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Fed Cuts Key Rate By A Half Point, Taking A More Aggressive Stance; Lebanese Health Ministry: At Least 14 Dead, 450 Injured In Walkie-Talkie Explosions; Secret Service Makes Pitch For More Resources From Congress; Springfield Schools Increasing Security After Bomb Threats; "Diddy" Appealing Bail Denial After Night In Jail. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 18, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:40]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Beirut, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. And let's get right to the news.

We begin with major breaking economic news. The rate cuts Americans have long been waiting for, the Federal Reserves slashing interest rates by one-half percent. It is the first decrease since back in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic up ended the global economy, causing soaring inflation.

The rate cut was the more aggressive choice by the Central Bank, and a significant sign that the Fed is ready to exit that post pandemic economy, bring much needed relief to homeowners businesses, borrowers.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell had an optimistic take on the decisions impact just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: This decision reflects our growing confidence that within appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained in a context of moderate growth and inflation moving sustainably down to 2 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Julia Chatterley is here to break it all down.

Julia, listening to the Fed chairman there and watching this move, it sounds like he's saying they believe they've achieved what many folks thought was impossible, which was a soft landing to the economy here, perhaps with some caveats, but he believes they've achieved that balance.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: And they're going to go all out to try and ensure it, Jim. It was managing of the message saying, look, we're going to cut rates big in this meeting and do half a percentage point, but don't panic. He was using words like a solid economy is strong economy. It shows their growing confidence and other great phrase that actually to your point, they can hold up and support the jobs market without being too worried that they were going to allow inflation and prices to creep higher again.

But the truth is, they are more worried and that's what the projections tell you than they even worth three months ago. Three months ago, they thought they'd get one quarter of a percentage point cut this year, and then one percentage point cut next year. What they're saying now is they're going to do a full percentage point cut in 2024. So we've got another half point to go to, plus still doing what they want to do last year.

And if you look at the forecast, what they're saying is growth will be a touch softer this year than they thought inflation would be a little lower than they thought. And actually the unemployment rate could go up to 4.4 percent. It's still low but you can see it sort of creeping higher than they originally thought.

Now, Jim, just to be clear, we're not talking recession. We're talking growth. We're still adding jobs to your point about a soft economic landing.

But yes, they're willing after some criticism last meeting that they didn't start cutting to now ensure they get what they want.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it's a good point there, slower growth. That's not a reception, but, but slower enough that they are adding more juice as it were --

CHATTERLEY: Firepower.

SCIUTTO: Firepower to those guts.

CHATTERLEY: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: Julia Chatterley, thanks so much.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: All right. So let's talk more about the major economic significance of this decision with two financial experts, Ted Jenkin, CEO of Oxygen Financial, and Jean Chatzky, CEO of HerMoney.com.

Good to have you both on here.

And I wonder when you look at the aggregate here, the Fed is saying, we are bringing inflation under control. Perhaps its even lower than we thought it would be at this point, a few weeks ago. But unemployment may go up a little higher than we expected and growth may be a little slower.

I'll start with you, Jean, first. Does that still fall into the category of a soft landing here? Are they worried that maybe, maybe they underestimated the risks? JEAN CHATZKY, CEO, HERMONEY.COM: I think there's no doubt, as Julia

said, that they are a little worried about unemployment, but yet we are still in a growing economy. We are not talking about a recession. And I also think that the Fed has been accused of being late to the party before and really didn't want that to happen this time.

SCIUTTO: They signal, Ted, here, because as always, you have the move that happens on the day and then you have this kind of tea leave reading of what's in the notes and what, what does the Fed chairman say in his availability with reporters.

[15:05:08]

But they are indicating as Julia noted more cuts before the end of the year, at least a half percentage point. Typically, how quickly does that juice affect the economy? You're going to have point today. Can it begin to impact those growth figures and those jobless figures within days, weeks, months? How long is the lag time?

TED JENKIN, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Well, I think more importantly, Jim, is going to affect the lives of a lot of Americans that are struggling right now because the key word is variable. If you have variable rate student loan, variable rate credit cards or auto loans, it could bring back $30, $40, $50 a month and a bunch of households in America that had just struggling to get gas at the pump or pay for their groceries.

So I would see them still doing this 1 percent this year. But, of course, they have to walk that tight road of keeping inflation at two to two-and-a-half percent and not letting unemployment spike.

SCIUTTO: That's a good point because listen a lot of rates, well, some are not, a lot of people. Their home mortgage will be a 30 year fixed rate. That's not what some people do have adjustable rate mortgages that are adjusted regularly. You think of home equity loans, you think a credit card loans, that kind of thing.

But, Jean, back to you, in terms of getting the economy moving on a bit quicker? How long does it take typically to see that effect?

CHATZKY: You'll start to see some things immediately. There's a lot of hope that this will start to unlock the housing market, which has been really frozen because of lack of supplies, but also because so many people have mortgages were they can't refinance and they can't move. But because they would get into a loan that is so much more expensive, this is the sort of thing where over time that will start to happen.

You also saw the stock market pop. And the reason that it popped is because when interest rates go down, companies can borrow more cheaply. There'll be able to hire more people, again take a little while, but the wheels will start to turn.

SCIUTTO: Ted, there had been something of a backlog in the property market, the real estate market, listening at home prices have stayed quite strong, but a sense that folks have been waiting to buy because interest rates, mortgage rates were higher. How long does this take effect to employ impacts mortgage rates

immediately, but significantly enough to impact the housing market?

JENKIN: Well, I think the magic number is as mortgage rates get below 6 percent, as Jean mentioned, they're going to be a lot of people in this logjam that said, I locked into a 3 percent mortgage rate during COVID. Why am I going to sell my house now and buy a bigger house? As interest rates come down, some of those folks will undo that log jam by stepping up to a bigger house and that will allow an entry point for a lot of people out there who simply want to afford their first house.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, there's a carry on effect that you could see,

Jean, we are in the midst of a presidential election. You might have noticed an inflation, well, the economy certainly a top issue and inflation is a top issue as well. And you will often hear the candidates asked how they will address inflation.

I want to play how Trump answered that question yesterday when asked about the cost of groceries in a town hall and get your thoughts on the other side. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: How are you going to bring down the cost of food and groceries?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we have to start always with energy, always -- I don't want to be boring about it, but there's no bigger subject. It covers everything. If you make donuts, if you make cars, whatever you make, energy's a big deal, and we're going to get that. It's my ambition to get your energy bill within 12 months down 50 percent.

Interest rates are going to follow, and actually, they're going to follow for another reason, the economy is now not good and interest rates. You'll see, they'll do the rate cut and all the political stuff tomorrow, I think, and will he do a half a point? Will he do a quarter of a point? But the reason is because the economy is not good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I mean, the question, Jean, is -- I mean, he says it's all about energy. Is it?

CHATZKY: Look, there's no doubt that consumers are concerned about energy prices, but the place that they see those prices most is at the pump and the price of a gallon of regular gas right now is $3.25. I was driving in New Jersey this week. It was under $3 a gallon.

These are the sorts of things that people continue to notice, just like they noticed the prices of eggs and milk, that there's an overall frustration with consumers that although those prices in the grocery store popped, they have not come down. They're not going to come down. The question is, can we keep them from continuing to go up? And it looks like they've succeeded at that.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

I mean, the other thing, Ted, before we go is that oftentimes, voters can overestimate politicians' ability to affect prices.

[15:10:05]

And it's not often talked about, but there were -- there was massive inflation around the world in the midst of the pandemic. Whole source -- a whole host of supply chain issues beyond the effect of stimulus here in the U.S. which also economists believe had an effect.

But do -- do the candidates themselves actually significantly drive the rate of inflation?

JENKIN: Jim, in the end, when you look at something like groceries, I use a Taylor Swift line from her song where she says, it's me, I'm the problem. And part of the issue here, quite frankly, as American consumers evidenced satiable appetite to spend and they need to start spending less and move to brands that costs less.

This law of supply and demand will always hold true in America. We're the ones affected most to drive those prices down.

SCIUTTO: And maybe save a little bit more, too, saving rates have been going in the wrong direction in the eyes of some.

Ted Jenkin, Jean Chatzky, thanks so much to both of you.

CHATZKY: Thanks, Jim.

JENKIN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, new explosions ring out across Lebanon a day after beepers belonging to Hezbollah fighters exploded, injuring thousands. CNN is learning that Israel was involved in this attack. Today, the next target walkie-talkies detonating, injuring hundreds. We'll have more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

A second wave of explosions targeting Hezbollah fighters has now rocked Lebanon, leaving 14 dead, 450 people injured. The targets today, walkie-talkies after pagers or beepers exploded yesterday, injuring thousands.

Israel has not commented on the attacks, but in what appears to be the first tacit acknowledge of responsibility, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant today said, quote, a new era of war is beginning.

[15:15:01]

And he says the, quote, center of gravity is moving north. CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins me now.

Jeremy, Israel has long talked of the possibility or at least some in Israel of military action in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah. As you speak to sources and officials there now, are they tying those two together? This quite extensive and alarming attack and the potential for increased military action?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing that I don't think is happening is that these attacks on thousands of pagers yesterday, igniting those pagers and killing a dozen people yesterday, 14 people who were killed today as a result of exploding walkie- talkies, there is not a sense from the people that I've spoken to that this is a prelude to war, meaning that this is the first phase or an opening salvo in such a war. But there is the very real possibility that it does ultimately lead to the very same place, and that is because of how Hezbollah may retaliate.

Right now, as we're speaking, we have now seen nearly two dozen people killed over the course of the last two days, Israel has not officially taken responsibility, but we did hear today that the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant talking about, quote, impressive results being achieved by these really military and the Mossad. I was told and reported yesterday that yet yesterdays operation was indeed a joint IDF/Mossad operation.

And so, now, what you have is Hezbollah very much backed into a corner, very much embarrassed, exposed as a very vulnerable to Israeli spy efforts and covert operations, as well as to military actions as we've seen over the course of the last year. And now, of course, they are vowing to retaliate for those actions and the scope and scale of that retaliation will very much determine what comes next?

I do think it's important to note, as you know, well, Jim, having spent time here during the last round of tensions in this region following the assassination of Fuad Shukr in late July, that we have seen this region come to the brink of war multiple times before, where all out war between Israel and Hezbollah very much seemed in the offing, and then ultimately both parties stepping back from the brink.

Hezbollah last time took weeks, nearly a month before ultimately retaliating for the killing of that senior Hezbollah commander in late July, and ultimately, it was a dud. Nearly all of those 300 rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel and tensions subsequently cooled after that.

And so, that's not to say that that's what's going to happen this time. This certainly is a precarious moment, but we simply do not know what will come next in this region.

SCIUTTO: As this so often the case, when you try to measure out escalation and retaliation, Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

Here to discuss more broadly. Matthew Levitt, director of the Reinhardt Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence for the Washington Institute for Near Policy -- Near East Policy, and Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and author of "What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Diplomacy in the Middle East", certainly a timely title.

Fawaz, if I could begin with, you what is your assessment as to the function of these attacks? Simply to disrupt Hezbollah or do you see it as laying the groundwork for major or at least additional military action?

FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LSE: We don't see Israel's strategic end game here. I don't really see how these attacks -- I mean, shattering as they are powerful, as they are psychologically and tactically I don't really see him changing Israel's predicament on the northern front between Israel and Lebanon.

If Israel leaders believe that Hezbollah will stand down, that Hezbollah will surrender, they are delusional. They do not really know Hezbollah is, its identity, its ideology, its stamina.

Look, Hezbollah, Jim, is not a conventional army, even though it's a very powerful military apparatus, its units are sovereign, independent. They had been trained for years that if they lose any kind of the ability to connect with their commanders, they can take action today.

Of course, the rank-and-file of Hezbollah are rattled. They are shocked as a result of what has happened. But I doubt it very much what has happened will change the rules of the game on the Israel- Lebanese front.

SCIUTTO: Matthew, when I was in Israel just a little over 23 weeks ago, there was it appeared a major Hezbollah attack plan that based on U.S. and Israeli intelligence in advance, Israel attacked has blood positions prior sure to the launching of those missiles and rockets here.

[15:20:09]

I wonder, is Hezbollah in your view likely to respond by attempting to escalate its attacks on Israel? And can it do so effectively now that its communications have been disrupted?

MATTHEW LEVITT, FORMER WEXLER SENIOR FELLOW: Well, you just hit the nail on the head. Hezbollah may want to respond forcefully but taking out key communications systems in the pleural means that Hezbollah is not as capable to fight a coordinated especially longer-term fight, a military fight.

Shooting rockets across the border, as it's been doing almost daily for 11 months, it can still do it. What if it decides to ratchet things up, and Israelis respond in a heavier fashion, Hezbollah is no longer in the position today than it was two-and-a-half days ago to respond to that.

And so, look, the Israelis clearly inserted this capability some time ago. Reportedly they acted now when they did because someone in Hezbollah picked up on it and it was more of a use it or lose it, but the decision to use it, I think was actually an effort to forestall an increased military conflict, demonstrating to Hezbollah that there are consequences to continuing the daily rockets that have been going on for almost a year and making clear that either Amos Hochstein's diplomatic effort is given more attention, whether the Israelis mean it when they say that they will redeploy Hezbollah from the border to be able -- to allow 60,000 displaced civilians to go back home.

SCIUTTO: Fawaz, CNN is reporting that Israel did not give the U.S. a heads up to the specifics of this attack, may have communicated that something was coming. But you can view this certainly as an escalation in terms of the kind of attack that assuming this is Israel and no one in the region seems to be questioning that based on capabilities. What is the state of U.S. influence over Israel right now?

The U.S. president and secretary state of made a priority to deliver a peace deal in Gaza. Some attempt to reduce the chances of escalation on the northern border. Is Israel plowing ahead regardless of what counsel the U.S. gives it?

GERGES: There's one word to explain the Biden administrations strategy, and I'm not exaggerating, it's failure. It has failed to influence the decision making process of Israel. It has failed to convince Israeli prime minister to accept a ceasefire in Gaza. It has failed to basically use leverage or it did not really want to use leverage in order to bring about the end the bloodshed in Gaza.

I mean, look, President Biden's own envoy, just a couple of days ago, he made it very clear, lead by "The New York Times", well, look, if you think that a ground assault on Lebanon will return Israeli displaced people to the northern front, to their homes, again, he said, in fact, the opposite will happen. You're going to have hundreds of thousands of Israelis basically becoming displays as a result of an all out war with Hezbollah.

Here is, Jim the predicament. Both sides face a strategic predicament. Hezbollah wants to retaliate, but without triggering all out war with Israel. Hezbollah's overarching goal is to really avoid all-out war with Israel.

Israel strategic predicament is basically it wants to change the rules of engagement on the northern front with Hezbollah without launching a ground attack.

I think Antony Blinken made it very clear in his press conference today in Cairo, he said, look, the way forward is a cease-fire in Gaza. Basically, a ceasefire in Gaza will bring about the escalation and I think this might break the deadly embrace between Hezbollah, and Israel, if and when a ceasefire is reaching Gaza.

SCIUTTO: Matthew, I wonder if you agree with that assessment. I mean, there's certainly an enormous amount of evidence that us protestations have been met with if not silence, not exactly action. I think, you know, for instance, there are U.S. hostages held by Hamas and the U.S.'s attempted to prioritize the release of those hostages, but those hostages remain in Hamas custody, and it doesn't look like there's a great way forward for those negotiations. Is Netanyahu effectively ignoring Biden at this point?

LEVITT: Look, there are two sides to these ceasefire negotiations and neither had been as forthcoming as Washington would like them to be. But it might conversations with people directly involved in these negotiations, the reality is that it's not Netanyahu who's holding them up in the moment, but rather Hamas, fearful that if there is a ceasefire fire that gets to stage one, it won't get to stage two. Hamas has been changing the names of people at once released, the most senior, the most dangerous, the most blood on their hands in the first round.

[15:25:04]

U.S. officials are frustrated with Netanyahu to be sure. They are more frustrated with Hamas right now.

We do have us personnel working full-time here and forward deployed on the U.S. hostages. There have been over, over for 40 victims of October 7 U.S. citizens, but if there is not going to be a ceasefire, then the -- from the Israeli perspective, they need to do something to change Hezbollah's calculus to raise the cost of shooting every day.

I think Fawaz is right in that if there is a ceasefire and that would be the best outcome, of course, then Hezbollah would stop and then we'd be facing something with a longer tail, which would be whether there was a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in the next one to three years, which I think unfortunately is likely because the Israeli perspective, as I've heard from people over and over across the political spectrum, they say we will not live with a gun to our head, not from the south and not from the north.

SCIUTTO: Well, the question will be right, are negotiations part of that process going forward or is it -- well, is it purely military action? Matthew Levitt, Fawaz Gerges, thanks so much to both you.

LEVITT: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, the bipartisan House task force investigating Trump's July assassination attempt will be briefed at the top of this hour on this past weekend, second apparent attempt on Trump's life. Task force member, Congressman Lou Correa, he's going to join me next with what he wants to hear from the Secret Service today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

A busy day on Capitol Hill. Next hour, the House bipartisan task force investigating not just the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, weeks ago, but now a second apparent assassination attempt on Trump will hear from the Secret Service in a private briefing. Tonight, the House will vote on a government funding bill, the version not expected to pass, but it is a step and deliberations on an eventual package. One question looming in those negotiations is whether to include additional Secret Service resources as the agency is now requesting.

With me now to discuss this, Congressman Lou Correa of California. He's a Democratic member of that bipartisan assassination taskforce.

Thanks so much for joining.

REP. LOU CORREA (D-CA): Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So you're about to hear from the Secret Service and ask them some questions. I wonder what questions you want answered at this briefing.

CORREA: What I want to answer is, bottom line, I want the Secret Service to do their job. And the acting director has told us plain and simple, he doesn't have the resources to do the job. You've got essentially three people, persons of interest, a president that's not running for reelection and you have two candidates, the presidency of the United States, all three need protection, all three need to make sure that they're -- when they're out there campaigning, that they speak their minds, essentially show their perspective on the issues, and that they're not afraid of being killed.

Now, I want to make sure that Secret Service does their job because I want the voters of America to decide who the next president is, and not an assassin's bullet.

SCIUTTO: Is it just a resources issue? Are you concerned with the very management and functioning of the Secret Service at this point?

CORREA: It's both. The Secret Service did not do well in Butler, Pennsylvania. It appears there were some lap (AUDIO GAP).

Former President Trump was at what I keep hearing initially is we don't have enough trained personnel. Well, that means they don't have enough money. That means they haven't hired enough people, and that means they haven't trained the appropriate people, and some of the testimony that I have heard from this investigation is, it's all related at least to that issue of resources.

You can argue, you know, lack of proper equipment, lack of coordination. But at the end of the day, one big factor will be the resources. And as you can imagine, we are 60 days away from a presidential election, and that means the Secret Service doesn't have the luxury of time to get up to speed.

They've got to do the job and they got to do it yesterday. And that's why we are hearing Congress making sure not only that we point the finger and say this is what you got to do, but rather give them the resources to do their job. Think about what -- what is at stake right now in this country.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

CORREA: It's not just an assassination attempt. It's not (AUDIO GAP). It's our democracy. If you listen to what people are talking about internationally. And in this country, is if you have one of these individuals that's assassinated, it could throw us out to God knows what kind of a situation.

And right now, in my opinion, our democracy in this country is a little fragile.

SCIUTTO: OK. Let me --

CORREA: We had January 6. Go ahead.

SCIUTTO: No, I want to ask you about specifically your confidence in the acting director of the Secret Service, Rowe. A former Secret Service official, told CNN about him, quote, he is currently running a really good PR campaign, but at the same time, whitewashing his own culpability in the problems that persist today.

Do you agree with that?

CORREA: Well, let me say to you, the issue isn't culpability. We know the Secret Service did not do their job. We know the Secret Service has problems.

What Rowe has come out and said is the buck stops here. This is what I need to do my job, and he knows that if he screws up again, there will be consequences, not only for him, but for this country as well.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

CORREA: As long as he knows what the score is, as long as he knows what's at stake, I can say, yeah, you better get on it. And I think you're going to because you know there's not going to be any excuses for you. You got to perform and you got to do it now.

SCIUTTO: A basic question before Congress, it's been proposed by some Republicans is to give former President Trump the same level, or perhaps similar level of protection afforded the sitting president. And I wonder if you believe that's warranted

CORREA: Absolutely, but we got to go further, okay?

[15:35:01]

The matrix shouldn't be just equal number of personnel. It should be equal number of resources and the same number of intelligence to give each one of these candidates the full protection. They need to be afforded. We have intel out there that'll tell you what the threats situation is. We need to make sure that the resources not only are they equal but we have additional resources to respond to that situation.

SCIUTTO: You talk about political discourse in this country and you have Republicans now. You've long had Democrats, but not just Democrats, others call out President Trump, some of his allies for the vitriol in some of their statements. The way Trump, for instance, calls his opponents the enemies within, enemy of the state, vermin, et cetera.

Now you have Republicans equating what you've heard from Democrat who, for instance, called Trump a threat to democracy, often largely based on his alleged attempts to overturn the election in 2020.

I wonder is there something particularly pointed in your view about the way Trump speaks about his opponents as opposed to how Democrats do or do you believe that both parties, that all political figures and commentators, so just dial it down, dial down the rhetoric.

CORREA: It's interesting you got to use the words "dialing it down" because after January 6, I had a frank conversation with one of my Republican colleagues, very conservative individual, and he told me those exact words, we have to dial it down in this country. Now, I got to tell you, the media, the press, also has to have some responsibility for this you magnify and you repeat these messages that a lot of people out there can't, you know, can't process correctly.

You know, this individual in Butler, Pennsylvania, is a domestic terrorist. God knows what motivated this kid because he wanted to go after Biden, couldn't get Biden, then went after Trump, and God knows what motivated this individual at the golf course, other than Ukraine.

But what we have to understand is, when you begin to demonize the other side, when you begin to talk and in words and sentences that are hate, full of hate and animosity, a lot of people out there are going to take them to heart and they're going to act in ways that you don't expect them to.

I think it's -- we have to remember, we're all Americans. We have to respect our Constitution, our due process, and live with it.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

CORREA: January 6 was a day I never thought was going to happen. And personally, what I hear right now, we're hoping everything goes well. And the next 60 days and after the election that everybody respects the Constitution, and I'm sad to think in these terms. I expect Americans to behave correctly under the Constitution.

SCIUTTO: Well, one can hope, right? Sad fact is that one candidate for office is --

CORREA: Well, we got to work at it.

SCIUTTO: -- is excusing.

CORREA: You can hope, I got to work to make sure it happened.

SCIUTTO: I hear you, but as you know, one candidate is excusing the activities of many of those who attacked the Capitol on January 6. Let's hope for better.

Congressman Lou Correa, thanks so much for joining.

CORREA: Thank you. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, threats against Haitian Americans following Trump and J.D. Vance's lies about an Ohio community. The founder of the news outlet, "The Haitian Times", joins me on just the nightmares these conspiracy theories are causing there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:04]

SCIUTTO: A baseless conspiracy theory pushed by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance as they continue to push it has disrupted the city of Springfield, Ohio, and the Haitian community there. The former vice -- the former vice president and the former president and his running mate continue to double down on claims that have been debunked multiple times that Haitian immigrants are eating pets, despite the ongoing damage it is causing.

Their words have resulted in numerous bomb threats against schools in Springfield. Universities in the city council as well. State troopers, tower cameras, and bomb detection dogs have been deployed -- deployed to enhance security at schools there.

Omar Jimenez reports from Springfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sun hasn't even come up yet. It's about 4:30 in the morning, and we're about to jump in this van here that essentially it goes round and picks up Haitian immigrants who don't have transportation for themselves, and it gets them to jail job opportunities throughout the wider Springfield area.

(voice-over): One after another, Haitian workers piled in on their way to their factory job in a nearby town.

This will be our seventh pickup. We pull up. They're sitting on the porch, ready to go.

The company that organizes these vans says the demand for workers is high. Many just don't have a way to get to work. The president estimates most of their business comes from Haitian immigrants.

COREY WORDEN, PRESIDENT, JOB TALENT CONNECT STAFFING: At this point, we are probably a 60-40 split. They add a great benefit to our workforce.

JIMENEZ: These hopeful workers showed up just as the doors open Tuesday.

He says today.

WORDEN: We're averaging 18 to 25 people a day.

JIMENEZ: And that's people looking for new jobs?

WORDEN: Yes, people that are actively looking for employment.

VILBRUN DORSAINVIL, HAITIAN IMMIGRANT AND SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT: We left Haiti because of the chaos.

JIMENEZ: Vilbrun Dorsainvil was a doctor in Haiti. He says he fled because he was going to be kidnapped. He's been in Springfield now a little over three years, but he had to leave his fiance and young daughter back home.

DORSAINVIL: I'm trying to deal with it, you know, it's still very hard.

JIMENEZ: How old is she?

DORSAINVIL: She's 3-1/2 right now.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. So should have been just born, right, as you were leaving?

DORSAINVIL: Not even yet born. Not even yet.

JIMENEZ: So you haven't met your daughter yet.

DORSAINVIL: I haven't. We just talked through video call. I didn't want to leave to tell you the truth. I had no choice.

JIMENEZ: It was either -- it was either your life or getting to see the birth of your daughter.

DORSAINVIL: Yes.

JIMENEZ: His doctor credentials also didn't carry over. So for now, he's studying to be a registered nurse.

Recently though, his schooling has been virtual because of initially believed threats of violence also, elementary schools and government buildings were evacuated in recent days, along with an annual festival celebrating diversity, canceled.

[15:45:05]

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: These threats have all been hoaxers. We have people, unfortunately, overseas who are taking these actions.

JIMENEZ: As a precaution though, the governor announced nearly 40 state patrol troopers will be stationed throughout the school district to sweep each building for threats and stay on site for security. It comes in the middle of what's been a surge in Haitian population to the roughly 59,000 in Springfield, which had been declining in population. The city now estimates 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants, many if not most of them Haitians call Springfield home.

DORSAINVIL: We are hard worker in, we are paying a lot of taxes.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, yeah, all to try and make Springfield better.

DORSAINVIL: Better.

JIMENEZ: And while the influx has boosted the local economy, city officials say, it's also strained resources.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are getting really fed up.

JIMENEZ: It's been a major topic of conversation.

MIGUELITO JEROME, EXECUTIVE MANAGER, NEW DIASPORA LIVE RADIO: Where we feel like people are acting based on fear panicking, and the Haitian community itself, its confusion.

JIMENEZ: Including around opportunities.

GYASI JONES, SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT: With those jobs being open, whose job is it to take? It's an open job.

JIMENEZ: The added tensions in recent days, though, has taken a toll.

DORSAINVIL: I was feeling a little bit down. I feel better right now. My teachers, co-workers, friends, they reached out to me somehow, asking me how are you holding up? Okay, we love you. We need you here.

JIMENEZ: You still see Springfield as a beautiful place.

DORSAINVIL: It is.

JIMENEZ: He balances his new life with his old one, dreaming of uniting them both.

DORSAINVIL: Sometimes they call them in, there's a lot of shooting in the neighborhood the best way to get them right here in the United States. It's through the school process because after graduation, you can like apply to get a green card, through this. I can get them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Omar Jimenez reporting there. While the threats extend beyond Springfield, journalists at "The Haitian Times", a publication that covers Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, have faced threats as well. Police showed up at the editor's house after one hoax report.

Garry Pierre-Pierre founded "The Haitian Times" and he joins me now.

Thanks so much for taking the time.

GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE, FOUNDER & EDITOR, THE HAITIAN TIMES: Thanks, Jim, for having me.

SCIUTTO: First of all, I just want to give you the opportunity to respond to the allegations, the lies that you've heard from former President Trump and the vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, about Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield. How do you respond to them? PIERRE-PIERRE: Well, you know what, Jim? I don't want to respond.

I think your segment that Mr. Jimenez, Omar Jimenez, kind of really capsulize the Haitian community there, what they mean to the town. We are coming here looking for work. We're not looking for problems. We are good citizens and I think that's the only thing we can say.

I think Vice President Kamala Harris during the debate when he mentioned that, she -- I think she had the best response. She just laughed, because it's absurd.

SCIUTTO: You founded "The Haitian Times" 25 years ago. In your experience as the publication or as he Haitian community faced and he similar attacks in that time period?

PIERRE-PIERRE: Well, not in that time period. Nothing like that, but I think in the late '80s and early '90s, Haitians were categorized by the CDC as a risk factor for AIDS. So basically, there were drug addicts and different categories. And then one of them was patients, hemophilia (ph) -- I apologize. I don't remember the categories exactly. But patients were part of people risk, just the mere fact they were Haitians, they could transmit AIDS to folks and they couldn't donate blood. There were a lot of acts of racism against Haitians.

And I've covered many of these stories and I was a reporter at "The Sun Sentinel" in Fort Lauderdale at the time covering some of these actions.

SCIUTTO: These immigrants are in the United States under what's known as temporary protection status, a program which we should note to viewers is decades old. It was actually voted in by a bipartisan, a large bipartisan majority in Congress at the time.

And it allows migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe to live and work here in the United States. Can you explain how this program works for Haitians and how important it's been for many Haitians to get a chance to -- well, flee difficulties at home?

[15:50:02]

PIERRE-PIERRE: Well, yeah. Haitians were extended that courtesy in 2010, initially by President Obama after the earthquake. And it has been renewed almost every time that has been up. So what that does is allows them to work legally in the United States, they have Social Security cards and other things that they need to function.

Then there's something more recent that Biden created. It's a humanitarian program, parole program which means that it was created after we withdrew from Afghanistan, then extended to the Ukrainian, now the Haitians, the Venezuelans and Cubans are also part of that. It's sort of a lottery where I can sponsor anyone in Haiti, friends, or family and they chosen randomly, and they get to come here.

So some of the migration growth that you're saying is yes, from the TPS, but also from the parole program. SCIUTTO: Well, Garry Pierre-Pierre, let's hope that these attacks

end, right? I know it's caused a great deal of pain to your community. We do appreciate you joining us this afternoon.

PIERRE-PIERRE: Thanks, Jim, for having me as always.

SCIUTTO: Well, coming up next, 24 hours after pleading not guilty to sex trafficking and other charges, Sean "Diddy" Combs is back in court right now. What his lawyers are proposing to help get him out on bail before trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is in court right now trying to fight a judge's decision to hold him without bail. This comes a day after the music mogul pleaded not guilty to federal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation across state lines to engage in prostitution.

Joining us now is CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister.

Elizabeth, I know we're getting updates from inside the courtroom right now. What's happening? And any sign that the judge listens to this request?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: So literally happening right now as we speak, Jim, is this bail hearing. As you said yesterday, bail was denied and today did his team is in front of another judge who was actually the judge that will be overseeing this case. Right now, per the judge's initial statements, it looks like it's not going so well for Diddy.

But first, I want to tell you what Diddy's team has proposed for this hearing. They have proposed home detention at his Miami home on a $50 million bond. They propose that he restricts all female visitors to his residence, except family, that he maintained a visitor logs so that the court knows who's coming in and out. No contact with grand jury witnesses and weekly drug testing.

Now, this is significant with what is going on right now particularly that one part of no contact with grand jury witnesses. The prosecutors have said yesterday in their indictment and in court that Diddy has been in touch with witnesses and right now, just moments ago, getting updates from inside the courtroom, from our Kara Scannell, she says that the judge said, quote, my bigger concern deals with the danger of obstruction of justice and the danger of witness tampering. That is a real concern that I have here.

[15:55:00]

Now, they also brought up that video that our team here at CNN, we broke this a few months ago, that horrible video of Diddy violently assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie, in 2016. The prosecutors said just moments ago, quote, this is clear evidence of the dangerousness of this defendant. So we'll wait and see moments away.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, we'll be following closely.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks so much.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.