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Military Source: Israel At "High Level Of Readiness" For Iran Response; More Than 200 People Killed As More Rain Batters Spain; House Race Heats Up For New York's 19th Congressional District; L.A. Dodgers Celebrate 8th World Series Title. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 01, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:41]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: An Israeli military source says the country is at a high level of readiness for a potential response from Iran after Israel's airstrikes last week on Iranian military targets.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: But a former Israeli intelligence official tells CNN there is a high possibility that militia groups in Iraq will be used by Iran to carry out that potential retaliatory strike.

Let's get to CNN chief global affairs correspondent, Matthew Chance, for the latest on this.

Matthew, what are you expecting here? What are you hearing?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Brianna, this comes after CNN was told by a high-ranking official inside Iran that there would be what they call "definitive and painful" responses to Israel's attack last week on military targets inside -- inside Iran.

One of the the -- the possibilities being considered here in Israel is that that retaliation, if it happens, it could come from one of Israels proxies, potentially pro-Iranian groups inside of Iraq.

Now, the reason for that is because these groups are very close to Iran politically and geographically. And crucially, they haven't been degraded in a way that other proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon have been, which in the words of one analyst who I spoke to earlier today, is now fighting for its existence.

That analyst, who is a former colonel in Israeli intelligence, telling us that she thinks there's a high possibility that any response from Iran will come through Iraqi militia groups that are pro-Iranian.

As you mentioned, the Israeli government has said it's on a high state of readiness in case there is kind of some kind of a response. But they're not going out there yet and saying, look, we definitely know there will be one. They're saying they're still looking at the decision-making process

inside the Iranian leadership to determine whether or not or what exactly Iran intends to do.

So, you know, the country very much sort of bracing itself, waiting to see what Tehran does in the days and the weeks ahead.

SANCHEZ: Matthew, top White House officials are now back in Washington after this latest effort to try to push for a pause in fighting ahead of next week's election, we should note. What happened during those talks?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, look, I don't think anything concrete was achieved, except there have been some pretty optimistic and positive statements coming out of both sides saying that, you know, the various sides have moved closer together.

You know, but, you know, having said that, look, the objective of these talks was to push forward a diplomatic solution for a ceasefire in Lebanon, to stop the fighting in Gaza, and to get a release of the Israeli hostages. There are 101 of them still being held inside the Gaza strip.

And even though it's positive that talks are underway to try and, you know, make that happen, you know, there's been no progress really on any of those fronts. There's been an intensification of Israeli strikes in Lebanon and in Gaza.

And, of course, the hostages are still very much in uncertain circumstances being held inside the Gaza strip.

KEILAR: All right. Matthew Chance, live for us from Israel, thank you.

The death toll is still rising after catastrophic flooding in Spain that we've been telling you about for days here. Just look at these pictures. More than 200 people are dead. But there are still many missing.

[13:35:08]

SANCHEZ: Emergency crews are now racing to find survivors, airlifting stranded residents in areas destroyed by flood water.

CNN's Pau Mosquera is in Spain following the latest and filed this report.

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PAU MOSQUERA, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Volunteers and civil defense personnel are working against the clock in many different towns of Valencia to try to find those dozens of missing people and also working to clean up the different roads that lead to these cities.

This is a case, for example, where we are right now, we are four kilometers away from Chiba, one of the most-affected towns by this devastating flooding.

Here in the image, you can see some of these volunteers and personnel are right now working, trying to remove all the mud, the water, the debris that was blocking this road.

And this is important because that's the only way that the emergency service can get inside of these cities. Mayors of these towns are asking for immediate help to get some water, some food for their citizens.

Also, it's important to highlight, in this road, as in many others here, there were tons of cars and vans that were blocking the traffic. We were told earlier that some of the officers deployed in this point that they have worked severely over the last hours.

And while they were towing away some of these cars, they found some bodies inside. Now, this is what the authorities are fearing the most, the finding of bodies in different parts of this very affected cities.

Right now, the toll, by the latest update from the authorities, is that 202 people died because of this flood water. So now it's a task of rescue against the clock to try to find with life all these people that were reported missing.

CNN, Pau Mosquera, Chiba, Spain.

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KEILAR: Thank you to Pau for that report.

Just unbelievable the damage we're seeing.

Still ahead, House Speaker Mike Johnson and minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, both campaigning in the same congressional district today. It's the one that could be pivotal for the balance of power in Congress.

We're going to speak to one of the candidates from that district next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:41:59]

SANCHEZ: House leaders from both political parties are hitting the campaign trail in New York State today in a last-ditch effort to win over voters. And there is a lot at stake.

The outcome in New York's 19th congressional district could help determine which party controls the House of Representatives. With all 435 House seats up for grabs, Democrats need a net pickup of just four seats to win a majority.

Let's talk to the Democrat running to unseat incumbent Republican Marc Molinaro in New Yorks 19th. We interviewed Congressman Molinaro a few days ago, and now we have

his opponent, Josh Riley, who narrowly lost to the congressman two years ago in a district that Joe Biden won. He joins us now.

Congressman, or rather, Josh Riley, thank you so much for being with us.

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SANCHEZ: Almost, Congressman, I should say. I apologize. I'm so early.

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SANCHEZ: Of course, earlier this week, your opponent accused you of filing lawsuits against Trump-era immigration policies, trying to, in his words, "dismantle border security." What's your response?

JOSH RILEY, (D), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR NEW YORK'S 19TH DISTRICT: Well I'm really glad that you asked me about this because, number one, those allegations are not true at all.

There we're two lawsuits that I filed ,both, by the way, were on behalf of senior Homeland Security officials from Republican administrations who are arguing for tougher border security.

But here's the thing. He's saying this and making up these lies because he doesn't want to talk about his own record of failure on this issue. Both Democrats and Republicans have completely failed when it comes to solving the crisis at the southern border.

And folks here in my district are incredibly frustrated with it. Incredibly frustrated with Democrats pointing fingers, Republicans pointing fingers, everybody playing games with this instead of solving the problem.

And my opponent has had a bill sitting on his desk for two years that would have solved the problem, and he decided to reject that because he wanted to campaign on the problem, not solve it.

SANCHEZ: Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for not acting sooner on the issue of immigration. They did take actions this summer, executive actions that seemed to slow the number of illegal crossings.

But again, that wasn't until this year, after those numbers broke records. How do you think a potential future Harris administration should approach this issue differently?

RILEY: Well, they better do a heck of a better job than they've done over the last couple of years.

The Biden administration was a failure when it comes to the border. Waited too late, did too little to solve the crisis.

The Republicans, also complete failure on this issue. Rejected a bipartisan deal that was supported by the Border Patrol union that would have solved it.

Around here, in Upstate New York, we care quite a bit less about whether it's Democrats or Republicans and we care a whole lot more about getting the job done. And both parties have failed us on this.

SANCHEZ: I do want to ask you about another key campaign issue, and that is abortion. You've said that your opponent has a dangerous record on abortion.

[13:45:03]

He explained to me this week that he opposes a national abortion ban, that he was the first Republican to sponsor legislation protecting IVF and birth control. He argues that these kinds of decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor.

RILEY: Do you see that as a dangerous record? Do you see the issue differently.

RILEY: That's a nice thing for him to say on TV during an election season. It would be even nicer if his voting record actually reflected that. And it doesn't.

He's a 30-year career politician, who has been anti-choice every single step of the way. And when he got to Congress, he voted, not one time, not two times, not three times, not four times. He voted 13 times to restrict women's access to abortion services.

And I know he's pleading with everybody to believe him now that he wouldn't support a national abortion ban. But here's the truth. When he was behind closed doors in the fall of 2022, right after Roe v. Wade fell, he expressed his support for an abortion ban.

And here's the -- here's the most important thing on this. I believe you asked him, I've asked him, voters have asked him, would you please support the Women's Health Protection Act and put Roe v. Wade back into law? And he refuses to do it. It's been sitting on his desk for two years, and he won't do it.

I'm making a commitment to my voters. You send me to Congress, I will sponsor the Women's Health Protection Act. I will do it on day one because women can make their own health care decisions.

SANCHEZ: Josh, when it comes to the kind of race you're running, it has a lot to do with turnout. And obviously, the top of the ticket matters, especially in a place like New York that is expected to go blue as it has over multiple previous presidential cycles.

I'm wondering what it's like to run in a situation where, whatever Vice President Kamala Harris does, whatever former President Donald Trump does, impacts your race so much.

Especially when we've heard some of the rhetoric that we've heard from President Biden calling Trump supporters "trash" to multiple things that Trump has said about --for example, women saying that he's going to protect women even if they don't want protection. And the most recent comments that he's made about Liz Cheney. How does

all of that sit with you?

RILEY: Well, so there's two -- two questions there. One, how does it sit with me? Not well.

I thought Joe Biden never should have said what he said the other night. And I mean, I grew up on Birdsall Street in west Endicott, which is a blue-collar neighborhood where just about everybody worked in the factories and just about nobody cared about your political party.

And to this day, I don't know whether my neighbors and friends are Democrats and Republicans. I know there's a lot of folks who support President Trump and they're the people who raised me, and they're wonderful people. They're not garbage.

With respect to the top of the ticket affecting this race, I actually don't see it the way you described it. Voters in this district -- we're not a swing state for the presidential election.

Voters in this district are focused on the issues that matter in this district. One of the things that I talk about probably the most on the campaign trail is bringing good manufacturing jobs back home to communities that have been hollowed out by terrible trade deals.

Communities that have been sold out because the big special interests come in and buy a whole bunch of politicians with the corporate PAC checks. We're all just sort of fed up with all of that, and we want change.

And that's what I'm running for. And that doesn't change based on what's happening at the top of the ticket.

SANCHEZ: Josh, one final question. Just a point of clarity. This district, Binghamton/Ithaca, this is Upstate New York because you guys are right on the border with Pennsylvania.

So right before we went on, I was debating with my producer whether it was Upstate New York, Central New York.

RILEY: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Is it?

RILEY: It's so -- so this is this is actually one of the best questions. And we could talk about this forever. I'll have to come back on.

We are definitely Upstate New York. My line for this -- so we have Columbia County, we have Green County, we have a big part of Ulster County. All of that is Upstate, New York.

Once you go across the river into Dutchess County, you're downstate. And that's -- that's where the line is. We are -- we are Upstate New York through and through. And I bet a lot of your viewers have very strong views on this. I

would love for them to text Josh to 30343 --

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RILEY: -- text Josh to 30343, and you can tell us where you think the line is between Upstate and downstate.

SANCHEZ: Josh Riley, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your time.

RILEY: Thanks. I appreciate it. Thank you.

[13:49:29]

Still ahead, L.A. Dodgers fans celebrating their latest title. We're going to explain why some Democrats are taking this as a good sign before next week's election

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SANCHEZ: The polls are close, but supporters of Kamala Harris are reading this as a promising sign. Four years ago, the L.A. Dodgers won the World Series, and a week later, Donald Trump lost the presidential race to Joe Biden.

KEILAR: Two days ago, the Dodgers won the World Series. So we'll see what happens Tuesday.

Right now, though, L.A. is in party mode. We know that much.

CNN's Natasha Chen is hopefully in party mode as well.

Tell us what's going on. Natasha.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris and Brianna, you'll find thousands of fans here who also have their own superstitions. Not exactly the one you just mentioned. But they are just flocking to the stadium right now. The parade is about to start downtown, where there are also tens of thousands of people lined the streets there.

[13:55:03]

But I just want to show you the craze because the team store is back over there, that building. This is the line that's all the way out to us of people trying to just get their hands on a little bit of World Series merch.

And we talked to one woman with a very special connection to the Dodgers.

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MARGARITA GUEVARA, DODGERS FAN: Back in June 20th, we came to Dodger Stadium to the game and we won the 50-50. So with that money, we bought our house and our address is 620, the day we came to the game. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: Yes, so you can tell a lot of people here have various stories that they have just been wanting to tell me all morning about why they're the biggest Dodgers fan. Clearly that one, I mean, she bought her house with the winnings from a raffle here at the stadium.

You've got children here, all ages, all generations, families, friends celebrating. And really, a lot of folks here told me that they were prepared to try and buy game-six tickets that would have been played tonight here at Dodger Stadium.

I can tell you these tickets here today are a lot cheaper than that, so they're happy

KEILAR: Well, that sure is nice. A little more accessible.

Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

Still ahead, the Harris campaign now suggesting they expect Donald Trump to declare victory early. We'll have the latest on the race, next, on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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