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Teamsters Union Won't Endorse Candidate in Presidential Race; Trump, Harris Trade Barbs; Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates for First Time in 4 Years; More Exploding Devices Across Lebanon; Sean Diddy Combs in Federal Custody, Judge Denies Bail Appeal. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The fact is that I'm not a threat to democracy, they are.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They have pledged to carry out the largest deportation in American history. How's that going to happen? Massive raids? What are they talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly two dozen people were killed in these attacks. Hezbollah now vowing retaliation, certainly feeling very vulnerable and also certainly feeling embarrassed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fame for a child creates instability. It's kind of like a recipe for disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Thursday, September the 19th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington. Just 47 days until the U.S. presidential election.

Now, new polling is giving us a greater insight into which way voters are leaning in three critical battleground states. According to a set of post-debate Quinnipiac University polls, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is leading her Republican rival Donald Trump amongst likely voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Her one point lead in Wisconsin is within the margin of error on the path to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. Harris would likely win if she carries those three states.

The Democratic nominee is set to head to one of those states, Michigan, where she'll take part in an online event hosted by Oprah Winfrey. United for America is set to live stream tonight. The diverse and influential Teamsters union has announced it's not

endorsing anyone in this year's presidential race. This is the first time in nearly three decades that the Teamsters have withheld an endorsement. And those since have been in support of the Democratic nominee. Survey data released by the union indicate about 60 percent of its members support Donald Trump over Kamala Harris. The Teamsters include truck drivers, warehouse and health care workers, even police officers and airline pilots.

In a statement, their president said this, quote: We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries and to honor our members right to strike but were unable to secure those pledges. Donald Trump had this reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any reaction to the Teamsters decision not to endorse?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No, they were. It's a great honor. They're not going to endorse the Democrats. That's a big thing. And this is the first time in, I guess, 50, 60 years that that's happened. Democrats automatically have the Teamsters. They took a vote and I guess I was at 60 percent or more. And that's a great honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, those comments coming as Trump took his campaign to New York, the Republican nominee stopped first at a bar that accepts Bitcoin, where he spoke with patrons and expressed his view that he could win the reliably blue state. And later, he slammed the Democrats during a rally on Long Island.

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TRUMP: It's time to stop the lies, stop the hoaxes, stop the smears, stop the lawfare of the fake lawsuits against me and stop claiming your opponents will turn America into a dictatorship. Give me a break because the fact is that I'm not a threat to democracy. They are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Vice President Kamala Harris is set to travel to Georgia tomorrow, where she'll deliver remarks on reproductive rights after a new report reveals that at least two deaths have been linked to the state's restrictive abortion law. On Wednesday, she focused on immigration while speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's leadership conference. She slammed Donald Trump over his proposals and warned of mass deportations if he returns to office.

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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We all remember what they did to tear families apart. And now they have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation in American history. Imagine what that would look like and what that would be.

How's that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:00]

FOSTER: Well, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates aggressively on Wednesday by half a percent. It's the first cut since March of 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Since then, rates sat at a 23-year high for more than a year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell says the move is a sign of commitment to keep in step with the ever-changing U.S. economy. But the move wasn't unanimous, drawing the first dissent from a board member in nearly 20 years. One member wanted to see a smaller cut.

Here's a look at the U.S. futures as we wait for the markets to open in the coming hours. We're keeping a close eye on the major indices to see if there's any further reaction to the Fed's decision. It did go in the way they expected, but further than expected, which is why they're not down and they're up more than some might have expected. CNN's Matt Egan breaks down the Fed's bold move.

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MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: This is a major milestone for the economy. The first interest rate cut since COVID. And the Fed, they decided to go big.

The fact that they went with a jumbo size interest rate cut, it's telling on multiple levels. First, it shows they're not worried about inflation anymore. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, he stopped short of declaring victory over inflation, but they're all but doing that.

It does also suggest, though, that they are worried about what they're seeing in the jobs market. Now, Powell, he said repeatedly that he's not alarmed with the jobs market. He even said at one point, the labor market is in a strong place. We want to keep it there.

But there are some economists who are concerned that the Fed is late and that they need to play catch up before the cracks in the jobs market turn into something more ominous. So the Fed has made clear that they've switched the mission.

They've gone from fighting inflation to fighting unemployment. Of course, all of this is happening just weeks before this hotly contested election. Now, Powell, he stressed politics played no role here and that the Fed only does what they believe is right.

And I asked Powell about the idea from former President Trump that the sitting U.S. president should have a say in where interest rates go. And Powell, he made clear he's not a fan of that idea.

JEROME POWELL, CHAIR, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: We do our work to serve all Americans. We're not serving any politician, any political figure, any cause, any issue, nothing. It's just maximum employment and price stability on behalf of all Americans.

And that's how the other central banks are set up, too. It's a good institutional arrangement, which has been good for the public. And I hope and strongly believe that it will continue.

EGAN: Now, Powell went on to say that the evidence is clear. Independent central banks are the ones that have lower inflation.

Matt Egan from the Federal Reserve, CNN.

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FOSTER: Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Republicans to shut down the government unless they pass a controversial bill targeting non-citizens in the U.S. The proposal, included in a six-month spending plan, requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. But House Republicans couldn't muster enough votes to pass the package on Wednesday as some GOP lawmakers or members joined Democrats to torpedo that bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he'll draw up a new temporary spending bill to keep the government running beyond the end of this month when current funding is due to expire.

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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: Now we go back to the playbook. We'll draw up another play and we'll come up with a solution. I'm already talking to colleagues about their many ideas. We have time to fix the situation and we'll get right to it. I'm disappointed.

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FOSTER: Well, House Republicans aren't surprised the funding plan failed on the floor. Some are expressing their frustration, too.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I think that this is a this is a complete failure of the speaker's strategy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to support continuity of government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all bullshit. So just.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Lebanon reeling after two days of deadly explosions involving booby trap devices targeting Hezbollah. Scores of walkie talkies exploded across the country on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 450 others. Dozens of emergency crews and first responders were sent to help the injured and put out fires.

In one instance, a walkie talkie exploded during a Hezbollah funeral in the southern suburbs of Beirut. A witness tells CNN they heard a loud bang followed by screaming and saw a man covered in blood, his hand blown off. It comes a day after hundreds of pagers blew up nearly simultaneously across Lebanon in an unprecedented attack, which wounded about 2,800 people. The death toll rose to 12 there on Wednesday.

An Israeli source tells CNN that Israel carried out the pager attack after it believed Hezbollah had discovered the device's capability.

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The attacks have led to an outpouring of anger on the streets. Video shows people throwing rocks at vehicles for the U.N. interim force in Lebanon following Wednesday's explosions. Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it struck several Hezbollah infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours after identifying about 20 projectiles launched across the border. Israel's defense minister tacitly acknowledged his country's role in the exploding devices.

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YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): I believe that we are at the start of a new phase of the war and we must adapt. This is true for everyone.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I have said it before. We will return the citizens of the north to their homes safely. And that's exactly what we are going to do.

FOSTER: CNN's Will Ripley has more on the exploding devices and other mysterious origins. A warning, His report contains graphic images.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new wave of explosions across Lebanon. This time, walkie talkies being used for crowd control. A security source tells CNN one of them blew up during a funeral.

On Tuesday, it was beepers blowing up by the thousands. The shocking attacks triggering global investigations from the Middle East to Europe to Asia. An urgent race to find out how simple communication devices, long abandoned by most of the world, ended up in Lebanon becoming explosive deadly weapons.

BOB BAER FORMER CIA OFFICER: Getting into thousands of pagers, implanting explosives, detonators, switches and the rest of it and not changing the weight of the pagers very much is a complicated operation and shows extraordinary technical ability.

RIPLEY (voice-over): A Lebanese security source says militant group Hezbollah bought the pagers in recent months, using them, ironically, to prevent Israel and the U.S. from tracking their communications. Israel planted explosives next to each pagers battery, along with a detonation switch. The New York Times reports, citing U.S. and other officials, thousands of beepers blew up Tuesday, all receiving the same message at the same time. The pagers have the name AR-924, made by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese

company that calls its product extremely robust and durable. Eighty five days of battery life, fully charging in two and a half hours. A senior Taiwanese security official tells CNN Taiwan has no record of Gold Apollo pagers being shipped to Lebanon.

Records do show Gold Apollo shipped about 260,000 pagers from Taiwan, mainly to the U.S. and Australia over the past two and a half years. CNN went to the company headquarters in New Taipei City. We saw investigators going in and out.

We also talked to the CEO. He strongly denies making the explosive pagers bearing his company's name.

HSU CHING-KUANG, FOUNDER, GOLD APOLLO (through translator): I have been in this industry for a long time. I don't want this to ruin our brand.

RIPLEY (voice-over): He blames this Hungarian distributor, BAC Consulting, claiming Gold Apollo sold them the rights to use its brand name. CNN tried reaching BAC. No response. As families of the dozen dead in Lebanon say goodbye.

I was lucky to have you, my love, says the mother of nine year old Fatima. The pager went off as she was doing her homework on the first day of elementary school.

Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: As the region recovers from two typhoons, two new tropical storms are expected to make landfall in Asia later today. Tropical Depression 16 developed off Vietnam's coast, where it's expected to make landfall. Further north, tropical storm Pulasan has lost strength, but it is still expected to bring significant rain when it comes ashore near Shanghai. The area will receive anywhere from 50 to more than 200 millimeters.

Now, still to come, a federal judge denies bail again for Sean Diddy Combs. Why he believes the musician is a threat just ahead?

Plus, America's top diplomat will soon head to France after wrapping up talks in the Middle East. But he won't be stopping in Israel this time. What Antony Blinken is saying about the situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

And later, facing a dark past to light the way for others. CNN speaks with superstar Demi Lovato about her new documentary, Child Star.

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FOSTER: Authorities in the U.S. state of Kentucky say they may have found the body of an interstate shooting suspect. On Wednesday, a civilian couple found what's believed to be the body of Joseph Couch in the brush of Interstate 75 and alerted state troopers to the location. Almost two weeks ago, police say Couch shot at cars driving on the interstate after texting someone who had tried to, quote, kill a lot of people.

No one died in that attack, though five people were wounded. But authorities in the state's capital are working to positively identify this body.

Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs remains in federal custody after a judge denied his legal team's appeal for bail. Combs was indicted on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. CNN's Kara Scannell has more details on Wednesday's hearing.

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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs will remain behind bars as he's awaiting trial on racketeering, conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. A federal judge denying his bail application, saying that there were no conditions that made him comfortable releasing Diddy given his danger to the community and his potential for witness tampering. Judge also rejecting Diddy's proposed bail conditions, including having a visitor log, having no Internet access and no cell phone access, saying that those were insufficient.

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Diddy was escorted out of the courtroom by two U.S. marshals. He was headed back into federal detention. His lawyer spoke to reporters after court, saying he will appeal.

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN DIDDY COMBS: He's ready. He's focused. He has been ready to defend this case since he first found out about this case. Nothing has changed from his perspective. I obviously would much prefer to fight this case with him out of jail. And we are going to try to bring that about.

SCANNELL: Combs' attorney telling me after court, I'm not going to let him sit in there a day longer than he has to. He also asked the judge to recommend moving Combs from the federal detention center in Brooklyn, which is known for its, quote, horrific conditions, to a county courthouse in New Jersey. He said they're going to fight this and Diddy is going to trial.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Chief legal analyst Laura Coates explains what likely influenced the judge to deny the appeal from Combs.

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LAURA COATES, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: But when you're talking about violent crimes, violent allegations, that will weigh in the court's overall decision about keeping the community safe. Now, he will be as somebody who has some notoriety. He will have some level of protective custody, not in a traditional sense, but separation from maybe part of the general population or thinking ahead to what that might look like for him.

But he right now is similarly situated with every other defendant who has allegations of this severity and poses a potential risk for intimidation or obstruction. Remember, some of the conduct they allege is as recently as 2023, later in the year. And as of last week, they alleged that he made phone calls or there were some communication over 50 trying to access a particular witness that he thought might be a part of this entire endeavor.

And so all that combined is likely weighed heavily on the judge's mind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to Paris next hour to discuss the situation in the Middle East, but also Ukraine with European allies. He spent the last couple of days in Cairo, his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began, working to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. But this week's device explosions in Lebanon could further derail those efforts. Blinken says the deal is now a question of political will.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we're trying to resolve in Gaza to see it spread to other fronts. It's clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen. And that's why, again, it's imperative that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Elliott is with us. There has been an escalation there, hasn't there? These bombs effectively that have gone off in Lebanon are an escalation and they derail the peace deal to some extent, at least delay it.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Look, as far as the ceasefire negotiations and hostage deal that they are hoping to achieve between Israel and Hamas are concerned, they've been going nowhere for weeks now. There was, of course, added urgency in the wake of Israel's assassination of Hezbollah's top military commander in Beirut and also the presumed Israeli assassination of the head of Hamas's political bureaus, Ismail Haniyeh, in Iran, when both Hezbollah and Iran said they were going to retaliate for that.

In the end, you know, we saw what happened. There was a kind of retaliation from Hezbollah, nothing directly from Iran. And this is kind of like another act in that sequence. So almost like the third act, because we had another one back in April after Israel took out a senior IRGC commander in an Iranian consular compound in Damascus.

So this is almost like the third act of retaliation from Hezbollah and Iran that we are now expecting. Both have vowed retaliation for that. But look, I think there's a number of ways of looking at this.

First of all, yes, tensions have arguably never been higher between Israel and Hezbollah since Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of October 7th, the day after. The other point of note is that these Pager explosions and Walkie Talkie explosions, since they began on Tuesday, we've seen the biggest number of Hezbollah casualties, 33 deaths that the Iranian-backed militant group has confirmed. We don't know if all of them were killed by the exploding devices, but certainly it's the biggest death toll they've suffered since in almost 12 months.

So tensions definitely high. Iran has already vowed retribution. Hezbollah has as well. What form will that take? We don't know. But already this other kind of, almost out of a John le Carre novel story coming out that Israel has now unsealed, is the prosecution of a Jewish-Israeli businessman who they say was involved in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, which was orchestrated by Iran and went to Iran a couple of times and demanded a million dollar payment up front in order to kind of be a part of this plot.

[04:25:00]

Now, that's not to suggest that that would be kind of the main element or attempts of retaliation from Iran or Hezbollah, but it just does goes to show some of the other issues that are happening in the background here, when, of course, we're focusing on the northern front between Israel and Hezbollah and those ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. Worth remembering, of course, that during the one and only ceasefire between Israel and Hamas back in November, the guns did fall silent in the north.

But for months, Israel has been saying this situation cannot continue. If Hezbollah does not move back in accordance with U.N. Security Resolution 1701, the end of the war between the two in 2006, if Hezbollah does not move back to the Litani River a few kilometers north, Israel will make them do it. And now Israel is, as it says, the center of gravity of fighting is moving to the north, seems to be edging towards that scenario.

FOSTER: Elliott, thank you.

Coming up, Tim Walz is making a case to male voters that Donald Trump is a dangerous choice for women and for the United States as a whole.

Plus, the Princess of Wales slowly resuming royal duties after announcing the completion of a cancer treatment.

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FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.

Israel's defense minister says a new era of war is beginning after a second day of deadly explosions involving booby trap devices targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dozens of walkie-talkies exploded across the country on Wednesday. At least 20 people were killed and more than 450 others wounded.

Disgraced movie executive Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to one count of a criminal sex act in the first degree on Wednesday. This charge dates back to 2006. Weinstein's 23-year prison sentence for criminal sex acts was overturned in April. A retrial is set for November.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing two companies that owned the ...

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