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Trump Speaks After RFK Jr. Suspends Campaign, Endorses Him; Secret Service Didn't Retrieve Radios Provided By Police At Trump Rally; Second Former Officer To Plead Guilty In Tyre Nichols' Death; Authorities Investigate Sudden Sinking Of Sicily Superyacht. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 23, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And this is going to make their life a little bit easier because, frankly for them it's a lot better too, when they have happy employees that are making a little more money and just do a better job. People like Javier are very happy, he was happy to hear about this. Every restaurant owner is happy to hear about this.

But they're trying to squeeze every penny out of this tip income the government is and now they're not going to be able to do that. We're going to get this done very fast too by the way.

Kamala also, she also sponsored legislation to blow up the tip system entirely which would inflict financial calamity on food servers and bartenders in Las Vegas and all across America.

You know they have bills pending and things pending and resolutions pending and special orders pending where they're going after your tips. I don't know what they're going to do with that, are they supposed to be dropping, I assume they're going to be dropping all that stuff at least until after the election. They'll bring it back after the election.

Kamala supports a bill to eliminate the federal tip credit which would force restaurants to impose large service charges on diners, meaning customers will not leave tips at all and you'll be stuck with a minimum wage or whatever you might be making. This is something that they're forcing. I will, I will never let that happen under the Trump administration.

You'll keep your tips and restaurant workers will keep all of your hard-earned money. I met this incredible young woman ...

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, so you hear former President Trump there talking about his plan, very attractive I think to some folks, key voters there in that key state of Nevada, no tax on tips. It's also something that Vice President Harris has endorsed that idea as well. This is a very competitive state and they're really going obviously for as much support as they can there in that crucial hospitality industry. He's going to continue his remarks, we'll be monitoring this. We're going to get in a quick break. All of this coming as Trump is speaking after RFK Jr. has suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. We'll have much more ahead in just a few moments.

[15:35:00]

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: New today, multiple Secret Service agents have been reassigned to administrative duties and ordered to work from home in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

KEILAR: The new developments unfolding here as we are learning more about the communication failures that led up to that close call at Trump's Pennsylvania rally last month. Zach Cohen is with us now. He's been reporting on this.

Zach, what are you learning?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, guys, multiple Secret Service personnel from the Pittsburgh field office for the Secret Service, as well as one member of Trump's security detail, reassigned to administrative duties, told to work from home, and that's a direct result of these investigations, these internal investigations into the assassination attempt of Donald Trump and the security failures that led to that.

This is really just a first step, though, and it's, you know, it is the first step towards potential accountability for those security failures, but we still have more questions and answers really about, one, what led to those lapses, and two, who is ultimately responsible? We don't have the names beyond just the handful of titles, and these are not very senior officials as well, but at the same time, new information continues to come out.

Our new reporting today is really focused on the communication failures. That's been something that members of Congress, in particular, have been raising questions about for the last month, and we're learning today from the Butler County district attorney that there were actually radios set aside by local officers with the intent to directly communicate with Secret Service on the day of the rally, but those radios were never picked up by Secret Service. Ultimately, at the rally, three minutes before the shooting, a local officer radioed a warning that there was a man on that roof. That warning was not heard by Secret Service because they didn't have those radios in hand.

Ultimately, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe has said they only needed about 15 seconds of a heads-up to do something about the shooter. Ultimately, they didn't hear a warning, and they didn't have any heads-up, and so what happened happened.

They were only able to neutralize him after he fired eight rounds at the former president and killed a rally-goer. But this really underscores a broader communication problem that is

really at the center of both the internal review and the congressional investigations. You can see the frustration as you go through this body camera footage that we've obtained hours and hours of body camera footage, the frustration on the part of local officers on the ground immediately after the shooting. Take a look at this particular moment just minutes after the shooter was neutralized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, that's all I was f***ing calling out, bro. F***ing on top of the roof. F***ing, we're not, we're not on the same frequency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: He's talking about calling out, saying, look, there's someone on the roof, there's someone on the roof, not getting any response from the other officers or Secret Service agents in the area, ultimately leading to the shooting. And this really does, again, underscore the broader communication problem that is at the center of all these investigations. And, look, those are not going to stop anytime soon.

House Republicans in particular are really adamant that accountability needs to happen. And today's reassignments were not good enough for House Speaker Mike Johnson. He issued a pretty scathing statement after the news broke earlier today.

KEILAR: Yes, and were you not on the same frequency? And we know the answer, right? Weren't even on the same radio system. Zach, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

[15:40:00]

Still to come, why a second former Memphis police officer is changing his not guilty plea in the beating and death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop last year.

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SANCHEZ: Happening right now, a second former Memphis police officer charged in the brutal beating and death of Tyre Nichols is expected to change his federal plea to guilty.

KEILAR: A hearing is currently underway for Emmitt Martin who earlier had pleaded not guilty in Nichols' 2023 killing after a traffic stop. Another former officer, Desmond Mills, also changed his federal and state pleas to guilty last November.

[15:45:00]

Five officers in total were charged in Nichols' death investigation.

We have CNN's Nick Valencia here with more on this. Nick, what's going on here? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a stunning twist, Boris

and Brianna. We're not exactly clear on what led to this abrupt about- face from Emmitt Martin III. We have been repeatedly calling his attorney who's not called us back, but we do know that Martin was facing a slew of charges in his federal case including witness tampering, obstruction of justice and deprivation of rights.

He was one of the five officers involved in that violent beating death of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old who died three days later as a result of his injuries. And those police officers that you're looking at there on the screen initially had said that they pulled Nichols over because of reckless driving. But in the 17 months since this incident happened, that's not entirely clear.

What is clear, though, is what happened on that police body camera. And in it, you see Emmitt Martin repeatedly punch and kick Tyre Nichols. Nichols went on to die three days later.

Now, what is not clear still here is how this expected guilty plea that Martin is expected to enter is going to affect whether or not it'll affect his state charges where he is facing second-degree murder charges. That state case is currently, you know, for all intents and purposes, at a standstill while the federal case is adjudicated. And that federal case, jury selection, is expected to begin on September 9th.

So now, just as we're giving this report, Emmitt Martin, presumably in court, in federal court, where there are no cameras, expected to enter that not guilty plea -- Boris, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Nick Valencia, thank you so much for that update.

KEILAR: The search for answers and accountability now underway as authorities work to figure out how and why a superyacht sank in a freak storm off the Italian coast killing seven people.

[15:50:00]

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SANCHEZ: New today, all of the victims of a sunken superyacht off the coast of Sicily have now been recovered. Italian search and rescue teams brought to shore the body of the last person missing earlier today.

KEILAR: This in particular body, the last one, is believed to be that of 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, who is the daughter of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch. The father and daughter, both of them among those seven who died after the yacht went down in a violent storm on Monday. The CEO of the firm that owns the boat's manufacturer says that this type of superyacht was, quote, unsinkable, which of course is a haunting description.

Joining us now is Sal Mercogliano, who's a maritime historian at Campbell University. Sal, there's been a lot of speculation about what might have happened here, people looking at the design of this superyacht. What are the possibilities for what is possibly a water spout that hit this superyacht? What are the possibilities for what could have happened here?

SAL MERCOGLIANO, MARITIME HISTORIAN, CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: Yes, I think if a water spout is the case, and we know that there was a high storm that came in, this ship in particularly has a huge mast on it, 236 feet in height. And even though it didn't have sails set, that is enough surface area to catch the wind and put this ship on its beams. In other words, knock it over.

And if the crew had not properly secured hatches and doorways, the ship could have flooded very quickly, and that could have led it to it sinking into that 50 meter of water.

SANCHEZ: Well, Sal, the CEO of the firm that owns the yacht's manufacturer said that a series of avoidable mistakes led to this. He says the crew should have closed the hatches, closed the hull, and gathered everyone together in one spot. From your view, is it clear that that didn't happen?

MERCOGLIANO: Well, we're going to know more evidence as the divers continue whether or not the stern and the port aft side hatch had been properly secured. It is standard procedure to shut those hatches during evenings. We'll also find out if the keel had been lowered.

However, you know, this was hit by almost like a tornado, and as you well know, tornadoes can go through, you know, communities and hit one house and not hit another. So while the crew may have expected maybe bad weather or a thunderstorm, it's really hard to prepare for a sea spout, basically a water tornado coming at your vessel.

KEILAR: Yes, and talk a little bit more about that keel because I've read about how the design of this particular superyacht had a retractable keel, which is very heavy, meaning that if it were underway out on the ocean, you would actually have that keel dropped. It would give it a lot of stability, but if it's closer into shore as it might've been here, that keel could've been up, although it seemed like it was still pretty deep water. Why would that keel have been up?

MERCOGLIANO: Yes, you would almost always have the keel up. The only time you really lower the keel on a vessel this size of a sailing vessel is when you're under sail. That keel is meant so that when the vessel heels over in wind with sail set, you would maintain the proper stability of the vessel.

Normally, you keep it up because it creates less drag. This is an extremely stable vessel without it, but that microburst, that sea tornado hitting it would send this ship onto its beam ends. And it's not exactly clear that even if the keel was down, it would have prevented this vessel going on its side.

It has a very low freeboard, a distance from the water to the ship, and sinking on its side or getting on its side like that, water's going to come in through doorways and hatches that are not designed to be watertight.

SANCHEZ: So what other questions do you have that you would like to see answered through this investigation?

MERCOGLIANO: Well, we know the ship's master is being questioned right now by authorities. Very competent master. There's a big question whether or not there was a deck watch set.

In other words, was part of the crew awake? Did they know the storm was coming in? You know, were there procedures in place so that if a storm was coming in, they could wake up the crew, get the personnel up, get them on deck and in life jackets?

But again, this is a very, you know, odd issue to happen because it's a very low circumstance of this occurring.

[15:55:00]

But a vessel this size, you know, owners want to have a different yacht. And in this case, in sail yachts, what we tend to see is they want to go for those bigger mass, bigger vessels, and it makes them much more susceptible to wind damage and forces like we saw with this sea tornado.

KEILAR: Yes, it was a beautiful ship indeed. There was another ship that actually saw, we've seen reports of a water spout coming in. They actually took some time, they said to move that ship a little bit to move away from the Bayesian.

So all kinds of questions, as you said, about whether they had a watch there on the deck. Sal, we know that there's a lot of curiosity around this and we appreciate you speaking with us about it. Thank you.

MERCOGLIANO: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: A popular and well-known beach in California has been closed to the public. Caution tape has even been put up to keep folks out of this area because hundreds of sea lions have invaded. Check these guys out.

Monterey locals say they have never seen so many gathered together in the area. A marine biologist told CNN they're not sure why they've been drawn here.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's apparently not the reason our producers are thinking. That's what they've written in the script. I'm not sure what they mean by that.

[16:00:03]

KEILAR: What were they thinking?

SANCHEZ: The researchers say that these are all virtually male. The sea lions are expected to hang out at this bro-fest for about a month. They are protected, we should know, by federal law, so no one is allowed to interfere with their behavior. Noted, they can get frisky with people, so you want to avoid that. That's why the yellow tape is up there.

KEILAR: Yes, and we learned that about animals this hour. Just give them their space. Stay safe, people.

SANCHEZ: It's a good idea. Thanks so much for being with us today. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts in just a few seconds.

Beware of those sea lions.