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CNN This Morning

Suspect In Apparent Assassination Attempt Of Trump Charged; U.S. Ramping Up Production Of Ammo, Patriot Missile Systems; 6 Million People Under Flood Watch. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 17, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:42]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, September 17th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All of a sudden, we heard shots being fired in the air.

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HUNT: A firsthand account. Donald Trump recounts the moment a second apparent assassination attempt against him was stopped.

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POLICE OFFICER: Driver, walk straight back. Keep walking.

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HUNT: Lying in wait. How long the suspect may have been hiding in the bushes, waiting for the former president.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The tragedy of an assassin's bullet, it solves nothing. It just tears the country apart.

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HUNT: Lowering the temperature. President Biden urging both sides to tamp down dangerous rhetoric as Donald Trump blames him and Kamala Harris.

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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Tuesday morning.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. Donald Trump recounting the moment a second apparent attempt was made on his life. It was the second in just two months. In an X Spaces conversation, formerly known as Twitter, that platform, the former president praising law enforcement and the secret service for their quick action.

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TRUMP: 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.

I was with an agent and the agent did a fantastic job. There was no question that we were off that course. I would have loved to have sank that last putt, but we decided, let's get out of here.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HUNT: According to officials, a Secret Service agent saw a rifle barrel with a scope sticking out of a fence at the golf course, just one hole away from Trump. Investigators say it had no direct view of the president, the former president.

A Secret Service agent fired at the suspect in the bushes and he took off. Cell phone data shows Ryan Wesley Routh may have spent nearly 12 hours in those bushes Sunday and new body cam footage shows the moment that Ruth was apprehended.

The 58-year-old suspect is facing two charges, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Joining me now is Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County.

Dave, it's always nice to see you. Glad to see you again. Of course, the circumstances extraordinarily unfortunate.

What can you tell us about the very, very latest on where this investigation stands?

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Good to be with you, Kasie.

Right now, he's facing those two serious charges, facing up to ten years in prison for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. And the obliteration statute obliterating the serial number, get you up to five years in prison.

But I'm not so sure that's the end of the charges. In fact, I think there's a probability that you'll see more as the investigation progresses, like perhaps aggravated assault with a firearm against a federal law enforcement officer. That's when he allegedly pointed that rifle at the Secret Service agent. That can get you up to 20 years in prison.

There's a statute against threatening a former president, that can get you up to five years in prison. But it depends what's in his writings, his social media posts, what's in the bag, what's in the car?

So, the investigation continues at the federal level, who have taken complete control over this case. Originally, my office was involved. We were going to file some paperwork, some warrants, pretrial detention motion to keep him behind bars. But then the feds came in and they took over the case and we stood down.

HUNT: So, Dave, what do we know? And this is kind of your home area. You really understand kind of the way that this is all laid out and we've been learning of course, that he was in weight apparently for 12 hours. I'm curious what connection that may have to any future charges, but also the location of where he was waiting on this golf course, apparently one that's known as a place where paparazzi congregate.

[05:05:05]

What more texture can you give us on that?

ARONBERG: Kasie, the golf course, about 10 to 15 minutes away from Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago is pretty protected because it's over a bridge, on the island of Palm Beach. It's garden on one side by water, and it's much easier to close down roads around Mar-a-Lago. In fact, there's a road right in front of Mar-a-Lago that's closed down.

Even when the former president is not there, that happened after the first assassination attempt to the consternation of local residents. But when it comes to the golf course, that's in West Palm Beach. It's budded by two major roads. And so it's very difficult to block the traffic, to control people in and out of that area, especially when you have such a large property.

It's a larger property than Mar-a-Lago. And you have these big brush -- bushes there where people have been known to go in and out to take pictures of the former president while he's golfing. Paparazzi, the media, usually they ask Secret Service, and if they don't, they're shooed away. And even if they do, they're often shooed away.

But I suspect next time, they're going to be a little stricter about people in that area. Maybe we'll have more patrols there, but even if they did, it's really hard to control that area. And if you want to hide out in the middle of the night and hang there for 12 hours. You could still remain unnoticed.

We've never seen this type of situation before where instead of a camera, there's a rifle pointed which shows you how impressive the Secret Service was to do that work to see that guy and then open fire because as of now, there's no evidence that the attempted shooter actually shot bullets. It was the Secret Service who shot at him.

HUNT: Dave, do we know how I mean, how do we learn that he was there for 12 hours? And is there any other tidbits of information that are coming out here that might paint a more full picture of why he was there in the first place?

ARONBERG: A cell phone data. It was a cell phone data that shows he was in that area for about 12 data -- 12 hours. We don't know how long yet he has been in Florida or whether he purchased the gun in Florida or North Carolina. Did he bring it down?

There's still a lot of things that are happening with the invasion and the federal authorities keep a lot of these details close to the vest, but they had a press conference yesterday. I was not at the press conference yesterday, but the sheriff was there, and they provide the public with a lot of the details.

But this guy seems to have a real screw loose. But as far as whether or not he could take an insanity defense, I think that's now unlikely and he may try, but once you flee, once you hightail it out of there and tried to drive away on I-95 north of perhaps go back to North Carolina, that shows that, you know, the difference between right and wrong, and that's the standard for an insanity defense. That shows you knew you were breaking the law to try to escape.

So it's going to be harder for him to achieve that insanity defense if he goes to trial.

HUNT: Interesting.

All right. Dave Aronberg, thank you so much for starting us off this morning, sir. I hope to have you back soon. Thank you.

ARONBERG: Thank you, Kasie.

All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, concerns growing about Americas military readiness, why ramping up production isn't necessarily a simple solution.

Plus, Diddy behind bars. The music mogul arrested on a trip to New York City.

And while some leaders are calling for political rhetoric to be tamped down, J.D. Vance is pointing the finger.

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

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HUNT: U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine have been shrinking in recent months. And that's because the Pentagon is growing increasingly concerned about U.S. weapons and equipment stockpiles and America's own military readiness.

CNN reporting, quote, the U.S. is ramping up production of key items like 155 millimeter ammunition and Patriot missile systems, both to supply Ukraine and to refill us inventories. But it is a years-long process that won't quickly meet the surging demand.

Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed the need to keep supporting Ukraine's war effort. But he also called on Kyiv to do more to help themselves.

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LLOY AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Together, with our national armaments directors, we are posturing our industrial basis to meet Ukraine's needs, and sustain them long into the future. But for its long-term security, Ukraine must continue to boost its own defense production.

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HUNT: Two U.S. officials tell CNN the Biden administration still has nearly $6 in funding available to arm and equip Ukraine. But the Pentagon lacks inventory that its willing to deliver, and they've now asked Congress for more time to spend that money before it expires at the end of the month.

Max Foster joins us live now from London.

Max, good morning to you.

As we, of course, have heard more and more from Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the challenges that are facing him at this critical juncture, this cannot come as welcome news that the U.S. is just simply having trouble getting the weapons out the door for a pretty complicated set of reasons. What impact does this have?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it's holding them back, certainly, that's pushing into Russia on one front and trying to defend against Russia on another front within Ukraine, they just don't have the equipment that they need to continue with that battle, particularly going into the winter when it's going to get a lot wetter.

[05:15:04]

So it's a real problem for them.

And, you know, we've talked, Kasie, about how hard it's been for the White House at the Pentagon to convince Congress to give it all the money it needs to send to Ukraine. The problem now is actually in the U.S. because as you say, they've got the $6 billion, they need to spend by the end of September and they can't actually get there because I haven't got they haven't got the inventory to send to Ukraine and it takes years to build it up.

HUNT: Max, what kind of impact does this have on Zelenskyy's ability to -- I mean, clearly, his move into the Kursk region was designed to be this sort of surprising show of force but its clear that without more of these weapons he's going to be more limited in those abilities. And of course this comes as he is pressing the U.S. to be allowed to use what weapons he does have from America in a more aggressive way inside Russian territory.

FOSTER: So, you know, the big weapons that they need to hurl into Russia and getting permission for that is one thing. That's going to time to -- have time to get there. Then they got permission from the U.S. to use it quite yet.

But they've also holding the front lines that they are defending within Ukraine, so much more basic equipment needed there. So you mentioned earlier on about these 155 millimeter artillery shells that's needed for every day defense. America was making 15,000 a month and now making 40,000. They actually need 100,000 a month and they can't -- they can't make them quick enough to send to Ukraine.

And, of course, America needs its own stockpiles if it ever needs to defend itself anyway. So this is on top of what America needs and, you know, the -- military factory -- factories working full to get them out there for them. But, you know, it takes time.

HUNT: It does indeed.

All right. Max Foster for us this morning, Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.

Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, the first image of that ill- fated Titan submersible sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. We'll bring you the latest on the Coast Guard investment into that tragedy that left five explorers dead.

Plus, new details about a phone call President Biden just made to former President Trump.

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[05:21:54]

HUNT: All right, 21 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

The first image of the Titan submersible sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean revealed by the Coast Guard during a hearing into the tragedy that killed five explorers last summer. The tail cone of the Titan was severed from the rest of the vessel, which was found several hundred yards from the Titanic wreckage.

U.S. Olympian Jordan Chiles appealing the decision to strip her of her bronze medal but was taken from her after the Romanian gymnastics team challenged an earlier decision to revise her final score in the Olympic floor final competition. Chiles filing an appeal with the federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.

A natural gas pipeline fire burning in Texas threatening hundreds of homes. An SUV crashed into the pipelines valve early Monday, sparking the planes. At this point, no air quality issues have been reported, but several nearby homes have been evacuated.

All right. Time now for weather -- 6 million people across the Eastern U.S. remain under a flood watch. Local official say parts of North Carolina already hit with historic levels of rain from so-called potential tropical cycle eight, life threatening flooding prompting dozens of water rescues.

Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam.

Derek, good morning. What are folks looking at today?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Kasie, this is why we never want to underestimate these tropical systems regardless of whether or not they get a name or they don't, just like this one was called potential tropical cyclone eight. It hadn't formed those tropical characteristics of what we would normally see within a hurricane or a tropical storm for instance. But surely it did its damage.

And you can see what it did here along the beaches of North Carolina. This is coming out of Carolina Beach. This is called catastrophic flooding. That was extremely rare. We're talking about 18 inches in a 12-hour period. That's preliminary total.

But the likelihood of that occurring 1 in 1,000 years. So this is a significant event that impacted southern North Carolina just south of Wilmington, right about there. There's Carolina Beach.

Now, the storm system is moving inland. It's bringing a lot of its heavier rain to the north. The outer banks currently getting hit very hard with some heavy rain at the moment, we have a flash flood warning for this location flood watches in land for parts of Virginia and northern North Carolina. This is where we expect the heaviest rainfall today, nothing like what we experienced yesterday, but there's certainly the risk of some localized flooding across this area.

So here's the flash flood watches, or flood watches, Norfolk, southward, towards the outer banks. Notice Wilmington has been excluded from the flood watch, including Carolina Beach as well.

So the flood threat for the East Coast, the severe storm threat for the nations interior were kind of sandwiched between two cooler air masses. And you'll see it on the temperature map but right where you see this heat, this is where we could see some of the thunderstorms fire up later this afternoon that could be strong to severe -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Good to know.

Derek Van Dam for us this morning -- Derek, thank you very much.

VAN DAM: Okay.

HUNT: All right. Still to come here after the break, Sean Diddy Combs arrested in a Manhattan hotel.

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What is next for the embattled music mogul?

Plus, the Secret Service back in the spotlight after that second apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump in just two months.

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REP. MICHAEL WALTZ (R-FL): Look, I think both the Secret Service and the FBI have to get out of this paradigm of you get this when you're the current president and you get this when you're a former.

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HUNT: All right, 5:29 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at West Palm Beach, Florida.

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