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Combs Hit with Seven New Lawsuits; Trail Begins in Death of Homeless Man on NYC Subway; Ian Sams is Interviewed About the Presidential Race; Helicopter Crash Kills Four. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 21, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:49]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Sean "Diddy" Combs is now facing seven new lawsuits today. And for the first time, other celebrities are being accused alongside the former music mogul. In the filings, Combs is accused of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and false imprisonment. And among the accusers, a woman who says she was 13-years-old at the time of the alleged sexual assault.

Now, he is currently being held without bond as he awaits trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, all of which he denies.

Let's get to CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister. She's got much more on these new details that are coming out.

What are you learning, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate.

These are just horrifying allegations across these seven new lawsuits which come from all anonymous accuser, both male and female. Now, two of these accusers allege that they were minors at the time. As you said, one says that she was a 13-year-old girl. Another said that he was a 17-year-old boy.

Now, as you mentioned, this is the first time the other celebrities are directly accused of wrongdoing in these lawsuits. Now, these celebrities are not named, so we do not know who they are. We do not know what these accuser's definition of a celebrity is. No indication as to who these people are.

But one of the accusers, the 13-year-old girl, alleges that in the year 2000 that she was drugged and raped by Combs and assaulted by two other celebrities. She said that she was brought to this MTV VMA after party by a limo driver who alleged that he worked for Combs. He allegedly told this young girl that Combs liked younger girls. When she arrived, she alleges that she was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement and she was given one drink, which soon made her very woozy and disoriented. Now, Kate, I want to read you part of this lawsuit. And again, these

allegations are very disturbing. It says, quote, "after drinking just one drink, plaintiff began to feel woozy and lightheaded, making her need to lie down. Soon after Combs, along with a male and female celebrity entered the room." Now, she goes on to allege in her lawsuit that one of these unnamed celebrities, who is called "Celebrity A" in the lawsuit, a male celebrity, then undressed her and raped her while Combs and the other celebrity, who is named "Celebrity B" and allegedly is a female celebrity, watched. Then the allegations get even worse. She says that then Combs allegedly raped her while the other two watched.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Elizabeth, thank you so much for bringing these new - I mean seven new lawsuits against Sean Combs to life. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, happening today, jury selection begins in the manslaughter trial of a former Marine charged with killing a homeless man on a Manhattan subway train. In May of last year witnesses said Jordan Neely boarded a train and began acting erratically, with some witnesses saying that he was threatening people on the train. So, Daniel Penny placed him eventually in a chokehold. Neely later died at the hospital.

[09:35:02]

Gloria Pazmino has been following all of this.

Jordan's death led to protests that really polarized the city and some of the rest of the United States. What can we expect today?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's possible that the trial will do that all over again, Sara. We are at the beginning stages. Jury selection will begin today. And part of what we're going to see today is both the defense and the prosecution looking to sit a jury that are going to share something that many New Yorkers have in common, and that is riding the subway every single day.

SIDNER: Yes.

PAZMINO: As you said, Daniel Penny was riding the subway. He sees Jordan Neely get onto the subway car. And Jordan Neely begins to talk and rant about being hungry, about being thirsty. He says that he's not scared to go to jail. And Penny interprets this as the fact that this is a dangerous situation that may be Neely is going to hurt someone. So, he takes him down in a chokehold.

And this whole interaction is captured on bystander video. He brings him down to the floor. He ties his legs around him. He holds him there for six minutes. And we see that Neely stops moving and loses consciousness.

Now, Neely dies at the hospital later that evening. And now Daniel Penny is accused of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Now, the prosecution's case will largely hinge on this video. And they're going to say that he simply went too far. Now the defense will argue that there were people on that train who were afraid. In fact, we know from grand jury testimony that some people did say, yes, I was a little bit uncomfortable. I was a little bit worried. While other people said, it was just another day riding in the New York City subway.

Now, one very important element of this case, Sara, is that it's going to illustrate two important issues about New York City and how people feel about them. One, that the subway sometimes, especially after the pandemic, crime rates went up, there had been incidents of people being pushed onto the tracks, while others say that it exposes a key failure by the city of New York to do what is needed for the most vulnerable, people who are homeless, experiencing mental health challenges. So, that is going to expose those two really challenging parts of living in the city. And we'll see what this jury is eventually made up of.

SIDNER: Yes.

PAZMINO: We expect it to last at least six weeks.

SIDNER: And some of the societal issues will certainly come in.

Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that update on the story. Appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, deadly flash floods necessitate hundreds of rescues, including a sheriff who was left trapped on top of his truck.

And then $1 billion. Brand new fundraising numbers shattering records.

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[09:42:11]

BERMAN: Vice President Harris hits all three blue wall states today then goes back to Pennsylvania again for the CNN town hall. And this comes as we learned overnight that she really broke records with a huge fundraising haul, $346 million cash on hand at this point. You can see ahead of what Donald Trump, has raised more than $1 billion in just a three-month period. That hadn't been done ever.

With us now, senior spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, Ian Sams.

Ian, nice to see you this morning.

There was a headline in "The New York Times" that grabbed my attention. It said, "starring in Kamala Harris' closing argument: Donald Trump." It went on to say that Harris has made a notable shift in strategy. Why?

IAN SAMS, SENIOR NATIONAL SPOKESMAN, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Well, thanks for having me.

I think that we're here on the home stretch of this campaign. Two weeks to go till Election Day. And right now, fundamentally, the choice is coming into crystal clear focus for the American people.

Vice President Harris is out there, like you said, today in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. And what's she doing? She's campaigning with former conservative Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She's expanding her appeal. She's drawing more people in.

There was an Emerson poll this weekend that said if you've made up your mind in the last few weeks, by 20 points, more than 20 points, you're breaking for Vice President Harris.

And what is Donald Trump doing at the same time? Donald Trump is talking a bunch of mess. He's talking about a dead golfer's anatomy on stage. He's attacking his fellow Americans as the enemy within. Just this morning, just about 30, 40 minutes ago, J.D. Vance was on Fox News Channel, and he defended calling fellow Americans the enemy within.

So, this is the choice that people are going to see. Are we going to have somebody who's trying to reach out and be a president for all Americans, bringing conservatives and Republicans into the fold of a new vision for the country that actually focuses on people's needs, or are we going to go back to the chaos and the crazy of Donald Trump?

And I think that people are trying to make that choice right now. And so it's very, very important that we, as a campaign, and that the vice president presents that choice to the American people.

BERMAN: Talking more about him than herself though?

SAMS: Well, I think that's just not true. Anybody who watches one of her speeches will see that about 50/50 is - it's about her and about him. And I think that that's exactly what the American people are trying to think through right now too, are we going to - are we going to go with someone who's spent their whole lives, as she says, fighting for the people? Someone who started out as a prosecutor in a courtroom, taking on criminals, taking on fraudsters, taking on violent offenders as attorney general who took on transnational gangs, who were smuggling drugs across the border? Are we going to go with a vice president who helped cap prescription drug prices for seniors and who has real plans to actually make sure that those same seniors have in-home care covered under Medicare?

Or are we going to go back to Donald Trump, who, as far as I can tell, in these closing days of the campaign, has no argument for the American people.

[09:45:05]

Not a single thing that he is saying is focused on actually helping people in their lives. He's focused on himself, and he's focused on the dangerous and divisive rhetoric that he is so known for.

And so I think that right now you're seeing both of those things come into crystal focus as people continue to be drawn toward Vice President Harris and her message.

BERMAN: Why do you think there are still undecided voters then? If what you say is true, if what - how you see it is so clear, why are there still people out there who do not see it as clearly as you do, who do not hear the Arnold Palmer comments as disqualifying?

SAMS: Well, look, you know, people are - people are still trying to make up their mind. We live in a very divided country. It's going to be an extremely close election. Both candidates have consolidated their party's support behind them. We're competing for a very small sliver of voters who are still trying to make up their mind. And it's understandable.

There's - you know, people are living their lives. People are busy. People are taking care of their kids. They're going to work. They may not be paying as close attention to politics as you and I are, John, but when they do pay attention, it's in the final few weeks before the election. And so, when they're trying to decide, you know, I'm trying to figure out who's looking out for me. How's my life going to get better in the next four years? And when they're hearing the choice between Vice President Harris, who's actually offering real ideas for them and who's actually focused on the future, who's actually focused on their lives -

BERMAN: Do you think - can I ask -

SAMS: Or they hear Donald Trump sort of talking all this mess, I think that that's going to help crystallize the choice for that small number of voters who are still trying to make up their mind.

BERMAN: Does it blot out the sun though? Do they hear her arguments if all that is being discussed is, you know, again, Arnold Palmer?

SAMS: Well, I don't think that's all that's being discussed. Again, you're going to hear her today out across the country with Congresswoman Liz Cheney talking about her vision for the country of bringing people together, being united, but also being united behind a vision. You know, she got a lot of attention recently for her media blitz, including where she went on "The View," and she talked about her plan for the sandwich generation, parents who are trying to take care of kids and also an aging parent at the same time, and how she has real ideas for childcare, how she has real ideas to make sure that seniors have their in-home care covered by Medicare. And millions and millions of people saw that.

And so, I think that when you think about where - whether it's breaking through, that her message is breaking through, we're starting to see some of the results. There's a major AP national poll out this morning asking, who do you trust on issues? She's leading on lowering housing costs. She's leading by 12 points on cutting middle-class taxes. She's leading by 24 points on protecting people's reproductive freedoms. So, these are the real, concrete ideas that she's offering to the

country. And you're starting to see real results that it's breaking through and people are listening.

BERMAN: Ian Sams, thanks for being with us this morning. Take care.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, we have new video just in showing the moment a helicopter crashes into a radio tower in Texas. And this is with four people on board. All four were killed.

And at least two people were killed after severe flash flooding in New Mexico. Nearly 300 people needing to be rescued. The torrential rain bringing nearly half a year's worth of rainfall in just a few hours.

We'll be back.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, at least two people are dead in Roswell, New Mexico, after severe flash flooding there. The flooding sent also at least 38 people to the hospital and sparked dramatic rescue scenes across the state. Just look at this video. Rescue operations are ongoing today, and crews have already been called to help save 290 people from the floods. That included some of their own.

One county sheriff got stranded and recorded himself as he sat on top of his car in the middle of the floodwaters.

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SHERIFF MIKE HERRINGTON, CHAVES COUNTY, NEW MEXICO: This is Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington. At this time, I am sitting on the roof of my cop car, my police truck. I am completely surrounded by water.

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BOLDUAN: This weekend, cities were breaking records all over the place from this ran. Roswell, as I mentioned, saw nearly six inches of rain Saturday, the most rain ever recorded there in one day.

Sara.

SIDNER: It's just unbelievable how quickly that happened.

All right, new this morning, surveillance footage captures the moment a helicopter crashed into a Houston communications tower killing all four people on board, including a child. It happened shortly after takeoff from Ellington Airport, just 17 miles from the crash site.

Joining us now from Houston, our Rosa Flores.

What do we know about this - this crash? Oh, that is Wagmeister and Danny Freeman. I think we are missing our -

there she is, Rosa Flores. Hey, girl. Thank you for being here.

This is a really, really, really disturbing crash looking at the site and now there's some video.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, yes, good morning.

We are learning more from the NTSB, as well as from the mayor's office. But let me start with the NTSB because we just received this email. And according to the NTSB, "the preliminary information," this is a statement, quote, "we have is that the helicopter was operating as an air tour flight when it crashed into a radio tower under unknown circumstances. A post-impact fire ensued."

Now, just to be clear, I followed up with the NTSB to ask about what it - what the statement says, that this was an air tour flight, to see if this was a commercial tour flight, like a sightseeing flight.

[09:55:11]

And they replied moments ago saying that that is their preliminary understanding. Again, that this was a commercial tour flight or a sightseeing flight.

Now, according to the mayor's office, they say that the mayor and members of the Houston Police Department and the Houston Fire Department have been meeting with the likely member - family members of the victims. And they use the word "likely" because it will be the medical examiner who will be announcing those names.

And, Sara, I believe we are out of time, so I will toss back to you.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Rosa Flores, for that. Geez.

BERMAN: Really sad.

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: Big day in the campaign trail today. We'll be following the candidates with multiple stops in key states.

This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. John Berman, Kate Bolduan, Sara Sidner.

"NEWSROOM" is up next.

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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: With just 15 days until Election Day, more than 13 million Americans have already