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Interview with Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA): Trump Assassination Attempt Task Force Wants Secret Service Briefing; TikTok Argues Against Ban in U.S. Federal Court; Coast Guard Hearing Begins on Titan Submersible Implosion. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, the Congressional Task Force investigating the first assassination attempt against former President Trump is calling for a briefing with the Secret Service about the second apparent attempt that happened yesterday. Lawmakers say they remain deeply concerned about the threat of ongoing political violence.

Let's discuss with Republican Congressman Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania. He actually witnessed that assassination attempt of former President in Butler, Pennsylvania back on July 13th firsthand. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

Earlier today, President Biden said that the Secret Service needed more help. He's calling on Congress to respond to the agency's needs. Do you agree that the ball is in Congress's court, or do you think the administration needs to do something now?

REP. DAN MEUSER (R-PA): Hi, Boris, great to be with you. Listen, I don't want to sound just political right out of the gate here, but the Homeland Security has oversight of Secret Service. They could certainly add and move people around.

I know their resources are low due to the fact that the recruitment is way down for various reasons, but they could certainly provide the level of resources necessary and security to keep the former president safe. It's not a question of what the protocol is for whether he was the current president or if he was the vice president or if he's a former president. The protocol should be to keep him safe, to do the risk assessments.

And you know what? They failed to do that. Homeland, Mayorkas, Harris, Biden, all talk, no action. Let's hope at least now, after the second assassination attempt, there is some action. And if it requires congressional, you know, they love doing this, Boris, come on, saying how, oh, we need Congress to act on the border. We need Congress to act on this.

I mean, it's like it's like a blame game. Fine, we will act. Watch us get voted down like we did on H.R. 2. And again, not to be too critical here, but that seems to be the regular routine.

SANCHEZ: There's a lot to debate --

MEUSER: Just get the job done.

SANCHEZ: There's a lot of debate on immigration and H.R. 2. Part of the reason that folks are looking at Congress is obviously because you control the purse strings. So I'm wondering what your message is to Majority Leader Schumer in the Senate and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

MEUSER: Boris, once again, yes, we have the purse strings. But regarding the border, it was done under the same legislation, meaning under Trump, we had a very, very secure border.

SANCHEZ: I know --

MEUSER: They have jurisdiction.

SANCHEZ: I wish we had all day to talk about these things, Congressman, but I really want to focus on what could be done now and moving forward by leaders in Congress over these issues.

MEUSER: We will absolutely engage if that's if that's what President Biden needs. We will we will act. Nevertheless, they have the authority to provide the security to keep the former president safe.

They failed terribly at Butler. And as you mentioned coming in, I was there. They -- I don't know of one area. They have not alerted us. They have not alerted the task force where that situation has improved. Where were the failures and what was done to correct it?

We have yet to receive -- the American people have yet to receive that information. And here we have a second occurrence of an assassination attempt.

SANCHEZ: Do you have any doubt about the federal government's ability to carry out a thorough investigation of what happened yesterday?

[15:35:00]

MEUSER: I certainly have no doubt, but it's just a question of whether or not we're going to be transparent, whether we're going to be honest and whether we're going to disclose. I certainly think the American people can handle the truth. Certainly the task force can.

And I know I can and use going to be honest and whether we're going to disclose. I certainly think the American people can handle the truth. Certainly the task force can. And I know I can. And use the use the information appropriately to gain -- so people gain confidence in the competency of our government and of the security that's being provided to former presidents and the candidate who's going to be on the ballot in 50 days.

SANCHEZ: I also want to get your reaction, Congressman, to the former president laying this second apparent attempted assassination at the feet of President Biden and Vice President Harris, saying that the suspect acted on their rhetoric. MEUSER: Well, I would just tell you this, Boris. And again, at the sake of sounding political, if that shooter would have been wearing a MAGA hat, my God, it would have been wall to wall on nine tenths of the stations that, you know, this was driven by Republican rhetoric about Biden, about Harris and so forth. So let's just let's just, you know, call things call things how they are.

But the truth is that the rhetoric has been pretty, pretty awful. Now, it's a two sided thing. I understand.

But if you look at even things that that Tapper has said on your show about how our long nightmare is over, how Trump is buddies with Putin, he stands with Putin. He's so basically he stands with a murderer. He stands with a thug. He's evil. I mean, that's come out of the first lady's mouth.

How many times has President Trump -- Biden and Harris said, you know, he and the MAGAs are undermining our democracy. They're a threat to our democracy. I mean, I could quote so many.

So, you know, it really comes down to and I and I honestly believe this. We disagree strongly with the left's policies. We don't dislike them. They seem to dislike us.

So that I think is, is, is, a problem. I don't mean to generalize it, but we all -- both sides. Let's even say it -- on both sides. We've got work to do. And I'd like to be part of creating a policy discussion. And remember that we're all Americans in the end.

SANCHEZ: I think that is a significant and important sentiment that we're all Americans in the end. It's obviously important to condemn political violence in all shapes and forms. But I am curious about how you make assessments, given, as you said, that it's a two way street, because pretty much since he wrote down the escalator back in 2015, Donald Trump has been a firebrand.

He's made accusations that Hillary Clinton, that Barack Obama, that Joe Biden, that Kamala Harris are all trying to destroy this country. He also uses rhetoric that dehumanizes people, including immigrants. And notably, there was a mass shooter in El Paso a few years ago that echoed that specific kind of language.

So I wonder what your message would be to the former president himself. As you said, it's a two way street on toning down the rhetoric.

MEUSER: And Boris, we could probably debate this and go tit for tat along the way. Because, you know, when he says things like Comrade Kamala or Sleepy Joe or, you know, it's stupid people doing the Iran nuke deal and things like that. Look, he also said that the illegals that are coming here are poisoning our youth and poisoning our citizens.

I've heard it all. But truly, what he meant there was the fentanyl, the drugs, that sort of thing. They're poisoning the blood. It gets -- it gets presented, in my opinion, throughout much of the media in the darkest ways possible. And Vice President Harris and Joe Biden, you know, it very often gets painted in the in the best way possible. So and but then you have other networks that that certainly laid out in the opposite of that.

All I would say is we ought to -- we ought to really consider our, our language, not make things personal, lose the personal attacks. Let's have a policy debate. Let's, let's do our best to find common ground.

But where we can't, that's where elections come in and people are going to vote for which way we want our country to go. So that's my assessment there.

SANCHEZ: An aspirational assessment, no question. Congressman Dan Meuser, you and I have had disagreements on the air before, but it's never gotten personal.

And I hope and I hope that continues. Congressman, thank you so much for the conversation. Likewise.

MEUSER: Likewise. You, too, thanks Boris.

SANCHEZ: Stay with CNN. We're back in just moments.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news into CNN, and some just amazing pictures that you're seeing here. This is a pipeline fire that has prompted evacuations in a suburb of Houston. These are live pictures coming to us.

Firefighters are trying to contain the fire, which has been burning for several hours, just adjacent to a neighborhood and in a neighborhood. The fire was reported this morning about 25 miles southeast of Houston. The pipeline is owned by Energy Transfer, and authorities have not determined what caused the fire, but local officials warn, quote, it will be a while before it goes down.

We're going to update you on this as we learn more. You can see there a lot of responding units, and also a lot of threats there to nearby residences. So we'll be keeping our eye on this.

Who really controls TikTok's algorithm?

[15:45:00]

The U.S.-based company that runs the app, or its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. That's the question that a three-judge panel is charged with figuring out, and their decision could result in TikTok being banned for 170 million Americans.

Let's bring in CNN media analyst Sara Fischer. Sarah, first off, take us through what happened in court today, because this is going to be key to these judges deciding who controls the algorithm, which has huge ramifications. SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, today might have been the most important day in TikTok's life. Essentially what happened is TikTok and a bunch of creators came in to give opening arguments in a court case that would determine whether or not a law that requires the app to be banned, if not sold to a U.S. company, is going to go into effect in mid-January.

Now, the trio of judges that are listening to these arguments seemed very skeptical of TikTok's ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese company. They were skeptical about whether or not the U.S. really has control over the code and the algorithm of the app, or whether or not China is playing a role behind the scenes.

However, Brianna, it's good to know they were also pretty skeptical of the government. The challenge here is that if you were to ban an app without being able to really prove a national security concern, TikTok is arguing that would be a First Amendment violation.

Whatever happens, we'll find out soon, we'll determine whether or not 170 million people get access to TikTok come January. And it's worth noting, Brianna, the deadline for TikTok to either sell or get banned is January 19th, which is one day before the next presidential inauguration.

KEILAR: And tell us about the First Amendment implications that you have TikTok very much emphasizing here. And also, I wonder how receptive the judges are in this case to that. They are, for instance, in one case, one of them appointed by Ronald Reagan, which makes you wonder, would they be a TikTok user?

FISCHER: Yes, all three judges are over the age of 50. That judge that you just mentioned, Judge Ginsburg, is 78 years old.

But what I think that the argument here from TikTok's point of view is, if you just ban us because you think that we pose a threat, that's a First Amendment violation. You are violating our right to speech.

Now, if the court were to ban them without, one could argue, sufficient enough proof, it would set a huge precedent for Supreme Court and for court cases down the line and how we rule around free speech.

I think the challenge here, Brianna, is that the judges seemed pretty skeptical that the U.S. government presented enough proof. But at the same time, they're skeptical of TikTok. I think the delta, the question here is whether or not there's enough proof to suggest a ban. And I just don't think anyone has the answer to that question quite yet.

One of the things we heard from them today is they were grappling at trying to figure out precedents that they could point to, to help them and explain this case. One of the things that they had mentioned was whether or not, you know, back in the day during the sort of communist propaganda era, it was First Amendment violations when we were thinking about banning postal sort of communications. That could give you a sense of how complicated this case really is. KEILAR: Yes, it certainly does. Sara, thank you so much for that report. We'll be tracking this.

And coming up, what really happened on the doomed Titan submersible? We are learning some new details next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We're learning more about those final moments of the Titan submersible which of course imploded in the ocean last year while on a trip to view the Titanic wreckage.

SANCHEZ: You may recall all five people on board were killed and today a multi-day Coast Guard hearing into the disaster began in South Carolina. CNN's Jason Carroll is following this story for us. Jason what are the latest details?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well guys it's just the first day of this hearing and already we're getting a number of new details about what happened on that fateful day. This coming from the Marine Board of Investigation and what they did was they provided new details in terms of what happened as the Titan was descending on that fateful day. They showed animation, some of it you see there as the Titan descended and they married that to communications with the ship that was on the surface at the time, the Polar Prince.

One of the last messages the ship received was at 10:14 a.m. from the Titan that said, all good here. It was then at 10:47 a.m., a short time after that, that the Titan had sent a message that said, dropped 2H, which indicated something was wrong. They were in trouble and needed to ascend back to the surface.

Of course it was just moments after that that the Titan imploded.

Now as you know many experts had warned OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush that they had safety concerns with the construction of the Titan. They wanted it to be classed. They wanted it to be certified by a safety organization before it went on these expeditions.

One of the first witnesses that was called was OceanGate's former director of engineering who talked about why Rush did not want to have the submersible classified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY NISSEN, FORMER OCEANGATE DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING: One of the days he was crying on my shoulder it's going to take too long and way too expensive. It's ridiculous. In his words it stifles innovation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: One of the second witnesses that was called was OceanGate's former human resources and finance director who said she saw a number of red flags, safety warnings that she had seen when she was working there and she said: It became abundantly clear to me that OceanGate was, quote, not the place I wanted to work if that was their attitude towards safety.

Guys back to you.

SANCHEZ: Yes, several red flags raised in this investigation. Jason Carroll thank you so much.

[15:55:00]

So we are standing by in West Palm Beach Florida where moments from now at this podium federal and local officials are going to give an update into what the FBI is calling an apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Ryan Routh appeared in court this morning where he was charged with two gun related crimes. According to court documents Routh was lying in wait along the perimeter of Trump's golf course for more than 11 hours before a Secret Service agent spotted his rifle.

CNN's coverage of this press conference continues with Jake Tapper on "THE LEAD" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown. In for Jake Tapper and we start with breaking news.

Any moment now we expect an update from law enforcement officials on what is now the second apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. The latest? Yesterday at his Florida golf course in West Palm Beach.

A Secret Service agent spotted a suspect with a rifle and scope and then shot at him. The entire incident within 500 yards from the former President. This morning, that suspect appeared in court and was charged with two counts including possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

And sources say he could face more charges as the FBI continues its investigation. Also new today ...

END