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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Sheriff: Suspect "Didn't Even Get Close To Getting A Round Off" In Apparent Trump Assassination Attempt; White House: Biden and Trump had "Cordial conversation" On The Phone; FBI Exploring Whether Suspected Trump Gunman Acted Alone. Aired: Trump Moments Ago On Apparent Second Assassination Attempt: "There's A Lot Of Rhetoric"; Vance: Dems Need To Tone Down Rhetoric Or "Somebody's Going To Get Hurt"; FBI: Cellular Data Shows Suspect May Have Been Near Golf Course About 12 Hours On Sunday; OH Gov. Deploying State Troopers In Springfield Schools; Sees Them There For "Foreseeable Future." Aired 8-9p ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 20:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNET, CNN HOST: ... flood waters rose so rapidly, fire crews also evacuating people and pets from their homes as water is rushing inside.

In parts of the state, the roads are already submerged under three feet of water. I'll show you one road completely washed away already.

It's a tropical depression slowly, slowly moving across the state, more than a foot-and-a-half of rain has already fallen, and officials are warning of life-threatening flash floods ahead as it just continues to downpour.

Those pictures out of Carolina Beach, North Carolina, as we continue to monitor that.

Thanks so much to all of you for being with us. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:40]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360. How did this man allegedly get within a few hundred yards of the former president armed, authorities say, with a rifle and scope? How does that square with the Secret Service's claim they're providing the highest level of protection?

Also tonight, despite calls from both parties to tamp down the rhetoric, Donald Trump is amping it up instead, and Trump running mate, JD Vance defending falsehoods he spread about Haitian immigrants that today brought more threats and school closings to Springfield, Ohio. Those are parents waiting for their kids. Springfield's Republican mayor joins us tonight.

Good evening. Thanks for joining us. We begin with what we know and don't know right now about the apparent second attempt on Trump's life. The man arrested yesterday, Ryan Routh, was arraigned today on federal gun charges. Authorities today said that Routh did not have the former president in his line of sight when he was discovered by a Secret Service agent in the tree line of the Trump golf course near Mar-a- Lago.

The agent, as you know, fired at him, Routh, they say fled and was caught a short time later. This is some of the body-camera footage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: ... two steps to your right. Take two steps to your right.

Driver, walk straight back. Keep walking. What's your name?

RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, ASSASSIN SUSPECT TO DONALD TRUMP: Ryan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: There are certainly still a lot of questions about the suspect and the former president's security, namely how for the second time in his many months, did a gunman get within range of the Republican presidential candidate.

Especially given President Biden's call in the wake of the Butler shooting for Trump and Vice President Harris to receive what acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe today called the highest level of protection.

Except, as he admitted when asked this protection did not include sweeping the golf course perimeter at all during the 12 hours this man was allegedly there or nearby, only agents walking a hole or so ahead of the former president as he played.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD ROWE, ACTING DIRECTOR, US SECRET SERVICE: This was an off-the- record movement. It wasn't a site that was on his scheduled -- it wasn't part of his schedule.

So, there was no posting up of it because he wasn't supposed to have gone there in the first place.

What I go back to as yesterday was an off-the-record movement, off- the-record, and the president wasn't even really supposed to go there. It was not on his official schedule.

And so we put together a security plan and that security plan worked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Lots to cover tonight with a team of correspondents, law enforcement, and security experts. And because this is taking place in a heated political climate, not a vacuum, we'll also look closer at that. First though, new tonight details on President Biden's call to the former president. CNN's Kayla Tausche at the White House has that. So what are you learning?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, President Biden reached former president Trump by phone from the White House earlier this evening after trying to reach him earlier in the day, unsuccessfully.

A White House official described the conversation as cordial with Trump at one point, thanking Biden for the call.

Now, Biden has no love lost with Trump. They've sparred over politics and policy for ages. But at an event today, President Biden reiterated that there is no place in this country for political violence.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, those you know me and many of you do, no place in political violence -- for political violence in America, none, zero, never.

In America we resolve our difference peacefully. The ballot box, not at the end of a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: The phone call that transpired between the two men today is the second in two months, of course. They last spoke in July after the first assassination attempt on former President Trump.

COOPER: Has President Biden suggested something about the security that should be done?

TAUSCHE: Well, he suggested that the US Secret Service needs more and better resources, specifically personnel.

We know that the Secret Service for years has been plagued by thin staffing, long hours, and low morale, which is only exacerbated in election years when more candidates and their families need protective details.

We do know that funding for Secrets Service has gone up in recent years and it's higher in 2024 than it even was in 2016 and 2020 during those elections.

But, Anderson, this is now a new conversation that is taking place as government funding is set to take center stage in the coming weeks and we'll see if this becomes part of those negotiations between the White House and Capitol Hill.

[20:05:18]

COOPER: All right. Kayla Tausche. thank you.

Before bringing in our security experts, including former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow. Here's Randi Kaye with what we've learned so far about the suspect, both moment by moment and going back years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 1:59 AM Sunday morning, Ryan Wesley Routh may have already been lying in wait for Donald Trump.

Court documents unsealed today included an FBI affidavit indicating Routh's cell phone may have been in the vicinity of the bushes for up to 12 hours before he was ultimately spotted by Secret Service.

Secret Service caught a glimpse of the barrel of the suspects gun and opened fire.

In terms of him being in the vicinity, based on his phone records, is there any evidence to show that Routh was in this, in the vicinity, in the area, before Sunday, and when we say in the vicinity, does that mean right there at that spot in the bushes or it could have been down the street at a restaurant?

JEFFREY B. VELTRI, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE OF MIAMI FIELD OFFICE: He was in very close proximity to where he was spotted by the Secret Service.

In terms of your first question, whether he was there earlier, our investigation is still working to determine that.

KAYE (voice over): At 1:30 PM, Secret Service agents calling shots fired to West Palm Beach Police who immediately seal off the area. Trump International Golf Club is now on lockdown.

ROWE: The alleged gunman was on the public side of the fence near the sixth green. The subject who did not have line of sight to the former president fled the scene.

KAYE (voice over): About 25 minutes later, at 1:55 PM, the Martin County Sheriff's office receives a BOLO, a Be On the Look Out alert. A suspect is heading north on Interstate 95.

A description of the vehicle and a tag number is also provided. Every available unit, about 30 in all, joins the hunt.

SHERIFF WILLIAM D. SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY: We immediately deployed out to the interstate because information was that the suspect was possibly headed north on I-95.

KAYE (voice over): Minutes later, just after 2:00 PM Martin County Sheriff's units locate the suspect's vehicle.

OFFICER: Driver, take two steps to your right.

KAYE (voice over): This is body camera video of his arrest.

SNYDER: The witness from the incident at Trump International was flown to the scene by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and he was able to make a positive ID.

KAYE (voice over): At 2:24 PM, less than an hour after the incident, the Trump campaign sends out a statement saying, Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity.

In the bushes at the golf club, authorities recovered and SKS-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks equipped with ceramic tiles for a makeshift bulletproof vest, and a GoPro.

KAYE (on camera): Do you have any detail on where he might have gotten the gun?

VELTRI: That's part of the investigation as well. Again, that's going to be a little bit challenged until were able to determine the serial number on that gun. So we are hopeful to be able to do this.

KAYE (voice over): By 10:00 AM this morning, Ryan Routh was in court in West Palm Beach, Florida, facing charges of possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

In court, Routh told the judge he had zero funds and was making $3,000.00 before his arrest. He said he had no assets beyond his two trucks in Hawaii. The judge appointed a public defender.

Since the alleged attempt on Trump's life, a complicated picture has emerged of Ryan Routh, a 58 year-old small business owner from Hawaii.

CNN has learned that Routh supported Trump in 2016, but later dismissed him as a buffoon and a fool.

Routh also mentioned Trump in his self-published book titled "Ukraine's Unwinnable War". Routh traveled to Ukraine in 2022 and encouraged others, including Afghan fighters, to sign up to fight.

He did an interview with AFP News Agency from Kyiv in April that year.

ROUTH: Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended. So, we need everybody from around the globe to stop what they're doing and come here now.

KAYE (voice over): Court documents also detail past run-ins with the law, including felony convictions in North Carolina.

In 2002, he pleaded guilty to felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction, and carrying a concealed weapon. That same year, he barricaded himself inside a business after he was pulled over by police.

Other charges over the years included possession of stolen goods, driving without a registration, and failing to pay his taxes on time.

Given his history, law enforcement is grateful they saw him.

SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW, WEST PALM BEACH: The suspect didn't even get close to getting a round off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (on camera): And, Anderson, tonight, authorities still aren't sure if the suspect acted alone. They say all indications are that he did, but they're just not 100 percent sure yet. They also don't know where he got this weapon or how long he was in the state of Florida before this happened.

But we did get some new information today. We now know that they interviewed seven civilian witnesses on the scene, and that they've collected DNA from the suspect's items that were recovered at the scene that would include those two backpacks, the SKS rifle and the GoPro and those DNA samples have been sent to Quantico to be analyzed.

So, Anderson, this is going to be -- it's going take quite some time to figure all this out.

[20:10:24]

COOPER: Randi Kaye, thanks so much.

Joining us now, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and retired FBI supervisory special agent, Daniel Brunner.

So, John, first of all, what do you make of what we've learned today and where things stand?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I think what we learned today was they're going backwards through all of his things, but there were a couple of interesting points.

Number one, as Randi reported, there's that 12-hour capture of his cell phone, the wording is interesting -- in the vicinity of the area.

It suggests two different things. First thing is, he used the cover of darkness the night before to get through the bushes to the fence line, do his reconnaissance as to what's the best place to set up and then he lay in wait there.

The other alternative is that he set up his GoPro there, set it to a streaming setting and then went back across the street where there's many commercial places in parking lots and just settled into what --

COOPER: That's an important point. I mean, in that area right across the street, there are -- I mean, there's a parking lot, there's places he could sit in his car if he wanted to or in a Starbucks or something.

Miller: Lots of places, there's a gas station, there's a Burger King, there's a library, there's a school, there's a big empty parking lot, there's this 7-Eleven. So, within that block on Summit Boulevard there, there's everything.

The question is, the special agent in charge Veltri, said his phone was detected very close to that tree line where he fired from, but when you're doing tower triangulations for a signal, there's a difference that can vary from a couple of hundred feet to place it, it could have been across the street.

I think what they're going to end up doing though is going backwards through that phone triangulation and say, how many other days was he there? Was he building this surveillance?

COOPER: Jonathan, I mean, in terms of -- you know, there's questions -- well, if this wasn't on the schedule and we heard that from the acting Secret Service director would he have just been this alleged assassin been -- would this had been the first time he'd done that. Would he have scoped this area out?

If he was sitting in that parking lot, would he have been able to see the motorcade of the former president coming to that golf club resort and then having an hour before he got to that spot?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Let's unpack that a little bit, the reference to an OTR -- off the record movement really is playing to the Secret Service advantage of surprise, you don't know that a protectee is going to be there, but that's not the case with Donald Trump.

You only know that he is a creature of habit. You know, if he has nothing on his schedule at Mar-a-Lago, there is a high probability that he's going to play golf.

So it doesn't take a sophisticated assassin to understand that behavioral trait.

COOPER: If he's in town and it's a Sunday and he's not doing anything officially --

WACKROW: You're going to hedge -- I'm going to hedge and I'm going to that location because were else does he go in the area? He really doesn't travel outside of Mar-a-Lago in his controlled environments. That's where he spends his time.

COOPER: And if he was just watching from the outside, he would have seen a motorcade coming in and he still would have had from the time Trump got there to getting to that hole on the golf course, it would have been more than an hour.

WACKROW: Well over an hour. So again, to Miller's point, I think that as they go through this -- the digital exhaust here and there is just volumes of digital evidence here. We're going to see that this individual was probably hiding in plain sight over at that at Starbucks across the street.

You're going to see a lot of pre-attack surveillance in the 12 hours or so beforehand. But on previous days, and what we haven't heard yet, what other locations was he potentially looking at? Was he looking at areas around Mar-a-Lago as well?

Again, it's not normal for somebody to just wake up and go, well, I'm going to kill the former president today.

There has been a lot that has been manifesting within this individual. There's a lot around the motivation and intent that he had to launch this attack.

So, as this investigation pulls the mosaic of evidence together, we're going to start getting a clearer picture.

COOPER: We'll take a quick break. We'll have more with the panel afterwards. I want to take up the question of how the suspect has been charged so far and what the prospects may be of additional charges against him. It is just gun charges so far.

Later, the former presidents decision to take an already tense and traumatic moment for the country and turn it up, including calling his opponent and President Biden, people who want to destroy the country.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:19:12]

COOPER: The former president, just moments ago, talked about yesterday's apparent attempt on his life. We will bring you that sound in a moment.

Right now, continuing the conversation about what authorities are investigating on the apparent second attempt on Donald Trump's life in the last two months.

Back with the panel.

Andrew, I mean, how is it possible that the suspect would have been in the vicinity for nearly 12 hours without being spotted by law enforcement?

We were just talking with Jonathan and John about the location that there's restaurants and a parking lot across the way.

I don't know if his vehicle was parked in there when he was shot at by Secret Service and he ran across the road, or if it was just parked on the side of the road, but if it was parked on the side of the road, you would think that might have drawn some attention?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. I doubt that he left it on the side of the road. There's not really an easy or kind of an inconspicuous way to leave that vehicle there certainly for that period of time.

So, I think it's a fair guess that it was parked somewhere in the locations that John and Jonathan were referring to.

[20:20:11]

The bigger question for me, Anderson, is how is a person secreted for some period of time. Maybe the entire 12 hours maybe some portion thereof, literally against the fence, probably 20 yards, 25 yards, or less from the tee box, the seventh hole tee box, where the president would be teeing off if he had not been caught.

This is a strange place for the Service to be in because two things are true at the same time. One, the plan that they had in place worked, the advanced agents saw the gun barrel, they engaged the target with fire and that mitigated the threat.

So, their strategy worked as planned. But the question is, how good is the strategy when it overlooks an assassin lying in wait 25 yards away from where the president is going to be. If you don't see that gun barrel.

So, I think this has really got to provoke a rethinking of these Secret Service methodologies, at least in terms of how they're applying them to this president, who we know is a repeated target of pretty serious threats.

COOPER: Daniel, I'm wondering what you -- what do you think of that. I mean, how do you -- if you're not, I mean if you don't -- if the roads are open around this golf course and the sidewalks open around it, would that mean just shutting down access all around that golf course all the time?

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISOR SPECIAL AGENT: Well, Jonathan would know a lot better than I am, but yes, I mean, the areas surrounding the golf course, there's a lot of traffic, a lot of activity, but the fact that, that area, according to the DA's office, regularly people walk up through the shrubs to the fence line to take photographs of the president. It's a known vulnerability. They knew that.

I think the Secret Service -- the acting director, said it perfectly that they are in a reactive mode. I think the Secret Service really needs to reassess their -- how they operate and be more of a proactive and thinking outside the box because clearly something in Butler -- mistakes were made, and mistakes were made here.

The Secret Service agent acted appropriately, taking out the threat. But he got into position, and was there for 12 hours. I think those individuals and that situation needs to be addressed.

I think walking a K-9 along the line would have detected it. The acting director stated that counter-surveillance units were being operational. What kind of surveillance units were operational? Why didn't they detect it?

So, there's a lot of questions in the situation and I think the Secret Service needs to reassess and rethink and think more outside the box.

COOPER: I mean, Jon, what about that? Is, I mean, obviously, Donald Trump likes to play golf and he has a lot of golf clubs around the world.

WACKROW: Yes, listen, I think that there absolutely needs to be recalibration of the protective model right now, I think Butler proved that. I think this latest incident proved that.

You need to deploy the resources appropriately to Donald Trump. Stop thinking about Donald Trump as a former president and he gets this level of resource.

This is an individual that is facing threats domestically and from a foreign hostile actors, namely Iran.

Knowing that, we should never have a protectee with that threat environment around him operating, basically on an area where you have these few identified vulnerabilities that are not mitigated.

You could have -- there's a lot of things you can do. You can leapfrog agents around the perimeter to ensure that that perimeter is pushed out, making sure that no vehicles are stopped, making sure that that fence line is clear.

There's a lot of things you could do, but I think that the Secret Service is just challenge with Donald Trump trying to fit Donald Trump into our protective model, instead of building a protective model around the uniqueness of this protectee.

COOPER: And Andrew McCabe, right now, he's only facing firearms charges. I assume they'll obviously be looking for other charges, but why hasn't he already been charged with attempting to assassinate a former president?

MCCABE: Sure. So, he had to be charged today. He was taken into custody yesterday. Of course, our Constitution requires that when you're taken into custody, you're brought before a judge and told the charges against you forthwith. And so, that had to happen today.

The easiest thing to charge him with right now to get through that court appearance was the felon in possession and of course having possession of a gun with an obliterated serial.

There's no doubt in my mind, they are pursuing attempted assassination charges. And that charge is 18 USC 1751. It essentially says you can get up to life in prison if you attempt to kill the president of the United States. That looks like what happened here.

To most people, they think, well, that's perfectly obvious.

[20:25:08]

But in fact, we don't have perfect evidence in our hands just yet, in terms of what we know publicly.

We know he was there. We know he took steps. He armed himself with a weapon, positioned himself in the right place. But there's not, as far as we know, laser clear evidence of intent. That's what the investigators are looking for now, particularly in his writings and his communications, notes, he might have taken things like that.

With the large amount of digital exhaust that he's left behind, I'm pretty confident they'll come across what they need to make that charge. But that's something we'll see over the next few weeks.

COOPER: Andrew, I know, some people watching this is going to say, wait, there's not enough evidence of intent. You've got a rifle. You've got a GoPro, you've got ceramic plates in a shield position by a golf course where the foreign president is.

MCCABE: Yes. I mean, shockingly, Anderson, you would think the case would have been in better position if he had actually attempted to use that weapon. I'm not saying that he should have used it or that I am advocating for that, but you actually have to have solid evidence that there reason he was there, the reason he set up that post, the reason he has those backpacks hanging from the fence and has armed himself with this rifle is specifically to kill the president.

Not kill someone else who might have been golfing there. Not to kill his ex-girlfriend who he heard likes to go there on Sundays, you know, anything like that.

So, it's very specific evidence they're looking for now.

COOPER: All right. Andrew McCabe, John Miller, Jonathan Wackrow, Daniel Brunner, thank you, appreciate it.

How the former president and his running mate both just moments ago have been doing the opposite of dialing down the tension in the wake of all this.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:31:10]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The former president is online tonight promoting a new cryptocurrency venture. Just moments ago, however, he was asked about yesterday's incident.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was the second attempt in your life in under two months. What do you make of that?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, there's a lot of rhetoric going on. A lot of people think that the Democrats, when they talk about a threat to democracy and all of this, and it seems that both of these people were radical leftists.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: That was the former president just moments ago. Here's his running mate also tonight, also pointing the finger at his political opposition. (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know, the big difference between conservatives and liberals is that we -- no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months. And two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months. I'd say that's pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Well, the day began, as you know, along similar lines and a similar tone, talking off camera to Fox Digital. The former president directly blamed the President and Vice President's rhetoric, quoting him now, "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at."

He added, and I quote, "They use highly inflammatory language." He said, "I can use it too far better than they can, but I don't." A bit later he posted this on social media, quoting again, "The rhetoric lies as exemplified by the false statements made by comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe's then Kamala's political opponent, me, has taken politics in our country to a whole new level of hatred, abuse, and distrust. Because of this, communists left rhetoric, the bullets are flying and will only get worse."

Joining us now is former Harris Communications Director Ashley Etienne, Republican Strategist Brad Todd, and CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten. Brad, obviously, Vice President Vance went on to say that he'd do his best to tone down the rhetoric. Do you think it's really a genuine promise given what we just heard him say and what the former president has certainly said in terms of contributing to very heated rhetoric?

BRAD TODD, GOP MEDIA CONSULTANT & STRATEGIST: Well, you know, since Donald Trump came down the elevator in 2016, Democrats have constantly said that the Constitution would be shredded, that the country would end, he was a threat to democracy.

Hakeem Jeffries's favorite expression to him is he's a clear and present danger. And, you know, a lot of political rhetoric is heated, but I do think it's time for everybody to agree that the country will still be here in January, no matter who's inaugurated as the next president. And I think that that's missing when Democrats talk about Donald Trump.

The country's going to survive. You know, criticizing him on his policies, his tax cut, his border policies, his tariff plan but perhaps don't say the country's going to end if he wins.

COOPER: But Brad, you know that the former president has repeatedly said the country will end, that there won't be a country if Kamala Harris is elected. I mean, that's been a recurring line of his.

TODD: Look, there's no question Donald Trump himself has to tone down his rhetoric, and I mean, I say that on this network all the time. But let's be very clear that many Democrats have never accepted that he was legitimately elected in 2016. They think that there's no possible way they can allow him to be elected this time.

And, you know, I've been in politics a long time, Anderson. And if you turn back the clock to 2011 when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot in Tucson, the New York Times immediately blamed conservative rhetoric for her being shot. It took them six years to retract that. So, I think we have a double standard going on here.

COOPER: Ashley, President Biden, Vice President Harris were quick to condemn any kind of political violence. And as we mentioned, President Biden and former President Trump had a cordial phone call today, but certainly there has been, you know, a lot of heated rhetoric on both sides.

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VP HARRIS: I don't know that I would agree that there's a lot of heated rhetoric on both sides, but let's go back to the point that was just made about that escalator.

Let's go back to that escalator where President Trump -- former President Trump said that Mexicans were race -- rapists.

[20:35:02]

You know, there's one thing about Trump and that is he's incredibly consistent. If you go all the way back to the 80s when he said the Central Park Five needed to die, they should be hung. You know, back to the escalator to today where he's talking about immigrants are poisoning the blood of America. I mean, his current vice presidential candidate called him America's Hitler for this reason.

So here's my real concern is, is that there is an audience that these two gentlemen are playing to the 48 percent of the American public that believe that this stuff is OK. You know, I've sort of walked -- I've moved away from Republicans who are disavowing this language. I mean, I have no faith in them anymore, but I definitely have faith in the American people. That's my main concern.

As a black person and as a woman who's raising a young black daughter, that is my concern is that that 48 percent is stubbornly thinking that this type of rhetoric and the president's actions are acceptable, that they're OK. And then he sends out a fundraising notice a letter today with three words in it and that's fight, fight, fight to your point, Anderson, continuing to amp up the rhetoric.

So that's really the concern is that there's an audience and they're playing to it. And so if Trump wins, it's going to say more about us than it will about him.

COOPER: Harry, where does the race stand right now?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know, if this were a popular vote election, I would sit here with you tonight and say that Kamala Harris was the favorite. She has a clear lead in the national polls. It's small, but it's clear, and it's pretty consistent. I -- especially after this last debate.

But the bottom line is, we're talking about seven battleground states where this election will be decided. And the margin there is very, very small. I mean, you can see it up on your screen. It's basically, you know, Kamala Harris by, what, 0.3 percentage points? That's well within any margin of error.

So the bottom line is, I have no idea who's going to win the race at this particular point. It is the closest election of my lifetime, and I believe anyone's lifetime who's on this panel.

COOPER: Brad, I mean, we're -- do you believe -- I mean, you've said Donald Trump needs to tone down his rhetoric, and you said Democrats as well. Do you actually think this is going to happen? I mean, or is this just the way politics is going to be from now on?

TODD: Well, I certainly hope not, Anderson. You know, and Donald Trump doesn't get much credit when he does tone down his rhetoric. You know, he also said today that we need -- we want people to come to our country. We want them to come legally. He doesn't get much credit for that.

And I'm not going to defend Donald Trump's rhetoric. He certainly is out of line plenty. But I think we have to realize that, yes, our country's polarized. And, yes, we have great disagreements with each other. We ought to try to criticize each other on policy and talk about what might happen if we -- if those policies were impacted or not, enacted or not, and perhaps agree that maybe the other side has people that have good motives and bad ideas.

COOPER: Certainly, social media has played a role in the rise in this rhetoric, Ashley. I mean, it's made it a lot easier to kind of just throw, you know, a Molotov cocktail into a conversation. You know, Elon Musk posted yesterday saying, no, and no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala with a thinking face emoji. He then deleted that post and later claimed it was just a joke.

ETIENNE: Yes. I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean, you know, people are getting all of this stuff in their feeds and there's disinformation and misinformation, even perpetuated by foreign agents. That's really compounding the situation here. But I definitely agree with my Republican friend on the panel that, you know, we should be attacking each other on policies.

We need to get back to the time where we could really fight about the substance of trying to elevate and put the American people in a position where they can thrive. But the problem is Donald Trump has no policies. He has no substance. As he said in the debate, he has concepts.

So we can't argue about policy when the other side doesn't have any policies and he's totally gutted out the Republican Party. I'm not sure what they stand for any longer. But that's really the problem here is that they have no policies, they have no substance, they have no positions. So, what they fall back on is, again, this, you know, rhetoric that divides America even more so, that frustrates the divides that we currently have in the nation, rather than trying to bring us together and move us forward.

COOPER: Harry, was there any polling, a meaningful shift after the last attempt on the former president?

ENTEN: No, there wasn't. Remember, that was Trump versus Biden, but the bottom line is you looked at the polls before the assassination attempt, and then you looked at them. Afterwards, a week later, and what you saw was Donald Trump was leading that race by about three points beforehand, and then he was leading by about three points afterward.

The bottom line is, these races have been either between Biden and Trump, or Harris and Trump. Very, very consistent. I'm not expecting much movement this time around, but of course, Anderson, you never know.

COOPER: All right. Harry Enten, Ashley Etienne, Brad Todd, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up, the Congressional Task Force formed in July to examine the first attempt on the former president's life, now has a second investigation. We'll be speaking with a ranking Democrat on that commission next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:44:18]

COOPER: Today, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Congress should provide the Secret Service more resources and the Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell said that Americans deserve assurances, in his words, that the former president is receiving appropriate levels of security.

Joining me right now is Democratic Congressman Jason Crow. He's the ranking member of the task force formed to investigate the first assassination attempt on the former president. Congressman, good to have you on.

So the acting director of the Secret Service said that President Biden one of the highest levels of protection for former President Trump and Vice President Harris, and that that level of protection was in place yesterday. If that's true, what does that tell you?

REP. JASON CROW (D), RANKING MEMBER, TASK FORCE ON THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF TRUMP: Well, good to be with you, Anderson. Well, it tells us that there are several things potentially going on here.

[20:45:00]

We saw in Butler, Pennsylvania an incident where there were several security failures or lapses, where protocols and procedures weren't actually followed that should have been followed. What we don't know yet is what exactly happened in Florida, whether procedures had been followed. And this is simply a resourcing problem that there aren't resources, there isn't manpower, there isn't technology that was made available. We don't know that.

What I do know is that President Biden did order, after the July 13th shooting, a increase security for Vice President Harris and President Trump to bring it up to a presidential level of security. Now what that doesn't mean is that the whole suite of services follow Vice President Harris and President Trump because there are certain things that just go with the commander-in-chief as the commander-in-chief that other folks don't get. But it does mean that there is that level of security that's provided to those two other individuals.

COOPER: Do you know -- I mean, if there was -- if all that suite of services was provided on something like an unannounced trip to a golf course, would there have been more of a kind of a lockdown of the area?

CROW: It's too early to tell yet, Anderson, whether that's the case or not. This particular incident actually is not the mandate of our task force yet. Our task force, when we were created in July, was to look at the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting assassination attempt.

COOPER: Do you think it'll expand?

CROW: It is possible that Congress -- I think it is possible it will expand. So that is the decision of Congress. That's the decision of leadership. So Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Johnson will have to make that decision. If they do make that decision, our task force is, of course, ready to do that.

We are staffed. We have great members. We're working in a bipartisan way, and we would get that job done if Congress needs us to do it.

COOPER: Your task force has requested a briefing with the Secret Service this week on the new attempt, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm wondering what are some of the top questions in your mind right now, or areas that you want to know about.

CROW: One of the top questions, certainly resourcing is a big one. So in Butler, there were failures, so processes that were not followed, protocols that were violated, but there is this resource issue. I mean, look, we were in a situation where you have the sitting president who's not a candidate that's receiving security. You have the vice president who is a candidate.

You have a former president who's a candidate. You have two vice presidential candidates. You have all their families and you have all of the former presidents that are getting security. So you have this situation where the threat environment is larger than we've seen in our generation.

We have a lots of people receiving security. You have a Secret Service that in the words of Acting Director Rowe has been redlined for a year, meaning they're working double overtime 80, 90, 100 hour weeks, deployed three months out of a month. The Service is at a breaking point. Something has to change.

The paradigm has to shift. But resources have to be given as well, because we can't continue to ask the Secret Service to do all of this in, in this particular threat environment.

COOPER: Yes. Congressman, I appreciate your time. Congressman Crow, thank you so much.

One other note --

CROW: Thank you.

COOPER: -- on Friday evening and Saturday, CNN aired a number of segments, including on this program, that briefly showed an image of former President Donald Trump and Laura Loomer taken from social media. On review, the image turned out it had been digitally altered by a third party and should not have been included and we very much regret that error.

Coming up, threats to the elementary schools and colleges in Ohio City after false claims about Haitian immigrants made by the former president and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. The latest, plus Vance's defense, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:53:23]

COOPER: More threats to school kids in Springfield, Ohio today following baseless claims about Haitian immigrants perpetuated by the former president and his running mate. Now the state's Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, announced Ohio State troopers will be stationed throughout the Springfield City School District as a precaution.

The announcement came after two elementary schools were evacuated. Six in all have been threatened in the last week. Two colleges today moved to virtual learning. And then there's this newly obtained video of the Proud Boys so called marching through town this weekend as the thuggish group that took part in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

Again, all this because of threats linked to false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets fueled by the former president and Senator J.D. Vance. Vance was on CNN this weekend where he defended his claims about Springfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

VANCE: The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: But it wasn't just a meme.

VANCE: -- create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.

BASH: You just said that you're creating a story.

VANCE: We ought to be talking about public policy.

BASH: Sorry, you just said that you're creating the story.

VANCE: What's that, Dana?

BASH: You just said that this is a story that you created.

VANCE: Yes.

BASH: So the eating dog food casting is not accurate.

VANCE: We are creating -- we are -- Dana, it comes from first-hand accounts from my constituents. I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: I'm joined now by the mayor of Springfield, Ohio, says he and other officials have personally received threats.

[20:55:01]

Mayor Rue, I appreciate your time tonight. I'm sorry, we're talking under these circumstances. You heard what Vance said this weekend. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on that. And if you could just talk about the threats that you have been experiencing in Springfield.

MAYOR ROB RUE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: Yes, thank you for having me on, Anderson. We've been having continuous threats these five days now, and it's just -- it's disconcerting that, you know, these -- they keep doubling and tripling down with what we're asking them to stop talking about.

Springfield is a good place where a wonderful people are not imploding on each other as far as a community. We're doing -- you know, we're really for each other in this community. You know, we need help, not hate. And that's what we need from those that have the national stage.

COOPER: So you've had elementary schools evacuated because of bomb threats for three days in a row. How many -- I mean, how many kids families lives is all of this affecting?

RUE: Well, if you look at our entire student body, you're looking around 67,000 students and so just -- it's just really mix up a lot of the daily lives of our community. You know, I want to thank Governor Mike DeWine, who's really stepped in today, announced new support for our schools.

He wants kids back into schools where we don't want to, you know, we continue to get these threats. There's been 33 threats by email and none of them have -- they've all been essentially false threat. So this -- the state highway patrol in the state force that are here in town to make sure that our schools are secure and our kids are going back to school tomorrow.

COOPER: And do you think that -- I mean, will that -- do you think kind of tamp down on the threats, the logistical problems caused by all this national attention?

RUE: Well, it certainly is my hope that we come back to a community of peace. You know, you know, we're not a community without struggle, but I can say that we definitely would like to get to back to focus on what normal life isn't here in town and focus on while you've been focusing on our infrastructure, our school system, our healthcare and, you know, bringing the community together to move forward.

COOPER: The -- we saw that video of the so-called Proud Boys you know, marching around with some flags, how many were there? What did that cause? Any issues?

RUE: Anytime a group comes into our town with the intent to not bring peace, but disrupt, it causes issues. I'd say there was roughly about 20 individuals that came representing the Proud Boys. And there was also hate flyers that were distributed by another group. So it definitely is unrestful when that happens.

COOPER: What are you hearing from constituents, including Haitian constituents?

RUE: Well, as far as the Haitian community as a human being, I personally hate to see an entire community be ,you know, just blasted like this and lies continue to be said about a community. We have no evidence of the lies that have been said about them, or, you know, the things that have been said about them are just still lies. So we'd like that to stop.

So at least part of the community that is here, you know, under this current administration's policy, they're here, they're in our community so we're trying to embrace the entire community and do the best we can as leaders.

COOPER: It's been reported that the former president might be planning a visit to Springfield. I'm wondering if you've heard from the campaign at all, and what would the impact of something like that be right now in your town?

RUE: It would be extremely difficult if either one of the candidates came to our community right now. And I would discourage it if I had the opportunity, just because this is not a time to campaign in our community at the national level.

COOPER: And in terms of the difficulties, you know, separate from this, the actual difficulties because of the large number of people who are there legally, but who have come, what do you -- what are the resources you need to help cope with that?

RUE: I think the number one resource we've been -- when we're asking for funding, I'd say we've pretty much focused in on translation services, are critical care hospital as well as our federally funded hospital. Both are a deficit because of the expense of translation services. Our school systems need help with translation services as well as our safety forces to be able to communicate with those that they're trying to serve well. So that's kind of where we've been trying to focus in the funding. We've also had, you know, realistically, we've had an uptick in reckless operation. And again, we had a program in coordination with the state highway patrol and our local law enforcement to help curb that the reckless operation and help assist in enforcing that.

COOPER: And those translation services, is that something that would come from the state government, the federal government?

RUE: We've certainly asked for assistance from both. But, you know, either one that was -- would be offering help and funding assistance, we would accept it.

COOPER: I don't know if there's a question you -- yes, go ahead. Sorry, go ahead.

RUE: No, I'm sorry. But it was the state that stepped up with $2.5 million over the next two years to help fund our healthcare system. And that will primarily, I'm sure, be going towards translation services.

COOPER: Yes. Well, Mayor Rue, I appreciate your time tonight. And again, I'm sorry we're talking to these circumstances, but I wish you the best.

RUE: Thank you so much for having me on.

COOPER: Mayor Rob Rue from Springfield.

That's it for us. The news continues. I'll be back tomorrow. Hope to tune in. Then The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.