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Quest Means Business
Lebanon Says Nine Dead, 2,800 Hurt By Exploding Pagers; Central Banks Worldwide Enter Rate-Cutting Cycle; White House: Harris Called Trump To Say Grateful He Is Safe; Judge Orders Sean "Diddy" Combs To Remain In Federal Detention; Instagram Announces New "Teen Accounts"; Dueling Probes Into Apparent Assassination Attempt On Trump. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 17, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:05]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street, 15 seconds to go towards the end of trade and it is
a down day on the market, not hugely, if you look at the Dow, you will see, we are off just 35 points. It is a bit of a turn-turtle day.
Basically the fed is now meeting and we will get the rate results tomorrow. A quarter point at least is expected. One, two, a very firm fine gavel from
MSCI Indexes or Indices as I prefer, bringing trading took to a close on the Tuesday session.
The events of the day that we are the talking about, pagers are exploding across Lebanon. at least nine people injured and thousands more and a
couple thousand more injured -- the brazen attack targeted Hezbollah members.
Its decision day for the Fed chair is affecting tomorrow's cut. It could be half a percentage point.
And Instagram puts new restrictions on the accounts of teenagers, what are they? And will they work?
We are live in New York, Tuesday, September the 17th I am Richard Quest. I mean, business.
Good evening.
We start tonight in Lebanon where officials say thousands of people have been hurt when their pagers suddenly exploded. A security source in Lebanon
says Hezbollah had recently bought the devices.
Watch. This is the video that is circulating at the moment on social media. We will show it again and we will show you what will happen and you get a
chance to see the pagers exploding.
In total, at least nine people -- there you go -- that's what you saw. Serious stuff, bearing in mind the pagers were in people's pockets and
nobody knows how and why it happened.
The blast seemed to be concentrated in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which is a known Hezbollah stronghold. Iran says its ambassador to Lebanon
was amongst those hurt. Hezbollah is blaming Israel and is vowing retribution.
Israeli Defense Forces has refused to comment. It follows one day after Israel's Security Cabinet discussed the fight with Hezbollah and voted to
make a safe return of residents along the border an official aim of the war.
The Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the only way to accomplish this is through military action.
Lots there to chew over. Nick Paton Walsh has the latest development.
At first blush, Nick, I mean, this idea of exploding pagers sounds almost comical until you realize how many -- where these pages were. The ferocity
of the explosion and the numbers involved.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, 3,000 injured, Richard.
You've got to remember this is across Lebanon, not just in the southern Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh here in Beirut, but also Saida, Tyre, parts
of the Beqaa Valley, areas where Hezbollah are known to have a strong presence where simultaneously, it seems about 3:30 this afternoon, local
time, according to Hezbollah, in a statement, these small explosions caused sometime superficial damages, some damages, injuries to civilians, but also
significant damage to Hezbollah members.
Here is what we know.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice over): At the food display, at the checkout, in the streets, hard to overstate the psychological impact of hundreds of blast across
Lebanon.
Mostly in Hezbollah areas, pagers exploding at about 3:30 according to the group. Security forces asking Lebanese to stay off the road, so the sheer
volume of emergency vehicles could get to hospital. Nearly 3,000 patients, at least 170 critical.
Easily, the most widespread moment of violence to hit across Lebanon since then 2006 war with Israel, who Hezbollah is now firmly blaming for these
new attacks on their TV channel.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
WALSH (voice over): "We blame the Israeli with full responsibility," the TV anchor said, "... of this criminal attack, but also harmed civilians
Israel."
Israel themselves declined to claim the attack. To blame, perhaps these tiny devices, according to posts on social media. CNN cant verify. The race
now, to work out how? Was it just one type of device, a cyberattack, a battery bomb. Did they just hit Hezbollah areas?
It comes at yet another critical time. Monday, Israel's Defense minister hinted meeting the US envoy that the time for a diplomatic solution of how
to get tens of thousands of Israelis home to the war-plagued north had mostly passed.
[16:05:12]
That a military option is all that remains.
The hope had been for calm after the death Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shukur, also killed in a violation of Hezbollah stronghold in Southern
Beirut led to great fury, but minimal fire.
With Hezbollah's retaliation restrained, perhaps by preemptive Israeli strikes, many felt the moment of conflagration had passed. Now, it seems
back again with Hezbollah, once more under pressure to hit back hard, but only because another sophisticated attack has made them look weak.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Nick, these were new -- were they new pagers? Were they all suddenly distributed? What do we actually know about the origin of the pagers?
WALSH: Yes, Lebanese security source says that they were bought by Hezbollah in "recent months." Now that would suggest that we are talking
about that group who -- I mean, I've worked with them, they're phenomenally conscious about how secretive their communications are, use burner phones
most time, that was seven or eight years ago.
They appear in this instance, so issued smartphones, well-known the Israelis used them to target down people they want to eradicate, presumably
these pagers would enable them to perhaps use other ways of communicating amongst themselves.
Now, this would suggest a lengthy operation whoever carried this out, the main suspect, obviously Israel, so months before these were purchased,
whoever it was would have had to work out that these were the favorite choice of Hezbollah to communicate with each other, and then intercepted a
shipment somewhere into Beirut possibly into Dahieh, an awful lot of stuff comes out there in containers at times.
And it seems adapted them, inserted perhaps explosive in to them, a lot of the explosion you see there. It will be pretty hard, I would guess, to pull
off with just an overheating battery.
So a very sophisticated operation, but Richard, this is what brings me to the ultimate question here is why now? And you heard in that report, the
pressure that Israel is trying to put for some kind of military solution to its northern border, issues with Hezbollah.
Is this attack aimed at pushing Hezbollah towards diplomatic solution, or is it simply a prestaging, a bid to sow chaos amongst Hezbollah's ranks.
QUEST: Right.
WALSH: They are clearly wondering who they can even speak to right now, who is around, because something larger is about to happen -- Richard.
QUEST: Nick, I am grateful. Thank you, sir. I am joined by Vivek Chilukuri, he is a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, director of
the group's Technology and National Security Program.
Whichever way we slice this cake, this was an extremely audacious and brazen attack, whoever was behind it, how do you think it was carried out?
VIVEK CHILUKURI, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR NEW AMERICAN SECURITY: Yes, thanks for having me, I mean, I completely agree this was unprecedented and
I have to say ingenious and also highly provocative attack against Hezbollah.
I mean, this is targeting -- a targeted attack against thousands of locations without firing a single bullet or launching a single missile and
it sort of speak to the integration of very sophisticated techniques with very analogue technologies like pagers.
And I think there are two -- it is important to say at the outset, we don't really know how exactly this was carried out. It is very early to say. I
think however, there are two prevailing theories. One is that it was what we call a supply chain attack, which is that if they acquired these pagers
in recent months, that the source of production or along the production of transmission process, the shipment was compromised and a small amount of
explosives was inserted into the device and an ability to be a remotely detonated at a certain time, within Lebanon. That seems highly likely to be
the outcome here.
QUEST: Right.
CHILUKURI: Yes, go ahead. Go ahead.
QUEST: No, no. I mean, the other way would be what? I mean, how do you get the thing to explode?
CHILUKURI: Yes, you would have to insert malware on the devices. So even if you were to have a supply chain attack and have malware that simply said at
this given time or in response to this particular signal you will overheat the battery, but I think as your colleague, Nick, mentioned correctly, is
that when you have lithium battery or AA or AAA batteries, which a lot of these pagers are using, you're most likely going to get a fire. They're
going to overheat. They're going to catch on fire.
The videos that we are seeing on social media suggest a much more forceful response, which to me suggests that there was a small amount of explosives
added.
QUEST: So let us assume then, I mean this war has been going on for some time now at least since October of last year.
Israel -- this is classic, pardon the pun -- sleeper, you know that at some point in the future, you may need to do this or is it even -- I mean, it is
unlikely to be timers in a sense, where you've got no control over the detonation set many, many months in advance.
What do you think?
[16:10:14]
CHILUKURI: Well, I think your point about control is important, Richard, because on the one hand, it is ingenious in the sense that even though
pagers are civilian technology, which is another important point, we should get to, non-military technology. We are not talking about compromising
military radios or military equipment. We are talking about compromising civilian technology.
However, in the year 2024, nobody uses pagers unless you were trying not to have your information and communications and location tracked. Pagers don't
have GPS. They don't have audio capabilities, they don't have a camera.
So, the only person -- groups, presumably importing pagers into Lebanon at this time would be a group like Hezbollah, but I think that it is important
to recognize that even though it was targeted in a sense because you presume that Hezbollah was using these pagers, we don't know -- you know,
you have no control over where the pager is going to be when the bomb goes off.
And you mentioned it could be a fruit market, it could be on a kitchen table with a child or a grandparent playing around. So there are civilian
cost to this approach, which we are seeing play out in real time.
QUEST: And we must emphasize, nine people killed.
Sir, I am grateful for your time. Thank you.
CHILUKURI: Thanks, Richard.
QUEST: So, let's turn our attention to our economic digest.
Retail sales in the United States rose up a bit, just a tenth of a percent, a sign of economics strength ahead of tomorrow's Fed announcement, the
Federal Reserve.
Now, if you look and see exactly the way, the Federal Reserve, there has been no cuts since the pandemic. And the issue now is going to be whether
it is a 25 or 50-basis point cut.
Well, the global rate cutting, think of it this way, like sort of the style of a new season, you cut a ribbon when you saw a new season and you open a
garden party or a fete, or something like that.
Well, we've already seen the ECB. Now, the ECB where the current rate is 3.5 percent, they've had two cuts so far. They did a quarter point and they
have done another quarter point. So, they are well and truly underway.
The Bank of England cuts back in August. They cut a quarter point and they basically say, there is a lot more to go, but they're going to take their
time.
Norway's Central Bank, which meets on Thursday, no cut yet likely to wait until December.
So Julia Chatterley, as you look at this, what we have at the moment, we have the Fed. We could see a quarter point. We could see a half point. We
could see Elizabeth Warren's three-quarter points. But my question, first of all, we are going to see a bit of cutting come what may tomorrow?
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, "FIRST MOVE": Yes. That at least I can guarantee you, Richard, but I think the jury is out on what
they do. The economic data argues that they go for a quarter of a percentage point cut, which is what the majority of analysts out there are
saying, the market on the other hand, as a result of a couple of reports that may or may not be FOMC leaks have now got us really up to point where
they are expecting on a two-to-one ratio, half a percentage point.
Elizabeth Warren, no chance and we can talk about that in her three- quarters of a percentage point up, but tough to call on this one. Do you please the market or do you go with what the consensus says? Because either
ways, it is going to be a shock.
QUEST: Right. But does it really -- let's bring the US back in there. Does it really matter in a sense, because if you do a quarter, you're going to
do a quarter before -- another one before the end of the or whatever.
But the decision to do a half would be telegraphing a much greater message.
CHATTERLEY: It is all about the communication. Either way and whatever they do, if they go for that half a percentage point, they are going to have to
say, look, we did this, maybe it is a bit of a catch up for the rate cut that they didn't do in July, but don't panic, we aren't. Or they do a
quarter of a percentage point cut and they say, look, we have room to go more.
Remember the next FOMC meeting after this one is two days after the presidential election. Why not give yourself some room in the case of an
inconclusive result, perhaps to do a further half a percentage point, but I couldn't agree more with you, Richard, unfortunately, because you and I
know how much we love to disagree, it is about how much they do overall,.
QUEST: Line up --
CHATTERLEY: And even how much they do this year, quite frankly, and we will see that in the projections tomorrow.
QUEST: Yes, but I know where we are going to disagree.
CHATTERLEY: Go on.
QUEST: Well, we are going to disagree on this idea of the cake being baked. And I believe that this cake is so baked that the slowdown is going to be
pronounced over the winter. And I would -- I still think we could be looking at a quarter of negative.
CHATTERLEY: Define the cake. Are you talking about the economic performance of the US economy or --
QUEST: Yes.
[16:15:10]
CHATTERLEY: Really? So you think it is sort of over baked or baked or what's the deal? We are too late. Oh, I love it.
QUEST: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Some cooking analogies, quick.
QUEST: Well, I made a very nice apple pie over the weekend.
CHATTERLEY: Oh, fantastic.
QUEST: I wish I had saved you a slice, but instead I will save you a slice of this. I think that the economy is going to slow down faster in the next
three months than they would like, and we could even see a touch of negative.
CHATTERLEY: That's an interesting point. And you know what, if that is the case, Richard, does going half a percentage point now or a quarter of a
percentage point make any difference?
QUEST: No. No. That's my point. That's my point. The cake is baked, my pie is coming out of the oven.
CHATTERLEY: However, I will disagree with you minutely on this.
QUEST: Oh, here we go.
CHATTERLEY: So the market is pricing a significant amount of cuts over the next three meetings, basically five cuts, which is already baked into your
cake, remember, so it doesn't matter what the Fed do. The market is already easing for the Federal Reserve, so --
QUEST: Can -- okay, so let's just say, let's say for argument's sake, I am going to go into real trouble over here, because I am going on --
Let's just say that they get very worried and they start cutting and they start cutting and they start cutting. Those later cuts cannot or can they
create sufficient economic activity to overwhelm what is already in the pipeline, a slowdown.
CHATTERLEY: Okay, so it takes time to feed into this.
QUEST: Right.
CHATTERLEY: But you see the reaction function happen very quickly. Mortgage rates have already come down significantly. They are lower than they have
been for a year-and-a-half.
Credit cards will also adjust the repayments that people make. I think the danger perhaps of seeing a reheating in inflation in the economy,
offsetting some of the weakness that you're talking about, perhaps exist.
But remember, it does feed into the system. Monetary policy does feed into the system pretty quickly. It is already baked in. A lot of this is already
baked in.
It may adjust, but we are getting an easing factor already. Don't dismiss that.
QUEST: You want me to reheat apple pie, and I am not going to do it.
CHATTERLEY: I so do, but a custard --
QUEST: I made a custard as well.
CHATTERLEY: Did you?
QUEST: I did, from scratch, well, I didn't, my sister did.
CHATTERLEY: Now, the truth comes out. We are getting out of bounds.
QUEST: Custard next week. Custard for all.
CHATTERLEY: It is now a cooking show. I know. I love the thing at the beginning though with the little snips, that's cool.
QUEST: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Nice job.
QUEST: Thank you, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
QUEST: As we continue tonight, apple pie for all, let them eat cake.
The fight in the US battleground states marches on, 50 days to the election. We will take you to the focus of the locus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:20:21]
QUEST: Vice President Kamala Harris said she called Donald Trump earlier to see that he was okay following the apparent assassination attempt.
She talked about the conversation when she was at the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia. She also gave her comments about this
idea of the Haitian immigrants have been eating pets in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield,
Ohio, and it has got to stop and we've got to say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the president of the United
States of America engaging in that hateful rhetoric that as usual is designed to divide us as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Donald Trump spoke at the same conference or spoke with the same organization in July, where he falsely claimed Harris happened to turn
Black.
The former president will host a town hall tonight in Flint, Michigan, his first campaign event since the violence of the weekend.
Priscilla Alvarez is in Philadelphia.
We really are now down to the hard knuckle fight, aren't we?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly right. This is the most aggressive part as the campaign that we are in and that's
coming up. The Vice President, of course, hitting the road again today, coming here to Pennsylvania.
It was the first time that we saw her publicly after that second assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump. She told the crowd
that she had spoken with the former president. It was a brief conversation according to a White House official and one in which she was able to tell
him directly that she was glad he was safe.
But the headline coming out of this panel with the National Association of Black Journalists was what she had to say about what has been unfolding in
Springfield, Ohio.
Of course, those baseless claims made of Haitian migrants by the former president and his vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, it has put a
limelight, unfortunately, on Springfield, Ohio, which has been dealing with multiple threats, having to close down schools in some instances because
that is where these baseless claims are originating and that have since been fanned by Republicans.
And the vice president, up until this point, despite facing it on the debate stage last week, has not engaged with the matter, but she did
provide an extensive and full-throated response on the matter while she was here with NABJ, where she called it a "crying shame."
She said it was "harmful and hurtful." And that as you played there, whoever wants to lead the country should not be voicing or fanning out
these baseless claims again, about immigrants.
So the vice president, taking a moment there to acknowledge that then later delving into some of what we usually hear from her about the economy,
protecting reproductive rights access, et cetera -- Richard.
QUEST: I am grateful. Thank you very much. Thank you.
To the north of the border now and Canada's ruling liberal party has lost a once safe seat in a special election in Montreal. The result is likely to
put pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quit out of next year's general election.
Canadians will also be watching the US election very closely. There is a sharp focus on the impact of each candidate's policies.
The US and Canada are each other's largest trading partner. The numbers are just extraordinary, $2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the
border each day. According to Oxford Economics, Donald Trump has proposed 10 percent tariffs on imports would negatively impact Canadian
manufacturers.
Kirsten Hillman is the ambassador -- she is Canada's ambassador to the United States.
Ambassador, it is good to see you in lively times. I am grateful to you, on both sides of the border, let's just start.
I know nonpolitical, et cetera, et cetera.
But the US and the rest of us are watching Canadian politics closely and were seeing a Canadian government getting weaker politically ahead of an
election which is still some way off. Can this government survive until then?
KIRSTEN HILLMAN, CANADA'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Well, as you say, nonpolitical, et cetera, et cetera. I think that the Canadian
political environment is lively as is the political environment down here.
Canadians are coming back from their long summer holidays and getting into the issues that matter for them. So we will watch and we will see.
[16:25:07]
But what I think is important is, you know, people are talking about the issues that matter and our political leaders are trying to respond to that.
QUEST: I think I'd probably buy you a decent meal at the best restaurant you can think of if I could see you're private telegrams back to Ottawa on
what you think is happening in this election at the moment.
How are you viewing the election process?
HILLMAN: Well, you know, I think for Canada, we pay a lot of attention, obviously to the election that is happening for the White House, but we pay
an awful lot of attention to the whole country.
You put up the figures a minute ago about the trade between our two countries. That trade doesn't happen in Washington, that trade happens all
around the country.
So we spend a lot of time with the states for whom -- all of the states -- but the states for whom we are the number one export market, of which it is
over two-thirds of the states in the United States, building those relationships, deepening those relationships.
So we have resilience, we have resilience to deal with challenges, but also resilience to move things forward together.
QUEST: We can't ignore the tariffs that would come on from one party, from Donald Trump.
Now, there are plenty of economic models now that show what the effect would be. You'll have seen them. You know that in some scenarios, Kamala
Harris' policies gives Canada a small economic boost; Donald Trump's causes some problems on the tariff's front.
Even, even-handed you have to sort of say, there is a downside. You must be worried if 10 percent, 20 percent tariffs are introduced.
HILLMAN: Well, I guess you know what I would say to this is I was here and was ambassador under the last Trump administration.
And during that administration, we renegotiated the NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Under that agreement, Canada and US trade is
99 percent tariff free. That is the arrangement that abides between our two countries.
If a new US administration chooses to unilaterally change that, yes, I think that is bad for Americans. I think it will raise cost for Americans,
but it will also be an action that will be hard for other countries to not react to.
And for Canada and the United States, with this trillion dollar a year trade relationship that we have, millions of Americans depend upon, you
know, some of those customers that they have up north may choose to look to other suppliers.
So there are important effects for our very much joined up economies.
QUEST: So what is it that Canada -- what is your biggest concern? Obviously a smooth, a peaceful election, but just generally, if you take the wide-
ranging -- the relationship between Canada and the US is amongst the most deepest geopolitical relationships anywhere in the world. What is it that
it needs for the next generation?
HILLMAN: So it is a very tumultuous time, right, globally, and we are greatly fortunate, as you say, to have the relationship that we have with
our neighbor. We only have one neighbor and they only have two.
And our proposition is that living in this neighborhood with a neighbor that wishes you well and wants you to succeed in both directions, is a
strength that cannot be or should not be ignored. Rather, we should double down on it.
So what do I want and what would we like to see going forward? You know, Canada makes the US stronger and more secure, more economically prosperous,
more resilient, and vice versa.
So in these complicated times, we should be not just taking that for granted, but we should be figuring out what more we can do to have the
roots of that relationship deeper for ourselves, for our neighbor, but hopefully for stability that we can bring forward into the world.
QUEST: So this idea, Ambassador, of doubling down on it, how do you promote that at a time when there is an insularity, not just in the United States,
if we look around the world, protectionism is now whether it be political, economic, and religious, whatever it might be, how do you promote the
policy of doubling down?
HILLMAN: You know, it is largely a ground game. So my colleagues and I, our federal ministers, our provincial leaders have been crisscrossing the
country and we have been saying what I just said, the US is stronger, it is safer, it is more resilient, its more secure because of our strategic and
strong relationship.
And we don't just talk in in grand general terms. We go to certain states and cities and communities and congressional districts and we demonstrate
that on the ground factory by factory, sector by sector, you know, we have joined up defense operations, we have joined ap intelligence services.
So we get very granular and very, very specific -- and I will say the other thing that we've been spending a lot of time doing is getting out of
Washington, New York, and LA and getting into Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Florida, all over the country and that's
really important, right? So we're doing that.
[16:30:33]
QUEST: Next time we speak, we'll be in one of -- you and I have will be one of those states or maybe hopefully up in Canada where we can be enjoying
some Canadian hospitality. I'm grateful to you, Ambassador.
HILLMAN: I look forward to it. Thank you.
QUEST: Thanks so very much.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. The music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs appears in court. The serious, very serious charges, sex trafficking, racketeering and
onwards.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: A judge in the United States has ordered Sean "Diddy" Combs to remain in federal custody when he denied him bail. Diddy Combs pleaded not
guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy, and transportation for prostitution. These are some of the most serious charges
you can imagine.
Prosecutors claimed that for 16 years Combs ran a criminal enterprise through his business empire. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of
New York described some of the allegations.
[16:35:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAMIAN WILLIAMS. U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: The indictment alleges that Combs abused and exploited women and other people
for years and in a variety of ways. As alleged, Combs use force or threats of force and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual
performances with male commercial sex workers, some of whom he transported or cause to be transported over state lines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Josh is with me, Josh Campbell in Los Angeles.
Before we deal with the nature of the charges, are you surprised that he didn't get bail? That it hadn't been organized? I mean, at the end of the
day, he did move to New York so he could be arrested. The arrest was arranged. It seems somewhat unusual for a man as famous as him wouldn't get
bail by putting up enough bond.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No, I think you're exactly right. And what this judge ultimately decided, this breaking news just
coming in that happened in court moments ago, is that this federal judge says there are no conditions that she can find that would mandate that he
actually returned back to court, and that was after prosecutors had laid out a series of allegations describing him as a serial abuser, a serial
obstructor, they're saying.
They're saying that even after these allegations came to light about his sex trafficking and harassment, that he engaged in obstruction of justice.
So making that case, now what the defense had said is that, you know, we actually held up Combs' passports in court and said these passports are in
my custody. He can't flee. He's in the process of selling that swanky Gulfstream 550 executive jet that he owns, trying to make the case he can
have gone to somewhere else around the world.
The judge ultimately deciding with the government. He will remain in jail. Of course, these very serious charges, as you mentioned, Richard, just look
at this. Sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, very serious allegations. He of course has pleaded not guilty.
QUEST: And you get sort of prosecuted for what you're alleged to have done, not what people think you might have done. Well, we have seen the cases of
his violence against women. We've seen the hotel videos of those sorts of things. But the trial itself is not going to be for some time. I mean,
it'll be quite a while as they put this thing together.
CAMPBELL: Yes. And that's what's so surprising about keeping him in jail is that the way the federal system works, you know, they say the wheels of
justice turn slowly. For someone sitting in jail that even more slowly. And so this could be months that we're talking about before this actually gets
to some period where we actually see a trial commence.
We also don't know if he will eventually decide to plead guilty to any of these charges. Sometimes that happens where, you know, faced with very
serious allegations, including here allegations that could land him life in prison if he's actually convicted, perhaps he will do some type of plea,
and we won't even see a trial. But again, this is a very serious indictment that was unsealed today.
Interesting, Richard, what we're hearing from law enforcement sources is that this all stemmed from very serious civil allegations that various
women, at least nine of them, had filed in court alleging him he engaged in sexual abuse and trafficking. And of course, there was that dramatic video
that CNN broke exclusively showing him in that hotel room assaulting a woman.
QUEST: Absolutely.
CAMPBELL: So, again, you're right, you know, we often hear allegations, it's something else to see it for yourself on the video.
QUEST: We'll talk more. One thing I can be certain you and I will chew this one over considerably in the weeks and months ahead.
CAMPBELL: Yes, sir.
QUEST: Thank you, Josh, as always.
CAMPBELL: You bet.
QUEST: Instagram is changing its settings for teenagers. If you're under 18, the accounts will automatically be set to private. It will leave up to
parents, I suppose, who decided to conceal content or message them. 16 and 17-year-olds will have the option to lift those restrictions. If you're
younger, you're supposed to have your parents' approval to start with.
Clare is with me. Will it make any difference?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: That's the big question, Richard. I mean, look, teens can still fairly easily lie about their age on the app when
they're signing up for an account. Instagram doesn't do any real age verification, but the company does say it's implementing new artificial
intelligence to try to catch people who really are teenagers but are pretending to have an adult birthday on the app to get around these
restrictions.
I think the big difference with the sort of menial one-off things that Instagram has rolled out previously for teen safety is just how
comprehensive this is. It is automatically putting on these restrictions by default, private accounts, sleep mode for teenagers, which will mute their
notifications overnight. More restrictions in terms of what people are seeing, the kinds of sensitive content they're seeing on the platform.
And either teens are going to have to -- especially young teens that 13 to 15-year-old, they're either going to have to live with those more strict
restrictions or let their parents have greater oversight. In order to get away from those strict restrictions, the private accounts, they have to set
up parental supervision on the app. And so it feels more comprehensive than things we've seen in the past. But there aren't -- this isn't going to be a
silver bullet.
QUEST: No. But is this going to satisfy the critics? Because I keep coming back to this idea of, what more do you want? I mean, if you want youngsters
on Instagram, and I mean, do you want -- what more has to happen?
[16:40:05]
DUFFY: I think ultimately what a lot of online safety advocates and parents want to see is for Instagram to no longer monetize teen users, to no longer
make their business reliant on teens spending lots of time on this app and being served lots of ads on this app. And frankly, I don't know if that's
going to happen. I mean, this is Instagram's whole business model. Young people are the most important user sort of category for this company.
But the timing here is really interesting because there's an online safety, a youth online safety proposed bill that's actually heading to a really
important congressional committee markup tomorrow. And so I think this in some ways is being seen as Meta's attempt to skirt again potential
regulations and try to say that it's doing more. And in fact, I think it is in a lot of ways doing more, but a lot of parents still would really like
to see federal online child safety regulation.
QUEST: All right. But how much of this is parents absolving their own responsibility? Let's blame Instagram, let's blame Google. Let's blame
TikTok. And I'm not talking here about the algorithmic dopamine hit that you get from these things.
Just bear with me, we're going to go to the Diddy trial and listen to it.
MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS: -- in their presentation today that changes anyone's mind about anything. He's been looking forward
to this day. He's been looking forward to clearing his name and he's going to clear his name. And we're going to stand by his side as he does. We
believe in him wholeheartedly. He didn't do these things.
This was a 10-year relationship. There's no coercion, there's no crime, there's basically just, you know, someone who brought a civil case and now
is finding themselves as a witness in a criminal case.
And we're going to fight this case with everything we have as does he. And eventually he's going to be shown to be innocent and so tomorrow we fight
again and we fight, we'll fight every day until we don't have to fight anymore.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- what happened last night (INAUDIBLE)?
AGNIFILO: I don't know. The question is, why did it happen last night instead of today? I don't know the answer to that question. We -- I just
want to make one point very clear. We have no power. All we can do is show good faith. He got on a plane and he came here. Stayed here for a day
before the case started. It started -- he was going to stay as long as he needed to stay. It ends up being only 12 days. That's fine.
That's what the government want to do. The government didn't want him to turn but himself. He came here to turn himself in. Why doesn't the
government wants to turn himself in? Because then they can't ask for detention. So they go and they arrest him. They arrest the guy who came to
New York to turn himself in. But we are going to make all these points again tomorrow and we'll make it as much as we can until we get him out. So
that's all I have.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tomorrow?
AGNIFILO: Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow. What was the question?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
AGNIFILO: We're appealing. Yes, we have no bail. No bail. He's detained.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're appealing it.
AGNIFILO: I'm sorry. We are appealing the decision to hold him without bail.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
AGNIFILO: Tomorrow at 3:30. 3:30, same place.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
AGNIFILO: Bail appeal. Bail appeal. Bail appeal tomorrow 3:30 same courtroom, different judge.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How is he doing?
AGNIFILO: He's doing fine. He's a fighter. He's a fighter and he's going to fight this. All right. I'm going to go. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Where is he being detained?
AGNIFILO: I don't get into that stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK.
QUEST: Let me just apologize for the somewhat inelegant way we got to that but we did get to it because it was important to get to it.
That was Sean "Diddy" Combs' lawyer. He is just basically talking about the refusal of the judge in today's hearing to grant Combs bail, and he's being
held in detention. We learned that there will be an appeal tomorrow afternoon, same time, same place, 3:00 in the afternoon. Different judge, I
think I heard him say, and they will be appealing.
And the thrust of that appeal is going to be now -- this is interesting, but illegal technically is here. So Combs' flies to New York to hand
himself in but before he can hand himself in, according to his lawyer, the feds arrest him. Why? Because if he'd been allowed to hand himself in, they
couldn't allow of a post bail. But by arresting him last night, even though they knew he was going to hand himself in, they can oppose bail and today
the judge obviously said that was valid and that Combs was being held without bail.
So it will be a different judge tomorrow and we will be able to sort of work out exactly what that means. Regardless of the bail application, and
my guess is, just from an experience of seeing these things, my guess is that in some shape or form, a bail application will be successful.
[16:45:10]
Either because enough surety will be put up or there'll be enough restrictions, and you know, at the end of the day, you are -- there's a
presumption that you are entitled to have some sort of bail, and not be held incarcerated. So I might be wrong. It might not happen tomorrow. It
might not happen in a week, next Thursday.
Kara is with me and -- Kara Scannell is with me.
Now, interesting, that wasn't it. So there will be an appeal. You'll be there. And we will find out tomorrow if he's going to get bail. But it
seems like a bit of a surprise that he didn't do that.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Diddy's lawyers were arguing strenuously to the judge that he has taken steps in good faith of
why he should be released on bail, saying that he had voluntarily surrendered not only his passport but the passport of four family members
to his attorney and his lawyer said that they reported to prosecutors every time Combs had taken a trip, travelled anywhere in the domestic U.S. or
internationally, saying that that was good faith and that they should trust him.
Prosecutors argued against this, saying that this charge that he is facing, one of these charges, sex trafficking charges, has the presumption that the
person would be detained without bail and they had argued to the judge that he is a threat to the public because of this alleged abuse that took place.
He was a threat to potential witnesses in this case saying that he has reached out to people once this investigation was underway, reached out to
two people who had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury and work with prosecutors that he had made contact.
So saying that he could not be trusted to maintain any distance between him and some of these witnesses in the case. And that was one of the reasons
that the judge had agreed with the prosecution to detain him and not give him bail. She said, the judge, my concern is that this is a crime that
happened behind closed doors. Even when pretrial services is monitoring she said she was not comfortable that this alleged crime would not continue to
take place.
QUEST: All right. Can I just jump in there? Because one of the interesting things about this which is an argument being made, again, is that Sean
"Diddy" Combs flew to New York with the purpose of handing himself in. And now the prosecution or the -- the police having arrested him, the federal
authorities having arrested him, making a big song and dance about it all when they could have arrested him in Miami yesterday, last week or last
month?
SCANNELL: Well, right. Authorities could have arrested him once they had the indictment. And according to sources, the grand jury returned that
indictment yesterday. So yesterday would have been the first time that Combs could have been arrested or asked to turn himself in. As you heard,
his lawyers aren't happy that he was not able to self-surrender. They wanted him to be able to turn himself in to avoid the arrest, to avoid
having him being detained.
And his lawyers were arguing that that was one reason that he believed that prosecutors did not allow him to surrender because they wanted to use that
against him in this detention hearing. Now prosecutors can make decisions whenever they want to arrest someone. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams was
asked about that today. He declined to comment on the prosecution steps and their tactics.
QUEST: Right.
SCANNELL: But Diddy was arrested last night, held overnight, and now he is being remanded into jail awaiting this trial.
QUEST: Kara, you and I have got many weeks and months I suspect of talking about this as we watch what happens. But the reality is that these are
amongst the most serious charges before you get towards murder. And related to that, any sort of plea agreement at some point down the road would again
be very serious and, you know, Combs is looking possibly, more than likely, at some jail time if these charges stick in any way.
SCANNELL: Yes. I mean, one of the charges, the sex trafficking charges in this case has a mandatory minimum sentence if he is convicted of 15 years
in prison and a maximum of life. So that is the most serious charge that he is facing for the possibility that he would most definitely serve prison
time if he were to be convicted of that.
Now, you know, if there were any plea discussions that can change the types of charges that he would have to plead to if there was an agreement that
was reached. But the posture today appears that neither side is willing to do that. Prosecutors saying that this is a serious case and Combs'
attorneys saying that they are going to fight this every single day.
QUEST: You'll be there. I assume you've already got your assignment to be there for tomorrow's bail hearing and hopefully if you have, we'll talk to
you tomorrow. I'm grateful as always, Kara. Thank you very much.
Kara Scannell, who is down at the courthouse. And we'll be watching events tomorrow. I'm grateful.
[16:50:03]
This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS with you until the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The FBI is now searching the Hawaii home of Ryan Routh, the suspect in Sunday's apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. We witnessed
multiple federal vehicles outside his home. Agents on site said they were executing the court authorized search warrant.
CNN's Randi Kaye is following the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now two dueling investigations into the second apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald
Trump.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: We have a strong interest in the state of Florida of bringing this suspect to justice to the fullest extent of the
law.
KAYE: Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announcing details of a state investigation he's launching into the attempt on the former president's
life. A staunch Trump ally, the Republican governor also injected politics into the investigation.
DESANTIS: We have a strong interest in the state of Florida of bringing this suspect to justice to the fullest extent of the law.
KAYE: Authorities alleged the suspect stole the license plate found on his black Nissan, possibly from a white Ford truck.
WILLIAM SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF: What they do unfortunately oftentimes is they don't just take the tag, they swap tags so they're not
driving around with a reported stolen car, then the other person who's a victim doesn't even realize it. I mean, how many people look at their tag
every day, check it, that's not my tag.
KAYE: And that could really speak to his whereabouts that maybe he wasn't just sitting there for those 12 hours and maybe he was here for longer than
that.
SNYDER: Well, think about this. They'll go back now to the scene of the crime where the tags were stolen and they'll look at video camera. I think
they're going to find his digital fingerprints all over the place.
KAYE (voice-over): As investigators still work to piece together Routh's movements, more disturbing details about Routh's rap sheet. Court documents
obtained by CNN show in 2002, Routh was charged in Greensboro, North Carolina, with possessing a weapon of mass death and destruction. A binary
explosive device with a detonation cord and a blasting cap. He pleaded guilty.
This former Greensboro police sergeant had pulled Routh over months later.
TRACY FULK, FORMER POLICE SERGEANT, GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA: He reached over and opened a duffle bag, and I could see a gun in the duffel bags. So
of course, I backed up, drew my weapon, show me your hands, and he just drove off.
KAYE: And questions remain about the Secret Service's role and whether agents had time to effectively sweep the golf course before Trump's
arrival.
[16:55:06]
Trump's game on Sunday was a last-minute add to his schedule. What's considered an off-the-record movement. Trump meeting personally with local
law enforcement to thank them.
RONALD ROWE JUNIOR, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: It did its job in sweeping ahead of the president. The agent who is visually sweeping the
area of the sixth green saw this subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm.
KAYE: And speaking by phone with President Biden about the recent attempt on his life and the need for more Secret Service agents.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was very nice today, he called up to make sure I was OK. We do need more people on my detail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Donald Trump talking, and we'll take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." Listen carefully. It's the sound of the Fed meeting at the moment. The FOMC is in the middle of a two-day
meeting in Washington where they are largely expected tomorrow afternoon, 2:00, to announce a cut in U.S. interest rates.
It will be the first cut since of course they raised rates to try and beat inflation. Inflation is just about at target on pretty much all the
measures. You and I can argue about whether it'll still get there further, but essentially it is there. So a cut is warranted whether it's a quarter
or a half or, Elizabeth Warren's three-quarters, highly unlikely, in fact, almost impossible, I'll buy you a drink if it's three quarters.
But the process will have started and it's one that will last now for many months until we get to what's known as the terminal rate at the lower end
or the base rate of where it rests. I have no idea where that will be. That will depend because like everything else we're data dependent.
And the data I need to tell you is that that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours
ahead, I hope it's profitable. "THE LEAD" is next. I'll have rate cuts tomorrow.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour CNN is on the ground in Springfield, Ohio, where schools have received 33 bomb threats in the last week. All in the wake of baseless
claims pushed by Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, about Haitian migrants eating pets. Plus Vice President Kamala Harris in Philly
taking questions.
