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Kentucky Judge Shot and Killed Inside Own Chambers; Fresh Attacks Inside Lebanon and Israel Today; How GOP Governor Nominee's Online Comments Impact Election; Government Shutdown Looming; Dodgers' Ohtani Becomes First MLB Player Ever to Join 50/50 Club. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 20, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ADI ALEXANDER, FATHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE: Away from the south. And we have we have to hope for a decisive mediation from the U.S. government to just calm down the whole area and to de-escalate all the activities and just get this deal done.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Adi, thank you for coming in.

ALEXANDER: Thanks so much.

BOLDUAN: We think of Edan and we remember him still being held now almost a year in Gaza at the hands of Hamas. Adi Alexander, thank you so much. CNN News Central starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The racist and X-rated posts by a Trump-backed candidate in a key swing state, a gut punch. It's how one former Republican lawmaker describes it. We're getting a new read on the impact. It's all having this morning.

And happening now voting. Millions of Americans across multiple states can start casting the first in-person ballots today.

And he is so good, it is almost making a mockery of the game. He makes it look so freaking easy. The history made in baseball overnight.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: As John said a gut punch. New developments in a crucial swing state this morning. CNN's KFile uncovering a disturbing online history behind North Carolina's Republican nominee for governor, Mark Robinson. He's the current lieutenant governor of the state. KFile reporting that Robinson posted on a porn site messaging board starting in 2008 a lot.

One post describing himself as a, quote, "black Nazi." Robinson also calling for slavery to be reinstated. Posting the quote is, as you see there, "Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves." Add to that countless lewd and sexually explicit posts. Robinson is a close ally of Donald Trump. He has denied all of this. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Charlotte tracking it all and there is so much. He says this is not him. Tell us more what he's saying and what you are hearing now this morning in North Carolina.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Kate, Mark Robinson remains the Republican candidate for governor here in North Carolina. The deadline for him to withdraw passed at midnight. So, there were a lot of questions swirling on whether or not this would cause him to drop his campaign. But absentee ballots are out to military and overseas citizens of North Carolina. So, we can't do that now.

Those questions were swirling because of this KFile investigation that did find those bizarre, in some cases, lewd, salacious, gratuitous comments on that pornography site written between 2008 and 2012.

Now, Robinson, a conservative Republican has denied he made those comments. He is, again, the current lieutenant governor of the state. This is what he told KFile's Andrew Kaczynski speculating on how they may have come about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON (R), NORTH CAROLINA GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: Look, I'm not going to get into the minutiae of how somebody manufactured all these salacious tabloid lies, but I can tell you this, there's been over $1 million spent on me through A.I. by a billionaire's son who's bound and determined to destroy me. The things that people can do with the internet now is incredible.

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: You mentioned A.I. Are you saying that somebody was somehow manufacturing biographical details to exactly match you, using your username?

ROBINSON: Look, I have no idea how this was done.

KACZYNSKI: OK. Well, how do you explain some of this being on the Internet Web Archive? Something that can't be --

ROBINSON: We are -- I've made my position clear and we are done with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: So, you heard Andrew mentioned web archives, things of that nature. Basically, look, KFile did extensive investigation and research into this. These comments were made on this pornography site, Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012 under a username that CNN was able to identify as Robinson by matching with a litany of biographical details and shared e-mail addresses that were across multiple platforms.

Robinson listed his full name on his profile on Nude Africa, as well as the e-mail address that he used across numerous sites online for decades. And I do want to warn everyone that some of the things we're about to share that he commented re very disturbing to hear. He refers to himself as a perv. And in one post he graphically described, in great detail, becoming aroused by his own memories of peeping on women in a public gym shower as a 14-year-old.

[09:05:00]

Despite a history of anti-transgender rhetoric, he talks about enjoying transgender pornography. And then, in another thread, commenters were considering whether or not they should believe a woman who says that she had been raped by a taxi driver while she was intoxicated. Robinson wrote, quote, "And the moral of the story, don't F a white bitch."

The post included numerous anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, and homophobic language. He repeatedly bashed, of course, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. But the North Carolina Republican Party is sticking by him in this. They released a statement last night that said, in part, quote, "Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by CNN, but that won't stop the left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks. The left needs this election to be a personality contest, not a policy contest, because if voters are focused on policy, Republicans win on Election Day."

Kate, I can tell you that Democrats are working hard, up and down the ballot right now, to attach their opponents to Robinson and to these comments.

BOLDUAN: Dianne Gallagher, thank you very much for the reporting. John.

BERMAN: Look, on that very point, Donald Trump has endorsed Robinson, who has been at some of his campaign rallies in North Carolina. Trump called him quote, "Martin Luther King on steroids." CNN's Alayna Treene is with us now. And all day yesterday, on social media and everywhere, there were these tweets and whispers about what the Trump campaign was doing all this, trying to get Robinson out of this race. How do they feel about all this this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, officially, John, they are declining to comment on the specific details of this KFile investigation. But behind the scenes, I am learning a lot more. And one thing, I think, to point out is that when I talked to some people close to the former president, I learned that some people in Donald Trump's inner orbit had actually been prepared for a very controversial and potentially damaging story about Robinson to drop this week. They had heard rumblings about this story.

Now, one thing that, you know, we have to watch for, the timing of this is pretty remarkable is that Donald Trump is actually expected to do a rally tomorrow in North Carolina, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Now, when I talk to Trump's -- people close to the former president, they say that even before the story had dropped, they had not invited Robinson to attend that event. And now, they are expecting that decision to hold.

And look, I mean, Robinson -- it's interesting in itself, because Donald Trump has praised Robinson in the past. You mentioned that he has endorsed him. He endorsed him earlier this year. He referred to him as Martin Luther King on steroids during that endorsement. And Robinson has been at most, if not all, of Donald Trump's recent events in North Carolina.

Last month he brought him on stage to speak at his rally in Asheboro. He also recently spoke at Donald Trump's economic speech in North Carolina. So, it is interesting that he is not going to appear with him tomorrow. I think you can read between the lines there.

But to take a step back, I think it's also worth noting that when I talk to Donald Trump's team and many people close to the former president, they have had long held concerns about Robinson and his gubernatorial candidacy. Now, this isn't the first time we have heard inflammatory things that Robinson has said in the past, he had mocked victims of school shootings, he had demeaned the civil rights movement. And really, when I talked to Donald Trump's allies, they said that they had been hoping that he would drop out because of these controversial comments.

Now, I will say, when I talked to Donald Trump's campaign, they insist that there have been no efforts as of now to pressure Robinson to withdraw from the race. Again, they're hoping that might be a decision that he made himself. Of course, the deadline to do so for -- to drop out was yesterday. And so, there's a lot of things still percolating behind the scenes.

Now, the one statement we did get on the record from the Trump campaign did not mention any of the specific details in this story. But they did point out that North Carolina is vital to Donald Trump winning in November. So, the stakes here aren't just about Robinson, who wasn't already doing so great in that gubernatorial race, but the stakes are very high for Donald Trump. They very much recognize that North Carolina is key to victory come November. So, I think there'll be a lot more on this.

BERMAN: Yes, it will be fascinating to see that rally in North Carolina on Saturday. Meanwhile, Trump was doing or trying to do outreach to Jewish voters but had maybe a peculiar message in the process.

GALLAGHER: That's right. So, yesterday, he addressed -- at two separate events, was addressing Jewish supporters, and this was really a goal of Donald Trump to try and court -- this has been something we've seen for months now, trying to court disaffected Jewish Americans who are maybe, you know, upset or don't agree with the way that the Biden administration has been handling the war between Israel and Hamas.

[09:10:00]

However, we did hear Donald Trump make a series of controversial statements during both of these events yesterday. At one point, he argued that Jewish Americans would be partially to blame if he loses the election. He also reiterated past comments that he has made that suggested that Jewish supporters are not sufficiently pro-Israel if they do not vote for Donald Trump. He has said that they would have their head examined. So, a lot of controversial things, even though, of course, the goal of this is to try and bring more of these people onto his side as he looks ahead to November. John.

BERMAN: All right. Alayna Treene, a lot going on. Thanks so much for being with us. With us now, the president and CEO of WIN, and executive committee chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, Christina Quinn -- Christine Quinn, and CNN Political Commentator and Republican Strategist Shermichael Singleton.

I think everyone this morning is trying to digest the KFile reporting on Lieutenant Governor Robinson and figure out how it might play in the presidential election. And look, I'm not sure we know for sure, but I do know that the Trump campaign, and timing is everything Shermichael, is releasing an ad this morning attacking Vice President Harris on the issue of transgender health care.

Transgender, you say? Well, Mark Robinson apparently was cheering on transgender porn. KFile reporting on this message board, one of the things he wrote and, cover your ears, that's effing hot. It takes the man out while leaving the man in, Robinson wrote. And yes, I'm a perv too.

So, look, I get -- the reason I'm showing this juxtaposition here is I know that we don't know what the impact will be, but probably no impact isn't the answer.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, look, I think is there the potential for it to make the race more competitive at the presidential level? Certainly. You don't want the Trump campaign to have to spend money in a state that they should just pretty easily win when those funds could be directed in a state like Pennsylvania, which is really a must-win for the former president.

I'm also really, really worried, John, about the impact this is going to have down ballot, congressional races, state races with the Statehouse State Senate. This guy is not going to win this race. I can just make that very clear now, he's just not going to win. He's been behind for, I think, several months now by pretty substantial margins.

The state party there had an opportunity to go with Former Congressman Mark Walker. He's a pastor. This is someone who's a traditional conservative in the contextual sense. I think he's someone who probably would have won that seat, even if it would have been more competitive. Instead, they decided to go with this guy, and look at the results.

This is someone that they clearly did no opposition research on. This is someone who certainly is a vulnerability and a liability, and in my personal opinion as a strategist, they need to kick him out. Forget the, well, let's just see what happens. Force him out of this race and choose someone else.

BERMAN: How? I mean, I think the deadline was last night, but you get on state chattering, caught him losing saying, you know what, you know -- SINGLETON: Whatever legal manuevering they need to figure out, if

possible, right? Because I'm not sure of the state laws there. But if there is some way to replace them with someone else, they need to figure that out. Otherwise, they could just kiss the seat goodbye.

BERMAN: Christine, if you are the Harris campaign, how much and what do you do with this?

CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE AND PRESIDENT AND CEO, WIN: Well, the thing about what's happening now with Lieutenant Governor Robinson, as horrible and bizarre these posts are, the thing to note is this isn't the first time a Trump supporter or Trump ally has said, you know, anti-Semitic or racist or homophobic, you know, name the ism, said horrible things and every other time, and including this time, Trump does not speak out, does not condemn.

So, this just adds to the drumbeat of, you know, his silence empowering these hateful supporters. So, if you're the Harris campaign, you actually don't have to do that much because all of the bad behaviors here speak for themselves.

BERMAN: All right. What the Harris campaign has been doing, at least last night, was this event in Michigan with Oprah Winfrey was this long sit-down discussion. A lot of subjects came up. One of the subjects that came up was Harris' purported gun ownership. She says she owns a gun. Oprah asked about that. Listen to this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, HOST: I thought it was so powerful at the convention when you when you said you have guns. No, at the debate. At the debate when you --

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: I'm a gun owner. Tim Walz is a gun owner.

WINFREY: I did not know that.

HARRIS: And if somebody breaks into my house, they're getting shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Oh, no. We didn't play the whole bite. I will paraphrase the rest of the bite for you. She says, if someone breaks into my house, he's getting shot. And then, she went on to say that the -- I probably shouldn't have said that and that the campaign will have to clean it up later.

Shermichael, you've actually talked a lot about Harris' talking about gun ownership. What do you think the impact of --

[09:15:00]

SINGLETON: I mean, look, I'm happy to hear that the vice president supports the castle doctrine, which is something that Democrats don't typically support. They are 10 million unregistered gun owners in this country right now, one organization, Vote for America. They're working on engaging and registering gun owners in states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, where I think between those two states alone, it's maybe close to about a million of them who are just disengaged with the political process altogether.

Their hope is that by engaging with this low propensity disengaged voters that can potentially be an asset to the former president and what we know will be a marginally close race. While the vice president may indeed own a gun, I'm not exactly sure that this would resonate with those individuals because they just have very different views on gun ownership, broadly speaking, from the vice president, particularly as it pertains to AR-15s.

BERMAN: And look, one might be skeptical, Christine, that she really thinks the campaign will have to clean it up. One might think because she's raised the fact that she owns a gun before, she's actually pretty into those comments.

QUINN: Yes. I mean, I think she said that and kind of just in case, but I think that's right. She and Governor Walz have definitely, more than I would have thought, leaned into the fact that they are gun owners. And as she indicated yesterday, not afraid to use those guns. So, it's not typically something you hear from Democratic candidates. Though, I think it -- if that clearly is what she believes, it's smart to put it out there, particularly as one of the battlegrounds for this election are, you know, white men you know, independent voters, that this may be compelling to those voters.

BERMAN: All right. Christine Quinn, Shermichael Singleton, nice to see you both. Have a great weekend, both of you.

SINGLETON: Great to see you, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: A judge shot and killed inside his own chambers, and it was the sheriff who allegedly pulled the trigger. Now, investigators are trying to figure out why.

And new reports in the last hour of Israel and Lebanon trading more fire. Both rocket fire and airstrikes. We're live in Beirut with the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

BOLDUAN: A judge in Kentucky gunned down in his own chambers at the courthouse. And this morning, a sheriff is accused of murder. It's hard to add that all up for sure. But now, investigators are looking into what could have led up to this, that the Letcher County sheriff, Shawn Stines -- between the Letcher County sheriff Shawn Stines and the judge, Kevin Mullins, CNN's Ryan Young is looking into this. He's following the new details that are coming in for us this morning. What is the latest, Ryan? RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning. Kate. Look, there's so many questions about this story. So, many unanswered questions at this point. Was there a dispute that was ongoing between the judge and the sheriff? That's something that we don't know at this point. But what we do know, apparently from investigators, of course, there's video surveillance of that sheriff showing up to the courthouse, going into the judge chambers.

What we've also found out is, at this point, there was no one inside the chambers when this argument started. And the sheriff apparently indicates to investigators that at some point he started shooting. So, this accused shooter open fire and the judge was killed.

Now, the other parts of this that are so baffling, you're talking about the two top law enforcement officials in this county, Letcher County. Now, we don't know where the sheriff is because, obviously, they can't take him to his jail. They had to take him to another county. And the person who would do the first court appearance was that judge, Judge Mullins, who is now dead. You can obviously understand why this has been so impactful to that small community. Take a listen to state troopers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT GAYHEART, KENTUCKY STATE POLICE TROOPER: We know that there was an argument between the two that led up, but what exactly transpired prior to the shots being fired, still things that we're trying to get answers to. This community is small in nature and we're all shook.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes. You're talking about the idea of the two top law enforcement officials getting into some sort of argument, even reaching out to sources who work in that area. So, far, they're not even giving an indication about whether or not there was an ongoing beef. Was it something personal? These are questions that have to get answered. But at this point, we still have a first court appearance that has to happen, Kate. It's going to have to happen in another county because, obviously, the courthouse is closed.

Parts of that town were put on lockdown yesterday. They thought they had an active shooter, but then they found out the sheriff and the top district judge were involved in some argument that led with the judge being killed. He was only 54 years old. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the courthouse also a crime scene now. I mean, it's just so much there.

YOUNG: So, much.

BOLDUAN: Ryan, thank you. Thank you so much. Coming up for us, we are days away from a possible government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson may be running out of options to keep the lights on. The very latest on that funding fight as it crashes head on with the presidential election calendar. And we are also following breaking news -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saturday is (INAUDIBLE). CNN is taking a break from breaking news to air "Have I got News For You."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news, I'm getting a sandwich.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to talk about what constitutes breaking news.

ANNOUNCER: "Have I got News For You," tomorrow at 9:00 on CNN and streamed next day on Max.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. We do have breaking news. A few moments ago, Israel reporting it carried out what it is calling a targeted strike in Beirut. You can see the smoke rising there over parts of the city seen by CNN's cameras. With me here, CNN Chief National Security Analyst, Jim Sciutto.

But first, let's go to CNN Chief -- Senior Correspondent -- International Correspondent Ben Wedeman who is in Beirut. Ben, what are you seeing there?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, about 40 minutes ago, we saw smoke rising from the southern suburbs of the Beirut, specifically the Jamus neighborhood. Now, according to the official Lebanese state news agency, an F-35 fired two rockets on a residential building in that area. Now, we're getting reports of many casualties. The official news agency is talking about initially five children killed, but clearly there are many more, perhaps injured.

Now, the Israeli military immediately, I mean, really within just minutes, came out and acknowledged that they had conducted a strike on Beirut. This is the third strike on Beirut since the beginning of the year.

[09:30:00]