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Lawyers Propose Restricting Women Visitors To Get Combs Bail; Fed Cut Key Rate By Half A Percentage Point; Powell: Rate Cut Goal To Keep Labor Market In "Solid Condition"; Rate Cuts Could Bring Some Relief For Home Buyers; Teamsters Union Won't Endorse Candidate In Presidential Race; Lebanon Officials: Walkie-Talkie Blasts Kill 14, Injure 450 Plus. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 18, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:49]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Minutes from now, Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected back in court to appeal his bail denial. His attorneys trying to prevent him from spending another night in a detention center that they describe as having horrific conditions.

And after four long years, the Fed makes an aggressive rate cut, a milestone in its fight against inflation, what this all means for everything from credit card debt to the housing market.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And from exploding pagers to detonating walkie-talkies, the death toll is climbing as a fresh wave of detonated devices break out across Lebanon. We're going to take you there live as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: This hour, Sean 'Diddy' Combs is going to be asking for bail again from the judge overseeing his racketeering and sex trafficking case. He's appealing a different judge's bail denial yesterday, forcing Diddy to spend the night inside the same squalid jail that once held other famous defendants like R. Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Yesterday, Combs pleaded not guilty to serious and salacious allegations that for years he forced women into sex parties with male prostitutes. And as part of a new bail proposal, his attorneys are offering to let more restrictions be placed on their client, including one that would bar most women from visiting the music magnate, whose net worth, Forbes estimates, is at least $400 million.

We have CNN Correspondent Kara Scannell standing by outside the New York federal courthouse. Kara, what are you learning about the hearing happening minutes from now?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, Sean Combs' attorneys arrived just a few moments ago heading up those stairs into the courthouse. And when this gets underway shortly, his lawyers are expected to argue again for Combs' release. This, as you said, is going to be before the judge who will be overseeing this trial. Yesterday's was before the magistrate's judge.

She denied him bail, in part because she said the crimes he's alleged to have committed occurred behind closed doors, and she could think of no conditions that would satisfy her that they would not continue to happen behind closed doors without any monitoring. And that's what you see in this proposed bail package today. Combs' attorney is trying to address that.

One of the main things that he's proposing is home detention, a $50 million bond, but also the restriction on any females visiting him. And that would be females that are not the mother of his children or any relatives. He's also proposing to have no visitors come to the home unless they're caretakers, family members or friends who are not co-conspirators in this racketeering conspiracy. Also suggesting that he have weekly drug testing and that a visitor log be maintained at his homes and given to pretrial services at the end of every day so they could check who is coming and going.

Now, prosecutors are likely to oppose this. They strenuously oppose giving him any bail yesterday, saying he's a danger to the community based on the charges that he's facing, the violent charges, the sexual assault charges, but also because they say he has - had a cache of weapons in his home that they found when the agents from the Homeland Security Investigations searched his L.A. and Miami homes earlier this year. And also because they say he is already reaching out to witnesses who have been subpoenaed by the grand jury and trying to influence their testimony, telling the judge yesterday that he was feeding certain witnesses a false narrative to tell investigators. That's one of their key concerns, that he would be obstructing this investigation, which the U.S. Attorney said is active and ongoing.

So this will all be unfolding shortly. Combs will be brought back into the courtroom. He will face the judge who will be overseeing this case and the lawyers will go back and forth. Ultimately, it'd be up to the judge to decide whether he thinks there are any conditions that would assure that Combs would return to future court appearances and that would not continue to, as the prosecutors put it, obstruct this investigation. It will be in the hands of that judge. We'll see how it plays out shortly. Brianna?

[15:05:00]

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

SANCHEZ: We're following some breaking news. An aggressive move by the Federal Reserve, cutting interest rates by half a percentage point. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell spoke just moments ago, making it clear that inflation has improved enough that it can now take a back seat and the Fed will make the jobs market its first priority. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The labor market is actually in solid condition. And our intention with our policy move today is to keep it there. You can say that about the whole economy. The U.S. economy is in good shape. It's growing at a solid pace. Inflation is coming down. The labor market is in a strong pace. We want to keep it there. That's what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN Business Editor-at-Large and host of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, Richard Quest, is here to break it all down for us. Richard, what did you make of Powell's assessment of the economy and how the Fed is now going to handle it?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Well, it's interesting, isn't it? I mean, a quarter point was expected. A half a point, it's not panic, but it is concern. And it's the Fed basically saying things are okay, but we are more worried about the unemployment side, the job side, the full employment side of our mandate than we are about inflation, which is coming down very nicely and will hit target next year.

And one other point, Boris, they are expecting multiple cuts this year if you look at the so-called dot plot. So the Fed's just getting started in this era of easing, which begins today. Whether or not you think the Fed is being timely and trying to prevent being behind the curve, as Jerome Powell says, or today is actually a reflection of being behind the curve, we really won't know for a bit longer. But certainly, I think you summed it up, aggressive is the word.

SANCHEZ: And Richard, we initially saw a big response from the stock market.

QUEST: Yes.

SANCHEZ: How do they look now?

QUEST: Well, you know, the initial reaction from the stock market is a classic children with sugar rush candy. I mean, that's literally what you saw. Hey, the candy, the sugars arrived. Off we go to the races. And then more mature reflection. Well, hang on, is he signaling that things are a bit more tougher than we expected? Are things going to be a bit more sluggish? Is the economy going to slow down more than we realize? And that's why sober comments are now coming in.

Overall, what does this mean for you, Boris? It means that if you're borrowing money, that will get cheaper. If you're saving money, your interest rate will get less. But overall, the U.S. economy is by far in the best condition of any of the major global Western economies.

SANCHEZ: Richard Quest, appreciate you breaking that down for us and specifically what it means for me personally, too. I appreciate that. Richard, thanks so much.

So lower interest rates, good news for the housing market. Let's discuss with Josh Flagg, a real estate agent and the star of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.

Josh, thanks so much for being with us. How does this affect home buyers?

JOSH FLAGG, "MILLION DOLLAR LISTING LOS ANGELES" SHOW: Well, it's fantastic because now it's cheaper to borrow money. And what does that translate to? It means that people can afford to now buy houses with mortgage rates lower.

The only - this could be a very good thing. The only thing that would not make this a good thing is if sellers start to think, oh, well, great, mortgage rates are cheaper. I can just raise the price on my house. That's not going to work. And that's what people are going to immediately think. Or they're going to think, oh, well, you know, prices have been fair this whole time, people just couldn't afford it. But now they can, so let's keep it at the price.

People just need to come down a little bit and not be as selfish - I'm talking about sellers - and then the buyers will come.

KEILAR: And house inventory right now, because you have to consider that as well with interest rates for how the housing market is for prospective buyers.

FLAGG: Well, that's the thing. I mean, this is the first time we've ever had a down market where there's been relatively no inventory. I mean, ironically, I mean, when you have a down market, you know, there's usually more inventory than this. There's usually like, you know, people that are desperate or, you know, it's just - there's no inventory. That's the problem.

So hopefully now that prices are going - hopefully now that the rates have gone down a little bit, it'll now make sellers that didn't want to put their houses on the market because they think that they can't sell their house. Now it'll make them put their houses on the market. There's only good things can happen from this. We've been taking a long time.

SANCHEZ: Yes. What about folks that are considering selling their homes? How does this now affect them when they try to weigh that calculus of whether they can potentially increase the price? You're saying that's a bad idea.

[15:10:00]

FLAGG: No, it's a horrible idea because they're already - the houses are overpriced. See, the problem in Los Angeles specifically is there's not a line around the block for people to buy houses and the sellers are still not reducing their prices to what market rate is. They're - in fact, they're overpriced.

So, if anything, I mean, worst case scenario, leave the price as is, but really what they should do is lower the prices, but raising the prices would make absolutely no sense because it's not that houses are all of a sudden undervalued when the interest rates go down because there's more buyers. They just weren't priced correctly to begin with. They - now people need to take advantage of this and just become real sellers. That's the problem we have is we don't have realistic sellers. There's - and the problem is that we don't have buyers because it's been unaffordable.

KEILAR: Yes, fair market value. They have to do an honest assessment of what that is.

So for people who did decide at the height of these interest rates, you know what, I don't have a choice. Maybe they were moving military families, for example, don't have a choice. Maybe they had to buy and they - they're kind of stuck with that interest rate. When do you think they might be looking at getting a break from that tough interest rate?

FLAGG: Well, I would assume relatively soon and then they're going to be able to refinance their homes. I mean, this is not going to be the only cut. There's going to be more cuts, you know, coming along, too. So, you know, it's - very shortly, I would assume that people are going to - it's going to become more affordable for - especially the people that have already purchased.

KEILAR: All right. Josh, thank you so much. I know this is on the minds of so many people who, you know, they need - they're going to that next house. They've been `stymied by this market or their perspective first time homebuyers, and we appreciate your insights.

GLAGG: Yes, it's not that that's - it was such a huge thing that happened today. It's only huge because it's showing that that's the way we're going. You know, that's why it's important. This is the first time since, you know, before COVID, there's been a cut like this.

KEILAR: Yes, it's the trajectory, maybe not this particular singular step.

Thanks, Josh. We appreciate it.

FLAGG: Yes.

KEILAR: And still ahead, wireless devices exploding in Lebanon for the second straight day. Yesterday was pagers. Now, at least 14 people killed in walkie-talkie explosions. We are live tracking the aftermath.

SANCHEZ: Plus, Sean 'Diddy' Combs back in court this hour fighting to get out of jail after being denied on racketeering and sex trafficking charges? We're going to talk to a defense attorney about the case.

And the new study shows the major health benefits of weight loss drugs. They aren't just helping people drop pounds, how they could also help save them from heart attacks and strokes. We'll be right back.

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[15:17:09] KEILAR: We have breaking news. The Teamsters union will not endorse either candidate in this year's presidential race. Unions, a critical part, of course, of President Biden's winning coalition four years ago. But this year, the Teamsters' president spoke at the Republican National Convention putting support in doubt. The union represents 1.6 million workers and retirees.

Let's talk about it with CNN's Kayla Tausche. Kayla, this is something that hasn't happened in decades.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It hasn't happened since 1996, Brianna. And you mentioned that this was - unions were a critical component of President Biden's winning coalition back in 2020. And Democrats had hoped that once again, especially after the policies put forth by the Biden-Harris administration, that it would be an easy win for Vice President Harris.

Now, she has secured the endorsements for most major union leaders. But this one was always outstanding. And around the time of the Republican National Convention, when Sean O'Brien, the leader of the Teamsters, took the stage to deliver remarks. Stakeholders at the time were suggesting that Teamsters officials had been saying behind the scenes that they could remain neutral in this year's race.

Remember, union leaders themselves have a political calculus to make within their own organizations. They are elected in many cases and they have to keep their membership happy. And in many of these cases, they've waited until their own internal polls showed exactly how their rank-and-file members felt before they came out with their endorsement. And many of those polls were conducted in recent months.

The Teamsters' poll, which was conducted over the course of six months, with sort of a fast track in the last month when Harris became the candidate, showed overwhelming support for former President Trump in many cases. But in the statement that the Teamsters put out just a few moments ago, they nodded to specific proposals that they were unable to clinch with either candidate as the reason for remaining neutral.

Sean O'Brien, who's the president of the Teamsters, saying, "Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business." He goes on to say, "We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries - and to honor our members' right to strike - but were unable to secure those pledges."

And to many following this situation is - it's not necessarily a surprise, given that this position had been more or less telegraphed for the last few months, but they had dangled the possibility of a change in that stance, inviting Vice President Harris to many roundtables with rank-and-file members to try to have these discussions with her, only to have the end conclusion be the same. Brianna?

KEILAR: Kayla Tausche, live for us at the White House, thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: We have new developments now out of Lebanon, where health officials say at least 14 people have died and more than 450 are injured after walkie-talkies exploded across the country.

[15:20:01]

New video obtained by CNN shows anger spilling out onto the streets in the aftermath of the blasts as people were throwing rocks at vehicles belonging to UNIFIL, the United Nations interim force in Lebanon.

This is the second day in a row that wireless devices have detonated there. Yesterday, hundreds of pagers exploded in a complex operation against Hezbollah, killing a dozen and injuring thousands.

Earlier, Israel appeared to give its first public acknowledgement that its security forces were behind the pager blasts. The country's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, saying, quote, "We're at the beginning of a new era in this war and we need to adapt."

CNN Senior International Correspondent, Ben Wedeman, joins us now live from Beirut.

Ben, what more can you tell us about these walkie-talkie explosions?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they began in mid-afternoon, not long, sort of just about 24 hours after all of those simultaneous pager explosions that happened across the country. In fact, we were at a hospital waiting for the Lebanese prime minister and health minister to take us into one of those hospitals when news started to come out and suddenly their visit was canceled and Lebanese authorities are scrambling to try to get a handle on what is going on.

We understand that there were somewhere between 15 and 20 explosions reported in southern Beirut, an area where there's a very strong Hezbollah presence, as well as in the southern part of the country, the Beqaa Valley, and in the far north of Lebanon as well. And as a result of these mysterious blasts that have been happening with such frequency, people are getting extremely nervous. Nervous not just about the public danger, the risk to public safety, but for instance we heard Lebanese foreign minister tell Christiane Amanpour this evening that in light of the events of the last two days, he fears that war with Israel is coming. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Ben Wedeman, live for us in Beirut. Ben, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Joining us now for some perspective is Douglas London. He's a retired senior CIA operations officer. He's also the author of "The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence."

Douglas, just looking at what has played out over the last two days, how are you seeing this?

DOUGLAS LONDON, FORMER SENIOR CIA COUNTERTERRORISM CHIEF, SOUTH & SOUTHEAST ASIA: Well, thanks, Brianna. You know, apart from al-Qaeda, Hezbollah has killed more Americans than any other terrorist group, and this was an extraordinary operational accomplishment. But one has to ask a few important questions, and namely, did - whoever was behind this consider the indiscriminate nature of where these things are going to explode and the possibility of civilian collateral, as we've seen? Could they have undermined the possibility of somebody might have taken one of these devices on an airplane?

And fundamentally, what was the design of the operation? It's a prelude to a significant military offensive. Every hour that passes takes away that advantages. And from what I've seen, there's no evidence that Israel has staged forces to prepare for such a massive invasion.

So as an intelligence professional, I'm thinking, what an amazingly wasted opportunity to have had access to all these supply chains, to be able to introduce items such as pagers and two-way radios that could function as GPS trackers, providing signals intelligence on conversations, literally allow whomever had sponsored this to wire track and map every facility, every individual for strategic value, and yet using it for this purpose makes one wonder what ultimately was sought as the strategic objective.

KEILAR: Well, so let's talk about what may have been sought, because the effect of this is that there must be a lot of paranoia. And we know that the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, just a few months ago, had told operatives in the terrorist group that their cell phones were collaborators with Israel, that they should take their cell phones, the phones of their wives, of their kids, lock them up, bury them, put them in an iron chest. He was pretty paranoid about cell phones, and this seemed to funnel operatives into using these pagers and more rudimentary communications tools. What do you think the effect is on how they, one, are communicating, and two, operatives are seeing the guidance of their leadership?

LONDON: It's profoundly disruptive, and that's certainly a success. When Israel assassinated Fuad Shukr, who also somebody the United States was very much after for his role in the attacks in Beirut against our embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.

[15:25:04]

They apparently, from what one can see, hacked into Hezbollah's network to be able to contact him to go to a specific location where they were able to strike him with a missile.

So the existence of this paranoia and fear, I think, Israel has already well-established based on, basically, running a clinic on how to do leadership decapitation and hunt down senior Hezbollah operatives. But some of these gains are short-term in value.

Clearly, Hezbollah, which surprisingly didn't lock down anything that might have come from these same vendors and supply chain, which would have included the radios and I've seen reports of, you know, smart watches and what have you, certainly they're going to start thinking about, right now, operational security. So right now there's clearly chaos and disarray, which would make a great deal of sense if Israel or whomever is behind this planned an immediate follow-through. But again, as every hour passes, Hezbollah is going to harden its defensive, be more reactive and make it much more difficult for whomever was behind it to stage any other sort of operation and attack on their supply chain for greater strategic value.

KEILAR: Douglas, you mentioned the potentially indiscriminate nature of this, because these attacks were near simultaneous. And we've seen videos, right, of people in markets. One in particular, after you see a man near, I think it was like a fruit stand, inside of a grocery store, you then see a woman nearby picking up a small child. It's kind of arresting. You can see the impact. This is the one I'm talking about here. You'll see her pick up a small child right after this.

Are U.S. officials, as an ally of Israel, okay with this? How do they see this?

LONDON: The actions that you see being played out, the fact that civilians are being killed, the mere fact is indiscriminate. The law of armed conflict, an international treaty to which we're all signees, and which guides all of our war fighting, if you would, requires target discrimination, proportionality, no human suffering. Basically, it has to be a valid military target.

And whoever was behind this couldn't really be certain that the pager, the radio, whatever device, was in the hands of a valid military target. It could be in a room. I've carried radios and pagers. A lot of times you leave them, you come home, they're around family members. So this doesn't necessarily align, obviously, with international law, but I don't think you really see a lot of preaching in terms of, you know, partners. But you do see impact in terms of the Leahy Act and America's ability to provide security and defense support to Israel, should it be behind this, if, in fact, these actions were indiscriminate and led to disproportionate civilian casualties.

KEILAR: All important things to consider.

Douglas London, really interesting insights, thank you so much.

LONDON: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still ahead, 'Diddy' due in court in just minutes, hoping to get bail in his sex trafficking case, we're following the latest.

Plus, Bill Nye says it's too hot not to vote. We'll have The Science Guy joining us ahead.

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