Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Golf Course Suspect in Court; Israel Strikes Lebanon. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 23, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:56]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A bloody day in Lebanon, more than 270 people reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, today marking the deadliest day of strikes since the 2006 war between these two countries. One Hezbollah commander says a -- quote -- "battle without limits" is under way.

And a window into the mind of a suspected would-be assassin. Prosecutors say the man who allegedly tried to kill former President Trump detailed his plans in a letter, including an offer to anyone who could -- quote -- "complete the job," that suspect, Ryan Routh, appearing in court today.

And raking in the money, Vice President Harris' campaign flushed with cash, but new polls in the Sun Belt states of Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina are good news for former President Trump.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We begin in the Middle East, the world on edge as Israel launches a punishing aerial assault on what it calls Hezbollah targets in Lebanon,the U.S. announcing that it is sending a small number of additional U.S. troops to the region, a sign of the potential of an expanding conflict.

The Lebanese Health Ministry says Israeli strikes killed more than 270, including women and children, and wounded more than 1,000, making today the deadliest between the two sides in nearly 20 years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that his country is changing the -- quote -- "balance of power" on its northern front, the border with Lebanon, where it has been exchanging fire with Hezbollah since early on in the war in Gaza, Hezbollah saying that it has been acting in solidarity with Hamas since that war began.

The Israeli military announcing new targets in Eastern Lebanon. The IDF calls these strikes proactive, but Iran, which backs Hezbollah, is warning of dangerous consequences in the midst of this escalating conflict, as world leaders gather in New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Northern Israel. Jeremy, what's the latest from where you are?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, for the first time since the beginning of this conflict, Hezbollah has indeed targeted the city of Haifa, a major population center, and minutes ago sirens were sounding in that area as Hezbollah appears to have fired a barrage of rockets at that city.

We do not yet know if there were any successful impacts, but certainly I have seen videos already of the Iron Dome system in action over the city of Haifa, this as Hezbollah is showing that its arsenal of rockets can reach deeper and further south into Israel than it typically has over the course of this conflict, as it is facing the most intense barrage of bombardments from the Israeli military since the 2006 war.

Israel is striking hundreds of targets in southern, as well as in eastern Lebanon, killing hundreds of people so far, injuring many, many more. And we are also seeing tens of thousands of people being forced to flee their homes in southern and eastern Lebanon, long lines of cars, as the Israeli military sends text messages and also gets on the radio in Lebanon, interrupting programs to urge people to leave their homes.

Here in Israel, the Israeli government has now declared a special situation, which basically gives the government the power, if necessary, to impose -- begin imposing restrictions on civilian life. So everything here is clearly moving towards a very clear wartime footing.

We have just heard from the Israeli military's top general, General Herzi Halevi, who is saying that the Israeli military is not only conducting hundreds of airstrikes in Lebanon tonight, but also preparing for the next phases of this campaign. What those next phases are is still unclear.

Clearly, there will be an intensified air campaign in Lebanon that is continuing. We have also gotten reports of the fourth strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut tonight, the fourth time since the beginning of this war. And we are also seeing, of course, that there is the possibility of ground troops going into Lebanon, although at this stage there has been no indication from the Israeli government that that is coming.

[13:05:23]

But, certainly, that is the concern in this region, that that could be the next step in this conflict. For now, this is a very, very tense situation, one that is rapidly escalating, as the Israeli government makes clear this is no longer a tit for tat between them and Hezbollah.

The Israeli government has clearly made a decision over the course of this last week to escalate this conflict further, to begin striking deeper in Lebanon, more targets in Lebanon as well, as they try and change the equation to try and stop Hezbollah from continuing to fire rockets into Northern Israel.

But, for now, the only response from Hezbollah has been to fire more rockets, more powerful and more distant rockets, further into Israel -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jeremy Diamond, live for us from Northern Israel, thank you for that report.

And right now, as I mentioned, world leaders are gathering in New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood is monitoring developments.

And, Kylie, how are these meetings, these speeches going to affect what is clearly a escalating situation between Hezbollah and Israel?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. officials continue to call for de-escalation. But one thing that they're concerned about this week is that the U.N. General Assembly isn't necessarily going to do that, isn't necessarily going to de- escalate what we are seeing with these increased tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And there's a number of reasons for that. So they are expecting the speech by President Mahmoud Abbas from the Palestinian Authority, potentially a speech by Prime Minister Netanyahu. They're also expecting the countries who have recognized Palestine as a state already to reiterate that they are doing that and potentially other countries to add to that chorus.

All of these things, they don't think are going to de-escalate the situation. And the reason that that is unique, Brianna, is that, typically, heading into the U.N. General Assembly, you talk to U.S. officials and they're excited about galvanizing the world behind some sort of movement that the U.S. is for.

And right now, they just don't see a world in which this week is actually going to de-escalate things in New York while the world is really watching all of these world leaders speak on the world stage.

KEILAR: And, Kylie, as we're watching the U.S. say that it is increasing, albeit in a small way, the U.S. military footprint in the region, what are we expecting here?

ATWOOD: So the Pentagon announced that they are moving a small number of additional troops to the Middle East.

But what we don't know is exactly how many and we don't know exactly where they're going. But the key here is that they're doing it because of these increased tensions. And that tells you all you need to know. The Biden administration, the U.S., is in this preparatory posture.

They are concerned about this turning into a regional conflict, which we have heard them say for quite some time. But the fact that they are taking action now really tells you a lot. We also saw over the weekend the State Department renewed its travel advisory to U.S. military citizens, U.S. citizens in Lebanon, telling them once again that this is the time to get out of the country while there are still commercial options available.

So they don't necessarily believe that it's inevitable that this is going to turn into a regional conflict. But they are perhaps more concerned than ever during this conflict at this moment in time that that is possible, given what we saw over the weekend.

KEILAR: Yes, that it is poised to.

Kylie Atwood, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

For more perspective on this latest escalation in the Middle East, let's talk now with retired U.S. Army Major Mike Lyons.

Mike, what do the U.S. troops, this additional number to the region, signal to you, and what would you be expecting that they would reinforce?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, Brianna, it's fundamentally a small number. And I have to think they're going to focus on potentially American evacuees that are going to be in certain locations and get them out, likely JSOC, special operators, special forces.

They're going to focus likely on American citizens to make sure they're not in harm's way there, and then also provide ministerial support to the IDF as they continue what looks like the beginning of this offensive operation into Lebanon there against Hezbollah.

So we'd like to kind of be on the ground, see what's going on. The tactical mission, again, will likely be getting Americans out, but we will keep our eyes on other things going on there.

KEILAR: What do you make of the Israeli strategy here? Because you have Netanyahu saying -- quote -- "We're not waiting for a threat. We are ahead of it."

It's a bit of an escalate to de-escalate strategy. Do you think that's going to work?

LYONS: Yes, that's exactly right.

And kind of where are we on this escalation ladder right now? We saw what happened last week, going after leaders with pagers and walkie- talkies, taking out communication channels, doing that, and these airstrikes now going after -- at least along the border, where they store artillery munitions.

[13:10:15]

The greatest threat are those rockets that come from there. Hezbollah has tremendous capability as they disrupt those border towns, forcing Israel to take civilians out of those places. So this could be a precursor. What is the next step? Will Israel go ahead and go into Lebanon, as we

have seen happen in the past? But from a historical perspective too, this is not just being fought smartly on the side of Israel's enemies. If they wanted -- if Hezbollah wanted to put the squeeze on Israel, they should have done it 10 months ago, when they were -- when Hamas attacks into Gaza.

And the whole thing now allows Israel to move and shift focus towards this front and fight this two-front war. So, again, as you kind of lay this thing out, Israel's getting in front offensively. The question is, what are they going to do next?

KEILAR: So you said they're weighing this idea of whether they go in, as they have before.

How do these two sides measure up? You have Israeli forces. They have been fighting for almost a year, right? They are weathered, but still motivated by October 7, and also the fact that in this particular front of the conflict, you have a lot of Israelis who have been displaced in the north by these Hezbollah attacks.

That has not gotten as much attention as the displaced Israelis in other parts of the country. And then you have Hezbollah hit hard very recently by the pager and the walkie-talkie attacks, but also very angry at Israel and motivated by wanting revenge. How do you see this?

LYONS: Yes.

Well, Israel would have to call up reservists. They would have to bring more people to bear. And some that had been released already from their duties in the south would likely get called back up again to fight this. No question that there would be battle fatigue for some of those individuals, but they're going to need 100,000 soldiers if they decide to go in offensively.

So, perhaps these -- the airstrikes are designed, to your point, of escalating to de-escalate to keep them from doing it. I think Iran also plays here. If they could be convinced to tell their proxy to de- escalate as well, I think that matters, if they say -- because they likely will get destroyed.

Israel does have the capability. But it's a classic conventional army versus a nonconventional one. Hezbollah is good at the asymmetrical warfare and they have capability. They have anti-tank rockets, and they have much more capability than Hamas had in the south, and it would be a much bigger fight.

So we -- let's see what Iran does. Let's see what Israel does over the next few days, but they're going precisely at Hezbollah's capability to wage war against Israel, which doesn't surprise me.

KEILAR: Looking at Gaza, Netanyahu is now considering a plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of the north again to lay siege to Hamas and force the release of hostages.

Do you think that would work? LYONS: You know, it's hard to say what leverage is going to be

applied to Hamas to get them to release hostages. We have seen them turn down every single negotiation so far.

You saw the White House finally expressing disappointment or the fact that they are the problem here. I thought that was good. That was a good admission. I think it's something Israel already knew. I think Israel is working hard to find every one of those hostages. It's really a very impossible mission some level.

And the longer it goes, it becomes even more problematic. So it's very difficult to predict what line of leverage that will be put on Hamas to get them to quit. Right now, not sure that will do it as well.

Major Lyons, thank you so much for your insights. We appreciate it.

LYONS: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Coming up: Prosecutors say the man suspected of trying to assassinate former President Trump at his golf course recently wrote a chilling letter months before his attempt spelling out his plot. We have details of that.

Plus, four people dead, 17 injured, zero suspects in custody. The FBI is now offering up to $100,000 to anyone with information connected to what police are calling a targeted hit in Alabama.

And a NASA astronaut and two record-breaking Russian cosmonauts returning to Earth. We will have more on their mission ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:52]

KEILAR: A federal detention hearing is expected to be under way now.

Actually, it is under way right now for the man who is suspected of trying to kill former President Trump at his golf course in Florida. And prosecutors are alleging new reasons for Ryan Routh to stay behind bars.

In a court filing, they say that Routh Routh wrote a letter that starts this way -- quote -- "This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job."

Routh allegedly wrote these words at least several months before September 15, when he, prosecutors, say pointed a rifle in the direction of the former president as he was golfing.

Court documents say the letter was in a box that Routh left with an unnamed person who opened it in the days after the assassination attempt.

With us now to discuss, we have CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe and defense attorney Misty Marris.

Let's begin, though, with CNN's Katelyn Polantz.

Katelyn, this hearing that has been going on for quite some time, tell us what's happening.

[13:20:00]

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, it's been two hours and 20 minutes since this hearing was supposed to start in court in Florida.

We have no word on what has happened so far in court because there's no cameras there and there's such heavy security around that building, no in and out. Nobody can be coming out to tell us what's happening.

What's going on in that hearing, though, as far as we know, is prosecutors are trying to convince a magistrate judge sitting in this federal court that Ryan Routh should stay behind bars. Right now, he's facing two charges around possession of a firearm, but they haven't taken the additional evidence through the grand jury to indict him.

And all they have done so far this morning is file a -- this 10-page report of other evidence that they're gathering. They say it's not everything that they have, but what they think should be enough to keep him behind bars as they continue investigating, continue to consider additional charges against Ryan Routh, and the need to potentially take him to trial.

They even said in their filing that they did not set forth all of the information and evidence they have known. And prosecutors are very likely pointing out to the judge all of this other stuff they have found about Ryan Routh, all of the planning he apparently did to place himself at Mar-a-Lago for quite some time, seemingly waiting for Donald Trump to arrive there.

KEILAR: Kind of cell phone records indications that he was around Mar-a-Lago, that he was around the golf course, but also that he had his passport at the time, a Google search on one of six phones to try to figure out how to get Mexico.

There's so much in this filing. Tell us about it.

POLANTZ: Yes, so 10 pages, they lay out what they found after he was apprehended and from a witness that contacted him.

So after Routh left the golf course, he was -- he met -- made eye contact with the Secret Service agent at the sixth hole just before Donald Trump was coming up to that hole to play the round of golf. And in Ryan Routh's after they stopped him on the interstate, he fled in the car, they found six cell phones, including one with a Google search of how to get from Palm Beach to Mexico.

They found extra license plates. They also found a list of Trump appearances that he had had. And then they looked into his cell phones and they show that he was around Mar-a-Lago for a full month before this incident occurred on September 15.

In addition to that, a witness reached out to law enforcement and said, before the 15th, Ryan Routh dropped off a box at this witness' residence, at his home, and it had a lot of things in it, ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building material, tools, four more cell phones.

So that's at least six cell phones in total that Ryan Routh had collected and had at various times, and then that letter addressed to the world saying that it was an assassination attempt of Donald Trump that he was trying to make here.

KEILAR: Yes, and offering a sum to someone else to keep it going, which is just so alarming, as he's putting that out there with the environment that we see happening.

Katelyn, thank you so much for the details.

I want to bring in Misty and Andy to talk about this.

Misty, as you have prosecutors trying to convince the judge that this person who at this point so far is facing limited charges should remain behind bars as legal proceedings continue, how difficult a process do they have when it comes to that?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: Prosecutors in this case, according to this detention memo that we saw, this is a case that's going to be more favorable to the prosecutors with respect to holding him.

The reason being, what we're looking at in a detention hearing and what a judge is going to take into consideration falls really into two categories. One, is this person a flight risk? Well, we have learned from this memo that he was found with passports, travel documents.

He was searching a path to Mexico, and he had already fled the scene right from the get-go. So as far as being a flight risk, there's a lot to add with respect to that argument. And then the other component, is this person a danger? And they're going to be looking at the fact that he had these guns. He was in possession of them illegally.

Also, the letter that we saw, the fact that he's calling for basically a bounty if he was unsuccessful, that this was premeditated, that he was lying in wait, all of that is going to go into that bucket of whether he's a danger.

And to Katelyn, she brings up a great point. There hasn't been a grand jury indictment yet. And what I think is happening, right now, he is being held on a criminal complaint with respect to these gun charges. You're likely to see the indictment include more than just the gun charges, perhaps the federal crime of an assassination attempt of a major political candidate, so a lot of moving parts.

And that's likely why this hearing is a bit more extensive than we usually see at the bail part of the case.

[13:25:09]

KEILAR: And, Andy, we also learned a few more details. We'd already known some about how events played out on the day of September 15 on the golf course, but prosecutors revealed that Routh had this direct line on the sixth hole green, which was the next hole that Trump would have played, presumably would have been standing around, standing still at some point, doing that to putt.

He had, Routh, a list of these dates and venues that Katelyn was detailing where Trump was expected to appear in the lead-up to the presidential election. How does that go towards more potential charges?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Brianna, so their challenge -- today's challenge, of course, is Misty laid out, is to keep him locked up. And for all the reasons you mentioned, I think they will be successful in that effort.

The longer-term issue is, what are they going to charge him with beyond these two firearms offenses? Excuse me. They certainly want to get to an attempted assassination charge. It's a little bit challenging under the federal code, because he wasn't the president at the time. So there's sort of different laws that you have to look to there.

But all the evidence you mentioned goes directly to intent. They have to show that his intent that day was to actually assassinate former President Trump. He didn't take any specific actions. He didn't fire a shot and miss or try to attack him or something like that. So they have a little bit of a hurdle to get over there.

The letter will be really devastating evidence against Routh in that regard. I think also of interest is the fact that we now know he was in the area for a month and was seen, of course, near Mar-a-Lago, which is the president's residence, and other places in the area.

This goes to answering those questions we had on day one about, how did he know to be in that place at that time? And many of us suspected, he probably knew it from doing very rudimentary surveillance. It's not a hard thing to figure out. The president is very predictable in his movements and going to his golf clubs at the same time on Sundays when he's in town.

So that picture, I think, is really starting to come together for prosecutors as well. And it answers the question to some extent as to whether or not he had any help with that intelligence. At this point, the answer looks like no.

KEILAR: Misty, how damning is that cell phone data to show where he was? This is something that comes up in court. It's not exactly precise, but it can be very much illuminating as to someone's approximate whereabouts.

MARRIS: Absolutely.

It's going to be a large part of the case, because, as was just stated, it's all about establishing intent when we're talking about charges that go beyond the firearms felony charges he's currently facing. So to the extent we're getting to an attempted assassination, you don't get off the hook just because you fail to follow through and actually commit the crime.

But an attempt crime, because it's unsuccessful, has legal challenges to prove that intent factor. And that cell phone data, the fact that this was preplanned, those are going to be the allegations. And what happens is all of that goes before a jury, and a jury is asked to use their common sense and look at the totality of the evidence.

So, the cell phone records, the letter, and just the actions of Routh that day, all of that is going to be in furtherance of establishing that intent element from the prosecutor's perspective.

KEILAR: And, Andy, I wonder, have you seen anything to indicate that Routh should have been on law enforcement's radar before the assassination attempt as some kind of risk to the president?

MCCABE: Yes, Brianna, in the information that we have publicly, I don't believe there's anything that really jumps out to say the Secret Service or the FBI or law enforcement in general kind of missed an opportunity to head this off.

Now, again, we don't know all of the evidence that they have. Maybe that exists and it's just not been disclosed yet. There's no question he was a dangerous individual. His run-ins with law enforcement, I believe in North Carolina, where he fled from a traffic stop and ultimately was -- took a felony charge for possession of a weapon of mass destruction, an explosive device, I mean, clearly, an unbalanced and dangerous person.

You know, he pretty much dropped off the radar at that point by moving to Hawaii. It's not clear -- even though he was fairly visible in his support for Ukraine and his travel over there, none of that is illegal. None of that is aggression directed at a president or a political figure.

So, at this point, I don't think we have enough information to say that a ball was dropped here, but it'll be interesting to find out the full extent of what the government knows as this case goes forward.

KEILAR: All right, Misty, Andy, thank you so much to both of you. We do appreciate it.