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Trump Campaign in Pennsylvania as Vance Heads to North Carolina; North Carolina GOP Candidate Mark Robinson Calls Report Salacious False Lies; Harris Raises $27 Million at New York Fundraiser. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 23, 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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[14:00:45]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Battleground blitz, Donald Trump and his running mate targeting two of the seven swing states that could hold the key to winning the White House. As new polls show, the Republican ticket is doing well in the Sunbelt states.

And a day of reckoning in Lebanon, as nearly 300 people are reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes. IDF plays a high risk game with its new strategy for confronting Hezbollah.

And new details from the investigation into the Titan submersible disaster. The company's cofounder explains why they needed to build their own subs while defending a controversial decision over how they did it.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

A major blitz of battleground states underway today as Election Day is just over six weeks away. Next hour, former President Trump will hold the first of two campaign events in the critical state of Pennsylvania. His running mate, J.D. Vance, campaigning in the swing state of North Carolina, where Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican nominee for governor, is also set to hold a campaign event this hour. The defiant GOP candidate vowing to continue his campaign despite a big exodus of his top aides after CNN reporting uncovered lewd and racist comments that he made on a porn website years ago. He denies making the posts. All of this coming as a brand new polling is out today.

It shows Donald Trump narrowly ahead in Arizona, no clear leader in Georgia and North Carolina. We do have a team of correspondents joining us to break all of this down. So let's start with Kristen Holmes here. We have Trump campaigning in Pennsylvania today as he's getting what is some pretty encouraging news on these key states in the Sunbelt.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, these are the kind of polls that his team has been hoping we're going to come out. Obviously, as we're looking at them, they're within the margin of error other than Arizona, which he has a five point lead on, according to this New York Times poll. These were the kind of numbers that they were hoping to see after what they believed to be was a boost for Kamala Harris. They're also looking at the poll numbers, and they believe that this is really the strongest that Donald Trump has ever pulled in 2016 and 2020. He was polling far below where he's pulling now. So they believe that this is encouraging information.

Now, I do want to note one poll on, there obviously, is that North Carolina poll, which shows within the margin of error, we know Donald Trump is going to be back now in North Carolina in two days on Wednesday, notably not by his side is Mark Robinson. We don't expect him to be anywhere near the candidate. They are trying to keep him as far away as possible.

The one thing I want to point out is something that had nothing to do with this election. It was actually something that he said when he was asked about the future and his political future. This is Donald Trump over the weekend. Here's what he said about what would happen if he loses this election and whether or not he would run again. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: If you're not successful this time, do you see yourself running again in four years?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I don't. No, I don't. I think that that will be it. I don't see that at all. I think hopefully, we're going to be successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, part of this, obviously, is also the fact that Donald Trump doesn't see himself as somebody who's going to lose. So that's part of this. Also, looking at 2028, he would be 82 years old. So perhaps there is some kind of clarity there that he would be not perhaps too old to run during that time. But I would likely say, given the people that I've spoken to, that most of this is because he doesn't want to admit to himself that he's not going to win in 2024.

KEILAR: Yeah. He sort of says that, that caveat at the end that he doesn't, you know, he's not going to lose. So then he would have served two terms, and that's the limit. On North Carolina, I wonder how the Trump campaign is looking at Mark Robinson and whether they're worried that this could be a drag for Trump.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENTS: Look, they're hoping he goes away. I mean, as Kristen was saying, the former President is going back to North Carolina, where he just was on Saturday. That tells you all you need to know about their worry about North Carolina. That has become a battleground state that is increasingly of interest and more to the Harris campaign and a worry to the Trump campaign. So Mark Robinson, the embattled lieutenant governor running for governor is at the center of all of this.

[14:05:05]

He is still campaigning, Much of his staff abandoned him and left over the weekend. But he was at a stop earlier today in North Carolina and he had this to say about the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROBINSON, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA: We're here for small business people. We're here for all those parents out there that are losing their children to fentanyl. We're here for all those people out there that are struggling to keep their small businesses open. We're here for the people who are, we're here for the people who are struggling to get their children a decent education. We're not here to talk about 15 or 20-year-old salacious, false lies. They don't want to talk about what's going on right now. They want to talk about what possibly happened 15 years ago.

ZELENY: What possibly happened 15 years ago. Look, he has denied these allegations that he made some very -- a racist and a salacious post. But you could see his campaign behind him there. There was no one behind him. Obviously, a very small press gaggle there. Look, this is not what any Republican wanted to see. Some were afraid of this exact thing happening. But Donald Trump now, I mean, he endorsed him. So, yes, they're trying to distance themselves from him. The question is, what is the effect on the down ballot? And a lot of Republicans are very worried about this.

North Carolina is a rare state that has a history of electing Republican presidential candidates and Democratic governors that happened in '16. It happened four years after that. So we shall see how much this impacts the Republican ticket overall. But it says all you need to know when Trump is going back and he wants Robinson nowhere with him.

KEILAR: Yeah. It says a lot, Jeff. All right, Priscilla, so huge fundraising haul for the Vice President. But what -- she really wants another debate --

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's does --

KEILAR: And she's not getting not getting that.

ALVAREZ: And so do her advisors. Well, we don't know yet. I mean, the former President says that he doesn't want that. The Vice President is consistently billing (sp?) him. Look, it's no surprise. Harris' advisors really were delighted by her debate performance earlier this month. But they were also aware of two things. One, that just because you had a good debate performance doesn't translate to a win in November. Hillary Clinton often came up in the conversations I was having from 2016. But also, the voters are still trying to get to know her.

If you look deep into these polls, what you find is that voters are still saying they don't know enough about her, about her policies. And so this is also a play to try to get her out to a larger audience in addition to all of her campaign stops. But she directed reporters on it specifically this weekend. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Join me on the debate stage. Let's have another debate. There's more to talk about. And the voters of America deserve to hear the conversations that I think we should be having on substance, on issues, on policies. What's your plan? What's my plan? And we should have another one before Election Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So I've been hearing that while on the campaign trail with her. We can expect that that's going to be a steady drumbeat over the next few weeks. But you also mentioned the money. This has been a through line since she took the lead of the party's ticket. They have had a boost with fundraising and have felt pretty good about it, but they still need more. Remember, in trying to introduce her, it also means hitting their airwaves. They already reserved $370 million in ads. And one of the ads that they ran North Carolina was tying Donald Trump to Mark Robinson. So they're trying to seize these moments. Those moments require money. So the money is what they're trying to continue to bring in.

KEILAR: Yeah, $27 million at a weekend fundraiser certainly does help with that. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Jeff Zeleny, Kristen Holmes, thank you.

And let's talk more about these developments now with Larry Sabato. He is the director of the center for politics at the University of Virginia. All right, Larry, I wonder what you're seeing, looking at North Carolina, what this Mark Robinson business portends for Trump in a state that has a history of ticket splitting.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER OF POLITICS AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, it may have a history of ticket splitting. But I think this is kind of unprecedented. You know, there are scandals. There are many scandals and, you know, middle rank scandals. And this one is very hot to the touch. Like, you know, the stove is on full blast. So I don't know how comparable the previous situations are. And you can tell that Republicans are greatly distressed by this. Already, the Republican Governors Association is hinting that the money that they may have planned to spend and did plan to spend to help Robinson may be used better elsewhere. It's always what the political professionals are thinking and saying that has an impact on what actually happens and whether a candidate can get his message out.

So I'd say, they're not real happy with this. They shouldn't be happy with this. And it will affect Trump's vote to some degree. I've talked about reverse coattails. Maybe that's not the right term for it, but you're going to have Republican voters who will be discouraged and their enthusiasm level will decrease because of this pretty shocking report about their nominee.

[14:10:08]

This is not some minor little thing. This has got about 20 different pieces to it.

KEILAR: Yeah, it is hot to the touch, as you say. It is really something, this reporting from our KFile. Another key battleground that we're watching, of course, is Arizona. And Trump is up five points there outside the margin of error. Down ballot, you have Democrat Ruben Gallego. He's up six points over Kari Lake in the Senate race. Abortions on the ballot, and nearly 60% of Arizonans say they'll vote in favor.

So there's a lot of vectors pointing in different directions here. What is your read on the state?

SABATO: No one is going to be surprised if Donald Trump in the end carries Arizona. After all, Joe Biden, who had quite a head of steam under him at the end of the campaign in 2020, just barely carried it. He had a lot going for him then. I don't know if Kamala Harris will have quite that much going for her at the end, though. We'll see.

Now, having said that, I find the New York Times/Siena poll difficult to swallow. Just a month ago, you had Kamala Harris in their polling, up five points. Now, a month later was the only significant event in between being the debate that almost everyone, including many members of the Trump staff, admitted that Harris won easily over Trump.

Suddenly, Trump is up five points. That's a change of 10 points in a month with no clear cause. I just find that strange. You know, I look for strange things, you know? There are a lot of shows named strange.

KEILAR: Yeah. Well, what about the -- I'm trying to get the word right of how the FBI is looking at this, the suspected attempted assassination of Trump again at his golf course. I mean, how do you see that maybe playing? Because that is something that happened and could have factored into this polling.

SABATO: yeah. You know, everyone should condemn that. And I think just about everybody does because everybody knows we have a certain number of way.

KEILAR: Do you think it sways voters and that's something that could have swayed voters or maybe explain what is a shift here?

SABATO: Well, maybe. But what happened after the first assassination attempt? There was no bump at all generated by that. This one might have been different. There's no reason why it should have been. But again, that's hard for me to believe. I think we need to look at polling averages. And the polling averages suggest that Harris actually leads former President Trump by a few points nationally, maybe three, four, five, like the NBC and CB's polls showed yesterday. They were taken at about the same time as the New York Times/Siena poll.

KEILAR: Yeah. And we'll certainly be looking at that average and see as more polling is coming out, especially, you know, Arizona, we haven't seen as much polling there. So maybe as we get more, it'll tell us something. Larry, it's always great to get your input and your analysis. Thank you so much. SABATO: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: So we are following some breaking news now. Out of West Palm Beach. The detention hearing for the man suspected in the second assassination attempt of former President Trump. It just ended. So let's get right now to Randi Kaye.

Randi, assuming this started when it was supposed to, this was a rather long hearing. What did the judge decide here?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna, this was a three-hour hearing, a detention hearing to determine whether or not Ryan Routh should be released or remain behind bars as this case goes forward. The judge found that the government met its burden. He will remain in detention for now. And the judge found that the evidence that the government presented is very strong. Let me share with you some of that evidence. A letter was presented in court and also in an earlier filing from the prosecutors that they believe was written by Ryan Routh. And it says in part, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. But I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job. And I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job. That was a letter that they talked about.

There's also more evidence from the scene that they discussed in court today, saying that the agent observed the defendant in a position that provided a clear line of fire to the sixth hole putting green. Now, remember, Donald Trump was on the fifth hole putting green at the time. They said in court, he was just about 12 to 15 minutes away from that sixth hole putting green. Also, new information on the scope found at the scene. The scope on the gun was attached to the rifle by electrical tape. And the government presenting evidence in court today, saying that there was a fingerprint at least a preliminary report of a fingerprint that matched Ryan Routh on that electrical tape on the scope with that rifle.

[14:15:06]

They also searched Routh's car. This came out in a court filing earlier. They found six cell phones, including one that included a Google search on how to get from Palm Beach County, where this occurred, to Mexico. Also, cell phone data now showing, according to the prosecutors, that he traveled to -- from Greensboro, North Carolina, here to Florida on August 14th. So that puts him in the state of Florida for about a month or so, and that there were hits on his cell phone from cell phone towers multiple times between August 18th and September 15th, the day of this incident.

And, Brianna, one last note. There also was, according to prosecutors, a list of a handwritten list of venues, dates and venues, where the former President was supposed to appear. Four or five of those venues were listed on that. And Trump was expected to appear there before Election Day. And that, they believe, was handwritten by Ryan Routh. Brianna?

KEILAR: And what was the defense argument today that obviously was unsuccessful?

KAYE: Yeah, they did their best. They made a strong argument. They pointed out to the judge that no shots had been fired by Ryan Routh. They said there was also no evidence they actually touched the firearm, though there was a fingerprint, preliminary fingerprint on the tape, the electrical tape attached to the scope on the firearm. They also pointed to that letter that I read to you in part, it doesn't have a signature on it. So they said that maybe it was from somebody else. And there was no handwriting analysis done on that letter that was provided. Of course, we're very early in this investigation, so perhaps there wasn't time for that. But they did make that argument to the judge. They also offered a $250,000 bond. They said that his sister would take him in, in North Carolina. She's an attorney there. He would wear a GPS monitoring device, but the judge was not buying it. And he said, he must remain in detention.

KEILAR: yeah. And noting that Routh's travels to Ukraine showed skills in crossing borders. Very interesting. Randi Kaye, thank you so much for the update. And coming up, an intensifying crisis. The U.S. says, it's now sending a small number of military personnel to the Middle East, as Israel says, it's preparing to strike more Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. We'll have a live report from Beirut next.

Plus, the cofounder of OceanGate, the company that built the doomed Titan vessel that imploded in the North Atlantic last year, testifying on Capitol Hill today, unveiling new information about the days leading up to the deadly implosion.

And whooping cough surging in the United States this year. Five times worse than last year. We'll discuss. Stay with us.

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[14:22:18]

KEILAR: New developments out of the Middle East. The head of the Israeli military now says, they are preparing for the next phases after launching the deadliest day of strikes in Lebanon since 2006. The IDF killing more than 320 people, wounding more than 1,200 others, according to Lebanon's health minister. And amid the escalating conflict, the U.S. says, it is sending a small number of troops to augment American forces already in the region.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Beirut for us. Ben, what's the latest from Lebanon?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna. Well, we just heard from the ministry of health here in Lebanon that the death toll has so far reached 356. That includes 24 children and 42 women. It doesn't give a breakdown on whether there are Hezbollah fighters among them, but that's where it stands. More than 1,200 wounded. Now, just put that in perspective. That's about a third of the entire number of people killed. Civilians as well as Hezbollah fighters in the 34 days of the 2006 of war.

Now, what we've seen from the early morning of the hours just before dawn is hundreds, perhaps up to 1,000 Israeli strikes on targets initially focused on south Lebanon. But then, we saw many airstrikes on the Beqaa Valley to the east of here and other strikes in parts of Lebanon that have never been hit before in the entire history of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. What we are seeing is that as a result of the bombing, and also Israel sending text messages to phones on the local cell phone system, as well as breaking into the broadcasts of a local radio station, urging people to leave homes or buildings in which Hezbollah might be storing weapons, that tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people are on the move to the north, away from the conflict zone. What we're seeing is the streets are -- the highway from the south to Beirut are packed on both sides of the highway, and it appears in many areas that traffic just isn't moving at all.

Now, as a result of today's events, all classes, and universities, and schools have been canceled. Some schools here in Beirut are being converted into shelters for people who have fled north. The fear is that the tactics that Israel is using with massive bombardment and telling, ordering the inhabitants of the south of Lebanon to leave is sort of a copy and paste of what we saw in Gaza, the so-called Gazafication of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel whereby the south may be depopulated in advance of -- as we heard the Israeli military talking about, the next phase.

[14:25:25]

The fear is the next phase is going to be some form of an israeli ground invasion. Breinna?

KEILAR: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. Live for us from Beirut. Happening now, President Biden is meeting with the President of the United Arab Emirates at the White House where they are discussing a range of issues affecting the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: We also will discuss our efforts to end the war in Gaza and a number of regional issues. I have been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon. My team is constant contact with their counterparts. And we're working to deescalate in a way that allows people to return to their home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Vice President Kamala Harris is set to meet with the UAE President soon. And joining us now is former defense secretary under President Obama, Chuck Hagel. He, of course, is also a former Republican senator from Nebraska. Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

CHUCK HAGEL, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: So you're now endorsing Harris. You're joining more than 700 current and former national security and military officials who signed a letter on Sunday in doing that. And you're trying to draw contrast between a future Trump and Harris administration. Who are you hoping to win over with this endorsement?

HAGEL: Well, Brianna, I think this election is going to be a defining election for both foreign policy and domestic policy. When looking at political leadership, actually everything in life, I've always believed that there are three indispensable requisites for leadership, character, courage, and judgment. Character being the most important. Character is about integrity. It's about honesty. It's about decency. I think Harris has those qualities. I think historically, it's been proven that former President Trump does not.

So I think what we're trying to do, all of us who sign this letter, is to call attention to maybe the undecided voters out there as to why are we, Republicans and Democrats, endorsing Harris over Trump. What's so important about that? Well, as I've said, this is going to be consequential, this election. If we can use our influence or reputation experience to be able to add to this debate, then I think that's what we want to do.

KEILAR: But former President Trump will often criticize Harris or Biden on foreign policy. He'll say, look at what's happened in the Middle East. Look at what has happened with Russia invading Ukraine. That wouldn't have happened if he were in power. He'll say, look at what happened in Afghanistan with how the withdrawal was carried out under the Biden-Harris administration. What do you say to that?

HAGEL: Well, on the withdrawal in Afghanistan, that was sloppy. It shouldn't have been done that way. It was a black mark, I think, on the Biden-Harris administration. As to the other two issues, and I've heard Mr. Trump's comments about this, if he had been president, those things would have never happened. Oh, come on. That's nonsense. Those two issues are defined by the realities and the dynamics of those two situations.

Putin started this in 2014. I don't think there was any surprise about where he was going next and when he was going. Certainly, we told Zelensky about it and the Ukrainians and NATO.

As far as the Middle East, the Middle East has been Middle East for many, many years. There's a real disaster, political disaster in Israel. And unfortunately, what happened October 7th, I think just clarified that even more and obviously, the Israelis had to respond. So to say that if he'd been president, those things would have never happened is just nonsense.

KEILAR: And speaking of Israel, as I mentioned, Harris is going to be meeting and speaking with the President of the UAE here in the next hour, a key partner in these talks between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage agreement, which has just not come to fruition. And you have growing skepticism within the administration that a deal can be struck by the end of Biden's term. Was the --

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