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Sean Diddy Combs Arrested in New York, Indictment to be Unsealed; Trump's Rhetoric Caused Bomb Threats in Springfield, Ohio; Suspect Responsible for Trump's Second Assassination Attempt Charged with Two Gun-Related Crimes; Federal Judges Air Arguments on Possible TikTok Sale or Ban in the United States. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 17, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all our viewers watching around the World. I'm Anna Coren. Ahead on CNN Newsroom.

Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs is arrested in New York and an indictment against him will be unsealed today. We'll take a closer look at the accusations he's been facing.

A day after another apparent attempt on his life, Donald Trump wasted no time pointing the finger at Democrats over their rhetoric.

And we'll look at how rhetoric from the former president himself is causing all sorts of trouble for the city in Ohio.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Anna Coren.

COREN: Well first to our developing story this hour, Sean Diddy Combs has been arrested in New York. A source tells CNN 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, which led to the search of his homes in Miami and Los Angeles. He's also been hit with 10 lawsuits, nine directly accusing him of sexual assault. A lawyer for three of his accusers wrote in a statement, the long-awaited arrest of Sean Combs is the first step for our clients receiving justice.

We leave the criminal aspect of this case in the hands of the people and justice system. As for the civil cases, we await our time for the facts to reveal themselves and seek the justice our clients deserve. We also anticipate more victims coming forward.

John Miller is CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst and he joins me now from New York. John, great to see you. The indictment is sealed. The charges have not yet been announced. But tell us, what are you learning?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, P. Diddy was arrested tonight in New York at approximately 8:15 p.m. at a Midtown hotel. He had been in town since last week as his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, had negotiated with prosecutors in the Federal U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, trying to arrange a way to surrender at the time when an indictment might be unsealed and to face those charges in court.

Instead, for reasons that were only known to federal prosecutors and federal agents, they decided to arrest P. Diddy at the hotel tonight, take him into custody, they will bring him to court after being processed by the U.S. Marshal tomorrow, and they will, according to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney, they will unseal this indictment.

We are told by law enforcement sources who have been following this case that this is a federal racketeering case involving multiple charges and multiple defendants, including charges that we expect to be sex trafficking and related charges. This of course is related to a number of those civil suits, including the one brought by Cassie Ventura, who was in a relationship with Combs for a number of years, who talked about a spiral of abuse, drugs and forced sex.

COREN: John, Sean Combs has been fighting multiple sexual assault lawsuits and obviously this federal investigation. What has been the response from his legal team?

MILLER: Well, his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said, and I'm quoting now, "we're disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney's Office." He talks about Combs' philanthropy, his leadership, what he has given back to New York's black community, and a lot of what he has done for others. But he understands that we haven't seen the charges in this case.

What we know is a couple of things though, Anna. One is search warrants were done months ago at Combs' homes both in Miami and California where they looked for videotape from security cameras, from what we were told were hidden cameras, collecting thumb drives, hard drives, anything with data on it, basically pursuant to that search warrant where they were seeking to find out what images could be recovered.

[03:05:07]

How they would match up to allegations made by various witnesses who have testified in the grand jury and match up with events that they said occurred in certain places in those residents on certain dates. So we're expecting to see one of the things that would be the product of that investigation, which took so long because investigators had so much material to go through.

COREN: I thought it was interesting in that statement from his legal team. They also said he is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. Tell me, John, how much of a role does his celebrity play in all of this?

MILLER: Well the main role his celebrity plays is if there is jury appeal, depending on the demographics and the age of a federal jury if it goes to trial. And of course, the fact that he has an awful lot of money to have the best defense lawyers, the best defense experts, the best defense investigators, which of course will always even the playing field even against experienced federal prosecutors and expert federal agents and investigators who have been working on this for probably a year at this point.

COREN: John, if he is charged with racketeering and sex trafficking and this does go to trial, what could he be facing?

MILLER: Well, let's go by the example that probably is the legal architecture in terms of prosecutions that this investigation and now this upcoming indictment is likely based on. And that's the prosecution of rapper R. Kelly for events that occurred in New York but also Chicago, who was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn in a similar racketeering charge with multiple instances of alleged forced sex, drugs, in his case alleged underaged women. He was sentenced after being convicted to 20 years in prison. So these can be very serious charges with very serious penalties.

COREN: John Miller, joining us from New York, we really appreciate your insight. Thank you.

MILLER: Thanks.

COREN: We are now hearing from former U.S. President Donald Trump about the apparent assassination attempt at his golf club in Florida. A suspect is under arrest after a Secret Service agent spotted a man with a rifle hiding in the bushes and fired shots. Well, here's Trump's account of what happened.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. 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 was 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 AUDIO CLIP)

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COREN: Authorities caught up with the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, a short time later, thanks to the help of a witness. The moment of Routh's arrest caught on body cam video. You can see him with his hands up as officers quickly handcuff him and take him into custody. He appeared in court Monday and was charged with two federal gun- related crimes. The moment of Routh's arrest caught on body cam video. You can see him with his hands up as officers quickly handcuff him and take him into custody. Palm Beach County Sheriff says the suspect quote, "didn't even get close to getting around off."

CNN's Randi Kaye is following all the developments from Palm Beach County, Florida and has this report.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ryan Wesley Routh may have been lying in wait from his spot in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club for nearly 12 hours. That's according to court documents unsealed today showing Routh's phone was in the vicinity of the area starting as early as 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Prosecutors also revealed in court documents that the serial number on the rifle recovered from the area where Routh was spotted was unreadable to the naked eye. Just before 2 p.m. Secret Service noticed the barrel of a rifle poking through a fence at Trump International Golf Club. Trump was somewhere between the fifth and sixth hole at the time.

UNKNOWN: When you look at the map, you see a roadway very close to holes five and six, which it would make sense that would be a location. If you were going to try to take a shot, it'd be closer and would give you an opportunity to do so and also give you an escape route.

KAYE (voice-over): The Secret Service fired on the man with the gun before he fled. A quick-thinking witness at the scene provided authorities with a description of the suspect as well as a picture of the car and license plate.

[03:10:00]

Martin County deputies detained Routh a short time later. CNN obtained this body cam video of Routh's arrest.

SHERIFF WILLIAM D. SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: The witness from the incident at Trump International was flown to the scene by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, and he was able to make a positive idea.

KAYE (voice-over): In the bushes at the golf club, authorities recovered an SKS-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks equipped with ceramic tiles for a makeshift bulletproof vest, and a GoPro. Since then, a complicated picture has emerged of Ryan Routh, a 58-year-old small business owner from Hawaii. CNN has learned that Routh supported Trump in 2016, but later dismissed him as a buffoon and a fool.

Routh also mentioned Trump in his book titled "Ukraine's Unwinnable War." Routh traveled to Ukraine in 2022 and encouraged others to sign up to fight. He did an interview with AFP news agency from Kyiv in April that year.

RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, BOOK AUTHOR: Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended.

KAYE (voice-over): Court documents also detail past run-ins with the law, including felony convictions in North Carolina. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction and carrying a concealed weapon. Other charges over the years included possession of stolen goods, driving without registration, and failing to pay his taxes on time. Still, unanswered questions remain, including how safe is Trump and others given the current political environment.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Everywhere the former president goes and the current president and the other candidates go, they're gonna have to start thinking differently about the threat assessment.

KAYE: And a bit more information from that press briefing, we did learn that the FBI interviewed seven civilian witnesses at the scene, so they're trying to gather more information. We also now know that they are processing the suspect's items found at the scene. That would include that SKS rifle with the scope, also the two backpacks and the GoPro.

They collected DNA from those items and have sent that to Quantico. They're also processing his vehicle. But questions do still remain. So far, the FBI says there isn't any indication that he worked with anyone else on this. It does look like he acted alone, but they couldn't say that for sure. And the FBI is still trying to figure out just how long he was in the state of Florida before this.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: For more on this, I'm joined by CNN senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She is also a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and a Harvard professor. Juliette, lovely to see you. We are just learning that the Secret Service did not search the golf course perimeter. Does that not appear to be a massive oversight?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SR. NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, AND PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: It does, if they had enough notice that Trump was going to play golf. And so this is where the complication arises, is that in most instances, the protectee either has a known schedule, is not impromptu, or is not as much of a potential risk as Donald Trump is.

You know, look, most former presidents, they go to their ranches, they go play golf, but their schedules are pretty well known. Trump is not only a former president, he's of course the presidential nominee. And so what we know now, to be careful, is that this was a more -- this was a spontaneous golf outing.

They're not uncommon. And that therefore, what the Secret Service was able to do is at least secure the area around him and then have the kind of patrols around the open areas that I think ultimately resulted in stopping this potential assassination attack.

There's nothing good about this, in particular how long that it appears that the shooter was in the hedges of maybe plus 10 hours and no one identified him or his car which was sitting there as well.

COREN: Julie, we also heard from the acting director of the Secret Service who said it's perhaps time to review their protective methodology and look at how they move from a reactive model to a readiness model. I mean, that is quite an extraordinary statement to make suggesting that the system needs to be fixed.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. Look, we used to, and the Secret Service would design their VIP protect the sort of resources the person's relevance to the constitutional order, a president, a vice president, a speaker of the House, or some legacy that they were a former president. Donald Trump, like in most things in his life, sort of is in a different category. He is a former president. He may be a future president. That is very uncommon in U.S. history.

And he is quite public, he's out there, he likes crowds, he likes going out, he likes playing golf. All of that suggests that the Secret Service can't really put him into any of these normal categories and really does need to take a different posture about, in particular, about him.

[03:15:06]

But of course, given the U.S. threat environment right now, the increase in violence, increase in political threats of violence against everyone from judges to secretaries of state that the Secret Service is going to have to rethink the threat environment and also particular protectees and how much they provide them safety.

COREN: Let's talk about the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, what more we are learning about him, but also the fact that he was never in I guess range like he never had a line of sight of the former president nor did he fire his weapon.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. So the charges that we have seen at least disclosed today are really quite limited and they really don't get too intent at this stage. He is being charged for essentially gun violations. He is a former felon, he was in possession of a gun, that's not allowable. So what they quickly did is they got the easy part out of the way in terms of the charges against him.

The other charges that we might suspect, including a federal statute that makes it an enhanced crime to threaten violence or seek violence against a former president, those will come later as they begin to understand his narrative. Now, it may seem very obvious to people this is exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to kill the president.

The truth is, is that they have to prove it. If he wasn't in range, if there's disclosures that he said, if he has some sort of defense, they want to make sure that what they indict him with and what they charge him with can stick. There would be nothing worse than charging him for something that they actually don't have the evidence for. And so that's why you're going to see the easy charges first. You'll see other charges later. I have to say something about his history, though.

What's interesting to me and people who study political violence is he's got these felonies, these criminal charges. None of them are really related to politics. He gets obsessed with Ukraine in a way that, at least on his social media, he's much engaged and enraged on.

But he doesn't really focus on Trump as much as you would think, given that he might have attempted to assassinate Trump. That gap is something that prosecutors and investigators are gonna have to figure out. How did you go from someone who was not a likely suspect to someone who spent a lot of time trying to get within range of Donald Trump?

COREN: Juliette Kayyem, always great to get your analysis. Thank you so much for joining us.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

COREN: Well Donald Trump and his running mate continue to repeat the baseless conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants eating family pets. And it's 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's next on CNN.

Plus, the role Trump says political rhetoric played in the apparent assassination attempt.

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COREN: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is deploying state highway patrol troopers to monitor schools in the city of Springfield after they received 33 bomb threats in the past few days. The threats come as former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance are continuing to push the baseless conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating family pets. Springfield's mayor spoke with CNN about the havoc the threats are causing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB RUE (R), SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: We've been having continuous threats for five days now. And it's disconcerting that these, they keep doubling and tripling down with what we're asking them to stop talking about. Springfield is a good place. We're a wonderful people. We're not imploding on each other as far as a community. We're doing, we're really for each other in this community. We need help, not hate. And that's what we need from those that have the national stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Brian Todd has more on the threats in Springfield and how the city is coping.

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BRIAN TODD (voice-over): Two elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio, evacuated on Monday. Two college campuses there, Clark State College and Wittenberg University, shut down. 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 (R), OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL: A bomb threat, particularly one that disrupts something like a school, is a very serious crime. It's felony. Whoever's responsible, knock it off, you could go to prison on this.

TODD (voice-over): 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 the pets of the people that live there.

TODD (voice-over): In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Springfield's mayor again had to knock down the rumors.

RUE: And we just have no verifiable claim that this has actually happened.

TODD (voice-over): 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.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH): 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 (voice-over): But then, pressed by Bash on whether he created the whole story, Vance said this.

VANCE: I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it.

TODD (voice-over): 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.

[03:25:03]

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 (voice-over): 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)

COREN: Historic amounts of rainfall just hit parts of North Carolina and it came down fast. In one area of Carolina Beach, more than 45 centimeters of rain fell in just 12 hours. The National Weather Service calls it a once-in-1,000-year rainfall event. The torrential downpours wreaked roads and wrecked roads and slowed traffic. Crews had to rescue people from their cars, homes and businesses. The storm should let up by Wednesday.

At least 17 people have been killed across central Europe in some of the worst rain and flooding the region has seen in decades. Well this is a look at the swollen banks of a river in Poland just a short time ago. The rain has stopped for now but the river has not yet returned to normal levels. Poland has declared a state of emergency, announcing $260 million in available aid. Experts say the severe weather is a product of climate change, with Europe now the fastest warming continent in the world.

In Texas, an SUV crashed into a natural gas pipeline on Monday morning, sparking a massive fire. This is about 40 kilometers southeast of Houston. The flames have raged for hours. Four first responders suffered heat-related injuries and were treated at the scene. The fire has damaged houses, melted vehicles, caused power outages and forced the evacuation of 100 homes. Crews are letting the natural gas fire burn itself out.

The Titan submersible, which imploded last year on its way to the Titanic, may have failed due to a worn-out line of glue. Well that is according to testimony from a 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 aboard. The contractor said he believes the Titan imploded because a line of glue holding it 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 Titans' integrity with OceanGate leadership no less than six times.

Well still to come after another apparent attempt on his life, why Donald Trump is blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for what happened at his golf club on Sunday.

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COREN: An update now on the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The suspect was in court Monday, where he was charged with two federal gun-related crimes. Officials say he could eventually face more charges. This is the body cam video of Ryan Wesley Routh's arrest. Cell phone data indicates he may have been waiting up to 12 hours for Trump outside the Palm Beach golf course.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on how Trump is handling the recent threats against him.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump reacting to that apparent second assassination attempt during an event on Twitter Spaces on Monday night. He praised law enforcement, went through the events of what happened that Sunday on his golf course. He also blamed political rhetoric for the events.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It worked out well. Secret Service did an excellent job. And the, they have the man behind bars, and hopefully he's going to be there for a long time. Dangerous person, 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.

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 since 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 and said he 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance wasted no time in adopting the former U.S. president's rhetoric. Speaking in Georgia on Monday, he questioned why no one has attempted to assassinate Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance claims it's because Democrats are solely responsible for the current political violence.

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know the big difference between conservatives and liberals is that we have 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)

COREN: Richard Johnson is a lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. He joins us now from Oxford. I have to start with J.D. Vance's comments. What do you make of what he just said?

[03:35:09]

RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY LONDON: I think they're very responsible. I mean, it almost sounds like it's an invitation for someone to have a shot at Kamala Harris. And this is really, I mean, the comments that both Vance and Trump have made about Democrat, Democratic rhetoric being responsible for these acts. I mean, first of all, we don't have any evidence from the investigations from the Butler County incident and assassination attempt in July or the current one that is in fact the case.

But also, I think rather -- it's rather obvious but important point to make that neither Donald Trump nor J.D. Vance have exactly practiced what they preached in this regard in terms of toning down their rhetoric and indeed in fact even in the comments that Trump made about calling for the Democrats to take responsibility for their rhetoric. He used inflammatory comments about Kamala Harris being a communist. So I think that this is really wildly irresponsible coming out, the language coming out of both J.D. Vance and Donald Trump on this.

COREN: It is a pot calling kettle black that is for sure. Donald Trump, he has spoken of Democrats as being the enemy from within and the real threat. I mean, how does that differ to Democrats calling Trump a threat to democracy? JOHNSON: Well, I don't. I mean, I think actually there is a difference

because the Democrats are pointing out that Donald Trump did not accept the outcome of the last presidential election. And Donald Trump attempted in the period after the November 2020 election for weeks to claim that the election had been stolen, had been rigged, when there was really no evidence of any kind of fraud or efforts to overturn the to cheat on the election.

Trump and his allies were lying. And, I think we just have to say that they were lying about the outcome of the last election. And that, I'm afraid, is a threat to democracy when you don't six uses consent is an extremely important part of any robust democracy that, I think, differs from Trump when he makes comments about Kamala Harris or Joe Biden, where really he uses policy differences that he has with them to make cast aspersions about their character or their patriotism, which really I don't think he has any legitimate grounds to make those kinds of claims.

COREN: Richard, considering the rhetoric in this toxic political environment, you know, can these statements be interpreted as inciting violence if you're mentally unwell?

JOHNSON: Well, I think one of the real challenges for us in the days to come after this attempt, which is different from July, is that the alleged perpetrator has survived, and also the alleged perpetrator has a much larger social media footprint. That will invite people, both in the media but also people who are just online, to comb over this individual's life story and their comments and so on.

And I would discourage that sort of activity. I think that the problem with doing that is it can lead to people with obscure, fringe and dangerous views, sort of person who believes that shooting someone is a legitimate act in a democracy, getting too much attention and can invite perhaps other people of that sort to think that one of the ways that they can get attention to their views is to engage in acts of violence.

So I think there's a responsibility on all of us to try to -- to not focus too much on the individual, even though of course there will be many reports in the days to come as well. So it's a difficult balance for the media on this.

COREN: Actually, I want to ask you about that, Richard, because I think it's fair to say that there is a responsibility of all candidates to bring down the temperature in their language and their rhetoric. But how can this be enforced and what role does the media play in all of this?

JOHNSON: This is also very difficult for the candidates. We're in a very fee-brow political environment. The United States is experiencing not just ideological polarization, but what we call in political science, affective polarization.

[03:39:48]

That is to say, an emotional polarization in American politics, where people view supporters of the other party, not everyone but there's a growing proportion of people in the United States who view people who vote for a party different from them, not just as people who have a legitimate grievance, but people who are a threat to their country and their way of life.

And this leads people to try to start to seek alternatives outside of the system. And so what I think is really incumbent, both on politicians and on the media, and citizens in the United States and around the world is to really focus on using the political system, using the democratic process to address your grievances, to air your grievances in a way that's responsible and measured, can be passionate, but it can't look to actions outside of the system, particularly political violence or intimidation.

There's been too much of that, of course, that the two attempts against Trump's life now, which are unacceptable. But we've also seen it with the plot against Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, and Nancy Pelosi, which led to her husband being attacked with a hammer.

And this sort of activity has to stop. And both candidates need to say, call it.

COREN: Enough is enough. Richard Johnson, we thank you for your time.

There are new concerns about the ceasefire and hostage release talks involving Israel and Hamas. Next, how the leader of Israel's opposition party is offering to help Benjamin Netanyahu get the hostages home.

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COREN: Well there are new concerns about the status of a ceasefire and hostage release 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 Blinken will discuss efforts toward a ceasefire while in Egypt, but it's unclear if a deal can be broken before President Joe Biden leaves office.

Well CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now from Abu Dhabi with more. And Paula, obviously the U.S. Secretary of State traveling to Cairo but not too much optimism for this trip.

[03:45:03]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Anna. Just the fact that he's not going to be stopping in Israel on this particular trip shows that there isn't expected to be any breakthrough or any particular details that he will need to then convey to the Israeli side.

Now, what we've heard from two Biden administration officials is that national security chiefs do not have an imminent plan to put forward a proposal of this hostage-ceasefire deal to the U.S. president meaning that it is not ready at this point, which really shows how far these talks have stalled. We heard from officials just earlier this month that they believed it

was going to be imminent, that they had this bridging proposal that both Hamas and Israel were going to be able to agree to. Now the officials say that they want to wait until they are secure in knowing that Hamas could say yes to this deal at the end of the process, but at this point they're not confident of that.

And there are also concerns that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is not as committed as he claimed to be in the past. We know from Hamas' point of view that they have, according to these officials, pushed for more prisoners with lifetime sentences to be released for civilian hostages. The deal in the past was that would only be for soldier hostages.

And from the Israeli Prime Minister's point of view, he is still insisting that he wants Israeli troops along the border between Israel, excuse me, between Gaza and Egypt, something that Hamas will not accept. So at this point, there is far less optimism when it comes to these talks. Anna?

COREN: Paula, speaking of the Israeli Prime Minister, a very public rift has emerged between him and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Where is this heading?

HANCOCKS: This has really been increasing in recent months and becoming more public the disagreements between the two men, which is really quite unprecedented at a time of war to be so publicly disagreeing with your defense minister.

We've heard increasing Israeli media reports of Yoav Gallant pushing for a hostage-ceasefire deal not agreeing with Israeli Prime Minister when it comes to having those troops along the border, the Philadelphia corridor saying Hamas won't agree with it which means there won't be a deal, which means we will not have the hostages back.

Now, there have been reports that Netanyahu is actually speaking to another member of the opposition, Gideon Sa'ar, he's a former ally turned rival. Now, the Prime Minister's office has denied that he's in talks with this individual to replace Gallant, but they have not mentioned the defense minister at all. So the relationship between those two really does seem to be deteriorating. Anna?

COREN: Paula Hancocks, joining us from Abu Dhabi. Always good to see you. Thank you for your reporting.

Well Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to add 180,000 more troops starting in December. That would bring Russia's troop total to about one and a half million. It's the third time Putin has expanded the military ranks since launching his invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. The news comes one week after Russia stepped up its efforts to drive Ukrainian troops out of Kursk and as Russian forces are inching forward in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region.

A mayoral debate in Brazil turned ugly on Sunday with one candidate sending another to hospital for treatment. Video shows Jose Luis Datena swinging a chair at his counterpart Pablo Marcal on live television. Datena was expelled from the debate but said in a statement that his opponent had brought up dismissed sexual harassment allegations and that he does not regret his actions. Marcal, who was injured in the chest and wrist, has compared it to July's assassination attempt on Donald Trump and vows to take legal action.

Still ahead, TikTok continues to fight for its survival in the US. Federal judges in Washington heard arguments for and against a potential ban. We'll bring you the details of the hearing.

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COREN: Wall Street's recovery from an early September sell-off hasn't cooled just yet, with the Dow gaining 228 points on Monday to close at a record high. It comes ahead of Wednesday's long-awaited meeting of the Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to cut interest rates for the first time since the pandemic four years ago.

Investors believe a half-point rate cut is looking more likely instead of the quarter point many have expected. But any cut will be a major milestone in the Central Bank's long fight to bring down inflation.

Well Boeing will head to the negotiating table with union leaders later Tuesday. These will be the first talks since Friday when 33,000 union members went on strike, shutting down production of Boeing 737 series.

On Monday, Boeing announced temporary cutbacks canceling non-essential travel and instituting a hiring freeze. The strike is the latest financial blow to the troubled aerospace company. Boeing has lost $33 billion since 2019 amid a series of safety disasters and production crises.

Amazon is ordering its corporate employees to return to the office five days a week. It's a major change to its pandemic-era policy, which had allowed them to work from home at least two days a week. Some employees are not too happy citing the policy change as one of the reasons they staged a walkout at the company's Seattle headquarters last year. But Amazon's CEO says more time in the office will give its thousands of employees more opportunities to collaborate and connect with one another. The new policy goes into effect in January.

A trio of federal judges in Washington, D.C. 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 unconstitutionally extreme.

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CNN's Clare Duffy has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: 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. 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 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.

He said 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 were ruled 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 January 19th, which is the deadline for a TikTok sale or a ban.

Clare Duffy, CNN, New York.

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COREN: Well thank you so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren, in Hong Kong. "CNN Newsroom" continues with my colleagues Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane in London after this very short break. Stay with CNN.

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