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Republican Presidential and Vice President Candidates Donald Trump and J.D. Vance Blame Rhetoric from Democrats for Two Assassination Attempts on Donald Trump; Music Mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs Arrested and Taken into Custody by Homeland Security. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 17, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly seized on the border and immigration as an issue in this campaign, trying to portray not just Biden but now his current opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, as mishandling policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, if you take so look at recent polling, American adults do give Trump an advantage on issues of immigration over Harris.

Now, Harris and Biden have tried to turn the tables on Trump, arguing that he pushed Republicans on Capitol Hill to kill that bipartisan border security bill. But the question is, which arguments will resonate with voters in November as immigration continues to be a top concern.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Arlette Saenz at the White House, thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning Donald Trump heads back out on the campaign trail after the second apparent assassination attempt against him. What he's saying about that day and why he and his running mate are trying to put the blame on rhetoric from Democrats.

We have just learned that music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is expected in federal court this morning in just a few minutes here after being rescued overnight. We should learn very soon what the charges are against him when the indictment is unsealed.

And big changes coming to Instagram, part of an effort to protect young users.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. All that and more ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Today, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are back on the campaign trail, both back on the campaign trail for the first time since an apparent second attempt on Donald Trump's life. Donald Trump heading to battleground state Michigan for a town hall in flint. Trump is also now talking about that second assassination attempt, talking about what he experienced when he heard shots fired on the golf course. And also, he's talking about trying to cast blame for the assassination attempt on rhetoric from Kamala Harris, President Biden, and Democrats. Though Donald Trump also says that yesterday he did have, quote, "a very nice call" with Joe Biden.

CNN's Alayna Treene has much more on this. She's joining us now. What is the latest, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Kate, we are going to see Donald Trump, as you mentioned, in person visually, I think, for the first time since this apparent second assassination attempt. And look, we did actually hear from Donald Trump last night, but today will be the first time that people see him. And I know a lot of people I've been speaking with are curious to see what he looks like in person, how he appears.

But I will say, during that Twitter or, excuse me, X Spaces call that Donald Trump participated in yesterday, he did walk through his version of what had happened on Sunday, recounting the events. But then he also made claims about arguing that a lot of this is stemming from Democrats' rhetoric, particularly that of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Now, we heard some very similar language coming from his running mate, J.D. Vance. I want you to take a listen to what they both said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, there's a lot of rhetoric, a lot of people think that the Democrats, when they talk about threat to democracy and all of this, and it seems that both of these people were radical leftists.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months. I'd say that's pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, OK, clearly some of this is controversial. But what I'd argue is how different this type of messaging is from what we saw in the immediate aftermath of the first attempted assassination on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. We had heard from many of Donald Trump's senior advisors that they were calling for unity. That was their big message as they led into that week, which was the Republican National Convention.

You heard Donald Trump himself argue that he was a changed man. It wasn't until several weeks later that you started to hear him as well as people on his team try to point the finger at Democrats and say that perhaps some of this political violence was a result of their rhetoric.

Now, clearly, that's different this time around. We're seeing them immediately go on offense with this and really make it a core part of their messaging. And just to take a step back and look at this week, I think you're going to hear a lot of this rhetoric as you see Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Today, he will be in Flint, Michigan. Tomorrow, he'll be in Uniondale, New York. Later this week he'll be in Washington, D.C., and then over the weekend in North Carolina.

I think keep an eye on how we hear Donald Trump talk about this on the trail. And just one thing to keep in mind with some of these events is that these are going on as scheduled. When I talked to Donald Trump's campaign, they said they are not changing any of his schedule in light of this. Of course, there are security concerns that they are talking about behind the scenes. We know that Donald Trump met with the acting Secret Service director yesterday to discuss some of this.

[08:05:02]

But they are moving forward as planned, and I think this messaging is going to be a key part of what they talk about on the trail this week. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Interesting. All right, we'll see. Alayna, thank you so much for your reporting. John?

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro and former Republican strategist and pollster Lee Carter.

I'm very interested in what Alayna is saying there and what we're seeing so far from J.D. Vance and Donald Trump, which is focusing on the assassinations and placing blame on Democrats. My question isn't, are they right? My question is, how effective, Ana, do you think that would be as a strategy?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There is no doubt that Trump supporters see this as an attack on Trump and want to blame Democrats. Listen, I hear it from my own family where there are Trump supporters. They are incensed about this and think there's this big strategy and plan to attack Donald Trump.

Do I think it's effective with everybody else? No, because everybody else has been around for six years and has ears and eyes and remembers the El Paso shooter who killed 20 people in a Walmart, whose manifesto was influenced by Trump. We remember when Trump made jokes at his rallies after Paul Pelosi's skull had been bashed in by a whack job with a hammer.

So you can't -- you don't get to be a very big part of the problem and then pretend that it's just the other people on the other side who caused this.

BERMAN: The other aspect of it, Lee, is that it's about himself, which is actually something that Harris tried to focus on in the debate, which is that Donald Trump cares about himself. I care about you and your problems. Now, I get it's reasonable that if someone's being shot at that he cares that he's being shot at. I mean, that's not unreasonable. But I do wonder if by if he's trading focus on the economy and inflation and immigration by making this a centerpiece. LEE CARTER, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: I mean, look, I think in this moment he's making a valid point. And we can debate how bad Trump's rhetoric is all that we want. But in this moment, it is a valuable question to be asking. Is this rhetoric contributing to the situation that we're in in this country? And I think there's no question that you can tie it back. We have the shooter who has said himself and repeated the language that's a threat to democracy. So I really think that we've got to take careful look at it.

The other thing I have to say is, we have to also question whether or not the rhetoric that we're using about the threat to democracy is effective. I saw in the presidential debate, one of the most effective lines that Kamala Harris had was called Donald Trump a small man with big consequences. When Tim Walz calls Donald Trump weird, those lines of attacks are actually more effective than the bigger threats. And I think that's really important --

BERMAN: But there is --

NAVARRO: But here's, here's -- and I agree with you. I think we should all question the rhetoric. The problem is that Donald Trump, who I think, if you were doing hurricane categories, he's a hurricane category five, whereas the other side might be a two. And Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are not questioning their rhetoric. Right now, because of their rhetoric, because of what he said in that debate, there's been 33 bombing threats in Springfield, Ohio. That would not have happened but for this false conspiracy theory being spread by the vice presidential and presidential Republican candidate.

And those Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, and those students and the people that are victims of these threats and everything that's going on there, don't have 24/7 Secret Service, right. They're on their own.

CARTER: And I think it's a valid -- like I said, I'm not here to debate whether or not Trump's rhetoric is causing its own instead of problems. But we have to take a look at what's happening right here. We have a presidential candidate who has been -- there's been an attempt on his life twice in the last 65 days. And I think we have to question why, and what we can do to bring down the temperature in this country.

And it's on all of us to do it because the language on all sides really has gotten so, so escalated, that we've decided that the other side is evil. Not just if you're talking about Donald Trump. You're talking about MAGA supporters as well. Joe Biden said that it was not just Trump, it was MAGA supporters that are also a threat to democracy. And so we've got to look at all of this together and say, how can we, how can we de-escalate it?

NAVARRO: Well, I think one of the ways we can deescalate it, and Republicans don't want to talk about it, is talk about a ban on assault weapons. We've now had in these two last -- in these two assassination attempts in, what, in the last 60 days, we have had people with clear mental illness. We don't know what their motive is, but we know that they have mental issues, and they've got -- this one has a long record, who somehow got their hands on weapons of war, on assault weapons. I mean, how does a teenage kid get an AR-15? How does this guy got the gun that he got?

[08:10:00]

And Republicans do not want to address the fact that this country is awash, awash in guns that are assault weapons, that are weapons of war that can cause credible destruction in very little time. I would think to myself that this that just happened, and that has happened in the 60 days should do something to invigorate a bipartisan solution on that. But no, no. The only thing they do is blame the Democrats.

BERMAN: We've got about 45 seconds left. Very quickly because I've been cheating off your paper here, which is something I've done for 50 years or so.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: The polls, there has been what looks to be a little bit of a shift toward Harris in the last week since the debate. The ABC News- Ipsos poll, which is the one that meets our standards of plus six. There are some others that are out there that I won't put up on the screen that aren't, that show the same basic thing. Is it palpable yet, do you think? Is it early enough to say that she had a debate that changed the trajectory a little bit?

CARTER: So I think it did change the trajectory when it comes to the general, the general electorate, but it's not seeming to change the debate in the swing states. In the swing states, we're still seeing it's pretty flat or within 0.1, 0.2. That's not enough to really define it as a bounce.

I do think, and I agree with Nate Silver, that we have to look at the next week worth of polls that come in because we haven't seen all the swing-state polls come in. But at this point, it seems like she won the debate, but you didn't necessarily win the votes that she needed to. Obviously, she had a really good night, but I think we're going to have to see how that translates.

BERMAN: We will see. All right, Lee Carter and Ana Navarro, great to see you both. Thank you very, very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, this morning, we are standing by to see Sean "Diddy" Combs in court. We're expecting him to arrive very soon. He was arrested and taken into custody by Homeland Security investigations at a hotel in New York City last night. A federal grand jury indicted against him, that is -- indictment, excuse me, against him is set to be unsealed today, so we're waiting to find out what the charges actually are against Combs.

Combs's lawyer says the rapper and producer has been in New York since last week in anticipation of these charges, adding that he is innocent and has, quote, nothing to hide.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the courthouse in New York. What are you expecting to hear in court today? I'm assuming you'll hear some of the charges against him. KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Sara. A lot of details behind Diddy's arrests are expected to come to light today. We are expecting him to arrive in this courthouse sometime this morning in order to face the charges.

Now, he was arrested last night around 8:15 at the Park Hyatt Hotel by agents with Homeland Security investigations. They took him into custody, and he has been held offsite. He will be transferred here this morning where he will then be processed and then make his court appearance. And around that time, we should learn what these charges are.

This indictment that was returned yesterday will become unsealed. And according to the U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, it's possible he may also address these charges today. So we'll learn more details. But this investigation kicked off after Diddy's former my girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, filed a lawsuit last year alleging that he had sex trafficked her, that he had raped, that he forced her to have sex with other men. That lawsuit Diddy settled one day after it was filed, but that unleashed a number of losses that were brought by women and at least one man as well as stoked this investigation.

Homeland Security agents searched Diddy's homes in L.A. and Miami in March, then CNN had obtained surveillance video from the International Continental Hotel in Century City, California, from 2016. On that tape, Diddy is seen dragging Cassie Ventura and kicking her. Now, that is all that we understand this investigation has been about, but these specific charges will be unsealed at some point today, then we'll see exactly what he is facing.

As you said, his lawyer has said that Diddy is innocent, and he has denied any wrongdoing. We will hear more from them in court today when that gets underway. All of this is still very fluid, so the timing of that is still unclear, but we do expect Diddy to arrive in court this morning. He will be processed, and then he will appear in court, and we'll learn what these charges are and if prosecutors are looking to detain him or if they've worked out some kind of bail. Sara?

SIDNER: We also have seen the civil cases against him as well. And so we will wait to see what the federal charges might be. I know you will be all over it there, Kara Scannell. Thank you so much for your reporting outside court there in New York.

Hello, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Hello, darling. That is coming up there, that we're tracking that when that happens this morning. And also ahead for us, a high level of planning, nearly 12 hours lying in wait, the new details that authorities are now revealing about the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

And new warnings about the superbug, antibiotic resistant infections, and the new data and scary projections on what scientists now say could lead to nearly 40 million deaths over the next 25 years.

And a pipeline fire sparking a terrifying evacuation order of hundreds of homes.

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[08:19:34]

BERMAN: We are standing by to see if the suspect at the center of the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump will face any new charges today.

As of now, he is detained on gun charges. This as new details emerge about the apparent attempt on Trump's life. Let's get right to CNN's Carlos Suarez in West Palm Beach for the latest there -- Carlos.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

So, no doubt authorities here in South Florida are still trying to figure out exactly how 58-year-old Ryan Routh even knew that the former president was at his golf course here on Sunday.

[08:20:08]

Yesterday, the acting director of the Secret Service has said that the former president's visit here was what they consider an off the record movement. So, it's something that wasn't on his schedule and it was something that was done almost at the last minute, though we do know that the former were president had an advanced team with him as well as his Secret Service security detail.

As we've been reporting, cell phone data from Routh seems to show that he was in the area here for nearly 12 hours on Sunday before a Secret Service agent spotted him. We know that he got within about 500 yards of the former president, though he never had a line of sight of him. That information, according to law enforcement officials yesterday.

Now, we also got some rather dramatic body camera video showing the moment that Routh was arrested up in Martin County. That's about an hour north of the golf course here in West Palm Beach.

And we know that the person that the person that spotted him here at the golf course and the one that took the photo of a car that he was in, we are told that person was put on a sheriff's office helicopter and taken up to Martin County so that she could positively identify the person she saw here as the person that was taken into custody up there.

Here now, is a neighbor in North Carolina where Routh used to live talking about his interactions with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a very, very quiet person and he's very, like I said jumpy, reserved, didn't really speak out loud too much and didn't come off as a political person.

Always seem very like kind of dangerous. Behaviors, were just really strange. Like he would walk pass through really quickly. As I said before, kept pace with me for no reason, had no reason to be out at midnight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: All right, so Routh used to live in North Carolina, but had moved to Hawaii and, John, one other question that authorities still need to figure out here is exactly just when Routh made it here to Florida.

Again, we know that it appears he was in the general vicinity of the area where all of this happened for at least 12 hours on Sunday, just exactly how many days he may have been here before that, is still to be determined -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Carlos Suarez, it's great to have you there, keep us posted when you have new developments -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is former CIA counterterrorism official, former FBI senior intelligence adviser, Phil Mudd. It's good to see you, Phil.

Some of the details, let's talk about kind of where Carlos left off there about -- that the suspect had been kind of laying in wait or in the general vicinity of the area for nearly 12 hours. What does that add to the picture for you? I mean, does that give you more -- does that give you answers or does that bring up more questions?

PHIL MUDD, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: It brings up a few questions and a few answers. The questions would be, in particular, what the Feds are finding on the individual's phone and social media?

In other words, did they see searches? Did they see preparation that suggests that the subject knew or didn't know about the president's movements? My guess is he didn't, otherwise, he wouldn't have been sitting around for 12 hours.

One thing I haven't heard talked about much also is the fact that he had food with him. That tells me that he's planning to stay there for a while. Is he planning to stay overnight again until Sunday? I don't know.

I don't know whether his lawyers told him not to speak to the Feds about this, but I think the initial questions about whether there's a broader conspiracy and whether people helped him suggest to me that they didn't, otherwise, he wouldn't have been sitting around for 12 hours with food to prepare to stay for a long time.

He didn't to know that much about the president's movement. Kate.

BOLDUAN: And on that kind of broader conspiracy question, the Martin County sheriff -- Martin County is where the suspect was eventually picked up, where they pulled him around the highway.

Martin County sheriff in Florida was on with us yesterday, and he said, the big question for him was -- was that question: Was this part of a conspiracy? Let me play for you what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM SNYDER, SHERIFF, MARTIN COUNTY FLORIDA: I think the first question, obviously, that they want is -- Is this conspiracy?

Did this guy act -- was he a lone wolf? Possible. Or was he sent by some group to get the president of the United States?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you think all evidence so far points to not a broader conspiracy?

MUDD: Sort of, that's what I'd say as a private citizen, that's not what I would say if I were the FBI right now. And the reason is it's very difficult to prove a negative.

So in the first 24 hours, 48 hours after the investigation opens, you're talking to family, you're looking at social media, you're looking at contact, you're looking at Google searches.

And you want to guarantee yourself in looking at that kind of information over the course of the last three months, six months, 12 months of this individual's life that there's nobody he contacted who might have known about that. That takes some time to do so.

I would be personally, if I would have had to bet in Vegas, I'd bet that there wasn't a conspiracy, but you can't say that yet if you're a Fed, because you've got to look through a ton of data and guarantee that you're right before you talk to media.

[08:25:10]

BOLDUAN: Yes, the acting Secret Service director, the way that he talked about this now, in reaction to this, is that there needs to be a "paradigm shift" at the agency.

Saying that he believes, the Secret Service, that they need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model. What does that mean to you?

MUDD: Well, I think people are going to read too much into this in terms of the capabilities that the Secret Service and I thought they did a great job.

In this case, for example, you would ask the question whether the perimeter should be -- should have been secured even when the Secret Service didn't know that the president was going to play golf that day.

If you want that to happen, Kate, if the American people believe that there can be sort of hermetic seal around the president, think of the first hours of any presidency, you have the person being sworn in, there are tens of thousands of people in the Capitol.

The president walks down Pennsylvania Avenue, tens of thousands of people. The present then goes to a baseball game. The president goes to a diner during a campaign. Do you want me to assure you that the Secret Service in any circumstance in a world where we have a bunch of concealed carry people can guarantee that a president, when he interacts with the populace will never get in touch with somebody who has a gun? That is a bridge too far.

I think people are going to anticipate that we can secure presidents, and the answer is, maybe the Secret Service can do better, but in a democracy, you will not secure a president.

BOLDUAN: Phil, it's good to see you. Thank you --Sara.

MUDD: Thank you.

SIDNER: Great conversation. All right, brand new this morning, Instagram launching new restrictions for millions of teenage users. How the new changes will affect who your child can message and how much time they spend on the social media app.

And a story of the American dream come true. Actor, Wilmer Valderrama talks about his own personal journey from Venezuela to Hollywood stardom.

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