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Indictment alleges Sean Diddy Combs' staff helped him conceal crimes for years; Vice President Harris speaks with National Association of Black Journalists; Ohio State Troopers patrol Springfield Schools after threats. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 17, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: This hour, Sean Diddy Combs set to appear in a Manhattan Courtroom accused of running a criminal enterprise with prosecutors alleging that he, quote, "abused, threatened and coerced victims" over the past 15 plus years. His lawyer is vowing to fight the charges.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a swing state swing. Both presidential candidates visiting states essential to victory in November. Vice President Kamala Harris speaking this hour in Pennsylvania while former President Donald Trump heads to Michigan just two days after an apparent assassination attempt. And there is fallout from the lies about Springfield, Ohio.

Now, the mayor says he and his family are getting death threats after the baseless accusations against the city's migrant community. We're going to speak to him live about those threats as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: Here, in just about 30 minutes, Sean Diddy Combs is set to be in court and could find out whether he is forced to stay in jail while he -- while the stunning new criminal case against him plays out. This morning, New York prosecutors laid out a sweeping indictment against the celebrity rap mogul, accusing him of racketeering, sex trafficking, and other crimes dating back decades. Prosecutors say Combs used his entire organization to force women to perform sex acts with prostitutes.

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DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S, ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Combs allegedly planned and control the sex performances, which he called freak-offs. And he often electronically recorded them. The freak-off sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers and often involved a variety of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Authorities showed some of the items that they say were seized from Combs's properties, including three AR15s, one with its serial number obscured. CNN Correspondent Kara Scannell is outside the federal courthouse in New York. Kara, what are we expecting to happen during this appearance?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we're expecting this to take place just a short time from now. Sean Diddy Combs will appear in court for the first time and go before a judge. Now, this main question here today, this issue before them, is whether he will be released on any bail. And a prosecutor said that he should be detained because they said not only is he a flight risk, but he also has a long history of violence toward women, all laid out in that indictment. They also say he has access to weapons, some of those that you mentioned and that ties into that. And that he also, as part of these charges, has tried to intimidate some witnesses, telling them to come up with a false narrative if they were questioned by prosecutors.

But then one of the main things that they laid out here was also his access to money. What prosecutors wrote in the court filing was that Diddy has access to dozens of bank accounts, some personal and many under corporate entities, which contain millions of dollars. The defendant's vast resources make him a flight risk even without a passport, private plane, or multiple residences.

Now, Diddy's lawyers have offered up a bail package of about $50 million that would be backed by some of his homes, including a mansion in Miami. That will all be up for the judge to decide. Now, his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, we caught up with him before he walked into court today. He said that if his client is asked to enter a plea, he will plead not guilty to these charges. Here's more of what Diddy's attorney said.

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN DIDDY COMBS: I spent the evening with him. I was with him until about one o'clock. His spirits are good. He's confident. He is dealing with this head on the way he's dealt with every challenge in his life. And he's not guilty.

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He's innocent of these charges.

SCANNELL: Now, ultimately, it will be up to the judge to decide whether Diddy is a flight risk or whether he will release him on some kind of condition that would satisfy the concerns that prosecutors have. All of that will be discussed and argued in court. It's unclear yet if Diddy will be asked to enter a plea and be arraigned on these charges. If so, his lawyers have said he will plead not guilty. Brianna, Boris?

KEILAR: All right. Kara Scannell, live for us from New York. Thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: We're also following a number of developments in the investigation into the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump and the race for the White House. Today, Trump returns to the campaign trail for the first time since that attempt on his life over the weekend. He's going to be in the battleground state of Michigan for a rally this evening, a town hall, so to speak. It comes as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced today that the state is now launching its own investigation into the apparent assassination attempt.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is following all of this for us. So Carlos, what can you tell us about this new state investigation? How it differs from the federal one?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, part of the Florida Governor's rationale for calling for this state investigation is that the state of Florida right now, according to him at least, can charge 58-year-old Ryan Routh with attempted murderer that -- attempted murder, rather, that is a more serious charge than the one-- the ones that the 58-year-old is currently facing in federal court.

Now, it is important to note that those two gun-related charges in federal court were sought by prosecutors, all in an effort to make sure that Routh remains in jail as they continue their investigation. In other words, it's possible that federal prosecutors could come back with additional charges against Routh.

Now, DeSantis, at a news conference this morning, said that the state of Florida has jurisdiction to file some these charges in at least two counties, one here in West Palm where the incident took place, and another up in Martin County where the accused was taken into custody. Boris?

SANCHEZ: And Carlos, I understand that Trump actually met with the deputies that captured Routh. What was that meeting like?

SUAREZ: Yeah, that's exactly right. So in about the last hour or so, we learned from the Trump campaign folks, and we should have video of that, of the former President meeting with the deputies that arrested Ryan Routh yesterday about an hour north of where we are here in West Palm Beach. We learned yesterday that it took deputies about 22 minutes from the moment that the be on the lookout went out after that incident in order for them to spot this car that Ruth was in and then make that arrest.

In fact, yesterday we saw some of this, pretty dramatic body camera video showing these deputies lined up behind a cardinal making their way closer and closer to Routh and then eventually taking him in to custody. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Carlos Suarez, thank you so much for the update from West Palm Beach. Want to take you now live to Flint, Michigan, the side of that Trump campaign event later today with CNN's Kristen Holmes, who's there for us. Kristen, what should we anticipate from tonight's event?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, tonight as a town hall, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Governor of Arkansas, former Press Secretary, is going to be moderating it. Donald Trump's campaign has done one of these before with Tulsi Gabbard. Essentially, he speaks anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, and then he takes questions from voters. That's the actual event.

Now, in terms of what we're going to see with ramped up security, that is one of our big questions. As we have reported, Donald Trump's team says the show must go on, that they're going to continue to campaign as though nothing happened on Sunday. Keep up with the same case. They had this event scheduled. They have another event in Washington, D.C., another event in Wilmington, North Carolina. And they do say that there have been some changes in security protocol.

But Boris, one of the biggest questions we have is how exactly they could ramp up security even more than they already had before that first assassination attempt or after, excuse me, that first assassination kept in Butler, Pennsylvania. I have been to a number of rallies after that happened. And it has been such an increase in security, not just the fact that you can see, physically see, the amount of U.S. secret service on the property the agents have increased.

You can also see the local law enforcement. There are more law enforcement, more street closures, more people blocking off areas around the venue. It is unclear how they can make that even more secure than it already was, particularly given that he's already inside of a building. But the team says that they're going to do that. So when we go inside shortly here, we're going to keep an eye out for how exactly it seems to be that they've ramped up the security here.

But again, we are looking at a time period in which Donald Trump was really one of the most protected people in the entire country. So how they can protect him even further after what we saw on Sunday remains to be seen.

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SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. We are also just moments away from hearing from Vice President Kamala Harris. She is hitting the campaign trail today in Philadelphia. Harris preparing to have a conversation with the National Association of Black Journalists, Pennsylvania, of course, a key state in this presidential race. Joining us now from Capitol Hill, we have Democratic Congresswoman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Madeleine Dean.

Congresswoman, Trump blamed this apparent assassination attempt, and just to be clear, that is the official term the FBI is using, an apparent assassination attempt. Trump blamed it on Biden and Harris's rhetoric. It's almost certain that Harris is going to be asked about this today. What do you want to hear from her?

MADELEINE DEAN, MEMBER, TASK FORCE INVESTIGATING TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN JULY: Well, first, let me say that I'm shocked and stunned that just nine weeks after the July 13th attempted assassination of the former President in Butler, Pennsylvania, here we are again with another attempted assassination, apparent attempted assassination has to be investigated. How a man was on that property adjacent, so close to the golf course where the President was golfing. It is stunning. It is shocking. It is sobering. I'm on the task force, as you know. It is a bipartisan task force created and mandated by Congress in a unanimous vote, 416 to nothing to get at the truth.

So when I hear the former President make statements, sweeping statements, without any evidence as to who is to blame, I ask for caution. I am so thankful that he was not injured, that no one was injured in this case. But we must not leap to conclusions. It is our words that matter. And it is words that can incite violence. There is no place for political violence. And there is no place for naming people as guilty of something when you have absolutely no evidence.

Democratic Senator Blumenthal says that he's, quote, "on the verge of outrage with DHS for refusing to provide documents and evidence in the Senate investigation into the first attempt," does this mirror your experience as a member of the congressional task force?

DEAN: Well, we have done document production, requested documents, and we have gotten thousands of pages of documents. I am not up-to-date on what it is the Senator has asked for and what has been denied to him. But we are working well. You know that this task force, both the minority and majority sides, are staffed up. Our mission is the same whether you are talking to Chairman Kelly or Ranking Member Jason Crow. It is to get at the truth to find out what went wrong. We will also find out things that went right, but to also find out how do we make sure, moving forward from that day forward, that every one of the protectees has the maximum protection and we find out the glitches, whether it is in communications, whether it is in oversight, whether it is in coordination with local law enforcement, whether it is in site selection and so many other things. So I'm not sure what the Senator is referring to, but we are getting the production of tremendous number of documents and data.

KEILAR: How big of a solution in terms of your recommendations are you prepared to make? For instance, Senator Lindsey Graham is actually calling for treasury to take the Secret Service out from DHS. Do you agree with that?

DEAN: I would not prejudge what our recommendations are going to be. As you know, we have a monumental task to take a look at this assassination attempt from July. I'm not sure whether or not two days ago's attempted assassin -- apparent attempted assassination will be consolidated into our work. Our mandate is to have a report by December 13th. And what I can tell you is it will be complete. We will uncover everything we can possibly uncover, tell what went wrong. We already know. And Secret Service has said, A, they are ultimately responsible for the safety of their protectees, and B, that there were serious communications failures. We're prepared to make recommendations for whatever is needed. And rather than move the Department out of treasury, we have to make sure they are properly resourced here.

Here we are just days away from a budget deadline and we have not passed budget bills. So what I want to hear from the majority here is, what do you need, Secret Service, to keep people safe and to do your job as well as you possibly can? KEILAR: I do want to focus on your home state of Pennsylvania. So

crucial. This is where Vice President Harris is today. The state Supreme Court actually ruled on Friday that counties can reject mail ballots over missing or incorrect dates. The AP reports that this could mean more than 10,000 ballots thrown out, which could impact the outcome of the presidential race. This was not purely a republican decision.

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This was a split decision between Republicans and Democrats on the court. Do you understand the decision?

DEAN: I haven't read the decision, no, you're reporting it to me. I've actually been talking with our Secretary of State about the importance of making sure every single ballot, legitimate ballot, is cast and counted. And so I haven't read that decision. But to your point about Pennsylvania, we are the Keystone state again in this election cycle. That's why you see so much attention being paid. My district, my constituents, care desperately about this upcoming election cycle. And as you say, if 10,000 votes are tossed out, it could be a problem.

For example, in 2016, Mr. Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes across the entire commonwealth. In 2020, Mr. Biden won by 80,000 votes. So that is just a few votes per precinct. So every vote counts, and I want every correct, by correct, I mean legitimate vote to be counted. And I have a confidence. I have confidence in my counties, Montgomery and Berks Counties, that they will do this job diligently and well, and make sure every vote is counted.

KEILAR: Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, thank you so much for your time.

DEAN: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: After dozens of bomb threats and some death threats, security beefed up all around Springfield, Ohio. The threats follow former President Trump and Senator J.D. Vance's baseless claims of migrants eating people's pets. And we're now hearing from the Governor that at least some of these may have originated overseas. We'll be speaking to the Mayor about the residents on edge next. And then later, after years under scrutiny, Instagram is making big changes for teenagers on the platform. We're going to tell you what they are. You're watching CNN News Central. We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: Grade schools across Springfield, Ohio, are back open today with added security measures in place after dozens of bomb threats this past week. 36 troopers are going to be monitoring all 17 schools starting today. and they will stay on campuses until after dismissal. Tower cameras and bomb sniffing dogs have also been deployed. This is Springfield's new reality in the wake of unfounded allegations by former President Trump and his running mate, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, that the town's Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating family pets. According to Ohio's Governor, schools in Springfield have gotten more than 30 bomb threats since late last week. For more on all of this, we're joined now by the Mayor of Springfield, Rob Rue.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us. I want to ask you about something that Ohio's Governor, Mike DeWine wrote in and a statement saying that a lot of these threats are coming from overseas. Do you know if these threats have come exclusively from abroad?

ROB RUE, MAYOR OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: I think I'll just lean on what the Governor has already stated that, you know, we sense that the threats are coming overseas. And that's the information that we feel comfortable sharing right now.

SANCHEZ: I understand that you also personally got some threats. No specific country was named in the Governor's statement. But I'm wondering if you know where these threats are coming from, if you could share that with us?

RUE: no, I don't specifically know or would I be comfortable with sharing, other than the fact that, you know, when they mentioned myself and my family, and other community leaders, it's definitely a deep concern and something I never thought I'd have to deal with.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, I can imagine. The governor said that the threats have not had any validity at all yet the Ohio State Highway Patrol has been deployed to monitor schools. And obviously, I imagine that you are probably considering some kind of enhanced protection. Are you concerned that someone is going to act out on these threats?

RUE: Anytime there's threats, I think it's always a concern that somebody would act out. I think the City of Springfield has taken measures to enhance our security within the air, and we're doing that right now. It's important that we make sure that our leaders are secure and that our community buildings, our city buildings are secure.

SANCHEZ: It struck me that among these threats, some individual students at Wittenberg University were named as targets. Do you know why they were named? And how confident are you that these students can be protected?

RUE: I'm very confident they could be protected. This is, you know, the reason the governor says this is a hoax is because these are what I understand to learn as a swatting program, where information is put together in emails and sent out. Not that they're not a deep concern, but it's something that they're just paying attention to everything. That's why there's so many resources that the State of Ohio is committed to Springfield, to, you know, secure our community, secure our schools. And it's important that we don't bend a need to fear. And we make sure that we, you know, focus on community safety as well as moving forward from this time.

SANCHEZ: On that note about not bending in need of fear, what do you think the long lasting effect of this episode is going to be on your community?

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RUE: Well, when the interview requests are long over and Springfield is forgotten from the season, we are going to be left with a situation to secure, to clean up, and to bring our community together. We are a resilient community. We will come through this. We are a strong community with a community with a grit that we've overcome a lot of things within our community. We have community problems like every other one does. But we are strong, and we'll come together to work through this for sure.

SANCHEZ: Do you feel that your community is in a better place now given these unfounded stories coming to light? Because Senator J. D. Vance said that he used these stories to bring attention to, in his words, the problems of Haitian migration in Springfield. Do you think the city is better off now for those efforts?

RUE: Could you redefine what those efforts would be so I could tell you if we're better off?

SANCHEZ: Sure. I mean, in his words, and --

RUE: That's part of my (inaudible).

SANCHEZ: I see what you're getting at. Yeah. I think -- I just want to get your perspective on the idea that making these accusations has brought attention, wanted attention to the problems of Springfield, because it doesn't seem like school closures and threats on the mayor and others actually does that, accomplishes that goal.

RUE: It's brought a lot of negative attention to our community. One of the reasons that I'm talking to you and doing other interviews is because I find myself in a place to make sure that you are listening to the real and true story of Springfield. Do we have concerns? Yes. Have we had infrastructure strain because the immigrants that have come into town. Yes, yes, yes. I'm not denying the concerns and problems that we've had, but we are a community of resilience, and we are a good community. We are a beautiful city. We're not a horrible city. We're not falling apart. We have strain and stress, and we're trying to figure it out. But none of this attention that has been brought upon Springfield, Ohio, is helping us.

We only have troops, state troopers here now at the level we have because of the threats we've received in the last five -- I think we're going on five or six days of continuous threats. We were not receiving threats before at this level when we were highlighted on the national stage. Now, we have threats. Now, we're having to respond. This is costing the city. This is -- you know, we're definitely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars of expense. We haven't calculated the overtime. The contracts that need to be secured to be able to secure and communicate, take care of our city, and then just -- you know, we haven't even seen the cost of the state resources that had to be sent to a city like ours or any other city that would be put under this light and shut under this negativity that we have to make sure that things are secure. I don't mean to repeat myself, but those are the expenses that we now have over the last six days that we did not have seven days ago. SANCHEZ: It sounds like this episode has only caused further strain. I

hope it gets cleared up soon. And like you said, you can look forward to a day where Springfield isn't known for this sort of thing. Mayor Rob Rue, thank you so much for sharing your time with us.

RUE: Thanks for having me on.

SANCHEZ: Of course. At any moment on CNN, Vice President Kamala Harris is going to speak in Pennsylvania, a key state in this election cycle. It's likely needed to win the White House. And she's going to be speaking to members of the National Association of Black Journalists. Remember, two months ago, Donald Trump at their convention had a contentious appearance in which he questioned whether Harris used her racial identity to her advantage.

She's likely going to be asked about that. We'll carry her response in her remarks when we come back.

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