Edge. Tonight at nine on cnn edge, more israeli strikes overnight after the killing of hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, could the u. S. Be drawn in . Into a larger conflict with iran fired what else . Adviser John Kirby is here next dark days, heated rhetoric from Donald Trump. Your town will be transformed bumped into a Third World health. As he escalates false personal attacks, kamala is mentally impaired. What might this mean for november South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham is coming up plus headtohead, the folksy governor whos lowering expectations. I had won a four kids in my high school class, and none of them went to yale, will debate an opponent who thrives on the fight. We dont need to here for a debate with tim waltz. What are the stakes for their Faceoff Everything We Care about, everything is under siege. Illinois Governor Jb Pritzker joins me exclusively Savoi Washington where the david give our union is 37 days to go. Its the final sprint of the president ial campaign, and its still anybodys race yesterday, Donald Trump offered Wisconsin Voters a quote, Dark Vision Of The Future warning in apocalyptic terms about what his loss would mean and making the rather absurd claim that his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has mentally disabled after Vice President harris gave a tough speech at the Southern Border in a rimmer remarkable Policy And Focus turnaround by the democratic nominee but this week outside events overshadow the president ial campaign in the southeastern united states is still struggling from the quote, biblical devastation wrought by hurricane helene, with dozens killed and six states and many lives still at risk because of rising floodwaters in North Carolina and profoundly destabilizing news from the The Middle East where the lebanese have just recovered the body of hassan nasrallah, the leader of iranbacked hezbollah, which the u. S. Government considers a terrorist group, who was killed by an israeli strike on Friday President biden said the killing gave nasrallah is victims and their families are quote, measure of justice. But as israel struck more hezbollah targets targets overnight, President Biden also called for a ceasefire in the region. As us officials watched carefully for irans threatened retaliation for an israeli death and the possibility that israel could move Ground Forces into lebanon, joining me now to discuss White House national security Communications Adviser Admiral John Kirby, Admiral Thanks for joining us. So first of all, its President Biden glad that israel took this action. I dont think anybody is mourning the loss of mr. Nasrallah, a known terrorist, a guy with american blood on his hands as well as israeli blood on his hands. This is a terrorist organization. He was the leader of it. And i think people are safer without him walking around. But theyll try to recover. Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough that much of their Command Structure has now been wiped out. So the israeli strike targeting israel a flattened several large buildings in the heart of densely populated beirut the suburb of beirut. Do you have any and all what the civilian Death Toll might be . I dont think we have an exact number. Jake, we certainly assume that we go and go so far as to say we know that there are Civilian Casualties here. Theres no question about it. Dozens, hundreds, thousands. I dont think we can quantify it right now. Were in touch with our israeli counterparts about that each single civilian death is a tragedy and certainly, while again, nobody is Mourning Nasrallah is death we certainly do more on any loss of civilian life before President Obama gave the order for Seal Team six to go in and take out bin laden. There was talk of an airstrike against the compound and the decision to not do so because they werent sure about the intelligence and b, because they were worried about obama was worried about Civilian Casualties the israelis wanted to different direction. Obviously their intelligence was solid but do you think israel made the right decision doing it the way they did it . Again, i think having decimated the Command Structure of hezbollah, certainly works to the israelis advantage. Its actually good for the region, good for the world. Ill let the israelis speak to Decisionmaking Process they made why they chose to go this route we are continuing to talk to the israelis about what the right next steps are. And as you rightly said, in the opening here, the president continues to believe that there needs to be time and space for diplomacy, and that means wed like to see a ceasefire in place so that, that diplomacy can breathe iran condemned the killing of nasrallah and said the u. S is quote, complicit in israels actions how concerned is President Biden about the potential for a direct conflict, a direct Military Conflict between israel and iran, and maybe even involving the united states. Iran certainly has tried any number of things, including recently hacking President Trumps campaign, talking about an Assassination Attempt on President Trump, how concerned is President Biden about a possible direct confrontation between the u. S. And iran. Weve been concerned almost since the beginning of this conflict about it broadening, widening, becoming a regional war thats why again, the president and the g7 leaders, just a few days ago talked about trying to put calling for a 21 Day Ceasefire and everything else that the president s been doing, including jake adding forced capability Military Forces to the region is designed to prevent that exact outcome. Now, well watch and see. Weve seen the rhetoric coming out of tehran. Will watch and see what they do. We serve certainly well make sure that we have the capability to not only defend our troops and our facilities diplomats and military, as well as israel itself, if it comes to that, hopefully it wont. There was a State Department Spokesman the other day who said that he never he didnt know of any incident in recent history where Escalation Lead to deescalation and that is obviously a concern sir. And when it comes to these big strikes by israel, no matter how abhorrence the targets. If there are civilians that are taken out in the process or do you agree that escalation seldom leaves leads to the escalation as a State Department Spokesman said, i think we would agree on is that there needs to be an effort to he escalate here. Again, israel has a right to defend itself and a responsibility to do so. I mean, hezbollah under mr. Nasrallah was a lethal threat to the israeli people. They want to get theres families back to their homes and kibbutzes in the north, we want to see that too. We believe and continue to believe that an allout war with hezbollah certainly with iran is not the way to do that. If you want to get those folks back home safely and sustainably, we believe that a diplomatic path is the right course. The biden administration quite frankly, seemed off, caught off guard by the strike. We were told that the president didnt find out about until planes were already in the air when the secretary of Defense Defense landed at andrews he seemed to distance himself from the strike. He said the u. S. Was not involved in the operation. And before that, the u. S. Thought that there had been buyin from prime Minister Netanyahu as to a ceasefire with hezbollah. But then ultimately, he was not on board. How strained our relations between President Biden and prime Minister Netanyahu. These are two guys who have known Each Other for 40 years. Jake in they have never and i suspect they will never agree on every single aspect of Foreign Policy and what were trying to get done in The Middle East. But they do agree on the big thing and the big thing is the Safety And Security of the state of israel. And, you know, trying to avoid an allout war that would put the people of israel at even greater risk. They agree on that. Theyre going to continue to talk and no be candid and forthright with one another israel, i think sometimes its easy to forget. Its a sovereign state is, its a small state, and they live in a really tough neighborhood and they suffered the worst Terrorist Attack in their history, almost exactly a year ago. Theyre under a lot of threat and we got to make sure that they know that america is going to continue to support them in beating back that threat that were going to keep the Force Capability we need to help defend them if possible. At the same time, have some tough conversations with them about how they do that, and what the next when you say how they do that, what youre talking about is whether or not the israeli Government And Netanyahu do enough to protect Civilian Casualties, whether or not they do enough to take into account. Sure innocent palestinian innocent lebanese. And it doesnt sound as though the biden administration Things Netanyahu is taking that into account. I would just say that we have had those tough conversations with our israeli counterparts since almost the beginning. And we have made no bones about the fact that we dont necessarily see the tactical execution. The same way that they do in terms of protection. But the u. S. Keeps giving them weaponry carry out these attacks. The our support for Israel Security is ironclad jake, thats not going to change. Were going to continue to make sure they can defend themselves again, this is an ally, this is a partner and they are under attack every single day. If we were here in the united states facing those kinds of missiles and Drone Attacks from neighboring countries. I can guarantee the american people would want to make sure that were doing what we can to protect them. And we are going to continue to do what we can to protect the israeli people. But that doesnt mean back to your first question about the relationship that these two men who have known Each Other a long time arent capable of having tough conversations with one another. And President Biden will continue to stand up for the right to protect civilian people and civilian infrastructure. Admiral kirby, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. We are weeks away from the president ial election, from Election Day and Donald Trump is amping up his personal attacks and foreboding warnings republican Senator Lindsey Graham joins me next. And between Cat Ladies and false allegations of cat eating, what is likely to come up in tuesdays Vice President ial debate. Thats ahead. The wait is over. Tim Walz And J. D. Vance in their first and only facetoface to Bait And Cnn has it covered with the best political team in the Business A Cnn special event, that Vice President ial debate tuesday, it nine on cnn in a hospital every second counts our caregivers provide critical care and can give patients. 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We are following all the latest news out of The Middle East, but also here at home, quote, Biblical Destruction left behind by hurricane helene, scenes of absolute, absolute madness with neighborhoods turned into lakes in some areas as the Death Toll climbs to more than six see joining us now South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who represents one of the states hardest hit hurricane helene, left millions in South Carolina without power, dozens dead across six states, i think in your state of South Carolina alone, there have been at least 23 stormrelated deaths that we know of how bad is the devastation there in South Carolina getting think everything from the federal government that it needs. We had a Conference Call yesterday. I appreciate what the federal governments doing. I think maybe dod may weigh in a little bit more massive recordbreaking, whatever adjective you can think of, 23 people dead. If you draw a line from Hilton Head to charlotte, Everything West of it is pretty well wiped out. Im going home this afternoon. What Governor Mcmaster and greenville you know, tried to get into my house. Its just bad and we appreciate all the help and all the prayers and everyone in your world, your friends and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Everybodys Everybody is going to make it okay. Lets turn to The Middle East. Iran says that israels killing of the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, quote represents a serious escalation that changes the rules of the game unquote. Iran also says the u. S is complicit in iran, in israels actions, how worried are you that this . Latest strike by israel taking out in Israel And Hezbollah leadership could actually lead to a direct Military Conflict between the united states and iran where one missile away from civilians getting killed in israel and maybe israel having to hit Iran Blinken said the iranian nuclear program was weeks away from having a weapon potentially i think what a runs learning per mole. This is probably better to have a Nuclear Weapon than not there are proxies or really been hurt hezbollah, hamas have really been hurt. So what i fear is theyll break out toward a Nuclear Weapon Thinking Desk the insurance policy. They dont have through the proxy. So thats what i worry about the most today. Does israel going on the ground . Do they try to push them back across the river by Military Force . Plus the day after plan for gaza wanted this happen october the seventh baby said in the un iran through their proxies, Hamas Attacked israel to stop normalization between Saudi Arabian, israel and let me just put a fine point. Well, let me just say that if thats true, if iran did the Hamas Attack on israel in October 7 stop the Normalization Process between the united states. Im sorry, between Israel And Saudi arabia. And apparently blinken was meeting literally that day, literally then has iran in some ways not succeeded, is this not kind of mission accomplished for iran . If at the end of the day the time passes to winder closes, theres no normalization between Saudi And Israel to end the arabisraeli conflict. What a ron pills fears the most then yeah, theyve had a strategic win in the middle of all this chaos for to my friends in israel, to my friends instance, Saudi Arabia, baby gave a great speech about the benefits of the deal. Ive gone over since last April Set times trying to help this administration normalized between Saudi Arabia and israel do not giv