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Exploding Pagers Injure Hundreds in Attack on Hezbollah; Investigation Continues Into Trump Golf Course Gunman; Presidential Candidates Back on Campaign Trail; Sean 'Diddy' Combs Indicted. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 17, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:42]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Sex trafficking, kidnapping, arson, hip-hop mogul, Sean "Diddy" Combs charged with running a criminal enterprise and called a danger to the community, his lawyer saying that he's ready for a long battle. His accuser's lawyer calling this a first step toward justice.

And back on the trail after another campaign shakeup. Just days after an apparent second attempt on former President Donald Trump's life, both candidates are heading to key swing states today. The vice president is set to speak next hour in Pennsylvania, and we're following it live.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, pagers exploding across Lebanon, killing nine injuring thousands, the targeted devices belonging to members of the militant group Hezbollah, and now Lebanon's hospitals are on high alert.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Good afternoon. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Brianna Keilar, in our nation's capital.

And in about 90 minutes, music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is expected to go before a federal judge on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, alleged criminal behavior that prosecutors say went on for decades.

And we should warn you the video that you're about to see is disturbing. The indictment that was unsealed today actually refers to this video that CNN first revealed of Combs attacking his girlfriend back in 2016.

KEILAR: And prosecutors alleged that the behavior seen here was not a singular event, but it was a pattern that Combs inflicted on -- quote -- "multiple victims," using his entire organization, the Combs Enterprise, to coordinate, fund and hide his alleged abuse.

The U.S. attorney says Combs' arrest proves that no one is above the law no matter how powerful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City. Today, he's been indicted and will face justice in the Southern District of New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the federal courthouse in New York, where Combs is expected.

And, Kara, this indictment details horrific conditions for these alleged victims who were, they say, under Combs' control.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna.

I mean, this indictment says that, going back as far as 2008, Sean "Diddy" Combs was involved in this sex trafficking operation where he was allegedly abusing women. He had them under his control. He was manipulating them through force, according to the indictment, also in having these parties.

This is what -- a key part of this indictment is describing parties that Combs had in which women were drugged, they were forced to have sex with male prostitutes. The U.S. attorney, Damian Williams, spoke about that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: As alleged, Combs used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers, some of whom he transported or caused to be transported over state lines.

Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances, which he called freak-offs, and he often electronically recorded them. The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics, such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Now, Brianna, prosecutors say that Combs did not act alone. They say that he was facilitated in both the crimes and the alleged cover-up by some of his own staff, including high-ranking officials within his organization, as well as security and household aides, some, they said, had tried to keep some of these women who had been abused from coming out and speaking forward.

Now, the U.S. attorney Damian Williams said that the investigation is ongoing both to Combs and to the individuals who they say aided him in this alleged abuse. As you said, Combs is expected to go before a judge this afternoon. His lawyer says he will plead not guilty -- Brianna, Boris.

[13:05:00] SANCHEZ: And, Kara, what else is his legal team saying?

SCANNELL: So, his lawyers say that they spent some time with Combs last night after he was arrested, and that they do expect if he is arraigned on these charges today that he will enter a plea of not guilty. They claim he is innocent.

We caught up with his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, on his way into court. Here's more of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS: I spent the evening with him. I was with him until about 1:00. His spirits are good. He's confident. He is dealing with this head on, the way that he's dealt with every challenge in his life. And he's not guilty. He's innocent of these charges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Now, as we wait for this court hearing to get under way, the big question will be whether Sean "Diddy" Combs is released on bail.

Prosecutors say he should be detained because they say not only is he a flight risk, but he is a risk to the community, saying how these allegations lay out just how dangerous he has been to women, both in the abuse that he has laid on them at hand, but then also in trying to keep them quiet and, what prosecutors say, he also tried to tamper with some of these witnesses, trying to give them a false narrative to tell authorities.

So this will be a decision that comes down to the judge, and we will learn about that coming up -- guys.

KEILAR: All right, we will be looking for that.

Kara, thank you for the report and the very latest there.

Let's bring in criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus now.

David, how strong a case do prosecutors have here?

DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, prosecutors want you to think it's really, really strong. They had this press conference. Of course, they're asking for detention. They do these things in order to sort of mold what the public perceives the case as, and to pressure the defendant.

To ask for detention for someone like Diddy seems very extreme to me and doesn't seem right. I think he should get bail in this case, and I think he probably will.

SANCHEZ: David, I wonder what you make of the indictment alleging that the Combs company, the Combs Enterprise, rather, is a criminal organization. What's the significance of that? MARKUS: Yes, they charged RICO, which is really interesting here, to

make it as a criminal organization, instead of just charging Diddy acting as an individual.

And those are very, very serious charges, and what brings it into federal court, right? Because typically when you think of a prostitution case or a sex case, usually, you see it in state court. Like, with Harvey Weinstein, that was a state court case.

But here we have the feds bringing the case and using the RICO statute as a basis to do so, which really amps up the stakes of the case.

KEILAR: And Combs' attorney said he's cooperating. The U.S. attorney questioned that comment. What do you make of that being an issue here?

MARKUS: Right.

I mean, of course, Combs wants to say that he's complying with everything, that he showed up. He came to New York. He's ready to surrender. The government wants to make him out like he's an obstructionist, like he's tampering with witnesses, so that he doesn't get a bond in the case.

And so there's going to be a big dispute about whether he gets bond, about whether he has been cooperative or not. The government has taken steps to show he has not. They executed search warrants. They arrested him at night so he had to spend the evening in jail, instead of getting a bond hearing the same day.

They're taking every aggressive step here that they can. So the government is going all out in the case.

SANCHEZ: Only Combs is actually named in this indictment. Does that give you an indication that folks inside his operation may be testifying against him or do you expect others to soon be named?

MARKUS: No question to me that the feds have gotten people to cooperate inside the organization and that they're helping the feds out. I'm sure they have pressured many people and say, we're going to charge this as an organization. You better get on board.

So I'm sure they have folks inside. I bet they also charge others or at least pressure others and say, we're going to charge unless you help us. So we may not see the end of the indictment just yet.

KEILAR: And, David, how does the indictment impact what are now 10 lawsuits against Combs?

MARKUS: Yes, of course, the civil lawsuits will try to piggyback onto this criminal case and say, look, there's criminal charges. They will want to see what happens first in the criminal case, because, if he's convicted, then their civil cases will be much stronger.

But it seems like the criminal case piggybacked a little on the first civil cases that were brought and the settlement that was made. So I think there's cooperation between both the civil and the criminal attorneys so far.

KEILAR: All right, David Oscar Markus, we have learned a lot, but clearly there is a lot more to learn here. Thank you. We appreciate it.

MARKUS: Thank you.

KEILAR: And to the race now for the White House.

Just two days after an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, he and his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, are visiting key battleground states, states that may very well decide who is going to win in November.

SANCHEZ: We have got this covered from all angles.

Let's start with the former president's campaign.

CNN's Alayna Treene is here with us.

[13:10:01]

Alayna, Trump not slowing down despite the second attempt on his life.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right.

He is moving forward with all of his scheduled campaign events. There have been no changes to that schedule in light of what unfolded on Sunday. Now, I spoke with several of Donald Trump senior advisers today and also, of course, over the last 48 hours or so. And they said, look, of course, there's going to be enhanced security measures this week.

Yesterday, we know that the acting Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe. He met with many Trump officials yesterday in Florida, but he also met directly with the former president. I was told from people who were read out on that meeting that it was a cordial meeting. It was very short, but that Rowe walked Donald Trump through different security options that they have and ones that they will make available to them.

Now, Trump's team says, even though there is expected to be enhanced security this week at these different events, they won't go into detail into what those are, but, of course, makes sense. I mean, this is a very sensitive issue right now, but they did say keep your eye out.

Tonight, Donald Trump will be in Flint, Michigan, for a town hall. It's being moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. They said, keep an eye on that event. You will maybe see some heightened security measures, especially for the reporters like me and Kristen Holmes, who are often on the events and we track these things.

But later this week, he's also -- tomorrow, he's going to Uniondale, New York. Thursday, he will be in Washington, D.C., Saturday, North Carolina, so still an aggressive schedule. And just one thing, though, I think, I want to make very clear here is that what we're seeing now is Donald Trump acting very differently in light of what happened on Sunday compared to what happened in the aftermath of Butler.

We saw back then that Donald Trump and his team had called for unity. Donald Trump himself said that he was a changed man. This time, he's been much more immediate in trying to cast the blame on Democrats and using the rhetoric of saying their rhetoric is what has led to some of these assassination attempts or apparent assassination attempts.

And so I think you will hear a lot of that rhetoric this week.

KEILAR: All right, Alayna, thank you for the update.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live in Philadelphia, where, next hour, Vice President Kamala Harris will be having a conversation with the National Association of Black Journalists.

Priscilla, what is the Harris campaign saying ahead of this event?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is going to be the first time that we see the vice president since that incident on Sunday.

Now, we have heard from her through a statement where she condemned political violence in the immediate aftermath of that attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, but also in a radio interview, she said -- quote -- "Violence of any kind is unacceptable."

Now, what we know from the campaign is that they do not want to make this political in any way, but it will be notable to hear from the vice president directly on the stage here about this incident.

Now, of course, this is an interview that follows one -- that in late July that former President Donald Trump did with the National Association of Black Journalists. If you recall, it was then that the former president called into question the vice president's racial identity.

Now, up until this point, the vice president has really chalked this up to the same old tire playbook by the former president. So we will see if she goes any deeper on that today when put in a similar setting that the former president was in.

Now, the campaign, their focus today is really on making an aggressive push for young voters on National Voter Registration Day. They have announced plans to be on college campuses, to be online to try to get younger voters registered to vote and also backing their campaign.

Now, I will tell you that they are quite excited about an endorsement that came in and over the last hour by Billie Eilish. She endorsed the vice president's campaign. And the campaign tells me they were aware that she was preparing to do that and that all of it is part of this broader effort to get younger voters registered to vote.

Now, the vice president later this week also headed to Michigan and Wisconsin, two states that President Joe Biden only narrowly won in 2020, so a big push this week for voter registration, but also for her to have this unscripted moment here with the National Association of Black Journalists.

SANCHEZ: We will make sure to bring you those remarks as they happen.

Priscilla Alvarez live for us in Philadelphia.

So Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced today that the state is launching its own investigation into the apparent attempted assassination of former President Trump. The suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was already charged with two gun-related felonies yesterday in federal court.

KEILAR: Today, though, DeSantis casts doubt on the federal government's ability to fairly investigate the threat to Trump and says the state may be able to file stronger charges against the suspect.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is with us now.

Carlos, what do we know about this new Florida investigation and the status of new potential charges, since some of them seem pretty clear that they would be explicitly federal?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right., Brianna and Boris.

I think it's important to note that the two gun-related charges, the federal charges against the 58-year-old were sought after by prosecutors all in an effort to make sure that the accused here remains in jail as their investigation plays out.

[13:15:07]

In other words, as that federal investigation continues, it's possible that the 58-year-old would see more serious charges filed against him. Now, at a news conference this morning in announcing the state investigation, Governor DeSantis said that the investigation is going to be head up by Florida's attorney general and that they could possibly go after Ryan Routh here on an attempted murder charge here.

He said that the state of Florida has a jurisdiction, not only here in Palm Beach County, but as well as Martin County, where the accused was taken into custody. Here now is a bit of what the governor said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The suspect, Ryan Routh, is believed to have committed state law violations across multiple judicial circuits in the state.

The state of Florida has jurisdiction over the most serious, straightforward offense, which is attempted murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SUAREZ: All right, so in the governor's announcement this morning, he was also joined by the sheriff of Palm Beach County, as well as Martin County.

And it's worth noting that both of these sheriffs are also working closely with the FBI, as well as the Secret Service and the federal investigation into what happened out here on Sunday -- Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Carlos, thank you so much for that report.

Now, we are following a developing story out of Lebanon. This is some kind of story, exploding pagers targeting members of Hezbollah, reportedly killing several people and injuring thousands. The militant group is now vowing to retaliate.

Plus, State Troopers on patrol at schools across Springfield, Ohio, after dozens of bomb threats over the past week, those threats coming after former President Trump and J.D. Vance pushed baseless claims about Haitian migrants. CNN is live in Springfield with the latest.

SANCHEZ: And Democrats scheduling a vote for today on a bill that would guarantee access to in vitro fertilization nationwide, their latest attempt to try to force Republicans into a defensive stance on reproductive rights.

Stay with us. We will be right back.

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SANCHEZ: We're following new developments out of Lebanon, where officials say at least nine people were killed and thousands injured after an attack targeting the pagers belonging to members of the militant group Hezbollah.

Nearly 200 people are in critical condition with injuries to their hands, abdomen areas and faces. Hezbollah says two of its members died in the blasts. And Iranian state media is reporting that the country's ambassador to Lebanon is among those who were hurt.

Meantime, Hezbollah is vowing revenge, saying that it holds Israel fully responsible for what it's describing as a sinful assault. So far, there's been no comment from Israel's military on this incident.

Let's bring in CNN's senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem and CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

Thank you both for being with us.

John, first to you.

What more can you tell us about what happened?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, what we know is about 2,800 -- and that number could go up of these people who were injured -- were standing around people who were wearing these pagers.

Now, these were targeted at members of Hezbollah. Who uses a pager? This is something that Hezbollah started doing because they believe that their phones had been compromised in terms of intercepts by Israeli intelligence. So this was a way to communicate, they thought, securely.

These pagers started exploding. And before we go to the video, just warn people this is a little graphic and may be disturbing, but these were people on street corners. They were people in stores. Here's a man in the supermarket. The pager appears to be in his bag or on his belt. It explodes. He goes down and he doesn't get up.

The people around him do not appear to be injured. These pagers all seem to go off at about the same time. Watch the man who is about to pay at this counter. He's standing there. He reads a message coming in on the pager and then it functions.

So that suggests to us that the detonation was sent as a message. There he is looking at it, and then the device functions. So this is extraordinarily remarkable in terms of tradecraft. And Hezbollah, logically so, is blaming the Israelis for this attack.

SANCHEZ: Juliette, I didn't know pagers could explode like that. How does one carry out an attack like this?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: OK, so we -- the details are unknown, but there are limited range of possibilities.

So just to explain, as John was saying, Hezbollah had moved to an unsophisticated communications platform. They need to communicate to plan their terrorism and did so to get off of public systems. OK, so the irony here is that lack of sophistication led to today, because these pagers with their lithium batteries, which appear to have overheated in some way.

We don't know how. At the same time, did not pick up that they were overheating. Those of us with cell phones know your cell phone turns off when it overheats. So they're not sophisticated enough to read it. So then they just detonate.

The big question, and I have been talking to law enforcement sources in Lebanon, is, you only have two options. It's either software or hardware, right?

[13:25:04]

It's either malware that gets in that's going to increase the lithium battery, have it overheat and detonate or -- and this seems sort of incredible -- but did Israel get into the hardware through the supply chain, put something in it that then they detonate, Israel or whoever did it, and then they detonate?

On the Israel question, obviously, they're not going to take credit for it. There's almost no other entity that has both the means, capability and desire to do what happened. And so that we talk about Israel is legitimate in this instance, especially since yesterday Israel said that they were going to address their northern border issue because they want Israelis to be able to move back there.

SANCHEZ: John, to your knowledge, which scenario seems more likely, that somehow the supply chain was tapped or that remotely these devices were set off?

Because you imagine that if that's the case, this kind of thing could be replicated with other devices, no?

MILLER: Well, and that is part of the motive behind an operation like this, which is to -- this is meant to tear Hezbollah apart from the top and from the bottom, indicating we have compromised your supply chain, we have compromised your procurement process, we can get to thousands of you with the press of a single button at the day and time and moment of our choosing.

So when you look at this operation, from the Hezbollah leadership, they have to be asking, where did we buy these? Who was the vendor? Is it a vendor we have used before? From the espionage standpoint, you have to say, did they manufacture a device, create a company, pose as a Lebanese vendor, sell it to Hezbollah?

Or, as Juliette said, did they interrupt the supply chain, get the delivery before it went to Hezbollah, change the internal workings, which is, they had to put a small amount of high explosives inside, they had to put an initiator inside, and then the software that would accept that command detonation simultaneously for thousands?

It is truly unlike anything we have ever seen before on this scale, and I think Hezbollah has received the message and will literally be looking within itself to figure out, how did this happen to us? How did we let it?

SANCHEZ: Juliette, I wonder if you're surprised that Iran's ambassador to Lebanon was injured, as were two employees of the Iranian embassy.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: You laugh, but that is a significant detail in the story, isn't it?

KAYYEM: No, I mean, they have some explaining -- I was saying earlier they have some explaining to do, why that -- if this is a dedicated pager line or pager capacity, the fact that the Iranian diplomats are in possession of it is proof of what we have long known, which is that the ties between the Iranians and Hezbollah are not tangential.

They are direct. They are -- I think that's that -- so while they're complaining about their diplomats being harmed or injured, they are also exposing the connectivity between the terrorist organization and the Iranians. And just picking up on what John said, this -- look, you go after

terrorist groups through a number of ways. We have seen the leadership being -- trying to take out in Hamas, including in Iran, as we saw earlier. Going after the communications network is the single most effective ploy or activity that a country can do, because, one, it leads to paranoia and suspicion about how they will communicate.

They can't plan. They don't know who's alive, who's dead, where everyone is. They don't know how to address people or how to regroup. It is not a coincidence that it's the communication system that Israel went after, as it also goes after single individual leadership.

SANCHEZ: Juliette Kayyem, John Miller, appreciate the perspective. Thanks.

MILLER: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

KAYYEM: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead: security ramped up for schools in Springfield, Ohio, yet again after dozens of bomb threats, many apparently from foreign countries and linked to false claims by former President Trump and J.D. Vance about Haitian migrants.

We will take you there live in just moments.

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