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Prosecutors Suspect Wrote Letter on Trump Assassination Attempt; Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC) Calls CNN Report Salacious False Lies; Israel Conducting Extensive Strikes on Hezbollah Targets. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 23, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin with breaking news and new details emerging about the suspect and the second Trump assassination attempt. He left a letter detailing planning what he planned to do eight days ago at the former president's golf club.

In newly released court documents, prosecutors say Ryan Routh wrote that, quote, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and urging others to, quote, complete the job, end quote.

CNN's Randi Kaye joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida. Randi, you've been reading through these documents. You're seeing this new letter that's emerged. Apparently there's a photo of the rifle and so on. What can you tell us?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Jim. We have been looking through these documents, this prosecution's filing, and this letter was addressed from Ryan Routh to the world. And it also reads, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you, he writes. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job, and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job. That is evidence that will, no doubt, be discussed in court at this detention hearing this morning.

We also have learned from these filings, Jim, that a witness told officials that Routh had dropped off a box at his home months ago, and in that box was ammunition, a metal pipe, tools for phones and various letters, including the one that we were just reading to you.

Also, there were photos of the guns that you mentioned. This is also new in the filings. This is a colored picture of the gun. It also shows pictures of 11 bullets and that extended magazine scope.

Also, some new information, Jim, coming from these filings has to do with the search of Routh's car. They apparently found six cell phones. And included in one of those cell phones was a search. They found a search that he had done on Google from how to get from Palm Beach County to Mexico. Palm Beach County is where Trump International Golf Club is and where we are today.

Also, there was cell phone data that actually puts Ryan Routh around Mar-a-Lago and around Trump International Golf Club many weeks before this incident occurred, starting on August 18th and going until September 15th, which was the day of the incident. Apparently he had been around that area multiple times according to the prosecution's filing.

And also there was a list of dates and venues, a handwritten list that officials got their hands on, apparently, from Ryan Routh allegedly from him. This would be showing Trump's events that he had both past and future events, some leading up to this 2024 Election Day.

Also, there was detail in this filing about Routh's position where he was at Trump International Golf Course. The filing says that he was, quote, directly in line with the very next hole. Jim, as you know, Donald Trump was on the fifth hole at Trump International and Secret Service was in their golf cart looking along the fence there. They were one hole ahead of him trying to secure the area. That would be the sixth hole where they spotted that rifle allegedly belonging to Ryan Routh sticking out through the fence.

So, they are now saying that he was directly in line with the six hole, which is interesting because Secret Service has said that he never fired a shot at the former president. It was when the Secret Service then fired on him that he fled. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Randy Kaye, thank you very much with that new information breaking this morning. We appreciate it.

Also new this morning, a defiant Mark Robinson is back on the campaign trail despite an exodus of his top aides. The controversial Republican nominee for North Carolina governor is holding events just a day after several key campaign officials stepped down. Here's what he said just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON (R-NC), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We're for small business people. We're here for all those parents out there that are losing their children to fentanyl. We're here for all those people out there that are struggling to keep their small businesses open. We're here for the people who are -- we're here for the people who are struggling to get their children a decent education.

We're not here to talk about 15 or 20-year-old salacious false lies. They don't want to talk about what's going on right now. They want to talk about what possibly happened 15 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The staff resignations follow a CNN investigation that unearthed graphic and inflammatory comments Robinson made several years ago on a porn website. [10:05:01]

He denies making those posts.

And CNN's Dianne Gallagher joins me from Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Dianne, what else is Robinson saying this morning?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim, this is the first appearance by Robinson since the more than half a dozen senior campaign staff resigned this weekend and about several of the 45 to 50 supporters who showed up here today in Wilkesboro said that's precisely what made them come. They wanted to show support for Robinson and what they described as a very difficult time for him.

Robinson didn't directly address those allegations beyond calling them salacious lies from the past that may or may not have happened when he spoke to supporters. But he did address that and the campaign departures when he spoke with press as soon as he finished the event.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBINSON: We have full confidence that we can go on. We're getting resumes from all over. We're getting offers from all over who are people are jumping in to help us. We've made a ton of friends in this thing since we've been in. A lot of talented people right now are reaching out to us and we're right in the process right now, a form of the team that we know can still lead us to victory. So, we have full confidence in our ability to keep going.

REPORTER: But the timing of that, they're walking away from you right now.

ROBINSON: The timing doesn't matter. It's not the timing. It's how you react and we are ready to react and we're doing it right now. We're getting there.

REPORTER: Mr. Robinson, you've talked about the reporting being salacious lies, not true. Have you taken steps then to prove it's not you or --

ROBINSON: We absolutely are. We absolutely are. We're wearing talks right now. Everything up to legal counsel to take CNN to task for what they have done to us. We are going after. Okay, we are going to go after him for what they've done. But we have five weeks left in this race, folks. Make no mistake about it, we are not going to let CNN throw us off of our mission. Our mission is to win this race.

And, quite frankly, I am dismayed about the fact, as I said before, think about how many people out there right now, right in this place where we are right now, who are hooked on fentanyl, who are hooked on opioids, and how many will die tonight because of it. Think about what's going on our border. Think about what's going on the world stage. And this is what you -- this is what you choose to focus on? You've got these news cameras, news reporters, pens, pencils, your microphones. This is what you're focused on? You're not focused on the things that we talked about standing up there about our economy. You're not focused on those things. I am. I'm going to remain focused on those things.

And you better understand, I am coming after CNN full throttle. But we have got to put the people first. And in order to put the people first, in order to put the people first, we've got to concentrate on this campaign, and that's exactly what we're going to do. That's exactly what we're going to do. No more questions. No more questions. Hold on just a second. No more questions, because you're from Greensboro, and in Greensboro --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALLAGHER: Now, Robinson may be talking about the fact that we're focusing on that, but I can tell you there are plenty of Republicans in North Carolina who are, as well, concerned about what the KFILE investigation, as well as the significant staff departure means, potentially for down ballot Republican candidates here in North Carolina, Jim.

And, look, at the top of the ticket, former President Donald Trump was in North Carolina. He was in Wilmington on Saturday. He did not invite Lieutenant Governor Robinson to appear with him on stage. Robinson had a small public event at a speedway instead in a different part of the state, didn't even mention Robinson by name at that.

And this is someone who we, at one point, called Martin Luther King Jr. on steroids. This is a person who had a speaking position at the RNC earlier this summer. And so while he is trying to focus on the campaign, I will tell you that other Republicans here in the state of North Carolina are very concerned about that investigation as well as the campaign shakeup.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Dianne, I mean, did Mark Robinson explain why these staffers are leaving if the report from this network is not true?

GALLAGHER: No. They said that they have stepped away on their own accord. They wish them well. And the staffers themselves just saying this was something that happened on their own volition. So, they have not gone into the specific details, but the timing, of course, coming just days after that KFILE investigation was published.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right, Dianne Gallagher, thank you very much.

And CNN's Kristen Holmes is here with me now. As Dianne mentioned, Robinson was not invited to Trump's rally over the weekend in North Carolina. Again, if there's something wrong with the reporting, you would think Donald Trump would have him up on stage talk about him, didn't even mention him at this rally this weekend.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, but you also might think that if this reporting was true, that Donald Trump would be out there disavowing him and saying that he shouldn't be running for office. [10:10:01]

But, again, Donald Trump has not said anything about it at all, remaining completely silent. And we have absolute faith in our reporting that these are Mark Robinson's words from this porn forum.

Now, Donald Trump, I am told, is not likely to invite Mark Robinson to any former future events. He is expected to be in North Carolina again later this week. We shouldn't see Mark Robinson with him, if that holds, him not inviting him to any of these events. But in terms of disavowing him or disavowing what Donald Trump himself has said about Mark Robinson, we haven't seen any indication that is happening.

Now, look, when it comes to the ticket, asking him to get off the ticket, that's not possible. We know that the ballots have already gone out, those military ballots, as well as absentee ballots with Mark Robinson's name at the top of the ticket. But there is huge amount of concern, as Diane said, among Republicans that this is going to hurt Donald Trump

If you look at the most recent polling The New York Times put out today, it is well within the margin of error. It has Donald Trump leading by about two points, again, within the margin of error. Neither side Harris or Trump is going to take that for granted. They want to win the state of North Carolina, which has gotten increasingly closer since Kamala Harris was boosted to the top of the ticket.

This could hurt him. The question is, what would hurt him more him coming out and disavowing Mark Robinson or just leaving it alone? And it clearly as at this point, the campaign thinks just not saying anything is the right move for the former president.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, I mean, I have to think at this point, if Mark Robinson, you know, if, you know, he's being unfairly maligned, the Trump campaign would be coming out and embracing him. They must think inside the Trump campaign that this is toxic too.

HOLMES: Well, I will say, you know, talking to senior advisors, they thought that Mark Robinson was a problem for a long time. This is just the latest. And this is obviously the worst of what we've seen. Right, this is just the worst of what we have seen, but he has caused problem after problem for them.

You know, at one point I went to an event in North Carolina and he was speaking before Donald Trump was taking the stage, and the campaign made sure to tell us that he was not introducing the president. Even though he was speaking before him, they were going to have someone else or a voice of God introduce Donald Trump, which seemed like a very determined or very specific clarification that they were making there. They don't want them to be lumped together.

But, as you said, he has praised Robinson multiple times. So, nothing on his part there about him coming out and saying, you know, I take back those comments.

ACOSTA: And they sound pretty simpatico in terms of going after the press, and yet Mark Robinson not on stage with Donald Trump this weekend, not mentioned by Donald Trump this weekend.

Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.

Let's discuss more on this. My political panel will join us after a short break. Be right back.

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ACOSTA: All right, some fresh video coming into CNN of those Israeli strikes on targets in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. We are going to have a live report on all of this in just a few moments. But I wanted to show you some of this video coming in just in the last several minutes here at CNN.

Also happening this morning, as we were just talking about this, North Carolina's Republican candidate for governor, the embattled Mark Robinson, he is back out on the campaign trail, defiant and denying CNN's report about inflammatory and graphic posts he made several years ago on a porn site. He is sticking with his campaign and vowing to come after this network, as several of his aides are bailing ship, though. They are, at this point, saying they're not going to stay with the campaign and are resigning from working for his candidacy.

Let's discuss now with CNN Political Commentators Maria Cardona and Shermichael Singleton. Shermichael, let me start with you. I mean, Trump didn't talk about Mark Robinson this week, and this is somebody who's running for governor, and he had once called him MLK on steroids. Why hasn't Trump pulled his endorsement with Mark Robinson?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I guess you could ask the same question about Doug Mastriano, right? I mean, it's just something that the former president doesn't typically do, Jim, and I don't expect him to do it in this case either.

But you heard from Kristen in your previous segment before the commercial break that aides and advisers to the former president have been concerned about Robinson for a long time. I've text with a few folks in North Carolina to sort of get an understanding of the lay of the field there. And from what I've been told, people in the state party were worried about Robinson for months now, and many of them wanted the party to back Mark Walker, the former congressman and pastor, who they believed would have been a far more formidable opponent to the Democrat, potentially even winning the seat maybe, right?

Instead, the party decided to go with Robinson because he had the support of the sort of populist base with the Republican voters there. The former president obviously endorsed him, so that certainly helped as well. But here you go finding a candidate who is a liability, he's embattled, He's likely jeopardizing down ballot seats with congressional races, as well as state houses and state senate seats as well.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Maria, I mean, look at this new polling this morning out of North Carolina, the New York Times finding that the race is very tight in that state. Trump leading Kamala Harris by two points. I mean, a lot of these polls are kind of all within this margin of error that we're seeing right now, but super tight. And as I was saying to Dianne Gallagher a few moments ago, this reporting is so bad, why are these staffers leaving the campaign? Why isn't Donald Trump bringing them up on stage at a rally at this point in the campaign?

I mean, this -- you know, you look at this battleground map right now. If Kamala Harris can pick up North Carolina because of this mess, this hot mess of North Carolina, as they might say down there, holy smokes.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's exactly right, Jim. And I think that's why you see Republicans, even in North Carolina, obviously Robinson's own staffers, trying to run as far away from him as possible. But I think it's too late. It's too late for several reasons. It's too late, I think, ballot wise, legally, ballots have already gone out.

[10:20:03]

Who knows who they would replace him with. We just saw he's not going anywhere, right? But also, and I think this is what the Harris campaign is going to focus one of their messages on in North Carolina, they had an ad out, as soon as all this craziness went out, This is Donald Trump's guy. Regardless of how much he is going to try to ignore him, because he hasn't even run away from him, to your point, he hasn't, you know, taken away his endorsement. Let's remember that the reason why he is the nominee, Robinson, is because Donald Trump said, this is my guy. So he is, ultimately, intricately connected to Mark Robinson.

ACOSTA: And Trump has a track record in picking some of these candidates, not always winners.

Shermichael, I do want to talk about Arizona, though, because this might be the most standout metric in this New York Times/Siena College Poll. And I get it that progressives get -- they get really mad at these New York Times Siena College polls. Talk about it anyway, because, I mean, Trump, according to this, polling ahead by five percentage points in the battleground state of Arizona, one of the things that we should note, and I don't know if we can show this number, I want to put this up on screen, Latino voters have moved away from Harris in Arizona. If you believe this New York Times poll, her lead has shrunk by 11 points in that voting bloc. She was at 60 percent in August, now 49 percent now, Shermichael. And, Maria, I want you to weigh in too, okay?

SINGLETON: I mean, look, I think probably a substantial percent of that are men, mostly younger men. I mean, I'll allow Maria to really speak to that more than I can, for obvious reasons, Maria. But that's my assumption after looking at that poll. I think it's a must-win state for the former president, though. If I'm looking at this race electorally, you got to win Georgia, you need to keep North Carolina Arizona, Nevada, and a victory in Pennsylvania, which is still really tight. It's a little above 270.

So, if I'm the campaign, I'm focusing on all of those states. I'm obviously making sure I have ads penetrating the Latino community, Spanish-English ads, talking not only about immigration, because I do think a lot of Hispanic-Americans, Latino-Americans care about immigration, but also education and also health care. I've seen some data that suggests that's also a pivotal issue for many in the community. And so that would be my focus strategically.

ACOSTA: I mean, Maria, I mean, in the last several weeks, what have we been talking about? Donald Trump talking about Haitian migrants eating -- falsely saying eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, despite that ridiculous rhetoric on immigration, you're seeing a shift, if you believe this New York Times poll. One of the questions I've had is whether or not the Latino vote has just been kind of ignored in this campaign, kind of taken for granted in this campaign.

CARDONA: I will say no, that's not true because I understand and you know, I talk to the campaign every day that this is a campaign that has actually focused on historic investments earlier than they ever have been made into the Latino community. But there's no question that it is a challenge.

I have always said from the time that I started working on the Latino vote a long time ago, Jim, that this is a community that should not be considered a base vote. Latino voters are swing voters. You can't just assume that they're going to vote for you. And what this campaign has done is that they have gone out with the messaging about how the Harris campaign and the Harris as a candidate and her administration are the ones who are going to be focused on giving Latino families, working class, families, middle class, families, the tools to, like she says, not just get by, but get ahead.

But you may just this weekend, Trump was falsely claiming at one of these rallies that migrants are attacking villages in this country.

CARDONA: Yes. And these are really important points because You said twice now, if you believe this poll, I don't believe this poll but let's believe the poll, because as you know, I've also said, let's run like we're ten points behind, but critically, Latino voters are not just focused on immigration, to your point, they're focused on the economy, but when you talk to the community about how they are poisoning the blood of this country, when you talk to the community and connect them with savage acts that are just lies and conspiracy theories, like Trump and Vance have done, this is not a community that's going to come out and vote for you.

SINGLETON: We're also seeing, just like within the black community, a sector or a segment of men who are clearly moving over and potentially, that is an advantage in the former president.

CARONA: It's certainly a group that Trump is going after. And the Harris campaign is very focused on going after Latino men and African- American men as well, which is smart.

ACOSTA: We're going to keep that conversation going. Maria and Shermeichel, thanks as always, we appreciate it.

We are following some breaking news out of Lebanon right now. Israel conducting more strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond in his live force in northern Israel. Jeremy, what can you tell us?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the Israeli military is conducting hundreds of airstrikes in Southern and Eastern Lebanon.

[10:30:00]

And just now, right near our position, we have heard several interceptions of rockets by the Iron Dome system, this as Hezbollah is targeting And just now, right near our position, right we have heard several interceptions of rockets by the Iron Dome system..This, as Hezbollah is targeting sites all across Israel. We'll have more right after the break.

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ACOSTA: All right. Breaking news right now, you can see it on your screen right there. Israel is striking multiple targets in Lebanon. The Israeli military says it's conducting extensive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets and urging citizens to leave any area where the militant group operates.

[10:30:01]

Lebanese Ministry says 180 people have been killed today.