Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Lashes Out at Democrats; Florida Suspect in Court. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:56]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We start this afternoon with breaking news.

The Martin County sheriff just releasing new bodycam video showing the moment deputies arrested the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Driver, stay back! Keep walking!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Ryan Wesley Routh making his first appearance in federal court a short time ago, prosecutors charging him with two counts, possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Newly unsealed court records show investigators believe that Routh was near the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, for nearly 12 hours before Secret Service agents spotted him with a with an SKS-style rifle just a few hundred yards from where the former president was golfing on Sunday, and agents then opened fire on his position.

Trump is set to meet with the acting Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe, today. Rowe plans to stay in Florida as this investigation plays out. Meantime, the former president is placing blame on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' rhetoric for causing him to be shot at.

CNN's Paula Reid is live outside the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Paula, what else happened during this hearing today?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, as you know, there are no cameras in federal court, so our colleagues were inside and described to us how Ryan Wesley Routh was wearing sort of these dark prison scrubs. He was shackled, both his hands and his feet, for this initial

appearance before a magistrate judge. Now he was asked a series of questions. Our colleagues say that he nodded and just said "Yes, Judge," a few times.

But this hearing was also, Boris, the first time that he learned the charges that he is facing, including these two counts, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

And, of course, this investigation is barely 24 hours old. So it is highly possible that additional charges will be filed against him, though it's unclear exactly what those charges will be.

Now, as of now, the government is arguing that they want him to continue to be detained ahead of a possible trial. They argue that not only does he present a threat to the community, but that he is also a flight risk.

Now, Boris, based on what we learned at this hearing, it also appears he's unlikely to be someone who can post bond or bail. It appears that he only has an income of about $3,000 a month. And, in terms of assets, he had two trucks. They are in Hawaii.

Now, the next time he will be in federal court will be next Monday. That will be for a detention hearing where prosecutors will lay out their case for why they want him to remain detained. And then he will be formally arraigned on September 30.

SANCHEZ: Paula Reid, thank you so much for that update from outside the courthouse.

CNN senior investigative correspondent Kyung Lah has been digging into the suspect's background.

And, Kyung, you're learning that he has a criminal record. He's had some run-ins with law enforcement before.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're learning much more about Ryan Routh's background.

We're getting some insight into his personality and, as you mentioned there, Boris, some of his criminal history. First, let's start in North Carolina with some of that criminal history. We have records dating back to 2000. But, in 2002, he really became known to law enforcement.

And according to a former officer in Greensboro that CNN spoke with, she actually responded to a 2002 incident where Routh barricaded himself inside a building after a traffic stop. And he pled guilty to felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Sources tell CNN that was a fully automatic weapon.

Now, public records also reveal other minor financial crimes in North Carolina. And then he moved to Hawaii, where he set up his own business and then worked on that nonprofit. It was constructing small shelters for homeless people. And then two years ago, Routh became very vocal and then personally involved when it came to the war in Ukraine.

[13:05:04]

He actually traveled to Ukraine, where he said he wanted to join the fight, but was told he was too old. He was age 56 at the time, so he put his effort into trying to draw attention to the plight of Ukrainians. He told a reporter for "Newsweek" that he saw it as a battle of good against evil. He thought the entire world should come to Ukraine's aid.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, DEFENDANT: I think more emotional for me also is just talking to the guys that have come here. When you talk to a 20- year-old guy that sold everything he owns to come here to fight, that is heroism.

He's come here to risk his life for humanity, for the Ukrainians. I'm not sure that the world is as wonderful as I once thought it was. I had had thought that everyone would respond very generously and unselfishly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Now, you can see how he got emotional in that interview with that "Newsweek" reporter.

I spoke with an acquaintance who was in touch with him around that same time in 2002, and he described Routh as being almost manic, singularly driven by issues like Ukraine, that he would have been surprised if he had gotten word or he had made news that he was committing some sort of random crime against innocent people or a large-scale attack.

He, though, did not find it hard to believe, Boris, that he would take this sort of extreme action against Donald Trump -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And, Kyung Lah, thank you so much for that deep dive -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's talk more about this now with former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow.

Jonathan, how -- well, I want to ask you first, as we have just learned from the charging document, this man, this suspect may have been along the tree line for almost 12 hours preceding this incident. What kind of questions does that raise for you?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, what this points to is intent, right?

You look at the pre-attack surveillance that he had conducted to find this very specific location, and a location that not only gave him a level of cover in concealment to launch his attack, but also gave him a really good way to egress, to get away should he be discovered.

Again, you don't stumble upon that. That takes a little bit of thought and it shows a level of sophistication in his attack planning. But, Brianna, I think it's really important to understand, like, if this person was here that long showing and exhibiting this level of sophistication, this didn't all just materialize today.

He's been thinking about this for a while. I think, from a behavioral threat standpoint, this individual is really concerning, because he's showing things in his past, past behavior, his past interactions with law enforcement that are really pointing to a lot of red flags around this individual that makes him a real concern for the Secret Service.

And these are the types of individuals that the Secret Service has to get on top of working with local law enforcement to identify before they're able to even take these actions.

KEILAR: And then I want to listen to some of what President Biden said today about this assassination attempt. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank God the president's OK. I think we have got a full report so far. (INAUDIBLE)

But one thing I want to make clear, the Service needs more help. And I think the Congress should respond to their needs.

QUESTION: What kind of help do they think they need?

BIDEN: I think we need some more personnel. I think they may need -- they may -- they're deciding whether they need more personnel or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, I wonder what you think of that, because, on its face, this idea, I think a lot of people look at it and say, yes, it seems like they need more personnel. Yes, they just need more of whatever it is.

But this idea of sort of punting to Congress, we know what a long process that takes. This seems like a pretty emergent situation, two assassination attempts in the course of about two months. Does something a little quicker than that need to be done?

WACKROW: Listen, I think the Secret Service needs to recalibrate their threat assessment process and make sure that they are able to identify threats quickly and then be able to shift resources more fluidly to address that threat dynamic.

What I have been saying before is that Donald Trump does not represent what we would typically refer to as a former president model of protection, right? We know that President Bush, Clinton and Obama, their threat profile is significantly lower than that of former President Trump.

Why? Because Trump essentially from the day that he left office has been continuing to campaign. He is maintaining a very high profile with his base and engaging in political activity. And, beyond that, he still has this lingering threat from Iran basically in response to actions that he took while he was president.

[13:10:18]

So the model around the former president needs to be shifted. Resources, significant resources, whether that's personnel, more technology, more intelligence resources, it needs to take a whole-of- government approach to ensure that former President Trump has no more incidents.

Two is way more than should ever be acceptable. They can never have another type of assassination attempt against this individual or any other protectee, for that matter.

KEILAR: Jonathan, what worked as it should and -- from what you know here, and what didn't?

WACKROW: Well, the protective model that the Secret Service put forth specifically around golf operations, I will call it, really worked.

And what that is essentially creating this concentric rings of protection radiating out from the former president, allowing him to play golf, but then you have the working shift around him.

But, uniquely, you have agents that are pushing to the left and to the right of him in advance and that are flanking all around him, again, another layer out. And their role is specifically to identify this exact type of threat. It's that longer-range threat that is lying in wait for -- to launch their attack.

The agent that actually identified this threat and then engaged to try to neutralize it did a remarkable job. And it actually proved that the training tactics and experience of the agents that were on site yesterday proved successful.

This is the exact type of response that we want to have. We want to identify those threats as quickly as possible and ensure the safety of the former president or any protectee.

KEILAR: All right, Jonathan, thank you so much. We do appreciate it.

Former President Trump fund-raising and also pointing fingers after this apparent second attempt on his life. What more we're learning from the campaign, we will have that ahead.

Plus: no regrets. J.D. Vance defending spreading the baseless rumor about Haitian migrants eating pets, a rumor that even has the Ohio governor, who is a Republican, calling for the lies to stop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:03]

KEILAR: Today, Donald Trump is blaming President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for what the FBI is calling an apparent assassination attempt against him.

Even though investigators are unclear of the suspect's motive at this point, Trump told FOX News today that -- quote -- "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at." On Sunday, just hours after the attempted assassination, Trump sent out a fund-raising e-mail to his supporters saying he will never slow down and -- quote -- "will never surrender."

CNN's Kristen Holmes is with us now live from West Palm Beach.

Kristen, Trump is expected to meet with Secret Service director, the acting director, this afternoon. What more are you hearing from the Trump team?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we didn't get a readout of that meeting, Brianna, but, of course, we believe it will be discussed, one, what could have been done differently, what exactly happened, what potential details the Secret Service knows, and how to prevent this from happening in the future.

One of the big questions I have heard from the Trump campaign is not necessarily about Secret Service protocol or their actions, but how the suspect was able to track Donald Trump's whereabouts here in West Palm Beach.

One of the things to note is that golf game was a last-minute addition to his calendar, so some of his own closest advisers didn't know it was on the schedule. Some of his own allies didn't know he was in West Palm Beach because he has been traveling. So, obviously, questions as to how exactly this person was -- got the knowledge to understand where Donald Trump was going to be and at what time, and if there are going to be any changes in security protocol.

Now, as of now, we are told that there aren't going to be very many changes at all, at least to his schedule. Donald Trump had several campaign events on the agenda this week. We are told none of that is going to change. That includes trips to Washington, D.C., as well as Michigan, as well as Uniondale, New York.

But, as you mentioned, Donald Trump reacting to this shooting very differently than what we saw after that first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, when he called for unity. This time, he is going straight to blaming Democrats and the Biden administration.

I want to reach you part of the quote from this interview he did with FOX News Digital. He says: "He," being the gunman, "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 that are destroying the country, both from inside and out."

Again, very different from what we heard from Donald Trump after that first assassination attempt when he was calling for unity. Clearly, in this case, he has moved on to a different type of rhetoric on top of the very divisive rhetoric we have heard across the spectrum this election cycle.

Now, again, we are waiting to hear a readout of that meeting between Donald Trump and the acting secretary. We, of course, will give you any details we learn from that.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen Holmes, live for us from West Palm Beach.

Thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: The second apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump's life is actually not without precedent.

Back in 1975, President Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts during a one-month period, and, in a historic anomaly, both would-be assassins were women. Since 1900, six other U.S. presidents have been either assassinated or the targets of assassination attempts.

[13:20:10]

We're joined now live for history lesson with Larry Sabato. He's the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Larry, thank you so much for being with us.

Obviously, while these attempts are shocking, they're not necessarily unprecedented.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: No, they're not unprecedented, unfortunately.

We are, as many people have concluded over the decades of violent society. That's not to say that other societies aren't, but we are particularly violent for a combination of reasons. And, naturally, wrongly, we focus on presidents and people who are, let's say, disturbed in various ways, believe either that the president or presidential candidate or other important person is responsible for their troubles, when there really is no connection at all.

Or -- and this is the worst -- they just want to become famous. We have had a number of those, which, by the way, is one reason why I try not to use the names of assassins unless it's absolutely necessary, because that's what they want. And you don't want to send a message to other people who may be disturbed that this is the way to become famous. This is the way to get into the history books.

SANCHEZ: Notably, the Secret Service has been able to stop a number of attacks. And you laid out some of the common characteristics in these assassins or attempted assassins.

When you think about the Secret Service's track record, it's actually very good.

SABATO: Yes, the Secret Service has an impossible job. As one of the members of the Secret Service once said to me, "If we

had our way, we would wrap all protectees in bulletproof glass and never let them out of it," because then they wouldn't have to worry so much about what may happen.

But, of course, the protectees are human beings. They have to have a life. They like to go golfing or whatever the case may be. So adjustments are made. Also, you have to remember that politicians believe that they are, if not -- that they are, if not invulnerable, then at least protected from lots of the normal plagues of mankind.

That isn't true. It just isn't true. President Kennedy -- and this is by no means an attempt to blame the victim. What happened was absolutely unjustifiable. But President Kennedy believed that it was important to look voters in the eye. He didn't want anybody, anything obstructing the people's view of him and his view of the people.

And he sometimes pushed the Secret Service agents to a backup car, instead of on the runners of the presidential limousine. Well, we saw what happened in Dallas. Now, could the Secret Service have done a better job? Sure. They did not even investigate many of the tall buildings with many open windows in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Why? Because it wasn't done back then. Because we had fooled ourselves into believing that somehow we were beyond the history of presidential assassinations. And that's just one example. There are so many others. And we never seemed to learn for very long.

We learned for brief periods, but not for very long.

SANCHEZ: Yes, history has a tendency to be a very unforgiving tutor.

Larry, I can imagine your answer, but I'm curious to get your thoughts on whether these threats are more common when there are heightened political tensions across the country or even when the country's in the middle of an election.

SABATO: Absolutely.

Look, again, they're not all disturbed people. Sometimes, there are -- quote -- "rational conspiracies," if you can call an assassination a rational conspiracy, as with Lincoln. That was a real conspiracy.

But, mainly, mainly, these are loners who are disturbed and who have imagined somehow that what they're doing is in line with what the people really want and so on. And, obviously, they pay attention to the news.

And when really bad things are said about candidates -- and I think it's fair to say that really bad things are being said about all of the various candidates and protectees -- they can take a cue from that. They're copycat killers. You mentioned the Ford example.

I don't think it's an accident that two women in one month in the same state, in California, took shots, and one of them could easily have killed President Ford. It was point -- President Ford. It was point blank at him, just inches away from his chest.

[13:25:03]

And, again, a Secret Service agent acted so quickly, instinctually, and managed to save President Ford's life. So copycat killers are another part of this. And that's another reason for lowering the temperature, if we can.

SANCHEZ: If we can.

Larry Sabato, thank you so much for the perspective. We will let you get to that phone call, Larry. Appreciate you.

(LAUGHTER)

SABATO: OK, thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead: J.D. Vance doubling down on claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, that state's Republican governor calling that rumor a piece of garbage.

We will talk to that state's attorney general about all of this when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)