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Candidates Race To Key Swing States With 51 Days Until Election; Israel: 3 Hostages Recovered In December "Most Likely" Killed By IDF; Interview With Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA); Trump "Safe Following Gunshots In His Vicinity" Says Campaign; Ohio Mayor Concerned About Springfield's Safety After False Rumors; Tonight: Parts Of California May See Snow, Months' Worth Of Rain. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 15, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:39]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with a new glimpse at where Americans are leaning with just 51 days until the presidential election.

A new ABC News/Ipsos poll released today shows Vice President Kamala Harris with 52 percent support among leading, likely voters to former president Donald Trump's 46 percent. That margin unchanged from the last ABC News poll taken at the end of August before their debate.

with roughly seven weeks until the general election. Campaigns are racing to secure undecided voters in several key battleground states.

But while these events will focus on voters, Trump's mind seems to be elsewhere at this critical moment in the race. The former president posting to his Truth Social account today, "I hate Taylor Swift", following the pop singers endorsement of Harris last week.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House for us.

Sunlen, what more are these latest polls telling us about the state of the race.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it shows that the state of the race is largely unchanged since the debate.

This is a head-to-head matchup that they tested. 52 percent for Kamala Harris, 46 percent for former President Donald Trump. And those numbers are largely similar to when this was tested back in August before the early September debate.

Now still the poll does show that most Americans believe that Kamala Harris was the one to win the debate; 58 to 36 percent said that she was the one that did a better job on that debate stage.

And the poll largely finds that the issues, the central issues of each candidate is also unchanged. Trump continues to be more widely trusted to handle the economy and immigration. While Harris is broadly more trusted on abortion and protecting American democracy.

Now meantime, President Biden himself got in the mix on the campaign trail at an awards dinner here last night in D.C. where he blasted former president Trump in his peddling of baseless conspiracy theories, notably that conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign has been pushing that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio have been stealing people's pets and eating them.

Here's what the president said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He says immigrants, black and brown immigrants, poison the blood of our country.

Right now his running mate is attacking Haitian-Americans in Ohio.

It's wrong. It's got to stop. Any president should reject hate in America and incite -- not incite it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now meantime, J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate, he reiterated on CNN air this morning, these baseless claim saying that he's heard that from his own constituents, but he did not put any evidence forward.

Meantime, the Republican governor of that state is dismissing this, saying that it is untrue. And the mayor, notably this morning, Fred, he says that his city is going through a very difficult time and that he wants politicians, he says, who amplified plainly untrue rumors to understand the weight of their words, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then Sunlen, has there been any reaction to Trump's post on Taylor Swift, you know, saying he hates Taylor Swift?

SERFATY: There certainly has, Fred. The Harris campaign wasted no time getting in that (INAUDIBLE), really throwing a nod to the Swifties out there. They sent her a very long statement with references to many of Swifts songs.

They said Donald Trump's week of whining and spouting conspiracy theories has voters on both sides of the aisle ready to forget that he existed? The American people want to be out of the woods.

Again, that was a nod to some of Taylor Swift's most common and popular songs.

But notably this poll that we're referencing, Fred showed that Taylor Swift's endorsement of commonly Harris at this point did not have a huge effect. It only showed that 6 percent of likely voters said that her endorsement of Harris makes them more likely to vote for her, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That is interesting.

All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

[14:04:48]

WHITFIELD: All right. Republican vice-presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance, spoke to CNN's Dana Bash this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION", where he defended his baseless claims about Haitian immigrants.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to --

(CROSSTALKING)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: But it wasn't just a meme.

VANCE: -- create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people. Then that's what I'm going to do.

(CROSSTALKING)

BASH: You just said that you're creating a story.

VANCE: We ought to be talking about public policy.

BASH: Sorry, you just said that you're creating the story.

VANCE: That data --

BASH: You just said that this is a story that you've created.

VANCE: Yes.

BASH: So the eating dogs and cats -- that's not accurate.

VANCE: We are creating, we are -- Dana, it comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN senior reporter and fact checker, Daniel Dale, joining us right now.

Daniel, so what stood out to you there from Vance's interview. I mean, the word "create" right there. Let's start from there. DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. What stood out to me most more than any individual claim was something I think as the "I got caught" shuffle and it's something I've seen over and over again in about eight years of fact-checking former President Trump and his allies.

And it's one false claim, a lie and unsubstantiated claim called out by fact-checkers and others. And then the person who makes it tries to use the attention generated by that factcheck to pivot to some larger issue on which they think they have the advantage.

And so, for example, when Trump will claim, you know, New York is at record high crime, people like Kamala point out, its nowhere close to record high crime.

And then Trump and his supporters well you don't -- obviously you don't care about the people who were killed this year in New York. Well, that's -- that's not what we said.

And similarly, in this case you know, Vance and others were pushing this claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio were abducting and eating cats. Former president Trump added dogs. Those claims have been fact-checked repeatedly at this point.

And now Vance is saying, well, no, no, no. Let's talk about the broader issue of, you know, the extent to which Haitians in Springfield are affecting health systems, the education system committing other crimes. And that's, that's not what we're talking about here.

We're attempting to bring focus to the specific facts on the specific claims that they're making and they're trying to pivot.

WHITFIELD: So Daniel, then there's something else. I mean Trump, you know, made, a comment about a military draft in the U.S. while he was campaigning this weekend in Las Vegas.

First, let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A vote to bring back the draft. Would anybody like to be drafted in the audience -- because that's what they're doing.

She's already talking about bringing back the draft. She wants to bring back the draft and draft your child and put them in a war that should never have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Has that happened?

DALE: It has not. This is imaginary.

Vice President Harris is not talking about bringing back the draft, has not introduced a single proposal to bring back the draft. Frankly, I have no idea where this is from. Probably nowhere. I asked

the Trump campaign for any evidence supporting the claim that Harris is talking about the draft. They simply did not respond.

WHITFIELD: Ok. And then you've also seen some discrepancies on Harris' social media. What are you seeing?

DALE: Yes. I'd call them false and misleading claims. So there's this account on X, formerly known as Twitter, called KamalaHQ. It's an official account of the campaign.

And I found that this account has a pattern of deceptively clipping a video of Trump and his allies and misleadingly captioning it to make it seem like it was worse than it was.

So there are a lot of examples, some kind of silly, some quite substantive, but I'll give you one easy one, and you can read the rest on CNN.com.

The easy one is there was a rally in Pennsylvania where former president Trump, he gave kind of a shoutout to North Carolina. The Harris campaign used this social media account to make it seem like he had been confused about what state he was in.

In fact, if you watched the full video, he was not confused. What happened was that he had earlier in the rally spoken to a group of supporters from North Carolina who were attending that Pennsylvania rally.

And then later in the rally in the moment shown by KamalaHQ, he again refer to that group of North Carolina supporters as North Carolina. So he was not confused. He was not mixed up.

But the Harris campaign attempted to make him seem like he was. They also did that with another clip more recently and there are a whole bunch of other examples of, you know, misleading cuts, snipping out parts of quotes to make Trump, Vance and others make it seem to make it seem like they said stuff that they didn't actually say.

WHITFIELD: All right. Daniel Dale, we always appreciate your digging. Thank you so much.

DALE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now to talk more about the race for the White House is Alex Thompson. He's a CNN political analyst and a national political reporter for Axios.

Great to see you, Alex.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be here.

[14:09:43]

WHITFIELD: So Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, continuing to double down on these baseless claims that Haitian immigrants are eating peoples pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Even Governor Josh Shapiro responded this morning when he was talking to Dana Bash and, you know, he says that's bonkers.

So what are voters to think of this information that continues to be a spewed by the Republican ticket.

THOMPSON: Well, obviously it was unverified rumors and things that J.D. Vance has said that he heard from his constituents. I asked J.D. Vance's campaign actually, if I can talk to any of them and they didn't link me up with one person who does believe that it's happening but also had not witnessed it.

So basically this is a truism of Donald Trump's entire political career that all attention is good attention. And as a result, when he throws out all of these unverified, often race-baiting, you know, complaints or claims, you know, It reminds me of 2016 and 2020 talking about people coming from quote-unquote, you know, "a-hole countries", talking about -- hey, are you there?

WHITFIELD: I still got you.

THOMPSON: Ok.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

THOMPSON: Sorry, there's someone in my ear asking me.

But anyways there was, you know, in 2016, he was talking about how he wasn't going to get a fair trial because of Mexican judge was what had -- who was born here was Mexican.

This is a tried-and-true playbook that basically consumed the attention, consumed the energy and often the way to do that is by making unverified and sometimes baseless or race-baiting claims.

WHITFIELD: So this new ABC News/Ipsos poll out today showing Harris with a six-point national lead among likely voters over Trump. And that's the same lead that she had over Trump in this poll in late August despite, you know, polls showing viewers believe Harris overwhelmingly won last week's debate.

So what does that say to you about the state of this race with just over now 50 days until election day?

THOMPSON: I think it says what you just intuited, which is that it hasn't changed a lot, that we live in a very polarized country right now.

And that Trump's numbers, you know, most people, the most interesting thing about these next 50 days in this race is that most people in this country know what they think about Donald Trump?

Most people also know what they think about Kamala Harris, but significantly more people in every poll that we've seen, don't really know what they think about her than they do about Donald Trump. So the real question is that 30 percent of voters, many of whom are

still undecided, what do they do in these next 50 days? And what do the campaigns do?

Now does Kamala Harris sort of still need to be little bit more cautious, you know, not really sit for national interviews. And what happens if there's not a second debate? Does she actually miss an opportunity to introduce herself? That's going to be the real key question these next 50 days.

WHITFIELD: So Trump meantime, has been going on a series of rants on Truth Social over the last 24 hours, including a post today where he says, quote, "I hate Taylor Swift." This coming after the megastar endorsed his opponent, Kamala Harris at the end of Tuesday's presidential debate.

And again, ABC News/Ipsos poll showing that more than 80 percent of voters say Swift's endorsement will have no impact on who they vote for.

So what does it say to you about the, you know, state of the campaign that big star endorsement or not it doesn't seem to make a huge impact on those who were polled. And at the same time, it kind of ruffles the feathers of the Republican nominee.

THOMPSON: I mean, the one thing that Taylor Swift can do and, you know, she did this in 2020 too when she endorsed Joe Biden is really encourage people to vote. Also, I think, you know, Trump going on many rants on Truth Social today ending in why sort of a thing.

And you know, again, this is sort of the thing where Trump, you know, considers himself a counter-puncher. But really what it is, is he can't let any perceived or real slight go.

And you saw Kamala Harris really make great use of this on the debate stage, where time after time, whether or not he was talking about crowd rally sizes are citing people from UPenn where he had gone to school, contradicting him, you know, he just always, always feels a need to respond.

Now whether or not Taylor Swift is going to matter in the end, we have a very celebrity-focused culture, celebrities do sometimes matter.

WHITFIELD: So Alex, CNN's Manu Raju, talked recently with two of the Senate's most centrist members, Democrat-turned-Independent Joe Manchin and Republican Senator Mitt Romney and both say they are not voting for Trump. They say that emphatically.

But listen to how they respond when asked if they plan to instead vote for or even endorse Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you we decided who you're going to vote for?

SENATOR MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I'VE got nothing on that topic.

RAJU: What about Harris, Do you know if you'll vote for her?

[14:14:46]

ROMNEY: I'm not going to be -- I'm surely not going to be voting for former President Trump and I think that's been very clear. People know where I stand with regards to that.

RAJU: But Harris --

ROMNEY: I don't have anything on that at this stage.

SENATOR JOE MANCHIN (I-MT): I think she's moving in the right direction. Things I'm hearing are sounding very good. I want to make sure that we get there. I think it's a very good conversation. We will do that.

RAJU: You do.

MANCHIN: We'll see what we get.

RAJU: But you could see yourself endorsing before the election.

MANCHIN: Oh, I could see (INAUDIBLE). We'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Alex even not saying something can be influential, might it be on their constituents?

THOMPSON: You know, really, really fascinating because Kamala Harris has really used some of these endorsements from Republicans like Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney saying that she was honored to have their endorsements.

The fact of the matter is that Kamala Harris doesn't have a base problem. She has the Democratic Party solidified because Donald Trump -- the fear of Donald Trump has completely united them.

Now the way she's -- the place she's struggling are these Republicans and former Republicans like Mitt Romney, who is still a Republican, who feel like they don't have a party.

And that is who she is focused on. That's why she's talking about small businesses. That's why she's talking about the middle class and talking about sort of moving beyond the politics of division and polarization that we've seen since Donald Trump entered politics in 2015.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alex Thompson, great talking to you. Thank you so much.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still the come the IDF says that three Israeli hostages, whose bodies were recovered from Gaza in December were most likely killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike. We have the very latest.

And later the U.S. is facing yet another government shutdown. Congress has only two weeks to pass a spending bill before money runs out. I'll discuss with Congressman Gerry Connolly, next.

[14:16:34]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right.

New this hour, Israel says three hostages whose bodies were recovered in Gaza back in December, were most likely killed in an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces. Israel making the announcement after the conclusion of its investigation into the incident.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins me now from Tel Aviv. So Nic, this is an extraordinary admission. What prompted it?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's been a very long investigation by the IDF. We know that they've been investigating the practices and the intelligence and the way that they use intelligence in Gaza ongoing for the last number of months.

But in this specific case, the IDF says that it was targeting a senior Hamas commander, the northern division of Gaza Hamas commander in a tunnel on the 10 November. It was hit with an airstrike.

Now they say they didn't know these three hostages were in that tunnel complex close to the -- close to the Hamas command. In fact, they say they weren't aware that any hostages were in that particular tunnel complex. In fact, they thought these three were somewhere else.

However, they're saying the high probability is now that as a byproduct of that airstrike targeting that senior Hamas official these three were killed.

Obviously the families been waiting, their bodies were recovered on the 14 of December last year. The families have been waiting to find out more details or more information.

We know the IDF has admitted previously to killing accidentally on the battlefield and Hamas three hostages who'd managed to escape captivity who were trying to turn themselves in.

This is something obviously the IDF tries to minimize is the death of any hostages in captivity. But it serves stark warning, I suppose, stark knowledge for the families who are waiting for hostages still in Gaza.

WHITFIELD: Nic, what can you tell us about a missile strike inside Israel that happened earlier today? ROBERTSON: The Houthis are claiming this strike. They're claiming they

have tried out a new type of fast -- very fast missile. This is significant because it managed to penetrate deep into -- deeper inside Israel.

The Houthis say that this was flying about 2,040 kilometers, which is about 1,275 miles. So remarkable that it wasn't intercepted (ph). We went to the site earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Here in the center of Israel, the fires are burning through the farmland here. The bomb squad is on-site. There are forensic teams looking at the missile and trying to find out exactly what sort of missile it is.

But one of the big questions right now how did a missile get all the way from Yemen and penetrate so deep into the center of Israel.

There are reporting restrictions on what we can say about precisely the location here. But it is relatively close to an extremely sensitive site here in Israel.

So the challenge right now is not just stopping the fires that are spreading here, but it's going to be figuring out how this missile got so deep into the center of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And the prime minister today responded to this attack saying essentially that Israel will strike back at the Houthis, saying when they targeted Israel in this way they would know what was coming.

[14:24:49]

ROBERTSON: But this is very, very rare that the Houthis can get a missile so far -- such a long distance without it being taken down sooner inside of Israel.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much.

All right. Joining me right now is Congressman Gerry Connolly. He is a Democrat from Virginia and a member of both the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees.

Thanks so much for being with us.

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: So Congressman, you know, how concerning is it for you that the Iran-backed Houthis were able to land a missile in central Israel.

CONNOLLY: Very concerning on two scores.

One is it highlights the fact that the Houthis are developing more and more sophisticated capabilities. The fact that they could fire a missile 1,200 miles into Israel proper near a sensitive site ought to create alarm not only here, but certainly in Israel.

And secondly, the fact that the Israelis were either not able to detect it, or if they did, were not able to deter it is also concerning about Israeli capabilities and surveillance.

So this is a moment definitely of escalation. And I think a real concern both here and in Israel.

WHITFIELD: The Biden administration has been trying to help engineer a deal that would, you know, see a ceasefire in Gaza and a return of the hostages. Is there a chance that a deal can come together during Biden's term.

CONNOLLY: I think there is a chance and I certainly commend the Biden administration for its persistence and commitment to trying to save lives and achieve a ceasefire.

Our problem is do we have willing parties who are the parties of the conflict itself? Namely Hamas and the government of Bibi Netanyahu.

It's not clear that either one of those parties, at the end of the day, is willing to sign onto the paper that guarantees a ceasefire.

And meanwhile, the horror and suffering in Gaza and the families of hostages in Israel continues unabated. So we need that ceasefire and I hope that the two parties will yield to the Biden administrations leadership and agree quickly to a ceasefire.

WHITFIELD: I also want to ask you so about the war in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy wants to be allowed to fire western supplied longer-range missiles deep into Russian territory. The idea is that would be striking bases. Should the U.S. give that kind of go ahead?

CONNOLLY: In my opinion, yes. We can't put Ukraine in a straightjacket. So Putin gets to do whatever he wants with impunity. He can fire long-range missiles, he can use aircraft top fire devastating weaponry into Ukraine proper.

But the Ukrainians have had serious restraints on how they can use western supplied, U.S.-supplied weaponry.

I don't think that makes any sense at all. It impedes the ability of Ukraine to recapture its own territory and it hit -- and it lengthens the war.

So the sooner Russia has to understand that it's going to pay the ultimate penalty in terms of encroachment and devastation on its own territory, the sooner maybe Vladimir Putin will decide to end this brutal and devastating conflict.

WHITFIELD: I also wonder, you know, while I have you here, the U.S. is facing yet another potential government shutdown in just two weeks after Speaker Johnson canceled a vote on a stopgap spending bill. How concerned are you?

CONNOLLY: I always am concerned when we get down to deadlines like this. However given the imperative of the election being 50 days away, I don't think either side would welcome a shutdown.

I think they understand that the consequences, political and electoral consequences of that could be quite severe.

And that's particularly true on the Republican side of the aisle. They're in a quandary because they have to ultimately turn to Democrats to pass anything in terms of fiscal legislation and the sooner the Speaker recognizes that and conveys that to his own caucus, the better.

We only have seven legislative days before we leave town for the election. And that means we only have seven legislative days to keep the government open.

So they need to move with alacrity. They've tried everything else as they usually do. But what history tells us, going back to the speakership with John Boehner is you cannot pass a fiscal bill, a budget bill and appropriations bill that becomes law without solid Democratic support.

So he might as well recognize that, reach across the aisle and work with us on a clean funding bill to keep the government up.

[14:29:48]

WHITFIELD: All right.

Congressman Gerry Connolly, treat to see you. Thank you so much.

CONNOLLY: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:37]

ANNOUNCER: CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: All right. This breaking news we're following out of south Florida. The Trump campaign says shots were fired in the vicinity of the former president at his Doral Golf Resort. He is safe.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is on the phone with us right now.

Kristen, the Trump campaign is saying this. Is there also confirmation coming from law enforcement in that vicinity?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): We're still talking to law enforcement. We have called a number of sources on the ground. We are still trying to figure out exactly what's going on.

Now, if you want to be clear, what I had been told was that this was in the vicinity of Palm Beach, not at his Doral resort, which is closer to Miami. However, again, this is still unfolding. So far, the only thing that we have confirmation of it time is that the Trump campaign has said that Trump is, quote, safe following gunshots in his vicinity, does -- the entire statement essentially says President Trump is safe following gunshots in his facility. No further details at this time.

These came from a campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung. Again, obviously, this is incorrect out of remarkable given what we know, the assassination attempt that happened just recently over the summer in Butler, Pennsylvania.

We have no details as to whether or not these shots fired were aimed at former President Trump. We have no details as to whether or not he was in danger at any time, but what we do know is that there were shots fired again, confirmed here by the campaign around the vicinity of Donald Trump. And he has been -- he's currently safe and appears on affected if you are looking at the statement right now.

So again, we're trying to figure out the details of where exactly did he was. We know again, as you said, he was in south Florida. He was there for the weekend, but we're not sure entirely which of his properties she may have been at, at the time.

We have reached out to local law enforcement in the area. We have reached out to multiple campaign officials, which was the results here, this statement. But we still don't have the details as to whether or not Donald Trump was the target, whether or not this was just in the vicinity, how close in the vicinity of Donald Trump this was.

So, again, this is completely unfolding right now, and we have called out to all of our sources to try to get the details of how exactly this came to be and what exactly this means.

WHITFIELD: And then, Kristen, can you kind of give us a run of the sequence of events, if you will, about how the Trump campaign conveyed this when they think this happened, and how it was reported to media outlets, and whether they have called law enforcement to get a response you know, people to arrive at the location.

HOLMES: Yes. So right now, we do believe in law enforcement is involved in anything that had occurred we had reached out to the campaign about possibility. We had heard that something might have occurred at one of his properties, but we did not have any details. All that we got from the campaign was the statement that was blasted out wide that just very basically that he is safe following gunshots in the vicinity, likely a response to a number of reporters who had reached out about a potential occurrence.

[14:35:02]

So right now, this is still incredibly preliminary. We do not know again, what I said the most important factors as do other than the fact that we know he has safe based on the statement as to whether or not he was potentially the target of this, whether or not or how -- how close this potential gunshots were. But that's all -- that is all we know at this time.

WHITFIELD: Okay. And you did say in the West Palm Beach area, but did I hear you also say you weren't sure which location -- which of golf community he may have been?

HOLMES: Yes, because just a reminder that he has two properties in the West Palm Beach area. He has his Palm Beach home at Mar-a-Lago. He also has a golf resort that's in West Palm Beach, the Trump International golf course. So that's what we're trying to decipher right now at which of the properties this might have occurred, or in the vicinity of which of these properties that might have occurred because we are still trying to get in touch, obviously, with our sources to are down there with him just a reminder, his entire campaign apparatus is set up in south Florida.

There is the -- most of his staffers with him currently, not necessarily with this person, but with him traveling. So we are still trying to get answers from them that go beyond the statement of just the fact that Trump's -- that shots were fired in the vicinity of Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Okay. And I wonder if we could show that statement, control room. Brian, my producer -- there it is. And there is the statement on the Trump-Vance website saying a President Trump is safe following gunshots in the vicinity. No further details at this time. That coming from campaign director there.

All right. Kristen Holmes, we're going to let you do any more reporting that you're able to do. Thank you so much for that information.

Joining us right now, CNN law enforcement contributor and retired supervisory special agent of the FBI, Steve Moore.

Good to see you, Steve.

All right. So what do you extrapolate from this? I mean, again, very preliminary information. Kristen bringing us that information based on a statement coming from the Trump campaign. Shots fired in the vicinity. We don't have any kind of clarity coming from law enforcement.

But how do you approach this report with this kind of information?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I'd certainly like to see what the local police and what the Secret Service is saying about this. Shots fired in the vicinity especially in south Florida can certainly mean a lot of things. It could mean a gang issue. It could mean something completely uninvolved.

Of course, on a golf course, you have lots of free, free sight lines to any golfer out there. So you have to consider that you're the possibility of somebody with a rifle out there. But I'd like to hear a lot more information before I make the jump to saying that he was the subject of any violent action. I'm not saying he's not, I'm just saying that there is not a whole bunch of information besides the fact that shots were heard in -- you know, a lot of people --

WHITFIELD: All right. It looks like our signal of froze up there. We'll try to reestablish that with Steve Moore.

So, again, if you're just now joining us, a statement being put out on the website of the Trump campaign saying that Trump is safe following gunshots in the vicinity. No further details at this its time.

Again, our Kristen Holmes is back with us. She's already reported that law enforcement has been notified, right by the Trump campaign and we, too, as a news organization are awaiting details coming from any law enforcement that has responded?

All right, we don't have Kristen Holmes right there, but I've just given you what we know thus far. We're going to take a short break for now and we'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:43:45]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

We're following this breaking news. The Trump campaign put out a statement on its website saying, quote, President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at that time -- at this time, rather. And that is coming from the campaign director.

We're also hearing that it happened reportedly at the Trump international golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The club was immediately put into lockdown, we're told. And, of course, we'll keep you posted as soon as we hear more information.

All right. Meantime, the mayor of Springfield, Ohio, is pushing back against the false claims perpetuated by Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, that Haitian immigrants are eating pets throughout the city.

Mayor Rob Rue told CNN's Dana Bash that the city has faced I'm quoting now, a high stressed time after three consecutive days of, quote, extremely negative, harmful, and extremely disruptive threats. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB RUE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: The sheriffs department did go back through the last 11 months and we just have no verifiable claim that this is actually happen. We are boots on the ground. We are here with our constituents.

[14:45:01]

The governor of the state of Ohio, Mike DeWine, recognizes and trusts the local officials to share the proper information and believes us. It would be helpful for those that are our spinning Springfield into this swirl to understand that you can trust us.

We are telling the truth to our committee. We are not ignoring the strain that the immigration has put in our community, but we are here to try to put our arms around it into work as peaceably as possible to have our community and secure and safe and thriving and moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Vance also appeared on "STATE OF THE UNION" where he doubled down on the claim saying they are based on calls from constituents.

These threats have sparked fears across the Springfield community. Officials at nearby Wittenberg University in Springfield say they are taking extreme precautions after an email threatened an on-campus shooting that would target Haitians. The school is the latest in the area to bear the brunt of these false social media rumors.

Springfield's mayor says the city has faced three consecutive days of threats, adding considerable strain on the community.

CNN's Rafael Romo is here with more details on this.

So, how is law enforcement handling this?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred, there was so much concern that all activities, events and contests were canceled Saturday and a Wittenberg officials are also warning students, staff, and others that if they were on campus, they needed to be prepared for before additional instructions or lockdown university official said in the email that, a Wittenberg police are cooperating with the Springfield police division and the FBI as they continue to investigate the threat to campus and monitor the situation.

They also said that increased patrols would continue on campus throughout the day, as we have previously reported, that city of Springfield, Ohio, has been rattled by threats in the last few days. City hall was closed on Thursday and cleared over a bomb threat. The following day, two schools were evacuated based on information from police.

On Saturday, two hospitals were locked down over another bomb threat. Add to all that, the email thread about a campus shooting at Wittenberg University. Earlier today, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told CNN's Dana Bash that all this situation prompted by false claims about immigrants has created a high stress environment in his city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUE: 8,000 new jobs have come to our community over the last ten years. We are community that comes together and works together. And these are the things that we want to talk about Springfield to the nation, not the things that we have to keep telling press like, hey, your pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio, they absolutely are. It's just -- it's crazy act to keep saying that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Mayor Rue also said that this is the third consecutive day of threats against city officials. Earlier today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine denounced the false claims about immigrants, once again, in an ABC interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: There's a lot of garbage on the Internet. And, you know, this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There's no evidence of this at all. I think these discussions about Haitians eating dogs and cats and other things needs to stop. These people are here legally they're here illegally, and they want to work and they are in fact working. And when you talk to the employers, what the employers tell you is, you know, we don't know what we would do without them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Governor DeWine also said that according to the Springfield mayor, there's purportedly literature from the KKK being passed around the city. Imagine that and what people are saying is that we're just tired of all this because the first place it's false and it's having an impact in the entire community.

A lot of people scared there.

WHITFIELD: Making a lot of people uncomfortable.

All right. Thank you so much, Rafael Romo. Appreciate it.

All right. Stay with us. We are learning more about the breaking news that we've been following out of south Florida, the Trump campaign saying the former president was playing golf when shots were fired in the vicinity of the golf course where he was.

Much more after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:53:45]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

We're following breaking news out of south Florida. The Trump campaign says shots were fired in the vicinity of the former president. He is safe. We just learned the incident happened reportedly at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, where the president was playing golf. The facility was put on lockdown.

The Trump campaign saying this, quote, President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time. Of course, we'll keep you posted as we learn more.

All right. Parts of California may experience the earliest winter season in nearly 20 years. A winter weather advisory in effect tonight which could bring a months worth of rain.

CNN's Allison Chinchar has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We have a brand new low pressure system that's pushing in along the West Coast and that's actually going to bring rain, but also snow to areas of the high elevations. At first, low pressure system sliding and it's not going to move all that fast. So, as it does and drapes over portions of California, Nevada, and Oregon, it has time to dump some of that rain and we have a secondary low that will come in as we get towards the middle portion of the week adding to a lot of those rain and snowfall totals for a lot of these areas.

But here's the thing: it's September.

[14:55:00]

This is very early in the season for a lot of these areas to see snow even at the higher elevations. We have a winter weather advisory in place because the snow is expected to begin tonight and continue through Monday. Keep in mind, this is the earliest we have ever had one of these advisories for snow in the month of September since 2007. So just to kind of give you some perspective on how early it is for them to be seeing this.

Now, most of those areas in the advisory could see up to four inches of snow total. May not seem like that much, but again, it's early in the season. Elsewhere rainfall totals likely to be around one to two inches, but it's not out of the question. Some of those areas could see three or even four inches of rain total.

Now again, those also may not seem like very high totals, but for some of these areas, that's a month's worth of rain, places like Reno in Carson City in Nevada, Redding, California, and Boise. That's more than they would normally see in the entire month of September.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. All right. Back to our breaking news now, where the Trump campaign is reporting that gunshot were heard -- firing of gunshot was heard in the vicinity of the former president as he was on the golf course at his golf course to Trump international golf club at West Palm Beach.

We're still awaiting confirmation for various law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, West Palm Beach police, to get their take on things.

For now, I'm joined by formerly of the FBI, Steve Moore, and former police commissioner of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., Charles Ramsey.

Good that both of you could join us. Steve, if I could pick up on the last thought because our signal, you know, kind of froze with you earlier, we're talking about how would law enforcement now approach this report coming from the Trump campaign.

MOORE: Well, you know, the very -- from the most basic point, you have to go back to where the shooting occurred. You're going to have to find witnesses. You're going to have to have people pointing there will likely be witnesses to whatever shooting this was.

And, you know, and the police are also going to look, in the fact that West Palm Beach is not immune to gang violence, gang activity and, in fact, there's at least one prominent gang in West Palm. So those kind of things indicate that there could have been a shooting unrelated to the people on the golf course.

Still, you're going to have to watch that just completely search that golf course to make sure that there was nobody in some kind of hide with a rifle.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And we are also now hearing, Steve, as you were talking, we're hearing from the U.S. Secret Service spokesperson on Twitter. And they write this, quote, the Secret Service, in conjunction with the West -- with the Palm Beach County sheriff's office is investigating a protective incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred shortly before 2:00 p.m. The former president is safe.

And, of course, Palm Beach sheriff office will have more details soon. That statement on their accounts.

So, Charles Ramsey, to you, of course, this is of great concern for a variety of reasons, but it also comes following the attempted assassination of former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania this summer.

So talk to me about A, the heightened concerned, heightened security around him and now what seems to be a very quick response to these reports?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think there is a heightened concern, certainly, around the former president, but what all the candidates, because of the environment we find ourselves in right now, unfortunately.

So the Secret Service, local law enforcement, state police, wherever those candidates happened to be, there's going to be a heightened sense of awareness and certainly security to an extent.

As far as what happened today, Steve got it 100 percent right. I mean, there's nothing at this point that indicates or any shots fired at president. We don't even know whether or not they were within earshot or that they receive information. There were shots that were fired within a relatively close proximity and they're just taking an abundance of caution, moving them to a safe area. We just don't know the answer to that. So they'll thoroughly

investigate between the Secret Service and West Palm to find a source and find out exactly what happened.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And, Steve, what would be the tools that law enforcement, whether it'd be Palm Beach sheriffs office, police Secret Service, what would be the tools that they would use to try to go back, you know, discern were there is there a corroboration of gun shots fired in from where would the origin be?

MOORE: There are -- there are lots of video.