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Today, Harris Appeals to Hispanic Voters, Trump Rallies Base in New York; Sean Diddy Combs Appealing Judge's Decision to Deny Bail; Springfield Schools Increasing Security After Bomb Threats. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired September 18, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Claiming innocence. Today, Sean Diddy Combs will be asking to be released on bail after prosecutors charged him with racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking. Hear why his lawyer says Combs will go to trial.

Plus, the race for the White House and fear gripping Springfield, state troopers, tower cameras, bomb sniffing dogs, all because of threats after Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, spread baseless claims about Haitian migrants there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT HILL, SUPERINTENDENT, SPRINGFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT: There is still a high level of fear due to these unfounded threats and hoaxes that have marred our existence really for going on a week now.

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ACOSTA: And later, the fight for IVF escalates. GOP senators again blocking a bill to guarantee access to the treatment nationwide. Coming up, I'll be joined by a Republican congressman who says IVF is critically important.

Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

And we begin with the 2024 race for the White House. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is appealing to both Latino and younger voters with two events today. Later, former President Donald Trump is heading to New York to rally his base.

Meanwhile, a staunch Trump ally is sharpening her attacks against Kamala Harris. This time it is very personal. Here's Arkansas Governor and former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R-AR): My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble.

You would think after four years of straight failure, she would know a little humility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now for more on all of these latest developments from the campaign trail are CNN's Kristen Holmes and CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, I want to start with you. Is the Harris team responding to this very personal attack, very nasty attack from Sarah Huckabee Sanders?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Jim, it's certainly not the first time that they have heard this line of attack over the course of this election cycle, but they're not engaging on it and said the Harris campaign is pointing toward reproductive rights with another ad release today. That is how they see their way of making inroads with women during this election.

Of course, they have pinned the blame on former President Donald Trump for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, often pointing to his remarks where he cites and boasts that he put the justices in place to lead to that Supreme Court decision. And so the vice president's team continues to hone in on this very issue instead of focusing on this line of attack about children.

ACOSTA: And, Priscilla, we know, just to talk about campaign tactics for a moment, Gen Z men are not rallying around Kamala Harris as much as Gen Z women. What is the Harris campaign doing today to address that? And I know you're at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute event today. I guess if you could talk about her outreach to Latinos as well, two very key voting blocs.

ALVAREZ: Yes. Over the last week, we have seen this broader effort by the Harris campaign sort of piece together the Democratic coalition. Of course, yesterday, she had that interview with National Association of Black Journalists. Today, she's delivering remarks here at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

And this is part of that appeal to Latino voters, something we've also seen a lot over the last week, including in radio interviews with Latino radio hosts. But with the young voters, that is part of a push this week to be on college campuses to have surrogates try to shore up support with young voters because she does have an edge on former President Donald Trump with this bloc. They're trying to capitalize on that.

One way they're doing that too is through celebrities, Billie Eilish, of course, coming out yesterday and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. So, they are using that and using her songs now going into this next phase of the campaign to try to garner that support among those young voters, both female and male.

ACOSTA: All right, Priscilla. And I have Kristen Holmes with me here in the studio. And, Kristen, I do want to ask you a little bit about what Sarah Sanders had to say last night, but you were reporting this morning a Republican senator sent a letter on Tuesday to the acting director of the Secret Service demanding that Trump receive the same level of protection as President Biden. What's the latest on that?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something we've actually heard from Democratic lawmakers as well, saying that they believe that Trump's security should be ramped up. This seems to be a bipartisan issue. I mean, we're looking at a second assassination attempt that Trump is lucky to escape. Obviously, he had the security in place in that position who saw the rifle barrel there.

But this seems to be actually a bipartisan issue that these lawmakers believe that he should get more security.

[10:05:02]

And I can tell you just from being an event with him last night, it was his first event that he had since that second assassination attempt, and there was ramped up security. A lot of it, I was told, was stuff you couldn't see, meaning sweeps were different. That meant there were more dogs. There were more agents on the ground going through. I spoke to a number of Secret Service agents who have high level possessions who were doing basic agent work so that they could be there on the ground protecting the former president.

We know that they had already ramped up the local law enforcement present even in West Palm Beach. I mean, one of the things that is so astonishing about what we saw is the fact that they had taken protective measures in Palm Beach, shutting down roads by Mar-a-Lago, et cetera. But obviously in this case, it was very different. It was at a golf club and someone was able to wait there for 12 hours.

ACOSTA: Yes. And this attack from Sarah Huckabee Sanders last night directed at Kamala Harris. Where did that come from? She is a skilled politician, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is. She knew what she was doing, she knew what she was saying, and she was obviously making a personal dig that she felt okay making in that time. Whether or not that plays with people, we have seen how it didn't work out for J.D. Vance, how people have really turned away from him because of those remarks. Obviously, they kind of fall in line with the country is run by childless cat ladies comment that seems to be really what she was kind of saying there about Kamala Harris. They dig at her for not having kids.

I don't know how this plays overall. It doesn't seem like a strategy that people are really going to hold onto, but we'll see.

ACOSTA: All right, Kristen Holmes -- and we're going to talk about that later on in the hour. Kristen Holmes, Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.

Meanwhile, in other news today, Sean Diddy Combs will be back in court as he looks to get out on bail after spending the night behind bars. Combs was denied bail yesterday and has remained in custody after pleading not guilty to charges that include racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking. The music mogul is accused of creating and running a, quote, criminal enterprise that engaged in a slew of crimes including kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. But his attorney maintains that Combs is innocent.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Is there any chance Sean Combs takes a plea deal?

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN DIDDY COMBS: I don't see it happening. I do not see it happening. He's innocent. I believe he's innocent. I believe he's innocent of the charges and he is going to go to trial and I believe he's going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now, CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams. I mean, Elliot, do you think this appeal is going to be successful? What do you think? I mean, the judge seemed pretty adamant about this.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The judge was pretty adamant about it because the law says the judge should be adamant about it.

In the federal system, when someone is charged with a violent crime or a drug crime, there's a presumption that person will be locked up prior to trial, unless the defendant can make a case that somehow he's not a flight risk or a danger to the community.

Given the list of things that he's accused of that you rattled off there, arson, bribery sex offenses and so on, it would be really hard and the judge would have to really stretch to let him out. I don't see it happening. But, again, it's the judge's call.

ACOSTA: Yes, let's play a bit of what his attorney had to say about how all of this has played out.

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AGNIFILO: I call the prosecutors myself. I said, Mr. Combs is in New York. Do you want to know where he is? If you want to know where he is, I'll tell you where he is. But he wants to surrender. He's here to surrender. They didn't want him to surrender, because if he surrenders, they don't get to tell the judge that he's a flight risk and he's a danger. Because who, as a danger and a flight risk, would fly to New York and surrender?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What's your response to that?

WILLIAMS: Look simply agreeing to comply with officers certainly can curry favor with those officers and with the court. But again, this gets back to what's on the paper that he's been charged with. These are very serious offenses, and even recognizing his presumption of innocence and his right to a fair trial and so on, merely being accused of certain crimes ratchets up the pressure on the judge to keep the individual locked up.

ACOSTA: And what are the chances we could see more charges at it? I mean, it seemed like yesterday we were going through the litany of charges that they threw at him. I mean, they are throwing the book at him.

WILLIAMS: They really are and number one you could say I don't see additional people charged. That's not uncommon to file what's a superseding indictment, adding in defendants, also adding additional charges.

Now, again, it's racketeering, which means that there's a lot of things that he's not charged with. They just get lumped into it that prosecutors will have to establish, but he may not be charged with. But needless to say, it could be -- the crimes here could go up to a life sentence, so they're serious as it is.

ACOSTA: Yes. And they're already extraordinary. I mean, it's just an amazing case. All right, Elliot Williams, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

All right, coming up, troopers, tower cameras and bomb detection dogs. Yes, that is what the first day back at school looked like in Springfield, Ohio, for children there as threats against the Haitian community persist. Up next, I'll be joined by the director of a Springfield nonprofit who works directly with Haitian immigrants on what that community is facing.

We'll be right back.

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ACOSTA: This morning, it is anything but a normal school day for students in Springfield, Ohio, who are surrounded by heightened security as bomb threats linked to a debunked conspiracy theory continue to bring chaos to the city. Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, are still pushing baseless claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets. State police are sweeping all of the district's 17 school buildings, tower cameras and bomb detection dogs. Yes, you heard that right. They've also been deployed, but some parents are still wary of sending their children back to class.

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NICOLE KIZER, SPRINGFIELD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT PARENT: I've honestly been a parent that has not been sending my kids to school. I think they went the first day after the debate. But I have not sent them since they get scared.

[10:15:01]

They don't know what to do.

HILL: Our attendance was down today. There is still a high level of fear due to these unfounded threats and hoaxes that have marred our existence really for going on a week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The superintendent also warned that more threats could come, but the school district is open for now.

Joining us now for some perspective on all this is Casey Rollins. She is the executive director and board president of Springfield's Catholic Food Pantry and Charity, St. Vincent de Paul, and works directly with the Haitian community. Casey, thank you so much for joining us right now. We appreciate it.

I guess you and I were talking a little bit during the commercial break. So, I'll just ask you what I was asking then, which is, can you feel this heightened security presence in Springfield and what does it feel like right now?

CASEY ROLLINS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND BOARD PRESIDENT, ST. VINCENT DE PAUL OF SPRINGFIELD: So, it's scary, it's frightening. But it seems to be building community now more than ever. And so, you know, fear and tragedy sometimes we know has that tendency to create that. And we are getting, I'm told, support from all over the world. There are people from China is sitting in our lobby right now waiting to speak to us, I believe. It's forced us all into action and advocacy, people that never thought they would stand up for anything who are sending us messages and money, actually, but -- and just all kinds of support and solidarity.

ACOSTA: And what are you hearing from the Haitian immigrants that you are serving there and this cockamamie rumor about people eating pets? And, I mean, what have you been hearing about this? And what are your thoughts on all that?

ROLLINS: Well, it is ludicrous. And we've got a lot of very, very saddened, wonderful people here, lots and lots of them. And at St. Vincent de Paul, we never really had the foresight to initiate services for Haitian Christian immigrants. It just sort of happened to us. And what we realized was, you know, you welcome the stranger, right? It's a scriptural thing that we all try to honor, we hope. And so that has grown and grown and grown. And so now we do know thousands of Haitians and we find that they are a fantastic community and they just want to be part of our community. And, you know, face it, we all know what they've come from.

ACOSTA: Yes. And let's listen to a little bit of your mayor in Springfield talking about this and then you and I will talk about on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB RUE (R-SRINGFIELD, OH): We did not have threats seven days ago. We did not have these concerns seven days ago. We did not have these hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in Springfield and from the state of Ohio to support seven days ago. We do today. We'd like those that are on the national stage that can bring peace, that could tamper their words, and speak truth. That's what Springfield is asking. We need peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, it's a simple message. We need peace. But, I mean, Casey, how do you think the mayor, the governor are handling all of this? And I guess I should ask you, I mean, J.D. Vance is the senator from Ohio, and he has been spreading this and acknowledging that he is basically spreading a made up story to get a point across about their view on immigration. What do you make of all this?

ROLLINS: So, first, I'd like to say that I do stand wholly in support of Rob and Governor DeWine, and we've had a tremendous amount of support and help from Sherrod Brown. As for any other politicians, Dave Hobson sent good word. We've really heard nothing from the other folks in terms of support.

We have heard a lot of let's find the criminality of this and let's figure out why it happened. And we're saying, okay, well, that's all well and good. Help us while you're figuring that out, because, you know, we didn't create this, but we want to be here to punt and to help people while they're trying to do what they have to do on their end.

Hopefully that I say -- I was saying, hopefully it keeps us out of the politics. We're dragged into it, kicking and screaming. But we're here to care and love for all people. That's who we are. That's what we do.

ACOSTA: And I guess, you know, I was asking a very nice lady yesterday who owns a business to comment on the situation. And I asked -- you know, and I was asking, you know, what you would say to the former president his running mate about what they're saying. Do you have a message in terms of what you would like to say? I mean, you are dealing with this community. You are hearing directly from them. I mean, what would you pass along, if you could?

ROLLINS: So I guess I would just like to say that this is a deep, deep wound and it comes from many sources, we believe, but we feel certain that the last seven days have been really the catalyst for this escalated situation we're now in. And we would ask, we would beg, we would hope to insist that our leaders from the top, you know, calm down and love thy neighbor as they love thyself.

[10:20:09]

And we all know that peace and just let us do what we do and care for the people that we need to care for. That's all Americans, and that includes our immigration friends now who are here in America. Once they're on our shores, they are ours to care for.

ACOSTA: And your feeling, Casey, is -- I mean, it sounds like you have a lot of affection for -- oh, did we lose you there? All right, we have -- ROLLINS: Somebody's calling in. Hold on.

ACOSTA: All right. Well, Casey, we will let you take that. Thanks so much for your time.

All right, let's continue the discussion with Julie Roginsky. She is a Democratic Party strategist, and Pete Seat, a former White House spokesperson for President George W. Bush and former spokesperson for the Indiana Republican Party.

You know, sometimes people have other calls to take besides from CNN. You just got to keep going. You know, it's called show business. The show must go on. She's busy over there at the food pantry and they're doing great work there.

But, Julie, your reaction to what you just heard, And, I mean, you know, I think Casey said it beautifully, love thy neighbor.

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, Casey's doing the Lord's work, and that's probably why she had to take that phone call.

ACOSTA: I don't want to interrupt that.

ROGINSKY: Yes. Listen, it's heartbreaking. The dogs and the cats of Springfield seem to be okay but the children of Springfield and the residents of Springfield are certainly not okay. And they're not okay, tragically, at the hands of their own senator, who conceded on to Dana Bash that he basically made the whole thing up to drive, as you said earlier, to drive a point home.

Well, whatever point he's driving home, he's putting at risk his own constituents. And that begs the question, if he'll do this to the people of Ohio, who he was elected to represent, what is he going to do to the rest of us if he becomes the second most powerful man in the country, if he and Donald Trump are elected?

And that's the part that I think should terrify everybody, not just people who live in Ohio, not just certainly the residents of Springfield, but the other 49 states, all of us.

ACOSTA: Yes. Pete, I mean, feel free to -- correct me if I'm wrong here, but, you know, a lot, most of the time when you have a senator from a state you know, that Senator will move heaven and earth to make sure that nobody messes with his or her constituents. And here you have a different kind of situation in that Senator Vance, I mean, he is exacerbating the wounds, it seems, of Springfield, Ohio. I mean, we heard Casey a few moments ago describe it as a wound in their community. What is your thought on how Senator Vance is kind of throwing gasoline on the fire there?

PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN, G.W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: Well, his loyalty right now is to the Trump-Vance ticket and not necessarily to his constituents, to your point, but I think both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance take the adage that all press is good press to heart. And turning the media spotlight from Kamala Harris or, as a friend of mine has called it over the last recent weeks, Kamala Hoopla, turning it away from her and to the issue of immigration, to Donald Trump is the end justifying the means. And you couple that with a lack of shame and you have this perfect and now heart wrenching storm that is engulfing the town of Springfield, Ohio.

I hate to watch it as the only child of immigrant parents myself. I completely agree, we should love thy neighbor. We should all work together as a community across this country. But, unfortunately, this country is broken. It is fractured. It's not just political rhetoric and political violence. We are broken and we need to mend our fences across ideologies, across geographies, across racial lines.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Pete, Trump and Vance apparently are saying they want to visit Springfield. Vivek Ramaswamy is saying he's going to go there tomorrow. Is that a good idea?

SEAT: I don't know about Ramaswamy. I try to ignore him. I think he's bombastic and useless, but I would stay away if I were Donald Trump and J.D. Vance simply because I think about this like natural disasters, and you've covered the White House for years, Jim, you know, when a president goes going to get close to the side of a hurricane or tornado, it diverts resources. Law enforcement and first responders have to take care of the president, or in this case, a former president visiting. I think this would be the absolute worst time for Donald Trump to visit that town because it would divert resources that are needed elsewhere.

ACOSTA: Yes, and especially in that tower, right, Julie?

ROGINSKY: Well, you know, I would go a step further. This would be like an arsonist visiting the scene of the fire that he started. I mean, this is not just diverting resources. This is Donald Trump coming to stoke the fire. He's not coming there to say, I made a mistake.

[10:25:01]

Nobody's eating dogs. Nobody's eating cats. The Haitian community is adding resources and, frankly, filling jobs that Springfield had lost in the previous years. And that's why they're there. They're there legally. And they're there to do the jobs that Springfield could not fill otherwise, and therefore basically improving the economy of not just Springfield but the region in Ohio. He's coming there to stoke the fire, and it's only going to get worse.

And God, if I were Mike DeWine, if I were the conservative Republican of Ohio, I would be begging J.D. Vance and Donald Trump to stay away, because the last thing that these people need is for somebody to exploit them even further in their time of need. Schools are being shut down. Kids can't go to school because of what J.D. Vance and Donald Trump started.

ACOSTA: It's tough to do that with J.D. Vance. He's a senator from that state.

ROGINSKY: Then he should think about his own constituents. Sherrod Brown, as you just heard earlier, is doing the right thing. J.D. Vance is doing nothing but exploiting these poor people and it's a disgrace.

ACOSTA: And, guys, I want to ask you a bit about something that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary, the now governor of Arkansas, said about Vice President Harris, very personal remark about the fact that Vice President Harris does not have her own biological children. She has a blended family. They've talked about many times, but let's listen to what Sarah Sanders had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: So, my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn't have anything keeping her humble. You would think after four years of straight failure, she would know a little humility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Julie, I mean, I'm old enough to remember, you know, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know, taking offense to when she was attacked personally during a White House Correspondents' Dinner several years ago. And it's pretty galling to hear her go out with Kamala Harris in this fashion. What was your response when you heard that?

ROGINSKY: I was just grossed out as a mother, quite frankly, as somebody who had a child later in life, almost at the time, when it was almost too late for me to have one. She knows full well some people can't have kids. Some people don't meet the right person to have kids with in time. And some people have other things that they want to do other than having kids, and that's okay. And I say that as a mother. You should not have children unless you are in a position to have them and give them the best life possible. And maybe Kamala Harris was in that position in time to have children.

For Sarah Huckabee Sanders to exploit women who choose or cannot have children is disgraceful and it's disgusting. And as a mother, I'm appalled. And I don't know what else to say about these people, other than they've just crossed every single line. And I'll tell you, I don't know who she thinks she's appealing to, but it's certainly not to mothers.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Pete, doesn't it also ignore the, I mean, the fact that there are some people who they can't have kids. And, you know, that has to come across as just deeply personal to a lot of Americans out there.

SEAT: It is deeply personal. Look, I'm a single dog dude. I don't have kids. I'm not married, and I just have a mini golden doodle who's wandering somewhere behind me. But I hate to hear this too. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is better than this but she's playing to the crowd. She can dish it out but can't take it always. And it's just to get those cheers and those hoots and those hollers to take these cheap, cheap shots at their opponent. Focus on the policies. It's not that hard.

ACOSTA: All right. Guys, thanks so much, I really appreciate the conversation this morning. Good to see you. We'll be right back.

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