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FBI: Apparent Trump Assassination Attempt "Extremely Serious"; Trump: Suspect Acted On The "Rhetoric" Of Biden And Harris; Attorney" Sean "Diddy" Combs Arrested In New York; New Details on Suspect in Apparent Trump Assassination Attempt; Presidential Candidates Trade Blame over Polarizing Rhetoric; Harris Meets with Teamsters as Union Nears Endorsement; False Pet-Eating Conspiracy Causes Havoc in Ohio Town; Murdoch Family Succession Plan Playing Out in Court; Federal Judges Hear Arguments on Potential TikTok Ban. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 17, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:31]
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead on CNN Newsroom, the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump faces charges as the former president lashes out of Democrats saying their words are putting his life in danger.
Sean "Diddy" Combs arrested in New York after being the target of a months' long sex trafficking probe.
And the death toll climbs in Europe as the worst flooding in decades hits the region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Newsroom with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: We begin with new details on the investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Florida. We're now learning the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours along the tree line at the Trump International Golf Club before he was spotted by a Secret Service agent and fled in a car.
The moment of Routh arrest a short time later caught on body cam video. You can see him with his hands up as officers quickly cuff him. He appeared in court, Monday, was charged with two federal gun related crimes. Officials say additional charges are possible.
The Secret Service says the suspect did not have a line of sight on Trump. And the Palm Beach County Sheriff says the suspect, quote, didn't even get close to getting a round off. Trump is praising the Secret Service and other law enforcement for their actions, and is publicly recounting what appears to be a second attempt on his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was playing golf with some of my friends who was on a Sunday morning and very peaceful, very beautiful weather, everything was beautiful, it's a nice place to be. And all of a sudden we heard shots being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five, and it sounded like bullets. But what do I know about that? But Secret Service knew immediately it was bullets, and they grabbed me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: CNN's Paula Reid is following developments from West Palm Beach, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Driver go straight back.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): new dramatic footage of the moment Ryan Wesley Routh was taken into custody. Martin County police apprehending the suspect as he fled after an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was golfing Sunday afternoon.
SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: The security level at Mar-a-Lago is the highest it can possibly be now.
REID (voice-over): Routh appeared before a federal judge in West Palm Beach wearing dark prison scrubs, his hands and feet shackled. Routh was charged with two counts, possession of a firearm while convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Investigators believe Routh had been lying in wait nearly 12 hours along the tree line near the golf course.
Newly unsealed court records show Routh's mobile phone was in the vicinity from approximately 1:59 a.m. until 1:31 p.m. Authorities say Secret Service Officers clearing the golf course ahead of the former president first noticed the suspect.
RAFAEL BARROS, SECRET SERVICE SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, MIAMI FIELD OFFICE: He noticed that the rifle was pointed out. Our agents engaged.
REID (voice-over): Palm Beach Police released photos of the scene, showing the gun along with a backpack and GoPro camera mounted on the fence.
BRADSHAW: Fortunately, we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan, and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tank, which was great.
REID (voice-over): Police were able to quickly get that information out to surrounding areas and track the suspect's SUV in nearby Martin County.
SHERIFF WILLIAM D. SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: He's smart. He was just driving with the flow of traffic. Yes. I -- I -- I think that he may have thought he got away with it. I was able to get to the scene shortly after the stop, and I saw him in the car. His facial affect was -- was very bland. He -- he was not -- not emoting any emotions at all.
REID (voice-over): More details are emerging about Routh's background.
RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, SUSPECTED GUNMAN: Putin is a terrorist, and he needs to be ended.
REID (voice-over): He was outspoken on his strong support for Ukraine, encouraging foreigners to fight in the war. He also criticized Trump in his self-published book on geopolitics, and has contributed more than $100 to Act Blue, which processes donations to Democrats.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:02]
REID (on camera): It is expected that additional charges will likely be filed in this case as the investigation continues. Routh will be back in federal court next week for a detention hearing where prosecutors are expected to argue that he should remain detained ahead of a possible trial, because he not only presents a flight risk, but also a danger to the community. He will be formally arraigned on September 30th.
Paula Reid, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
KINKADE: Joining me now from Palm Springs, California, is Bobby Chacon, a retired FBI special agent and former leader of an FBI dive team. Good to have you with us.
BOBBY CHACON, FBI SPECIAL AGENT (RET.): Thank you, Lynda.
KINKADE: So two attempted assassination attempts on a former president in as many months. How unusual is this? And does it point to an issue with the Secret Service or intelligence or some other problem?
CHACON: Well, the last time in my life I can remember this is the 70s, when I was in high school in Gerald Ford, I think, was shot twice or shot at twice within a short period of time. But certainly never like this, never -- never anything this close ending of his life, as it happened in Pennsylvania and -- and like we saw this weekend.
So yes, this is, I think we're starting to get into unprecedented territory. And, you know, everybody's worried about now that the next attempt that this is a man who, you know, Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, has put a price on his head. So they certainly have more sophisticated ways of carrying out an attack than, say, either of the two shooters that we've seen so far.
And so yes, there is serious concern about Trump's safety and, you know, and whether or not the Secret Service is getting all the resources that they need.
KINKADE: And let's talk about the man arrested, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58 years old. He has voted Democrat in the past. He's also voted for Trump, and now regrets it. The FBI is exploring whether he acted alone. What will law enforcement be doing right now to get answers to that question, but also to questions around his motivation?
CHACON: Well, the FBI has something called the SOMEX, which is a Social Media Exploitation Team, and they are experts at just diving into the digital footprint, seeing, you know, who he was associated with, who he chatted with, who he liked, you know, posts of and who liked his posts. I mean, the data they can access and analyze is -- is tremendous.
So they have a good picture of his, at least his online persona right now. They've also probably been talking to friends, family, coworkers, professional associates, anybody that he had contact with on a regular basis in his life. They probably to get the picture of him as a person, because sometimes we know that online persona could be different than the person, so they're doing both of those things to develop a bigger picture of -- of -- of who he was.
I mean, it's a political assassination. So the implied motive is always, in a political assassination is always you don't want that person to ascend to power or you want them out of power. I mean, Hinckley was a one off because he -- he shot Reagan because he was obsessed with an actress, and -- and -- and so that was, I think, an outlier. Most political assassinations have the implied motive of, you want to stop that person from getting power or staying in power.
KINKADE: I wonder if we can to show some footage of Trump on his golf course for our viewers. It was filmed by our crews who were stationed outside his club on public land while he was in office. You can see equally, see Trump in his -- in his red cap. You see him going around in his golf buggy. Now -- now, this is a golf club that reportedly charges over $300,000 in initiation fees before the annual membership fees.
And according to cell phone data, it indicates from -- from the scene on the weekend that Routh may have spent nearly 12 hours on Sunday near the area where he was spotted in the bushes with his rifle. How much onus is there on Trump to improve security at his own property?
CHACON: Well, I mean, look, the property, you know, always has a property line, and he was outside the property line. So in other words, he probably wasn't literally inside the fence line. He looked like he was outside the fence, pointing the -- the rifle through the fence. He, you know, as we have heard, he was there for almost 12 hours.
So he probably went in there, you know, because he knew on Sunday mornings, early, as soon as it's light out, people are walking their dogs, they're jogging, that, whatever. So he went in there while it was still dark in the middle of the night, parked his car a little down the road, and then got himself inside those thick, heavy bushes so no one could see him in there.
He bought food with him. He bought everything he needed to carry out this attack. So, I mean, I think that the security at the golf course was probably not an issue, because, you know, golf courses are huge. I live on a golf course here in California. I mean, you couldn't possibly encapsulate it. You know, they had a fence up. He -- he was outside that fence, pointing the rifle through the fence.
And like I said, he went in under the cover of darkness. That's why he was there for 12 hours. He didn't want to try to get himself into those bushes in daylight when somebody might have seen him.
KINKADE: Can you explain, first, how the protection of a sitting president compares to that of a former president?
[01:10:06]
CHACON: Yes, I mean a sitting president has so much more resources allocated to them and even the Vice President, you know, because they are obviously, they are under more of a threat, usually. And so 24/7 more people on every shift, more people around the house, around the family, and as presidents leave office, the longer they're out of office, longer they're out of public life, you know, the older they get, the less public appearances they make. They scale down that security detail. You know, as the person gets older and stays out of public life more.
So as -- as a prior president, he has a fairly substantial detail, but nowhere near what -- what a sitting president has. They -- they go everywhere, motorcades, just larger motorcades, more support. It -- it's just a much larger detail and much more resources dedicated to a sitting president.
KINKADE: We'll see if resources are with the Secret Service change going forward. Bobby Chacon, good to get your insight. Thanks so much for your time.
CHACON: Thanks for having me.
KINKADE: Well, Donald Trump is blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the apparent assassination attempt. Speaking with "Fox News," Trump claimed the suspect believed they, quote, rhetoric and acted on him. He echoed that statement in a lengthy social media post, saying, in part, because of his communist left rhetoric, the bullets are flying and it will only get worse. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on how Trump is handling the recent threats.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump reacting that apparent second assassination attempt during an event on Twitter spaces on Monday night. He praised law enforcement. Went through the event of what happened that Sunday on his golf course. He also blamed political rhetoric for the events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It worked out well. Secret Service did an excellent job. And they have the man behind bars, and hopefully he's going to be there for a long time. Dangerous person, very, very dangerous person. But I appreciate the comments very much. Well, there's a lot of rhetoric going on. A lot of people think that the Democrats, when they talk about threat to democracy and all of this. And it seems that both of these people were radical left. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, in addition to talking about what happened on Sunday, he also went into extraordinary detail about the events of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, talking about local doctors, talking about a man giving CPR to someone who had been hit by a bullet.
Now, I've talked to a number of sources close to the former president who describe his mindset sensed that second apparent assassination attempt as in good spirits that he has been joking around. At one point, he said that it interrupted a great or wonderful game of golf at the time of the -- that -- there was gunfire exchange.
I talked to another source who spoke to him, who said they was asking about the media coverage around the event. A third source who was briefed on a conversation with Donald Trump said that he was defiant about winning in November. But one thing is clear, he is handling at least part of the response differently to this second apparent assassination attempt than he did to what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He has gone all in on attacking the Biden administration, Democrats, and saying their political rhetoric is what led to the events on Sunday.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
KINKADE: Rapper, music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs has been arrested in New York, according to his attorney. A source telling CNN that he was detained Monday night at a New York City hotel. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney said in a statement that the indictment against Combs will be unsealed Tuesday morning. Combs became the target of a federal sex trafficking probe earlier this year. Since last November, the embattled musician has been hit with 10 lawsuits, nine directly accusing him of sexual assault. He's denied any wrongdoing.
Joining us now from Los Angeles, Los Angeles is Areva Martin, a civil rights attorney in legal affairs commentator. Thanks so much for your time tonight.
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi Lynda.
KINKADE: So this rapper was arrested in the lobby of a New York City Hotel in midtown Manhattan. He's been served a grand jury indictment that's expected to be unsealed tomorrow. Just explain what that means.
MARTIN: Yes, essentially, what we know, Lynda, is that the grand jury in Manhattan have been meeting now for months. Individuals have been impaneled for the grand jury. It's if you think of a jury which we often hear a lot of, grand juries meet in secret. And evidence is presented to them by a prosecutor, and after the conclusion of the presentation of that evidence, they make a determination about whether there's enough evidence there to indict an individual or not.
So apparently, in this case, after evidence has been presented, it could be witnesses, it could be documents, it could be videotape, it could be audiotape, it could be a wide range of evidence that was presented to the grand jury. The subject of the investigation is not present, not allowed to testify. And what we know is that it's fairly low bar in terms of getting an indictment once evidence has been presented by a prosecutor to a grand jury.
[01:15:15]
We know that this indictment is under seal, but the Manhattan Southern District U.S. Attorney's Office has said they will unseal this indictment tomorrow, so we'll learn what the charges are tomorrow. At this point, we can guess what they are based on the raid on Sean Combs's home in March earlier this year, as well as the multiple, multiple lawsuits and the myriad of allegations of sex trafficking, rape and sexual assault that have been made in civil lawsuits.
KINKADE: Yes. Speak to us more about what you think those charges will be given. We -- he has had this wave of lawsuits from, as you say, sexual assault or physical abuse by his former girlfriend, to sex trafficking. What charges could be included?
MARTIN: You know, what we know about Sean Combs is decades ago, there have been allegations of him having a temper, of him having violent outbursts, of him using physical force and using violence against others, including women that he had relationships with, Cassie Ventura, someone he was in a relationship for a number of years, filed an explosive lawsuit in November of 2023 making allegations that he gave her drugs, that he forced her to have sex with other men while he watched, that he raped her as recently as 2018, that he beat her and then CNN released this videotape of him, Sean Combs, literally beating and dragging Cassie through a Hotel in Los Angeles.
So I would not be surprised if, based on what was alleged in Cassie's lawsuit, based on what we saw in that video, based on the other lawsuits that you mentioned that have been filed, that this indictment involves both sex trafficking as well as rape and sexual assault charges, all very serious felony charges.
KINKADE: And of course, his girlfriend filed a lawsuit against him last November, and then the video emerged of an assault in a -- in a hotel. Why has it taken so long then for this indictment do you think?
MARTIN: Well, it hasn't really been that long, if you think about it. From what we know publicly, the lawsuit was filed in November of 2023. Was settled very quickly. But it opened the door for other lawsuits to be filed. The raid by Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies happened in March of this year. So here we are in mid- September. These cases can be very complex.
The allegations involved from the civil lawsuits involved multiple locations. They involve multiple people, their allegations of their being videotaped and audiotape. So when you think about the enormity of the allegations that have been made against him, the timeframe is not that expansive. And this was something that for many people, you know, was -- was expected once the lawsuits were filed, once the raid happened. So not a lot of surprises that there has been an indictment now issued by this Manhattan grand jury.
KINKADE: There'll be a lot of interest in this tomorrow, and going forward. Areva Martin good to get your insight. Thanks so much.
MARTIN: Thank you Lynda.
KINKADE: And still to come, the death toll from Storm Boris rises in Central Europe and some of the worst flooding the region has seen in decades.
Plus, European leaders are struggling with pressure from far right groups to crack down on migration. How they're responding, next.
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[01:20:42]
KINKADE: Welcome back. The remnants of Typhoon Bebinca are expected to dissipate in the coming hours as what's left of the storm moves further into China. The typhoon made landfall in Shanghai early Monday, hammering the city with powerful waves, high winds and heavy rain. Authorities say it's the strongest storm to hit China's financial hub in more than 70 years. It disrupted China's mid-autumn festival, a three day national holiday with flights, trains and highway travel all suspended.
In Central Europe, at least 17 people have been killed in some of the worst rain and flooding the region has seen in decades. Police in the Czech Republic had to rescue people trapped in their homes Monday, after a barrier between two rivers broke open, thousands more without hot water and electricity. CNN's Melissa Bell has more in the severe weather impacting several countries.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The death toll continues to rise across parts of Central and Eastern Europe as Storm Boris continues to cause devastation extreme rainfall in some parts have caused rivers levels to rise, banks to burst, and extensive damage to infrastructure, with tens of thousands of residents having to be evacuated.
The death toll continuing to climb. And whilst along the hardest hit region between the Czech Republic and Poland, some of the waters water levels appear now to be receding, there are fears that it is a widening circle of damage that threatens even further south towards Hungary, Budapest and Slovakia, with weather experts predicting that this kind of extreme weather could be something the European continent needs to be better prepared for and to get used to. Europe now the fastest warming continent in the world.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
KINKADE: Well, Germany has placed new temporary restrictions on all its land borders, giving Berlin the power to reject anyone coming into the country. The country, of course, is part of the Schengen border free zone, but it is allowed to put temporary border controls in place. Germany's interior minister says the move is a quote, tough stance against irregular migration.
She says it's meant to protect German citizens from cross border crime and Islamist terrorism. It comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government faces pressure from far right opposition groups to crack down on migration and asylum seekers. But Germany's European neighbors aren't happy with the new restrictions, and neither are human rights groups.
And immigration was at the top of the agenda as the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with the Italian Prime Minister in Rome. Starmer leads a center left coalition, and says his talks with the right wing Giorgia Meloni will help the U.K. tackle the problem of migrants arriving on small boats. He says the two share a common challenge and will collaborate and cooperate to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Every week, thousands of migrants are crossing the Mediterranean to illegally reach Italy and have access in Europe, and many of them also across the channel to access the U.K. So this is a problem which has affected the whole of Europe. And with Prime Minister Starmer, we have agreed that the first thing to be done is to intensify our fight against human trafficking, and we need to do so by further uniting our forces and enhancing security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Earlier I spoke with CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas, and I asked him whether Europe is dealing with a migration crisis or a political crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: It's more of an anti-immigration crisis in Europe today, and we've been -- we've seen far right political groups shaping elections and discussions around these questions in -- in Europe for over a decade now. And it seems that opposition leaders have been unable, or rather, leaders have been unable, to kind of counter these narratives, and instead of going down the road of pandering and kind of mainstreaming these particular groups.
And what we see across the board is a kind of scapegoating of immigrants and blaming them for the social ills that the countries are facing, rather than tackling the real issues at hand. And this is an issue that doesn't just impact Europe. We see it in other elections around the world too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Their new concerns about the status of a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to return to Egypt this week, but he won't stop in Israel. The State Department says that while in Egypt, Blinken will discuss efforts towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal, but not visiting Israel is raising doubts that a deal can be brokered before President Joe Biden leaves office. This will be the first time since the October 7th attacks that Blinken will travel to the Middle East without visiting Israel. Well, two senior Biden administration officials tell CNN, the White House has no imminent plan to present the U.S. President with an updated ceasefire plan.
[01:25:35]
Hamas political leader, Yahya Sinwar, is praising a Houthi missile strike on Israel. On Sunday, a Houthi missile fired from Yemen fell in an open area deep inside Israel. There have been no reports of injuries. Sinwar says the strike sent a message that, quote, plans of containment and neutralization have failed. A Houthi spokesperson says the group fired a new hypersonic ballistic missile at Israel. The Israeli military says the projectile that landed was not a hypersonic missile. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that the Houthis will face a heavy price for that incident.
Well, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump has a lengthy criminal history. We'll have more on that ahead, including his guilty plea for having a weapon of mass destruction.
Also Kamala Harris caused another high profile union endorsement. We'll have the latest on what the decision by the teamsters could be reached.
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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. You're watching CNN Newsroom. The men detained in Sunday's apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is now facing two firearm charges in connection with that incident. Ryan Wesley Routh has had quite a few run-ins with law enforcement over the years, and those who know him say he has long exhibited odd behavior, even delusions of grandeur as some sort of globe-trotting freedom fight -- fighter. Our senior investigative correspondent, Kyung Lah looks into Routh's background.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Too many who have encountered Ryan Routh, it's not shocking that he is suspected of attempting to kill a former president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name and last name?
ROUTH: Ryan.
LAH (voice-over): Former Greensboro North Carolina police sergeant, Tracy Fulk, who once charged Routh, says he was well known to her department.
TRACY FULK, FORMER SERGEANT, GREENSBORO POLICE DEPT.: We used to get what we call barometer reports, which were kind of like dangerous persons who had made threats, either against elected officials, police officers or community members. And we had gotten several alerts barometer reports on Ryan Routh, so I knew who he was.
[01:30:02]
LAH (voice-over): Routh had a long list of charges against him in the early 2000s including a serious incident that started as a traffic stop but ended with Routh barricaded in a business.
FULK: He reached over into the center seat and opened a black duffel bag and there was a gun laying in there. And he kind of held his hand over the bag for a second as I'm backing up and issuing commands and then he just put the car in gear and drove to businesses down and pulled in this business and ran inside.
LAH: Routh would plead guilty to possession of a weapon of mass destruction. A source tells CNN it was for having an automatic weapon.
A father of three, Routh moved from that troubled past in North Carolina to Hawaii, where he started something called Camp Box, working on tiny homes for homeless people and demonstrated how he built them on his Web site.
In 2018, a local station interviewed him during a flood.
RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, SUSPECT IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON DONALD TRUMP: We had building materials under the house, so all the lumber under the house started floating out into the yard.
LAH: Routh claimed to have local political ambitions. He launched a Web site to run for mayor in his town, but never officially filed.
Instead, he wrote on the Web site and across various social media platforms about another passion, the war in Ukraine tweeting the same message more than a dozen times in one day.
But the keyboard wasn't enough.
Routh went to the region, arriving wearing a Hawaiian lei. Once in Kyiv, he spent weeks talking to reporters.
ROUTH: My initial goal was going to fight. I'm 56, so initially they're like, well, I have no military experience, so they were like, you're not an ideal candidate.
LAH: Instead Routh set up camp in the main square.
ROUTH: Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended. So we need everybody from around the globe to stop what they're doing and come here now.
I think more emotional for me also is just talking to the guys that have come here. You know, when you talk to a 20-year-old guy that sold everything to come at your fight that is heroism.
LAH: This singularly driven man is who journalist Michael Wasiura met.
MICHAEL WASIURA, JOURNALIST, "THE INSIDER": I don't find it difficult to believe that he would take it upon himself to attempt to assassinate Donald Trump.
LAH: Wasiura met Routh several times that year, describing him as eccentric and dedicated to big global causes.
ROUTH: This is about (INAUDIBLE) to help people when they come from other countries around the world.
WASIURA: This is someone who was very committed to causes that he believed in, demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice personal comfort and convenience in order to further the cause.
LAH: How does all of this now weave into the profile of someone who might take a semi-automatic rifle onto a golf course?
WASIURA: Ryan was not a normal guy. There's something about the combination of the times and the person that makes something like this not just possible but not surprising.
LAH: Because looking back, Wasiura says, there were so many clues.
ROUTH: I'm not sure that the world is as wonderful as I once thought it was. I thought that everyone will respond, you know, very generously or unselfishly. Seems like that would be a no-brainer. But I increasingly get more disappointed in humanity.
LAH: Many people CNN spoke with describe Routh as erratic, manic, even delusional especially when it came to the war in Ukraine. He had ideas like trying to bring in soldiers from Afghanistan to fight in Ukraine.
Now CNN did reach out to Routh's son who has a very different view of his father. He tells CNN in a statement, quote, "It doesn't sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent.
Kyung Lah, CNN -- Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: As the race for the White House intensifies, so is the divide among U.S. political parties.
Well known for his own inflammatory remarks. Donald Trump is placing blame for a second apparent attack on his life, on the current White House administration.
In a lengthy social media posts he wrote in part "Because of this communist left rhetoric, the bullets are flying and it only gets worse."
His running mate J.D. Vance also wasted no time in adopting the same rhetoric, telling Georgia voters Monday night the democrats says solely responsible for the current political violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: you know, the big difference between conservatives and liberals is that we -- no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months.
I'd say that's pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:34:52]
KINKADE: Let's discuss this further with Jon Lewis, a research fellow in the program on extremism at George Washington University. Thanks so much for your time.
JON LEWIS, RESEARCH FELLOW, GEORGE WASHINGOTN UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
KINKADE: So without evidence, Trump has sought to blame his political rivals. What is the risk that that could further inflame this current situation and feed the division.
LEWIS: There's certainly significant risk that this kind of rhetoric will only incite followers to conduct violence on behalf of these ideas. And it's really the latest in a long string of this us versus them culture war rhetoric that we've seen emerge from right-wing spaces, where we see individuals trying to sow discord and hatred.
KINKADE: And of course, after the first assassination attempt, Trump claimed to be a changed man. That seem to last just a few days. He's running mate J.D. Vance also came out with very divisive language after this apparent second attempt, laying the blame at the Democrats as well.
We know both President Joe Biden and the presidential candidate Kamala Harris have condemned this latest attempted assassination. Is there any more they can do to bring down the temperature?
LEWIS: I think it's certainly a good start to condemn political violence from across the spectrum. But I think it is incumbent on national elected officials, on leaders at the state and local level to continue to speak out against this incitement.
We see it in Springfield as well unfortunately, we see, you know, officials, individuals with major platforms who continue to use them to really sow discord against individuals, again on the basis of race or their political beliefs.
And unfortunately, that does have very, very difficult offline, you know, consequences as well.
KINKADE: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, took to his platform X and reposted someone asking why they would want to kill Donald Trump, to which he wrote, "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala."
That had more than 2 million views before he deleted it and said it was a joke. What is the impact of someone in his position joking about it, if you can even call it a joke.
LEWIS: Yes. This normalization and mainstreaming of violence against others is -- has really become, you know, unfortunately all too commonplace. And we've seen time and time again that this rhetoric has very, very real offline results.
You see individuals who are unaffiliated, who don't have membership in some domestic extremist group who look at messages like that from individuals with large followings and massive platforms really, you know, inciting violence and really, really, we've seen time and time again that these individuals are just looking for the right justification to go carry out violence in furtherance of those conspiracies.
KINKADE: And so with election day drawing near there are concerns at Trump could be tempted to maintain an extremist demeanor and continue to blame the Democrats.
I mean could that potentially inspire other copycat attackers?
LEWIS: Absolutely. And look, you know, we've already seen, you know, in the wake of this event and recent events in Springfield, we've seen groups like Blood Tribe. We've seen groups like the Proud Boys respond to these calls.
You've seen them doxing individuals in Springfield, marching in the streets, you know, really trying to engage in racist hateful violence.
And unfortunately, you know, as you've seen in the past, these are likely to continue as individuals with these platforms continue to fan the flames of this hatred.
KINKADE: And Jon, talk to us about the sort of research you're doing. When it comes to spreading extremism, what trends are you seeing right now?
LEWIS: Yes. So at the program on extremism, what we really see is, you know, anti-Semitism and, you know, hatred against others, against women, against minorities, as, you know, the real root causes of so many of these different types of extremist violence.
And what we see is, you know, when you have these massive mainstream platforms that are really incubators for hate, that just broadens out the aperture of a normal individual, right? Your neighbor, your friend or family member who can fall down that conspiracy rabbit holes that much easier.
KINKADE: Jon Lewis from George Washington University, good to have you on the program. Thank you for staying up late for us. Appreciate it.
LEWIS: Thank you very much.
KINKADE: Well, despite the apparent assassination attempt (INAUDIBLE) say Donald Trump is still planning to attend all of his campaign events in the coming days. The Republican presidential nominee is expected it to be in Flint, Michigan Tuesday and then in New York and Washington later in the week.
His Democratic rival also has a busy week ahead, which includes stops in Philadelphia and Wisconsin.
On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris attended a roundtable discussion with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington as she seeks to win over support from the largest union.
And at that meeting, Harris pitched herself as the candidate most focused on working class issues, while criticizing her opponent as being anti-union.
[01:39:47]
KINKADE: The Teamsters previously met with Donald Trump back in January, and while they have yet to offer an endorsement, we're told it could be coming soon.
CNN's Eva McKend reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Harris emerged from an all-important meeting with the Teamsters, voicing fresh commitment to a slate of pro-union issues. As the group nears an endorsement decision, the vice president telling Teamsters she's going to continue fighting for union workers like them every day and touted being part of the most pro-union administration in history.
She accused former President Donald Trump of appointing union busters to the National Labor Relations Board making it harder for workers to organize. She cast the deciding vote for the Butch Lewis Act in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan, which the campaign says saved over a million pensions.
And out on the campaign trail, the vice president and Democrats routinely pledging to work with Congress to pass the Pro Act, which they say will end union busting.
Now after holding roundtables with all the presidential candidates, the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters could reach endorsement decision as soon as Wednesday.
Most major unions have already endorsed the vice president, including the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO.
Eva McKend, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well Donald Trump and his running mate continued to repeat the baseless conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants eating family pets and its wreaking havoc on the town of Springfield, Ohio.
Just how bad things are getting for people there and why J.D. Vance says he has no regrets about saying it. That story next.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
Former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, are continuing to push baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating and stealing family pets and it's causing havoc in the town.
Threats have been made against elementary schools, colleges and hospitals in Springfield. Now the governor is deploying state troopers to monitor all schools in the city after they received 33 bomb threats since late last week.
Several colleges are moving to virtual learning for the rest of the week out of concern for students' safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL FRANDSEN, WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: We received our first threat on Saturday. We're now up to five threats. One came just a short time ago.
The Ohio state highway patrol has been doing increasing patrols through and around our campus for.
Four of the five have come from the same source. They have threatened different types of violence against our community. The people in our community and our facilities in the university.
Some of them, the police working with again, the city police, county sheriff, state highway patrol, and the FBI.
[01:44:46]
FRANDSEN: A couple of them they have been able to resolve and give us an all-clear. But that's not the case with all of the threats. And not the case with this most recent one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Our Brian Todd has more on the threats in Springfield and how the city is coping.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio evacuated on Monday
Two college campuses there -- Clark State College and Wittenberg University, shutdown. Classes being held virtually because of bomb and shooting threats.
Some of the threats targeting the Haitian communities at the schools and in town.
DAVE YOST, OHIO REPUBLICAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL: A bomb threat particularly one that disrupted something like a school, is very serious crime. It's felonious. Whoever is responsible, knock it off. You could go to prison on this.
TODD: Government buildings in Springfield have also received threats in recent days. The threats come in the wake of a disturbing sequence of falsehoods about the Haitian community in Springfield.
Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance who's from Ohio, picked up on Internet rumors that Haitian immigrants in the town were eating people's pets.
Then former President Donald Trump amplified those rumors at last week's debate.
TRUMP: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs -- the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there.
TODD: In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Springfield's mayor again had to knock down the rumors.
ROB RUE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO MAYOR: and we just have no verifiable claimed that this has actually happened.
TODD: Still, J.D. Vance in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, doubled down on the false claim but provided no evidence for it.
Then Vance said this.
VANCE: If I have to 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, Dana.
TODD: But then pressed by Bash on whether he created the whole story, Vance said this, I say that we're creating a story, meaning were creating the American media focusing on it.
Neither Vance nor Trump have moved away from the false claim of pets being eaten in Springfield, even when Trump was asked over the weekend if he would denounce the recent threats?
TRUMP: I don't know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it's been taken over by illegal migrants and that's a terrible thing that happened.
TODD: Trump has threatened to conduct large deportations from Springfield if he's elected. Thousands of Haitians, the vast majority of whom are in the United States legally have settled in Springfield in recent years, many of them to take jobs in new factories.
Officials there say the local economy has improved, but there has been a strain on the town's infrastructure. So far, there's been no actual reported violence toward the Haitian community in Springfield. But one hate speech monitor worries about what's ahead.
IMRAN AHMED, CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE: There are some people that still can't tell the difference between the lies they see on social media and reality. And the fear is that one of them will take real violent action against the Haitian community.
TODD: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, said in a recent interview that the rumors of Haitian immigrants eating pets was quote, "a piece of garbage that was simply not true".
DeWine expressed support for the Haitian immigrants in Springfield and said the discussions of them eating dogs and cats have to stop.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to add 180,000 more troops starting in December. That would bring Russia's total to about 1.5 million. It's the third time Putin has expanded the military ranks since launching his illegal invasion of Ukraine back in February, 2022.
The news comes one week after Russia stepped up its efforts to drive Ukrainian troops out of Kursk as Russian forces are inching forward in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
Still to come, the future control of a powerful media empire is being decided in court. Why Rupert Murdoch reportedly wants to keep his son Lachlan at the helm.
Plus should TikTok stay or should it go. Federal judges in Washington have heard arguments for and against a potential U.S. ban. We'll bring you details of the hearing.
[01:48:53]
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KINKADE: The Titan submersible which imploded last year on its way to the Titanic may have failed due to a worn-out line of glue. That's according to a testimony from the former OceanGate contractor at a hearing Monday into the deadly incident.
During the hearing, investigators released this first image showing the wreckage of the catastrophic implosion, which killed all five people on board.
The contractor said he believes the Titan imploded because a line of glue holding it together was too worn down to withstand the pressure of another deep dive.
He also revealed to investigators that he had previously raised concerns about the Titan's integrity with OceanGate leadership, no less than six times. The battle for control of Rupert Murdoch's media empire is playing out in a Nevada courtroom. The 93-year-old is reportedly trying to change the terms of his family trust, directing who will control the empire and that includes Fox News, "The Wall Street Journal", "The Sun U.K.", and "The Times" among others.
CNN media correspondent Hadas Gold has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Rupert Murdoch and his eldest four children were in Reno, Nevada for the first day of a court case that will potentially help determine who will be in control of Rupert Murdoch's vast media empire after Rupert Murdoch, who is in his mid- 90s, passes away.
Now, what happened? This all started when last year Rupert Murdoch tried to change the terms of his irrevocable family trust. Originally, this trust after Rupert Murdoch passed away, it would've placed equal voting shares into the hands of his four eldest children.
And that would essentially give them all equal voting shares and control of the Murdoch media empire. That includes outlets like Fox News and "The Wall Street Journal". But last year, Rupert Murdoch tried to change that trust and put all of those votes into the hands of his eldest son and chosen successor, Lachlan.
Part of that reason he says is a business decision. He said that Lachlan will help preserve the value of the company because Lachlan is seen, first of all, as being more politically-aligned with his father.
Keep in mind his other son, James, for example, recently publicly endorsed VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS for president and Rupert Murdoch is concerned that his other three children, if given control of these companies might try to moderate a place like Fox News. And Rupert Murdoch says, that could hurt the network's value.
Rupert Murdoch is also concerned about leadership battles between the four eldest children. And so he's just trying to give all that control to Lachlan.
But the other three children do not agree with this, and that is why they are in court battling this out.
Now, this is all actually happening in secret behind closed doors. Nevada is famously one of the top states when it comes to trying to keep places like this behind closed doors. It's essentially become the best-known state for this type of -- for this type of family trust and for these types of court battles.
A coalition of media organizations among them CNN, as well as "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post and others did try to petition the court to unseal this case. They were unsuccessful. They weren't successful in getting some things, at least out to the open, for example, the list of attorneys. Because up until that point, you didn't even know who was representing who. Then the court did end up putting some sort of webpage up and saying
that this case is happening. But even then, it's still just marked as what's called a Doe (Ph) One trust case. And unless you know what you're looking at, it's hard to know that this is actually the Murdoch family case.
But we did see Rupert Murdoch and his four eldest children and their spouses all walking into court today. This case is expected to take -- the evidentiary hearing process that they are now is expected to take a few days into next week.
But what's interesting is even when or if a decision is reached, it will all be sealed because this entire case is sealed.
So it's possible we won't even know essentially the outcome of this and it can be appealed unless the family themselves come out and say something about this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, two federal judges in Washington spent more than two hours Monday hearing arguments on the issue of TikTok's Chinese ownership.
TikTok emphasized its argument that a potential ban on the app in the U.S. is unconstitutional.
CNN's Clare Duffy reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: During this hearing, we heard from an attorney for TikTok, an attorney for TikTok creators who sued to challenge the ban, and an attorney for the U.S. government defending the law.
[01:54:50]
DUFFY: Each of them technically only had a short time to present their case, but the hearing ended up stretching on for about two hours because of some pretty tough questioning from this panel of three judges, especially for TikTok.
Essentially, the judges are having to consider two key questions here. First, does this law violate the First Amendment? And then if it does, is there sufficient justification in terms of these national security concerns to crack down on speech in this way?
TikTok, of course, is arguing that the law is an illegal and unjustified violation of the First Amendment rights of the app and its U.S. users.
And in this hearing, TikTok's attorney really hammered on that point. He argued that for the government to restrict the speech of a specific entity in this way, it would need to face strict scrutiny and have sufficient justification. And given that -- given all that we've seen publicly from the
government at this point is essentially hypothetical concerns that the Chinese government could potentially seek to access U.S. user data from TikTok, he said that bar has not been met.
But the judges did push back pretty hard in questioning here, asking if the law would really violate the First Amendment when it still does leave room for TikTok to operate in the U.S., just not under Chinese control.
Now, it's not clear how the judges will rule based on today's hearing, but we're expecting to get a decision in the coming weeks and for the losing side to appeal so that this can go to the Supreme Court before that January 19th which is the deadline for a TikTok sale or a ban.
Clare Duffy, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Finally, a mayoral debate in Brazil turned ugly Sunday with one candidate leaving another requiring hospital treatment.
Video shows Jose Luis Datena swinging a chair at his counterpart, Pablo Marcal on live television. Marcal, who suffered trauma to his chest and ribs has compared it to July's assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Datena says his opponent had brought up dismissed sexual harassment allegations and that he does not regret his actions.
Well, thanks so much for watching. That does it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Lynda Kinkade.
Stay with us, there's much more news coming up in just a moment with my colleague Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong.
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