getting the president on the phone, i guess not the federal government it is not being responsive the president is called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back. And he just said, hey, what do you need? and i told him, we we got what we need. We'll work through the federal process. He offered that if there's and other things that we need just to call them directly, which i appreciate that well, late today, prison biden was asked about this. Take a look he's lying and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told me his line. I spoken to the governor or spend time with him, and he told me his line, i don't know why he does this well, need to say with all the real problems on the ground right now, it says a lot that someone is adding a madeup problem to the list. John us now to talk first and foremost about those very real problems north carolina governor roy cooper, governor cooper, where do things stand tonight in terms of getting food, water, people who are stranded in western north carolina and getting power and phone service still the number one priority is making sure that we are saving lives. There are 92 search and rescue teams who are active right now and who are still bringing people to safety i was in asheville today at the landing zone where we are bringing in food food and water hours also there with administrator criswell of the fema. She's going to be with us the next few days. She was with me all day today. They've delivered 1 million liters of water, 600,000 meals. We have sent out hundreds of palates to 20 different locations throughout western north carolina. We have a beautiful, beautiful mountains in north carolina. But they are rugged. Sometimes to get through even on a beautiful day. After this catastrophic storm, it is very difficult to get to all of those places. That's why we are relying on airpower. I also talked to a lot of people. I went to a hospital, spoke with nurses who are working hard spending the night in the hospital. I went and talked with restaurant owners who are opening their restaurants and serving free food two people. I talked with people who are running some hotels who have just opened their hotels and they're letting first responders come to spend the night who have come from other states to help us. This is a strong community pulling together to help each other there's a lot to do in the short term. There's going to be a monumental task to recover in the long, in the long term do you have a sense right now of how many people are still missing or unaccounted for so we've had 2,900 calls over the entire time to our r21, one to say that we can't get in touch with somebody. I don't know that a lot of people have gotten in touch with their people as our cell phone service is good. Gradually coming back up. I talked with several people today. One this morning when i was there saying that they hadn't heard from their brother by this afternoon. They had so there's not a real tally of that. To my understanding, but what i do know is that when we get these calls them, our team things that are going out and doing welfare checks and knocking on doors to see if people are there. In addition to continuing to rescue people from these waters, we still have some rising rivers and the potential for more damage. But i'll tell you this, this catastrophic that is one that north carolinians can overcome. We just got all have to work together. And this is an unprecedented massive effort that is being coordinated among local, state, federal, nonprofits. It's been amazing to see the work that's going on. We've just got to make i'm sure that it reaches every corner of western north carolina and that is going to be a large task. I'll be going back in the morning. I'll be going to jackson county in addition to balkcom county. And we're going to continue to work to help people i knew politics and last thing on your mind, i do want to give you the opportunity to respond something that the former president has said about north carolina and you, he said i'll be there shortly, but don't like the reports that we're getting about the federal government and the democratic governor of the state going out of their way to not help people in republican areas and quote do you have any response to that you know, it makes no difference who you are if you need help, we are going to provide it. And if there's ever a time where we all need to come together and put politics aside. It is now north carolina governor roy cooper. Thank you so much wish you the best coming out. Sure. More on the breaking news out of lebanon where israel says it has begun what it calls a limited ground operation details ahead a serious heart condition affecting as many as one and 200 people like me, and me, i was still short of breath on my betablocker. So i talked to my cardiologist and asked about treatment advances in hcm that talk made a real difference. It gave me new hope talk to your cardiologist today visit atm real talk. Com to learn more look at this city, little saleable. These men of means with their silver spoons heating up the financial favors of the 1% what would become of them when they discover robin hood gold allows others to earn their very liberal rates on either cash unlimited, deposit, bomblets, susan hence, some retirement matching descend into chaos they're seeing this chaos if everyone knows halloween is all about blech and michael's has all the record we made forget about black i used for research. They defy plug and i use this for reese has a microchip to control sent release, so it smells first day fresh for 50 days, 50 days, and it's refilled reminder light means i'll never missed today a freshness for breece club. You're leaving me for a turbotax expert seeing it, adam turbotax or your pride's aids s just $189. She caught for entire career sea. One is coming out episodes says to the world, it's okay to be gay. I don't think i realized how much it meant till i saw the reaction tv he on the edge, moments that shaped our culture sunday at nine on cnn warner breaking news, israel launching what it calls a limited ground operation in southern lebanon just days after the israeli air force killed the leader of hezbollah. Let's go back to jeremy diamond in northern israel. So talk about what you have been seeing over the last several hours last several hours, we have been hearing the constant thud of artillery booming out from very close to our position into southern lebanon, which earlier we thought was perhaps preparations for a ground offensive. Now we've learned that it's actually a part of that ground counter offensive as israeli troops have poured across the border from israel into southern lebanon and with the israeli military has been describing as targeted raids, limited operations, but make no mistake. This is the first time that the israeli military is confirming that israeli troops have now crossed into lebanon since the 2006 war. And this does indeed take this war between israel and hezbollah to a very new level. We are still hearing the were of helicopters in the distance, even as that artillery has kind of started to quiet down for the moment, at least earlier today, we were seeing across this hill in southern lebanon. We were seeing some of those explosions happening as israeli troops moved in, flares overhead to give them light as they moved in overhead. One of the major questions now, how long is this operation actually going to last? and on that point israeli officials aren't giving me any firm answers what they are saying though is that they do not intend to occupy southern lebanon new longterm occupation as israeli officials seek to emphasize that this is a limited operation which is also what we're told. They conveyed to the white house, to the u. S. Administration. In recent days, have there been any alerts from israeli authorities to israeli citizens just in terms of restricting movement are seeking shelter there have been some restrictions on israeli civilian life particularly in northern israel. No large gatherings beaches have been closed. People are told to remain relatively close to shelters, but there haven't been the kind of massive preparations being made or restrictions on civilian life that you might expect in a moment like this. And that actually really speaks as i'm just hearing once again, some more artillery overhead anderson, that speaks to the fact that israel is carrying out this ground operation at a moment when hezbollah has been significantly weakened by these airstrikes over the course of the last couple of weeks, those pager attacks and of course, that airstrike that took out hezbollah's longtime leader, hassan nasrallah. This is a moment where hezbollah's organization is in disarray, but also where israeli officials believed that their operational capabilities have been significantly dismantled to the point where hezbollah has not been able to carry out the kind of overwhelming response once that you might expect hundreds of rockets fired simultaneously thousands of rockets a day intended to overwhelm israel's air defenses. It seems like hezbollah, at least for this moment, doesn't seem capable of carrying out that kind of response. Diamond. Thank you very much. Our senior international correspondent, ben wedeman joins us now from beirut. What have you been seeing and hearing tonight few hours ago, anderson were a series of israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of beirut. One of them, a very large explosion about a mile east of beirut international airport. But the city has been quiet since then. But of course, there is concern about what the israelis are calling a limited localized and targeted raids in south lebanon, given that israel has a long history of invading an occupying lebanon so there is a concern that this operation could expand beyond limited raids to an incursion, perhaps an invasion which has happened in the past. So the concern is that this is perhaps just the first opening round of what could become something much larger. And is it clear how badly damaged hezbollah is? i mean, obviously, they're there, you know, their leader has been, has been assassinated. Many others in the leadership and also the rank and file had been wounded or killed heard today from the deputy of nas that i lead today who made a speech in which he said we have not collapsed despite the pain and sacrifices clearly, they have been severely damaged by recent events starting with the pager attacks in the walkietalkies and what followed. But what's significant is that along the southern front from where the rockets have been firing almost daily into israel. Those rockets continued to be fired. It doesn't seem to have been affected either by israeli strikes intense strikes going back a week and the assassination of hassan nasrallah. So they keep on doing that and it's important to keep in mind that his bundlers strength beyond rockets has always been, it's guerilla fighters who successfully fought it the israelis to a standstill in the 2006 war. And going back from the mid 80s until the year 2000, actually wage to guerrilla war that forced the israelis unilaterally to withdraw from lebanon so once israeli troops are on the ground in the very rugged, mountainous terrain of southern lebanon where hezbollah has spent years preparing for this exact eventuality. We may see that they still have strength enough to pose quite a challenge to israeli forces in that area. Ben wedeman, thank you very much. Be careful joining us now is new york times columnist and pulled him surprise winning author thomas friedman, who's previously served as both beirut and later jerusalem bureau chief for the times experiences which formed the foundation of what his most famous works from beirut to jerusalem, which is out with a new edition tomorrow. First of all, what's your reaction is digital begins to push ground troops into lebanon tonight well, it's clear, anderson, i think they're out to do three things. One is to destroy whatever his bullet infrastructure was near the border. So hezbollah cannot amount a kind of surprise attack like a mosque that's number one because they've done a quite a network of tunnels and preposition armaments as well i think the second thing is to really restore israel's deterrence. I think there is a widespread feeling in israel that the hamas attack on october 7, a year ago now was done because the neighborhood that lost respectively deterrence. I think that's going on. I think third thing is that basically iran had israel in a ring of fire of its proxies. The houthis, shia militias in iraq, hamas and hezbollah. And israel seems to be out to destroy the has hezbollah ring and that in that ring of fire in hopes that it will collapse the whole thing. Give everybody else real pause and really brushed the iranians back so it's a highrisk strategy but i think that's what's playing out right now. How i mean the killing of nasrallah, obviously isn't he seismic event for hezbollah? how do you see that impacting things it's really the biggest geopolitical event in this region. I would say since october 7. And the abraham accords, because nasrallah was not only a charismatic figure but he was a feared leader there, a feared by israelis and respected by israelis. The fact that he was taken out and the fact that the entire leadership of his book been decapitated and your reporter, mr. Dimon, you know, i thought i was very struck by his report port that so far you have not seen this barrage of hezbollah rockets that you'd expect right now on the border suggests that their command and control structure has been severely damaged. Now, can it be resurrected quickly. I don't know. I don't think i'd i'd like to be that the new ahead of hezbollah stepping into that the job right now, given the fact that israel's clearly penetrated, the whole organization and get almost pick off. These leaders one at a time. So we just got to watch for this to play out, but it's really, it's going to be a game changer. Iran is now on his backfoot in a way it hasn't been anderson since the start of this work. Well, that was my next question about iran i mean, sort of the big picture of this goes beyond just lebanon philosophy since the start of the war is to fight till the last lebanese, the last yemeni, the last gazan in the last palestinian everyone dies up for iran and iran just stays above the fray. And if hezbollah is broken here, that's going to and we're so far from that. I don't want to begin to predict it, but if it's military capacity has severely diminished, whether the houthis are going to be thinking about that. I think it'll create a lot of fat in the fire in tehran between hardliners, there and those who, including maybe the new president, who want to take a more conciliatory line in the world with the world. But most of all at the core of this thing, anderson is the fact that iran and hezbollah have been completely penetrated by israeli intelligence so much that they could pick off leaders one at a time. And what that tells me is not only that the masad is good, israeli intelligence is good. It's how many people in lebanon and iran heat these organizations. Because the only way you get that could have intelligence if you have a lot of people inside who want a rat, these people out tom friedman, it's always good to talk to you. Thank you. John thanks. Coming up back to the campaign trail, the former president's personal attacks on vice president harris, which at this time have drawn criticism from a disability rights organization are too high, but while corporations are gouging families trump is focused on giving them tax cuts. But kamala harris is focused on you building yeah, the middleclass will be a defining goal of my presidency she'll make groceries more affordable by cracking down on price gouging. And she'll cut housing costs despite taking on corporate speculators. 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And this is cnn the former president's unfounded attack on the federal government's response to hurricane helene comes after a weekend of personal attacks against vice president harris. Here he is in pennsylvania and wisconsin crooked joe biden became mentally impaired, said, but lying, kamala harris honestly, i believe she was born that way i never you think about it only a mentally disabled person? could have allowed this to happen to our country now, those remarks follow up previous personal attacks on the vice president is stupid and quote dems iraq, he's also mocked her laugh and questioned her race. These latest remarks provoked a response to the american association people disabilities, quote don't trump's april his comments yesterday say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases against disabled people than it does about vice president harris, are any person with a disability. His remarks saturday came during what he said would be a dark speech and that tone continued sunday with a suggestion about how to battle crime she we have to let the police do their job and they have to be extraordinarily wrong one, rough hour. And i mean real rough the word will get out and it will end immediately now, as often as the former president repeats, claim that crime is rising, the facts say it is not new preliminary crime statistics released by the fbi today. Backup, a more comprehensive report or which was released last week and that stated violent crime declined last year, including dramatic drop in the number of murders perspective. Now from matt mowers, a former trump administration official, ashley allison, former national coalitions director for the 2020 bidenharris campaign. And david axelrod, former senior adviser to president obama david, i mean, it's certainly not a surprise that he would be talking about disabled people in a in a derogatory way. He had made fun of disabled reporter years ago during the first campaign. I think it was what do you make an paid no price for it? yeah. Paying the price for it. Yeah. Look i think when you put the sun i'm total of what he's been up to lately. I think he's in final stretch mode. I think he thinks this is a turnout election, and he is just shoveling red meat to the base. I will say i'm not sure anybody would have said, you know, there's a real advantage in throwing juvenile taunts at the other side that are deeply offensive to a lot of people, including people to their families who are in his camp who have people with disabilities among their children are siblings. So i don't know what he gains from that but the crime stuff, the immigration stuff, the madeup stories about this town in ohio, springfield, ohio. Think it's all his notion of where this race is at, which is close. And he's trying to gin up the base actually you wrote in new york times oped that vice president harris needs to go big and take more calculated risks and cut back on the incessant focus on mr. Trump. Can you explain what you mean and why yeah. I mean, i think, you know, there's most recent new york times poll showed that 31% of the public still are unsure about her, still have outstanding question. So my point is she needs to speak directly to those folks. I mean, trump is like a fire. What do you do with the fire when you're trying to put it out, you suffocating, you give it no more oxygen, ignore it. At this point. I think she should be hyperfocused on telling her own story, answering the question i open up by saying that the question she's not yet answered is why, why common well, here is why, why at this moment is she the right leader that's what people i think want to hear from her and so i just suggest she takes bigger risks and telling that story. Do more town halls, more intimate settings that they launch a first ever for the democratic party, an influencer strategy campaign that'll go directly to voters are that she bypasses national media, sorry, anderson and go right into local media and do more specialty media if all politics is local, she needs to get immersed in intimate with voters. So that's really my, my perspective on it. I think she's done a spectacular job. I mean, there's no doubt her ascent has been remarkable to say the least. But i think at this stage now, i want to see a second gear and i think she needs to go bigger and take greater risks and really tell people why and ignore donald trump and ashley. I'm sorry, i thought i think i use a wrong last name. Ashley etienne that's okay. Were they 18th? yes, i have met. So i want to play some of what the gop senator lindsey graham obviously keep trump ally seems said yesterday in response to trump's attacks on harris vice president kamala harris is not mentally impaired. Know. I just think she's crazy liberal. I'm not saying she's crazy. I'm saying your party policies are crazy. And here's what i would tell president trump when people look at the state of play, they trust you on the economy, the border, inflation and foreign policy by wide margins, focus on those, on those he's certainly doesn't seem to be inclined to do that too. David axelrod's point, do you believe that he's just going for red meat to turn out the base i think largely i mean, i understand. I think when we were all talking a few days ago, new cnn poll had come out, showed undecided voters at something like 2% of the electorate i mean, we looking at in ever decreasing number of people who haven't made up their mind at this point most folks have a team jersey on and it's all about just getting as many of those folks to the polls as they can and so what donald trump's going to do over the next 35 or so days is go out there largely try to gin up enthusiasm from his base, make sure and in part because of you you look at polling he's actually doing better with registered voters that even some of the likely voter samples, which is actually the inverse of traditionally what happens with republican candidates. Usually a democratic candidate needs higher turnout in order to when donald trump's support actually comes from a lot of voters who are less engaged in the political process. Folks who don't prioritize politics every single day, a lot of them are actually young men. And so he's doing everything he can to cut through that filter, energize them and get them to show up. And i think as hot as, you know, the stuff he says that a lot of folks obviously find offensive. So much of that is baked in the cake form at this 0. 8 or nine years really now at this point of campaigning essentially being unapologetic for who he is. And i think for those who that offense, they've made their decision on him long ago. To that point. I mean, it gives david the idea of police roughing up people are being ultraviolet for one hour or a day, or whenever know sort of purge style event and obviously offends a lot of people. But for people and there are plenty of people applauding in that crowd yeah, we'll see if it's enough. Look, donald trump effectively caps his own support. He's never gotten above 46, 46, 47% because there are a lot of people who find and what he says objectionable. They find what he does objectionable. So he's gambling i agree very much with actually with both matt and ashley said, i think that he's looking at these disengaged voters and he knows he has to get him out. He doesn't have a great as great a field organization patient as he should. I think and i think this is his means of getting them out, but i agree with ashley that a more more engaged media strategy on the part of the vice president to give people a sense of her own motivation, not just why they should be for her, but why she is doing what she's doing. Do you agree with ashley that that harris shouldn't be talking about trump as much? i don't think you need to do that. I think there are plenty of people who will be i think the question that is anat, i think a majority of people are ready to vote against donald trump. And the question is, can they be comfortable with kamala harris? can they believe in her sufficiently to take that leap? and so i think that's where the work really needs to be done. And i think ashley is right on point. Actually, to that point, does she need another debate? no, i don't think she actually does. I think what she needs is really put herself in a different format. I mean, i am pro town halls. I mean, i know kamala harris. I've been in those rooms with her. She's very compassionate. She's funny, she's warm. She sees people. She understands their circumstances. So i think putting her in an environment where she can in demonstrate those dimensions to people where they can see the texture of who she actually is. I think that's where she's going to shine and let's not forget in 2019, her town halls said viewership records. I mean, they were the highest rated of all the candidates then. So i think that's a untapped lane for her. I think think it's where she's going to probably do our best and shine. I'd love to see her in those types of environments. I mean, we've seen in the past natural disasters that can factor into presidential race or other races we saw the attitudes toward the bush white house during hurricane katrina. The republicans who didn't like when governor chris christie she praised president obama after superstorm sandy and sandy and the fall of 2012. Do you see any possible impact from helene i do. And look, i worked for governor christie in new jersey and the governor's office during hurricane sandy, obviously, that was just a couple of weeks before the election and certainly played a role because he did have brock obama the president obama on the ground very quickly responding to the situation, walking with chris christie along to see toward toward the site damage and i think that's why what donald trump did today by going immediately to georgia. The way he did, does show a level of ability to connect with people when they're really looking for leadership. I mean there so much of this is symbolism. There's the symbolism of politics and there's going to be the actual impact on the votes. I think it's almost two different things. Donald trump to this point is winning the symbolism, the impact is going to be pretty dramatic for, for a number of those folks. And whether they can even show up to vote that's going to be a big challenge for them in a few weeks, they've got to figure out power in the rest of it harris ashley etienne, david axelrod, thanks very much. Programming note, join us for cnn's special events. The vice presidential debates simulcast, hosted by cbs news during live tomorrow night, 9:00 p. M.