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Suspect Arrested after Apparent Second Assassination Attempt on Former President Donald Trump; FBI and Secret Service Searching for Motive for Apparent Second Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump; Interview with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA); Trump: "I Hate Taylor Swift!". Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That is more than a year from now. And this is a cost-sharing agreement for about 28,000 U.S. troops that are stationed in South Korea. Obviously, folks who are supportive of those troops being there say that they are critical to U.S. national security. They deter any aggression from North Korea or China in the region, particularly, of course, as both are growing more and more aggressive.

But what the concern is now is when they'll actually get this agreement done. And I'm told by sources that there are talks ongoing right now that could actually conclude this agreement by the end of the year. That would be almost a year in advance of when they have to. And the major reason for that is former President Trump. South Korean officials particularly feel a sense of urgency to get this done before the end of the year, before the possibility that Trump wins the 2024 presidential elections. The reason for that is that during him his first term in office, it was a tumultuous cost-sharing agreement set of negotiations with the South Koreans. At the time, the former president was demanding that South Korea pay 400 percent more than they had been paying previously. And so it was a really challenging back-and-forth between two allies.

The South Koreans want to get out ahead of it, put an agreement into place before the end of the year. We'll watch and see if they're able to do that. But some are warning that might not be their best move because they may be in the former president's line of fire if he does win the elections in 2024 because they've tried to fast track this. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Kylie Atwood, thank you so much for that update.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SIDNER: An apparent second attempt on Donald Trump's life stopped on his own golf course. A suspect spotted in the bushes, then detained at a nearby Florida highway. The new details we're learning about him this morning. And Trump says the second apparent assassination attempt has only made

his resolve stronger, all while his campaign warns staffers to stay vigilant while on the trail.

And also this morning, Vice President Kamala Harris boosted by new a Republican endorsement, this time from a group of former staffers for President Ronald Reagan. Their message to voters.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, new details emerging about the man in custody accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at a golf course in West Palm Beach. Charges and a first court appearance could come as soon as this morning. New information also about how the Secret Service spotted the man, what was recovered from the scene, and his demeanor when he was first detained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF WILL SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: His demeanor was perplexing in some way. Despite the fact that we had numerous people out with rifles, uniformed personnel, helicopter, in a state shut down, he was as calm as if he was going to a Sunday picnic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We are also hearing from House Speaker Mike Johnson this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: I got a briefing from the acting director of the Secret Service, Ron Rowe, within 90 minutes of the event. I was actually sitting with President Trump when he called. We listened to that in detail. And in what I understand happened is that those agents that were with him yesterday saw that that barrel of that gun between the bushes on a golf course. I mean, that's a difficult thing to spot. Thankfully they did. But unlike in Butler, they did not pause. They immediately pulled their weapons and fired. I think that's why this guy, the suspect, the shooter threw the gun in the bushes and ran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: With us now, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller. John, what are the priorities in this investigation this morning?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the background of the suspect is important, not just what we've learned about his attempts to recruit people for the war in Ukraine, his prior contacts with law enforcement going back many years, but they're going to be going through his computers, his phones, and everything to determine, was he talking to somebody? In other words, if he was acting on his own, driven by some particular issue, that's one thing. But they're going to need to know, was there somebody else involved, somebody else behind it?

BERMAN: What about the GoPro? Of all the things were covered there, I know the GoPro is of particular interest.

MILLER: Well, it is because it raises a number of questions, and this is something that the FBI's CART team, the Computer Assistance Response Team, will be working on very carefully. They're going to want prints, they're going to want DNA. Who's handled it? But they really want to know what's inside it. A, was it recording, meaning, can we expect a movie of this -- the Secret Service detecting him, the shots being fired.

Two, where was it going? A GoPro can stream through Bluetooth to other places. Was it recorded on a platform, somebody else?

[08:05:01]

Was he feeding it to somebody else, or was it simply -- was it simply a logistical tool? I'll have it here. I'll stream it to myself in the car offsite so I can see, as the former president is approaching so I don't have to spend a lot of time on target and risk being detected. We don't know the answers to those things, and investigators may not have them yet either. But it's going to be key as a window to his planning.

BERMAN: All right, and we said that charges could come as soon as this morning, but that in and of itself is fascinating, John, because the charges themselves raise some questions. I mean, what could he be charged with?

MILLER: Well, in the simplest form, it could be charged with attempting to assassinate a protected former federal official. But it's complicated because its Florida. So the state's attorney was with us yesterday at the press conference saying were drawing up charges. We're going to ask for attention. But in Florida, possession of a rifle is not illegal. In Florida, possession of a concealed handgun is not illegal unless you are prohibited person, meaning you have a felony record. And we don't know what the disposition of his 2002 arrests for possession of a machine gun in North Carolina was.

So if he doesn't have an illegal gun and he didn't fire a shot, and that's still up in the air, but its increasingly appearing that he didn't fire, the Secret Service fired when he pointed a rifle, then what exactly was the crime? So it's going to weigh heavily on his statements to them. What did he say he was doing? What did he say his intent was? What has he shared with them?

In the meantime, the state should come up with some kind of holding charge, and the U.S. attorney is going to have to look on the federal side to say, what do we have to hang this charge on?

BERMAN: John Miller, interesting discussion. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll let you get back to reporting, and no rest for you. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And let's dig more into all of this. Joining us right now is former Secret Service supervisory special agent Charles Marino and CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former D.C. police chief, former police commissioner of Philadelphia, Charles Ramsey. Gentlemen, chief, you've been following this from literally the moments we were getting these first reports in of this all unfolding. As we're learning more about this man's background, they are pieces of a puzzle, pieces of a larger, bigger puzzle, what in his background sticks out to you, grabs your attention right now?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean the fact that he was arrested in charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Obviously, he has a criminal record. The other charges, my understanding, are relatively minor. But as John Miller just mentioned, we don't know the disposition of that particular case. But obviously that stands out.

The other thing that stands out to me is an open question, and that is how did he know the president was going to be on the golf course? I mean, this is an individual that apparently has scouted it out. When you look at the map you see a roadway very close to holes five and six which it would make sense that that would be a location if you are going to try to take a shot. It would be closer and would give you an opportunity to do so and also give you an escape route, too.

So his planning, which was obviously present for this, but those are the kinds of questions that need to be answered. Hopefully we start to get some answers today.

BOLDUAN: Mr. Mayor, let me lean on that, because add into exactly what the chief was laying out about questions about planning. Also, this fact, that Trump's golf game on Sunday, it was a last-minute addition to his schedule, sources say. He had no public events planned. What does that say about pre-planning, lack thereof, or that he was how, long he was there, or if this -- there is some element of luck for this man, not for obviously Secret Service and President Trump, how do you add all that together?

CHARLES MARINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, the former president is rather predictable in what he does when he is in West Palm Beach. And this is an example of that. So even though this was what's known as an off the record movement, it was an off the record movement to a location that he visits often. So there is a degree of predictability here on the part, saying, look, there's a very good chance that the former president can come here. Let's face it, anytime of protectee of the Secret Service arrives to a location, whether on the record or off the record, it's very noticeable, especially with the security level that the former president travels with.

So, depending on where this suspect was staying in the area, it may have been very noticeable when the former president got there. But I'm still waiting for the results of the search warrant that are going to be executed on his vehicle. I think there's going to be numerous items that are found in the car that are and will be of protective interest to the Secret Service on the protective intelligence side that can lead to some degree of surveillance that was being conducted by this individual to include documentation, things like maps, things like notes.

[08:10:14]

How long was this suspect tracking the former president, and in which ways?

BOLDUAN: Chief, I want to play, once again, what we heard this morning from the sheriff of Martin County, Florida. This is where this man, the suspect, was taken into custody. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF WILL SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: His demeanor was perplexing in some way. Despite the fact that we had numerous people out with rifles, uniformed personnel, helicopter, in a state shut down, he was as calm as if he was going to a Sunday picnic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Chief, what does that tell you?

RAMSEY: That's not normal. I mean, the average person, you get stopped by police and you've got weapons pointed at, you certainly would not be calm and collected. But this is an individual that had planned this, was very cold and calculating. And so it's not surprising that his reaction would be like that.

And again, to me, that points toward his involvement in this. And I'm sure that Secret Service, FBI, have probably already confirmed that he was the individual that was seen there. We have to remember now, a witness actually saw him leave that area and had to presence of mind to take a photograph of both the car and the license tag. So he's there. They can put him there. So it's pretty consistent with what we've seen so far.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And Mr. Marino, the acting director of the Secret Service is headed to Florida today. How are they or should they be rethinking threats against Donald Trump and his protection now after this?

MARINO: Yes, well the quick question here is, do the resources and operational planning of the Secret Service around the former president match the actual threat level? And that's a question that the acting director and others are going to have to answer for Congress and the American public. The way the agents assigned to the former president yesterday reacted was exceptional. They were doing their jobs. They were out in advance a couple holes ahead of the former president.

But the question then takes us back, as it did in Butler, Pennsylvania, to the planning of the outer perimeters and how much is enough for the former president. What I can tell you is a losing argument is he's a former president and this is all he's entitled to. That's not going to work. You don't sign up to protect the former president as the Secret Service and say, look, the threat level can only get so high, and this is all we're going to give you. That's not the reality of their mission. So they're going to have to constantly assess this threat both

domestically and from foreign entities like Iran up the resources and planning here.

BOLDUAN: Gentlemen, a lot more to learn, but thankful for you to help walk us through it as we know it now. Thank you both very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, how could this latest attempt on Donald Trump's life impacts his campaign plans? We'll discuss.

And tropical storm morning on the east coast this morning, which states could see extremely heavy rain and some potential flooding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:04]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, charges and a first court appearance could come for the man suspected of plotting to kill Donald Trump at his golf course in Florida.

With us now, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat from Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for being with us, Congresswoman.

What questions do you have this morning about what happened in Florida?

REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): So hello and good morning and happy first day of early voting for the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, really excited to be here. And I'm grateful for the question, in addition to obviously being responsible for representing my part of Pennsylvania, I am also fortunate enough to be on the task force that is investigating the first attempted assassination of the former president.

And it is a bipartisan group, a very serious group of lawmakers and unfortunately, we now have our another task put in front of us and we are going to be the meeting with the acting director of the Secret Service, when we return to Washington tomorrow.

And I do have a lot of questions and they largely surround about resources that the Secret Service has and whether or not they're being deployed appropriately because it's simply unacceptable that anybody who is under the protection of the Secret Service is in danger.

BERMAN: So, you're on this too? I mean, your task force is now on both of these attempts, correct?

HOULAHAN: Well, I don't know that we've formally received the go-ahead that this is indeed an expansion of our scope of work, but I have to assume that it will be based on the response of the ranking member and the chair of the committee.

I think we need to get official permission from the body to be able to do that, but it's my assumption that indeed we will be looking into this as we are already looking into the last incident in Pennsylvania. BERMAN: You greeted me by saying happy beginning of early voting in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who is winning in Pennsylvania?

HOULAHAN: If I had to be honest, I think it's a big toss-up. I think it's 50-50 right now and I think that we, as Democrats are operating as though we are the underdogs, and I in fact, believe that we are. I think everything will go right through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

We are in fact the Keystone State and I believe that it will specifically go through places like where I'm sitting and talking to you from which is the suburbs of Philadelphia, the suburbs of Pittsburgh.

And I think we understand what the task in front of us are and what the stakes are and how important it is that we get out and that we get all of our friends out to vote and specifically, of course, to vote for Harris.

[08:20:28]

BERMAN: How do you assess the former president declaring about the child of Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift on his social media account yesterday morning. "I hate Taylor Swift" -- Pennsylvania's own Taylor Swift, what do you think about that?

HOULAHAN: She's not only Pennsylvania's own, she's also from my district, the sixth congressional district, and I found that tweet or truth or whatever it's called to be incredibly offensive and also childish.

I can't believe somebody who's ever served as the commander-in-chief, let alone, who also wants to be that again, would behave in such a childish fashion about somebody who I think is an enormously talented professional who happens to have different opinions than he does.

BERMAN: Who sees that and who cares about it in your very own district? I think everybody sees it.

I was at an event last night where we in fact, were talking about Taylor Swift and I think that this just piles on to all the other offensive and divisive rhetoric that comes from the former president and also his running mate.

I think that people here in Pennsylvania are pragmatic. We are a purple people. My district is almost equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, but I very strongly believe that when the choice is made between somebody who has a dark and backward-looking vision versus somebody who has a bright and forward-looking vision that's inclusive.

I think that we, as Pennsylvanians will make the choice and we will vote for Vice President Harris.

BERMAN: You alluded to JD Vance, you talked about Donald Trump's running mate, and he continues to discuss these made-up stories about Springfield, Ohio and people eating pets.

And this is how he justified to Dana Bash trafficking in these falsehoods. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes.

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

VANCE: If I have to 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: If I have to create stories -- now, later he tried to clean that up a bit, but it's been interesting. We have to remember the House Republican whip on it a little while ago, and he wouldn't say that Vance was wrong.

He just continued to say, well, what you should be focusing on is immigration, never mind, don't look at the man behind the curtain spreading stories about people eating pets in Springfield.

Is this some kind of 4D chess that they're playing here?

HOULAHAN: I wish they were that clever. I think with Mr. Vance. Again, similar to his running mate, the former president, deeply, deeply offensive, deeply divisive rhetoric.

And it's really important that somebody who is seeking to be one heartbeat away from the highest office in the world should know better that his conduct will have consequences.

And specifically, I was sitting up in Reading, which is part of my community as well with a young Haitian immigrant who was on a panel with me this last weekend.

And our community, that community of Reading in particular is an enormously diverse group of people, many of whom are newcomers. And I think that it really is jarring and offensive to not only that community, but to the community at large.

I mean, we are really interested in making sure that this nation continues the promise that we gave to people like my dad who came here as a young immigrant when he was just four or five.

And this kind of toxic conversation is really, really -- it's really divisive. I don't have any other better word for it other than to say it's not becoming of the office and it's not qualifying for the office.

BERMAN: Representative Chrissy Houlahan from Pennsylvania, Reading -- as you keep on saying, thanks so much for being with us, appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Donald Trump, moving ahead with his planned campaign schedule and now unveiling a new cryptocurrency venture.

And TikTok fighting to stay in business in the United States, but they have just 15 minutes to make their case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:00]

SIDNER: This just in to CNN, we're getting our first look at the suspect in the Donald Trump alleged assassination attempt at the scene of the arrest.

You see him there with his hands behind his back. This is after law enforcement pulled him over in his car.

We're learning more now about the suspect in what the FBI has deemed an assassination attempt on the former president at his golf course.

There are no charges that have been filed yet or details of when the suspect's first court appearance might be, but our Carlos Suarez has more on what we can expect and what you are hearing, particularly about the suspect.

Because a lot of information has come out about some of the things he's done in the past, some of the things he said, and where he is politically.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Sara. Good morning.

So as the investigation unfolds out here, we are getting a clearer picture of the 58-year-old who was detained in connection with this incident that happened here yesterday afternoon.

He has been identified as you all noted as Ryan Wesley Routh. We know that he is a self-employed homebuilder in Hawaii, and that he has been a bit critical of the former president in some of his social media posts.

As you also noted, he has some strong opinions about supporting the war in Ukraine. In fact, we know that he travelled to the Ukrainian capital back in 2022.

[08:30:28]