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CNN This Morning

Suspect in Custody Following Second Apparent Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump; J.D. Vance Doubles Down on False Pet-Eating Claims; Russian Military Aircraft Intercepted Near Alaska. Aired 5- 5:30a ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

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KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, September 16th, right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Former President Donald Trump is safe and unharmed.

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HUNT: A second apparent assassination attempt against the former President. How a Secret Service thwarted the attack, and what we know about the man detained. Plus, this --

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SEN. JAMES DAVID VANCE (R-OH), REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I am talking to my constituents and I'm hearing terrible things about what's going on in Springfield.

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HUNT: Doubling down, J.D. Vance continues to push false claims about immigrants eating pets in Ohio. And an uptick in activity. Russian military aircraft intercepted near Alaska four times in the last week. The back-and-forth about how the U.S. should respond. All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the east coast, a live look at Capitol Hill on this Monday morning, good morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us.

Former President Donald Trump is safe and unharmed after another apparent assassination attempt, the second one in just two months. Trump was playing golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon when a Secret Service agent noticed something in the bushes.

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RIC BRADSHAW, SHERIFF, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: We have an agent that jumps one whole ahead of time toward where the President is at. And he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engaged that individual, at which time the individual took off.

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HUNT: That was just 500 yards from the President. The individual left the scene in a car and a witness helped law enforcement locate the vehicle driving on the Interstate one county away. The driver was detained. Three law enforcement sources tell CNN, that person is Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old is a self-employed, affordable housing builder in Hawaii.

Officials say an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile in them, and a GoPro camera were all recovered at the scene.

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DAVE ARONBERG, FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY: He knew enough to stay silent. He did not barely speak to officers. He was calm. So, look like a person who has done this before.

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HUNT: This is the Secret Service's first major test in the wake of the first attempt when Trump was shot back in July following that attempt. The agency faced intense scrutiny for its preparations.

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BRADSHAW: At this level that he is at right now, he's not the sitting President. If he was, we would have this entire golf course surrounded. Well, because he's not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.

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HUNT: The former President thanking the Secret Service for their response late last night, saying in part quote, "the job done was absolutely outstanding." Joining me now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. Sir, good morning to you, always grateful to have you on the program.

Let's just start kind of big picture here. This is obviously the second time that something like this has happened in this incredibly unprecedented election season. You heard there from the sheriff, what are the next steps in the investigation here, and how do you see the job that the Secret Service is doing in this instance?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, there are a couple of things, Kasie, first of all, they're going to continue their investigation. They executed search warrants yesterday probably on the home, definitely on the car, maybe a business. They'll be seizing any electronic equipment, whether it's computers, smartphones, what have you, interviewing family, friends and so forth. So, all that is still continuing. The golf club itself is still a

crime scene. I would imagine they shut things down overnight because of the darkness. But they'll start again in the morning to complete whatever search they'll be conducting of the -- of the golf club to get any forensic evidence it may be of value.

They will also be taking a look at security, quite frankly, we got lucky yesterday. I mean, the Secret Service did a very good job in spotting a rifle barrel and being able to take action. But then there's still questions that remain. How did he get to that location to begin with?

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He was in a car, that car had to be parked on the side of the road. There was nobody watching the perimeter of the golf course. How did he even know that the President, ex-President would be golfing yesterday? That apparently was a last-minute decision on the part of Mr. Trump's.

So, there are a lot of unanswered questions that the Secret Service, FBI and others are going to want to know. I don't know if he is cooperating now, initially, he was not. But, you know, they're going to be working hard to try to get answers to a lot of those questions and many more.

HUNT: So, this person who was detained, Mr. Routh, his background is a bit unusual. You note that he -- the reports initially were that he did in fact remain silent, so, clearly, aware that, that was his right. And the "New York Times" also had interviewed him back, a year or so ago because he wanted to apparently go to Ukraine and also try to enlist others to fight for the Ukrainian cause. What in his background has stood out to you in a way that might help explain what happened here?

RAMSEY: Well, yes, previous arrest as you mentioned before, most very minor arrests with the exception of one where he was actually charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, a machine gun that was in his possession. But the fact that his interest seems to be toward the war in Ukraine.

He claimed at one point that he had himself been to Ukraine, he was trying to recruit others to go to Ukraine to fight. We don't know if that's a motive or not, but that's certainly something that the FBI will be taking a look into to see whether or not that's what motivated him since the former President has not been at least vocally a very strong supporter of Ukraine.

So, whether or not that has anything to do with it remains to be seen. You know, sometimes, you have these kinds of cases, not attempted assassinations, but just criminal cases in general. You never find a motive. So, they'll have to rely on the forensic evidence, statements, anything that they get in order to be able to bring this case to trial. He is alive, so, they have to be very careful because there will be a trial at some point in time. HUNT: Chief Ramsey, we heard yesterday from Jared Moskowitz on our

air, he's congressman. He's part of a Task Force that's aimed at investigating the response to the first incident, trying to understand what happened there. I want to show you what he had to say yesterday here on CNN, and then we'll talk about it. Take a look.

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REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): I'm very concerned about, you know, the status of the Secret Service's ability to keep the former President safe in outdoor -- in outdoor environments. But I went to Butler. I could not believe how close the roof was to the stage. The protocols going on right now and the resources being committed to the former President, in my question, it seems to be wholly inadequate.

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HUNT: So, of course, a reminder, he is a Democrat. He's not the only Democrat who yesterday called for more resources here. Do you think there should be more resources applied by the Secret Service to protecting Donald Trump?

RAMSEY: Well, they're going to have to take a real hard look at that. Now, the Secret Service, no question about it is stretched pretty thin. They have not just Mr. Trump, but they have all the presidential candidates that they're responsible for. They have the sitting President that they're responsible for, and we all know that the resources are stretched thin.

But having said that, something has to happen, I mean, you can't have two assassinations -- assassination attempts almost two months to the day when the first one occurred. And so, there has to be a review. They're going to have to rely very heavily on local and state police resources in order to beef things up a bit.

He has several golf courses, we all know he loves to golf. He is not probably going to stop golfing. And so, trying to protect something like a golf course is altogether different from trying to protect an area that we saw in Butler, Pennsylvania. But they're going to have to come up with something because, you know, we simply can't have something like this continue.

And it's not just Mr. Trump as I mentioned before, the other candidates as well, and the more you harden one target, the more another one looks softer. And so, you know, we have to be very careful when it comes to the resources that are going to be used for that. They're going to have to increase and do something more than what they're doing now.

But at the same time, we also have to realize that if someone is really bent on trying to cause harm, and if they're willing to die for it, it's going to be very difficult to stop them.

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This is not a person willing to die. I mean, it looks like he was prepared to either shoot it out or he definitely had an escape plan.

HUNT: Very interesting. All right, Charles Ramsey for us this morning, sir, so grateful for your time. Thank you very much. See you soon I hope.

RAMSEY: Thank you --

HUNT: All right, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we continue to follow the latest developments out of Florida after that second apparent assassination attempt against former President Trump.

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BRADSHAW: The golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, so, when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight.

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HUNT: Why golf courses in particular have proven to be difficult for the Secret Service. Plus, take two. The Senate ready to take up a bill to protect IVFs for a second time. Will they be able to get it through this time? And J.D. Vance defending the baseless rumors that immigrants are eating pets, in the same breath, he said this.

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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.

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HUNT: All right, more now on our breaking story. The apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Florida police yesterday detaining a man in connection with their investigation. Law enforcement sources telling CNN, the man is Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old Hawaii resident with connections to North Carolina.

As the investigation begins, we at CNN are learning more about Routh. He reportedly spent months in Ukraine trying to join the fight against Russia. He was even interviewed by the "New York Times" last year. That reporter today, writing this, quote, "Mr. Routh, a former construction worker from Greensboro, North Carolina, said he never fought in Ukraine himself.

He was told that he had no military experience, but like many foreign volunteers who showed up at Ukraine's border in the war's early months, he was eager to cast aside his former life for something far more exciting and make a name for himself. By the time I got off the phone with Mr. Routh some minutes later, it was clear that he was in way over his head, like many of the volunteers I interviewed, he fell off the map again until Sunday."

A representative of the Ukrainian military confirmed to CNN this morning that Routh was never a part of their foreign legion. Here's Routh speaking with "AFP" in Kyiv. This was back in April of 2022.

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RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, SUSPECT IN DONALD TRUMP'S SECOND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: 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 and support the Ukrainians to end this war.

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HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss, CNN international anchor Max Foster. Max, good morning, always wonderful to see you. This is a strange chapter, I suppose for this person who was detained in connection with the apparent assassination attempt against former President Trump. What more do we know about this episode?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can see, he was certainly in Ukraine. He wasn't allowed into the foreign legion, and he wasn't -- anything to do with the foreign legion as we understand. But then moved into this self-appointed role, trying to recruit people into the foreign legion, but because he didn't have that association, it seems like, you know, it wasn't the right route to go if you wanted to join the foreign legion.

We're still digging around on that, but you know -- you know, if you look at what's happened since, it seems he's moved his attention from Ukraine to Taiwan using website under the name Taiwan foreign legion. He listed himself as an international volunteer center coordinator, trying to get people to fight in case Taiwan went to war with China.

But the interesting thing is, according to our sources, some of the people he claims to have recruited had never, you know, agreed to be recruited or had their names used, and they certainly aren't -- weren't being recruited. As you know, Kasie, there is no foreign legion in Taiwan.

HUNT: Really interesting threads to pull on here as we try to learn more about this person. Max Foster for us this morning, Max, very grateful to have you, thank you so much. And still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, we'll bring you the latest on this apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Why the golf course where he was playing poses a particular security risk for law enforcement. Plus --

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ROBERT KENNEDY JR., POLITICIAN: It's 15 years passed the Statute of Limitation. But they're opening an investigation.

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dead whale, getting another look from law enforcement. We're going to have that in our morning round-up.

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HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour, here's your morning roundup. For the fourth time in a week, Russian military planes have been detected flying near Alaska. According to North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, the Russian aircraft remained in international airspace in Alaska's Air Defense Identification Zone on all four occasions.

NORAD says these Russian operations are not a direct threat to the U.S. or Canada. This week, the Senate is set to vote on a bill that aims to require insurance companies to cover IVF treatments. It's the second time the chamber will vote on this measure. In June, the bill failed to receive the necessary 60 votes after only two Republicans backed it.

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KENNEDY JR.: And the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago.

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HUNT: RFK Jr. claiming that he's being investigated for reportedly using a chainsaw to cut off the head of a dead whale that washed up on the shore of his Cape Cod family home nearly 20 years ago. He says he fired off a letter in response, accusing the investigators of killing whales and Marine Wildlife with giant offshore wind farms.

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HUNT: Tito Jackson, one of the members of the legendary Jackson 5 has passed away. His three sons confirmed his passing in an Instagram post late Sunday. Tito was one of five Jackson brothers who burst onto the scene as a music group in 1967. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1997. Tito Jackson was 70 years old.

All right, time now for weather just days after Francine cleared out, we're now bracing for another tropical storm, this time in the Carolinas. Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam with the latest. Derek, good morning. DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie. The good news is

that the storm has not strengthened overnight, the bad news is, we still have a very rough next 12 hours or so across the coast of the Carolinas. So, if you're extending your weekend, perhaps along the beaches here, we will have to deal with some high surf, strong gusty winds, and the potential for some localized flash flooding as well.

There is a tropical storm warning that extends basically just south of Charleston through Wilmington and Morehead City. This is a low pressure, we're calling this a potential tropical cyclone. We don't want to split the difference and fine-tune the naming here, but the point is that, this will just bring about of heavier rainfall and the potential for gusty winds in excess of 40 miles per hour throughout the course of the day today.

So, you can see the system moving onshore within the next 12 hours, bringing rainfall with it too much of the Carolinas, even into Virginia, parts of northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee, several inches of rain. We're talking about 3 to 4 inches, especially along the coastline. So, heads up, Wilmington, you've already had a very wet 2024.

Now, in terms of winds, current wind-gusts right now, about 26 to 35 miles per hour, this will bring on some form of storm surge across the coastal areas, but it remain very small, very weak, 1 to 3 feet at best as the system moves onshore. So, Kasie, kind of a rough day in the Carolinas elsewhere, rather quiet.

HUNT: All right, Derek Van Dam for us this morning, Derek, see you next hour, thank you very much.

VAN DAM: OK.

HUNT: Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, a gunman getting dangerously close to Donald Trump, why protecting the former President is so challenging especially when he's golfing. Plus, Trump making it clear how he really feels about Taylor Swift.

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