An Unprecedented Attack, Vance vs. Walz, Hurricane Helene Aftermath
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It's Wednesday, October 2nd, right now on CNN This Morning. An unprecedented attack. Israel vows retaliation following Iran's largest ever attack against Israel as fears of an all-out war reach new heights. Plus... I actually think, I agree with you, I'm in agreement with him on this. J.D. Vance and Tim Walz keep it civil on the debate stage, but will the last expected matchup between the campaigns change any minds before Election Day? And...

I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect and I'm a knucklehead at times. Misspeaking Tim Walz's admission after new reports undercut his personal story of being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests and People are scared to death. This is urgent. Viewing the damage, President Biden and Vice President Harris set to visit areas hurting the most in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Wednesday morning. It really is already an intense news day, and that is in no small part because of what CNN's Erin Burnett is covering for us live now in Tel Aviv, where she traveled overnight. Erin, of course, I know we were supposed to be covering the debate last night together, but of course, what's happening in that region now driving history.

Right, it certainly is. And you know, even here on the way here, seeing some of these craters in the ground here in Tel Aviv from that massive Iranian barrage, the largest ever from Iran against Israel, the world now waiting on how Israel will respond to that massive missile attack. Iran launching somewhere between 180, they say 200 missiles towards Israel Tuesday in response to recent attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And Israel and the U.S. said the majority of those missiles were intercepted. Some did get through, though, and we saw some of those impact sites, as I said, Casey, near Mossad headquarters. You know, you see the blown-out cars, melted windshields, and holes in the ground between 20 and I'd say 35 feet in two cases. One of them already filled in in the early hours of this morning. In terms of injuries, we understand at least one person was killed, several others injured.

The attacks met with celebrations in the streets of Tehran. Crowds were singing and dancing as the missiles were flying towards Israel. Iran's military says that this may only be the beginning.

If the Zionist regime that has gone crazy is not controlled by America and Europe and wants to continue these crimes or wants to do anything against our sovereignty and territorial integrity, tonight's operation will be repeated several times stronger and all their infrastructure will be targeted.

So Israel seemingly undeterred by the threats from Iran's generals. This is how escalation happens. This is why the fear are such a wider war. Overnight, Israeli warplanes continued airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut. Obviously, a small taste of what is likely to come. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meantime here vowing to retaliate for the damage inflicted by Iran.

Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies. We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us, we will attack him.

So joining me now to talk about this latest phase in the war is Jonathan Konrikas, a former spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces. And Jonathan, here we are again speaking together a year ago, obviously, when this horrific phase of this conflict began. So what does, when Prime Minister Netanyahu says that there will be reprisal, that it will be severe, that Iran will pay a price, what does that mean?

Yes. Hello, Erin. We were supposed to be commemorating a year from October 7 this weekend and thinking about the casualties, the Nova Music Festival, and what Hamas did to Israel on the 7th of October. But instead it is, as you said, a very, very dense news cycle with ground troops in Lebanon and strikes in Dakhia, and of course the Iranian strike on Israel yesterday.

I think that what the Iranian attack, the second massive Iranian attack on Israel does, it opens up a lot of opportunities. And at this time, I think Israel can choose between different groups of targets, all depending on really what the strategy is and what Israel wants to achieve, and very importantly, what kind of support Israel can get from the U.S. and other Western countries.

countries. And in more detail, one group of targets would be--yes, Erin? No, go ahead with the groups of targets. I was curious, obviously, also about the likelihood of striking nuclear targets in Iran. Yeah. Yeah. So that's exactly where I was going to. So there's one group of targets which are more regime-related, seats of government, places of control, perhaps whereabouts of leaders, et cetera, in Iran, with

and the desired effect on unstable in on stabilizing the regime and striking the regime itself another group of targets could be economic infrastructure military economic infrastructure structure which is part of how the Revolutionary Guard is able to

export weapons and money to different terror organizations around the world that are attacking Israel, like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad in Syria, and the Houthis, et cetera. That's the second group. And then a third group, which of course is perhaps the most sensitive currently, would be all of the infrastructure related to Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program.

I think that Israel has had a lot of time over the years to collect intelligence, to assess and to prepare. Israel definitely has had a lot of time to prepare an air force attack against them. But I think it will boil down to what will Israel's strategy be in as in where do we want to be half a year from now or a year from now? And perhaps most importantly, what will be said and agreed between Washington and Jerusalem?

And that is the most important thing. Do you think that the United States would back Israel on specifically nuclear facility attacks, but also what you mentioned at the beginning, which I think anyone who hears has a lot of fear of a much wider conflict. And that is if you're actually going to be targeting government buildings and government leaders in Tehran itself. Do you have U.S. backing for that? Yeah. So that

that remains to be seen. And I think that there is, I'm trying to read the American administration, the Biden administration, and I'm trying to understand how much of an opportunity they sense that there is here. I understand that it's an election cycle close to elections in the US and

Of course, the entire region is following every word from the presidential and the vice presidential debates and all of the communications coming out of Washington and the U.S., looking for clues to see where the U.S. is standing, where the candidates are standing. But I think that there's a big, big opportunity here to perhaps do more regarding Iran's nuclear program than the world has failed to do in the last, I would say, seven to eight years.

Perhaps more can be achieved, yes, albeit with a certain risk attached to it, no doubt. But looking at how the Iranian regime has been operating, what they've been doing is advancing steadily with their nuclear weapons program, despite complaints, despite oversight, despite agreements, etc., etc. But at the end of the day, they are advancing towards it.

All right, Jonathan Conricus, thank you very much. And Casey, I will say, you know, just being here and obviously, you know, when you're down near the Gaza border, as we all spent so much time there, you know, you would see where missiles had hit. But seeing them here near a Mossad building, seeing those giant craters in the ground, it is clear that something different has happened and that we truly could be entering a very different stage of all of this.

and that critical question that you were just asking there at the end it does seem and we've we've had several uh... it former israeli officials were on with wolf blitzer last night raising this specter of of striking iran's nuclear program and i it was very interesting to listen to the texture that can read us offered there as you uh... as you asked him whether not the u_s_ back in a room will be back out with you throughout the throughout the hour straight ahead here on c_n_n_ this morning a surprisingly civil debate

between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz, but where do voters stand on last night's performances from the running mates? We're gonna break down fresh CNN polling from debate night, plus the moments that may stick at the front of some key battleground voters' minds as they head to the ballot box in just 34 days.

One of the stark sort of aspects of that debate that really stuck with me was when they were talking about January 6th, J.D. Vance didn't really give us a definitive answer. And I'm disappointed in that fact. And I don't think that I can trust someone, you know, with my vote if they're not going to respect it.

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You can't yell fire in a crowded theater. That's the test. That's the Supreme Court test. Tim, fire in a crowded theater. You guys wanted to kick people off of Facebook for saying that toddlers shouldn't wear masks. Senator, the governor does have the floor. Fire in a crowded theater. That is criticizing the policies of the government, which is the right of every American. I don't run Facebook. What I do know is, is I see a candidate out there who refused. And now again, and this, I'm pretty shocked by this. He lost the election.

The big night and the big apple. The vice presidential candidates, Senator J.D. Vance, Governor Tim Walz, met last night in New York for their one and only debate. Here's a little bit of what happened last night.

Israel's ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. Getting its hostages back, fundamental. It is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. And we should support our allies wherever they are when they're fighting the bad guys. Look, a lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns. I think it's important for us, first of all, to say Donald Trump and I support clean air, clean water. Donald Trump called it a hoax.

and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in. The real family separation policy in this country is unfortunately Kamala Harris's wide open southern border. As soon as I was getting ready to pass and actually tackle this, Donald Trump said no, told them to vote against it because it gives him a campaign issue.

All right, with just 34 days between now and November 5th, this meeting was the last major campaign event that is currently scheduled between now and election day. A CNN poll of registered voters who watched last night's debate found that they were pretty evenly split over who gave a better performance. The numbers could be explained in part by something we have not seen at debates like this in a while, an abundance of agreements and at least outwardly being nice to each other.

I agree. It should not take seven years for an asylum claim to be done. I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris does. I agree with a lot of what Senator Vance said about what's happening. His running mate, though, does not, and that's the problem. Governor, I agree with you. Amber Thurmond should still be alive, and there are a lot of people who should still be alive, and I certainly wish that she was. I'm in agreement with him on this. First of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witness is shooting. I'm sorry about that, and I hope that you're doing okay. Christ have mercy.

CNN's Phil Mattingly conducted a focus group with undecided voters in the critical battleground state of Michigan, and those voters noted just how different this debate felt. I haven't seen a debate like this in a very long time. They supported each other. They were kind.

And it was warm and fuzzy. I mean, you could watch it and not be offended by the words they were using towards each other. There was not much fear. There was not much hesitancy. They showed their characters to each other in a way. And as was mentioned, they kind of supported each other as they're going within the debate and not attacking each other personally, but more of the policies and then what they stand for.

You could watch it and not be offended, she says.

- What a change. Joining us now to discuss, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter at Axios. Mark Preston, CNN senior political analyst. Bakari Sellers, CNN political commentator, former South Carolina Democratic state representative. And Brad Todd, Republican strategist and a partner at the public strategy firm OnMessage. Thank you all for joining us this morning on what is already a very busy news day. Alex Thompson, I wanna start with you to get a sense, it was clear that J.D. Vance came into this debate

trying to push reset on his public image. And that's part of why we saw so many, "I agree, I agree, I agree." It was a different vibe since, you know, we talk so much about vibes now. What was your takeaway? Because, I mean, a lot of the people we talked to said Vance won the debate. Frank Luntz is out there tweeting saying all of his focus group thought Vance won the debate. And it was a different kind of profile from him.

Absolutely. Vance, the first last the last two months has presented himself as the pit bull for Trump. And he was more poodle this last night. And you saw it even like from what he was wearing, you know, the pink tie choice, the fact that he wasn't overly aggressive, you know, and there was sort of a head fake going on from the Trump side in the last two weeks that, you know, J.D. Vance was really going to try to get under Tim Walz's skin, that he was going to try to make him red in the face.

And that really just didn't happen. And, you know, I don't know exactly that this is going to have a huge effect on this race, but I can tell you just talking to Republicans that it's going to have a huge effect on the 2028 race. The fact is that J.D. Vance has really set himself up as the sort of MAGA-era parent for the 2028 Republican primary already. Brad Todd, do you agree with that?

Well, I think J.D. Vance helped J.D. Vance last night. Tim Walz also helped J.D. Vance, by the way. I'm not sure either one of them bled out the top of the ticket, which is the job. We don't have vice presidential debates. Their job is to come out and do damage to the other side's top of the ticket. I don't know that J.D. did that. But I do think he showed a lot of competence, and I think that Republicans are a lot happier with his performance than Democrats are with Tim Walz's. Bakari, is that true?

No, in fact, Tim Walz went out there and did his job. I mean, we're talking about the tone and the tenor of the debate, but we have to acknowledge the reason that the tone and the tenor and the manner was the way that it was is because Tim Walz was on that stage. There are a lot of Democrats who wanted Tim Walz to go out and be this pit bull, but that's just not who he is.

I mean, you saw someone who was humble. And I don't know the last time we've seen a stage where we had a level of humility. Someone who admitted that he misspoke on a particular question. Somebody who approached answering questions with their own life stories, with personable stories. I mean, he looked like Coach Walls. He looked like Tim Walls.

uh... the the leader of the great state of minnesota he is not going to be j_d_ vance when you read the transcript of this debate j_d_ vance is a skilled debater he's a skilled lawyer but what also came across about j_d_ vance last night is a new problem that many people have which is that he somewhat dishonest but he doesn't stand for much

It was a draw last night. I don't think that it moves the needle for any candidate one way or another. And we'll take that as days go by on the campaign. The Harris campaign will take another good day, a good performance by Tim Walz. Mark Preston, for our viewers who may not know, you do a ton of behind the scenes work for us here at CNN in setting up debates.

I say this just to let people in on the idea. I mean, you know what these standing on these stages are like. You know what it's like to stand in and try to help other people understand what the debate is going to look like. Tim Walz was really nervous at the beginning of this. Is there anything they could have done to help mitigate that? Because the reality is he hasn't been doing interviews. He hasn't been out there in the ways that J.D. Vance, who was happy to say that about himself, but it does happen to be true that he's been doing more of that.

Well, no, no doubt. And let me first start by saying that we are in praise of politeness. How far we have come that we are just so dumbstruck that two gentlemen, you know, two United States, two Americans can stand on stage together and not want to punch each other out. But I guess that's where we've come to, you know, in this day and age. I have. Look, I've prepped moderators for 20 years now, 30 debates and debates.

I've got to tell you, he was almost overprepared. Tim Walls, what he didn't do was he didn't take a step back and he didn't allow himself to fall into the moment. And that's what J.D. Vance did. J.D. Vance was very calm, very collected, putting aside anything that was said last night. And I know that will drive people crazy. But forget about the fact.

Forget about what was said. Just focus on the delivery. And I do believe folks who were watching last night, who might have had concerns about J.D. Vance and his crazy comments about women and cats and what have you, would probably feel a little bit better after watching last night's debate. Having said that, let us acknowledge that

that this debate will actually mean nothing except for what Alex said at the very top of the show, at the very top of this segment, and that J.D. Vance really has positioned himself for 2028 no matter what happens.

Yeah, very interesting. Go ahead. Well, you know, I think Mark hit on one thing that's pretty important there, and that's that Tim Walz has not been doing the combat that J.D. Vance has been doing on the trail. I think partly that's because Kamala Harris is not doing many interviews, and they don't want Tim Walz out doing interviews when she's not doing them. And I think you saw that last night. J.D.'s already been kicked around by hostile journalists for two months, and Tim Walz was in the hot seat for the first time. I thought that was a detriment to him, and that's Kamala's fault.

I just want to jump in, Casey, if I may. Go ahead. There are a couple of things that we forget. First, let's level set for a moment and recall the fact that even in his interview with Kamala Harris when he was going through the process of being vice president, Tim Walz looked Kamala Harris in the face and said, "There are two things I don't do well. One, you're going to have to teach me how to read off a teleprompter. Your team is. And two, I don't debate well."

And so that's something that the campaign knew coming into this, that he himself was a self-professed individual who does not debate well. J.D. Vance has that skill. Tim Walz does not, which leads to a little of that nervousness. And then the second thing is we have to disabuse ourselves of this notion that all of a sudden Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are not talking to the media because that's just fundamentally inaccurate. In every single swing state that Tim Walz goes to, he sits down with local media. He sits down with the press. He sits down with reporters. He does local news interviews.

I mean, that is the fact. I mean, Kamala Harris does the same thing. It's funny people say Kamala Harris doesn't talk to the press when the fact is she talks to the press. She just doesn't talk to the Beltway Press. And so she hasn't done a hostile interview yet. She's not not even one. Listen, but the fact is she talks to the press. She talks to the press, local press, and she's out there meeting the voters. And the second thing is, if we want to have that if we want to have that standard with Tim Walz and Kamala Harris, that's fine.

But when Kamala Harris sits down for a 60 Minutes interview next week and Donald Trump doesn't, we're moving away from the debate, but this is where we are, then I want that same smoke for Donald Trump that you have with Kamala Harris. Last night, Tim Walz did everything he was supposed to do.

really good at it was set that bag is dead quickly as any yet the other week we actually ran the numbers and what we're saying is true is that tim walsh does speak to more local media com airs is that was conspired radio interviews in a philly t_v_ interview but you actually look at the aggregate numbers the fact is that even on local television jd vance and donald trump are doing several times many more interviews than both comma harris

and Tim Walz, and that's a deliberate part of the strategy. Maybe it will work, but the fact is that they are getting in front of the media and taking more questions and getting more reps in. J.D. Vance by himself has done 10 times more interviews with mainstream reporters, not friendly media, mainstream reporters than Tim Walz has done since July 21st.

Well, and Mark Preston, the reality is there's a big difference between, and look, Bakari, I take your point, and I love my friends in the local media. They are, our country is honestly, like we need them. We need more of them. But I will also say that

Mark, when I was covering, say, Senate campaigns, sometimes I would wonder why politicians would stumble in interviews with me. I was asking what I thought were questions that they would pretty easily expect. The reality is it is different. And then I sort of processed, oh, right, I learned how to do this on a presidential campaign, which is, you know, these are crucibles and situations that are different. And I thought some of that shone through last night. You know, Casey, let me just add to that. When I was a young reporter, a young reporter in Marietta,

I did an interview with Newt Gingrich. I was the local newspaper reporter. He didn't think I would ask him about running for president back in 1997. I know nobody cares about this now. At the time, it was a major story that I got the Speaker of the House to acknowledge that he wanted to run for president. He thought he could get away with it, and he stumbled because he was in this local interview. But to your point, most of these interviews, though, that Walz is doing...

prepping debate moderators for thirty years because of all the people i hear no but the reality is i mean the reality is is that these local reporters don't get a lot of time and when these candidates come into their state they don't have the ability to ask about what's going on uh... with israel and iran because they need to ask about what's going on in their state what is what are these candidates going to do for their state this is the issues that are affecting their state the only other few minutes to do so so to your point

We can't be critical of the local media for not asking the very tough questions because they're asking the questions that are important to them at their time. But Walls clearly was not comfortable enough on stage last night. And perhaps if he'd gotten battered around a little bit over the past couple weeks, he may have been.

Yeah, no. And again, we're not throwing any shade at all on our local colleagues who just do incredible, amazing work every single day. It's just a different, different kind of stage. All right. Twenty seven minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. President Biden, Vice President Harris set to view damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Kamala Harris.

will survey damage and receive a ground on the ground briefing in Georgia while Biden is set to travel to both North and South Carolina and is expected to take an aerial tour of Western North Carolina as the mayor of Asheville says the city can't support a visit on the ground.

The only highway into Asheville of the four highways into Asheville that's open is the one near our airport and we can't shut it down for a motorcade. So we're glad that he's going to be able to be here and see the community from the air. The president will also visit Florida and Georgia in the coming days.

The White House calling on striking dock workers and their employers to return to the negotiating table until they reach a deal. The strike, entering its second day and involving almost 50,000 workers, could impact the shipping of everything from fruit to liquor, furniture, and vehicles.

If you remember Leslie Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument on the camera talking about that and other things. And, you know, they really owed me an apology. I like to get an apology, so I've asked them for an apology. Let's see if they do it.

So, because of a moment four years ago, Donald Trump is refusing to do a scheduled 60 minutes interview. He says he needs an apology for this moment. You see him standing up there. And for CBS's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, this might have been one of the last opportunities for a wide swath of voters to see Donald Trump in a primetime slot before Election Day.

All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, waiting for the response. Israel vowing Iran will pay for Tuesday's deadly missile attack. Plus, the abortion battle playing out on the vice presidential debate stage. How J.D. Vance urged his party to address one of the Democrats' strongest issues. My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue.

All right, just hours after fending off a massive missile attack, Israel ramping up its airstrikes overnight in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. The Israeli military also sending even more troops into Lebanon following the massive Iran-launched attack Tuesday.

There have been more than 180 missiles fired into Israeli territory. We saw some of the impacts here this morning. More than any time in history, the prime minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, vowing Iran will pay. Those are his exact words. So let's go live to Jerusalem now and bring in Avi Meir. He is the former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. And Avi, really grateful for your time this morning as I know you're trying to understand what this world looks like that we are now in.

I guess one of the most crucial questions is when, when. There's what Israel will do and when. What are you hearing on those? Well, Erin, one wonders how many times a year we can refer to an act of Iranian aggression as unprecedented. We thought that was the case back in April when it launched its first barrage of missiles and drones at Israel. This one appears to have been larger and more aggressive.

targeted. And so it looks like Israel has no choice but to respond in order to send the message that this is not something that it will accept. Now, Israel has said that it will respond at a time and manner of its choosing. We don't know exactly what that will be. But every day that goes by without an Israeli response will further embolden Iran to take these kind of actions and further escalate its aggression against the Jewish state.

It does seem as if time is of the essence. As you say, it's hard to keep saying unprecedented, but time is of the essence now, perhaps more than it ever has been before. I mean, what's your sense, though, of when the United States, which says it's backing Israel, but of course is urging restraint and does not want escalation. Does President Biden have much influence at this point on Prime Minister Netanyahu or pretty much not at all?

Well, I think Iran launched this attack betting that the United States has no appetite for a broader conflict in the Middle East, that this is the twilight of the presidency of Joe Biden, that we're just a few weeks away from the election. The United States is not interested in getting involved in a war. At the same time,

United States recognizes that Iran is a deeply hostile, toxic and destabilizing element in the Middle East and around the world. And if it allows this to continue, this will go further and it will target U.S. targets across the Middle East and perhaps elsewhere. So I think the United States does have an interest in responding. The United States

Officials in various different levels have said so just as recently as last night that there will be severe consequences to this attack and really a matter of figuring out exactly what that looks like and when that response might happen.

I'm curious, you know, this morning, the Tehran extended its closure of airspace until tomorrow. They had said they were going to open up their airspace this morning. Perhaps they were anticipating an immediate response from the Israelis. That didn't happen in the first hours, but they have now extended that airspace closure for another 24 hours. Do you think that gives a sense of what they expect in terms of Israeli response over these next hours?

- Well, in the immediate aftermath of this attack, the IDF spokesperson, Daniel Higari said that Israeli planes would be engaged in high profile targeting overnight. Later on, he and other officials said that Israel will respond

at a time and in a manner of its choosing. So it looks like Israel is trying to give itself as much wiggle room as possible. I imagine that there are intense conversations going on now between U.S. and Israeli officials about what exactly this ought to look like. You'll recall that back in April, Israel chose to target a radar installation very close to an Iranian nuclear facility in order to send the message that Israel has the capability of carrying out wide-scale strikes. But

is choosing not to do so in order to exercise restraint. We'll have to see whether that happens again this time. - Right, all right. Well, Avi, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. It's good to talk to you again. You know, Casey, it is, you know, in this moment that we're in ahead of the US election,

I think one of the most terrifying things for everybody, right, is that you know this isn't over. And when you talk about an unprecedented number of missiles launched here at Israel, well, then the response needs to be bigger and that you are clearly on an escalation ladder that the U.S. doesn't want Israel to be on, but at least it appears thus far. I know from what you're hearing, what I'm hearing, what so many are hearing, U.S. influence is quite limited at this point on Israel, at least from the actions we've seen.

Right. Well, I think the question is, does this attack from Iran does seem to have pushed in some ways the Americans and the Israelis closer together? I do have some questions about that presidential campaign. I was talking to David Sanger, one of our national security contributors, longtime member.

Times correspondent about this because he reported this morning that the Israelis see an opportunity in this five-week span here because it's hard for Democrats to go out there and criticize Israel, and they obviously feel they'd get backing from Republicans. So very difficult time. Aaron, thank you. We'll be back with you shortly. During last night's first and only VP debate, the candidates addressed one of the

Top issues this election cycle, of course, abortion. It's an issue Democrats have leaned in on during the campaign. Walls last night blaming Trump for the overturning of Roe versus Wade. And J.D. Vance falling in line with Trump's position of leaving it to the states.

Donald Trump put this all into motion. He brags about how great it was that he put the judges in and overturned Roe versus Wade. 52 years of personal autonomy. And then he tells us, oh, we send it to the states. Now, of course, Donald Trump has been very clear. The proper way to handle this, as messy as democracy sometimes is, is to let voters make these decisions, let the individual states make their abortion policy.

Trump also weighed in on the back and forth. He posted this on Truth Social, quote,

All right, our panel is back. Bakari Sellers, I thought this was interesting because Trump has not necessarily been willing to say, first of all, that he would veto it. Second of all, J.D. Vance clearly was trying to soften sort of his posture on this. But at the same time, he has supported the things that he has supported. What did you take away from all this?

Well, the first thing is that there are two things that are important. One, J.D. Vance is dishonest. I mean, I think that when you go back and look at his record supporting a national abortion ban, you can look at Project 2025, et cetera, his own website, you see that he is someone who has a far-right opinion on abortion and thinks it should be outlawed across the nation. That's first. Second, which is more important for this discussion, and it's kind of ironic that we're having this discussion, four men are having this discussion with you this morning, Casey, that

But women are dying because of this conservative talking point of leave it to the states. I think you heard last night Tim Walz mention the name Amber Thurman.

When you actually understand that women are dying because of the fact that decisions made by people in Washington, D.C. are undercutting their individual autonomy, it becomes a really real issue for voters throughout the country. I mean, even male voters in the country realize that they don't want J.D. Vance or Donald Trump making decisions for their wives or daughters. And so I thought it was a very strong moment last night for Democrats.

Tim Wall's in the debate, and it's very hard for J.D. Vance to get out of that pickle because of who he is and what he stands for on this particular issue.

Yeah, look, I will just say I'm grateful to have all of you. This abortion is very clearly not just an issue that affects women. It affects families across the country. And we've seen that there's no way that Ohio would have voted to enshrine abortion rights with 50 plus percent of the vote if a lot of men weren't voting on this issue in a certain in a certain way as well, just to kind of underscore the

the point that you're making. Alex Thompson, I'm curious how you saw this exchange cutting because again, there were some rough reviews for Walz's performance at the top. The way he talked about this issue though, I did hear from some sources who felt like he was relatively strong on it. What was your view?

Well, and it's something that he's been personally passionate about on the trail. You can see it when he speaks about bodily autonomy and mind your own business. And I'd also say, you know, the thing is that voters may not trust J.D. Vance and Donald Trump on this issue because the fact of the matter is that they did not come to this leave it to the states position until just a few months ago when they realized that concern about abortion rights could cost them the election. So the fact is that earlier this year, Donald Trump was not clear that everyone should leave it to the states.

and that has also led to some muddle. Donald Trump also had the chance to say that he would veto a national abortion ban in the last debate and declined to do so. - Yeah, this is the part I don't understand, Brad Todd, because he did have that opportunity. He hasn't taken it yet. Now he's saying that he would. What has changed?

Well, I think first off, you know, the center of the country, the people who are going to decide this election and every other election, they don't agree with the Republicans in Oklahoma who have basically no legal abortion. And they don't agree with the Democrats in California who have no protection for late term babies. And so that we kind of lose that sometimes in what becomes a real crayon oriented debate.

the goal of the conservative movement since nineteen seventy three was to return this issue to the states dobbs was a state-based protection in mississippi and so we're not see the voters plus playing out it's a messy process democracy is messy uh... and i thought j_d_ vance most importantly last night though did a good job saying republicans must improve

the way we talk about this and the way that we must improve the new innovations we pass policy-wise to help mothers bring children in the world who want to do so. I thought that was a master class in many ways by Vance and probably one of his better answers of the night. Yeah, I think it's just challenging. Mark Preston, a quick last word here. We're up against a break. The problem is when you say it's messy and there's women bleeding or dying of sepsis because they can't get the care they need. I mean, messy doesn't

I heard him say that and I thought, gosh, that's really a difficult way to describe how this is really impacting people. You know, Casey, let me just tie this all together because I do find it absurd that we don't have some kind of national law on abortion, whether it's legal or illegal. I think it's absurd that we don't have some kind of national law on the death penalty that we allow it up to the states. It's absurd that we have drug laws that are piecemeal through the states. Yes, the states are...

are governing entities, but we've come together as the United States of America. So what I don't understand, and we can have this debate, and this debate will go on and Democrats will fight Republicans and Republicans will fight Democrats, but we're not the United States of America if we can't even come together just on some simple issues as life and death or what is perceived to be life and death.

Well, yes, that the idea that we would be united as a country to that degree on these things that are so divisive, Mark, I have to say, feels far away from reality. I'm trying. I'm trying. But I take your I see what you're trying to do here. Preston 2028. We're going to get him a fuchsia tie like J.D. last night. I know, right?

Okay, ahead here on CNN This Morning, Iran's largest attack ever against Israel playing out during last night's debate. We're going to discuss how both candidates addressed the escalating tensions in the Middle East with Montana Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke. Plus, Tim Walz asked to correct the record on his repeated claims that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests.

I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect. And I'm a knucklehead at times. The question was, can you explain the discrepancy? All I said on this was, is I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just, that's what I've said. This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish.

We can make more housing. Like, it's not alchemy. Sonia Trouse and her organization, Yimby Law, sued a town in Ventura County in Southern California, not far from where we're sitting down for this interview. We don't have to just accept limits and fight with people. The language of that movement has spread to the presidential campaigns. Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.

It was 90 minutes of constant talk that made one thing clear. Tonight was like having Thanksgiving with your most nervous uncle and your smuggest nephew. It was unpleasant, awkward, and thankfully, you only have to do it once every four years.

Likely the one and only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election has concluded, and it happened to occur the same evening that Iran launched some 180 ballistic missiles into Israel as retaliation for assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, the attack escalating an already volatile regional conflict. The very first question the vice presidential candidates were asked, whether they would support Israel making a preemptive strike against Iran.

Israel's ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. Getting its hostages back, fundamental. Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe and we should support our allies wherever they are when they're fighting the bad guys. Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump's fickle leadership. And when Iran shot down an American aircraft in international airspace,

Donald Trump tweeted because that's the standard diplomacy of Donald Trump. But when did Iran and Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the administration of Kamala Harris. So Governor Walz can criticize Donald Trump's tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world.

- All right, joining us now, Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana. He's also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thank you very much for being here. I wanna start with what we saw yesterday in Israel. What do you think Israel should do in retaliation and how do you balance that against thinking about the risk of escalation into an even wider regional conflict?

Well, first of all, I think the wider recon conflict is absolutely a danger. We also have a tri-axis of evil, which I would say Russia, China, and Iran, they're well coordinated. With Israel, I don't think Israel has a choice but to occupy Gaza, given the combat on the ground and what it means. And then Lebanon, because you have the number of missiles in Lebanon that's a threat,

I think how we got here is important. I mean, you look at Iran has long been using surrogates, whether it's Houthis in the Red Sea or Hamas or Hezbollah. And now it's direct strikes, as they did before with ICBMs. Those are intercontinental missiles that are configurable for nuclear warheads. I don't think Israel has a choice. And remember how we got here. And this is not the first time that Iran has struck. And to date, the U.S. has done very, very little.

Congressman, I want to play something for you that former Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett had to say to my colleague Wolf Blitzer last night about what he believes Israel should do right now in retaliation for this. Let's watch.

This is a once in a 50 year opportunity. What Israel needs to do immediately. We need to take out Iran's nuclear program. We need to attack Iran's energy facilities. And we need to attack the regime itself. So now is the moment. You know, sometimes history knocks on your door and you've got to seize the moment. If we don't do it now, I don't see it ever happening.

- So, sir, do you agree with him? Should Israel do those things that he outlined? - Well, I think what we have to focus on is what's gonna change Iran's behavior.

what exactly what action is going to stop Iran from funding Hamas, from funding the Houthis or Hezbollah. And to date, nothing has worked. Diplomacy hasn't worked. The Biden administration has allowed the northward of $80 billion of sanctions to be skirted, which was directly resulted in an arming of Iran. So, you know, you know, I think that that point is very aggressive.

but you look at what's happened recently i mean the target hamas leader in tehran you know during 9 11 there was no sanctuary that we would allow those terrorists to have safe harbor on the face of this planet

So to have a terrorist hang out in Tehran and to think that's not fair game, considering who they are, I think that was a fair strike. The US's position is that no, don't strike terrorists. Look, there's no sanctuary. Let me just put a finer point on my question, just in terms of what should happen next.

Do you think the U.S. administration should support Israel striking in Iran against the Iranian nuclear program at this moment? Well, unless Iran changes their behavior, I think it's going to force the U.S. to move towards a direct attack against Iran. I mean, certainly having Iran continue to supply weapons,

technology and possibly nuclear weapons to the terrorist groups is a real threat. But also, I think it's coordinated. We should look at the larger picture of Russia in Ukraine. We see China looking at Taiwan. And one should suspect that this is a coordinated attack and we face a new triad of evil, which is very, very dangerous and obviously could lead to a larger global conflict.

All right. Congressman Ryan Zinke for us this morning. Sir, thanks very much for being on the show. I appreciate it. All right. Turning now to perhaps one of the toughest moments for Governor Walz during last night's debate. He was asked about reporting around this since disproven but repeated claim that he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Walls responded last night with this answer.

I got the opportunity in the summer of '89 to travel to China. We would take basketball teams, we would take baseball teams, we would take dancers, and we would go back and forth to China. I've not been perfect, and I'm a knucklehead at times, but it's always been about that. The question was, can you explain the discrepancy? No, just, all I said on this was, is I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just, that's what I've said. So I was in

Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests went in. And from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance. All right. Our panel has returned. I was a knucklehead is how he at times Bakari. He was trying to defend himself there. This was kind of a tough moment for him. Did his answer stack up in your view?

Yeah, it was the toughest moment for Tim Walz of the debate, but at the end of the day, he showed something that most politicians don't show, which is a little bit of humility, calling himself a knucklehead, saying he misspoke. I think that as you go throughout the night, I mean, the issues of abortion, the issues of Iran and Israel, the issues of the economy, the issues of immigration are going to far outpace democracy.

whether or not he was in Hong Kong on whatever specific day that he said he was or whether he was there later in the summer. I think the way that he answered it with just an ounce of humility and simply saying, look, I was I was a knucklehead. I misspoke. I get caught up in the rhetoric will go a long way. I don't think that's going to if you look at the fact of where he was that summer versus the fact that J.D. Vance wants a nationwide abortion ban in his life about pedophilia.

I think that issue of abortion will far outweigh what happened in Hong Kong and whether or not Tim Walz was there or not. Alex Thompson, I know you've done a lot. I'm sorry, did you want to jump in, Brad? Go ahead. Tim Walz, he misspoke about a lot of things last night. He also said that there was an individual mandate Obamacare. He said illegal immigration has gone down since Biden came in office. He messed up for the free speech standard at the Supreme Court. So I think he's a knucklehead in fact, but he's a knucklehead who's not ready to be vice president.

We've got only 30 seconds. Alex Thompson, I've seen you focus in on this in your reporting. Does it matter? I think Bakari is right that the issues are probably going to matter to how people vote. But the fact is that Tim Walz has misspoken about a bunch of things about his own record. He misspoke about his DUI conviction back in the 90s. He misspoke about carrying weapons of war when he hadn't been deployed to any combat zone. So it sort of speaks to a larger personal issue. And that's why this got so much attention.

All right. Well, thanks to our panel. Mark Preston, come back. You can have the last word next time, I swear. Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now. From all over the world, people turn to Cleveland Clinic for our expertise and our compassionate care. As leaders in heart, neurology, and cancer, the future of specialty care is happening right now at Cleveland Clinic.

For every life-saving treatment. For every next step. For every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. Don't let CNN's John King have all the fun. Experience the CNN Magic Wall on your mobile device. Get live results, expert insights, and an immersive election experience. Find it at cnn.com slash magic wall or the CNN app today.