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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Sean "Diddy" Combs Charged With Sex Trafficking, Racketeering; Pager Explosions Cause Deaths, Thousands Of Injuries; State Opens Investigation, New Details About Suspect Of Trump Assassination Attempt; Concerns About Rhetoric & Political Violence In 2024 Race. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 17, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You see her kind doing well and she starts swerving, not necessarily staying inside the lanes.
[16:00:06]
The police department later joked about the incident and online saying they're not sure what she bought her if she was even able to use her Target app to save 5 percent. Though they did let her finish her Frappuccino, we are not mean, according to the Bedford Police Department.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yeah, I am not showing that to my kids because they might get some ideas. They love a good Target run.
SANCHEZ: You go for one thing, you wind up getting a bunch.
KEILAR: Two hundred dollars later.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much for joining us today.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Sean "Diddy" Combs in court facing horrendous, horrific charges just moments ago.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Once a celebrated hip hop mogul, now a criminal defendant, Sean "Diddy" Combs, charged in a sweeping federal sex crimes case, accused of sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, even arson. After years of rumors and allegations and then civil lawsuits, did the law finally catch up with him?
And a deadly coordinated attack nine people killed, reportedly nearly 3,000 injured, we're told, when pagers exploded. Pagers simultaneously detonated once being held in the hands of members of the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. Who could pull off such a coordinated attack and how? Plus, brand new details about the man the FBI says wanted to assassinate Donald Trump over the weekend, the new search warrant executed today while we've learned of explosives discovered in a prior arrest.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
And leading this hour in our law and justice lead a music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, whose work is credited with growing hip hop, was in court just moments ago. He has been charged today with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud, coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Each one of them is an extremely serious federal charge.
The evidence laid out in a newly unsealed indictment today against the three-time Grammy winner is disturbing. Prosecutors are alleging that for decades, quote, Combs engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals. This abuse was at times verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual, unquote.
Combs allegedly, quote, manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers, unquote, and Combs allegedly made these women do this by, quote, distributing narcotics to them, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support, and threatening to cut off the same and using intimidation and violence, unquote. This is just a sliver have what is in the skating 14-page indictment.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister brings us up to speed now on Combs' alleged crimes and an investigation that we're told is still ongoing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sean "Diddy" Combs arrested Monday night in New York and taken into custody, charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The grand jury indictment charges the music mogul with running a criminal enterprise over decades.
DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY: Between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.
WAGMEISTER: Combs was seen dining out in Manhattan before his arrest. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. But according to the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case --
WILLIAMS: Combs allegedly planned and control the sex performances, which he called "freak offs" and he often electronically recorded them. WAGMEISTER: Hotel surveillance footage obtained exclusively by CNN
back in May appears to corroborate some of the charges of abuse against the rapper, now cited in the new indictment. The video captured on multiple cameras shows Combs wearing only a towel, assaulting his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.
Combs has repeatedly denied multiple allegations against him, saying that his accusers are looking for money, but he issued an apology only after the video came to light.
SEAN 'DIDDY" COMBS, MUSIC MOGUL CHARGED WITH RACKETEERING, CONSPIRACY, SEX TRAFFICKING: My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I'm disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I'm disgusted now.
WAGMEISTER: His attorney responding to the charges.
MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN "DIDDY' COMBS: He's going to fight this with all of his energy and all his might, and the full confidence of his lawyer. And I expect a long battle with a good result for Mr. Combs.
[16:05:02]
WAGMEISTER: Combs faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and could face life in prison if convicted.
WILLIAMS: In addition to the violence, the indictment alleges that Combs threatened and coerce victims to get them to participate in the freak offs. He used the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of the freak offs as collateral against the victims.
WAGMEISTER: The criminal charges come as Combs faces ten civil lawsuits, all filed over the last year, nine of which accused him of sexual assault. He has previously denied the accusations of abuse.
In March, authorities searched Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a months-long federal investigation by a team that specializes in human trafficking crime that led to today's indictment.
Among the items seized, firearms, including three AR-15s, ammunition, more than 1,000 bottles of personal lubricants such as baby oil. In video evidence of freak offs, according to the indictment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WAGMEISTER (on camera): Now, Jake, literally right now, as we are speaking, Combs's attorney is fighting for his freedom in a courtroom. He could be in prison just moments from now, prosecutors say, that not only is he a flight risk, but that he is a danger to society. They say that he has been in touch with witnesses in recent days.
Now, Combs's side, they say that he's not a flight risk. He's not a danger to society, that he has been cooperating. And here's a direct quote from his attorney, just moments ago, Jake, he says, quote, the government never says anybody did then consent in the indictment. So, again, fighting for his freedom, but we will see the result of that in just moments.
TAPPER: All right. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks so much.
Let's bring in criminal defense attorney Stacy Schneider.
And, Stacy, you say today's indictment reads like a mob indictment. What was most shocking to you have all these allegations.
STACY SCHNEIDER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE TRIAL ATTORNEY: Yeah, the fact, Jake, that the government in this indictment presented evidence alleging that Sean Combs was running a criminal enterprise and they actually named it in the indictment, the Combs enterprise. And they said that this entered surprise consisted of him as the alleged leader. His employees, assistants, staff allegedly that were able to procure women and alleged male sex workers to engage in performances for his own sexual gratification.
Where it differs from a mob indictment, it has all the elements of putting together this racketeering allegation of all these moving pieces using resources from his businesses. But the fact that this is about an allegation of sexual gratification being accomplished by alleged human trafficking, it's one of the most unique indictments I've ever seen in this area and the area of sex crimes because they're not -- the government isn't actually prosecuting the sex crimes other than the human trafficking or the sex trafficking. They're not prosecuting any type of alleged sexual abuse to woman -- women, although that's part of this racketeering scheme.
But the actual charges are racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transporting individuals over state lines to engage in prostitution. The reasoning around all of this, his alleged motivation as presented in that indictment by the government is for his own personal gratification. And that's just the strangest type of indictment I've ever seen.
But I agree with you, this indictment reads -- it's very disturbing. The facts presented are out of a very bad Hollywood story and a lot of the evidence alleged evidence that's been gathered in this case was from those two raids that were conducted on his personal homes in Miami and Los Angeles, and the indictment names the things seized that he allegedly made videos of these sexual performances that have been named freak offs.
And there's seems to be a ton of evidence allegedly tying this scheme together. So it's an interesting way of prosecuting it. But I understand why they did it that way.
TAPPER: So what did you make of what Elizabeth Wagmeister just reported and obviously, Sean "Diddy" Combs and his attorneys are going to -- they're going to get their day in court. But the idea that the government in their characterization does not say that anybody did any of these things nonconsensually. What do you make of that?
SCHNEIDER: I make of that as being a big flaw already in the governments case, which the defense was quick to point out. Even if he was engaging in this alleged conduct, there was no allegation or no statement in that indictment, saying that any of these alleged victims or alleged witnesses willingly participated in some of these acts that people find offensive that are found to be offensive.
[16:10:12]
And that's a very important part of the case. What was the consent? But there are enough charges here where outside of what the alleged victims are going to say about how he was using the resources allegedly from his enterprises, his businesses, his well-known Bad Boy entertainment, his clothing line resources, his liquor line resources.
Allegedly, there were funds us from that resources to engage in this alleged prostitution activity across state lines, and that's why it's a federal case because it's across straight lines.
So there are some problems that are -- the defense has brought up originally, but it seems like just from reading this 14-page indictment that there is enough physical evidence to perhaps get a conviction in this case. We shall see these are allegations.
TAPPER: So the office of the southern district of New York seems awfully confident about their ability to handle the scope and complexity of the case. But still, why do you think it took them so long for them to go after Combs considering the alleged crimes have been going on for more than a decade?
SCHNEIDER: My theory is that the government had an easy time putting together this final prosecution because of all the civil actions existing against Sean Combs, right now. The case with Cassie, which that video was shown, his former girlfriend where he was seen assaulting her, it looked like certainly that he was assaulting her on video, I think the government and investigators were able to accumulate all this easy evidence that was just handed to them from the attorneys who prepared the civil cases that are now pending against him.
I think things just started piling up and piling up. And eventually, Sean Combs got to a place where his luck ran out and therefore, he was indicted and arraigned.
TAPPER: Stacy Schneider, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Next to the deadly attacks across Lebanon, pager devices in the hands of members of the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah detonated at the same time. The blame for this attack is ahead.
Plus, the new state-level investigation launched to the apparent assassination attempt of former President Trump. But why a state probe when a federal probe is already underway? We'll explain.
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[16:16:21] TAPPER: Topping our world lead today is a story we need to tell you right now upfront. It contains a lot of graphic and disturbing images. Lebanese officials say that thousands of members of the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Hezbollah, which the U.S. and many other countries designate a terrorist group, that they have been injured and at least nine people killed when their pagers exploded today.
Here's CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the fruit display, at the checkout, in the streets, hard to overstate the psychological impact of hundreds of blast across Lebanon, mostly in Hezbollah areas, pagers exploding at about 3:30 according to the group. Security forces asking Lebanese to stay off the road so the sheer volume of emergency vehicles could get to hospital.
Nearly 3,000 patients, at least 170 critical. Easily, the most widespread moment of violence did across Lebanon since the 2006 war with Israel, who Hezbollah is now firmly blaming for these new attacks on their TV channels.
We blame the Israeli enemy with full responsibility, the TV anchor said, to this criminal attack but also harm civilians.
Israel themselves declined to claim the attack.
To blame perhaps these tiny devices, according to posts on social media, CNN can't verify, the race now, to work out how was it just one type of device, a cyber attack, the battery bomb that they just hit Hezbollah areas.
It comes at yet another critical time. Monday, Israel's defense minister hinted meeting the U.S. envoy that the time for a diplomatic solution of how to get tens of thousands of Israelis home to the war- plagued north had mostly passed, that a military option is all that remains.
The hope had been for calm after the death of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, also killed in a violation of Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut led to great fury but minimal fire. With Hezbollah's retaliation restrained, perhaps by preemptive Israeli strikes, many felt the moment of conflagration had passed.
Now, it seems back again with Hezbollah once more under pressure to hit back hard, but only because another sophisticated attack has made them look weak.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (on camera): Now, Lebanese security source saying that these devices were purchased by Hezbollah in recent months. So this suggests very extensive, lengthy operation here, and I should point out, it does appear to have hurt some civilians as well. But the question is, why? Why now? Is this a prelude to something
larger? Whoever was behind this, have they sought to create utter chaos in Hezbollah's ranks?
Remember, they're going to be members of that militant group unsure who's unharmed unsure, who they can ring safely now, to even think about some kind of retaliation. Is this a prelude to something larger or is the strength of that disruption now, violation of their most secure communications is that the message whoever was behind this wanted to send. And that's simply enough, Jake. We have to see in the days ahead.
TAPPER: All right. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in London for us, thank you so much.
Next, disturbing explosive device length of the man whom authorities say wanted to kill former President Donald Trump. What court documents from a prior arrest reveal.
Plus, the state of political violence in this 2024 race. A former House Republican will join us to discuss next.
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TAPPER: In our national lead, the investigation is expanding and to what the FBI says when it was an, quote, extremely serious, unquote, attempts to assassinate former President Donald Trump as he was playing golf on Sunday. So far, the only suspect is -- has only been charged with federal gun offences, but authorities still have many questions unanswered.
CNN's Randi Kaye is in Florida following the announcement of the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now, two dueling investigations into the second apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: We have a strong interest in the state of Florida of bringing this suspect to justice to the fullest extent of the law.
KAYE: Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announcing details of a state investigation he's launching into the attempt on the former president's life. A staunch Trump ally, the Republican governor, also injected politics into the investigation.
DESANTIS: We have a strong interest in the state of Florida of bringing this suspect to justice to the fullest extent of the law.
KAYE: Authorities allege the suspect stole the license plate found on his black Nissan possibly from a white Ford truck.
SHERIFF WILLIAM SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: And what they do unfortunately, oftentimes is they don't just take the tag, they swap tags so they're not driving around a reported stolen car. Then the other person is a victim, doesn't even realize it. I mean, how many people look their tag everybody to check that is not my tag.
KAYE: And that could really speak to his whereabouts that maybe he wasn't just sitting there for those 12 hours and maybe he was here for longer than that.
SNYDER: Well, think about this. They'll go back now to the scene of the crime where the tags were stolen and they'll look at video camera. I think they're going to find his digital fingerprints all over the place.
KAYE: As investigators still work to piece together Routh's movements, more disturbing details about Routh's rap sheet. Court documents obtained by CNN show in 2002, Routh was charged in Greensboro, North Carolina with possessing a weapon of mass death and destruction, a binary explosive device with a detonation cord and a blasting cap. He pleaded it guilty.
This former Greensboro police sergeant had pulled Routh over months later.
TRACY FULK, FORMER POLICE SERGEANT, GREENSBORO, NC: He reached over and opened a duffel bag and I could see a gun and the duffel bags. Of course, I backed up, drew my weapon and show me your hands and he just drove off.
KAYE: And questions remain about the Secret Service's role and whether agents had time to effectively sweep the golf course before Trump's arrival. Trump's game on Sunday was a last-minute add to his schedule, what's considered an off the record movement.
Trump meeting personally with local law enforcement to thank them.
RONALD ROWE, JR., ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: It did its job in sweeping ahead of the president. The agent who is visually sweeping the area of the sixth green, saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm.
KAYE: And speaking by phone with President Biden about the recent attempt on his life and the need for more Secret Service agents.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was very nice. Today, he called up to make sure I was okay. We do need more people on my detail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE (on camera): And, Jake, Vice President Kamala Harris also called Donald Trump this afternoon. She said she wanted to speak to him directly. She expressed her gratitude that the former president is safe. A White House official describing that conversation to CNN as cordial and brief -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Our Randi Kaye in West Palm Beach, Florida, thanks so much.
The latest assassination attempt has both former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, demanding that Democrats tone down the political rhetoric.
I'm joined by Republican former New York congressman, Lee Zeldin, a Trump supporter.
Congressman, I should start by noting that you have as we as we covered at the time, firsthand experience with political violence. You were attacked in 2022 while you were running for governor of New York. Thankfully, you were not seriously hurt, but this does give you a unique perspective.
Tell us more.
LEE ZELDIN (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Thank God that, again, this second assassination attempt was unsuccessful, and this can't happen again.
And I don't care what you're running for, whether you're running for president of United States, you're running for governor, Congress, anything, we need our candidates on both sides of the aisle always phase in every year to be safe to settle our scores at the ballot box. That was my thought.
In the summer of 2022, during that scene that you just played, it's my thought right now on my mind is we witnessed the second assassination attempt on President Trump in just a couple of months.
TAPPER: Let me play something that Senator Vance said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months. I'd say that's pretty strong evidence. That the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Do you agree with that or do you think everyone should tone down their rhetoric and, quote/unquote, cut the crap out left, right, and center?
ZELDIN: Well, I think that there are a lot of people who are really pissed off the first time that this happened, July 13th, in Butler. They're even more furious now that it's happening again. I think that if it was an attack on Kamala Harris, July 13, President Trump probably would have been indicted for it instantly as if he pulled the trigger. I mean, we have to be -- there's a time for some self-reflection and all of the entertainment of going after President Trump's life when he was in office, comparing him to Hitler.
[16:30:07]
Whether it was, you know, Dan Goldman calling from him to be eliminated, President Biden calling for a bulls-eye to be placed. I mean, in 2018 on "Ellen DeGeneres Show", Kamala Harris was joking about killing President Trump.
So, listen, there needs to be a time for self-reflection right now. And I remember the streets of Minneapolis, Portland courthouse getting targeted in 2020 and that list goes on back then a few years ago. I see what's going on right now on our streets, on college campuses in the halls of Congress, as it relates to the rampant antisemitism. There is always time for everybody to be better, to self-reflect, but the idea that were just never going to have self-reflection on the left, especially being within 50 days of an election is just something I don't buy.
TAPPER: I'm all for self-reflection on the left. What about self reflection on the right? I mean, Donald Trump is not without sin when it comes to heated political rhetoric, even just yesterday, Trump said to Fox about the would-be assassin, quote: He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris and he acted on it. Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at when I am the one who is going to save the country and they are the ones since that are destroying the country both from the inside and out, unquote.
If Biden and Harris say Trump is a threat to the country, that's bad, according to the argument I hear people making, Republicans making, but Trump literally in that same sentence as Biden-Harris are destroying the country from the inside out. And that seems to be fine.
I just -- I agree that the rhetoric needs to be toned down, but I find it remarkable that Republicans aren't willing to say, well, maybe we shouldn't be calling the press the enemy of the people and maybe we shouldn't be calling everybody crooked and using some of the language -- you know, say that immigrants are poisoning the bloodstream of this country. The self-reflection is universal, right? The need for it?
ZELDIN: I support president Trump and voting for president Trump. President Trump's coming to Long Island to do a rally tomorrow at Nassau Coliseum, on Long Island. We look forward to it and I'm grateful that he is alive right now.
President Trump is the candidate who is being targeted for assassination, for lifetime imprisonment, for bankruptcy and the list goes on. And if we want to talk, as far as threats and rhetoric and what is actually happening right now, I believe that the targeting of President Trump is so far beyond the bounds. I'd be furious if I was him to be honest.
And President Trump believes what he just said in that clip that you just read. And I think that it's important to be settling our scores at the ballot box in reality and not trying to send him to prison for the rest of his life. That nobody should be trying to take his life, that he should be able to campaign and his rally-goers should be able to go without fear for their own safety.
And again, at the end of the day, November 5, that ballots can be counted as a product of a constitutional republic and democracy. The people of this country get to choose that next president.
Jamie Raskin, you know, congressman from Maryland, is on video recently stating that even if the election was a landslide and that there was no question at all what happened, no dispute at all. That still there on January 6, 2025, that he's saying that President Trump should not get certified in the country should prepare for civil war. That's not the rhetoric at this particular moment.
We all have strong opinions, beliefs its passions, but what's most important is who's going to improve the economy, who's going to secure a border, who's going to make our streets safe, expand energy production, and improve foreign policy in that list goes on that should decide this election.
TAPPER: I'm not familiar with the quote from Congressman Raskin that you are referring to. We're going to get our team to bring it forward so I can read it to our team. I read it to our audience later on.
But I think we can all agree that the violence is unacceptable. And this election should be decided purely at the ballot box.
Former Congressman Lee Zeldin, good to see you. Thanks for joining us today.
ZELDIN: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: A Democrat will join me next with his point of view and I'll bring you that fact check because I'm not familiar with what that quote is at all.
Plus, some breaking news on that detention hearing involving Sean "Diddy" Combs. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:38:45]
TAPPER: And we're back with some breaking news. A federal detention hearing for Sean "Diddy" Combs has just ended and CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the courthouse in New York.
Kara, obviously, this is a huge case. What just happen?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake. So, the magistrate judge overseeing this hearing today has remanded Sean "Diddy" Combs into custody after he was charged with that that sex trafficking case. He was led out of the courtroom by the U.S. marshals and he will be held in federal detention as this case moves forward. Now, this followed a lengthy hearing with both prosecutors and Diddy's
attorneys, arguing reasons why he should be kept behind bars and why he should be released. That his lawyers say that he has taken a voluntary steps including turning over his passport to his lawyers, saying he would report any of his movements to prosecutors, but the judge finding that that was just not enough. She said my concern is that this is a crime that happened behind closed doors, even when pretrial services is monitoring.
So she said there was nothing that his lawyers have the offered that made her feel comfortable, that he would return to this courthouse for subsequent court hearings and for a trial. She said that it was both his substance abuse and the fact that some of this physical abuse that's been alleged occurred when he was using drugs and alcohol, that that was the reason why she couldn't trust that he would not commit any additional crimes while he was left on bail.
[16:40:10]
So, Sean "Diddy" Combs is not going to be walking out this door. He is in federal custody where he will be unless his lawyers are able to convince a different judge to release him -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Kara Scannell, thank you so much.
Back to our 2024 lead, it is a critical moment the race for the White House is as close as it could be, perhaps the closest presidential election in our lifetimes. The level of vitriol is red hot and leaders cannot agree -- cannot come together on the road ahead.
Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut. He's the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
I want to start with something that I just saw on Twitter, Congressman.
So, David Frum, who is a Republican Never Trumper. He's very critical of Donald Trump and he writes for "The Atlantic", said that the difference, I'm reading here, the upsetting things said by Trump and Vance are not true, meaning I presumably the stuff about the Haitian immigrants and such, the upsetting things said about Trump and Vance are true.
To this J.D. Vance -- and here's the tweet up on the screen -- to this J.D. Vance says, I'd say the most important difference is that people on your team tried to kill Donald Trump twice.
And I'm kind of shocked to be honest. First of all, David Frum is not a Democrat. He's obviously a Trump opponent. But to suggest that the David Frum, that these two would-be assassins are on David Frum's team, what's your response?
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yeah, it's so dangerous, Jake, and it would -- if it weren't so dangerous, it would be funny. There are no teams here. Nobody supports violence. And so to say that two apparently crazy disturbed individuals who took
a shot, maybe we'll find out on the second one what was going on, at Donald Trump, is somehow on the Democratic team, what that does is, you know, 350 million people in this country, people here that somebody is going to say, doggone it. We've got to go after the other team, and it's going to perpetuate the violence.
The other two things, you just talked to Lee Zeldin, who I will tell you having served with him is one of the more reasonable members of the Republican Party, but he did to profoundly dangerous things. Number one, it was this sort of, oh, it's all the same stuff, you know. Oh, look at Portland and somebody through brick through the Chase Bank in Portland, that's just like January 6.
It's nothing like January 6. And it's really important to Republicans right now to make it seem like its all the same thing when there is a radical difference between the language used by Donald Trump, which as David Frum said, is both inflammatory and often inaccurate, and people saying that they believe that Trump is a threat to democracy. Why? Because Donald Trump said, ill be a dictator on the first day.
When you say that you're going to be a dictator on the first day, you are a threat to democracy and I'm sorry if that sounds bad, but it has nothing to do with violence.
And the second thing, I just want to make this point, Jake, you know, the whole Lee Zeldin presentation and I'm hearing it all day today. It's all about what-about-ism. Well, they do it on the other decide, too.
We don't, Jake, accept that from our three-year-old children as a moral defense. And yet that is the defense. Look, here's Jamie Raskin at some book party. By the way, Lee Zeldin completely butchered the quote, saying that the president should be killed. Absolutely inaccurate.
And by the way, when did what-about-ism, they do it, to become a defense?
TAPPER: Let me ask you this because, look, obviously, this latest shooter who thankfully -- it doesn't seem as though he got a shot off, but he had a gun. He -- the FBI says he absolutely wanted to assassinate Donald Trump and thank God he failed.
This is what we know about him. He'd given money to Democrats. He had a Harris-Biden bumper sticker on his car. He thought Trump, according to his social media profile, he thought Trump was a threat to democracy. He felt strongly about supporting Ukraine. Maybe he was worried that Trump wasn't going to do that.
I'm not saying that this is the responsibility of the Democratic Party, but he does seem motivated by capital D Democratic issues. And how does the Democratic Party deal with it?
I'm not saying that, you know, that opposing Donald Trump on the issues of democracy or Ukraine, or even just the election is enough to justify an assassination attempt. Obviously, that's crazy. But -- what do you make of that?
HIMES: Well, maybe -- maybe I can demonstrate how you deal with it. I'm a Democrat if you are violently inclined, I don't want your money. I don't want your support. I don't want your vote. I don't want you participating in our political system full stop, no conditionality.
That's a little different from Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. So again, you rejected wholeheartedly and look, let me pick the right word here. Disturbed people who are inclined to violence are going to find some motive to do what they want to do.
And what we can't do is start saying that this guy who, either of them, the shooter in Pennsylvania, or this individual apprehended in Florida are somehow reflective of the party, especially when there is a massive difference. And again, I'm not going to reject what-about- ism. There is a massive difference between the rhetoric used by Donald Trump and the rhetoric us today by the Democratic Party.
[16:45:05]
TAPPER: Do you think -- I mean, you heard Congressman Zeldin there say that there needs to be some self-reflection by Democrats and the left. He did not seem to accept my premise that everybody needs to think about their tone, especially Donald Trump, who has been calling people the enemy of the people, are calling the press and maybe the people at cetera, et cetera. He seemed -- he seems to not buy into that.
But do you think that there is any argument at all that Democrats, too, while not being responsible for the acts of disturbed individuals necessarily, or even there being any evidence to that that there should be some self-reflection.
HIMES: I think we should all as elected political leaders be a little more careful about the language use. I sometimes think about this because I remember, you know, even going back to George W. Bush when our politics were a lot less heated, the Iraq war, of course, created a lot energy and the political system. And I remember the language that Democrats used again George W. Bush, let's take back our country. He's destroying our country.
In retrospect, I understand why politicians use that language. Aggressive language gets people pumped up, you get a big round of applause. In retrospect and going forward, let's set that aside. Let's set that aside for boring language of I believe this policy is wrong. I believe this about policy is not in the best interests of the United States.
But again, having fully rejected, I will continue to reject the what- about-ism defense. Lee Zeldin saying that the Democratic Party needs to do a little bit of self-reflection. Everyone does. I will acknowledge that.
Him pointing of the Democratic Party and saying that's a problem, you know, I don't remember a whole hell of a lot of self reflection on the part of my colleagues on the Republican Party in the Congress when, you know, Donald Trump for four years and the presidency was using language that was explicitly violent.
So we should all self-reflect. No question. We should all use more boring language.
Jake, you know, this, you've been around here for a long time. Our policy differences compared to a lot of countries, they're between the 55 and the 45-yard line. Should the corporate tax rate be 28 or 21 percent? This is not the kind of dispute that we should be using violent rhetoric to characterize the other side on.
TAPPER: All right. Congressman Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, it's good to see you, sir, as always. Thank you so much.
Is the rhetoric more heated on one side as you just heard suggested? That part of the conversation next
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:11]
TAPPER: We're back with our 2024 lead. Vice President Kamala Harris was asked about her thoughts about political violence on a Spanish language radio show today after a second failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump over the weekend.
Here's what Vice President Harris had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to tell you, political violence of any kind is unacceptable and I strongly condemn it. And like all Americans, I'm grateful that he is okay. But we all have to stand up and say enough of this, this kind of approach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's bring in the political panel.
And, Jonah, let me start with you because you saw J.D. Vance blaming David Frum, or people on David Frum's team trying to assassinate President Trump. David Frum, A, Republican as far as I know, and, B, though he is a Trump critic, certainly not on a team with any would-be assassins.
What do you make of this?
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I mean, the only way any of that stuff makes sense is if you take the logic of tribalism and put it on steroids. You know, it's nonsense on stilts, right? It's basically saying, if you're against Trump, then you're with anybody who is against Trump, including deranged psychopaths who tried to murder him.
And I don't -- what I don't get about it is I don't -- forget the cynicism and the dishonesty of it. I just don't get bites smart politics, like who is going to vote for the Trump-Vance ticket because of that kind of rhetoric and that kind of approach, right? It is -- it is very online, very Twitter-obsessed kind of thinking and I don't think it absolves J.D. Vance from the charge that he's weird and I don't think it absolves him from far worse charges. It's grossly cynical and reprehensible.
TAPPER: What do you think?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look, I was looking at some of the comments of Republicans who reply to that post, and I take their interpretation and I'm going to take J.D.'s interpretation as saying individuals who have been critical of Trump by saying he's an existential threat to the democracy, or that the democracy will not continue on. Whether your, quote/unquote, never Trumper or Democrat, then that rhetoric, I'm assuming it has led to this type of violence that we have seen attempted to be perpetrated.
NAYYERA HAQ, STATE DEPARTMENT SENIOR ADVISER: Let's get to that point.
SINGLETON: That's what I think the interpretation.
HAQ: Yeah. Let's get to that point of threat to democracy because the people who complain about and are concerned about the threat to democracy literally follow up the rest of that sentence with go vote and defend the rule of law, right? So there is an answer that has given as part of that.
The challenge with the dehumanization that we consistently see from the Trump campaign is simply that, it takes away any other path of dealing with each other across tribes if necessary, and puts it instead on, well, you know, there's a bunch of roaches or a bunch of aunts or whatever vermin, you want to talk about. It makes it okay to do violence against those people.
SINGLETON: Look, I mean, I think -- I get that point, but I think can consider how divided we are right now as a country when you tell people that there's a threat to democracy in your way of life, your existence, and future for your kids is at risk if this person wins, there are some really crazy people out there who may look at that and say, well, if that's the case, then I have to make sure this guy never gets powered in the White House again.
And that's something I think Democrats do have to wrestle with just as much does the former president should have to wrestle with, be careful with his words.
HAQ: So, yeah, I mean, let's not make false equivalency between somebody who -- because of the position of their office, naturally attracts all sorts of folks who are trying to make -- the D.C. police is specifically trained with mental health resources and its people want to talk to and do something to the president as opposed to what's happening in Ohio, where the biggest stage they targeted an ethnic minority and now there are bomb threats because of that.
TAPPER: Jonah?
GOLDBERG: All I want to say is like I get Shermichael's point. I think it's perfectly fine point.
[16:55:01]
At the same time, Donald Trump routinely as the quote you read to Lee Zeldin earlier said, he's not opposed to extreme rhetoric that says your life is going to be over if someone wins an election. He just doesn't want to aim at him. He's fine with aiming it at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. He actually says they'll destroy America.
TAPPER: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: So, like, you cant have a standard that says the J.D. Vance standard which says this rhetoric is leading to violence while you actually don't have a problem with the rhetoric, you just have a problem with it being aimed at Donald Trump.
TAPPER: All right.
GOLDBERG: That's their possession.
TAPPER: Panel stick around. We got a lot more to talk about.
Ahead, today's synchronized explosions in Lebanon, pagers detonated at the same time killing nine people we're told, injuring nearly 3,000 we're told. This rare attack on members of the terrorist group Hezbollah and who might be behind it. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, CNN is on the ground in Springfield, Ohio, where schools have received 33 bomb threats in the last week, all in the wake of baseless claims pushed by Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, about Haitian migrants eating pets.
